u
Intmtsthrnsl (jEritxcKl (0mnuntarg
Stripiures 0f tjxe
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THE INTERNATIONAL CRITICAL COMMENTARY
CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL
COMMENTARY
ON
JUDGES
BY THE
REV. GEORGE F. MOORE, D.D,
PROFESSOR OF HEBREW IN ANDOVER THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
ANDOVER, MASS.
SECOND EDITION
EDINBURGH
T. & T. CLARK, 38 GEORGE STREET
FIRST IMPRESSION . . September 1895
SECOND . . January iyS
THIRD ,. . . January 1903
FOURTH ,, . . June 1908
FIFTH . . September igi8
PREFACE
THE interest and importance of the Book of Judges lie chiefly
in the knowledge which it gives us of the state of society and
religion in Israel in the early centuries of its settlement in Pales-
tine, for which Judges and Samuel are our only sources. In
addition to this, parts of the book are of preeminent historical
value : in particular, ch. i, which contains by far the oldest and.
most trustworthy account of the invasion of Canaan ; and ch. 5,
the Song of Deborah, the only contemporary monument of Isra-
elitish history before the Kingdom. In the following commentary
matters of history, antiquities, and especially the social and relig-
ious life of the people in this period, are properly given the
largest place; not only for their intrinsic interest, but because
the knowledge of these things is indispensable to any right under-
standing of the history of Israel and of its religion. The work of.
the prophets can only be comprehended in its relation to the
national religion of Israel. But before there was a national religion,
there was a common religion of the Israelite tribes which was one
of the most potent forces in the making of the nation. What this '
religion was, which they brought with them into Canaan, and what
changes it underwent in contact with Canaanite civilization and
the religions of the land, we learn in no small part from the Book
of Judges ; while here and there, as in the Song of Deborah,
we have glimpses of a remoter past, the adoption of the religion
of Yahweh by the tribes at Horeb, the work of Moses.
To make such a .use of the book, it is necessary to distinguish
carefully between the work of the principal author, who wrote in
Vi PREFACE
the 6th century B.C., separated from the times of the judges by
as many centuries as lie between us and the crusades, and the
much older sources from which the stories of the judges them-
selves are derived. We must also, as far as possible, define
. the age and character of these sources, which are not all of the
same antiquity or historical value. Nor is it solely on historical
grounds that this is required. The difficulties which the inter-
preter finds in the book are in considerable part of a kind for
which exegesis and textual criticism have no solution. They
have arisen from the changes and additions which the author
made in transcribing his sources, or from the attempt to combine
and harmonize two parallel but slightly different versions of the
same story, and can be cleared up only by ascertaining how this
was done. Criticism is thus not only obligatory upon the histo-
rian, it is an essential part of the work of the exegete. That the
task is delicate and difficult, and in the nature of the case largely
conjectural, cannot exempt the commentator from trying to
solve these knotty questions. At the worst, the uncertainties of
criticism are infinitely preferable to the exegetical violence which
is the only alternative. In the commentary, especially in the
introductions to the several stories, I have discussed the particu-
lar problems of criticism with such fulness as they seemed to
demand ; in the Introduction ( 3-6) the reader will find set
forth the general results to which these investigations lead.
The Hebrew text of Judges, with the exception of part of
ch. 5, is comparatively well preserved ; but in very many places
the ancient versions have a better reading, or a variant which may
not be neglected. The Greek translations of this book are of
peculiar interest, and perhaps nowhere in the Old Testament can
the difficult problems which this version presents be approached
with more hope of illuminating results. I trust that the some-
what full registration of the readings of (Svin this commentary
PREFACE
Vll
may not be unwelcome to students of the Greek as well as of the
Hebrew Bible. An edition of the Hebrew text, with critical appa-
ratus, is in preparation, and will shortly appear in "The Sacred
Books of the Old Testament," edited by Professor Paul Haupt.
In the philological notes, I have been mindful of the fact that
it is the commentator's duty, not to follow the lexicographer and
the grammarian, but to precede them ; and have investigated
afresh, and as far as possible exhaustively, all questions of ety-
mology, usage, and construction which seemed to require it.
If, in many cases, I cannot flatter myself that these investiga-
tions have added much light, they have often performed at least
the negative service of showing that commonly accepted inter-
pretations are unsound. In the hope that the commentary may
be used to some extent by students, for whose reading the Book
of Judges is peculiarly well suited, some notes of a more ele-
mentary character on the forms of words and on grammatical
points have been added.
In conformity with the general plan of the series, all matters
of textual criticism and Hebrew philology, together with more
detailed and technical discussions of points of criticism, antiq-
uities, and topography, have been kept apart from the body of
the commentary, and will be found in smaller type at the end
of the paragraphs. It is one of the evils of this arrangement that
the grounds of an interpretation must often be sought in another
place from the interpretation itself, while in other instances
some repetition is unavoidable. It is believed, however, that
the separation will prove convenient to many who may use
the commentary; and I have endeavoured to diminish its dis-
advantages by cross-references and full indexes.
I have tried to make good use of all that has been done
hitherto for the criticism and interpretation of the book. The
commentators whom I have chiefly consulted are named in the
viii PREFACE
Introduction, 9, the critics at the end of 6 ; other works are
referred to in the foot-notes of the commentary. It is not
improbable that, in this extensive and scattered literature, I may
have overlooked some things of importance ; I have not inten-
tionally ignored any. Several books of great value have appeared
during the printing of this volume, so that I have, to my regret
and loss, been able to use them only in the later chapters ;
among these I may name particularly Benzinger, Hebraische
Archaologie, 1894; Nowack, Lehrbuch der Hebraischen Archa-
ologie, 1 894 ; G. A. Smith, Historical Geography of the Holy
Land, 1894; and the i2th edition of Gesenius' Handworterbuch,
thoroughly revised by Buhl, 1895.
A list of the principal abbreviations employed will be found on
p. 474. They conform, by the editors' desire, to those used in
the new Hebrew Lexicon, in course of publication under the edi-
torship of Professors Brown, Driver, and Briggs. The references
in the commentary have been carefully verified, and will, I trust,
be found accurate. In the few instances in which I have not
been able to consult a book which is cited, the fact is indi-
cated by a () affixed to the title. The citations of Scripture in
the body of the commentary follow the chapter and verse numer-
ation of the Authorized Version as given in the Queen's Print-
er's Bible ; in the critical notes the verses are those of the
Hebrew Bible (Van der Hooght's ed., 1705).
It is a pleasant duty to acknowledge the assistance which
I have received in the preparation of this volume from my
colleague and friend, Dr. Charles C. Torrey, Instructor in the
Semitic Languages in Andover Theological Seminary, who has
read nearly all the proofs, and to whom I am indebted for
some valuable suggestions and corrections.
G. F. M.
CONTENTS
PAGE
PREFACE ..................... v-viii
INTRODUCTION . ,.-,... xi-1
I. Title. Place of the Book in the Canon xi
2. Contents xiii
3. The History of the Judges, ii. 6-xvi. 31. Character and
Age xv
4. The Sources of Judges ii. 6-xvi. 31 xix
5. The Sources of Judges xvii.-xxi. and of i.-ii. 3 . . A xix
6. The Composition of the Book of Judges xxxiii
7. Chronology of the Book of Judges . , ' . xxxvii
8. Hebreiv Text and Ancient Versions xliii
9. Interpreters of the Book of Judges ...'.' " xlvii
COMMENTARY I- 454
INDEX 455~47 6
I. Matters.
II. Hebrew Words and Forms.
III. Grammatical Observations.
IV. Passages Incidentally Discussed.
Abbreviations.
ADDENDA AND CORRIGENDA
P. 7 n. \. Sacred Books of the Old Testament, ed. by P. Haupt, 1894.
P. 42, 1. 33. The conjecture is Giesebrecht's, ZA TW. i. p. 234.
P. 63 f. See Introduction, p. xxvii &
P. 70 f. On Astarte see now also G. A. Barton, " The Semitic IStar Cult,"
Hebraica, ix. p. 131-165; x. p. 1-74.
P. 86, 1. 21 ff. and n. ^[. Perhaps a&ratwn is not me>x but mntr;?; see G.
Hoffmann, Ueber einige Phon. Inschriften, p. 26 f. In a tablet in the
Brit. Museum (No. 33 obv. 1. 3) the name is actually written with an
ideogram for Ishtar.
P. loo, 102. On Seirah see v. Kasteren, Mitth. u. Nachrichten d. Deutsche,,
Palaestina-Vereins, 1895, p. 26-30.
P. 138, 1. 25 f. See W. R. Smith, in Smaller Cambridge Bible for Schools,
Judges, p. 39.
P. 175, 367. C. Niebuhr, Studien u. Bemerkungen zur Gesch. d. alien
Orients, 1894, has analyzed Jud. 6-8, 17-21, and parts of ch. i. See
Theol. Jahresbericht, xiv. p. 54.
P. 195, 1. 5. The note on 7 1 has been accidentally omitted.
P. 206, 1. 29 f. and n.*. ZATW. ii. p. 175.
P. 242, n.*. For I4 6 read p. 329, 340.
P. 243, 1. 27. For I3 2 read p. 316.
P. 297, 1. i ff. Compare Introduction, 7,
P- 3 I 5> ! 3 fr m below. For iS 1 read p. 371 f.
P. 380. With Micah's son as his priest, cf. Wellhausen, Reste arab. Heiden-
tumes, p. 13.
P. 417, 419. On Belial see Cheyne, Expositor^ June, 1895, P- 435~439-
P. 426. With 20 10 cf. 7 8 .
INTRODUCTION.
i. Title. Place of the Book in the Canon.
THE title, JUDGES, or, THE BOOK OF JUDGES, which the book
bears in the Jewish and Christian Bibles,* is given to it because
it relates the exploits of a succession of Israelite leaders and
champions who, in the book itself as well as in other parts of
the Old Testament, are called Judges. f The signification of the
Hebrew word is, however, much wider than that of the Greek
K/OIT^S, the Latin judex, or the English 'judge.' The verb shaphat
is not only judicare, $ but vindicare, both in the sense of ' defend,
deliver,' and in that of ' avenge, punish.' The participle shophet
is not only judex> but vindex, and is not infrequently synonymous
with ' deliverer.' || Again, as the administration of justice was, in
times of peace, the most important function of the chieftain or
king, the noun is sometimes equivalent to ' ruler,' ^f and the verb
signifies, ' rule, govern.' In this sense it is most natural to take
it in the lists of Minor Judges, where we read, for example of
Tola: He judged Israel twenty-three years. . . . And after him
arose Jair, the Gileadite, and judged Israel twenty-two years.**
It is clear that the writer regarded these judges as a succession of
* See note at the end of this .
f Jud. 2 i6.i7.is ( 2 s. ^f (corrected by i Chr. 176) 7 n (= i Chr. 1710) 2 K. 2322
Ruth ii Ecclus. 4611 ; cf. Fl. Jos., antt. vi. 5, 4 85.
J The only place in Jud. where it has this sense is 4*- 5 ; but this is perhaps not
the original meaning of v. 4 .
See below, p. 88, 89, and in addition to the authors cited there, Kohler, Biblische
Geschichte, ii. i. p. 24.
|| Jud. 2*6 3 9. 10 I0 i. 2 Neh. <j* Is. 1920 ; Bachmann, Richter, p. 31 n.
II Am. 38 (cf. 1 15) Hos. 7? Mi. 5 1 Ps. 210 &c. So also in Phoenician ; see note at
the end of this .
** Jud. I02- 3 C f. 127- 8. 11. 14 I5 20 x S . 4 18 ? W c f. 820.
b xi
xii INTRODUCTION
chiefs, who arose in different parts of the land, ruling with an
authority which was personal and not hereditary.* The same
conception is probably to be recognized in 2 17 , the Israelites would
not obey their judges. The word 'judge' is not -used of Ehud,
Barak, or Gideon, and seems not to have been found in the oldest
of the author's sources.f The title, Book of Judges, was in all
probability meant by those who prefixed it to the book to corre-
spond to that of the Book of Kings ; the judges were the succes-
sion of rulers and defenders of Israel before the hereditary
monarchy, as the kings were afterwards. J
In the Hebrew Bible the Book of Judges stands in the first
division of the Prophets, the Prophetic Histories (Jos., Jud., Sam.,
Kings), which narrate continuously the history of Israel from
the invasion of Canaan to the fall of Jerusalem (586 B.C.). In the
Greek Bible, Ruth is appended to it, sometimes under one title
(K/OITCU) , sometimes under its own name ; and in manuscripts, the
Pentateuch, together with Joshua, Judges, and Ruth, frequently
forms a codex (Octateuch) . || In the history of Israel before the
exile, Judges covers the time from the close of the period of con-
quest and occupation with the death of Joshua to the beginning
of the struggle with the Philistines in the days of Eli.lT A better
division, from our point of view, would have been the establish-
ment of the kingdom of Saul, and there is some evidence that, in
one at least of the older histories which our author had before
him, Eli and Samuel were reckoned among the judges ; ** but as
Samuel is the central figure in the story of the founding of the
* Others of them besides Jephthah (n8-H) and Gideon may have obtained this
power by successful leadership in war.
t Cf. sis 614 &c. (deliver).
J Whether this title was first given to the canonical Judges, or to one of its
predecessors, is not certain. In the sense indicated above the word Judge is
Understood by Fl. JOS. (<rrpaTrjYOi, ap^ovrcs, fji6vap\oi., airo/cpa-ropes TJye/ioi'es, Ba.) ,
Stud., Reuss (Heldenbuch) , al. Book of the Deliverers of Israel, Ephr. Syr.,
Bachmann, Kohler, al. Of judges in the common sense, it is taken by Ew. ( G VI.
ii. p. 509), Hitz., Cass., al.
|| This fact is not without importance in the history of the text.
H Jud. ii-aS, which describes the invasion and settlement, overlaps the Book of
Joshua ; see below, p. 7-10.
** See i S. 418 7 15, and below, 4, p. xxii f.
TITLE AND PLACE IN THE CANON
Xlll
kingdom, it was not unnatural to begin a new book with his birth.
The character of the two works shows conclusively that Judges
was not composed by the author of Samuel ; the peculiar religious
interpretation of the history which is impressed so strongly on
Judges is almost entirely lacking in Samuel.*
The Title.* DHDfll5J, Baba bathra I4 b ; Sa0aTet/x, Orig.; Sophtim, Jerome.
K/nra/, Melito, Orig., titles in ABai.. ^ T Q V K p LT Q v /3/jSXos, rG>v Kpiruv, Greek
Ff. generally. Philo (de confus. lingg. c. 26, i. p. 424 ed. Mangey), ^ TWV
Kptfjidruv avaypa^o^vrj /3/3Xos ; cf. BaaiXeiwj', Regnorum, for Kings. Liber
Judicum, Judicum, in the Latin Church. In Syriac, Sephar dayyane (dabnai
Isratl}, Book of Judges (J5 PLOH ) ; another, and perhaps older title is, P&rbqe
dabnai Isrdil, The Deliverers of the Israelites (& A ) ; cf. Ephrem, i. p. 308.
The book was also known by its Hebrew title, Shaphte or Shaphefe (J5 PLH ,
BO. iii. I. p. 5, 62, 71, &c.), which was early corrupted to Shabhfe, as if
from L3I3 fc ; , tribe; f so in j$ A , see Ephrem, /. s. c. Sufetes, qui summus Poenis
est magistratus (Liv., xxviii. 37) ; quod velut consulare imperium apud eos erat
(ib. xxx. 7, of Carthage; cf. xxxiv. 6l). In Latin inscriptions from Africa we
learn of the sufetes of a number of cities (CIL. viii. No. 7, 765, 10525);
sometimes two are named (ib. No. 797, 5306). OBEC occurs frequently in
inscriptions, % but it is in most cases uncertain whether ordinary judges or
chief magistrates are meant. In Spain and Sardinia (Cagliari), the governors
and petty kings were in the Middle Ages called judices (Ducange, s.v.}, in
which we may be disposed to see a survival from the times of the Phoenician
rule. The sufetes of Carthage and the Punic colonies were a regular magis-
tracy, and belong to a much more highly organized political society than the
shopheiim of the O.T. We might rather compare the diKacrraL who held the
supreme power at Tyre for brief periods during an interregnum in the 6th
cent. B.C. (Fl. Jos., c. Ap. i. 21 157). ||
2. Contents.
The Book of Judges consists of three parts : i J -2 5 , 2 6 -i6 31 ,
* On the cognate pragmatism of parts of i S. 1-12, see below, p. xxxiv n.
t The same confusion of taflir, toatf, occurs in various places in the O.T., e.g. 2 S.
f &, Dt. ii5 <B.
t See Bloch, Phoenlcisches Glossar, s.v.
Cf. sdsojudfx = praeses provinciae, CIL. viii. No. 949.
U On the Assyrian shiptu shapitu, see Jensen, ZA. v. 278-280.
H So most recent scholars ; Kue., Schrad., We., Sta., Be., Reuss, Bu., Dr.,
Co., K.6., Kitt., al. For other opinions, especially about the division of i 1 -^ 6 , see
77-80.
xiv INTRODUCTION
(1) I 1 -2 5 . A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE CONQUESTS AND SETTLEMENTS
OF THE ISRAELITE TRIBES IN CANAAN.
I 1 - 21 . The southern tribes ; Judah, Caleb, the Kenites, Simeon,
Benjamin.
i 22 - 29 . The central tribes; Joseph (Manasseh, Ephraim).
i 30 - 33 . The northern tribes ; Zebulun, Asher, Naphtali.
! 34-35 Dan's settlements in the west.
I 86 . The southern border.
2 1 - 5 . The Angel of Yahweh reproves the Israelites for sparing the
inhabitants of the land, and foretells the consequences.
(2) 2 6 -i6 31 . THE HISTORY OF ISRAEL IN THE DAYS OF THE JUDGES.
2 6 ~3 G . Introduction : The religious interpretation and judgement of
the whole period as a recurring cycle of defection from Yahweh,
subjugation, and deliverance. The nations which Yahweh left
in Palestine.
3 6 -i6 31 . The stories of the Judges and their heroic deeds.
3 7 - 11 . Othniel delivers Israel from Cushan-rishathaim, King of
Aram-naharaim.
3 12 - 80 . Ehud kills Eglon, King of Moab, and liberates Israel.
3 81 . Shamgar kills six hundred Philistines.
4. Deborah and Barak deliver Israel from the Canaanites ; the
defeat and death of Sisera.
5. Triumphal ode, celebrating this victory.
6-8. Gideon rids Israel of the Midianites.
9. Abimelech, the son of Gideon, King of Shechem.
I0 1 - 5 . Tola; Jair.
IO 6 ' 18 . The moral of the history repeated and enforced ; preface
to a new period of oppression.
u 1 -^ 7 . Jephthah delivers Gilead from the Ammonites; he punishes
the Ephraimites.
I2 8 -16. Ibzan, Elon, Abdon.
13-16. The adventures of Samson, and the mischief he does the
Philistines.
(3) I 7-21. TWO ADDITIONAL STORIES OF THE TIMES OF THE JUDGES.
17, 18. Micah's idols; the migration of the Danites, and founda-
tion of the sanctuary at Dan.
19-21. The outrage committed by the inhabitants of Gibeah upon
the Levite's concubine. The vengeance of the Israelites, ending
in the almost complete extermination of the tribe of Benjamin.
Chapters 2 6 -i6 31 constitute the body of the work, to which
alone the title, Book of Judges, in strictness applies. Ch. 17-21
CONTENTS XV
is an appendix, relating two important events of the period pre-
ceding the establishment of the kingdom.* As we find in these,
chapters no trace of the distinctive historical theories, or the
strongly marked style, of the author of 2 6 -i6 81 , we may confidently
infer that these two stories were not appended to his book by
himself, but by some later hand.f Ch. i, as interpreted by
2 1 ' 5 , forms a fitting introduction to the present book, showing how
the old inhabitants were left in possession of the chief cities of
Canaan. Their religion became a snare to the invaders; and
thus the culpable failure to extirpate people and gods together
was the prime cause of all the evils that befell Israel in the follow-
ing generations. But although, in this light, i l -2 5 is a very good
beginning for the book, i^ cannot have been prefixed by the
author of 2 6 -3 31 , whose own extended introduction (2 6 ~3 6 ) not
only takes no notice of i 1 -2 5 , but by its connexion with Jos.
formally excludes it. J Like the appendix, 17-21, therefore, i l -2 5
must have been introduced by a compiler or editor later than the
author of 2 6 -i6 31 .
3. The History of the Judges, ii. 6-xvi. J/. Character
and age.
In the Introduction (2 6 -3 6 ), the author gives a comprehensive
survey of the history of the entire period. The generation which,
had seen all the great work of Yahweh, in Egypt, in the desert,
and in the conquest of Canaan (2 7 ), remained true to him; but
after the death of Joshua and his contemporaries, Israel fell away
from Yahweh, the God of their fathers, and worshipped the Baals
and Astartes, the gods of the nations about them. Indignant at
this unfaithfulness, Yahweh gave them into the power of their
enemies, who subjugated and oppressed them. Moved by their
distress, Yahweh repeatedly raised up leaders (judges) who de-
* The references to the grandsons of Moses (i8 30 ) and of Aaron (2O 28 ) show
that, in the view of the writer at least, these events took place at the beginning of
this period, within a generation after the invasion, not at its end.
f See below, 5, 6.
J See below, 5, 6, and p. 3 ff.
For the titles of the principal works on the subject of this and the following
sections, see note at the end of 6.
xvi INTRODUCTION
livered them from their foes.* But they persisted in the worship
of other gods, or relapsed into it when the judge was dead ; each
generation was worse than those before it. Neither punishment
nor deliverance wrought any lasting amendment. The history of
each of the judges begins with a few sentences telling us how the
Israelites offended Yahweh ; how he gave them into the power of
this or that hostile people for a number of years ; and how he at
last raised up a deliverer, f The introductions to the stories of
Gideon (6 1-1 ) and Jephthah (lo 6 - 16 ) are longer, and the moral is
enforced in the words of a prophet, or of Yahweh himself, up-
braiding the Israelites for their disobedience and ingratitude.
The history of all these successive oppressions and deliverances
thus exemplifies and confirms the representation of the whole
period which is given in the introduction. J Temporibus . . .
judicum, sicut se habebant et peccata populi et misericordia Dei,
alternaverunt prospera et adversa bellorum.
It is clear that in all this the author's purpose is not merely to
interpret the history, and explain upon religious principles why
such evils befell Israel in the days of the judges, but to impress
upon his readers the lesson that unfaithfulness to Yahweh is
always punished; that whenever Israel falls away from him, he
withdraws his protection and leaves it defenceless before its foes.
By historical examples he would warn his contemporaries against
v a like apostasy. His motive and aim are thus not historical, but
religious. || In a different, but not less effective way, he inculcates
, the same truth which all the prophets preached; Yahweh is
Israel's God, and the religion of Israel is to keep itself to him
alone.lf
The author's motive, the lesson he enforces, and the way in
which he makes the history teach it, are almost the only data at
our command to ascertain the age in which he lived. Indefinite
* Cf. s 9 - 1S 4 3f - 5 7 lo 10 **- ; of the repentance of the people we read only in io 15f -.
t See 312-15 3 7-n 4 iff. 13 i ; C f. p . 62 f.
J For the evidence that the introductions to the stories of the judges are by the
same author as 26-36, see esp. Kuenen, //CO 2 , i. p. 340 f.
Aug., de civ. Dei, xvi. 43 ; cf. xviii. 13.
|| It is inaccurate to speak of his " philosophy of history " ; nothing is further
from his mind than a philosophical analysis of the causes of events.
IT See Reuss, GA T. $ 275 ; Kitt., GdH. i. 2. p. 6f.
JUDGES II. 6 XVI. 31: AUTHORSHIP. xvii
as such criteria may seem, they are, when the character of the
work is sufficiently marked, among the most conclusive ; and in
this case they enable us to determine, beyond reasonable doubt,
the period and circle in which the book was written.
That the history of Israel is a divine discipline, righteous, wise, ,
and good, is the great idea of the prophets. In old Israel, as
among other nations, defeat in battle, foreign invasion and con-
quest, were indeed ascribed to the anger of the national god,
whom his people, or members of it, had in some way offended.
But that Yahweh's anger as well as his favour is moral, and that,
therefore his dealing with his people is to be understood upon
moral premises, was first distinctly taught by the prophets of the
8th century. This principle was naturally applied by them in
the first place to the present and the immediate future. But the
evils of the present have their roots in the past; and Hosea,
looking back over the history of Israel from the time of the settle-
ment in Canaan, sees in it one long, dark chapter of defection
from Yahweh, of heathenish worship and heathenish wickedness.
It is Hosea, also, who represents unfaithfulness to Yahweh as the
one great sin from which all others spring, and who, with a figure
drawn from his own unhappy home, brands this unfaithfulness
with the name ' prostitution/ by which later writers so often char-
acterize it.*
The prophets of the end of the yth and the beginning of the 6th
century judge Judah in the same way in which Hosea, in the
last years of the Northern Kingdom, had judged Israel. In the
long reign of Manasseh, foreign gods and foreign cults were intro-
duced in Judah on a scale never before witnessed ; the principle
of exclusiveness which was native in the religion of Yahweh, and
which the prophets had proclaimed with ever increasing absolute-
ness, was recklessly trampled under foot. This was, as Jeremiah
constantly declared, the unpardonable sin which nothing short of
the destruction of the nation could expiate.f Ezekiel represents
the exile as the punishment of the sins of Israel in its whole past :
in Egypt, in the wilderness, in Canaan, it had always been a
* Jud. 2i7 827-33; see below, p. 72. With the following cf. Stade, GVI. ii.
p. IS ff-
t See e.g. Jer. 15 ; cf. also 2 K. 2215-20.
XVlii INTRODUCTION
rebellious people, ever falling away from Yahweh into heathenism
and idolatry.*
The signal fulfilment of the prophets' predictions in the fall of
Judah, the destruction of Jerusalem, and the deportation of its
inhabitants, set the seal of God's truth not only on their religious
teaching, but upon their judgement of the past of Israel. In the
light of this judgement, disciples of the prophets wrote the history
of the two kingdoms, using and adapting the old records to illus-
trate and enforce the great lessons which prophecy had taught.
The same ruling ideas, the same practical motives, permeate the
Book of Deuteronomy, especially the opening and closing chap-
ters, f and are indeed so prominent in it that the historical prag-
matism of which we have been speaking is frequently, and not
inappropriately, called Deuteronomic, and the writers whose work
it characterizes, the Deuteronomic school.
To this school the author of Jud. 2 6 -i6 31 manifestly belongs.
What others had done for the history of the Kingdom, he does for
the centuries between the invasion and the days of Samuel. J From
the very first generation after the settlement in Canaan, Israel
had left Yahweh, to run after other gods and prostitute itself to
them j and in this course it persisted through the whole period,
in spite of all warnings and chastisements. The part of the book
which we are now considering can, therefore, hardly have been
written before the beginning of the 6th century.
Other considerations might incline us to put it some decades
later. It is antecedently probable that the new school of histo-
rians applied themselves first to the history of the Kingdom, where
the prophets had gone before them, and in which the moral was
more impressive because nearer at hand. From that they would
.naturally go back to the earlier period. The same inference may
perhaps be drawn from the fact that the judgement of Israel's
past in our book is more severe than in the Kings. In the latter,
the sin of the people is in no small part the worship on the high
places, a heathenish form of worship, forbidden by the law, but
* See esp. Ez. 16 20 23. f Ch. i-n 27-33 ; see e.g. 415-40 2 g ap 10 - 28 .
J There is no sufficient ground for identifying him with any one of the Deu-
teronomic writers in Dt. or Jos., or with the Deut. author of Kings.
Schrader, We., Kue., Sta., Bu., Dr., Co., Kitt., al.
JUDGES II. 6 XVI. 31: AGE xix
still a worship of Yahweh. In Judges the apostasy is complete;
the people abandons Yahweh for the Baals and Astartes.*
The conclusions to which an examination of the contents of the
book leads are confirmed by the evidence of its vocabulary and
style, in which the affinity to the literature of the end of the yth
century is unmistakable. In the commentary these parallels are
noted, and they need not be repeated here.f
4. The Sources of Judges ii. 6-xvi. 31.
The characteristics which have been discussed in the last section
appear chiefly in the introduction (2 6 ~3 6 ) and at the beginning
of the histories of the several judges. The stories themselves, <
with the exception of that of Othniel (3 7 " 11 ), show few traces of
the author's distinctive conceptions or expressions. \ Some of
them for instance, Samson's adventures among the Philistines
have little or no relation to the purpose of the book ; others
relate of the judges things which must have been offensive to the
author, such as Gideon's setting up the ephod and the sacrifice of
Jephthah's daughter; in all, the religious ideas, the language,
and style, are entirely unlike his own. It is plain therefore,,
that the author of Jud. 2 6 -i6 31 did not write these stories himself,
but took them from older sources.
These sources cannot have been oral tradition, or unwritten
popular legends, || for, apart from the difficulty of supposing that
oral tradition had transmitted to so late a time such lifelike and
truthful pictures of a state of society that had passed away cen-
* See Stade, G VI. ii. p. 21. It is to be observed, however, that in the theory of
the Deuteronomic writers, the local cults on the high places were not prohibited
till after the building of the temple.
t See especially on 26-36 37-11 a nd the introductions to the several stories ; cf.
also Kue., ffCO 2 . i. p. 339; Bu., Richt. u. Sam., p. 91 f. ( 128 ; K6., EinL, p. 254.
J Kitt. thinks it very probable that the author of 3 7 - 11 also wrote 62 s - 32 7 2 - 8 S 221 "- ;
but these passages appear to me to be derived from one of the chief sources of the
book.
Compare the story of Ehud (s 12 -^) with that of Othniel (s^-U). The latter
shows us, better than anything else, what these histories would be like if the author
had written them himself. We may also compare the chapters of ancient history
with which the author of Chronicles supplements Kings, all, of course, in his
own peculiar manner. |] Stahelin, al.
XX INTRODUCTION
turies before, in reducing oral tradition to writing, the author
would inevitably have left the impress of his own style upon the
stories far more deeply than is the case; the Deuteronomic
peculiarities we have noted above would not be confined to the
beginning and end of the tales. The greater or less unevenness
of which we are always aware in passing from the introduction
to the story which follows, is clearly the joint by which an older
written source is united to the Deuteronomic preface.
If the author employed written sources, our next inquiry is,
whether he made his choice among single tales or different collec-
tions of tales, or whether he took them all from some one older
book. This question cannot be answered with entire certainty ;
it is quite conceivable that the cycle of stories about Samson, for
instance, may have existed separately ; but it is demonstrable, I
think, that the author had before him an older work in which the
exploits of a considerable number of the Israelite heroes were
narrated ; * and if this is true, it may very well be that this col-
lection was his only source. It is easier to understand how a
story like that of Samson should have been included in the Deu-
teronomic Book of Judges, if the author found it in the earlier
work on which he based his own, than to imagine that he intro-
duced it for himself from some other source.
A more minute examination of the introduction to the book
(2 6 ~3 6 ), and of the setting of the several stories, especially those
of Gideon (6 1 - 10 ) and Jephthah (io 6 - 16 ), brings out the fact that
these parts of the work are not entirely homogeneous. The
numerous repetitions and duplications, and the differences in point
of view and phraseology, which, though slight, are unmistakable,
show that more than one writer has had a hand in the com-
position, f Of this fact, which is recognized by most recent
critics, two explanations may be given. One is, that the author or
editor of the present Book of Judges, in incorporating 2 6 -i6 31 in
his own work, dwelt upon and emphasized the moral lessons of the
history which his predecessor had enforced ; the lack of unity and
* See next .
t See the commentary on the passages indicated, and esp. p. 63 f., 175 f., 181 f.,
275 f-
PRE-DEUTERONOMIC BOOK OF JUDGES xxi
consistency which the critics have observed would thus be due to.
interpolation.* The alternative hypothesis is, that the author of
2 6 -i6 31 used as the basis of his work an older collection of tales
of the Israelite heroes, in which the varying fortunes of Israel in
those troublous times were already made to point the moral that
unfaithfulness to Yahweh was the prime cause of all the evils that
befell the people, a pre-Deuteronomic Book of the Histories of
the Judges.f
The considerations which incline the balance of probability to
the second of these hypotheses are the following : (a) The ele-
ments which are admitted by all not to belong to the principal
Deuteronomic stratum in the book do not seem to be superim-
posed upon it, but embedded in it ; and they are more intimately
united with their context than the additions by which later editors
often try to heighten the effect of their text are wont to be. (b) If
the author or editor of the present Book of Judges made all these
additions in 2 6 -i6 31 , we should expect to find his mark upon ch.
17, 1 8, 19-21 also, which certainly invited a moral comment and
application quite as much as some of the stories in the body of
the work ; but no trace of such an improvement is to be discov-
ered in those chapters, (c) The language of the parts of the
book in question is distinguished from that of the Deuteronomic
writers and editors generally by a more marked affinity to one of
the older sources of the Hexateuch (E) . j (d) Some of the tales,
e.g. that of Gideon (ch. 6-8), are composite; two somewhat dif-
ferent versions of the story have been united by a third hand,
which does not appear to be that of the author of the book, but
of an earlier redactor. It is not a remote conjecture that this
redactor is also the author of the non- Deuteronomic element in
the introduction (2 6 ~3 6 ) and other parts of the book, (e) The
Deuteronomic Book of Judges did not include ch. 17, 18, 19-21 ;
the closing formula, I5 20 , may perhaps be taken as evidence that
it did not contain ch. i6; S 33 " 35 is ah editorial substitute for
* So Kittel, Stud. u. Krit., 1892, p. 44 if; GdH.i. 2. p. 7-9. To this later hand
he ascribes : iia- * 8f. 2 ib-5a. 13. 17. 20-22 3 4-6. 31 67-10 I0 9-16 (except perhaps v.ia).
t We., Sta., Bu., Dr., Co.
J Kitt. accounts for this by supposing that R (the editor of our Judges) formed
his style on older models. Bu., Co.; against this view see Kitt., GdH. i. 2. p. 12.
xxii INTRODUCTION
ch. 9, which has obviously not passed through the hands of the
Deuteronomic author.* But ch. 17, 18, and the primary version
of the story in ch. 19-21 are akin to the older narratives in 2 6 -i6 31 ;
ch. 1 6, the death of Samson, is unquestionably from the same
source as ch. 13-15 ; ch. 9, itself composite, is too closely con-
nected with ch. 6-8 to be of different origin. The simplest
hypothesis is, that these chapters were contained in the earlier
collection, but were omitted by the Deuteronomic author from
his book, as unsuitable to his purpose. f
The older book seems to have contained the histories of Ehud,
Deborah and Barak, Gideon, Abimelech, Jephthah, and Samson ; J
not improbably also the story of Micah's idols and the migration
of the Danites, and the original form of that of the Levite and his
concubine. In what order these stories stood, we cannot make
"out. Chapters 17, 18, and 19-21, if included in the book, would
have their natural place near its beginning ; they certainly cannot
have stood where they now do, in the midst of the history of
the " days of the Philistines," between Samson and Eli. Chap-
ter ro 6 ' 16 , a formal and extended introduction resembling 2 6 ' 21 , can
hardly have been designed to occupy its present position.
It is a question of more importance whether the pre-Deutero-
nomic Judges (to use this name for brevity) || contained other his-
tories not included in the canonical Book of Judges.
The death of Samson (i6 31 ) is not the end of a period or a
turning point in the history, such as an author would naturally
choose for the end of a book; nor is it at all probable that a
writer who begins with an introduction of some length, setting
forth in advance the moral of the history, would bring his work to
so abrupt a conclusion without a word of retrospective comment.
It has long been noticed that in i Sam. the account of the death
of Eli (4 18 ) is followed by the words, " Now he had judged Israel
* Bu. ; see below, p. 234, 238.
t For a different hypothesis see below, p. xxxvi f.
% There is, at least, no apparent reason to ascribe any of these stories to an
independent source.
See further, below, p. xxiii f. For conjectures about its original position, see
p. 276.
|| Meaning by it the collection which preceded the Deuteronomic Book of
Judges, 2 6 -i6 31 .
CONTENTS OF THE PRE-DEUTERONOMIC JUDGES xxiii
forty years"; precisely the same formula as in Jud. i6 31 , cf. i2 7
I0 2. 3 I2 9.u.i4 B * of Samuel also we read that "he judged Israel
as long as he lived " (i S. 7") ; and that the words were not origi-
nally meant in a justiciary sense, as might seem from v. 16 - 17 , which
describe his judicial circuit,! * s manifest from the preceding
verses, which tell how he delivered Israel from the Philistines by
the great victory at Mizpah, concluding in the same way as the
accounts of the deliverances wrought by the judges before him :
" And the Philistines were subdued, and did not again come into
the territory of Israel ; } and the hand of Yahweh was against the
Philistines as long as Samuel lived" (y 13 ). Samuel was thus, in
this narrative, the judge who delivered Israel from the Philistines. ||
In i S. 1 2 also, Samuel is represented, not merely as a prophet or
as a justice, but as one who for many years had borne rule over
Israel. This speech of Samuel, which contains a retrospect of the
period of the judges (v. 7 ' 11 ), and solemn words of warning for the
future under the newly established kingdom, is precisely the con-
clusion which we desire for the Book of the Histories of the
Judges, corresponding admirably to the parting discourse of
Joshua (Jos. 24) at the close of the period of the conquest.^
There is, therefore, great probability in the opinion of Graf and
others that the pre-Deuteronomic Judges included the times of
Eli and Samuel, and ended with i S. 12.** If this be true, Jud.
I0 6-ie || mav or igi na iiy h ave been the introduction to the period of
Philistine oppression in the same work, jj These wars were, in
.fact, and in the historical traditions of Israel, the beginning. of a
new epoch ; and the author may have recognized their importance
* Kuenen (HCO*. i. p. 353) and Wildeboer (Letterkunde, p. 274) regard
i S. 4 18b as a gloss, on what seem to me insufficient grounds.
f On these verses see below, p. 113. J Cf. Jud. 3 30 8 28 n 38 .
Cf. Jud. 2 18.
|| Some critics connect this with Jud. I3 5 , where the Angel foretells that Samson
shall begin to deliver Israel ; see p. 317.
IT Cf. also 2 K. 177-23 (Schrad., Kue.) ; Wildeboer is, however, certainly
mistaken in supposing that Jud. 2 6 -3 6 is dependent upon 2 K. 17 (Letter kunde,
P- 273)-
** Graf, Gesch. Biicher, p. 97 f. ; so Bu. Kue., Wildeboer, al., think that this was
true of the Deuteronomic Judges.
ft Excluding Deuteronomic additions.
t Bu. ; see below, p. 276.
xxiv INTRODUCTION
by a more extended introduction than those which he prefixed to
the other "oppressions."
The pragmatism of this work was similar to that of the Deutero-
nomic Judges ; in it also, as may be seen in the" non-Deutero-
nomic parts of 2 6 -3 6 , and to 6 " 16 , in 6 7 ~ 10 and in i S. 12, the
history is interpreted and judged from the prophetic point of
view ; that the people forsook Yahweh and worshipped the gods
of Canaan is here also the fons et origo malorum ; in it the con-
flicts of particular tribes and groups of tribes with their neighbours
had already become oppressions and deliverances of all Israel,
the heroes of these local struggles, the judges of Israel.* But,
close as the resemblance is, the distinctive Deuteronomic note
is absent; the standpoint is that of Hosea and the prophetic
historians who wrote in his spirit, rather than that of Jeremiah
and the Deuteronomic school.
The age of this older Book of Judges is fixed within these
limits; it may with considerable confidence be ascribed to the
yth century, perhaps to the times of Manasseh.
The hand of the author of the older Judges, like that of the
v Deuteronomic writer, is recognized in the introduction and the
setting of the tales rather than in the tales themselves. The ques-
tion from what sources the latter are derived is only pushed back
one step by the discovery of a pre-Deuteronomic collection. The
, existence of composite narratives, like the histories of Gideon
(ch. 6-8), and Deborah and Barak (ch. 4), shows that there
must have been more than one such source. The more or less
strongly marked diversity in language and style between the
several stories also points to diversity of origin. That these
sources were old and good collections of the national traditions,
the character of the stories sufficiently attests. On closer inspec-
tion, one of them appears to be more ancient and of greater
historical worth than the rest. In some instances, as for example
in that of Samson (ch. 13-16), the author seems to have known
but one version of the story, which he has given entire from one of
* The chronology of this book was different from that of its successor ; see 7.
The use of shophet, and some other words and phrases of common occurrence
such as pjan, J?JDJ, ' subdue, be subdued/ probably also come from it.
SOURCES OF THE TALES OF THE JUDGES XXV
his sources ; in other cases, as in that of Gideon-Jerubbaal, he
united as best he could two somewhat discrepant accounts ; in still
other cases it is difficult to decide whether the lack of unity and
directness in the narrative is to be ascribed to the attempt to com-
bine different versions, or to editorial amplification, or to subse-
quent interpolations and glosses.
These phenomena are so much like those with which we are
familiar in parts of the Hexateuch where the Yahwistic and Elo-
histic narratives (J and E) have been united by a later writer (Rje)
into one composite history, that we can hardly fail to ask the ques-
tion whether the similarity is not really identity ; that is, whether
the pre-Deuteronomic Judges was not a part of the great prophetic
history which critics designate by the symbol JE, and its sources
J and E. That this is the case was affirmed by Schrader, who
attempted to separate the two chief sources from each other and
from the Deuteronomic elements.* More recently Bohme f and
Stadej have demonstrated the affinity of parts of the book to J
and E respectively ; while Budde has taken up the problem which
Schrader first attacked, and with great acuteness has worked out
an analysis of the entire book. On the other hand, Kuenen
maintains a sceptical attitude toward all attempts to identify the
sources of Judges with J and E in the Hexateuch, || and Kittel
combats the hypothesis, arguing that such resemblances as exist
are less decisive than the countervailing differences.^
Budde's hypothesis is not intrinsically improbable. There is
the best reason to believe that neither J nor E ended with the
conquest of Canaan, but that both brought the history down to a
much later time, if not to their own day. The parting speech of
Joshua, Jos. 24 (substantially E), looks not only backward but for-
ward ; it is the end of a book, not of the historical work of which
it formed a part; and Jud. 2 6 - 10 (Jos. 24 28 - 31 ), from the same
hand, is unmistakably the transition to the subsequent history.
* De Wette, JEinI 9 ., p. 327-332. For earlier critics who have entertained this
opinion, see Wildeboer, Letter kunde, p. 168 f.
t ZA TW. v. 1885, p. 251-274. t ZA TW. i. p. 339-343-
Richt. u. Sam., 1890. Bu.'s results are accepted by Co., Einl., 16.
|| HCO*. i. p. 355 f.
^ Stud, u. Krit., 1892, p. 44 ff.; GdH. i. 2. p. 15-18. So also K6., Einl.,
p. 252-254, Wildeboer, al.
XXVi INTRODUCTION
Jud. i, J's account of the conquest and settlement of Canaan, is
certainly not the end of his work ; 2 la - 5b here also lead over to the
following period.* It is antecedently more probable that these
books furnished the author of Judges with his material than that
they altogether disappear at the beginning of this period, their
place being taken by two unrelated sources having a certain
resemblance to J and E respectively. f It must be acknowledged
that the resemblances are less marked than might be expected,
and are accompanied by noticeable differences. But it should be
.observed, first, that the ultimate sources, the popular traditions
from which the tales of the judges are drawn, naturally had a
different origin and character from the legends of the patriarchs
in Genesis or the narratives of the Mosaic age ; and, second, that
the symbols J and E represent, not individual authors, but a suc-
cession of writers, the historiography of a certain period and
school. J The differences upon which Kittel and Konig have
laid stress are, it appears to me, critically of less significance than
the admitted resemblances. Moreover, the problem of the sources
in Judges cannot be separated from the same question in Samuel,
and in the latter the indicia point to J and E more clearly, per-
haps, than in Judges.
For these reasons I have used the symbols J and E in the com-
mentary, to distinguish the two chief sources from which the
narratives appear to be derived, though I am fully aware that the
question of their identity is by no means beyond controversy.
Those of my readers who are not convinced of this identity may
regard the letters J and E as equivalent to X and Y, two other-
wise unknown sources, of which X (J) is almost everywhere mani-
festly the older and historically the more valuable. The author
who united them and composed the pre-Deuteronomic Book of
Judges was probably one of that school of prophetic historians
* Cf. also J's part in 228-36.
t It is methodologically an unreasonable demand that it should first be proved
that J and E included the history of the times of the judges, before we endeavour
to identify them in the Book of Judges. What other proof can we have than that
we can trace them in its narratives ?
J In E, for example, there is a well-defined secondary stratum (Eg) .
We have seen reason to believe that a considerable part of i Sam. was con-
tained in the pre-Deuteronomic Judges.
J AND E IN JUDGES xxvii
who are commonly represented by the signature Rje.* His hand
may be most distinctly recognized in 2 20 -3 6 , where the conflicting
representations of J and E are worked into one another with free
additions by the redactor in a way with which we are familiar in
JE in the Hexateuch.
The age of the two chief sources in Judges 2 6 -i6 31 cannot be
very definitely fixed. There are, in this part of the book, no allu-
sions to historical events of later times which might serve us as a
clew.t Almost the only criterion which we possess is their relation
to the religious development. In those parts of the book which are
attributed to J, the standpoint of the narrator is that of the old
national religion of Israel ; there is no trace of prophetic influ-
ence, and we can have no hesitation in ascribing this source to a
time before the great prophetic movement of the 8th century.
Other indications point to a considerably higher antiquity. The
stories are manifestly drawn from a living tradition, not from anti-
quarian lore ; they reproduce the state of society and religion in
the early days of the settlement in Palestine with a convincing
reality which is of nature, not of art, and exhibit a knowledge of
the conditions of the time which can hardly have been possessed
by an author of the 8th century, after the changes which two
centuries of the kingdom and of rapidly advancing civilization had
wrought. On such grounds we should be inclined to assign this
source to the first half of the Qth century, a date which is entirely
compatible with our identification of it with J. *
The second main source from which the tales of the Judges are
derived (E) appears, wherever direct comparison is possible, as in
the histories of Gideon and Abimelech, to be younger than J. It
is, however, not all of the same age. The older stratum does not
differ very greatly from J, and is also, in all probability, pre-
prophetic ; the later stratum is strongly tinged with prophetic
ideas, and in its judgement of the religious offences of the people
prepares the way for the pragmatism of the Jehovistic (JE) and
Deuteronomic History of the Judges. So closely, indeed, does
* This symbol is, however, not very satisfactory, since the method of these
writers was much more that of the historian who largely excepts his sources, than
of the redactor who merely combines and harmonizes them.
t On 1 830. 31 see below, 5, p. xxx 1.
C
xxviii INTRODUCTION
this element (E 2 ) approach the standpoint of the latter authors
that it is difficult, if not impossible, to decide whether certain
passages or verses should be attributed to the one or the other.*
Fortunately, the similarity which makes the analysis uncertain
makes it also of less importance. The author of the later element
'in E (E 2 ) may have lived toward the end of the 8th century or
in the first half of the 7th. f
The Triumphal Ode, ch. 5, is much older than the correspond-
ing prose narrative, or than any other of the stories in the book. J
Whether it was included in J, or in E, or in both of them, cannot
be certainly determined. The closing formula, 5 31b , may have
been added or transposed by an editor. The Ode was in all prob-
ability preserved in one of the collections of old Hebrew poetry,
' such as the Book of Jashar, or the Book of the Wars of Yahweh ;
but, like other poems from those collections, may early have been
incorporated into the prose histories.
The brief notices of the so-called Minor Judges (lo 1 - 5 i2 8 ' 15 )
begin and close with formulas which, while they have a certain
likeness to those which introduce and conclude the stories of
the other judges, have also a distinctive difference. || -Of each
of the five we read that he "judged Israel " so many years, but of
the oppressions and deliverances which in the rest of the book
alternate with such regularity nothing is said; of their exploits
' there is no record ; indeed, beyond the places where they were
buried and perhaps the number of their posterity, nothing what-
s ever is narrated of them. Most, if not all, the names of these
"judges " appear to be those of clans rather than individuals ; and
the years of their rule seem to be independent of the chronological
scheme of the book and to disturb its symmetry. It has been con-
jectured that the names were introduced by an editor to make up
the number of twelve judges ; *H and Wellhausen has strengthened
this hypothesis by the observation that the sum of the years of the
* It is not impossible, for example, that in the introduction (2 6 ~3 6 ) a part of what,
with Budde, I have ascribed to E, is in reality the work of Rje.
f It is worthy of notice that the " commandments of Yahweh " are mentioned
only in 2 1 " 3* ; " the covenant of Yahweh," only in 2 1 - 2 (K.6., Einl., p. 257).
J See p. 127-132. Compare 5 1 with Ex. 15!.
II See p. 270 f. If Noldeke and many recent scholars.
SONG OF DEBORAH. MINOR JUDGES xxix
Minor Judges is almost exactly that of the interregna in the .
general chronology of the period.* The mention of these judges
should then be compared with similar antiquarian and genealogical
notices in Chronicles. On the other hand, Kuenen, remarking
that the characteristic formulas of the Minor Judges stand also at
the close of the story of Jephthah (i2 7 , cf. also is 20 i S. 4 18 7 15 ),
and rejecting, partly on this ground, Wellhausen's combination of
the numbers, is of the opinion that these five judges were included
not only in the Deuteronomic Judges, but in its predecessor, and
are thus ultimately derived from one of the sources of the latter
work.f A third hypothesis is that the Minor Judges stood in,
the pre-Deuteronomic book, were omitted by the Deuteronomic
author, like the story of Abimelech and perhaps ch. 17-21, and
restored by the editor of the present Book of Judges. Beyond
such conjectures we can hardly go.
5. The Sources of Judges ocvii.xxi. and of i-ii. 5.
The two stories with which our Book of Judges ends, that of
Micah's idols and the migration of the Danites (ch. 17, 18), and
that of the assault on the Levite and his concubine at Gibeah,
with its disastrous consequences to the tribe of Benjamin (ch. 19-
21), were not included in the Deuteronomic Judges. They relate,
not the deliverance of Israel from the foes that oppressed it, by
the hand of divinely commissioned champions, but the fortunes of
two tribes, one of which was compelled to leave its earliest seats
to find a new home in the remote north, while the second was
almost exterminated by the righteous indignation of the other
Israelites. If the Deuteronomic author had employed these
stories, as perhaps he might have done, to illustrate the moral
and religious corruption of the times, the natural place for them in
* See below, 7. This theory is adopted by Budde, who thinks that the shorter
formulas in which the names of the Minor Judges are set are patterned after those
of the Deuteronomic author (Richt. u. Sam., p. 93 f.) ; cf. also Cornill, JSint 2 .,
p. 97 ff.
t HCOft, i. p. 351 f . ; cf. p. 342, 354. A similar view is maintained by Kittel,
GdH. i. 2. p. 10 ff., except that, in conformity with his general theory, which recog-
nizes no pre-Deuteronomic editor, he supposes that the smaller Book of Judges
(ri.) was one of the immediate sources of D.
XXX INTRODUCTION
his book would have been immediately after the introduction ; a
place which chronological considerations also indicated. There
is no evidence, however, in the introductions to these stories, of
any intention to use them in this way. The familiar formulas of
D are absent, nor is their place taken by others which might be
attributed to the same hand. In the narratives themselves there
is no trace of a Deuteronomic redaction.
Whether these stories were contained in the older work which
the Deuteronomic author used as the basis of his own, we cannot
be so sure. There is certainly no mark of the editor's hand upon
them, and it is conceivable that they were preserved independently
in one of the sources of that collection. This would account both
for the resemblance of the stories to those in 2 6 -i6 31 and for the
absence of all traces either of Rje or of D in them.* But in
ch. 17, 1 8, two narratives appear to have been combined in much
the same way as in ch. 6-8, and we should be inclined to attribute
this fusion to the same redactor (Rje).f It is quite possible that,
as this author's work was considerably more extensive than the
Deuteronomic Judges, he may have found place in it for these
chapters.
That the two versions of the story of Micah and the Danites
(ch. 17, 1 8) are derived from J and E is a natural conjecture.
Budde has noted several words and phrases in one of them which
seem to point to E. The whole impression which this strand of
the narrative makes would incline me rather to ascribe it to J ;
decisive evidence is lacking. However that may be, there can be
no doubt that the primary version of the story is among the oldest
in the book, as it is in many ways one of the most instructive.
The second version is apparently younger, but, if I interpret it
correctly, there seems to be no reason why it may not come from
E. J In iS 30 " 31 are two references to historical events : the depopu-
lation of the land (v. 30 ) , and the cessation of the temple at Shiloh
(v. 31 ) . By the former we are probably to understand the depor-
* That J, at least, survived separately till a late date is probably to be inferred
from the preservation of ch. i.
t Many critics, however, think that the appearance of duplication is due to
interpolations, rather than to the union of two sources ; see p. 366-369. Ch. 19 is
also perhaps composite. J See p. 370.
JUDGES XVII.-XXI: SOURCES xxxi
tation of the inhabitants of northern Galilee in 734 ; the date of
the latter is unknown. The older narrative in ch. 17, 18, to which
iS 30 seems to belong, can scarcely be brought down to as late a
time as the reign of Tiglathpileser'; the words may have been
added by an editor.*
The problem which is presented to criticism by the narrative
of the outrage at Gibeah and the sanguinary vengeance which
almost annihilated the tribe of Benjamin is of a different kind from
any other in the Book of Judges. At first sight, the narrative
seems to be not only entirely unhistorical, but without even a leg-
endary ground one huge theocratic fiction of very late origin.f
Closer examination, however, shows that this is a mistake. The
basis of the narrative, which can be discovered not only in ch. 19
and 2i 15ff> , but in ch. 20, is a very old story, having an obvious
affinity to the primary stratum in ch. 17, 1 8, and in tone and lan-
guage resembling the most ancient parts of the Hexateuch and
the Books of Samuel. This is overlaid, especially in ch. 20, 2i 1-14 ,
by a stratum akin to the latest additions to the priestly history in
the Hexateuch and to the Chronicles. This post-exilic rifacimento
is clearly dependent upon the former version ; the only question is,
whether it once existed separately and was united with the old
story by a third hand, J or whether it was from the beginning
merely a kind of midrash upon the original text, in part exaggerat-
ing it, in part substituting an account of the events in accordance
with the author's theocratic conception of the ancient history.
The latter appears to me the more probable hypothesis ; but the
other is certainly possible. || The primitive story is hardly inferior
in age to any in the book, and may be derived from J. The
secondary version bears, in conception and expression, all the
marks of the extreme decadence of Hebrew literature, and is a
product of the 4th century B.C. more probably than of the
5th. If it was interpolated by its author in the earlier narrative,
as we find it, it may be the work of the editor who appended
chapters 17-21 to the Deuteronomic Judges; on the alternative
hypothesis, the same editor may have combined the two versions ;
but other explanations are also conceivable.
* See p. 399-401. fWe. J Bu. ( Co.
Kue., Kitt., Wildeboer. || See p. 405, 407 f.
xxxii INTRODUCTION
The Book of Ruth relates things which happened " in the days
when the judges ruled " ; in the Greek Bible it immediately fol-
lows Judges, and in many early enumerations and catalogues is
counted as a part of Judges.* Some recent scholars have thought
that this was the original place of the book : it was, like ch. 1 7,
1 8, and 19-21, an appendix to the Book of Judges proper, ch.
i-i6.t Ruth is, however, in subject, language, and style, unlike
any of the stories in Jud. 1-16, or in 17-21 ; it is a product of
a much later age, and belongs to a wholly different species of liter-
ature. As the events narrated in it are supposed to have taken
place some half century before the establishment of the kingdom,
its natural place in the series of historical books was between
Judges and Samuel ; or, as falling in the days of the judges, it
might be appended to the former book ; but this connexion was
probably never universal, and may, indeed, have been peculiar to
the Greek Bible.
Chapter i 1 -2 5 contains an account of the invasion of Western
Palestine by the Israelite tribes, and their settlements, particularly
enumerating the cities that they did not succeed in conquering,
most of which long remained in the possession of the native
Canaanite population. J This account, which in historical value
far surpasses any other source that we possess for this period, is
manifestly extracted from an older work, and Schrader, Meyer,
and others rightly recognize in it J/s history of the conquest.
The narrative has been considerably abridged by the editor who
prefixed it to the pre-Deuteronomic Book of Judges, || for the pur-
pose', as we see from his own words in 2 lb " 5a , of showing how Israel
sinned in making terms with the people of the land and leaving
them to be a constant snare and peril ; it has also suffered to some
extent from derangement and interpolation, whether by the edi-
tor's own hand or that of scribes. Fortunately, the motive of the
* So probably by Fl. Jos., contra Apion., c. 8; and expressly by many Christian
Fathers.
t So Stahelin, Auberlen, al. ; see esp. Bertheau, p. 290 ff. ; cf. also Schrader in
De Wette, Einl*. p. 395 f. J See p. 3 ff.
See below, p. 6 f.
|| It is more probable that 2">-5a j s by an editor of the school of Rje than that it
is from the hand of the post-exilic redactor.
RUTH. JUDGES I. -II. 5 xxxiii
recension gives us confidence that he left intact those features of
his original which are of chief interest and importance for us,
proving that in the invasion the tribes acted singly, or as they
were allied by older ties or common interest ; and that Israelite
supremacy in Canaan was not achieved by one irresistible wave of
conquest, but only after an obstinate struggle lasting for genera-
tions. Fragments of the same source, some of which are a wel-
come supplement to the narrative in Judges i, are preserved in
the Book of Joshua.*
On the Minor Judges, see above, p. xxviii f.
6. The Composition of the Book of Judges.
If the results of the critical analysis outlined in 4 and 5 are
substantially correct, the genesis of the book may be conceived in
some such way as the following : f
Early in the pth century, the traditions of the invasion and
settlement of Western Palestine, of the subsequent conflicts in
various parts of the land with the native population or with new
invaders, and of the heroic deeds of Israel's leaders and cham-
pions in these struggles, were collected and fixed in writing, prob-
ably as part of a historical work which included the patriarchal
age, the migration from Egypt, and the history of Israel under the
kingdom down to the author's own time (J) .
Perhaps a century later, another book of similar character and
scope was written, containing in part the same stories, but in a
form adhering less closely to historical reality (E). A second
recension of this work (E 2 ) bears very distinctly the impress of
the prophetic movement of the 8th century, and specifically of,
Hosea's teaching, and may be assigned to the end of the 8th
or the beginning of the yth century. The author's religious
*Seep. S f.
f It must be borne in mind that any hypothesis we may frame is much simpler
than the literary history of which it attempts to give account. J, E, JE, D, R, &c.
represent, not individual authors whose share in the work can be exactly assigned
by the analysis, but stages of the process, in which more than one perhaps
many successive hands participated, every transcription being to some extent a
recension.
XXxiv INTRODUCTION
interpretation and judgement of the history in the spirit of proph-
ecy is the beginning of the treatment so generally adopted by
later writers ; history with a moral soon becoming history for the
moral.
As in the Hexateuch and in Samuel, J and E (E 2 ) were the
chief sources of the great prophetic historical work, JE. Where
the author of this work found in his sources variants of the same
story, he combined them, sometimes interweaving them so closely
as to make the strands almost inextricable, sometimes doing little
more than transcribe paragraphs of J and E alternately ; adapt-
ing his method to the material before him. In many cases he
found it necessary, in order to bring his sources into harmony or
. to preserve the connexion, to insert something of his own ; in some
places he added with a freer hand. The Book of Judges in
JE * seems to have begun with the death of Joshua, and to have
closed with the great discourse of Samuel, i S. 1 2, a division which
certainly existed in E. It probably contained all the stories in
our Judges except that of Othniel ; and in view of the character of
v the succeeding redactions, Rje may, with greater justice than D,
be regarded as the true author of the book. JE is a work of the
7th century, but antedates the reforms of Josiah (621 B.C.)
and the dominant influence of Jeremiah and the Deuteronomy.
Early in the 6th century, an author belonging to the Deutero-
nomic school took this work as the basis of his own. As the
traces of his hand do not extend to i S. 1-12 f tior to Jud. i 1 -2 5
>. 17-21, we infer that D's book included only Jud. 2 6 -i6 31 (or per-
haps is 20 ). Eli and Samuel not unnaturally presented themselves
to his mind in the character of priest and prophet rather than of
judges; and, if historical considerations weighed with him, he
may very well have thought that the life of Samuel, from which
that of Eli is inseparable, belonged to the history of the founding
of the kingdom, rather than to the preceding period. Besides
Jud. 17-21, it is certain that D excluded the story of Abimelech,
which did not readily lend itself to his moral purpose ; S 33 - 35 is
his brief substitute for the omitted narrative. He may also have
* It is not of course implied that its author gave it this title,
t The Deuteronomic elements in i S. 1-12 have not the distinctive signature of
D in Judges.
COMPOSITION OF JUDGES XXXV
omitted the Minor Judges,* possibly also ch. 16, the tragic end
of Samson ; this would account for the premature closing formula,
I 5 2 -t On the other hand, he added the deliverance of Israel from
Cushan-rishathaim by Othniel (3 7 " 11 ), as a typical exemplification
of the theory set forth in the introduction (2 6 ~3 6 ), and perhaps
with the additional motive of giving a judge to Judah, which in the
older book was almost the only tribe that furnished none. The
system of chronology is Deuteronomic, as appears from its relation
to the system of the Books of Kings, but whether in its present
form it is the work of D is less certain ; see 7.
Upon the general introduction, 2 6 -3 6 , as well as upon the intro-
ductions to the stories of the several judges, D impressed the un-
mistakable Deuteronomic stamp. In his judgement of the history
he had been anticipated by E 2 and JE, but his more rigorous
pragmatism and his distinctive style can in most cases be distin-
guished with sufficient certainty from the work of his predecessors.
In 2 6 ~3 6 , especially in 2 6 " 19 , the Deuteronomic element is very
closely combined with the older text. Budde, whose opinion I
have followed in the commentary, J thinks that D did not, in this
somewhat awkward way, intrude his own point of view into the,
introduction of JE ? but substituted a new introduction for JE's ;
the two were united, to their mutual detriment, by the final, post-
exilic redactor. The other hypothesis has, however, the advan-
tage of simplicity, and the considerations which weigh against it
are perhaps overestimated.
The Deuteronomic Judges did not supplant the older work
upon which it was founded ; JE's history was in existence long
after the exile. In the 5th or 4th century B.C., an editor united
the two books, and produced the present Book of Judges. In
doing so, he naturally included those parts of JE which D had
omitted, Jud. i 1 -2 5 9 17 18 19-21 ; possibly also the Minor
Judges, lo 1 " 5 i2 8 ~ 15 . || The secondary version of the war with
Benjamin in ch. 19-21 is perhaps his work; and in other parts of
the book traces of his hand may be discerned in minor glosses ;
some of these may, however, be of still later date.
* This depends in part upon the decision of the difficult questions of the chro-
nology ; see 7. -f Budde. J P. 63 f.
See Kuenen, HCffi. i. p. 339 f. || See above.
xxxvi INTRODUCTION
On the critical problems discussed in 3-6, see in general Studer, Richter,
1835, p. 425 ff. ; Schrader in DeWette, Einldtung*, 1869, p. 327-333; Well-
hausen in Bleek, Einl.*, 1878, p. 181-203 = Composition d. Hexatetichs, u.s.w.,
1889, p. 213-238, cf. 353-357; v. Doorninck, Bijdrage tot de tekstkritiek van
Richteren i.-xvi., 1879, p. 123-128; Bertheau, Richter und Ruth*, 1883; Kue-
nen, Historisch-critisch Onderzoek, i. p. 338-367 (1887); Budde, Richter und
Samuel, 1890, p. 1-166; Driver, Literature of the Old Testament, 1891,
p. 151-162; Kittel, " Die pentateuchischen Urkunden in den Buchern Richter
und Samuel," Stud. u. Krit. y 1892, p. 44 ff.; Gesch. der Hebraer, i. 2. 1892,
p. 1-22; Kalkoff, Zur Quellenkritik des Richterbuchs, 1893 (Gymnas. Progr.) .
The theory of the origin of the Book of Judges set forth in the preceding
paragraphs is in all essential features that of Budde, whose thorough investiga-
tion of the critical problems of the book has been of the greatest value to me
throughout. The reader of the commentary will, I trust, discover that I have
not accepted Budde's results without a careful re-examination of the whole
question; and in many particulars I have been led to form a different opinion.
Of other hypotheses concerning the composition of the book, it will be suffi-
cient to mention those of Kuenen and Kittel. The former thinks that Jud.
2 6 -i6 31 is a part of a Deuteronomic Book of Judges the end of which is con-
tained in I S. 7-12. This book contained all the stories that are now found
in the chapters named,* with the solitary exception of 3 31 (Shamgar). The
introduction, 2 6 ~3 6 , is, as a whole, the work of the Deuteronomic writer, f who
is the author of the religious pragmatism of the book. He used as the basis
of his work a pre-Deuteronomic Book of Judges, in which Othniel as well
as Shamgar was not included, while Abimelech was reckoned as one of the
twelve judges, whose number was completed by Samuel, or, more probably, by
some name which we cannot now recover. This older book was quite differ-
ent in character from the Deuteronomic work; it knew nothing of a regular
alternation of apostasy, punishment, and deliverance ; it was a series of portraits
of the leaders and heroes of Israel in the period before the establishment of
the kingdom; but the unity of Israel was already erroneously antedated, and
its deliverance from the hand of its foes represented as Yahweh's answer to
its prayer. The author drew a large part of his material from older writings,
some of them of Ephraimite origin, which were among the earliest products of
Israelite historiography; but the book itself can hardly have been compiled
before the first half of the 7th century. Jud. i 1 -2 5 preserves fragments of
a very ancient account of the conquest of Canaan by the Israelite tribes;
ch. 17, 1 8, is also a very old story, which has been considerably interpolated;
in ch. 19-21 the old narrative has been thoroughly worked over in the spirit
of post-exilic Judaism. These chapters were united with 2 6 -i6 31 by the last
* Including the Minor Judges.
t It has suffered somewhat from interpolations ; and in 3^-8 the author has
incorporated an older fragment which is not altogether in harmony with his own
COMPOSITION OF JUDGES xxxvii
redactor.* Kittel differs from almost all recent critics in denying the exis-
tence of a pre-Deuteronomic Book of Judges. The author of the Deutero-
nomic Judges (" Ri") collected the stories in 2 6 -i6 31 , combined parallel narra-
tives (as in ch. 6-8), and embraced them all in his rigorous pragmatism and his
schematic chronology. The traces of a different conception and style, which
have been taken as evidence that this author worked upon the basis of an
older book, are rather to be ascribed to the redactor of the present Book of
Judges (R), who introduced a considerable number of glosses and some longer
additions to the text of "Ri."f This last redactor, who also joined i 1 -2 5
17-21 to 2 6 -i6 31 , himself belonged to the Deuteronomic school; but his style,
formed on older models, is a degree nearer to that of E in the Hexateuch
than that of " Ri." Kittel's theory thus gives us, instead of JE and D, a
double Deuteronomic redaction which we might represent by D and Rd. The
sources of the tales are not J and E, but unknown ancient collections.
7. Chronology of the Book of Judges.
The chronology of the Book of Judges presents a very difficult
problem, on which a great deal of learning and ingenuity has been
expended, without, as yet, leading to any generally accepted solu-
tion. The data contained in the book itself are these :
YEARS
1. 3 8 . The Israelites subject to Cushan-rishathaim 8
2. 3 11 . Peace under Othniel \ 40
3. 3 14 . Subject to Eglon, King of Moab 18
4. 3 80 . Peace after the death of Eglon (Ehud) 80
5. 4 3 . Oppressed by the Canaanite king, Jabin 20
6. 5 31 . Peace after the victory of Barak 40
7. 6 1 . Ravaged by the Midianites and their allies 7
8. 8 28 . Peace in the days of Gideon 40
9. 9 2 ' 2 . Dominion of Abimelech 3
10. io 2 . Rule of Tola 23
11. io 3 . Ruleofjair 22
12. io 8 . The Israelites in Gilead oppressed by the Ammonites ... 18
13. I2 7 . Rule of Jephthah 116
14. I2 9 . Ruleoflbzan f7
* Kuenen's view is substantially maintained by Wildeboer, Letter kunde, p. 165 ff.,
269 ff.
t Jud. I la - 4 a 8f. 2 lb-5a. 13. 17. 20-22 g4-6. 31. 67-10 i O 9-16.
J ALM c 50.
$ A few Greek cursives, 22. Fl. Jos., antt. v. 7, 5, omits Tola altogether
|| BPV and several cursives, 60.
t See Euseb., Chron, ed. Schoene, ii. p. 52, 53; Jerome, ed. Vallarsi, viii. 288.
XXXviii INTRODUCTION
15. I2 11 . RuleofElon 10
16. I2 14 . RuleofAbdon *8
17. ij 1 . Domination of the Philistines ' 40
18. 152 ( 1 6 31 ). Rule of Samson 20
The first thing that will be noticed in this table is the fre-
quency with which the numbers forty (No. 2. 6. 8. 17), eighty
(No. 4), and twenty (No. 5.18) recur in it.f Each of the greater
judges, except Jephthah, secures his country from the attacks of
its foes for forty, or twice forty, or half of forty, years. This phe-
nomenon becomes still more striking when we observe that it is
not confined to the Book of Judges, but runs through the chro-
nology of the whole period : The wandering in the wilderness
lasted forty years; Eli judged Israel forty years (i S. 4 18 ) ; \
David reigned forty years (i K. 2 11 ) ; Solomon forty (i K. n 42 ).
In i K. 6 1 , finally, we read, that from the exodus until Solomon
began to build the temple, in the fourth year of his reign, was four
hundred and eighty years. It is obvious that we have here to
do with a systematic chronology, in which a generation is reckoned
at forty years, and the period made to consist of twelve gener-
ations. ||
When we compare the numbers given in Judges with the total
* Fl. Jos., antt. v. 7, 15, names Abdon, but does not give the years of his rule.
t Compare also No. 15 (ten), and observe how No. 3. 10. n. 12 balance on
either side of twenty.
J 20: "A20, Fl. Jos. 40.
& 440 (<S L 'A2 480), for some reason reckoning eleven generations instead of
twelve. See Preuss, Die Zeitrechnung der Septuaginta, 1859, p. 74 ff.
|| So Hecataeus of Miletus attempted to construct a chronology of Greek antiq-
uity on the basis of the genealogies, reckoning forty years to a generation; see
E. Meyer, Forschungen, i. p. 169 ff. ; GdA. ii. p. 8 f. The second great period of
Hebrew history, from Solomon to the return from Babylon, is also four hundred
and eighty years; see Wellhausen, Prol*., p. 283 ff. ; Stade, GVI. i. p. 89 ff. In
conformity with this theory, i Chr. 6 s ff - gives in the first period the names of
twelve high priests ; in the second, according to the corrected text (see ffi), from the
first high priest who officiated in the new temple to Jehozadak, who was carried
away to Babylon, eleven. The four hundred and ninety years which Daniel com-
putes for the last period, to the coming of the kingdom of the saints, is of almost
exactly the same length, though calculated on a different basis (seventy weeks of
seven years). On the frequency of 40 in chronologies &c., see Bredow's Disserta-
tio de Georgii SyncelU Chronographia, prefixed to the Bonn ed. of Syncellus, ii.
CHRONOLOGY . XXXIX
in i K. 6 1 , however, a large discrepancy appears. The sum of
the years of the oppressions and of the judges is four hundred and
ten years. To this must be added the forty years in the wilder-
ness ; the days of Joshua, from the invasion of Canaan until he
and all his generation passed away (Jud. 2 7 ' 10 ), for which no num-
bers are given (x) ; the forty (or twenty) years of Eli ( i S. 4 18 ) ; the
years in which Samuel judged Israel (i S. 7 15 ,) (y), and the reign
of Saul (i S. I3 1 ,) (z), for neither of which have we any data; the
forty years of David (i K. 2 11 ) ; and four years of Solomon*
before the building of the temple was begun : that is, 40 + x
+ 410 + 40 +j>-f 3 + 40 + 4 = 534 + #+.7+ z. In this sum
x+y + z (Joshua, Samuel, Saul) must represent a considerable
number of years ; -f biit even neglecting them, the total greatly
exceeds the 480 of Kings. Various hypotheses have been pro-
posed to bring them into harmony. One way by which this can
be accomplished is to suppose that the oppressions and deliver-
ances related in the Book of Judges were not successive, but in
part synchronous. They were, in fact, without exception, local
struggles ; and it is not only conceivable, but highly probable, that
while one part of the land was enjoying security under its judge,
other tribes were groaning under the foreign yoke.! Thus Herz-
feld supposes that for one hundred and seventeen years, from the
victory of Othniel over the Aramaeans to the beginning of the Mid-
ianite forays,, the history runs parallel; the subjection of the
southern tribes by the Moabites, their deliverance by Ehud, and
the long peace which followed, falling in the same period with the
oppression of the north by the Canaanites, the war of liberation
under Deborah and Barak, and the forty years ' security which their
* According to the Hebrew way of reckoning.
t Josephus gives Joshua 25 ; Samuel 12; Samuel and Saul contemporaneously
18 ; Saul after the death of Samuel 22. The Christian chronologists do not differ
very widely ; Eusebius gives Joshua 27 ; Samuel and Saul jointly 40. We should
hardly say that these estimates are excessive. For the whole period Josephus
reckons 592 years (antt. viii. 3. i 61 ; x. 8, 5 147) or 612 (antt. xx. 10, i \ 230;
c.Ap. ii. 2 19), or in still different ways; see P. Brinch, Examen chronologiae
Flav. Josephi, c. 4; Herzfeld, Chronologla judicum, p. 12 f.
J On the considerations which may be urged in favour of the hypothesis oi
synchronisms, see Walther, in Zusatze zur Allg. Welthist., 1747, ii. p. 400 ff. (cited
by Bachmann).
xl INTRODUCTION
victory gained.* This synchronism, which is not suggested by a
syllable in the text of Judges, is only made out by a series of
arbitrary assumptions, such as that nineteen years elapsed between
the victory of Othniel and the Moabite invasion. With much
greater show of probability, others suppose that the subjugation
of the Israelites in Gilead by the Ammonites coincided with the
oppression of their brethren in Canaan by the Philistines. Such
an hypothesis not only offers no intrinsic difficulty, but seems to
be commended by Jud. io 6 ~ 8 , where we read that, as a punishment
for their fresh defection, Yahweh sold the Israelites into the
power of the Philistines and the Ammonites. In the following
chapters, the author narrates, first, the Ammonite oppression, the
deliverance of Gilead by Jephthah, and the rule of his successors,
Ibzan, Elon, Abdon (ch. n. 12); and then (I3 1 ) takes up the
story of the long struggle with the Philistines which is so insepa-
rably connected with the beginnings of the kingdom in Israel.
The forty years of Philistine oppression, with which the forty years
of Eli coincide, thus cover also the eighteen years of Ammonite
rule east of the Jordan, the six of Jephthah, seven of Ibzan, ten
of Elon (41), while the. eight years of Abdon would fall in the
time of Samuel. In this form the hypothesis was proposed by
Sebastian Schmid;t an d> often in combination with other syn-
chronisms, has been accepted by many commentators and chro-
nologists. | In this way the length of the period is greatly reduced,
but the exact equation with the four hundred and eighty years of
i K. 6 1 is obtained only by attributing to the unknown quantities,
x, y, and 0, in the other member entirely arbitrary values. The
most serious objection to the synchronistic hypothesis in any form
is, that the chronology of the book is, on the face of it, continuous ;
* That the twenty years of Canaanite oppression and the forty years of peace
which followed fell in the eighty years of peace which the south enjoyed after the
death of Eglon, is a hypothesis propounded by older chronologists (Beza, Mar-
sham) . Others think that the forty years ' peace under Gideon in Central Palestine
coincided with the forty years of Barak in the North ; &c. On these and other
theories see Ba., p. 64 f.
f Appendix chronologica ad llbrurn Judicum, 1684.
% Vitringa, Carpzov, Marsham, Walther ; Ke., Ew., Hgstbg., al. ; most recently,
with different modifications and more or less artificial subsidiary hypotheses,
Bachmann and Kohler.
CHRONOLOGY xli
if the author had intended us to understand that the Ammonite
and the Philistine oppressions were contemporaneous, he would
have given a much more distinct intimation of his meaning than
io 6f> , and have given it in its proper place in I3 1 .*
Noldeke has tried to solve the problem in another way.f He
observes that the sum of the rule of the Minor Judges, including
Jephthah, is seventy-six years, to which if we add the four years of
Solomon before the building of the temple, we obtain another
eighty ; a coincidence which can hardly be accidental, and which,
if designed, shows that the Minor Judges were included in the
chronological system of the book. The total of the years ascribed
to the judges and kings in the Books of Judges and Samuel, down
to the fourth year of Solomon, is three hundred and eighty. J To
this must be added the forty years of Moses, the years of Joshua
(x), Samuel (y), and Saul (z). For Samuel he reckons (from
i S. 7 2 ) twenty years. We have thus : 40 + 380 -f 20 = 440 -j- x
+ z. In this system of forties we should naturally give to the
unknown quantities (Joshua, Saul) twenty years each, or unequal
numbers together making forty, obtaining thus exactly the four
hundred and eighty of i K. 6. The years of foreign domination
and of usurpers are, as usual in Oriental chronologies, not
counted ; the beginning of each judge's rule being reckoned,
not from the victory which brought him into power, but from
the death of his predecessor. ||
In principle, this appears to me the most probable hypothesis.
I should be inclined, however, to divide the numbers somewhat
differently. For Eli, instead of the forty years of Jf, I should
* Compare the formal synchronisms in the Books of Kings.
f " Die Chronologic der Richterzeit," Untersuchungen zur Kritik d. A. T.'s,
1869, p. 173 ff.
J Othniel 40, Ehud 80, Barak 40, Gideon 40, Minor Judges 76 + 4 of Solomon
= 80, Samson 20, Eli 40, David 40 = 380.
Noldeke makes the sum of these years 94 ; viz. Cushan 8, Eglon 18, Jabin 20,
Midianites 7, Abimelech 3, Ammonites 18, Philistines 20 (deducting the twenty in
the days of Samson, Jud. I5 20 ).
|| This is the method of Jewish and early Christian chronologers ; see Euseb.,
Chron. ed. Schoene, ii. p. 35 : post mortem Jesu subjectos tenuerunt Hebraeos
aliengenae annis 8, qui junguntur Gothonielis temporibus, secundum Judaeoram
traditiones ; and so in every following case. So also Seder Olam, c. 12, and the
Jewish commentators ; see Meyer, Seder Olarn, p. 383 ff.
xlii INTRODUCTION
adopt the reading of (H, twenty. The forty years of Philistine rule
coincide with the time of Samson (20) and Eli (20) ; Samuel
liberated Israel from their yoke (i S. 7). Abimelech is not
counted in the succession of rulers, as Noldeke and most recent
chronologists rightly assume ; * but it does not appear to have
been noted that the same is true of Saul. For the Judaean author
of this chronology his rule was illegitimate ; David was the imme-
diate successor of Samuel.t This inference is confirmed by i S.
I3 1 , where a later hand has attempted to supply the lack of a
statement about the length of Saul's reign with the usual formula
borrowed from the Books of Kings, \ but seems to have left the
numbers blank.
We have, then, the following scheme : Moses 40 years, Joshua
x, Othniel 40, Ehud 80, Barak 40, Gideon 40, the Minor Judges
with Jephthah 76, Samson 20, Eli 20, Samuel y, David 40, Solo-
mon 4 = 400 -\- x -\- y = 480. We may then suppose that the
author gave Joshua and Samuel forty years each, an hypothesis
which in each case has some slight 'external support. Joshua
lived, like his ancestor Joseph, to the age of no years, which, as in
Joseph's life, may most naturally be divided into 30 + 40 -f- 40.
To Samuel, of whose life and work he had such a full account, the
deliverer and judge, the maker and unmaker of kings, it is ante-
cedently improbable that the author reckoned only half a genera-
tion especially as Samuel was an old man when he died.
If i K. 6 1 is the summation of the numbers in Judges and
Samuel, and from the same hand, it would follow that the system-
atic chronology in Judges was not introduced by the Deuterono-
mic author, but by a later editor, who may have substituted his
own cyclic numbers for older ones. || But the author of Judges
may, himself, conceivably have constructed his chronology on a
basis of forty years to the generation. In either case, the length
of the oppressions, and of the rule of the Minor Judges (with
* Probably Jud. 9 was not contained in the Deuteronomic Judges ; but in any
case he was regarded as a usurper.
t Observe that Samuel ruled Israel as long as he lived, i S. 7*6.
J Not the formula of Judges or Samuel.
$ Gen. 41*6; c f. Gutschmid in Noldeke, p. 192 f.
|| The 76 years of the Minor Judges plus the 4 of Solomon would be the most
conclusive evidence of this.
CHRONOLOGY xliii
Jephthah), which are at least not primarily cyclic, probably
represent an earlier stage in the history of tradition; the latter
may be derived from E.
On the Chronology of Judges see S. Schmid, Comm. in Jud., 1684, P- 1569-
1603; Des Vignoles, Chronologic deVhistoire sainte, 1738; Herzfeld, Chrono-
logia judicum et primorum regum Hebraeorum, 1836; Rosch, "Das Datum
des Tempelbaus," Stud. u. Krit., 1863, p. 712-742; Noldeke, Untersuchungen
zur Kritik des Alien Testaments, 1869, p. 173-198; Wellhausen in Bleek,
Einleitung*, p. 184 f. = Composition des Hexateuchs, p. 216 f. (cf. p: 356);
Prolegomena?, p. 237 f.; Reuss, Gesch. des Alien Testaments, 277; Budde,
Richter u. Samuel, p. 135 ff.; Kohler, Biblische Geschichte, ii. I. p. 35-51;
Kittel, Gesch. der Hebraer, i. 2. p. 9-14; of the commentaries, especially
Bachmann (p. 53-74), and Bertheau (p. xi.-xvii.). Wellhausen notes that
the years of the Minor Judges (70) almost exactly correspond to the duration
of the interregna (71), and infers that the Minor Judges were introduced by
an editor who did not reckon the interregna separately, but included them,
contrary to the intention of the author of the chronology, in the rule of the
following judges; cf. Prol*., p. 237 f.; Budde; Cornill, Einl z . p. 98 f.; and
against Wellhn., Kuenen, HCCP. i. p. 342, Kittel, Gdfl. i. 2. p. 11-13;
Wellhn. himself ( Comp., p. 356) confesses that he has no longer much faith
in such attempts to solve the enigma.
8. Hebrew Text and Ancient Versions.
The text of Judges has been transmitted to us in a much purer
state than that of the Books of Samuel ; indeed, it is better pre-
served than any other of the historical books ; but it is not entirely
free from the errors which are incident to transcription. The
variants of Hebrew manuscripts seldom enable us to correct these
errors. Setting aside the great mass of purely heterographic vari-
ations, there are few that materially affect the sense ; and of these,
very few which are intrinsically superior to the Massoretic text.
The critic cannot entirely disregard them, however; especially
when the support of the Targum or other of the versions shows
that the reading is old.*
* For the Massoretic text (JH) I have generally followed Baer, Libri Josuae
et Judicum, 1891. The admirable edition of the Bible by J. H. Michaelis (1720)
has also been constantly before me, and I have derived much help from Norzi's
critical commentary, Minchath Shai, in the Mantua Bible of 1742. For the read-
ings of Hebrew manuscripts and early editions I have relied on J. B. De Rossi,
Variae lectiones Veteris Testamenti, vol. ii., 1785, which embodies all that is useful
d
xliv INTRODUCTION
Much more important aid in the restoration of the text is given
by the ancient versions. First among these in critical value as
well as in age are the Greek versions. I say versions ; for Lagarde
has demonstrated in the most conclusive way, by "printing them
face to face through five chapters, that we have two Greek trans-
lations of Judges.* It would probably be going too far to affirm
that they are independent; the author of the younger of them
may have known and used the older; but it is certain that his
work is not a recension or revision of his predecessor's, but a new
translation. One of these versions is represented by the great
majority of manuscripts, including the uncials, Sarravianus ( s ),f
Alexandrinus ( A ),J Coislinianus ( p ), Basiliano-Vaticanus ( v ),|[
and many cursives. The latter form several well-defined groups,
some of which may properly be designated as recensions. One of
these ( L ) is represented in Judges by codd. 19, 108, 118 (Holmes
and Parsons),^" the Complutensian Polyglot, and Lagarde's
Librorum V. T. canonicorum pars prior, 1883 ; and is thought by
many scholars to exhibit the recension of Lucian. The sec-
ond ( M ) is a group whose most constant members are codd. 54,
in Kennicott's collations. For the Massora, besides Jacob ben Chayim's edition in
the Venice Rabbinical Bible, I have chiefly consulted FrensdorfF s edition of the
Ochlaive-Ochla, 1864, and his Massoretisches Worterbuch, 1876: Ginsburg's huge
work will be of little use until the volume of apparatus appears.
* Septuaginta Studien, 1892, p. 1-72. I had reached the same conclusion in a
paper read at the meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature in May, 1890, before
I learned, through a letter from Prof. Lagarde, that he was preparing this edition.
f In Holmes and Parsons' apparatus, IV and V. Hexaplar manuscript of the
4th or 5th century (Tischendorf) in Leyden, St. Petersburg, and Paris. Pub-
lished by Tischendorf, Monumenta sacra inedita, iii. ; the Paris leaves by Lagarde,
Semitica, ii. Of Judges it contains : 948-106 158-1816 i 9 25_ 2I i2.
% Holmes and Parsons, III. Of the 5th century, in London. Edited by Grabe
and successors, 1707-1720, 4 vols. Type facsimile by Baber, 1812-1828, 3 vols.
Photographic reproduction published by the Trustees of the British Museum, 1881-
1883.
Holmes and Parsons, X. Hexaplar; of the 7th century (Holmes). The
collation in H.P. is to be controlled by that of Griesbach, in Eichhorn's Reperto-
rium, ii. p. 194 ff.
|| Holmes and Parsons, XI. Of the gth century (Holmes), in Rome. In
Judges it lacks I4 17 -i8 1 . For this MS., H.P. has been my sole dependence. No
significance is to be attached, therefore, to the absence of v from an array in which
it might be expected.
H Of these, 108 (Vaticanus 330) only is complete in Judges ; the others have
more or less extensive lacunas. For this group I have cited Lagarde's edition.
TEXT AND VERSIONS xlv
59, 75, 82, which are frequently joined by others. A Leipzig
palimpsest (uncial) published by Tischendorf also belongs to this
group.* This hitherto inedited recension exhibits the text of
Theodoret.f A third group () consists of the Venice manu-
scripts 120 and 121, with the Aldine edition, which is derived
from them. $ Most of the translations made from the Greek fol-
low this version ; so the Old Latin (I) , the Hexaplar Syriac of
Paul of Telia (0), || the Ethiopic (e),f and the Armenian.**
The Hexaplar codices ( SPa1 -) and the Hexaplar Syriac show
that this version was the basis of Origen's critical labours. It is,
therefore, presumptively the oldest Greek translation of Judges ;
and in so far as " Septuagint " is equivalent to " the oldest Greek
version," the text of A and its congeners might justly lay claim
to that designation.! f It seems to me desirable, however, in the
interests of clearness that the name, with all its misleading asso-
ciations, should be banished from critical use.
The other version is found in the Vatican Codex ( B ), Cod.
Musei Britannici Add. 20002 ( G ),JJ and a considerable group of
cursives in Holmes and Parsons ( N ) ; viz. 16, 30, 52, 53, 58, 63,
77, 85 (text), 131, 144, 209, 236, 237 ; the text printed in the
* Monumenta sacra, i. p. 171-176. It contains of Jud. n24-34 i82-20.
1 1 have projected an edition of it, of which an announcement will be made in
due time.
J I have not compared the Aldina for myself, but have relied on Holmes and
Parsons, compared with the collation in the London Polyglot, vol. vi.
The scanty fragments of the Old Latin were collected by Sabatier, and
reprinted, with a few gleanings, by Fritzsche, Liber Judicum secundum LXX inter-
pretes, 1867. More considerable additions are gathered by Vercellone in his
apparatus to the Vulgate (ii., 1864).
|i This version was made in the year 616-617 A.D., in Egypt, from a Hexaplar
codex ; see Gwynne, in Smith's Diet, of Christ. Biography, iv. p. 266 ff. Judges
was published from a MS. in the British Museum, with a reconstruction of the
Greek text, by T. Skat Rordam (Libri Judicum et Ruth, 1861) ; and by Lagarde
(Bibliotheca syriaca, 1892) .
11 Dillmann, Octateuchus aethiopicus, 1853. Contains a collation with the
Roman text of fflf.
** I am unable to use the Armenian version : see Lagarde, Genesis graece, p.
1 8 ; Septuagint a Studien, p. 8 f.
tf Grabe, Epistola ad Millium, 1705.
JJ Known to me only from Lagarde's collation of Jud. 1-5. On the surmise that
a codex in St. Petersburg, which is probably part of the same manuscript, contains
the text of Theodotion, see Lagarde, Septuaginta Studien, p. n.
xlvi INTRODUCTION
Catena Nicephori represents this family. Grabe, in 1 705, proved
that this version was of Egyptian origin ; * a conclusion which is
brilliantly confirmed by the fact, that of all the secondary versions
only the Sahidic (k) is based upon it.f As the quotations in the
Alexandrian Fathers from the 2d to the 4th century (Clement,
Origen, Didymus) \ follow the version represented by ({| A and its
congeners, while Cyrill uses the text which we find in ( BGN k,
the conjecture is not remote that the latter translation of Judges
was made in the 4th century; but much remains to be done
before any positive conclusion can be reached.
In this state of the case, I have thought it proper to adduce
the evidence of the Greek versions with more fulness than would
ordinarily be necessary in a commentary. If the Greek version is
to be used at all for the emendation of the Hebrew text, it must
be used critically; and to operate, as older commentators did,
with " A " and " B," or as some more modern scholars do, with
Tischendorf 's reprint of the Roman edition and Lagarde's "Lu-
cian," taking the one or the other for "Septuagint" upon the
intrinsic probability of readings, is not a critical procedure. ||
The Latin version of Jerome is one of the best specimens of
his skill as a translator ; and is exegetically of the greatest value,
because it gives not merely Jerome's own interpretation, but that
of his Jewish teachers and helpers. It is of less assistance to the
textual critic, because the Hebrew text from which it was made
was substantially the Jewish standard text which, having been
authoritatively fixed in the 2d century, A.D., has been transmitted
to us with great fidelity. For the Latin text itself we have an
* In the letter to Mill, cited above. Grabe embarrassed this result by the
assumption that the version, or revision, was the work of Hesychius.
t Ciasca, Sacrorum Bibliorum fragmenta copto-sahidica, i. 1885. Contains of
Judges, iio-2i i27_ 2 i8. + Didymus died 394 or 399.
Cyrill became Bp. of Alexandria in 412 A.D.
|| On the Greek text of Judges, see Grabe, Epistola. ad Millium, 1705 ; Ziegler,
Theologische Abhandlungen, i. 1791, p. 276 ff. ; O. F. Fritzsche, Liber Judicum
secundum LXX interpretes, 1867 (distinguishing three types of text) ; Schulte, De
restitutione atque indole genuinae versionis graecae in libra Judicum, 1889 ; Lagarde,
Septuaginta Studien, 1892, p. 1-72. For the fragments of Aquila, Symmachus, and
Theodotion, Field, Origenis hexaplorum quae supersunt, 1875 1 c ^ J G. Scharfen-
berg, Animadversiones quibus fragmenta versionum graecarum V. T. . . . illtistran-
tur emendantur, ii. 1781, p. 40-85.
TEXT AND VERSIONS xlvii
excellent apparatus in Vercellone, Variae kctiones vulgatae latinae
Bibliorum editionis, ii. 1864.
The Syrian Vulgate (Peshitto) also represents in the main the
Hebrew Standard text, and is of more importance to the inter-
preter than to the critic. For the Peshitto, which exhibits a con-
stancy second only to that of the Hebrew, I have compared, in
places where its variations seemed to be significant, the editio
princeps of Gabriel Sionita in the Paris Polyglot (<> p ), from which
that in the London Polyglot (> L ) is derived immediately, and that
of Lee at one remove ; the photolithographic reproduction of the
Ambrosian codex (S? A ) ; the Nestorian text as edited by Justin
Perkins at Ooroomiah in 1852 (j$) ; and an old and excellent
manuscript of the Historical Books and the Wisdom of the O.T.,
of Nestorian origin, belonging to the Harvard Semitic Museum,
Cambridge, Mass. ( H ).
The Targum is seldom of much critical value, but often serves
us well as a commentary upon the punctuation, and fills an impor-
tant place in the history of Jewish exegesis. Its text exhibits
considerable variation. I have compared, in critical places, the
edition by Felix Pratensis in the first of Bomberg's Great Bibles,
1518 (3T ven<1 ), that by Jacob ben Chayim in the second of those
Bibles, 1525 (2E ven - 2 ) ;* Buxtorfs rifacimento of the latter in his
Great Bible, 1 6 18-20, f reproduced in the London Polyglot; the
Antwerp Polyglot ; and Lagarde's edition of the Targum from the
great Codex Reuchlinianus at Carlsruhe, Prophetae chaldaice, 1872
(& reuch -) I also collated, in 1888, Codex. Brit. Mus. Orient., 2210,
a manuscript from Southern Arabia with supralinear punctuation,
dated A.D. 1469 (E m ).t
The only systematic attempt to employ the versions for the
emendation of the Hebrew text of Judges is made by A. v. Door-
ninck, Bijdrage tot de tekstkritiek van Richteren i.-xvi, 1879.
9. Interpreters of the Book of Judges.
Of the Fathers, the nine homilies of Origen on this book, which
are preserved in Rufinus's Latin translation (Orig., Opp. ed. Dela-
* Known to me only in the edition of 1547.
t The punctuation and orthography are Buxtorf' s ; nor did he refrain from more
serious emendations. \ See Merx, Chrestomathia Targumica, Proleg. p. xvi.
xlviii INTRODUCTION
rue, ii. p. 458-478) have very little exegetical merit. Theodoret
in his Quaestiones (Opp. ed. Schulze, i. p. 321-345) discusses
with some fulness a number of the more obscure or difficult pas-
sages in Judges with candour and skill. His extensive quotations
are of importance for the history of the Greek text. The com-
mentary of Procopius of Gaza (Migne, Patrokgia graeca, Ixxxvii.
1041-1080), though fragmentary and largely allegorical, is not
devoid of worth. The Catena Nicephori (Leipzig, 1773) draws
chiefly from Josephus, Theodoret, and Procopius, but quotes also
a considerable number of anonymous Greek expositions. Augus-
tine wrote Quaestiones on Judges, as on the other books of the
Heptateuch (Migne, Patrologia latina, xxxiv. 791-824) ; so did
Isidore of Seville (ib. Ixxxiii. 379-390). We have also a com-
mentary on Judges by Ephrem Syrus (Opp. i. p. 308-330).
The patristic exegesis had only the versions to work upon ; the
history of the interpretation of the Hebrew text begins with the
Jewish commentators of the Middle Ages.* Of these, R. Solo-
mon Isaaki, commonly called "Rashi" (1040-1105 A.D.),in many
ways deserves the foremost place which the judgement of Jewish
scholars generally accords him. He has two of the greatest and
rarest gifts of the commentator, the instinct to discern precisely
the point at which explanation is necessary, and the art of giving
or indicating the needed help in the fewest words. He had an
almost unequalled knowledge not only of the Bible, but of the
whole vast body of Jewish tradition. His interpretation adheres
more closely to the exegetical tradition than that of his successors,
and very often agrees with Jerome's, that is, Jerome's Jewish
teachers. R. David Kimchi (ca. 1160-1235) gave much more
prominence to the grammatical and lexical side of the commenta-
tor's task, in which he excelled ; he is a judicious interpreter and
a lucid expositor. Of much less note is R. Levi ben Gerson
("Ralbag," died ca. 1370), whose commentary is printed with
Rashi and Kimchi in the Rabbinical Bibles of Venice and Basel.
Besides these are to be named, Abarbanel (1437-1508), whose
very diffuse commentary is in Judges largely dependent on Levi
ben Gerson ; f and Solomon ben Melech, Michlol Yophi (Amster-
* Of course, the ancient versions themselves embodied an interpretation of the
original text. f I have used the ed. of Leipzig, 1686.
COMMENTARIES xlix
dam, 1684), a convenient exegetical hand-book, chiefly abridged
from Kimchi.
Through the Postillae perpetuae of Nicolaus a Lyra (ca. 1270-
1340) the Jewish exegesis, and what was even more important, a
sounder exegetical method, passed over into the Church. Later
Catholic commentators of note are Arias Montanus, De varia
Republica^ 1592; Serarius, 1609; Jac. Bonfrerius, 1631; Corne-
lius a Lapide, 1642 ; Th. Malvenda, 1650.*
Among the early Protestant commentators, Sebastian Miinster
(1489-1552) follows the Jewish interpreters, particularly Kimchi,
very closely. Drusius's (1550-1616) learning had a wider range;
besides the rabbinical commentaries he made good use of the
ancient Greek versions and the Fathers, and deserves the praise
which R. Simon gives him as the most learned and judicious of
the interpreters whose works are collected in the Critici Sacri.
The fragmentary annotations of Grotius often contain interest-
ing illustrations and parallels from Greek and Roman writers. Of
all the older commentaries by far the best, and one of the most
valuable commentaries on Judges, is that of Sebastian Schmid
(1684). The author brings together into his 1642 solid quarto
pages all that had been done before him for the interpretation of
the book. His own exegetical judgement is clear and sound. In
excursus at the end of each chapter (Quaestiones), the difficulties
of every kind are discussed with great thoroughness. The com-
mentary of Clericus (1708), a work of a more modern type, is
also deservedly held in high esteem. The marginal annotations
in J. H. Michaelis's edition of the Hebrew Bible (1720) are
excellent ; nor must the notes to J. D. Michaelis's German trans-
lation (1774) be passed over. Rosenmuller's Scholia on Judges
(1835) contain very little that is new.
The modern period of interpretation begins with G. L. Studer's
admirable commentary,! in which the problems that the book pre-
sents to criticism and critical exegesis were first clearly recognized,
and a long step taken toward their solution. Bertheau's commen-
tary in the " Kurzgefasstes exegetisches Handbuch" (1845) i g a
work of less originality, but, especially in the second edition (1883),
* Of these I have read only a Lyra and a Lapide. Serarius I know through
Schmid. f Das Buck der Richter, 1835 ; second (title) edition, 1842.
1 INTRODUCTION
fills a useful place. Reuss has given, in French (1877) and Ger-
man (1892), brilliant translations of Judges, with introductions,
and brief but excellent notes. Keil (1863;* 2 ed. 1874) has
the stamp of the manufactured article; Cassel (in Lange, 1865 j t
2 ed. 1887) is full of curious learning and ingeniously perverse
exegesis. By far the fullest recent commentary on Judges is
that of J. Bachmann (1868), which was unfortunately never car-
ried beyond the fifth chapter. The author's standpoint is that of
Hengstenberg, and he is a stanch opponent of modern criticism
of every shade and school ; but in range and accuracy of schol-
arship, and exhaustive thoroughness of treatment, his volume
stands without a rival. Other modern commentaries which
require no special note are those of Hervey in the "Speaker's
Commentary" (1872) and in the " Pulpit Commentary " (1881) ;
and Jamieson, in Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's " Critical and
Experimental Commentary." A. R. Fausset's Critical and Expos-
itory Commentary on Judges (1885) is "expository" in the homi-
letic sense, and " critical " in no sense at all. The German
translation of Judges in Kautzsch's Das Alte Testament, 1894
(by Kittel), embodies in a sober and conservative spirit the
results of modern critical scholarship.
* English translation, Edinburgh, 1868.
English translation, New York, 1872.
A COMMENTARY ON THE BOOK OF
JUDGES.
A COMMENTARY ON THE BOOK OF
JUDGES,
I. l-II. 5. The conquests and settlements of the Israelite
tribes in Canaan.
LITERATURE. E. Meyer, " Kritik der Berichte fiber die Eroberung Palaes-
tinas," ZATW. i. 1881, p. 117-146; cf. Stade, ibid., p. 146-150.
K. Budde, "Richter und Josua," ZATW. vii. 1887, p. 93-166 = Die Biicher
Richter und Samuel, 1890, p. 1-89. Other writers on the composition of
the Book of Judges, see Introduction, 6, end.
At the opening of the narrative, we have to suppose the Israelite
tribes encamped in the plain of Jericho (i 16 2 1 ), and about to
invade the hill-country. They inquire of the oracle what tribe
shall first attack the Canaanites. Agreeably to its response, Judah
together with Simeon begins the invasion (v. 1 " 3 ). They defeat
and capture Adoni-bezek, and, advancing southward, take Hebron,
Debir, and Hormah, making themselves masters of the mountains,
but are unable to conquer the coast plain (v. 4 ' 21 ) . The tribe of
Joseph invades the central highlands, and takes Bethel (v. 22 " 26 ),
but has to leave many strong towns, especially along the Great
Plain, in the hands of the Canaanites (v. 27 ' 29 ). In the north, no
conquests are recorded ; the Israelites settle in the midst of the
native population (v. 30 " 33 ). In the west, Dan is crowded back
into the mountains (v. 34 ' 36 ). The Angel of Yahweh removes from
Gilgal to " Bochim." * He reproves Israel for making terms with
the people of the land and sparing their places of worship, and
foretells the consequences of this disobedience.
The words of the Angel show how ch. i is to be regarded in
its present connexion. The failure of the invaders to conquer
* Perhaps originally Bethel, (ffif; see comm. on 2*.
3
4 JUDGES
the whole land at once is not due to the strength of its walled
towns, or the superiority of their inhabitants in the art and
enginery of war, but to Israel's slackness in carrying out the root
and branch policy enjoined in Ex. 34 n ~ 16 23 81b ' 33 *Dt. y 1 * 5 &c. As
a punishment, Yahweh leaves the Canaanites whom they have
guiltily spared to be the cause of all the ills denounced in those
passages. Their religion is the snare into which Israel is ever
afresh falling. The repeated apostasies and ensuing judgements
which are the subject of the Book of Judges have their origin in
the primal act of disobedience, that Israel did not exterminate the
inhabitants of the land. From this point of view, ch. i, with
its long list of cities remaining in the hands of the Canaanites,
including many of the most important places in Central and
Northern Palestine, forms a fitting introduction to the present
Book of Judges.
It had, however, no place in the original plan of the book, but
has been introduced by a later editor. For, a, the Introduction
gives, in the proper place (3 1 " 6 ), an enumeration of the native
races remaining in Canaan, or on its borders, which makes no
reference to ch. i and is not entirely consonant with it. b,
Jud. 2 6 " 10 is the immediate continuation, in sense and structure,
of Jos. 24^.* The intrusion of Jud. i lb -2 5 between two consecu-
tive sentences of the narrative led later, perhaps in connexion
with the division into books, to the creation of a new close for
Jos. 24, v. 28 " 31 being restored from Jud. 2 6 ' 9 ,f while v. 32 - ^ are frag-
mentary notices from another source which came in appropriately
at the end of the history of that generation.
The whole character of Jud. i 1 -2 5 gives evidence that it was
not composed for the place, but is an extract from an older
history of the Israelite occupation of Canaan. It has not, how-
ever, been preserved just as it was in the original source. The
editor, to whom its value lay, not in what it told of the conquests
* The translations of Jud. a 6 in AV. and RV., which conceal this fact, are
grammatically false.
t A careful comparison of the two passages will show clearly, I think, that this
is their true relation, and not, as is still commonly assumed, that Jud. 2 6 - 10 was
borrowed by the Deuteronomic author of Judges from Jos. 2428-31. Comp. the
somewhat similar case, Ezra i 1 -^ = 2 Chr. 3622*-.
I. i-II. 5 5
of Israel, but in the evidence it gave of the incompleteness of the
conquest, that is, of the unfaithfulness of Israel, has apparently
abridged and adapted it to his purpose ; and the trace of still
later hands is probably to be recognized in certain additions and
changes.
On the critical restoration of the chapter, see Wellhausen, Einleitung*,
p. 181-183 = Co mposition d. Hexai., p. 213-215; E. Meyer, ZATW. i.
p. 135 ff.; Budde, ZATW. vii. p. 94 ff. = Richter u. Samuel, p. 2 ff. (cf.
84-89); Kuenen, Historisch-critisch Onderzoek, i. p. 356-358; Kittel, Ge-
schichte der Hebraer, i. i. p. 239245.
Ch. i la is an editorial title corresponding to Jos. I 1 ; v.*, superfluous and
disturbing by the side of v. 5 " 7 , is probably secondary; v. 8 , an interpolation
induced by' v. 7b , directly contradicting v. 21 Jos. I5 63 cf. Jud. I9 10 - 12 2 S. 5 ff -;
v. 9 makes the impression of a general summary by a later hand; v. 10 - 20 are
severed parts of the original, which may be restored by the help of Jos. I5 13fl ;
v. 18 flatly contradicts v. 19 , and is, like v. 8 , in conflict with the facts; v. 21
= Jos. I5 63 , with the change of the original Judah to Benjamin, in conformity
with later representations of the partition of the land; v. 19 - 21 , or perhaps 21 - 19 ,
originally stood after v. 7 . The story of the conquests of Joseph is dispropor-
tionately meagre, and has very likely been abridged by the editor; Budde,
with considerable probability, conjectures that Jos. 1714-18 Nu. 32 39 - 41 - 42 Jos. I3 13
originally stood in this connexion. The account of the settlement of the
northern tribes may be similarly curtailed. With v. 34 *"- Jos. I9 47 may once
have been joined. In 2 1 " 5 , only v. la - 6b , " The Angel of Yahweh went up from
Gilgal to Bethel, . . . and they sacrificed there to Yahweh," can belong to the
older narrative; v.i b - 3a are in the characteristic manner of the redaction of
Judges. On all this, see more fully below in the commentary.
Although thus by no means intact, the passage presents, after the manifest
interpolations have been removed, a sufficiently orderly and intelligible con-
nexion. Recent criticism has thus set aside the hypothesis of compilation
(Stud.; cf. Preiss, ZWTh. 1892, p. 496), and must qualify the strong terms
in which the confusion and fragmentariness of the chapter has often been
spoken of, e.g. by Kuenen.
Fragments of this narrative are also preserved in different places
in the Book of Joshua: Jos. i5 13 ' 19 = Jud. i 10 -! 5 - 20 ; Jos. is 63
= Jud. i 21 ; Jos. i6 10 = Jud. i 29 ; Jos. i 7 u - 13 = Jud. i**. As
these passages, which in Judges stand in good connexion, are
in Joshua broken up and scattered, fitting so loosely in the con-
text that it would frequently gain by their removal, and strikingly
at variance with the prevailing tenor of the book, the explanation
which first suggests itself is that they have been inserted in Joshua
6 JUDGES
directly from Judges by a relatively late hand.* Against this must
be set, however, the fact, properly emphasized by Budde, that in
more than one of these parallels, Jos. has preserved the original
text, while in Jud. it has been intentionally altered ; see especially
v. 10 - *- 19> 21 . This is better explained by supposing that the extracts
in Joshua were made, not from Jud. i, but from the history from
which the latter chapter was taken.f The hypothesis is confirmed
by the fact that, as Dillmann J and Budde have shown, there are
other passages in Joshua, to which there is no parallel in Jud. i,
which are almost certainly derived from the same source, viz.
Jos. I3 13 (cf. Jud. i 2 ?- 2 * 21 ) i 9 * 7 <g, and especially i7 14 - 18 .||
This source was not improbably J's history of the conquest. 1 ^
The author of the Book of Joshua uses J pretty freely in the
beginning of his history of the invasion down to the taking of Ai
and the treaty with the Gibeonites (8. 9) ; but in the following
chapters, which narrate the great victories of Joshua (10-12), and
the division of the land (13 ff.), he abandons this source, assum-
ably because its account of the gradual and imperfect subjugation
of Canaan by the tribes severally was irreconcilable with his own
unhistorical representation of the complete conquest of the land
by Joshua at the head of all Israel, the extermination of all its
inhabitants, and partition of the conquered territory. Jud. i J -2 5 ,
with the cognate fragments in Jos. 13 ff., accords very well with
the undoubted excerpts from J in Jos. 1-9 ; the whole tenor and
style of the narrative resembles that of J in the Pentateuch ; as
*So Havernick, Bl., Be., Mey., Kue., HCO 2 , Reuss, a/. On the relation
between these passages in Jos. and Jud., there are other special investigations
by Welte, 1842; Keil, Z. Luth. Th. 1846, p. i ff. The hypothesis that Jud. i is a
compilation from the Book of Jos. (Stahelin, Krit. Untersuchungen, p. 102 ff. ;
Preiss, Z WTh. 1892, p. 496) is sufficiently refuted by the facts stated above in the
text. Further, Jud. i contains other matter of the same sort (e.g. v.--'- 2 ?) which
has no parallel in Jos. That this also once stood in Jos., and was omitted, perhaps
by R d , an alternative proposed by Di. (NDJ. p. 442) , is not probable.
.f So Ke., Orelli, Kue., HKO\ Bu., Matthes, Kitt., K6. J NDJ. p. 442.
Richter und Samuel, p. 25 ff. Cf. also Wellh.-Bleek*, p. 182 = Composition d.
Hex., p. 214.
|| This meets the argument of Kue. (HCO 2 . i. p. 358) that it is improbable
that the editor of Jos. should have independently excerpted from his source exclu-
sively matters which are found in Jud. i.
H Schrader-De Wette, Einleitung* \ p. 327, Mey., Di., Sta., Bu., Kitt., Co.
I. i-II. 5 7
particular indications may be noted the precedence of Judah, the
name Canaanites, the resort to the oracle, the Angel of Yahweh.
The only positive argument of considerable weight on the other
side is the meagreness of the relation in Jud. i, the almost statisti-
cal character of much of it, in contrast to the free and vivid nar-
ration of J.* If, however, as there is independent reason for
believing, the editor of Jud. i has greatly abridged the older
history, this loses much of its force.
The age of the original of Jud. i cannot be certainly determined
from anything in the chapter itself. It is inferred from v. 21 (the
Benjamites live with the Jebusites in Jerusalem " unto this day ")
that it was written before the conquest of Zion by David, 2 S. 5 ; t
but 2 S. 24 16ff - shows that the Jebusites were not expelled by David ;
cf. also i K. 9 20f -.| On the other hand, v. 28 - 33 describe a state of
things which can hardly have existed before the reign of David
or Solomon; v. 29 (cf. ( and Jos. i6 10 ) is probably to be read in
the light of i K. p 16 , which would bring us down at least to the
time of Solomon. There are no historical references in the
chapter which conflict with our ascription of it to J.
Whether this be its origin or not, Jud. i is, beyond dispute, one
of the most precious monuments of early Hebrew history. It
contains an account of the invasion and settlement of Western
Palestine entirely different from that given in the Book of Joshua,
and of vastly greater historical value. In Joshua, the united
armies of Israel, under the c'ommand of Joshua, in two campaigns
(10. n) conquer all Palestine from the Lebanon to the southern
desert, and ruthlessly exterminate its entire population. The land
is partitioned among the tribes (13 ff.), who have only to enter
and take possession of the territory allotted to them. In Jud. i,
on the contrary, the tribes invade the land singly, or as they are
united by common interest ; they fight for their own hand with
varying success, or settle peaceably among the older population.
* Konig, Einleitung, p. 252 f. Konig exaggerates, however, when he speaks of
Jud. i as an " ungeschmiickte, wortarme Zusammenstellung von Thatsachen."
Against the ascription of the chapter to J, see also Be., p. xviii., and Kue., ffCO 2 .
i- P- 357- t Ba., Ke., Cass., K.6., with Jewish (Ki.) and older Christian scholars.
t Budde (" Critical Notes on the Hebrew Text of Samuel ") understands 2 S. 58
itself as forbidding the slaughter of the Jebusites.
8 JUDGES
The larger cities with few exceptions, the fertile valleys, and the
seaboard plain remain in the hands of the Canaanites. For long,
the Israelites were really masters only in the mountains of Central
and Southern Canaan, and the two strongest tribes, Joseph and
Judah, were completely separated from each other by a line of
Canaanite strongholds having Jerusalem as its salient.* On the
other side, the Great Plain and the fortified cities along its south-
ern margin separated Joseph from the tribes which settled farther
north.
Which of these two conflicting representations of the Israelite
invasion is the truer, cannot be for a moment in question. All
that we know of the history of Israel in Canaan in the succeeding
centuries confirms the representation of Jud. that the subjugation
of the land by the tribes was gradual and partial ; that not only
were the Canaanites not extirpated, but that many cities and
whole regions remained in their possession ; that the conquest of
these was first achieved by the kings David and Solomon. On
the other hand, the whole political and religious history of these
centuries would be unintelligible if we were to imagine it as
beginning with such a conquest of Canaan as is narrated in the
Book of Joshua. The song of Deborah alone is sufficient to prove
this representation altogether false.
From the place in which it stands, and the fact that several of the most
important things related in it, such as the taking of Hebron, are also narrated
in Jos. in connexion with the conquests of Joshua, Jud. I has sometimes been
explained as, in the main, a recapitulation of events which happened in the
lifetime of Joshua. So Thdt, quaest., 7 (cf. i), Ki., Abarb., Cler., Schm.,
Ziegler, Hgstb., Bohl. But, as has been observed above, the parallel passages
in Joshua are not an organic part of that book, with whose entire conception
of the character of the conquest they but ill accord, and therefore their
position does not prove that the events they relate occurred at the time to
which they are ascribed by their present context. Others, following the title,
v. la , put the events related in Jud. I " after the death of Joshua." f So among
* The cities named in Jud. i 85 , and those of the Gibeonite confederation,
Jos. 9*7 ; see Stade, ZA TW. j. p. 147 ; Budde, Richter und Samuel, p. 17.
t The parallels in Jos. are then explained as anticipatory ; that is, the author
of that book, in narrating the conquests of Israel, for the sake of completeness,
introduced, out of their chronological order, certain things which were not accom-
plished till a later time; Aug., quaest., 3 (but cf. 6), Glossa ord. t Ra; RLbG., Brenz,
Ba., a/. Others, while putting the greater part of the chapter after the death of
I. i-II. 5 9
modern scholars, Ke., Ba., Be., Cass. This title of the canonical editor (see
comm.) is, however, of no authority. In point of fact, the situation pre-
supposed in Jud. I and the invasion there described, is, in its character and
results, inconceivable if the land in all its length and breadth had already
been conquered and its inhabitants exterminated by Joshua. We require,
at least, some reference to the revolution by which all the results of Joshua's
wars were lost; we must know who sowed the land with dragon's teeth, that
in the place of the population which Joshua destroyed, man, woman, and
child, another generation better able to defend its own sprang up in a night.
In default of this, the commentators and historians who treat Jud. I as a con-
tinuation of the history of the conquest after the death of Joshua are con-
strained to reduce to the uttermost the extent and importance of Joshua's
victories. These victories, it is said, broke the power of the Canaanite
confederacies in the north and south, so that they no longer presented a
formidable front in the field, but by no means resulted in the subjugation of
all Canaan. The fortified towns defied the invaders, or were speedily recov-
ered by them. All over the land, as soon as the first wave of conquest passed,
the Canaanites raised their heads again. The reduction of the strongholds,
and the occupation of the territory allotted to each, was left to the tribes
severally. In this task, some were more persistent and successful than
others; some soon came to terms with the people of the land. It is this
phase of the struggle that is described in Jud. I. The harmony thus estab-
lished between Jos. and Jud. is only attained by substituting for the story of
the conquest in Jos. 10-12 a rationalistic version which is as irreconcilable
with the text of Jos. as Jud. I itself. Of such fruitless victories as left all the
work to be done over, of strongholds unsubdued, or Canaanites left to garrison
them, the Book of Joshua knows nothing. The register of Joshua's conquests,
the cities which he gave to the tribes of Israel for a possession (ch. 13),
contains not only the names of the cities which in Jud. I are taken by the
several tribes (Hebron, Debir, Bethel), but of the far more numerous cities
which, as we know both from Jud. I and the later history, remained Canaanite
for generations, Jerusalem, Gezer, Taanach, Megiddo, etc.
Jud. I can therefore only be understood as a history of the first conquests
and settlements of the Israelite tribes in Western Palestine, a counterpart to
the Book of Joshua, whose representation it contravenes at all essential points.
So Stud., We., Mey., Sta., GVI. I. p. 66 f.; Kue., Bu., Kitt, Dr., Co.
In spite of the fundamental contradiction, there are striking agreements
between the story of the conquest in Jos. and Jud. I. The struggle begins in
the south (Adoni-zedek, king of Jerusalem, and Adoni-bezek, who dies at
Jerusalem) ; the settlement of Judah and its affined clans is followed by that
of Joseph (Jos. I4 6 - 15 151-12.13-19 ^iff- i;i4-i8) ; the other tribes are provided for
Joshua, have referred certain of the events narrated in it to the last years of his
life ; so Chytraeus (v.8-16) , Eichh. (v.^-iS), Schnurrer (v.iOff- 20) ; or without attempt-
ing to discriminate, v. Lengerke, Wahl.
10 JUDGES
later, and their standing is different from that of the great southern and central
tribes (Jos. i8 lff -). Jos. n is unquestionably related to Jud. 4 (Jabin of
Hazor), as Jos. 10 is to Jud. I 5 " 7 . The account of the conquest in Joshua is
the product of successive theological reconstructions of the history. Its basis
seems to have been a relation closely akin to the original of Jud. I, if not
identical with it; but this historical basis is completely transformed by the
ascription of the doings of the several tribes to all Israel, and of the events
of succeeding generations to the first period of the invasion, and by the
substitution of the theological ideal of a conquest by the people of Yahweh
for the sober reality.
I. l a . Title. After the death of Joshua} cf. Jos. i 1 . From
the hand of the canonical editor to .divide the books of Jos. and
Jud.* The death of Joshua marked the close of the period of
conquest, as that of Moses (Dt. 34 5f- ) the end of the Exodus and
wandering. The division is therefore a natural one, and the title
stands in a suitable place after Jos. 24- ^.f What immediately
follows, however (i lb -2 5 ), does not relate things which took place
after the death of Joshua, but is an account of the invasion of
Canaan and its results, running parallel to Jos., but giving a wholly
different representation ; see above, p. 7-9.
I. l b -8. The Israelites inquire of the oracle what tribe shall
first attack the Canaanites. Judah is designated, and, making
common cause with Simeon, invades the land. They defeat and
capture Adoni-hezek.
The original connexion of i lb is lost. It must have been pre-
ceded at least by an account of the passage of the Jordan and the
taking of Jericho, the remains of which are probably still to be
recognized in the composite narrative in Jos. ; perhaps also by a
preliminary division of the land to be conquered (v. 3 ). Whether
we should also include an account of the operations against Ai
(Jos. 8) and the oldest version of the ruse of the Gibeonites
(Jos, 9) is more doubtful. $
* See Doom. p. 17, and esp. Paine, Bibliotheca Sacra t 1891, p. 652 ff. A some-
what similar suggestion is made by Ziegler, Theol. Abhandlungen, i. (1791), p. 282.
t This ending of Jos. 24 is, however, itself probably restored by the editor from
Jud. 2 8 - 10 ; see above, p. 4. The natural place for the title in the original context
would be before Jud. 2 11 .
% See on these questions, Mey., ZATW. i. p. 136; Bu., Richter und Samuel,
p. 50 ff.; Kitt., GdH. i. i. p. 245 ff.
1. 1. II
1. The Israelites inquired of Yahweti] consulted the oracle of
Y. ; cf. i8 5 . The phrase does not occur in the Hexateuch, in
which the only reference to the consultation of the oracle (Nu. 2 7 21
Po) is differently expressed. It is used not only of the oracle of
Yahweh, but of a ' stock ' (Hos. 4 12 ) ; teraphim (Ez. 2I 26 ) ; manes
(i Chr. io 13 ). It is natural here to think of the priestly oracle (i8 5
i S. 22 10 - 13 - 15 ), by the ephod (i S. 23* 3O 7 ), or urim and thummim
(i S. i4 41 (). As in the Pentateuch the latter is in the hands of
the High Priest only, Jewish and many Christian interpreters have
inferred that the response on this occasion was given by Phineas,
son of Eleazar,* but it is unsafe to ascribe this intention to the
author, who more probably has in mind the oracle at Gilgal (2 1 ),
long one of the most frequented holy places. The Israelites are,
of course, the tribes which settled west of the Jordan. f The story
supposes them encamped together in the plain near Jericho (i 16 )
and Gilgal (2 1 ), from which point they separate, Judah and Simeon
to invade the south, Joseph to occupy the central highlands.
That the tribes, which before the death of Joshua had taken possession of
their partially subjugated allotments, now held a council at Shiloh (Procop.,
a Lap., Ba.) to plan measures against the Canaanites who were left in their
several territories; that from the council they returned home and opened a
series of campaigns in different parts of the land, Judah making the first,
attack (Ba.), is a figment without the slightest warrant in the text.
Their question is not, Who shall lead us in a joint expedition ? t
or, What tribe shall have the hegemony ? but, What tribe shall
first invade its own region ? II as the response and the following
narrative clearly show, and as, indeed, the language requires.
The Canaanites'} collective name for the inhabitants of the land ;
see on 3 3 . Those who find in Jud. i a continuation of the history
in Jos. are compelled to explain the words of the Canaanites who
remained unsubdued in the territory of the several tribes,^!" an
* Fl. Jos., antt. v. 2, i 120 ; cf. Jud. sjo 2 . The death of Eleazar is recorded
in Jos. 24 33 (cf. <5) in close connexion with that of Joshua.
t That they were accompanied and aided in the conquest of the land by the
contingent of the tribes east of the Jordan is the representation of E and D.
t OILS, Aug., other Ff. Fl. Jos., Euseb., Ephr. Syr., Schm., Ew.
|| Rabb., a Lyra, Masius, Drus., Cler., most moderns.
U Procop., Rabb., Brenz, and many.
12 JUDGES
interpretation which is neither warranted by the text here, nor
consonant with the representation of Jos. (cf. 1 1 16 - 20 ) .* 2. The
oracle designates Judah. In Jos. also the first victories of Israel
are gained in the south (ch. 10), and Judah is the first of the
tribes west of the Jordan to receive its allotment (ch. 14. 15). It
has been suggested above that the author of Joshua had before him
an account of the invasion of Canaan strongly resembling Jud. i.
Whether this precedence of Judah, like the part assigned to Judah
in J's story of Joseph and his brethren, is to be attributed to the
Judahite origin of the narrative, or whether it may preserve a
reminiscence of the fact that Judah was the first of the tribes to
establish itself in Canaan, cannot well be decided.^ 3. Judah
said to Simeon his brother} utique tribus ad tribum (Aug). Simeon
was the " brother " of Judah, not only as all the tribes of Israel
were brethren, but in the closer kindred of the Leah tribes
(Gen. 29 s2 - 35 ). The seats of Simeon were in the south of Judah;
its towns (Jos. I9 1 " 9 ) were all within the limits of Judah, and in
Jos. itj 26 * 32 - 42 are included in the list of the latter tribe (cf. also
i Chr. 4 28 ~ 33 ). On Simeon see further below, on v. 17 . Judah
proposes that they unite their forces for the invasion, first of the
territory of Judah, and then of the more southern district which
fell to Simeon. The words imply that the invasion had not yet
begun ; the two tribes are encamped, with the others, at a point
outside of the territory which they subsequently occupied, at Gil-
gal, j as we are to infer not only from 2 1 but probably also from
Jos. 14-16; see below.- Into my allotted territory} The tribes
go up, not to conquer for themselves a lot, but each to conquer
its own lot. It is clearly presupposed that there was an under-
standing among them before the beginning of the invasion in
what quarter each was to seek its fortune, a preliminary division
* See above, the last note, and p. 8 f.
f It is thought by some scholars that Judah entered the land, not from the east,
as is assumed in the passage before us, in agreement with all the other sources,
but from the south (Graf, Simeon, p. 15 f., Kuen., Land, Tiele, Doom. ; cf. Bud.,
Richter . Samuel, p. 41). I am inclined to think that this is true of Caleb, but not
of Judah ; see below on v. 10 - 2.
| Not at Shechem (Be.), or at Shiloh (Ba.) ; the conquest of this region by
Joseph falls, according to the representation of our chapter, after the invasion of
the South by Judah. Wellhausen.
I. 2-4 13
of the land to be conquered.* It is probable that in its original
connexion, v. lb was preceded by an account of this partition, and
possible that traces of this account may be found in Jos. i4 6ff - i5 lff -
(Judah) and i6 lff - (Joseph). It is noteworthy that in Jos. 14-16
these tribes only have their territory assigned to them at Gilgal.
In what manner the author of Jud. i conceived this division to
have been made, we cannot certainly make out ; the reference to
the oracle (v. lf- ) and the term " allotment " suggest the sacred lot ;
cf. Jos. i8 6 ' 10 . Whether such a partition of the land actually took
place is a question for historical criticism ; f the language of these
verses leaves no doubt that the author so represented it.
1. rnmj W, DinVfrO W] i8 5 20 18 - 23 - 27 ; freq. (11 t.) in Sam. 'The 3 is
originally local; cf. 2 am, Vx am, &c. *?N rhy~] march up to, against. The
hostile sense, oftener expressed by Vy, is sufficiently indicated in the context;
cf. 3 nVy, invade (a region, country), v. 3 Nu. I3 22 Is. 7 6 . uV] expressing
the common interest; cf. Dt. 3O 12f -. We should more likely say, who of us.
nSnn^] lit. at the beginning. nSnn (inf. n. of Snn, begin) is not used
of order in place or rank but of inception in time; cf. io 18 IPX aNn in
pop ^33 anSn 1 ? 'JIT, who will first attack the Ammonites. \ 2. p xn n ** <in
vra] / deliver . . . into his power, give up to him, v. 4 2 14 3 10 4 7 and often,
especially in the introductions to the stories of the judges, Ex. 23 31 Jos. 2i 42
&c. The pf. represents the future as, in the thought and purpose of the
speaker, already an accomplished fact, an unalterable certainty; Dr. 3 13,
Ges. 25 1 06, 3 a. 3. i^Ji] in sortem meant (Aug., 3L V ), not in sorte mea
(2j,codd. piur. edd. } B a> ) . i, nu i s allotment, allotted portion of territory, Jos. 1 7 14 - lr ,
eventually, like ic\7)pos, portion, estate. iroVrn . . . nnnSj) . . . rhy~] go up with
me . . . and let us fight . . . and I will go with thee. Bidding and promise,
cf. v. 24 . When the bidding or asking clause is felt to be logically dependent,
such sentences pass over into the class of conditionals, If you go with me, I
will go with you (Paul, Principien der Sprachgeschichte 1 , p. 124).
4. The verse is superfluous ; except the ten thousand slain a
round number for which we need hardly seek an historical source
it tells us nothing which we do not read in the context. By
the side of v. 5 " 7 it occasions serious difficulty. As an anticipative
* But that Jud. i presupposes the great cadaster, Jos. 15-21, and would be unin-
telligible without it (Be.), cannot be admitted. For the necessary knowledge of
the seats and bounds of the tribes, the author's contemporaries did not need to
consult the domesday book.
t See Kitt., GdH. i. i. p. 246 f. ; Bu., Richt. u. Sam., p. 41 1.
J On Jud. 20^, see note there.
14 JUDGES
general statement of the result of the campaign which is related
in detail in v. 5 ' 7 ,* it is very clumsy ; nor are the interpretations
more satisfactory which refer v. 4 and 5 to successive moments in
the invasion, whether, with Bertheau, we suppose that after a first
defeat near Bezek, in which he lost 10,000 men, Adoni-bezek
threw himself into the town, where he was again attacked and put
to flight ; or, with Cassel, that in the first battle Adoni-bezek was
not engaged. In either case, we should expect the narrator to
explain in some way the relation between the two defeats of the
same people at the same place. Probably the redactor, having
abridged his source by omitting the beginning of the story of
Adoni-bezek, filled its place with these general phrases borrowed
from the context
E. Meyer {ZATW. i. p. 135) regards v. 4 (except >nsn and perh. the
number 10,000) as derived from J, and rejects v. 5 as repetition; he finds
other grounds for suspicion in v. 7b compared with v. 21 , and in the use of
DTiSx, v. 7a , though he does not deny that the story of Adoni-bezek may have
an historical basis. Kue. doubts the whole of v. 4 - 7 on historical grounds;
Matthes ascribes v. 6 - 7 to the last hand (canonical editor). See against Mey.
and Kue., Bu., Rich*, u. Sam., p. 3 f. Kitt. {GdH. i. i. p. 241) thinks that in
v. 4 the words, And Y. gave the Canaanites into their power, may be genuine,
which is certainly not impossible.
Judah alone is named (cf. v . 8 - 9 - 10 prob. all secondary).
Their hand . . . they smote~\ the men of Judah ; the common
distributive plural with a collective noun. On the Canaanites and
Perizzites, and on Bezek, see on v. 5 . Ten thousand men] 3
(they slew of Moab ten thousand men) 4 6 f 2O 34 2 K. i4 7 &c. ;
a common round number. 5. They came upon Adoni-bezek at
Bezek~\ if v. 4 (Judah went up) is from the hand of an editor, the
plural probably referred originally to the allies, Judah and Simeon,
v. 3 . There is good reason to suspect that the beginning of the
story of Adoni-bezek, which would have told us who he was, and
perhaps something of the circumstances under which the allies
encountered him, has been omitted by the editor. BezeK\ the
name occurs in the O.T. only in i S. 1 1 8 , where Saul musters at
Bezek the force he has raised for the relief of Jabesh Gilead. The
Bezek of i S. 1 1 is, without doubt, the modern Khirbet Ibziq, 14
* Abarb., Schm., Ke., Ba,
! 4-5 15
Engl. miles SSW. of Beisan, and a somewhat less distance from
the mouth of Wady Yabis, of which it lies directly west. Many
scholars identify the place in our text with this Bezek.* The
situation, however, does not meet the requirements of the narra-
tive at all. At the beginning of the story, Judah and Simeon set
out from the neighbourhood of Gilgal to invade the region in which
they were afterward settled ; its end (v. 7) brings us to Jerusalem,
and we should naturally infer that the battle took place at no
great distance from that city.| Ibziq lies wholly outside of this
sphere of action, and in an opposite direction. Others have
therefore supposed that there was another, hitherto unidentified,
Bezek in Judah, J and if the text be sound, this seems necessary.
Budde thinks that the name Bezek was introduced by an editor,
who derived it merely from the name of the king Adoni-bezek ;
but after the words " they came upon A.," an indication of the
scene of the encounter is certainly expected, || and this gap would
not be filled by the words " king of Jerusalem," which Budde con-
ceives originally to have stood in this place. A more serious diffi-
culty is the name Adoni-bezek. This is generally explained, Lord
of Bezek ; but such a formation is altogether anomalous. No com-
pound names of persons in Hebrew are made in this way from the
name of a town, nor if we should evade this objection by taking
the words appellatively *[[ is adon used like melek of the sover-
eign of a city or country. In names compounded with adon, the
second part is uniformly the name of a god,** Adoni-zedek (Adom-
Sedeq), Adoniram (Adoni-Ram), Adonijah (Adoni-Yahu).tt If
* Euseb., Ki., Ew., Hitz., Di., Stud., Be., Ke., MV., SS., al.
f This is confirmed by Jos. 10, according to which the Israelites, coming up
from Gilgal, encounter the enemy at Gibeon.
J Cler., Rosenm., v. Raum., Ba., Grove, al.
Sandys (1610) notes a Bezek 2 m. from Bethzur (Reland, p. 663), which does
not seem to have been heard of by more recent travellers. Conder would identify
Bezek with Bezkah, 6 m. SE. of Lydda (SWP. Memoirs, iii. p. 36). Schotanus
suggested Bozkath (npxa), Jos. i5 39 . Cass. takes the noun appellatively, the ' stony
desert ' W. of the Dead Sea, without support in Heb. or intrinsic probability.
|| The words fr TJJ Bee* are lacking, however, in ffi56- 108. t , perhaps by accident.
II So Sb. ** The same is true of compounds of melek.
ft Similarly in Phren. : JDBWW, Syajix, PDIWW. The one apparent exception
in the O.T., Adonikam, Ezr. 2 13 , is differently formed, and, moreover, probably
corrupt ; Neh. io 17 gives him the name Adonijah. See Renan, Hist, d' Israel, i.
p. 241 ; Bu., Richt. u. Sam., p. 64.
I 6 JUDGES
the name Adoni-bezek is sound, Bezek must be an otherwise
unknown god, whose name, we might then suppose, the town also
bore. The question is further complicated by Jos. 10, where, in
an account which, notwithstanding its radical divergences, is par-
allel to Jud. i 1 " 7 , and based on the same or a closely similar
source, the head of the Canaanite confederacy which first makes
front against the Israelite invaders is Adoni-zedek, king of Jeru-
salem. The latter is a normal formation which has a striking par-
allel in Melchi-zedek (Malki-Sedeq),* king of Jerusalem (Gen. 14).
It seems probable, therefore, that in the place of the problematical
Adoni-bezek, king (v. 7 ) of some nameless city,f the original of
Jud. i (J) had Adoni-zedek, king of Jerusalem, j
Bezek (pis)] Euseb. (OS 2 . 2^7 52 ) notes two neighbouring villages of the name,
17 R. m. from Neapolis, on the road to Scythopolis (Beth-shean). This is the
Khirbet Ibziq of the Engl. Survey {Great Map, sh. 12; Memoirs, ii. p. 231,
237), 14 E. m. from Nabulus, with which Eshtori Parchi (A.D. 1322; ed. Venet.
fol. 66 & ) had already identified \\.. Adoni-bezek} Jerome (OS 2 . 313 cf. 2317)
interprets dominus fulminis, or dominus meus fulgurans. The former might
seem to be a possible Hebrew name; cf. Barak (ch. 4. 5); Boapepyes (Mar. 3 17 );
Scipiades, belli fulmina, &c. But pns is not used like tya of the possessor of
a quality or attribute, and PT3 fulmen rests solely on the probably corrupt text
of Ez. i 14 . The identity of Adoni-bezek, Jud. i, and Adoni-zedek, Jos. 10,
which was discussed by older Catholic commentators (see e.g. a Lapide), is
accepted by many recent critics. Against the hypothesis adopted above in
the text, Bu. and We. contend that the original form of the name was Adoni-
bezek, as in Jud.; Adoni-zedek in Jos. being an intentional differentiation
in some way connected with Melchi-zedek, Gen. 14. In support of this view
the fact is adduced that in Jos. the MSS. of (Sr, with singular unanimity,
exhibit ASow/Seffe/c (cf. also OS 2 . 26513; 1323 2317); unintentional confor-
mation of (JEr in Jos. to Jud. is less probable, it is argued, than differentiation
in f for harmonistic reasons, which also led to the omission in Jud. of the
title, king of Jerusalem. But since Adoni-zedek is regularly formed and
supported by analogy, while Adoni-bezek is quite anomalous, it seems more
* pix, SV&VK (Philo Bybl.) , is the name of a Canaanite deity ; cf. "p'tt (name
of a king) on coins (Bloch, Phoen. Glossar, p. 55). Cf. "?Kpns, -Oip-jx, in S. Arabia
(Praetorius, in ZDMG. xxvi. p. 426).
. t It is to be particularly observed that he is not called king of Bezek. On the
other hand, the end of his history, vJ, shows that he was in some way connected
with Jerusalem.
J The last words would naturally stand, not here (Bu.) , but at the first intro-
duction of his name, now omitted.
The opposite opinion is defended by Kitt., GdH. i. i. p. 277 f.
I. 5-6 17
probable that if there was any intentional change it was in the latter, not in
the former.* The motive for such a change need not have been purely
harmonistic ; this may be one of the not infrequent perversions of proper
names by a contemptuous and silly wit, such as perhaps turned Din runn 2 9
into mD 'n Jos. 24 3 .t A third variation of this name is exhibited by Fl. Jos.,
antt. v. 2, 2 121 (on Jud. i), Steph. Byz., Procop. Gaz. (on Jud. i), g 18 - 18 *
in Jos. lo 1 , viz., AduvifrfteK (Ze/Se/c, Ze/J^/c?;). Whether this is a corruption in
Greek, or represents an (intermediate?) variation in Heb., can hardly be
determined.
The Canaanites and the Perizzites] the Perizzites coupled with
the Canaanites, v. 4 Gen. i3 7 34 30 (J), and frequently in the cata-
logue of the peoples of Palestine, the " seven nations " of Dt. y l . J
We know nothing more about them. " The land of the Perizzites
and the Rephaim (giants)," Jos. ly 15 , is probably a gloss or a
corruption, and it is extremely precarious to infer from this collo-
cation, taken with the absence of the name in Gen. 10, that the
Perizzites belonged to a still older population which the Canaan-
ites had supplanted and reduced to villeinage. || It may rather be
questioned whether they were in reality a ' people ' (tribe, clan) at
all, or only a class of the Canaanite population, the inhabitants of
peasant villages, as the name suggests.
Vlfln] ino Dt. 3 5 i S. 6 18 are the inhabitants of unwalled villages, rona
Ez. 38 11 ; cf. MH., Meg. 19*. It is possible that these Canaanite peasants
were later imagined to have been a distinct people, and that the pronunciation
^no is an artificial discrimination from the appellative use. Or apparently
knew nothing of this distinction; for it has <i>e/jefcuot in Dt. and Sam. also,
where the later Greek translators render
6. They cut off his thumbs and great toes~\ the mutilation doubly
disabled him for fighting, and probably also disqualified him for
reigning. Clericus quotes from Aelian, var. hist., ii. 9, the story
that the Athenians voted to cut off the right thumb of every Aegine-
tan they captured, Iva Sopv ^kv /?acrraeiv /u/J) Swwi/rat, KWTrrjv 8c
* That in Jos. the corruption has infected <S, but not fg, is of no great signifi-
cance ; cf. the variations of in Jud. 2 9 Jos. 24 30 cited below.
t Such wit would be capable of giving a contemptuous twist to p!2.
J On these lists, see below, on 3 5 .
Wanting in .
|| Dillm., BL. iv. p. 462, cf. NDJ. p. 546; Kautzsch, HWB1 ii. p. 1193.
C
1 8 JUDGES
vav Swcoirai.* Hannibal, according to Valer. Max., ix. 2, ext. 2,
mutilated prisoners of war, prima pedum parte succisa. After the
surrender of Uxellodunum, Caesar cut off the hands of all who had
borne arms (bell, gall., viii. 44). 7. Seventy kings, 6<r.] This
sounds more like a savage boast than the note of contrition,
though he recognizes a retribution in his fate. The obvious
exaggeration is no reason for questioning the genuineness of the
verse,f nor for the conjecture that the number has been raised
from seven, % nor for supplying in thought, " at different times."
The table was a small, low stand, around which those who partook
of the meal sat on the ground, or which was placed before them
as they sat upon chairs or couches. || We are not, therefore, to
imagine the kings actually under the table, but as gathering up
from the ground, like dogs (Matt. i5' 27 , Odyss. xvii. 309), the frag-
ments which fell as their master ate ; and we may perhaps best
represent this if we think of him as sitting, like Saul (i S. 20 *),
upon a divan by the wall with the table before him.^[ They
brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there~] the common, and
indubitably the most natural interpretation of these words, viz.
that the Israelites, as they now marched to attack Jerusalem
(v. 8), carried their captive with them, is beset by great difficulty.
The author of this story of the conquest tells us plainly that the
invaders were unable to dislodge the Jebusites from Jerusalem
(Jos. I5 63 Jud. i 21 ); v. 8 , which says the opposite, is for that
reason by another and a later hand. To relieve this difficulty,
several recent scholars ** give the verb in v. 7b an indefinite subject,
men brought him, he was brought, sc. by his own people, to
* The story is repeated or referred to by Xen., hist.gr., ii. i, 31 ; Plut., vit. Lys.,
9; Cic., de o/., iii. n; Valer. Max., ix. 2, ext. 8. Whether it is true, or only a
Peloponnesian slander (K. O. Miiller), it shows that such atrocities were not
inconceivable even in Greek warfare. Examples among the Persians, Quint. Curt.,
iii. 20, v. 17 ; Diod, Sic., xvii. 69 ; Arabs, Ew., G VI. ii. p. 494 n.
t Kue. + Kitt. Ba.
|| Seemingly the oldest custom among the Egyptians and the Homeric Greeks
also ; cf. Erman, Aegypten u. aeg. Leben, p. 262 f. ; Buchholz, Homerische Realien,
ii. 2, p. 161 ff. ; Baumeister, Denkmaler, p. 1817 f. ; Lane, Modern Egyptians^,
p. 142 ff. ; Thomson, Land and Bootfi, iii. p. 75 f. ; Benzinger, Hebr. Archdologie,
p. 113, 123. Reclining at meals was a new foreign fashion in Israel in the 8th
century ; see Am. 312 6*. If See the cut in Thomson, I.e., p. 76.
** Cass., Reuss, Bu., Kitt.
I. 6-7 19
Jerusalem;* a notice which becomes at once more intelligible
and more significant if, as has been supposed, he was king of
Jerusalem, and that city was not attempted by Judah at this time.
6. ixxp 1 '] Pi. cut off, praccidere: 2 S. 4 12 (hands and feet); cf. Qal
Dt. 25 12 . vVjni m> nuna] pi. only here and v. 7 ; sg. jru Ex. 292 &c. The
plural in ffl, is formed as from a sg. pna which f^ sam - has throughout in place
of 3t^ ud - pa. Arab, has by the side of rH^1 the vulgar forms r*l-&J and
iV^O. The noun is prob. fern., like other names of members of the body
(Ges. 25 122. 3 c; Stade, 310 <:); Gesen. made it masc. through miscon-
struction of v. 7 ; in Arab, it has both genders, the fem. prevailing. The
annexion of two genitives to one noun occurs in Heb. only when the genitives
naturally go together, or form a standing phrase, as in 'psi D-'DJP mpn, Jer. 33 25 ;
Btt-n aSn nar jn, Dt. II 9 Jer. II 5 &c.; see also Nu. 2O 5 Is. 22 5 ; a striking
example is Jud. 7 25 axn aij? ttx-\. In Arabic the constr. is more freely used.
(gfA.B\ h as here Ka i T fr & K p a T&v TTod&v O.VTOV, and it is possible that their
Heb. conformed to the common construction, Ex. 29 20 : < LM % e support fif .
7. o^xxpD orpS.ni D.-PT mjna D'oSn D^atr] the ptcp. is to be taken with
OoSD (circumstantial) ; nuna is adv. accus. of determination (Stud., Be., Ges. 25
121. 2, n. i; see Wright, Arab. Gram., ii. 44 e; Howell, Arab. Grant.,
i. 83 ff.) ; cf. 2 S. I5 32 Neh. 4 12 . For a different construction of these cases
see Ew., 288 b (De Sacy, Gram. Arabs, ii. 320 f.; Fleischer, Kl. Schriften,
i. p. 644). onDpSn vn] Dr. 8 135. 5; Ges. 25 116. 5 n., 2. ?n^] in older
texts only of the king's table (i S. 2O 29 and freq.). To be connected not with
Heb. nSir (=^Lww) 'send' (not 'spread out,' MV.), but with Aram. Syr.
' strip off' (skin of an animal, clothing, &c.) ; xnW n^c ; (MH.
- ? '
^AAM 'skin, hide.' Like the Arab. S*JLw (from *JUu 'sweep off,
strip off'), it was originally a round mat of leather with a drawing-string in
the edge, such as is still in use among the Bedawin, which, spread out on the
ground, served for a table, drawn up, as a receptacle for food ; and was subse-
quently applied to the wooden or metal tray set upon a stand, which in town
life superseded this primitive arrangement. See Lane, Arab.-Engl. Lex.,
p. 1371 B; Niebuhr, Arabien, 1772, p. 52; Doughty, Arabia Deserta, 1888,
i. p. 148. Whether the name jnStt'. was given it in Heb. because it was originally
of leather (Levy, NHWb. iv. p. 560), or because it was removed, stripped off,
after using, can hardly be decided. The form of the noun is anomalous;
Lagarde (Bildung d. Nomina, p. 204 f.) rightly regards it as of foreign type,
and (with jrnp f3"V, I5")7) borrowed from an Aramaic dialect. Earth (Nomi-
nalbildung, p. xxix n) explains the a (instead of the normal 0) as the result
* Ges. 26 144, 3 b. ; Green, 245, 2.
20 JUDGES
of dissimilation, to avoid the sequence of rounded vowels u (0) o. This is not
satisfactory, because: I, such dissimilation would more probably have affected
the first vowel (giving silkon} , as in the examples Earth himself has collected
in the text; 2, the object of the dissimilation is not attained by substituting
r(a = o) fori (6). D^P] requite; of divine retribution for evil deeds, Dt.
7 10 Jer. 25 14 &c. DTiSs] in the intercourse between men of different tribes,
worshippers of different gods, the common name is naturally used; it is no
reason for doubting the genuineness of the verse (Mey.).
8. Of the capture and destruction of Jerusalem as here nar-
rated, there is no trace in the history. Even the Book of Joshua,
which relates at large the overthrow of its king Adoni-zedek and
the destruction of all the other cities of his confederacy, is signifi-
cantly silent about Jerusalem (Jos. 10; cf. 12). In Jud. iQ 1 "- it
is a city of the Jebusites, "where there are no Israelites," and
where, therefore, a belated wayfarer hesitates to seek hospitality.
The taking of Jerusalem, with its stronghold Zion, is, in fact, one
of the great achievements of David (28. 5 s " 9 ),* the memory of
which is perpetuated in the name City of David. But we are not
left to inferences ; the author of the history from which Jud. i is
derived tells us explicitly that the invaders did not could not
gain possession of Jerusalem. We are fortunate enough to have
this statement in two places which it is instructive to place side
by side.
Jos. I5 63 The Jebusites inhabiting Jeru- Jud. I 21 The Jebusites inhabiting Jeru-
salem, the Judahites could not dis- salem, the Benjamites did not dis-
possess ; and the Jebusites dwelt possess; and the Jebusites dwelt
with the Judahites in Jerusalem, to with the Benjamites in Jerusalem,
this day. to this day.
These passages are identical even to the inverted order of the sentence ;
the only differences are indicated by the italic type. In this variation it can
hardly be doubted that Jos. has preserved the original; the editor of Jud. has,
as in other places in- the chapter, changed could not to did not in conformity
to his theory of the responsibility for this failure, and substituted Benjamin
for Judah in harmony with the partition which allotted Jerusalem to the
former tribe (Jos. I5 8 i8 16 - 28 ). For the converse changes (Stud., Be.), no
reason can be assigned. The verse probably stood in the original immediately
after v. 7 , or perhaps v. 7 - 19 - 21 .
* I S. ly 54 , implying that Jerusalem was already a great holy place of Yahweh,
is a gross anachronism.
I. 8-9 21
That this statement, in its original form as it stands in Jos.,
proceeds from J there is no reason to doubt ; it exactly corre-
sponds in substance and form to Jud. i 29 *-. It follows that v. 8 ,
which flatly contradicts v. 21 , cannot be genuine ; it was probably
inserted by an editor, who perhaps interpreted v. 7 , as most com-
mentators have done, to mean that Judah carried Adoni-bezek to
Jerusalem, and supplied an express statement of what seemed to
him to be necessarily inferred from v. 7b . Whether this be its
origin or not, the verse has no historical value.*
To harmonize v. 8 with v.' 21 (Jos. I5 3 ) and with the known facts, two
principal hypotheses have been proposed: I. They took and destroyed the
lower city, but were unable to conquer the citadel (Fl. Jos., antt. v. 2, 2
124, cf. Procop. on v. 21 ). Later the lower city was rebuilt, and inhabited
by Judahites and Benjamites as well as Jebusites; but the latter, holding the
castle, were the real masters of the* city till the time of David (Cler., Schm.,
a Lapid., Abarb.). 2. Judah took the city and burned it as related in v. 8 , but,
as they did not occupy it, the Jebusites soon rebuilt and fortified it so strongly
that neither Benjamin, in whose territory it lay, nor Judah, whose border it
threatened, was able to reconquer it. After a time, during which it was wholly
Jebusite (Jud. i9 llf -)> Judahites and Benjamites settled as metics beside the
citizens -of the place, and this relation continued till David's time, when, the
power passing into Israelite hands, it was reversed (cf. Aug., quaest. 7, Thdt,
Ew., Ke., Be., Reuss, Ba.). By the first of these hypotheses v. 8 and v. 21 are
made to refer to different things, the lower city, the citadel; by the second,
to different periods, at the beginning of the invasion, in later times; neither
is consistent with the text ; if such had been the author's meaning he would
have made it plain. 'Ji icnS>i] the verbs cannot be taken as pluperf., they had
fought against J . and taken it, 6<r. (Ki., Drus., al.), an interpretation which the
syntax of Heb. tenses does not allow. On Jerusalem and the Jebusites, see on
IQ 10 . nnn flS] see below, on v. 25 . >>o m^ -pj?n nxi] 2O 48 2 K. 8 12 Ps. 74 7t ;
cf. mpa ON nffen Hos. 8 14 Am. I 4 - 7 - 10 &c. The older comm. explained the first
of these constructions as an hypallage for the second (see esp. Drus.) ; but
such an artificial figure is not natural in prose. ' Cast into the fire ' will hardly
do, for in all cases in O.T. the obj. is a city or building; 'set on fire' is
scarcely a parallel idiom; perhaps the origin of the phrase may be 'send off,
get rid of, by fire.'
9-15. Judah wages the war in all parts of its territory;
the taking of Hebron and Debir; the dowry of Caleb's
daughter Achsah. 9. The verse gives us nothing more than
* Hitz., G VI. i. p. 102 ; Stade, G VI. i. p. 161 n.
22 JUDGES
the familiar names of the three regions into which the territory
of Judah was divided by nature, and on account of this general
character is suspected.* The Highlands and the. South and the
Lowlands, for the whole land of Judah, resembles Jos. lo 40 (D)
9 1 (Rd) Dt. i 7 cf. Jer. ly 26 &c. Instead of Lowland (shephelah),
the author of our history uses Plain ('emeq, v. la *) . Budde conjec-
tures with considerable probability that the verse was inserted
here by the editor in place of v. 19> 21 , when the latter verses were
removed to their present position. Of the three regions named,
the Highlands (RV. hill country) are the mountainous backbone
of Southern Palestine, attaining its greatest elevation near Hebron ;
the South is the steppe region which forms the transition to the
true desert ; the Lowland is the coast plain including the Judsean
foot-hills.
As the Dead Sea is far below the level of the Mediterranean, while the
height of land is much nearer the former than the latter, the mountains of
Judah fall off toward the east almost precipitously in three terraces; this is
the Wilderness (ISID) of Judah, a waterless, treeless waste, which only in
spring shows a thin film of vegetation. DJJ] from a root not living in Heb.,
but in Aram, and Syr. meaning ' dry, dry up ' ; the name, therefore, is probably
pre-Israelite. As the Negeb was the southernmost of the natural divisions of
Palestine, the name acquired the sense 'south,' just as D 1 sea came to mean
' west.' nSciyn] sc. 'pNn, the low-lying land. There was a shepkelah of Israel
(Jos. II 16 ), but the name is generally used without further definition for the
southern part of the maritime plain, from Joppa to Gaza. It appears to be of
Israelite origin.
10. In J the conquest of Hebron is ascribed to Caleb (Jos.
i5 13f ). In the passage before us Judah gains the victory (v. 10 )
and afterwards cedes the city to Caleb (v. 20 ). Closer examination
of the text shows, however, that this is the work of the editor, and
that the older history from which he extracts his material agreed
with Jos. i5 13ff> , and was, in fact, identical with the source of the
latter passage. As the story now runs in Jud. i, Judah first de-
feats the three giants (v. 10 ), and then Caleb drives them out (v. 20 ) ;
the subject of v. 11 can in its present connexion only be Judah, but
* We., Comp., p. 214; Mey., ZATW. i. p. 136 n.; Bu., Richt u. Sam., p. 6; cf.
Di. ( NDJ. p. 480 : " One of those general observations which Rd is fond of intro-
ducing, often, perhaps, as a substitute for matter which he omitted."
I. 9-iC 23
the context imperatively requires that it should be Caleb. The
text of the older narrative may be reconstructed by the aid of the
parallel in Jos. :
Jos. I5 13 And to Caleb the son of Jud. i 20 And they gave to Caleb He-
Jephunneh he gave a portion in bron, as Moses had bidden, and he
the midst of the Judahites, accord- expelled from it the three sons of
ing to the commandment of Yah- Anak.
weh to Joshua,* Kiriath (i.e. the v. 10 [And Judah went against the Ca-
city of) Arba the father of (the) naanites who lived in Hebron the
Anak (giants), that is Hebron. ancient name of Hebron was Kir-
14 And Caleb expelled from it the iath Arba ; and they smote] She-
three sons of Anak, Sheshai, Ahi- shai, Ahiman, and Talmai. n And
man, and Talmai, the children of he went thence against the inhab-
Anak. 15 And he went up thence itants of Debir, &c. 12 And Caleb
against the inhabitants of Debir, said, &c.
&c. 16 And Caleb said, &c.
The editor ascribes Caleb's conquest to Judah,f and makes it a victory over
the Canaanites, where the older narrative spoke only of Anakim. To accom-
plish this, he removed v. 20 from the beginning of this story to the end of the
account of the conquests of Judah and inserted the words enclosed in brackets
(Bu., Richt. u. Sam., p. 4 ff.).
Hebron, 22 Rom. miles S. of Jerusalem, J in the highest part of
the mountains of Judah, lies in a valley running from NW. to SE.
The modern city is built partly in the bottom, partly on the slope
of the eastern hill. With the region south of it Hebron be-
longed to Caleb ; on this clan see note below on v. 15 . The name
of Hebron in earlier times was Kirjath-arba~\ Jos. i4 15 , cf. "Kir-
jath-arba, that is Hebron " Gen. 23* 35 27 Jos. I5 54 2O 7 , see also
I5 13 2 1 11 . The original meaning of the name is probably Tetra-
polis ; the peculiar construction of the numeral, which later
scribes did not recognize, is evidence of its alien origin, if not of
its remote antiquity. Hebron has not been discovered in the lists
See Jos.
t The next step in this progress was to attribute the conquest of Hebron and
the extermination of the giants to Joshua and all Israel, Jos. lo 361 "- n 21f -.
J 052. 20969 .
If it occupies exactly the ancient site, it was one of the very few cities in Pal-
estine which did not stand on a hill. On Hebron see Rob., EK*. i. p. 213 f., ii. p.
72 ff. ; Rosen, ZDMG. xii. p. 477 ff. ; Sepp, Jerusalem, i. p. 486-502 ; Guerin, Judee,
iii. p. 214-256; Lortet, Syrie, p. 317-333; SWP. Memoirs, iii. p. 305-309, 333-346;
Bad 3 ., p. 139 ff. ; Wilson in DB\ s.v.
24 JUDGES
of places in Palestine conquered by Egyptian kings of the i8th
and iQth dynasties,* nor in the Amarna letters, although the au-
thority of the governor of Jerusalem extended to places further
south. In Nu. I3 22 we are told that Hebron was built "seven
years before Zoan in Egypt," by which we should probably under-
stand the restoration of the latter city at the beginning of the ipth
dynasty. They smote Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai~\ Jos. 15"
Nu. i3 22 ; the three giants ("sons of Anak ") whom Caleb drove
out (v. 20 ). The editor has widely separated words which in J
stood in immediate connexion ; " he (i.e. Caleb) drove out the
three giants, Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai " ; cf. Jos. 15". The
names are of distinctively Aramaic type ; Talmai is the name of an
Aramaean king of Geshur, whose daughter was wife of David and
mother of Absalom (2 S. 3 3 i3 37 ), and inscriptions recently found
at El- Ola near Teima mention two kings of Lihhyan named
Talmi ; f Ahiman i Chr. 9 17 , Sheshai (Shashai) Ezr. lo 40 .
10. 'Ji jnan DBM] parenthetic nominal sentence; perhaps an archaeological
gloss of the editor. D'UD'?] formerly, previously ; v. 11 - 23 3 2 &c. jmx nnp]
the numeral four is recognized by Jerome (de situ, etc., OS 2 . 8410) : Arbe,
id est quattuor, eo quod ibi tres patriarchae, Abraham, Isaac et Jacob, sepulti
sunt, et Adam magnus, ut in Jesu libro scriptum est (Jos. I4 15 ). t The same
Midrash, Ber. rab. 58 (on Gen. 23 2 ). Kirjath-arba is interpreted Tetra-
polis by Luc. Osiander (1578), Ew., Furrer, Cass., Di., De., al.; with the
anomalous (not Hebrew) construction of the numeral cf. yy& 1N3 Seven
Wells. Such a name might be given to a town in which four kindred or
confederate clans were settled in as many separate quarters; compare the
Phoenician Tripolis the native name has not been recovered founded by
Tyre, Sidon, and Aradus. || Later readers, however, took Arba as the name
* The identification of " Khibur " in inscriptions of Ramses III. with Hebron
(Sayce, RP. n. s. vi. p. 32, 39; Higher Criticism, p. 333, cf. 336 f.) is devoid of
all plausibility. Whether the name Hebron has anything to do with the Habiri so
often mentioned in the Amarna letters (Sayce, al.) is not yet clear.
t D. H. Miiller, Epigraphische Denkmaler aus Arabien, p. 5 ; cited by Sayce,
Higher Criticism, p. 189.
JSee also ep. 108, n (Opp. ed. Vail., i. 694), where he adds: licet plerique
Caleb quartum putent, cujus ex latere memoria monstratur.
It is conceivable that Hebron (? 'confederation') is of similar origin. It is
worthy of note, though probably only an accidental coincidence, that the modern
city is divided into four quarters (Rosen, ZDMG. xii. 1858, p. 487) ; though its
recent growth makes the division less clearly marked than it was a few years ago.
|| Strabo, xvi. 2, 15, p. 754 ; Diod. Sic., xvi. 41 ; Scylax, p. 42.
I. lo-n 25
of a man, the ancestor of the giants of Hebron. So f in Jos. I5 18 2I 11 nnp
pjj?n ON JD-IN, I4 15 o^paya Si-un D-INH pa-w nnp, " the city of Arba, the greatest
man among the Anakim." In all these places has preserved the original
reading, irdXis A. fj.T)Tp6iro\is Era* (r<2j> Eva*, rdv EvaKi/jJ), i.e. DN J?2"1N nnp
pjj?n.* A later editor or scribe, who did not catch the sense, and took j?3iN
for a marc. pr. n., altered ON to ^3N; *?njn onxn is another miscorrection. A
kindred misapprehension of pjyn ^J3 (giants; see on v. 2) ) made pjj; also, in
spite of the article, a man's name, and so provided the giants of Hebron with
a genealogy reaching back two generations: Arba Anak Sheshai, Ahi-
man, Talmai (Ges., Stud., al.) TDTIN] so, as the noun type demands,
Bomb 1 ., Mich. ; the receptus tpTiN is due to popular etymology, jo TIN, frater
meus quis? (Philo, Jerome, al.); cf. Nu. I3 22 , and Norzi in loc.
11-15. Jos. is 15 - 19 . 11. He went thence} in the present con-
text the subject must be Judah, but v. 12 and Jos. i5 15 show that it
was originally Caleb ; see on v. 10 . Debir\ evidently a place of
some importance in the Negeb (v. 15 ), or on the edge of the hill
country, to which it is also reckoned (Jos. n 21 i5 49 ). It is prob-
ably ed-Doheriyeh, or Dahariyeh,t four or five hours SW. of He-
bron. This village, which stands in a conspicuous position on a
flat ridge, is the meeting point of the routes from Gaza, Beer-
sheba, and other places south and east, and is counted the end of
the desert journey for travellers coming from those quarters, the
frontier settlement of Syria. The situation relatively to the places
named in Jos. I5 48 - 50 is also suitable ; note that Debir is named in
immediate connexion with Anab (Jos. n 21 I5 50 ), which lies very
near Dahariyeh.j Kirjath-sepher\ the name is commonly ex-
plained from the Hebrew sepher ' writing, book ' ; so jflff, <f& TroXts
/, 1L civitas litterarum, & ^"1K nnp i.e. Archive-town.
* Suggested by Schleusner, Thes. s.v. /xTjTporroAis. For DN in this sense cf.
2 S. 20 19 and Phoen. coins, Jjn:>2 DN HarWT?, Gesen., Mon. Phoen., p. 270 f., tab. 35 ;
Schroeder, Phoniz. Sprache, p. 275 and pi. 18, 5; DJ1X DN nxS, Gesen., Mon. Phocn.,
p. 262 f., tab. 34; Schroeder, op. cit. t p. 275, pi. 18, 2.
t In the former way bjig it is written and explained by Eli Smith ; the
second (x^S&llo t| Guerin, SWP. Name Lists) is more probably right.
% See Rob., B K 2 . i. p. 209, 211 ; Wilson, Lands of the Bible (1847), i. p. 349 if.;
Palmer, Desert of the Exodus, p. 394 f. ; Trumbull, Kadesh Barnea, p. 102 ff. ; S WP.
Memoirs, iii. p. 402. The identification was proposed by Knobel (on Jos. I5 15 - * 9 I
1861). Conder, in apparent ignorance of his predecessor, speaks of it as one of
the most valuable identifications due to the survey ( Tent Work, 1879, ii. p. 93).
26 JUDGES
So tempting a name could not fail to give rise to a multitude of
speculations ; the town was so called because it was the depository
of the earliest records of post-diluvian history (Masius), or of the
public archives of the Canaanites or Anakim (Neubauer), or as
the seat of a famous library (Arias Montanus), "like those of the
great cities of Babylonia and Assyria" (Sayce).* Some recent
critics, like the writer last named, are inclined to draw large
inferences about the civilization of Canaan from this library,!
whose existence, it must be remembered, depends solely on a
possible Hebrew etymology of a proper name not of Hebrew
origin.
Di^D t?>i] Jos. I5 15 Spi, <S fi NO I j u d. Ka l fotpwav. Hollenberg (ZATW.
i. p. 101 f.), Bu., Kitt. restore fflhl here; "jSii f^ (& ALM g was occasioned by
f v. 10 . Rosen (ZDMG. xi. 1857, p. 50 ff.) would find the name Debir in
Debirwan or Idbirwan, a high and abrupt hill an hour and a quarter W. of
Hebron, and the springs of v. 15 in * Ain Nunkur,' two miles or more WS W.
of the city; so Ew. (earlier), Roed., v. Raum., Cass. The site is, however,
much too near Hebron; Achsah could not complain in going thither that she
was being sent off into the Negeb country (v. 16 ). Van de Velde suggested
Khirbet ed-Dilbeh, two hours SW. of Hebron in a valley abounding with
springs; but this again does not fit the story; Achsah begs for the springs just
because they do not abound about Debir. Evvald (6"F7. ii. p. 403) thought
of el-Burg (Rob., BR' 2 . ii. 216 f.), a mile or more W. of ed-Dahariyeh. See
further on v. 15 . The etymology of Debir is altogether obscure. J As appella-
tive, "van is in Heb. the adytum of the temple (i K. 6 s - 19 S* 5 ), commonly
explained as the rear, i.e. western part of the building. Sayce, reverting to
Jerome's oraculum, place where the god speaks to his priests, infers that
Debir was famous for its oracle as well as its library,' the two being probably
closely connected {Higher Criticism, p. 55). ISO nnp] BN ft (Ka/oicuro-w-
0a/>) & a pronounce i^b, Scribe-town. There are two names in the O.T. with
which this is naturally compared, iD (JH ace. rn*D IL Sephar (& Sw</>77/oa)
in Southern Arabia (Gen. io 30 ) and a;nr>D Sepharvaim (2 K. ly 24 &c.), com-
monly, but falsely, identified with the Babylonian Sippar (Abu Habba). || In
both of these also Jerome discovers the Heb. sepher,. ' book ' (OS Z . io 2 i 4717).
An etymological myth of the same kind which modern critics spin out of the
* Others have imagined that it was so named because alphabetic writing was
there invented (Hitz., Kneucker) ; or because it was famous for the preparation of
writing materials skins or papyrus (Schm.) ; or as the seat of the oldest uni-
versity (a Lyra, Serar., a Lap., al.). f Sayce, Higher Criticism, &c., p. 54 ff.
131 as the name of a city occurs in Sabaean inscriptions (MV.).
&, however, ||.2jr. Comp. the Egyptian name below.
|| See Fr. Delitzsch in Calwer BibellexikoiP, p. 827.
1. 11-14 27
name Kirjath-sepher seems early to have attached itself to that of Sippar
(Snr0a/>a, Ptol., v. 1 8, 7), where Berossus tells us that the records of the
antediluvian world were buried by Xisuthrus, the Babylonian Noah, and pre-
served from the waters of the flood (Miiller, fr. hist, gr., ii. p. 501, Euseb.,
chron., ed. Schoene, i. p. 21, 22). The etymology is adopted by Bochart
(Sippara = NnoD), and recently by Menant, who interprets "la ville des
livres" (Babylone et la Chaldee, 1875, p. 96). See, against this derivation,
Fr. Delitzsch, Paradies, p. 210, Sayce, Hibbert Lect., p. 168 n. To connect
13D in "ISD 'p with Aram, and MH. IOD, ' border, frontier,' as I formerly sug-
gested (PA OS. Oct. 1890, p. Ixx.), gives a suitable sense, Frontier-town, but
the phonetic difficulties now seem to me decisive against this explanation.
Another name of Debir-Kirjath-sepher, ace. to Jos. I5 49 , was mo nnp; see
comm. on Jos. I.e. Kirjath-sepher is recognized by W. M. Miiller (Asien u.
Europa, p. 174), in Bal-ti tu-pa-\ra (determinative "Writing"), i.e. "House
of the Scribe" (iob, as in <5 B &), in Papyrus Anastasi I.
12. Whoever smites Kirjath-sepher, &<r.] cf. i S. i; 25 ; from
the sequel it appears that the captured city also fell to the victor.
13. Othniel the son of Kenaz, the younger brother of Caleb~\ 3
Jos. i5 17 . The last words may grammatically be referred either to
Kenaz or to Othniel, and interpreters have always been divided
upon the question whether Othniel was Caleb's nephew * or his
brother.f The words who was younger than he favour the latter
construction. The age of Kenaz is irrelevant ; the notice is per-
tinent only as indicating that the disparity in age between uncle
and niece was not as great as might be thought, or (in 3) as
explaining how Othniel so long outlived Caleb. \ 14. When she
came~\ We are perhaps to imagine that she had been sent for from
a place of safety, such as Hebron, where she had been left during
the campaign against Debir. The order of the narrative is not
against this ; the fulfilment of Caleb's promise is properly related
in v. 13b - ; an important incident connected with the marriage is
added in v. 14f> . Others, with a less natural interpretation of the
verb, explain, as she was going from her father's house, where the
marriage had taken place, to her husband's new home, escorted
* BN vibs Ke^ef aSeAc/>oS XaAe/3 ; so Calv., Schm., Cler., Pfeiffer, J H Mich., Ew.,
Ba.. Reuss.
f A al. |L filius Cenez frater Caleb ; so Orig., Thdt., Procop., Temurah 16*. Ra.,
Ki., Abarb., and most moderns, Ke., Cass., Be., Di. ( Bu., Kitt., al.
% It seems to me not improbable that the words, which are not found in Jos.,
were first introduced in 3 9 , and thence at second hand into i 18 .
28 JUDGES
on the way by her father. She instigated him to ask of her father
a piece of land] as Achsah herself makes the request, we should
rather expect, he instigated her to ask, 6 *:.* If we adhere to the
canon, proclivi scriptioni praestat ardua, the best 'explanation is
doubtless, she persuaded him that they should ask ; t it was her
suggestion, and the execution of the plan naturally devolved upon
her, but it was with his full knowledge and consent. We hardly see,
however, why the author should take the pains to tell us that. She
slipped off her ass] i S. 25^ Gen. 24^ 2 K. 5 21 ; a mark of rever-
ence, here and in i S. 25^ the posture of a respectful suppliant, $
What is it?~\ What wouldest thou? (RV.) is somewhat too
definite. 15. Give me a present] lit. a (real, tangible) blessing;
Gen. 33 11 i S. 25^ 30 26 2 K. 5 15 &c. Thou hast put me in the
Negeb region^] Others, thou hast given me the Negeb region, \
which is grammatically hard to justify, and yields an inferior sense.
The district of Debir to which Achsah was going had not been given
to her, but belonged to Othniel by conquest. On the Negeb see
on v. 9 ; as the root is not in use in Biblical Hebrew, it is inadmissi-
ble to render it here appellatively, a dry land; f nor is it necessary
to emphasize the contrast in this way, the scarcity of water in the
Negeb was well enough known. Give me Gullath-maim~] the
words, usually translated springs or wells of water, are, like the
following Gullath-illith and Gullath-tahtith ("the upper springs
and the nether springs," RV.), a proper name of alien origin and
so far as the first element is concerned of uncertain mean-
ing. If Debir is rightly identified above (on v. 12 ), the waters so
named are doubtless those of Seil ed-Dilbeh, about two-fifths of
the way from Hebron to ed-Daharlyeh. This is one of the best
watered valleys in southern Palestine, counting no less than four-
teen springs and having even at the end of the dry season a run-
ning stream three or four miles long. The springs are in three
groups : the first, six in number, at the head of the valley ; the
* ffilL cf. &, Doom., Bu. f Abarb., Schm., Ba.
J Illustrations from the modern East, Niebuhr, Arabicn, p. 44, 50, Reisebeschrei-
bung, i. p. 139, 239 f. ; Seetzen, Rf.isen, Hi. p. 190 (Ba.).
ffi&E, RV., Stud., Ke., Be., Cass., Reuss, al.
|| 1L, AV., Ra., Ki., Schm., Cler., Ba., al.
H 1L terram arentem, Ke., Cass., cf. Stud.
I. 14-15 29
second, five springs, of which Ain ed-Dilbeh is the largest, a mile
or more further down along the road from Hebron, in an open
valley ; the third, smaller springs near the lower end of the Seil.*
The first two of these groups may very well be the Gullath-illith
and Gullath-tahtith of our verse. The possession of these springs
must always have been a matter of great importance ; and the
story before us which is not an irrelevant scrap of family his-
tory is told to explain or establish the claim of Achsah, a branch
of the Kenizzite clan Othniel of Debir, to waters which by their
situation seemed naturally to belong to the older line, the Caleb-
ites of Hebron.
12. T>N] without explicit antecedent; Ges. 25 138, 2. pro 1 ?)] pf. consec,
after nu> T^N; Dr. 3 115 (p. 130 f.). inrui] apodosis of a virtual conditional
sentence; cf. Gen. 44 9 Ex. 2I 13 , Ges. 25 112. 5, a, 5; Friedrich, Die hebr.
Conditionalsdtze, p. 66. 13. aSo TIN up p SNIJPJ?] examples of apposition
to the genitive, I S. 14 2 S. I3 3 ; to the governing noun, I S. 9 lb - I S. 26 5
i K. i6 7 Is. 37 2 &c. 14. n*O33] cannot be, at the moment of departure
from her father's house (Drus., Ba., cf. Bal - Jos. tv ry cKTro/serfecrflcu, M Jud.
id.~) y and would hardly be used if the meaning were, as they were on the way
to her husband's house (2L Jos., cum pergerent simul; Jud., quam pergentem
in itinere monuit vir suus, &c.) . virPDni] she instigated him : the verb usually
in a bad sense, I K. 2i 25 2 K. i8 32 2 S. 24! i S. 26 19 . The difficulty occasioned
by the gender of the verb and its suffix is evaded by all the versions (exc. E)
in different ways, but a comparison of their variations in Jos. and Jud. is not
favourable to the supposition that they read nrrnw, he instigated her (Doom.,
Bu.) ; nor is it explained how this easy and natural reading was supplanted
in both Jos. and Jud. by the much more difficult inniDm of f^. Many com-
mentators harmonize, She urged him to ask for the field, but, finding him
unwilling, undertook the business herself (Ki., LOsiander, Cler., Be., Ke.,
Cass.).' rrwn] the field; Jos. I5 18 better me> a field (BMNai. j ud . d7/>6>);
the article probably dittography of the preceding n (Stud., Doom., Hollenb.).
mxni] mx only here (=Jos. I5 18 ) and 4 21 (see note there). It is not
found in MH., and, indeed, a root nr* appears only in Eth. (' await, wait for,
lie in wait'), after which J. D. Mich, interprets here, When she reached the
end of her journey she waited upon her ass, i.e. did not dismount. It is safer
to be guided by the context, illustrated by the passages cited above; so 1&&,
Rabb. and most. @ i&faitrcv or avepbycrev (Jos.), iybyyvfrv [/cat gjcpager] (Jud.),
3L suspiravit, probably do not represent a different text, but are attempts at
the unknown word guided by the analogy of rm (Is. 42 nt MH.) or HJN; the
same interpretation in the Haggada, Temurah i6 a . 15". >S nan] Jos. I5 19
* See S WP. Memoirs, iii. p. 301 f.
3O JUDGES
substitutes the more common njn under the influence of the following jmi.
jnru ajjn VIN -o] the suff. cannot be indirect obj. (for >V) or second obj.; for
if such a construction of this very common verb had been possible in Heb.
we should have had other examples of it in the O.T. or MH. In the sense,
thou hast put me into the Negeb region, we might desiderate the prep., ptN *?N
awn (cf. 2 S. ii 16 ), or'jn pita; but the ace. of place is perhaps sufficient,
especially if we may suppose that the original text had ajjn nx-\N (Gen. 2O 1 ),*
which would exclude all ambiguity; the loss of n local before the article
(haplography) is not infrequent. D^D nSj] is a proper name like rVifnfrp
0>D (HD-IPD) Jos. ii 8 I3 6 ; so rightly < Jos. I5 19 rwXal/Mu/u, Euseb., OS 2 . 24534
cf. 12707, Schm. This appears more clearly in rnnnn nVj, r\*hy nS.i] fifl gulloth
(pi.) ; the discord of number thus needlessly created has led in Jos. to mis-
correction of the adjj. (n^nnr^ rhty rta) ; the older and correct tradition in
(55 Jos. I5 19 TT\V Tu\aB TT)v &vw Kal TTJV TuXad TT}V KO.TU, 'A Jud. I 16 TTJV
FoXXafl K.T.C. Golath (or Gullath) is a fern. sg. with the old ending at which
is preserved in many Canaanite names of places, e.g. Zephath v. 17 , Baalath
I Ki. 9 18 , Sarephath i; 9 (Bo. i. p. 413). That the name is of Canaanite (not
Israelite) origin is manifest from the adjj. mSy, rnnnr, for which we have in
Hebrew only rurSy, rmnnn; eg. rmiSjn nanan Is. 7 3 . It is idle, therefore, to
seek for it a meaning and etymology in Hebrew; n"?j, i K. 7 41 - 42 Zech. 4 2 - 3
gives no light. The word was unknown to the ancient translators; @ renders
(in Jud.) \\jTpduriv vSaros, associating it with nSxj; ILS^T merely guess from
the context, 'watering-place, well- watered spot'; the common interpretation,
' springs ' (Ra., Ki., al. mu.) has no other origin.f
On Caleb and the kindred clans see Noldeke, Die Amalekiter, 1864, p. 20;
Untersuchungen >zur Kritik des A. T., 1869, p. 176-179; Graf, Der Stamm
Simeon, 1866, p. 16-18; Kuenen, Godsdienst van Israel, i. p. 139 ff., 177 ff.,
Religion of Israel, i. p. 135 ff., 176 ff.; esp. Wellhausen, De gentibus et fa-
miliis Judaeis, etc., 1870; Composition des Hexateiichs, p. 337 f.
Caleb and Othniel are branches of the Bene Kenaz, an Edomite tribe
(Gen. 36 11 - 15 - 42 ), closely related to Jerachmeel. \ These clans, separating
from the main stock of their people, found new homes, Jerachmeel in the
eastern Negeb, Caleb in the hill country north of it as far as Hebron. The
latter, the more settled branch of the Kenizzites, eventually coalesced with
their northern neighbours of Judah, and came to be reckoned one of the chief
clans of that tribe (cf. Nu. 136 34 i Chr. 2 9 - 18ff - 42ff -) . In David's time,
however, Caleb was still distinct from Judah (i S. 30"), and Jos. I5 13 cl. I4 6ff -
* In the Hexat. :njn pN is characteristic of E ; Di., NDJ. p. 618.
t M. A. Levy (Phoniz. Stud., i. p. 26) thought that the words DDH nSj 1 ? were to
be read in a Punic inscription (Num. 8, Ges., Mon. Phoen., tab. 47), but the deci-
pherment is probably false.
J Compare also the names in the genealogies of Caleb and Jerachmeel, i Chr,
2. 4, with the Edomite genealogies, i Chr. i ; We., De gentibus, p. 38 f,
$ The Chronicles hardly know any other Judahites.
I. 15-16 31
explains how Caleb came to be settled in the midst of Judah. The Calebites,
as has been intimated, probably made their way into their new seats from the
south; their old homes lay near the passes from that quarter, and a reminis-
cence of the fact seems to be preserved in the story of the spies, in which in
its original form Caleb alone maintains the possibility of a successful inva-
sion from that side, and receives Hebron as the reward of his faith (Nu. 13
Jos. I4 6ff -).* From the emphasis of the exception it is to be inferred that
Caleb alone, not Judah, entered from this direction.
16. A branch of the Kenites accompany Judah to the vicinity
of Arad ; then, going on to the south, join their kinsmen ( Ama-
lek) . The text has suffered badly, and the restoration is at more
than one point doubtful ; the general sense, however, is sufficiently
certain. The Hebrew has, and the sons of . . . Keniteft Moses'
father-in-law, went up, &c. The apparent lacuna is filled in (&
by supplying the name, Jethro (Ex. 3 1 ), or, better, Hobab (Nu.
lo 29 Jud. 4 11 ), and inserting the article, the Kenite. E. Meyer
would substitute the clan name, as in all other cases in the chap-
ter, reading, Kain, \ the brother-in-law of Moses, went up, &c.
In view of 4 11 it seems to me preferable to restore, and Hobab the
Kenite, Moses' father-in-law, went up ; see critical note. From
the Palm City} 3 13 . Jericho, the Palm City, Dt. 34 3 2 Chr. 28 15 .
The situation of Jericho suits 3 13 and the verse before us. The
Palm City is named, not as the old home of the Kenites, which
Hobab had long before left to cast in his lot with Israel, || but as
the point from which he set out with Judah on this campaign. The
narrative represents the invaders as coming down from the north
(Jerusalem, Hebron, Debir, Arad, Zephath) ; and v. 1 ' 4 cl. v. 22 sup-
pose that Judah and Joseph set out from the same place, proba-
bly the Jordan valley near Gilgal (2*; see also on i 22 ). Jericho
is, therefore, entirely suitable here, and there is no reason to look
for another palm city in the south. To the wilderness of Judah
which is in the Negeb of Arad~\ belonging to, or in the neighbour-
hood of, that city. So, rather than in the south of Arad,^ He-
brew usage seems to require us to translate; cf. i S. 2y 10 30".
* We., Comp., p. 337 f.
f R.V., " The children of the Kenite," tacitly emends by supplying the article.
J Jud. 411. Bertheau.
|| Nu. lo 32 (J) with its original sequel. H English version and most scholars.
32 JUDGES
Arad (Nu. 2i l 33 40 Jos. i2 14t ) is generally identified with Tell Arad,
a round detached hill about 16 Eng. miles S. of Hebron.* The
language of the text appears self-contradictory ; the Wilderness of
Judah, the barren steeps in which the mountains Break down to
the Dead Sea,| and the Negeb are distinct regions (see above on
v. 9 ),and it hardly seems possible that a part of the Wilderness
could be described as lying in the Negeb of Arad. The suspicion
is strengthened by the variation of (, which has at the pass (de-
scent) of Arad (cf. Jos. io n ). It is very doubtful, however,
whether this represents the original reading of % as Doorninck
and Budde assume. And he went and dwelt with the Amalekites~\
leaving Judah, he continued southward into the desert and made
his home with the nomadic Amalekites. So one of the principal
recensions of @ ; J^ has with the people, which would also be
possible if we might, with a slight emendation, read his people;
i.e., the main body of the Kenites. The sense would be substan-
tially the same, for the Kenites were neighbours and kinsmen of
the Amalekites (i S. i5 6 ) ; see below.
ntJ'D jnn >j>p ^ai] when the gentile adj. is used of an individual, as is sup-
posed by RV. here, the article is indispensable; it can only be dropped where
the gent. adj. has become by appropriation a personal name, or where it is
personified and takes the place of the eponymic ancestor, as in Gen. 36 22
0*yO, &c.J The only grammatical translation of the text as it stands is the
sons of Keni (n. pr.); so the Midrash, Mechilta, Jithro I, fol. 65"* Weiss, &c.
& supplies the missing name; <5 BN Io0op = nm Ex. 3 1 ; LM S C Iw/3a, A ft
Iwa/3 = 33n Jud. 4 11 Nu. IO 29 . Stud, and Mey. infer that neither name stood
in the Heb. copies before these translators; but Jethro may be the substitu-
tion of the more frequent name of Moses' father-in-law for the unfamiliar
Hobab (cf. lodop for Payovrj\ Ex. 2 18 in many codd.). In view of the sg.
verbs in v. b it is probable that the original reading was Hobab the Kenite,
rather than the sons of Hobab (see Bu., Richt. u. Sam., p. 9 n., 86). Mey.'s at-
tractive conj. riSy ns>D pn ppi is approved by Kue. {HCCP. i. p. 367) and Bu.
* On Tell Arad see Schubert, Reise, ii. p. 457 f. ; Rob., BR*. ii. p. 101, 201 ; Van
de Velde, Narrative, ii. p. 83 f. ; Palmer, Desert of the Exodus, p. 402 ; Guerin
Judee, iii. p. 182 f.; SWP. Memoirs, iii. p. 403, 415.
t Especially, it would seem, in the northern part ; En-gedi is the most southern
in the list of towns in this region, Jos. i5 61f -.
J The apparent exceptions are all, for one reason or another, suspicious ; see
Roorda, Gram. Hebr., \ qjzfin.
The plur. in the first verb, V?}?, is natural conformation to the new subj. wp >J3.
i- '6 33
(p. 9, but see p. 86); but 4 11 obstinately stands in the way. Even if the
words n-riD pn aan IJDD there are a gloss (Mey., Bu.), or the whole verse a
late interpolation (Matthes, Kue.), the knowledge that Moses' father-in-law
was a Kenite, of which there is no other intimation in the O.T., must have
been derived from I 16 . jrTn] = the girl's father, 19*, njnn wife's mother, Dt.
2; 23 cl. Lev. 20 14 ; cf. Ex. iS 1 - 2 Jethro, Moses' father-in-law. So here &&,
Mechilta, Ra., Ki., al. Many scholars render jnn when used of Hobab (Jud.
4 11 i 16 ; some also Nu. io 29 , where, however, a different construction is possi-
ble), brother-in-law (Thdt., Luth., Cler., Be., Ba., Ke., Cass., Reuss, Bu., Kitt.,
AV., RV., al. mu.). Others more indefinitely, relative (It cognatus}, relative
by marriage (affinis, Schm.). It is not impossible that ??n, like Ar. ..yjis*.,
may have been used in the wider sense of a man's wife's near kinsmen, such
as her father, or brother (Abulw., Ibn Ezra) ; but there is no certain instance
in the O.T. of any other meaning than father-in-law, with which also the
participial form better accords (cf. Stade, ZATW. vi. p. 143 n.). The pas-
sages in the Pent, which refer to Moses' marriage are conflicting and baffle
analysis; cf. Ex. 2 16 - 22 ; 3 1 4 18 i8 lff -; Nu. io 29 Jud. 4 11 (i 16 ). According to
E his wife was a daughter of Jethro, a Midianite : J seems to have represented
him as marrying the daughter of Hobab ben Reuel,* a Kenite, but the redac-
tion has introduced great confusion. onnnn -pp] on the palms of Jericho
see Theophrast, hist, plant., ii. 6, 8; Strabo, xvi. p. 763; Fl. Jos., b.j. iv. 8, 3;
i. 6, 6; Plin., n. A., v. 70; xiii. 44, &c.; Arab authors (Muqaddasi, Yaqut)
in Le Strange, Palestine under the Moslems, p. 396 f. They have now en-
tirely disappeared. Of Jericho the name Palm City is here understood by
Si/re on Num. lo 29 - 32 , 78, 81 (fol. 2O a 2i b ed. Friedm.), Ra., Thdt.,
Procop., and most commentators. Cler. suggested the (froiviKdv described by
Diod. Sic., iii. 42, Strabo, xvi. p. 776, on the Arabian shore of the Red Sea
(cf. Ptol., vi. 7, 3); see Bochart, Phaleg, ii. c. 22 (i. p. 118 ed. Villemandy).
Others have thought of Tamar, Ez. 47 19 48 28 ({ Jericho) perhaps also
I K. 9 18 , at the SE. limit of the Holy Land; probably Qafj-apw, Ptol., v. 1 6
8, Qapapa, Euseb., OS. 2 21034, on the road from Jerusalem to Aila, which
Rob. (^7?. 2 ii. p. 202) would locate at Kurnub. "ny] seems to be named
in the Egypt, king Shishak's (Shoshenq) lists of conquests in Palestine; see
W. M, M tiller, Asien und Europa, u. s. w., p. 168. The Onomastica put it
down at 20 R. m. from Hebron, 4 m. from Malatha, which corresponds suffi-
ciently closely with the situation of Tell Arad. From Ntt. 2I 1 , where the
Israelites on their first advance from the south suffer a repulse at the hands
of the king of Arad, we should rather look for Arad in the southern Negeb,
near the border of the desert; but it is unsafe to lay great stress upon this.f
Mey. {ZATW. i. p. 132, 137 n.) regards *n>? in Jud. i 16 as a misplaced mar-
ginal correction of nfls, v. 17 , and accordingly restores "ny in v. 17 (in conformity
with Nu. 2I 1 ' 3 ) and cancels it in v. 16 ; see contra, Bu., Richt. u. Sam., p. io f.
* Reuel is an Edomite clan ; Gen. 36*- w. f See below, on v.^.
D
34 JUDGES
-ny 3JJ3 IPX mw nann] 0w /^ south of A. would be not -ny ujjs, but SJJD
nj? 1 ?; cf. py p 1 ? onpn Gen. 3 24 , ^ posn Jos. 8 11 , V? D^D Jos. 8 9 , &c. The va-
rious recensions of <& all have tirl Kara/3<<rej A/>a5 = -ny "n)ea ; in other
respects they differ considerably. Doom, and Bu., following (fe^ g t ets rijv
'lovSa rijv o$<rat> iv r< vbry iiri Ka.Ta[3<i<reus Apad, and rejecting tv r<$
as false doublet (in Heb. 3JJ3, "moa) to tirl Kara/3d<rews, restore "ann
np VHD3 -VPX mirr. But 'Ioi53a does not belong to the original text of @; it
is lacking in < MO , asterisked in g, and stands in <S B in a different place;
presumably it was not in the Hebrew from which they translated. I propose
a different solution; viz., that 11102 (tirl /cara^dtrews) is an old error for "aiDJ,
as in Jos. 8 24 ; ajua T.?X is a gloss to "\~\y from Nu. 21 l introduced into the
text in the wrong place; mw a natural complement to "DIED * thus left
without a genitive. It may be added in confirmation that, if Arad be rightly
identified with Tell Arad, there is no steep pass (1110) in the neighbourhood
of it (see Guerin, Judee, iii. p. 182). opn n aei l^i] jwerA row Xaou
A/AdXijK @ N fe.f roO Xaou is doublet, corrected after | oyn; the translator read
P*?DJ; nx (Hollenberg, ZATW. i. p. 102; Mey., Kue.), or, in view of oyn in
f^, better, ^pSnpn nx (Bu., ^tVA/. w. 6"aw., p. 9 f., Kitt., Dr., TBS. p. 93). As
this is not suggested by the context and cannot well have arisen by accident,
while it admirably agrees with the facts (i S. I5 6 &c.), it may be confidently
adopted. Otherwise we might emend my PN. We reconstruct accordingly,
/pSnpn riN atji jn ~\~\y -ann min> ^2 nx D>"Dnn -ppo rihy na>n |nn >j^pn aam
On the Kenites see Andr. Murray, Cotnm. de Kinaeis, Hamburg, 1718;
Noldeke, Die Amalekiter, p. 19 ff. ; Wellhausen, De gcntibus, etc., p. 30 ff.;
Kuenen, Godsdienst, i. p. 179 ff. = Religion of Israel, i. p. 179 ff.; Stade, " Das
Kainszeichen," ZA TW. xiv. p. 250 ff. The Kenites are frequently associated
with the Amalekites (i S. I5 6 Nu. 24 20 - 22 ; cf. also Gen. 36 10 - 12 ), and were in
all probability a branch of that people. J But while Amalek was hostile and
treacherous (Dt. 25 17f - Ex. I7 8 " 16 ), the Kenites were friendly to Israel, and
according to J allied by marriage to Moses. The original sequel of Nu.
lo 29 32 (J) no doubt narrated that Hobab, yielding to Moses' importunity,
accompanied Israel in its further migration. In the invasion Hobab con-
sorted with Judah (Jud. I 16 ) and followed that tribe into the south, but, true
to his Bedawin instincts, soon roamed beyond the border into the pastures of
his kinsmen of Amalek. The old relations between the Kenites and Judah
were maintained, however, in the time of David (i S. 27 cf. 3O 29 ). Later
* In B tO
f <EB, which belongs to this family, has here, as in a good many other places,
been revised.
% The Kenites belong to the same group with the Kennizzites (Gen. 36, cf. is 19 ).
The common opinion that they were closely related to the Midianites is at variance
with all that we know about the two peoples, and rests only on the harmony which
editors and commentators have forced upon the divergent traditions of J and E.
The connexion of the Rechabites (Jer. 35) with the Kenites (i Chr. a 55 ) is also
very doubtful. Note the towns pp Jos. is 5 ", nj>p 1522.
1, 16-17 35
the feeling of the Israelites was less friendly (Nu. 24 2ii -). In Jud. 4 we find a
sept of the Kenites, Heber, pitching their tents far in the North; see comm.
17. Judah helps Simeon to destroy Zephath-Hormah, Ac-
cording to the agreement (v. 3 ), the allies next invade the territory
of Simeon in the south of Judah. Zephath~\ the name only here ;
see below on Hormah. They devoted if\ to destruction, razing
the town and exterminating its inhabitants, to the glory of Yah-
weh; cf. 2i n Nu. 31 Dt. 2 s4 3 6 , &c., Jos. 8 24ff - io 28ff - n llff -, &c.,
esp. i S. i5 3ff- . According to Dt. y 2 2o 16ff< the wars with the Ca-
naanites were always to be such holy wars of extermination. Simi-
larly the Moabite king Mesha records in his inscription how at the
bidding of Kemosh he took Nebo from Israel and put to death
the whole population, " men and boys, wives and maidens, and
slave girls; for to Ashtar-Kemosh I devoted it" (1. 16 f.) ; and
again of Ataroth, " I killed all the people of the city, a fine sight (?)
for Kemosh and Moab ! " (1. n f.) ; cf. also 2 K. 8 12 .* So the
city came to be catted Hormah'] because it had been visited with
the herem ; " Devoted City." The same explanation of the name
Nu. 2 1 3 . The etymology is scarcely historical; Hormah more
probably signified " inviolable, sacred " ; cf. Hermon. Hormah
was a city of southern Judah (i S. 3O 30 )f towards the frontier of
Edom (Jos. I5 30 cl. v. 21 ), J occupied by Simeonites (Jos. 19* i Chr.
4 30 ) . In the catalogues it regularly precedes Ziklag ; cf. also Nu.
1 4^ Dt. i 44 . The data are insufficient to fix the locality, and no
trace of the name has been discovered. According to our verse
the native name of the place was Zephath, which Robinson would
connect with the pass Naqb es-Safa, SE. of Kurnub, while Row-
lands and many recent writers would identify with Sebata or Sebaita,
two and a half hours S. of Khalaseh. || It is, however, highly
* On the herem see Ew., Alterthumefi : , p. lot ff., = Antiquities, p. 75 if. ; Merx.
BL., Ri., HWB., Riietschi, PRE?. s. v. " Bann " ; W. R. Smith, Religion of Semites,
Lect. iv. and esp. Add. note, p. 427-435 ; Stade, G VI. i. p. 490 f.
f Named, as here, immediately after the Kenites of the Negeb.
J Jos. 15 represents Idumaea as contiguous to Judaea along its whole southern
frontier, as it was in fact after the exile. $ BR?. ii. p. 181.
|| Rowlands in Williams, Holy City 2 , i. p. 464 ; Tuch, ZDMG. i. p. 185 ; Wilton,
The Negeb ; p. 198-206 ; Palmer, Desert of the Exodus, p. 371 ff. The place had
been previously visited by Seetzen, Reisen, iii. p. 44.
36 JUDGES
improbable that the old Canaanite name Zephath should have sur-
vived to our time, while Hormah, the name by which alone the
place is known in the O.T. history, has entirely perished.
17. nnw iDnm] the Hiph. is denom. fr. inn. The primary meaning of
the latter is not very remote from isnp; both denote inviolability, and, in a
religious sense, withdrawal from common use or contact. But in the further
development of this idea in Heb. they go in opposite directions : enp applies
to things which God appropriates to himself because he chooses them for his
pleasure or service; ann to things which he prohibits to men because he hates
them with peculiar hatred. Both are inviolable : the first are holy, and it is
sacrilege to pervert them to profane uses; the second are also sacrosanct, and
whatever touches them contracts the same character and is doomed to the
same fate. They thus represent opposite sides of the common idea of taboo
(on which see Fraser, Enc. Brit*, xxiii. p. 15 ff.). The root enp is found
only in the North Semitic languages; Din in them all, cf. Ar. JY^ (*'T^
(VJ.v^S Nabat. oin, 'inviolable,' Euting 2gf. and p. 28; Palmyr., de Vogue,
35; Himyar., Halevy, 50, 1763, &c.* noin -vyn uv n jopn] the use of the
3 sg. m. with inherent indef. subj. (miscalled ' impersonal ') is not infrequent
in this verb; 2 S. 2 16 Gen. II 9 i6 14 ip 22 , Ges. 25 144, 3 a. From Nu. 2I 1 -*
it would appear that the older native name of Hormah was Arad, and that,
with the neighbouring Canaanite cities, it was destroyed by Israel during their
earlier wanderings in revenge for hostile acts of its king; whence its name
Hormah. Critics who do not, like Cass., Ba., assume that the city was twice
destroyed and renamed, explain Nu. 2i 3 as narrating by anticipation the
destruction of the place by Judah and Simeon, Jud. I 17 (Stud., Kn., Ew., Be.,
We., Mey., Di.). On this hypothesis it must be assumed, further, that
Zephath and Arad (both equivalent to Hormah) designate the same place,
which creates a fresh difficulty, f A more probable solution is, that the words
*nj? ^?D in Nu. 2I 1 are an interpolation; J they disturb the structure of the
verse and make serious difficulty with v. 3 . If the words are omitted, 0)pn (v. 3)
is the region in which the destroyed cities stood, which also better suits
Nu. I4 45 Dt. I 44 (from Seir to Hormah). It is then not necessary to connect
Nu. 2I 1 - 3 with Jud. I 17 in any way; they contain two explanations of the
name Hormah. The identifications proposed by Rob. and Rowlands are
founded upon Nu. 2I 1 ' 3 , both assuming that the attack on the Canaanites
proceeded from Kadesh; es-Safa is a pass leading into the mountains from
'Ain el-Weibeh (Robinson's Kadesh) ; Sebaita lies north of 'Ain Qudes
(Rowlands' Kadesh); neither is anywhere near Tell Arad. On Simeon,
* Noldeke in Euting, /. c.
f Mey. removes this by writing "ny for nsx in Jud. i 1 ''" ; see above on v. 16 .
J The name may have come, by association with Hormah, from Jos. is 14 .
i. 17-19 37
see Dozy, Die Israeli ten zu Mekka, 1864; Graf, Der Stamm Simeon, 1866;
Wellhausen, Comp?, Nachtrage, p. 353-355; Stacle, GVI. i. p. 152 ff.
18, 19. The Coast Plain. The two verses flatly contradict
each other ; v. 18 tells us that Judah captured the three principal
cities of the plain, Gaza in the south, Ashkelon in the middle, and
Ekron in the north, with their territory. That is in effect the
whole region occupied in latter times by the Philistine confed-
eracy ; v. 19 says that Judah, with the help of Yahweh, got posses-
sion of the mountainous interior, but was unable to conquer the
lowlands, where the formidable war-chariots of the natives could
operate. This agrees with 3 s Jos. i3 3 , where Philistia, like Phoe-
nicia and Coele-Syria, is represented as being a part of Canaan
which Israel did not conquer.* The hypothesis that Judah took
these cities in the first onset, but was unable to maintain its hold
on the plain,t does not relieve the difficulty in our verses ; a writer
who meant that must have expressed himself quite otherwise in
v. 19 . The phraseology of v. 18 is also strikingly different from that
of the rest of the chapter. Nothing remains but to pronounce
v. 18 an editorial addition of the same stamp as v. 8 and of equally
unhistorical character. \ 19. Yahweh was with Judah~\ v. 22 . The
Highlands} see above, on v. 9. The position of the verse sug-
gests the question whether the Judaean Negeb is tacitly included,
so that Highlands as a designatio a potiori has here a wider ex-
tension ; or whether the Negeb, occupied by Caleb, Othniel,
Kain, and Simeon, is distinguished from the possessions of Judah
proper. || Meyer, however, with good reason, restores v. 19 - 21 to their
natural place after v. 7 .^[ They were unable to expel, 6*v.] see
critical note. The Plain} is here as in v. 34 , the coast plain west
of Judah, in which the cities named in v. 18 stood.** Others ft
take the word fymeq) collectively for the wide valleys in the
mountains of Judah, such as the Emeq Rephaim near Jerusalem
* Jos. 1545-4" (R ; Di.) includes the Philistine cities in the list of towns belong-
ing to Judah, in conformity with v. 12 which makes the (ideal) boundary of the
tribe the Mediterranean Sea.
f Ki. and Abarb. on 3 3 ; a Lyra, Schm. (qu. 14), Ew., Be., Ke., Ba.
J Mey., Bu., Kitt., Renan, Hist., i. p. 246; cf. Stud.
Bertheau. || Bachmann. If So also Bu., Kitt.
** Fl. Jos., antt. v. 2, 4, Thdt., qu. 6, Stud., Ke., Be., and most, ft Ba,
38 JUDGES
(2 S. 5 18 ), Emeq ha-Elah (i S. 17*), &c. ; but these would be un-
tenable, even with chariots, after Judah had taken the hill cities.
Iron chariots\ 4 3 Jos. ly 16 - 18 ^. Probably of wood, strengthened
or studded with iron ; * currus falcati (3L) seems to be an archae-
ological anachronism. Chariots were, as the Egyptian monuments
prove, a strong arm in the military establishment of the Palestin-
ian and Hittite kingdoms, whence they were introduced into
Egypt.
18. mirp ~\^-\\ <& \ g e harmonizing, otic lK\tjpov6fj.r)ffev,^ which Ziegler
(cf. Cler.) and Doom, accept, explaining ~ob>i |^ as transcriptional error for
13 1 ? N 1 ?). But if v. 19 had originally been prefaced by such a statement, it
would probably have been differently introduced (e.g. 'Ji mim nx mn nvn -o) ;
observe also naS (v. 8 - 12 - 13 ), and esp. n^uj (as i S. 7 14 and often) instead of
rvnua, elsewhere throughout the chapter. J Bu. (Richt. u. Sam., p. 6 n.)
supposes that v. 18 , except the first two words, was originally a gloss to pnpn
v. 19 ; the contradictory beginnings of the verse in |^ and 4 proceed from two
different scribes who independently introduced the gloss into the text. The
statements of Fl. Jos., antt. v. 2, 4 128 and v. 3, i 177, are manifestly de-
rived from our text, but agree neither with it nor with each other. On the
cities named in v. 18 see DEP-; on Gaza also below on I6 1 , on Ashkelon, on
I4 19 - 19. vnvft N 1 ?] that this mode of expression is abstractly possible
must perhaps be admitted, though there is no complete parallel ; cf. Am. 6 10 ,
Dr. 3 202, 2; Ges. 25 114 n. 2. But in the context the impersonal, it was
impossible to expel, is less suitable than he (Judah) ivas unable to expel.
Jos. I5 63 I7 12 make it most probable that the author wrote wmn 1 ? hy xS; cf.
also (53UZT; the verb hy was cancelled by R or a scribe on dogmatic
grounds. { relieves the difficulty by premising " after they had sinned " (cf.
2 7. lOff.) . an anonymous commentator in Cat. Niceph. writes, O$K ^Svv^drjffav,
OVK tiri a8vva/j.tq. etpyrai, d\X' M pa9v/nia. \\ trmn cannot be always trans-
lated by the same English word, but is to be rendered according to the
context, ' conquer, occupy, expel,' &c. pay] is etymologically a deep depres-
* See the description of Egyptian war-chariots in Wilkinson, Ancient Egyp-
tians*, i. p. 222 if. ; Erman, Aegypten, u. s. w., p. 649 ff., 720 f. ; W. M. Miiller,
Asien u. Europa, p. 301 (Syrian), 329 (Hittite).
t See further, Lagarde, Septuaginta Studien, i. p. 20, 22.
J The rendering of ID 1 ? by exArjpoj'ojuTjo-et' points to a different hand from the
translator of the rest of the chapter (cf. v.12. 13^ and perhaps justifies the inference
that v.18 (which from its contents cannot have been inserted by the editor of
Jud. i) was interpolated after the Greek version was made.
These versions could, however, scarcely render otherwise, and IL and ST, at
least, probably had our text ; S> translates, did not destroy.
|| Similarly R. Moses es-Sheikh supplies B>mnS fin nV,
i. 19-21 39
sion; in usage the name is not given to a narrow valley or ravine, but to a
broader and more open valley or low plain, such as the Plain of Jezreel,
Jos. I7 16 &c. That it belongs to the definition of an *emeq to lie between or
be shut in by hills (Rob., Phys. Geog., 70), so that the coast plain could not
be so called (Ba., Graf, on Jer. 47 5 ), is not warranted. See further, M.
Shebiith, ix. 2, esp. Tos. Shebiith, vii. 10 f. For the last words of the verse
<& has STI Pr)X a P diearrelXaTo avrois, prob. by corruption of Vn3(n) to Snan;
cf. Jos. 1 7 16 - 18 where ITTTTOS tiri\KTO$ may have a similar origin (cf. We., De
gentibus, etc., p. 31, TBS. p. 18).
20. Caleb expels the giants of Hebron. See above on v. 10 .
As Moses had bidden] Nu. i4 24 Dt. i 36 cf. Jos. i4 12ff - is 13ff -. The
three giants'} Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai. v. 10 . The inhabitants
of Hebron are called Canaanites (v. 10 ) and Amorites (Jos. io 5 E),*
both general names for the native population of Palestine.
The legends of the conquest made Hebron one of the chief seats
of a giant race, the remnants of the autochthones who everywhere
preceded the historical peoples;! Nu. if* (J) Jos. i5 13 14"
n 21f> . "Sons of Anak " (AV., RV.) gives the erroneous impres-
sion that Anak is the name of the father of these giants, an
error which was shared by early Jewish scribes and translators.
pjyn >ja] is a phrase like S^nn \n ' warriors,' and signifies ' men of great
stature,' lit. 'of (long) neck'; cf. Jerome, de situ, etc. (OS 2 . H2 7 ), Enacim,
quos gigantes et potentes intellegere debemus; Schultens, lob, p. 383. The
article categorically prohibits taking piy as a proper noun. The genealogy
Arba (i.e. Four), the father of Anak (Long-neck'}, the father of Sheshai, &c.
(Jos. I5 13 2 1 11 ) is the result of a series of blunders; see on v. 10 .
21. Jerusalem. See above on v. 8 and cf. Jos. is 03 . The au-
thor doubtless wrote Judah (Jos. is 63 ), which was changed by a
later hand to Benjamin in accordance with Jos. iS 28 cf. v. 16 i5 8 .
The probable order of the narrative in J was v. 7 - 19< 21 , or v. 7 - 21 - 19 . J
Did not expel] Jos. I5 63 , could not expel; doubtless the original
reading of J, which has been changed as in v. 19 , for similar rea-
son. The Jebusites dwelt with the Benjamites~] Jos. 15 with the
Judahites.
* The Hittites at Hebron, Gen. 23 (P), are subject of controversy. There is
no reason to suppose that the name is used with greater ethnographical exactness
than Canaanite in J or Amorite in E.
t See Dt. 210-12. 20f. 23. + Mey., Bu., Kitt. Budde.
4O JUDGES
22-29. Joseph invades Mt. Ephraim and takes Bethel. Cities
which Manasseh and Ephraim did not conquer. The oldest
history of the conquest represented the invasion of Central Pales-
tine as independent of that of the south and subsequent to it, a
representation which also underlies the narrative in Jos. What is
here related of Joseph is apparently an abridged but otherwise
unaltered extract from the older history (J), corresponding to the
account of the conquests of Judah. The house of Joseph also went
up] as Judah had done ; the sentence is the formal counterpart of
v. 4 . House of Joseph v. 23 - 35 Jos. i; 17 (J) 2 S. 19 i K. n 28 Am. 5 6 ,
&c. Here it tacitly includes Benjamin, as well as Ephraim and
Manasseh ; cf. 2. S. ig 21 , where the Benjamite Shimei says, " I am
come to-day, the first of all the house of Joseph." * And Yah-
weh was with them~\ as he was with Judah (v. 19 ). Budde's con-
jecture, and Joshua with them,~\ is extremely ingenious, but
equally hazardous ; see critical note. In connexion with this
conjecture Budde surmises that in the original context of J a
short account of the operations against Ai (Jos. 8) preceded v. 23 .
23. Reconnoitred at Bethel~\ caused an examination to be
made in order to find out the best way to surprise or attack the
town. The ancient name of B. was Luz\ Gen. 28 35 6 48 3 Jos.
i8 13 (all P or R). In Jos. i6 2 the two seem to be distinguished
("from Bethel to Luz"), and it has been inferred from the pas-
sages in Gen. also that the Israelite sanctuary, Bethel, was at a
little distance from the old Canaanite city, Luz ; \ the conclusion
is, however, in both cases precarious. In JE (Gen. 28) the origin
of the name Bethel is connected with the vision which Jacob had
there in his flight from the wrath of Esau, and' the sacred stone
(y&xiTvAos) which he set up on the spot (v. 22 ) ; in P (Gen. 35 9 " 15 )
with a theophany on the same spot as he returned from Paddan
Aram. In the times of the kingdom it was the most famous holy
place in Central Palestine, i K. i2 28ff - 13 2 K. lo 29 xy 28 Am. 7 10 - 13
3 14 4 4 5 5 Hos. io 5 Jer. 48 13 , &c. It is the modern Beitin, about
twelve miles north of Jerusalem on the way to Nabulus (She-
* On Benjamin, see Stade, G VI. i. p. 160 f.
f Richt. . Sam., p. 58 f. ; accepted by Kitt., GdH. i. i. 243.
J So a Lap., Ges. (Thes. p. 194), Ew. (GVL i. 435 f.), Di. on Gen. s>8!9, Guerin,
al. mu.
I. 22-26 41
chem).* 24. The men on the watc}i\ the Israelite scouts or
pickets; cf. i S. 19" 2 S. n lfi . Show us the way to enter the
city] not the entrance into the city, i.e., the gate (AV., RV.), which
they could see for themselves ; but the most advantageous point
for an assault or surprise. f They put the city to the sword~\ v. 8
4 15 - 16 iS 27 Gen. 34 26 i S. i5 8 , &c. The phrase is used constantly
in describing the wars of extermination waged, or to be waged,
against the Canaanites, and against the Amalekites ; cf. also Jud.
20 37.48 2I 10 j g> 22 19 2 S> ^14 2 IQ 25 j _ frj fa man an d all hlS
family go~] cf. Jos. 2 12ff - 6 22f - 25 (Rahab) ; family is to be understood
in the larger sense, not merely of his household, but of his kin-
dred. 26. The man migrated to the north beyond the Israelite
settlements, and founded a new Luz. The author thus accounts
for the existence in his time of a town bearing that name in Coele-
Syria or the Lebanon. The land of the Hittites\ is tacitly con-
trasted with the land of Israel ; see further on 3 3 . Beyond this
we have no clue to the site of the northern Luz ; the appellative
meaning of the word in Arabic (lam ' almond') makes identi-
fication with any of the numerous modern places of like-sounding
name more than usually precarious.
22. tpr no] |codd. ( CU I5 Kenn. and De Rossi) <5 (as generally in Jos.,
and Jud.) f|Di> ^2 ot viol Iw<r770, which Kitt. adopts. But as ^D)> >J3 is in the
Octateuch by far the commoner phrase, the variant has no significance, espe-
cially after the plural verb, where the correction of the constructio ad sensum
(Ges. 25 145, 2; Roorda, 595) to grammatical concord is very natural. The
name Joseph has recently been recognized in the name Y-^a-p-a-ra, i.e., Joseph-
el, || in the catalogue of the Syrian conquests of Thothmes III. in the i6th cent.
B.C.; though for the present the discovery creates new and perplexing prob-
lems rather than solves any. See E. Meyer, ZATW. vi. p. i ff.; Groff, Rev.
j&gyptologique, iv. p. 95 ff.; Sayce, Higher Criticism, &*c., p. 337~339; most
recently, W. M. M filler, Asien u. Europa, p. 162 ff., who regards them as
names of places (not of tribes) in Central Palestine. See below on Asher,
V. 81 , p. 52. DDJ? mm] ALM ,f Euseb., Kal 'lovSas /ACT' atrQiv. Bu. (Richt.
* On Beitin see Rob., BI&. i. p. 447 ff. ; Guerin, Judee, iii. p. 14-27; SWP.
Memoirs, ii. p. 295 f., 305 ; Bad 3 ., p. 215.
f Vatabl., Cler., Schm., Stud., Ke., Ba., Kitt.; less probably, a secret entrance,
Abarb., Be. % On the usage see Be., on i 8 , p. 15 f.
$ Outside of Canaan, Ki., Schm., Cler., al.
j| Cf. Y-'-k-b-a-ra, i.e. Jacob-el in the same list.
IT The secondary versions fail us ; I 9 ft are lacking ; r omits by omoeoteleqt.
from BaitfyA v. 2 ' 2 -Bai#jA v. 23 ; Jfy is supported by
42 JUDGES
u. Sam., p. 58 f.) conj. that the author wrote jnsMrvi; as Joshua seemed impos-
sible in this context, the name was altered to mim (<g), but this, too, conflicted
with the foregoing narrative and was changed to mn\ But instead of these
clumsy alterations the simple and only natural remedy was fb drop the words
altogether.* The origin of the variant in (& is much more probably to be
explained by the accidental corruption of rnn> to mim in the copy from which
the translation was made. In the story of the taking of Bethel as narrated in
Vp 23-26 there is no reference to a leader such as Joshua, and hardly room for
such a one. 23. In Jos. i6 2 nnS is perh. merely a gloss to Vxno, "from
Bethel-Luz " (Di. in /<?<:.) ; f it is hardly likely that in defining a long boundary
by four or five points two places would be named which are so near to each
other as to be ordinarily identified. The inference from Gen. 28 19 (Jacob
did not pass the night in the Canaanite town) is only really cogent upon the
assumption of the strictly historical character of the narrative. In the partition
of the land Bethel is allotted to Benjamin (Jos. i8 22 cf. Neh. ii 31 ), but the
course of the boundary (Jos. i8 13 cf. 16^-) seems to leave it in the territory of
Ephraim; see comm. on Jos. 18". The Onomastica (OS 2 . 20955 2 39 8330
icog) locate Bethel on the left of the Roman road from Jerusalem to Neapolis
(Shechem), 12 R. m. from the former; so also the Bordeaux Pilgrim (Reland,
p. 416; Palestine Pilgrims' Text Soc., p. 19). Later Christian travellers
looked for it much farther north (reff. in Rob., i. p. 449 n.) ; but the true site
was still pointed out to Jewish pilgrims (Carmoly, Itineraires, p. 130, 249;
Eshtori Parchi, fol. 68 a ed. Venet). It was identified with Beitm by the
missionary Nicolayson in 1836, and by Rob., BE?, i. 447 if.; the soundness of
the identification is defended (against Thenius) by Graf in an exhaustive
discussion, Stud. u. Krit., 1854, p. 851-858. wrm] mn (c. c. ace.) 'explore,
reconnoitre,' Nu. 13. 14, passim. The Hiph. is better taken as 'direct causa-
tive ' (K6. i. p. 205 f.) * institute an exploration, reconnaisance,' rather than
'send out scouts' (nnn), 'have scouts reconnoitre' (Ra., Ki. after E, Stud.,
Ro., Ba.), or as equivalent to Qal (Tanch., R. Jes., Schm. (dub.), MV., al.); in
the former case hy would perhaps be expected (Be.), in the latter the ace.
The text is perhaps at fault; irapev^aXov IL cum obsiderent suggest "z umi
9 50 ; Sta. (SS. s.v.) proposes i-nxji, which would be construed with hy rather
than 2. <SI2t may, however, be merely attempts at the sense; the former led
Fl. Jos. to imagine a long siege of Bethel (antt. v. 2, 6 130 f.). tpr ira]
ol/cos lor/odTjX (gAVLO v ' lo i lo-pa^X 54 - 75 : BN vacat. The subject is superfluous,
and the variants perhaps indicate that it is not original in f. 24. onotpn]
IDS? in a hostile sense, 'have a place in observation,' almost equivalent to
'invest'; 2 S. II 16 i S. 19" Job I3 27 Ps. 56 7 yi 10 . KXV BN] 6 BN KO.\ I5oi>
t&iropeveTo = N!f C"N njm, Doom. w&y\ . . . u&on] construction as in
* All the more, that the story of Ai, to which they are supposed to have formed
the introduction, has been dropped.
f B ft j have Aova not here but after BeutfijA v. 1 , but this may be accidental ; N
supports $.
I. 22-25, 27 43
v. 8 ; see note there. 25. :nn 'fl'?] lit. ' according to a sword's mouth,' i.e. as
fiercely as a sword is wont to devour, unsparingly; so De., Di. (on Gen. 34 20 ),
Ba., al. Perhaps, however, ns had in this phrase lost its literal meaning,
* mouth,' as it usually does in loS, so that it only conveyed the notion, * accord-
ing to, in the manner or measure of.' The prep, should not be taken instru-
mentally, with the edge of the sword, which would, besides, require the article;
see Giesebrecht, Pr'dposit. Lamed, p. 95, 98 f. o^nnn ps] the ambiguity of
Greek transcription sometimes confuses DTin Hittites with DTO Cyprians, both
of which may be represented by Xerrtet/*; * cf. Fl. Jos. antt. i. 6, I 128, ix. 4,
5 77. Misled by this confusion Euseb. {OS'\ 30259) writes, Xerrtet/x 777
Xerriei/* 17 KUTT/JOS, v0a Tr6\iv e/crurei' Aovfa; f cf. Procop. on Jud. I 26 al.
Some modern scholars also have connected D^ro with o>nn; so Stud, on
Jud. I 26 , Ges., Man. Phoen., p. 152 f., cf. p. 122, Thes. p. 726; Movers,
Phonizier, ii. 2. p. 203 ff. ; Furst, WB*. p. 453. But the inscriptions of
Citium which Ges. cited in support of this identity prove to have been mis-
copied or misread; see E. Meyer, ZDMG. xxxi. p. 719 f. In the Talmud
{Sotah, 46 6 ) Luz is a place famous for its blue dyes (cf. also Sanhedr. 12),
which points, perhaps, to a site not very remote from the Phoen. coast. See
Neubauer, Geog. du Talmud, p. 156. Proposed identifications of Luz in
our verse are Luweizeh (Rob., BR 1 . iii. p. 389), four or five miles from Tell
el-QSdi (Dan),J and Kamid el Lauz (Rob., I.e. p. 425) on the western
side of the Bika' above Hasbeiya, once a place of considerable importance
(Abu-1 Fida, Tab. Syr. ed. Koehler, p. 93; Le Strange, Palestine under the
Moslems, p. 347, cf. p. 39).
27. Cf. Jos. 1 7 11 ' 13 . As on the south Joseph was separated from
Judah by a line of Canaanite towns, || so on the north it was con-
fined to the mountains and cut off from the fertile plain and the
tribes which struggled for a foothold beyond it in Galilee by a
chain of fortified cities guarding all the passes. At the eastern
end of this cordon was Beth-shean, on the main road to Damas-
cus ; at the western extremity, Megiddo, on the road up from the
coast, commanding thus the great commercial and military road
between Egypt and the east. Beth-shean\ Jos. 1 7 16 a stronghold
of the Canaanites, whose iron chariots deterred the tribe of Joseph
from the attempt to extend their border in that direction. It
was in possession of the Philistines at the end of Saul's life ( i S.
* DTID = Xerriet/u, Jer. 2 EZ. 276 ; cf. Nu. 2424 ffiM j Chr. if ffiL I Mace. i*.
t But cf. OS 2 . 27529.
J Conder (SWP. Memoirs, i. p. 96) has revived this suggestion.
Perhaps the Kumidi of the Amarna tablets ; a principality of S. Phoenicia.
|| See above, p. 8 ; and below on v.85.
44 JUDGES
3 1 10 2 S. 2 1 12 ), having perhaps recently been wrested by them
from the Canaanites ; but was conquered by Israel, probably
under David, and was subject to Solomon (i K. 4 12 ; see also on
v. 28 ). It is the modern Beisan, situated at the point where the
narrow eastern extension of the Great Plain begins to fall off
rapidly to the Jordan valley, and by its position completely com-
manding this pass. 1 * And its dependencies^ lit. ' daughters, daugh-
ter towns ' ; places to which Beth-shean stood in the relation of a
MrpoTToXvs ; t Nu. 2I 25 - 32 3 2 42 Jos. is 45 Jer. 4 9 2 Ez. I6 46 , &c. -
Taanach~\ in the O.T. generally coupled with Megiddo (5 19 i K.
4 12 Jos. i; 11 i2 21 ) ; now Ta'annuk on the edge of the Great Plain
about six miles NW. of Genm, and about four SE. of Leggun
(Megiddo). % Dor\ Jos. n 2 I2 23 iy n i K.4 11 1 Chr. f> cf. Jud.
i 31 ( ; on the sea coast south of Carmel, nine Roman miles N.
of Caesarea. Its ruins lie near the modern village of Tantura. ||
The name of Dor in this place interrupts the orderly progress of
the enumeration of the cities along the margin of the Great Plain
from East to West ; we should expect it to stand in the last place
as it does in i Chr. y 29 , which appears to be derived from Jud. i 27 ,
and are tempted to conjecture that it has been accidentally trans-
posed. Ibleani\ Jos. i; 11 (not in <) i Chr. 6 s5 (Eng. vers. 6 70 )
cf. (. From 2 K. p 27 it appears to have been near En-gannin,
the modern Genm, and the name has probably survived in (Wady
and Bir) Bel'ameh, half an hour S. of Genin.l Others, with less
probability, would identify Ibleam with Gelameh, a little village on
a knoll three miles and a half S. by W. from Zer In (Jezreel) on the
road to Genin.** Megiddo\ see the passages cited above under
Taanach; also i K. p 15 2 K. p 27 23^. The whole plain is called
* Descriptions of the site in Seetzen (who visited it in 1806), Reisen, ii. p. 161 ff. ;
Rob., BI&. iii. p. 326 ff.; Van de Velde, Narrative, ii. p. 356 ff.; Guerin, Samarie,
i. p. 284-298; SWP. Memoirs, ii. p. 83, 101-114 (with plans).
t See above on v. 10 , note.
J See Schubert, Reise, iii. p. 164; Rob., BR*. ii. p. 316, iii. p. 117; Guerin,
Samarie, ii. p. 226 ff. ; SWP. Memoirs, ii. p. 68.
Awpa i Mace. 15!!; Fl. Jos., c. Ap., ii. 10 116; OS 2 . 2833.
|| Guerin, Samarie, ii. p. 305-315 ; SWP. Memoirs, ii. p. 3, 7 ff. ; Bad^., p. 238.
IF Ke., Di. (NDJ. p. 545) ; SWP. Memoirs, ii. 47 f., 51 f.; Bad^., p. 228. See
also Schultz, ZMDG. iii. p. 49; Guerin, Samarie, i. p. 339 ff
** Knob., Cass., Grove, Wilson (DB*- 2).
I. 27-28 45
from it the Plain of Megiddo (Zech. I2 11 2 Chr. 35 s2 ), as the Kishon
is called the River of Megiddo (Jud. 5 19 ). Megiddo was evidently
a place of capital strategic importance, and is named in both
Egyptian and Assyrian inscriptions. In later times the name com-
pletely disappears ; neither Josephus nor Eusebius and Jerome
are acquainted with it. Robinson * established, to a high degree
of probability, that Megiddo occupied the site of the Legio of
the Onomastica, the modern Leggun, at the point where the main
road from the coast, having crossed the range of hills which ex-
tending to the SE. connects Carmel with Samaria, emerges into the
Great Plain. Its position must always have made it the key to
the western end of the plain as Beth-shean was to its eastern end.f
The Canaanites resolved to remain in that regioii\ stubbornly
maintained their hold upon it. 28. When Israel became strong
enough~\ the subjugation of these cities appears to have been the
work of David ; their power had doubtless been greatly weakened
by the struggle with the Philistines, who, at the beginning of Saul's
reign, or shortly after, had probably conquered the rest of them
as we know they did Beth-shean. They were all subject to Solo-
mon, i K. 4 llf- . They impressed the Canaanites in the working
gangs'] employed on public works (i K. 9 20f ')- From the earliest
times to the days of the Suez canal, the corve"e has been in the
East the means by which great public works have been executed.
According to their traditions, the Israelites had been set to such
labour in Egypt ; Solomon employed it on a large scale in his build-
ings and fortifications, and, in spite of i K. Q 22 , it bore heavily not
only upon aliens but on Israelites (i K. 5 13ff - i2 4>10 - 18 ). Megiddo
and Gezer (v. 29 ) were fortified by him by impressed labour, doubt-
less largely of their own Canaanite inhabitants ( i K. 9 15 ) . But
by no means expelled them} the population of these cities con-
tinued to be largely Canaanite ; Beth-shean, in particular, was,
even to the latest times, more foreign than Israelite.
27. Beth-shean'} Bcu0<rai>, T\ eanv 2,Kvdwv TroXts @, 2 Mace. I2 29 Judith 3 10 ;
S/cv067ro\is, Fl. Jos., antt. xii. 8, 5 348, &c.; Euseb. OS". 23755. According
* BRZ. ii. p. 328 ff., iii. p. 116 ff.
t See Van de Velde, Narrative, i. p. 350 ff. ; Guerin, Samarie, ii. p. 232 ff. ;
Bad, p. 229 f.
46 JUDGES
to Georgius Syncellus (chronog., i. p. 405 ed. Bonn.) * it had this name from
a body of Scythians who were left behind in the reflux of the great Scythian
invasion (Hdt, i. 105 f.) ; cf. Aug., qu. 8. It is not improbable that this is
merely a learned combination. Other ancient references, to the place, see
Reland, Palaestina, p. 992 ff.; Schiirer, Gesch. d. jiid. Volkes, u. s. w., ii.
p. 97 ff.; Jewish authors, Neubauer, Geog. du Talmud, p. 174 f., Zunz in
Asher's Benjamin of Tudela, ii. p. 425, cf. p. 400 f. ; Arab geographers, Le
Strange, Palestine under the Moslems, p. 410 f. The name is not to be read
in the Egyptian inscriptions as many have done; Miiller, Asien u. Europa,
p. 193. Taanach} is found in the lists of Palestinian cities subdued by
Thothmes III. (i6th cent. B.C.) and Shishak (loth cent.), in the former in
immediate juxtaposition to Ibleam; see W. M. Miiller, Asien u. Europa,
p. 170, 195. Euseb. (OS 2 . 26242) locates it 3 R. m. from Legio; Eshtori
Parchi (fol. 67* ed. Venet.) found it, with unchanged name, i hr. S. of
Megiddo (Leggun). Dor} Reland, p. 738 ff. (where, with other ancient
notices, an extract from the larger work of Steph. Byz.); Schurer, GjV. ii.
p. 77-79. According to the Papyrus Golinischeff, the maritime town D-tra
(Dor) was, in the time of Hri-hor (before 1050 B.C.), in the hands of the
Takara, one of the tribes which invaded Canaan with the Purusati (Philis-
tines); see W. M. Miiller, Asien u. Europa, p. 388. The irregular order
of the present enumeration, which springs to and fro Taanach, Dor, Ib-
leam, Megiddo may have given rise to the conj. En-dor, which in Jos.
I7 11 |^ stands as a doublet to Dor and in & has displaced it; but En-dor does
not belong in this company at all. The name is properly written not nr%t
as here, but ii Jos. I7 11 i K. 4 11 , nst pj? Ps. 83", INT nan Jos. 2i 32 ; see
Massora on Jos. 17" and Norzi. That this is the original form of the name
appears from the Assyrian text cited by Schrader, KAT 2 . p. 168, and is put
beyond question by the inscription of Eshmunazar (CIS., Pars i., i. no. 3,
1. 19). Ibleam'} in 2 K. 9 27 we should not translate to the garden house
(EV.}, but to Beth-haggan (Sta., Klo.), i.e. En-gannim Jos. I9 21 Tiva^ Fl. Jos.
antt. xx. 6, I 118, on the edge of the Great Plain, the border town between
Samaria and Galilee (b. j. iii. 3, 4), now Genin (Rob., BR 2 . ii. p. 315 f.;
Guerin, Samarie, i. p. 327-332; SWP. Memoirs, ii. p. 44). "The pass (as-
cent) of Gur, which is near Ibleam," must have been in the edge of the hills.
The situation of Bel'ameh suits all these indications. J Gelameh (Rob., BR 2 .
ii. p. 319; Guerin, Samarie, i. p. 326 f.; SWP. Memoirs, ii. p. 84), in the
open plain an hour N. of Genin, suits neither in name nor in situation; it can
never have been a place of great strength, and there is no pass in the neigh-
bourhood. Eshtori Parchi (fol. 67*) and Conder (SWP. Memoirs, ii. p. 98)
identify Ibleam with Yebla, NW. of Beisan. Megiddo} Egyptian references,
* Cf. Pliny, n. A., v. 74, Scythopolim, antea Nysam, a Libero Patre sepulta nutrice
ibi Scythis reductis.
f Numerous codd. (De Rossi) have "\xx
% Berameh may also be the BeAa/xwv of Judith, 8 3 (BeA^ 4* 7 3 codd. ( & Belma) .
I. 27-29 47
Miiller, op. cit. p. 195 f.; Amarna tablets, Sayce, Acad. Feb. 7, 1891, p. 138;
Assyrian, Schrader, KAT*. p. 168 = COT. i. p. 156. The identification with
Leggun is due to Eshtori Parchi (1322; fol. 6-j b , Zunz, in Asher's Benj. of
Tudela, ii. p. 433) ; in modern times it seems to have been first suggested
in an anonymous review of Raumer's Palaestina in the Miinch. gelehrt.
Anzeigen, Dec. 1836, p. 920 (Rob.). Legio (Ae7ew>) is freq. mentioned in the
Onomastica; as the intersection of several roads it is used as the base from
which the distance of a number of places is reckoned; under the name
Leggun it is often named in the Arab geographers (Le Strange, Palestine, &c.,
p. 492 f.). Tell el-Mutesellim (Thomson, Land and Book 2 , ii. p. 214; Gue-
rin, Samarie, ii. p. 237) may have been the citadel of Megiddo, as Tell
el-Hisn was of Beth-shean. Conder (PEF. Statements, 1877, .p. 13 ff.,
cf. 190-192; SWP. Memoirs, ii. p. 90 ff.) would put Megiddo at Khurbet
el-Mugedda', in the valley 3 m. SW. of Beth-shean; the situation is impos-
sible. Others (so Spruner-Sieglin, Atlas) identify it with el-Mugeidil, an
hour and a quarter SW. of Nazareth. i^mn xh\\ Jos. I7 12 tpmn 1 ? . . . iS^ xSi;
see above, on v. 19 . 'Ji ^jjuan SNVI] not began (<53L as usually), nor consented,
agreed (Ba., Cass., after older scholars). The verb means 'make up one's
mind, resolve, decide,' either of one's own motion, Gen. i8 27 Dt. I 6 I S. I2 22
&c., or at the instance or request of another, Jud. 19 I7 11 2 K. 6 3 and often.
But we are not warranted in putting so much into it as, ' they had to submit
to reside in that (limited) region on conditions fixed by the Israelites,' of
which villeinage (v. 28 ) was the ultimate, if not the immediate, import (Ba.) ;
cf. Ex. 2 21 Jud. i7 n , further v. 35 cl. Jos. I9 47 . 28. DD 1 ? ypjan nfc oei] Jos. I7 13
urn. The etymology of Do is obscure; possibly it is a loan-word. It is a
body of men impressed to labour on public works, frequently defined 13? DD,
working gang. Ex. I 11 the Egyptians set over the Israelites DMDD ntr, i.e., not
^TTiffTarat TUV epywv (3L), but gang-foremen. The word can be used of a
whole population which is subject to the corvee; fig. (Prov. I2 24t ) of an
individual who is reduced to this status. It nowhere in the O.T. has the
meaning tribute, tributary,' which the exegetical tradition attaches to it. A
distinction between DD and na? DD, such as Ba. tries to establish, does not
exist. itt>mn S B>mm] did not drive them out at all. The absol. object.,
Ges. 25 113, 3 a; Ew. 312 a. For a comparison of the parallel passage,
Jos. I7 11 - 13 , and discussion of its relation to Jud., see Be., p. 37 f.; Di., NDJ.
p. 544 ff.; esp. Bu., Kicht. u. Sam., p. 13 ff.; Kitt., GdH. i. I. p. 244.
29. Jos. i6 10 . Ephraim did not conquer Gezer, which formed
a Canaanite enclave in the territory of that tribe. Gezer\ on the
SW. border of Ephraim (Jos. i6 3 ). In David's time still indepen-
dent (i S. 27 8 2 S. s 25 1 Chr. 20 4 ),* it was conquered in the following
* In Jos. 132 also we should probably read nun for nwjin ; We., TBS. p. 139;
Dr., TBS., p. 163 ; Mey., ZA TW. i. p. 126 n. ; cf. also Ew., G VI. ii. 467. On the
other side, Di., ad loc.
48 JUDGES
reign by the Pharaoh and given to his daughter, Solomon's queen ;
Solomon rebuilt it as a frontier fortress against the Philistines
(i K. 9 15 " 17 ). It is the modern Tell Gezer, discovered in 1870 by
Clermont Ganneau, between 'Amwas-Nicopolis and 'Aqir-Ekron.
The Canaanites dwelt in the midst of them at Gezer} Jos.
i6 10b- , "The C. dwelt in the midst of Ephraim unto this day,
and were subjected to compulsory labour," which is not a free ex-
pansion of Jud.,* but represents the original reading of J (cf.
v> 28. so. 33. 35^ . fa Q text j n j uc j t j^g b een abbreviated. | The words
"unto this day" do not necessarily imply a time prior to the
destruction of the city by the Egyptians (i K. 9 16 ) ; J the extermi-
nation of the Canaanite population need not be taken so literally.
Gezer~\ is named in the lists of Thothmes III. (Miiller, Asien u. Europa,
p. 1 60), and in Amarna tablets (Sayce, Acad., Feb. 1891, p. 138). According
to I K. 9 16 (cf. i S. 278; 2 S. 5 25 is indecisive, i Chr. 20* can hardly prove the
contrary) it was in Solomon's time a Canaanite (not Philistine) city, though it
may earlier have been subject to the Philistines. Gezer (Tdfapa, Ta^pa) was
an important place in the Maccabaean wars; I Mace. 4 15 7 45 9 52 (Fl. Jos.,
antt. xiii. i, 3 15) I3 53 I4 34 (Fl. Jos., b. j. i. 2, 2) 1528-35 (Fl. Jos., antt. xiii.
9, 2 261). Euseb. (OS 2 . 24414) puts it 4 R. m. N. of Nicopolis. The Arab
geographers mention Tell Gezer as a fortress in the Province Filastln (Le
Strange, Palest, under the Moslems, p. 543) . For Ganneau's discovery of the
place, see PEF. Statements, 1873, p. 78 f.; 1874, p. 276 ff.; 1875, P- 74 ff -
A boundary stone was found with the inscription ^n onn; Acad. des Inscript. t
Comptes rendus, 1874, p. 106 ff., 201, 213 f., 273 ff.; see also SWP. Memoirs,
ii. 428-439 (with plan).
30-33, The northern tribes settle among the older population ;
the principal cities remain in the possession of the Canaanites.
The entrance of these tribes into western Palestine was indepen-
dent of the invasion of Judah (v. lff -) and Joseph (v. 22 *), and if
the author's representation which also underlies Jos. i8 lff- be
correct, later in time. Its results were also much less considera-
ble ; even in the mountains of Galilee they did not gain the mas-
tery as their brethren had done in the mountains of Ephraim and
Judah. The newcomers were fain to settle among the Canaan-
ites where they could find place ; the mass of the population in
* Be., cf. Ew., G VI. ii. p. 464.
t Bu., Richt. u. Sam., p. 15 ; Kitt., GdH. i. i. p. 244.
J Bleek, Einl$. p. 151 f., Ba., al.
I. 29-31 49
this "heathen district" (Galilee of the Gentiles) was probably
for many centuries not Israelite.
The tribes of Zebulun, Asher, and Naphtali are named. The
omission of Issachar is not easily accounted for, since the Song of
Deborah (ch. 5) shows that in early times it was a prominent
tribe and had much to suffer from the Canaanites (cf. also Gen.
49 14f -)- It is hardly likely that it is included under Joseph,* more
probably it has been omitted, through accident or design, in the
abridgment of the chapter.
30. Zebulun] settled in the western part of Lower Galilee, in
the hills north of the Great Plain; see Jos. ig 10 " 16 . Kitron and
Nahalol^ Nahalol appears among the cities of Zebulon, Jos. ig 15
2 1 35 ; Kitron only here. Neither has been identified. Were
subjected to compulsory labour] see on v. 29 and note on v. 28 .
31. Asher] north of Zebulun and west of Naphtali, in the moun-
tainous country behind the Phoenician coast. Acco~\ only here
in the Hebrew Old Testament.! It was renamed Ptolemais
(Act. 2 1 7 ), probably in honour of Ptolemy II., but the new name
did not supplant the old one. It is the St. Jean d'Acre of the
crusaders, the modern 'Akka, on the coast north of the headland
of Carmel. \ Sidon~\ the famous Phoenician city, the modern
Saida.
Ahlaby Achzib, Helbah, Aphik, Rehob~\ of these places only
Achzib can be identified with any confidence. It is the Ecdippa
of the Greek and Roman geographers, on the coast nine Roman
miles north of Ptolemais, || the modern ez-Zib, between 'Akka and
Tyre.^j" Of the others, a highly probable emendation of Jos. ip 29
* We., Comp., p. 215 ; cf. Mey., ZA TW. i. p. 142 f. ; against this view, Bu.,
Richt. u. Sam., p. 44 ff.
f is? is to be restored (for ID?) in Jos. 198" with ffiN c f. M (Reland, Hollenb.),
and according to a widely accepted conj. of Reland, in Mi. i 10 (for 133) ; see Ryssel,
Micha, p. 23 ff.
J On Acco see Fl. Jos., t>. j. ii. 10, i f. ; Reland, p. 534 ff. ; Rob., BR*. iii. p.
89 ff.; Guerin, Galilee, i. p. 502-525; Lortet, Syrie, p. 159^-168; SWP. Memoirs,
i. p. 160 ff.; Schiirer, GjV. ii. p. 79 ff. ; Neubauer, Geog. du Talmud, p. 231 f.;
Le Strange, Palestine under the Moslems, p. 328-334.
On Sidon, Reland, p. 1010 ff. ; Pietschmann, Phonizier, p. 53 ff. ; Rob., BR%.
ii. p. 476-485 ; Ritter 2 , xvii. p. 380 ff. ; Renan, Mission de Phenicie, p. 361 ff. ; Gue-
rin, Galilee, ii. p. 485-506; Lortet, Syrie, p. 91-116; Bad 3 , p. 279-283.
|| Jerome, OS 2 . 95i 2 . H Ritter, xvi. p. 811 f. ; Guerin, Galilee, ii. 164 f.
E
50 JUDGES
would restore Ahlab, or Helbah, which is perhaps a variant of the
same name, before Achzib ; it was probably on the coast between
Achzib and Sarepta. Aphik and Rehob are found together in the
catalogue of cities of Asher, Jos. iQ 30 ; they were apparently fur-
ther inland. 32. The Asherites settled among the inhabitants of
the land~\ the words clearly express the difference between the
situation in this part of the land and that south of the Great
Plain. In the latter region the conquest was incomplete, but
the Israelites were, at least in the mountains, the predominant ele-
ment in the population ; in the north there was no conquest at all,
and Asher and Naphtali settled among the native inhabitants as
best they could. For they did not drive them ouf\ we may with
confidence assume that the author of the older history wrote, as
elsewhere, could not. 33. Naphtali} settled in the eastern half
of Upper Galilee, having Zebulon and Issachar on the south and
Asher on the west. Beth-shemesh~] Jos. iQ 38 ; not identified.
Beth-anath~\ coupled with Beth-shemesh (Jos. /. c.) in the list
of fortified cities in Naphtali, is perhaps the modern village
'Aimtha, six miles WNW. from Qades (Kedesh of Naphtali).*
The name shows that it was an old seat of the worship of the
goddess Anath,t as Beth-shemesh of the worship of the Sun.
They settled, &<r.] see above on v. 32 . Became subject to impress-
ment~] v. 30 ; see on v. 28 - a . Beth-shemesh and Beth-anath were
not the only cities in Naphtali which maintained their indepen-
dence ; in 4 2ff> a Canaanite king of Hazor has subjugated all the
northern tribes. From the predominance of the alien element in
this region it was called the Foreign District (Gelil ha-goyim,
Galilee "of the Gentiles, Is. 8 23 = AV. 9 1 ), or shortly, the District
(Gel'il, Galilee; i K. 9 11 2 K. 15). It was subject to Solomon,
who fortified Hazor (i K. p 15 ), and ceded twenty towns in it (the
Cabul) to Hiram, king of Tyre (i K. g 11 ' 13 ).
30. We may safely disregard the combinations SSru = ^iSna (jfer. Megillah,
i. i)= Ma'lul, 3^ m. W. of Nazareth (Schwarz), or 'Am Mahil (Conder); as
well as the identification by an etymological Midrash of Kitron with
* So Van de Velde, Narrative, i. p. 170 ; Guerin, Galilee, ii. p. 374 ; Miihlau,
in Ri. HWB.; SWP. Memoirs, i. p. 200.
f Cf. Beth-anoth in Judah, Anathoth in Benjamin ; E. Meyer, ZDMG. xxxi.
(1877) p. 718. See below on 381.
1. 32-33 51
Sepphoris (Meg. 6 a ). The tradition of the names is not such as to inspire
unqualified confidence. In Jos. I9 15 we find SVrui nap (<& B Karavafl), in
2i 3i nmp is prob. another variant of the same name; Jer. Meg. i. i identifies
nap with n>jiBp (see Neubauer, <?<?. afo Talm., p. 189). For SSnj here B
has Aw/tava, ?>. njDt Jos. 2i 35 . P*?13T] see Frensdorff, Mass. Worterb., p. 281 f.
31. aSnN] The same place is no doubt meant in Jos. I9 29 , where the emenda-
tion nanax aSno (?aSnNE, naSriD) for the unintelligible 'x Sarra (Stud., Hollenb.;
cf. @ B airb Ae/3, 54 cford AXe) seems imperative. The order of enumeration
(restoring ID? v. 30 ) is from N. to S. An inscription of Sennacherib,* which
recites his successes in Phoenicia, names in order, Sidon, Bit-Zi-it-ti (nn fro),
Sarepta, Mahalliba, Usu-u,\ Achzib, Acco. Fr. Delitzsch (Paradies, p. 283 f.)
and Schrader (KAT*. p. 173) compared Mahalliba vfifa Ahlab, Helbah, and
W. M. Muller (Asien u. Europa, p. 194, n.) conj. that aSnn was the original
name in the O.T. also. This does not commend itself; but it is altogether
probable that Ahlab, Helbah, and Mahalliba are variations of the same name, \
the meaning remaining the same. If this be so, we may venture to conjecture
that it was the old name of the Promontorium album of Pliny, the modern
Ras el-Abyad, midway between Tyre and Achzib; cf. Plin., n. h., v. 75, Ptole-
mais, quae quondam Acce . . . Ecdippa, promunturium Album, Tyros. Many
identify Ahlab with the Gush Halab of the Talmuds, the Fio-xaXa of Josephus
(b. J. t ii. 20, 6; iv. 2, i ff.; Z7/., 10, &c.)> now el-Gish, NW. of Safed; but this,
although in the Talmud ascribed to Asher (Menachoth, 85 b , cf. Sifre, Dt. 355,
fol. I48 a ed. Friedm.), is much too far inland for our context, and, indeed, for
the boundaries of Asher. Still more remote is aVn (Aleppo), or naSn, prob.
Hisn Halba (Le Strange, p. 352) in the district of Tripoli (Eshtori Parchi,
fol. 6o a ed. Venet., Asher, Benj. of Tudela, ii. 415). anas] in the Talmud
ana, N. of Acco; Tos. Ohaloth, xviii. 13, and often (Neubauer, p. 231-233);
'EKShrTra, Ptol., v. 15, 5; cf. Fl. Jos., antt. v. I, 22 85, b. j. i. 13, 4; Ecdippa,
Plin., n. h.,v. 75. The identification with ez-Zib is as old as Maundrell (1697).
P^SN] not " A0afca in the Lebanon, N. of Beirut, at the sources of the Adonis
(Nahr Ibrahim), famous for its worship of the Syrian Aphrodite, the modern
Afqa (older scholars in Reland, p. 572, Ges. T'hes., Rosenm., v. Raum., Ba.,
Ke., Cass., al.), which is much too far north for the present context and that
of Jos. I9 30 . || The name is not uncommon. arn] also a common name.
* Taylor Cylinder, col. ii. 1. 38-40; Schrader. KAT^. p. 288.
f Query = non Jos. ig 29 ? The name 'bstt also in Egyptian inscriptions, Miiller,
Asien u. Europa, p. 194. J Cf. Ahmed and Mohammed.
On Gush Halab see Neubauer, Geog. du Talmud, p. 230 f. ; el-Gish, Rob., BJR*.
ii. p. 445 f.; Guerin, Galilee, ii. p. 94-100; SWP. Memoirs, i. p. 198, 224-226. It is
freq. mentioned by Arab. Geographers (Le Strange, p. 463). Eshtori Parchi ob-
serves that Gush Halab is almost a day's journey from Acco ; he can explain its
belonging to Asher only by the fact that the boundaries of the tribes overlapped
(fol. 67').
|| Aphaka in the Lebanon is probably intended in Jos. I3 4 ; see J. D. Mich.,
Suppl., p. 114; cf. Budde, Urgeschichte, p. 350.
52 JUDGES
The Rehob of our text (and Jos. I9 80 ) cannot be the same as Beth-rehob near
Dan (Jud i8 28 ). It is very likely Rehob in Asher that is meant in the Egyptian
lists cited by Miiller, Asien u. Europa, p. 153; see his note there. It seems
probable from the order in Jos. I9 29 - 30 , and from the facfc that in other cata-
logues of the towns on the Phoenician seaboard the names nowhere occur,
that Aphik and Rehob were .not on the coast, but in the interior. The omis-
sion of Tyre from this list is significant. The name Asher appears in the
Egyptian inscriptions of Seti and Ramses II.* among the peoples with whom
those kings waged war in northwestern Palestine, in the same region where
the Israelite tribe Asher is located by the O.T.; see W. M. Miiller, Asien u.
Europa, p. 236 ff.f Like the names Joseph-el and Jacob-el (above, p. 41),
this fact opens large questions about the settlement of the Israelites in Pales-
tine, upon which we cannot enter here. njj? no] occurs among the conquests
of Seti and Ramses II. (Miiller, op. dt. y p. 195, 220), with divine determina-
tive, as was observed by De Rouge in 1852 (Mem. de I'Acad. des Inscr. t xx. 2,
1 86 1, p. i Si). There is another Ainata on the eastern slope of the Lebanon
not far from theBisherreh cedars (Burton, Unexplored Syria, ii. I38f.; Thom-
son, Land and Book 2 , Lebanon, &c., p. 272, 313; Bad 3 , p. 350). For other
attempts to identify Beth-anath, in accordance with the indications of Euseb.,
OS' 2 . 23645 cl. 22470, see Ba.
34, 35. Dan is forced back into the mountains. The verses
differ strikingly from the rest of the chapter in the use of the
name Amorite instead of Canaanite. In the Hexateuch the
former is characteristic of E (and D), the latter of J. $ Verse M ,
which shares this peculiarity, is clearly fragmentary and mis-
placed. For these reasons, which he fortifies by other peculiari-
ties of expression in the verse, Meyer separates v. 34 - 36 as the work
of another hand. Budde has shown, however, || that, whatever
explanation we may give of the substitution of Amorites for Ca-
naanites, v. 34 *- are probably derived from the same source and
context as the rest of the chapter. Dan\ first tried to get a
foothold on the southwest of Ephraim. The language of the text
perhaps implies that in the beginning they pushed further toward
the Lowlands, but were soon checked and pressed back by the
* Before the date now generally accepted for the Exodus, therefore.
t M. Jastrow, Jr., in JBL. xi. p. 120, points out that the f/abiri and Milkil
(mare Milkil) of the Amarna tablets correspond to two of the clans of Asher,
Heber and Malchiel (Nu. 2645).
t We., Comp., p. 341 ; Mey., ZATW. i. p. 121 ff.; Bu., Urgeschichte, p. 345 f.
ZA TW. i. p. 126, 135 ; so also Stade, G VI. i. p. 138 n.
|| Richt. u. Sam., p. 15 ff. ; see also Kitt., GdH. i. i. p. 244, and note below.
L 34-35 53
natives, who crowded them into a small district about Zorah and
Eshtaol, where we find them in Jud. 13-16. The main body of
the tribe, finding these limits too narrow, migrated to the head-
waters of the Jordan, where they established themselves about
Laish, renamed Dan (Jud. 18 f. Jos. i9 47f -). The Amorites~\ in E
and D comprehensive name for the pre-Israelite peoples of Pales-
tine. The author (J) from whom this notice is derived probably
wrote Canaanites* as throughout the chapter. The contrast
between the mountains and the plain, as in v. 19 cf. also Jos. 1 7 16 .
The broad valleys which extend inland, like that of Aijalon (Jos.
io 12 ) f are doubtless included, but not exclusively meant. 35.
Cf. v. 27 Har-heres\ only here. Generally, and with great proba-
bility, regarded as the same with Beth-shemesh (i K. 4 9 2 Chr.
28 18 ), \ or Ir-Shemesh (Jos. iQ 41 ), which stand in immediate con-
nexion with Aijalon and Shaalbim, and then to be identified with
the modern 'Ain Shems, on the south side of Wady Surar, opposite
Surah (Zorah). Aijalon] Jos. ip 42 io 12 , on the Philistine border
(i S. i4 31 ) ; subject to Solomon (i K. 4) ; fortified by Rehoboam
(2 Chr. ii 10 ) ; according to the same authority, conquered by
the Philistines under Ahaz (2 Chr. 28 18 ). Conclusively identified
by Robinson with the modern Yalo, || about two miles E. of
'Amwas (Nicopolis), on the southern side of the valley. Aijalon
commanded the descent to the plain by W. Selman, as Beth-
shemesh did that by W. Surar (Sorek) ; cf. i S. 6 9 . Shaalbim}
i K. 4 9 Jos. ip 42 . Knobel, Conder, and others would find it at
Selbit, on the north side of the valley, two miles N. of 'Amwas,
and about three miles NW. of Yalo. The site is not unsuitable,
but the similarity of the names is extremely slight, and all other
data are wanting. The hand of the house of Joseph rested heav-
* Hardly Philistines, as Bu. (p. 18 n.) is tempted to conjecture, a reading
which editors or scribes would be much less likely to change. Nor does the name
Amorites include the Philistines, as Mey. erroneously gathers from i S. 7 1 *
(ZATW. i. 123). The date of the Philistine invasion is uncertain; but their
occupation of the lowland may have crowded the Canaanites back upon Dan.
f Merg ibn 'Omeir; Rob., BR?. iii. p. 144; Phys. Geog. t p. 113.
J So Cler., Hiller (Onom. sacra, 1706, p. 560).
Rob., BR 2 . ii. p. 224 f.; Guerin, Judee, ii. p. 18-22.
|| BfP. ii. p. 253 f., iii. p. 144 f. ; see also Guerin, Judee, i. p. 290 ff.; SWP.
Memoirs, iii. p. 19.
54 JUDGES
ily upon them~\ lit. grew heavy ; cf. i S. 5 6 . The language does
not strictly refer to conquest. The places seem to have come
under Israelite dominion before the division of the kingdom ; they
are all included in one of Solomon's prefectures ( i K. 4 9 ) . Beth-
shemesh was Israelite still earlier (i S. 6).
34. As v. 35 , in any case, is not the original sequel of v. 34 *'-, it is unsafe to
infer much from their present juxtaposition. Moreover, in v. 36 the text is
corrupt precisely in the critical words; for Amorites we must read Edomites
(Hollenb., Bu., Kitt.). The form of v. 34 * 1 - corresponds as closely to the rest
of the chapter as the different situation admits, and the coincidences in
phraseology become more significant against the other differences; observe
pop in contrast to in v. 84 (v. 19 ), rwh SNVI v. 85 (v. 27 Jos. i; 12 ), I\DV no v. 85
(v. 22 - 23 ), DoS VHM v. 85 (v. 30 - 33 Jos. i6 10 ); cf. v^ b with v. 2811 , v. 3 * with v.H>
(Bu., Richt. u. Sam., p. 16). The contents of the verse fully agree with what
we know of the fortunes of Dan. There remains only the name Amorite,
which can hardly be allowed to outweigh these evidences of unity of origin.
The change may have been made by an editor; or the corruption in v. 86 may
have worked back into the preceding verses, with which that was thought to
be closely connected. wnSn] pn 1 ? lit. 'squeeze, crowd,' Nu. 22 25 , trop. Am.
6 14 Jud. io 12 ; freq. in ptcp. D^smS, ' oppressors,' Jud. 2 18 6 9 &c. I S. lo 18 .
uru S -o] better ouru *6i Jos. IQ 47 @, Bu., Kitt. 35. Din -in] onn, 'the
sun,' Job 9 7 ; cf. D^n runn Jud. 2 9 , onnn nSynSD 8 13 , Dinn Tp Is. IQ 18 (Helio-
polis in Egypt = B>D no Jer. 43 13 ).* Beth-shemesh, a border town of the
Israelites (i S. e 9 - 1 ^-). on the boundary of Judah (Jos. I5 10 ), to which tribe
it is reckoned to belong (Jos. 2i 16 ) ; cf. OS 2 . 237 59 . Aijalon] Jerome (OS 2 .
8923)* correcting on Jewish authority an error of Euseb., puts it 2 R. m. from
Nicopolis on the way to Jerusalem; cf. ep. 108, 8 {Opp. ed. Vallarsi, i. 690).
Shaalbim~\ The name Selbit (iajuJL*/) cannot represent DO"?;JB>; see the
thorough investigations of Kampffmeyer in ZDPV. xv. xvi. @ translates
dXc67re/res, from which it may be inferred that Hebrew had a noun sSytP
- 9
corresponding to v JjO, as well as *?pw, Ji^", iuL*J'. Aq. Symm. Theod.
SaXajSetv, which, corrupted to QaXa&eiv, has found its way as a doublet
into B . The other variations of @ in this verse are particularly interesting.
1> -warn] (i adds &rl rbv 'Afwppaiov. Cf. hy HI rym 3 10 6 2 . Doom,
(p. II f.) regards 33 b 35 b as patriotic interpolations (cf. <g v. 30 - 31 ); the
Israelites cannot have thus subjected the more numerous and stronger native
population. These notices, however, describe the situation at a later time,
after the consolidation of the Israelite power in Canaan.
36. The Edomite frontier. The verse has no connexion with
the preceding. The Pass of Akrabbim was on the southern or
* See on a 9 . The text of Jud. i^ 8 (noinn) is corrupt.
! 34-36 55
southeastern frontier of Judah, toward Edom (Nu. 34 3f - Jos. I5 1 "*) ;
Sela, an Edomite stronghold (2 K. i4 7 ) which lay still further
east. The Hebrew text has the boundary of the Amorites, which
could only be understood of the old southern boundary of their
land, which thus became the limit of the Israelite conquests. This
would, however, be a singularly roundabout way of making a plain
statement. It is therefore in the highest degree probable that,
following certain recensions of (, we should restore, the boundary
of the Edomites was, &c* This description of the southern
boundary has no connexion with the seats of Dan in the West ;
it would stand appropriately after v. 16 (the Kenites) or v. 17 (Sim-
eon), but from the form of v. 36 it may be doubted whether this
was its original place. I am inclined to conjecture that the
source from which the material of Jud. i was derived contained
a brief description of the frontier between Israel and its neigh-
bours on different sides, of which only this fragment has been pre-
served. The Edomites\ the nearest kinsmen of the Israelites and
their neighbours on the SE. The Akrabbim Pass~\ Scorpion Pass.
Doubtless one of the principal passes leading up from the Arabah ;
probably the Naqb es-Safa, by which the main road from Petra to
Hebron ascends.t To Sela and beyond~\ Hebrew text and ver-
sions, from Sela, which gives us two points of departure remote
from each other and no further limit. Sela (The Cliff) is com-
monly identified with the later capital of the Nabataeans, Petra ;
but this identification, in itself dubious, % is here impossible. The
boundary between Judah and Edom can never have run from
Naqb es-Safa to Wady Musa. We require a point near the south-
ern end of the Dead Sea, which equally well suits 2 K. i4 7 Is. z-6 1 .
The emendation is easy and seems necessary. It is doubtful
whether the end of the verse is complete.
exactly represent f, with which 3L&& also agree; but ALM e g ( su b
obel.) have r6 Sptov rou 'Apoppalov 6 'ISov^tcuos. 'Idovpaios prob. represents
* Budde, Richt. u. Sam., p. 18 f. ; Kitt., GdH. i. i. p. 243. Hollenberg (ZA TW.
i. p. 102-104), m closer agreement with ffi, proposed " the border of the Amorites
were the Edomites," &c.
t Knob., Grove (DB^.), Ri. (HWB. s. v.), Di. (NDJ. p. 209), Be., al. Descrip-
tions of the Naqb es-Safa, Rob., BR*. ii. 180 f. ; Schubert, JKeise, ii. p. 443, 447 ff -
J See Buhl, Gesch. der Edomiter, p. 34 f.
56 JUDGES
a sound correction in Hebrew. pTOno] @ AM t eiri TT)S TT^T/HW, probably cor-
rection of OTTO. A terminus ad quern is indispensable ; D in pVoriD may easily
have originated in dittography. We should accordingly restore the text as
follows : nSyoi ySon ooipy nSyDD >DiNn Sim
On the Edomites, see F. Buhl, Geschichte der Edomiter, 1893. The name
occurs in a passage of the Papyrus Anastasi, where permission is asked for
Bedawin of ^A-du-ma (Edom) to pass the frontier fortress at T u -ku (Succoth)
to pasture their flocks in the fields of the Pharaoh; Miiller, Asien u. Europa,
p. 135. In the Assyrian inscriptions frequently; Schrader, KAT*. p. 149 f.
EP3"\pJJ nSjnb] Spiov rovro TTJS 'Idovpalas (Lat., Judaeae) avaro\u<dj>, Pro-
cop.; cf. also I Mace. 5 s . Rob. (BR 2 . ii. p. 120) proposed the line of cliffs,
fifty to a hundred and fifty feet high, which cross the Ghor in an irregular
curve from NW. to SE., seven or eight miles S. of the Dead Sea, the point at
which the Arabah breaks down to the lower level of the Ghor. But apart
from the fact that this is no pass, it falls with Rob.'s false identification of
Kadesh ('Ain el-Weibeh). The description of the boundary (Nu. 34 3f -
Jos. I5 1 ' 4 ) requires a pass on a line between the southern end of the Dead
Sea and Kadesh ('Ain Qudeis). The conditions are best fulfilled by Naqb es-
Safa; Naqb ibn Mar (Wilson, DEP. s. v.) is also possible. W. az-Zuweireh
(De Saulcy) is much too far north. JfSon] is understood as the name of the
Edomite capital, Petra, by Procop., Vatab., Cler., Rosenm., Ew. (GVI. i.
p. 338) ; Stud., Be., Cass., Oett., al. The equivalence of the names is seduc-
tive, but the identification has no more substantial basis. The passages in
which Sela occurs (Jud. I 36 2 K. I4 7 Is. I6 1 )* all seem to point to a cliff near
the southern end of the Dead Sea; we may perhaps conjecture that it was the
modern es-Safieh, a bare and dazzlingly white sandstone promontory a thou-
sand feet high.f
II. 1-5. The Angel of Yaliweh goes up from Gilgal ; he up-
braids the Israelites for sparing the people of the land, and
foretells the consequences. Origin of the name Bochim. That
2 1 " 5 is to be joined to i is now generally recognized; 2 la>5b is the
fitting close of the account of the conquest and settlement in ch.
i ; 2 lb ' 5a connects ch. i with the Book of Judges (2 6ff -), and ex-
plains to us in what sense and with what intention ch. i was
prefixed. Verse la is the counterpart of Jos. iS 1 (P).$ Israel
being now firmly established in Canaan, the religious centre is
transferred from the plains of Jericho, where they first gained a
* Is. 42 11 is too indefinite to be taken into account,
t Buhl, op. cit., p. 20.
J We., Comp., p. 215; Mey., Kue., Sta., Bu. In P, 18^ must originally have
stood before 141-5 (We., Di.). .
i. 36-11. i 57
foothold in Western Palestine, to a sanctuary in the heart of the
land This change is signalized by the removal of the Angel of
Yahweh,* his presence manifested in oracle and theophany, from
Gilgal to the new holy place, which, upon his appearance there,
is consecrated by sacrifice (v. 5b ). The transfer of the religious
centre to Bethel marks the end of the period of invasion, as the
preceding period of migration ended with the encampment at
Gilgal (Jos. 5 10 ' 12 ). What stands between (v. 1 *- 5 *) is in substance
and form strikingly different from ch. i, and bears the stamp of
the school of Hebrew historiography which, for lack of a more
suitable general name, we call Deuteronomic.f It does not exactly
agree with 2 llff< , however, still less with 2 3 1 ' 3 , and on external
grounds also cannot be ascribed to the author of that Introduc-
tion to the Book of Judges. It doubtless comes from the hand
of the editor who introduced ch. i in this place. $
1. The Messenger of Yahweh~\ not a prophet, but, as always
in Jud., Yahweh himself as he appears to men in human form or
otherwise sensibly manifests his presence; cf. Ex. 3 2 32^ 23 20ff -
Nu. 20 16 Jos. 5 13 - 15 ; see comm. on 6 11 . The appearance of the
maPak (theophany) at Bethel is the sign that Yahweh will hence-
forth there receive the worship of his people and make himself
known to them (Ex. 2o 24 ) . || From Gilgal'} Jos. 4 19b> * 5 2 S.
I9 15 - 40 . Between the fords of the Jordan and Jericho, where the
Israelites first encamped after crossing the river, and where, ac-
cording to Jos. 9 6 io 6ff - 15>43 i4 6 , they long maintained a standing
camp.^[ The name, which occurs elsewhere in Palestine, seems
to be derived from ancient stone circles (cromlechs) ; ** cf. Jos.
4 20 . Gilgal was, in the eighth century, a frequented sanctuary ;
Amos (4 tf - 5 s ) and Hosea (4 15 9 15 1 2 11 ) name it with Bethel and
* Cf. Ex. 2320. f We., Mey., Sta., Kue., Bu., Kitt., Dr.
J Bu., Richt. u. Sam., p. 20.
& (Q5& vid.) Rabb., Drus., Stud.; specifically, Phineas, Midr. Tanck., CEJer.
RLbG., Cass. An angel, Thdt, Aug., a Lap. ; in human form, Ephrem.
|| Examples of the establishment of an altar at the scene of a theophany, Gen.
I2 7f. 2 6 24f - 35 lff - ; or of the appearance of the Messenger of Yahweh, Jud. 6 s4 13^-20
2 S. 24i-5ff-. See further, W. R. Smith, Religion of Semites, Pt. i. p. 108 f.
U Representation of E ? It is probable, though not certain, that the same place
is meant in i S. yis 108 nitf- &c.
** The etymology proposed in Jos. 5 9 is more ingenious than plausible.
58 JUDGES
Beersheba as one of the chief seats of Yahweh worship. Modern
explorers have found traces of the ancient name in Tell Gelgul
and Birket Gilgullyeh. To Bethel (?)] the Hebrew text, which
is confirmed by all the versions, to Bochim^ t.e', to the place
subsequently so named from the weeping there on this occasion
(v. 5a -).* In v. 1 we expect, however, the older name of the place,
and a name of greater note. This is perhaps preserved in the con-
flate text of (&, which beside CTTI TOV /cXavfyuoi/a (Bochim) has and
to Bethel and to the house of Israel^ Bochim ("Weepers") may
then be connected with Allon Bacuth (" Weeping Tree ") below
Bethel (Gen. 35 8 ; see on v. 5 ). Since, according to Jos. iS 1 ip 51 ,
the tabernacle was at Shiloh, others think that Bochim must have
been near that sanctuary: \ The original sequel of v. la was 5b ,
" and they sacrificed there to Yahweh " ; see below, ad loc.
l b . / brought you up from Egypt"} so the context and the follow-
ing tenses require ; % I will bring you up. The false tense sug-
gests that some words have fallen out at the beginning of the
sentence, and various attempts have been made, beginning with
the ancient versions, to fill the lacuna. The most satisfactory of
these is, / visited you and brought you up, &*c. ; but it is not im-
possible that this improves on the author. The land which I
sware to your fathers'} this reference to the oath made to the
forefathers is very common in Dt. (i 8 <& i 35 6 10 - 18 - 23 7 13 8 1 n 9 - 21
i9 8 26 3 - 15 28" 30 20 3I 20 - 21 - 23 , & c .) and in editorial additions to
other books of the Pentateuch (Rje. Rd. ; cf. Gen. 5O 24 Ex. I3 5 - 11
32 13 33 1 Nu. I4 16 - 23 32 11 ) ; the promise, Gen. if (J) i3 15 is 18 26 3
28 13f - ; also 1 7 35 12 (P). / will never annul my agreement with
you] in the light of v. 2 , not the covenant with the forefathers just
spoken of, but that of Ex. 34 10ff> , to which the reference in the
following is unmistakable. 2. You shall make no terms'} Ex. 34 12 ;
the command that accompanied his promise and constitutes the
obligation of the other part. Pull down their altars'} Ex. 34 13 ,
" pull down their altars and shatter their stone pillars (massed a hs)
and hew down their wooden posts " (asherahs) the sacred sym-
* The use of the name in v. 1 is explained as an anticipation ; Rabb., Aug.,
Drus., Cler., Stud.
f The emendation Bethel is adopted by We., Comp., p. 215 ; Mey., Kue., Bu., Kitt.
t Cass., Ba., al. Di. on Dt. i.
n. 1-5 59
bols which stood beside the altars; cf. Dt. f i2 3 ; further Ex.
23 32 Nu. 33 52ff ' Jos. 23 12ff -. You have not heeded my injunction]
cf. Ex. 23 21f -. The words contain the author's judgment on the
failure to exterminate the Canaanites, ch. i . What have you
done ?~\ 8 l Gen. 3 13 ; What is this you have done ? not, Why have
you done this ? * 3. And I also said~\ many understand this as a
declaration of present purpose, setting it over against / said, v. 1 :
I said I will not, break my word with you, I will drive out these
nations (Ex. 34 10f ') ; but you have disobeyed my command to
make no terms with them ; therefore I have now also said, I will
not drive them out.f But if this antithesis had been designed, v. 3
would hardly begin as it does, and I also said, but rather, there-
fore I say, or, so I now say. It is preferable, therefore, to regard
v. 3 as referring to a previous warning such as Jos. 23 13 Nu. 33^, j
from which the peculiar expression in v. 3b is perhaps derived.
That this threat was now to be carried out, did not need, after
v. 2b , to be expressly declared. They will be thorns in your
sides (?)] so the text is usually filled out from Nu. 33^, cf. Jos.
23 13 (a scourge [?] on your flanks). The text, which can be
literally translated only, they will be sides to you, may be ex-
plained as an unintelligent abridgment of one of these passages.
Others would translate, in parallelism with the next clause, they
will be traps for you ; cf. Jos. 23 13b -. And their gods will be a
snare to you] Ex. 34 12 23^ Dt. y 16 . Not an occasion of sin only,
but a cause of sudden and unexpected ruin ; cf. Is. 8 14- 15 , Yahweh
is "a springe and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem." Au-
gustine, however, goes too deep when he infers from the verse,
"nonnulla etiam de ira Dei venire peccata." || 4. The people
broke out into loud weeping] 2i 2 i S. n 4 , &c. 5. They gave the
place the name Bochim~\ i.e., Weepers. The subject may be in-
definite, so the place got the name B. (( AaL ). A place Bochim
is not otherwise known. It is perhaps a far-fetched etymological
* 3L&, Lth., Cler., Schm., AV., RV. al. mu.
f So 3L, Thdt., Ra., Schm., Trem. Jun., Cler., Stud., Ba., Reuss, Kitt. Ap-
plication of the principle, " Frangenti fidem fides frangatur eidem," Schm.
J Abarb., Ke.
Abulw., Cler. (retia), Lth., Fr. Delitzsch.
|| See Schm., qu. 2.
60 JUDGES
explanation of a name Beka'im (2 S. 5 2W1 ) ; * cf. also the valley
of Baca (Ps. 84 7 ), and Allon Bacuth (Gen. $f) . They sacri-
ficed there to Yahweh~\ original sequel of v. la -. It is not improba-
ble that the older history related the building "of the altar at
Bethel, and perhaps other things, which have been supplanted by
v. lb ' 5a ; but there seems to be no reason to regard the context as
so fragmentary that the original connexion and intention cannot
be made out.f
Older scholars regarded 2 1 - 5 as a fragment having no connexion with either
what precedes or what follows (Ziegler, Theol, Abhandl., i. 1791, p. 295); or,
misled by the similarity in tone between 2 lb - 5a and 2 6 -3, as a piece taken
from some other context and set here as a prelude, or text, to the following
(Stud.). Another point which was much discussed by earlier commentators
is whether the events here related occurred before or after the death of
Joshua; see Cler., Schm., qu. 3, Stud. 1. Gilgal'} according to Fl. Jos., antt.
v. i, 4 20, in the plain E. of Jericho, 10 stadia from that city and 50 from
the Jordan; Euseb. (OS 2 . 24394 cf. 23365) describes it as a deserted site 2 R.
m. E. of Jericho, still holy to the people of the neighbourhood; cf. Jerome, ep.
1 08, 12 (Opp. i. 696, ed. Vail.). A Gilgal, with a church in which the twelve
stones set up by Joshua were shown, was visited by pilgrims down to the 7th or
8th cent. % Zschokke in 1865 found a mound covered with large stones which
the Arabs called Tell Gelgul (Beitrage zur Topographic der west/. Jordansau,
p. 28); cf. Guerin, Samarie, i. p. 117 ff., who discovered the mosaic floor of
a church. Conder identifies Gilgal with Birket Gilguliyeh (6V. Map, sh. 18
Ps), nearer to Eriha (Jericho); see PEF. Statements, 1874, p. 36-38; SWP.
Memoirs, iii. p. 173, 191. noan Vx] v. 5 Q" 1 ^; the art. is perhaps an addi-
tional ground of suspicion. <@>, with substantial unanimity, k-rrl rbv K\av0fj.ui>a
Kal M Bcu077\ Kal tirl rbv O'IKOV I<rpai)\. The first words (cf. the pi. KXav0/iw-
pes, v. 5 ) may reasonably be suspected of being a later conformation to | (We.) ;
Bu. (Richt. u. Sam., p. 21) regards the rest of @ as genuine, and restores
'nnaw no Sxi VN no Sx W?jn mm "jxVD hyi, or *]Dv no; so also Kitt. I
suspect that W*Hn no is merely an accidental doublet of Sx no. || A critical
significance has sometimes been attached to the space (xpoo) in the middle
of the verse, as indicating a lacuna or break in the text; but it is more
* Appellatively a kind of tree. <& etymologizes in the same way in 2 S. s 23 *"- and
Ps. 84 7 , translating K^ave^v as here. The place cannot be the same as in 2 S. ;
the latter is in the vicinity of Jerusalem. Hitz. (Pss. 84 7 ; G VI. i. p. 107) identifies
the valley of Baca with the Bochim (Bekaim) of our text.
f Kuenen. J See DB*. s. v.
In 8 the crit. signs are confused ; but doubtless meant to athetize all after
K\avd/jLiava.
|| Ziegler expresses a similar suspicion, but thinks of a Greek corruption.
II. 5 6i
probably connected with an older or discrepant division of the verses.*
nSyx] the versions have supplied various beginnings for the sentence which
do not meet the difficulty. Stud, and Be. would insert imnx (I proposed to
bring you up, &c.; cf. Ra.); Bottch. (JVeue exeget, Krit. Aehrenlese, p. 74)
conjectured 'Ji rhyx naxi oanx impa npa (rhytt future), cf. Ex. 3 16f - Gen.
5O 2 *, which Doom, improves upon by reading fhyvf\ for rhyn IDXI. This
gives us an unimpeachable text. The speech of the angel is, however, a cento
of quotations and reminiscences, and it is at least possible that the author here
copied Ex. 3 17a without correcting the tense. Attempts to explain nSyx gram-
matically (Roorda, 367; Dr. 3 27 7; Ges. 25 107 I a; Ba., al.) are forced, and
do not account for the following x>axi. Tina ION x'?] make of no effect,
annul, I K. I5 19 ; in religious sense common in Jer. Ez. Dt. and later. 2.
@ presents a longer text, probably amplified from the parallels in Ex. and Dt.
Doom, and Bu. (ThLZ. 1884, 211), on the contrary, think that f^ has been
abridged. The " singular antithesis," make no terms . . . but pull down their
altars, at which Doom, stumbles, stands just so in Ex. 34 12 - K . nna iman xS]
the phrase rroa ma (usually with oy or nx, here with h, as in i S. 1 1 1 , ' prescribe
terms to ') apparently originated in the rite described in Jer. 34 18f> , cf. Gen. I5 10 .
See the parallels collected by Bochart, Hierozoicon, 1. ii. c. 33 (i. p. 332 ff. ed.
Rosenm.), Di. in BL. s. v., "Bund"; and on the probable significance of the
rite, W. R. Smith, Religion of Semites, Pt. i. p. 461 f.; further, Valeton, in
ZATW. xii. 225 ff. On the etymology and signification of nna see on
2 2o. |hn orprnnaTD] \r\i 'pull down, pull to pieces,' Ex. 34 13 Dt. 7 5 i2 3
Jud. 6 s8 - 2 K. 23 12 ; of houses (Is. 22 10 ), tower (Jud. 8 9 - ), cities
(Jer. 4 26 ), &c. The altars were probably built of stones, Ex. 2O 25 i Mace.
4 44ff -. The form of the verb, with preservation of o and ending un, also
Ex. 34 13 , Bo. 930. am IP? nxr nn] Ges. 25 136, n. 2. 3. B>-UX xS] uhj
Ex. 23 28 - 30. 31 33 2 34 n j os< 24 12 - 18 Jud. 6 9 ; frequent in E (Bu., Richt. u.
Sam., p. 159). onxV oaV vm] cf. Nu. 33 56 oonxa o^/JX 1 ?, Jos. 23 13 oaiy 1 ?
OD'tj^a D^J]STI oanxa. In view of the apparent reference to this threat, it is
probably best to correct Jud. to conform to Nu. Whether hasty abridgment
or transcriptional accident has produced the present text is uncertain. The
ancient versions seem to have read or guessed oni'S or amsS, cf. oanx
Nu. 33 s55 ; so (f eis vvvoxds I in angustias, in pressura, 2t hastes,
Stud., Be., Doom, would emend accordingly; but the reading of these verss.
has the 1 marks of a bad (though natural and old) conjecture; the idea thus
conveyed is too self-evident to suit the emphatic context; moreover, ~\y is
never found in a similar connexion. Abulw., connecting onx with nix * hunt,'
interpreted ' snares, traps,' and this explanation has been recently revived by
Fr. Delitzsch, Hebr. Lang., p. 29 f., Prolegomena, p. 75 f., comparing Assyrian
* The former opinion was maintained by Morinus and many older scholars (see
Ges., Lehrgebaude, p. 124) ; the theory has lately been revived by Graetz and
controverted by Sidon ; see Theol. Jahresbericht, iv. p. 18 ; Graetz' rejoinder,
Monatsschrift. / G. u. W. d. Judenthums, 1887, p. 193-200.
62 JUDGES
, ' trap, springe.' Another comparatively simple solution would be to
pronounce ons 1 ? (cf. m$ Ex. 2i 13 , esp. i S. 24 12 ), huntsmen, trappers.'
D-ob] the form of this n. pr. loci (act. ptcp.) strengthens the suspicion that
the pronunciation has been deflected in favour of the etymology.
II. 6-XVL 31. THE HISTORY OF ISRAEL IN CANAAN
IN THE DAYS OF THE JUDGES.
II. 6-IIL 6. Introduction ; the religious pragmatism of the
history.
After the great assembly and solemn covenant at Shechem (Jos.
24 1 ' 27 ), Joshua sends the people away to occupy the lands which
have been allotted to them (2 6 ). Israel continues faithful to
Yahweh as long as Joshua and the survivors of his generation live,
but after they have passed away, and a new generation comes up
who have not seen the great deliverances and victories of their
God, the heathenizing of Israel begins (v. 7 - 10 ) . The people neg-
lect Yahweh for the worship of the Baals and Astartes, the gods
of Canaan (v. 11 ' 13 ). Yahweh visits his anger upon them by the
hand of their foes and they are brought into great straits (v. 14f -) .
Anon, moved by their groans under foreign tyranny, he raises up
champions who deliver them ; but they do not even then aban-
don the worship of other gods, and the death of the judge is
always a signal for a worse relapse into heathenism (v. 16 ' 19 ) . In
indignation at this incurable unfaithfulness, Yahweh vows that he
will not complete the expulsion of the peoples of the land, but
will leave them to tempt Israel. The Israelites intermarry with
their neighbours and adopt their religion (2 20 -3 6 ).
This general introduction contains an interpretation and judge-
ment of the history of the whole period, which is represented as
" an almost rhythmical alternation of idolatry and subjugation, re-
turn to Yahweh and liberation." * The motives out of which it
is constructed reappear in the particular introduction to the story
of each of the Judges. A typical example is 3 12 - 15 : The Israel-
ites again did what displeased Yahweh, and Yahweh gave Eglon,
king of Moab, power over Israel. . . . And the Israelites served
* Vatke, Biblischc Theologie, 1835, p. 181.
II. 6-III. 6 63
Eglon, king of Moab, eighteen years. And the Israelites cried
unto Yahweh, and he raised them up a deliverer, Ehud ben Gera,
the Benjamite, &c. Compare 3 7 ' 11 (Othniel), 4 1 ' 3 (Deborah), I3 1
(Samson). In 6 1 ' 6 - 7 - 10 (Gideon) and io 6 - 16 (Jephthah) the theme
is developed at greater length, the latter passage being closely
parallel to 2 6 -3 fi . It is clear from the prominence given to the
pragmatism that the author's aim was moral and religious rather
than purely historical ; the lesson of the history is for him the
chief thing in the history.* He has, however, contented himself
with emphasizing the lesson in this way, and has hardly touched
the stories themselves. See further on 3 7ff -
The introduction, 2 6 ~3 6 , is not homogeneous. Ch. 2 6 - 10 is the
transition from the history of the conquest under Joshua to that
of the Judges, and is found, with slight variations, in Jos. 24 28 " 31
also.f In v. 11 " 22 two very similar accounts have been intimately
combined ; while in 2 23 3 1 ' 6 fragments of an independent narrative
(J) also enter into the composition.
On the analysis of 2 6 -3 6 see Bertheau 2 , p. viii. f., xix. f., 55 ff., esp. 61 f.;
Budde, Richt. u. Sam., p. 92-94, 155 ff.; E. Meyer, ZATW. i. p. 144 f;
Kuenen, HCO*. i. p. 338 ff.; Kittel, Stud. u. Krit., 1892, p. 51 ff., GdH. i. 2.
p. 5 f. Although Kuenen, after setting aside v. 13 - 17 as interpolations, finds no
ground for challenging the unity of 2 11 " 23 , which he ascribes as a whole to the
Deuteronomic author, the composite character of the passage is recognized by
most recent critics. It is evident in the duplication of almost every clause;
cf. v. 12 with v. 18 ; v. 14a (he gave them into the power of spoilers) with v. 14b
(he sold them into the power of their enemies) ; v. 16f - with v. 18f - The char-
acter of these doublets points to composition (Bu.), rather than to editorial
expansion or interpolation. We can separate two parallel accounts, each
of which is almost completely preserved; the two are, however, in thought
and phrase so much alike, and the style of the redactor so similar to that of
both, that the analysis is difficult and doubtful. To one of them (E) may be
assigned 2 6 - 8 - 10 - 13 - 14a - 16 - 17 - 20 - 21 . This is the principal narrative and is intact,
lacking only perhaps some such words as, "And the Israelites cried unto
Yahweh " (cf. 3 15 ), before 2 16 . To the other belong 2 7 - 12 - "&. 15 - M. w i n w hi c h
the nexus between v. 7 and v. 12 is wanting, having been supplanted by the words
* The book is, as Reuss says, " die natiirliche, und nur in andrer Form vorge-
tragene Predigt eines Propheten, der um sich her das fremde Wesen und Ver-
derben in erschreckender Weise iiberhand nehmen sah" (Gesch. d. Alien Test.,
275.)
f On the relation between Jos. and Jud. see below on a 6 .
64 JUDGES
of E. Verse 11 is an addition by the last editor (R).* The second of these
exhibits throughout the peculiarities of conception and expression which we
find in the Deuteronomic strata of the Hexateuch and the Deuteronomic
writers in the Book of Kings, as well as in the introductions to the stories of
the several Judges, and may be confidently ascribed to the same school. For
brevity, and without attempting to define its relation to the cognate parts of
Dt. and Jos., this element in the book will henceforth be designated by the
signature D (Deuteronomic author of Judges). With general agreement be-
tween the introductions of E and D, there are slight differences of repre-
sentation which should not be overlooked. In E the sin of Israel is the
worship of the Baals and Astartes, the gods of Palestine (2 13 ); in D the
adoption of the religion of the surrounding nations (v. 12 cf. io 6 ). In E they
are delivered into the hand of plunderers (Q-*DV v. 14a ); in D sold into the
power of the enemies who surround them (v. 145 - 15 ), with which compare 3 12
(Moab), 6 ff. (Midian), io 6ff - (Amuaon), 13 ff. (Philistines). In E they do not
obey their judges but persist in apostasy (v. 17 ), in consequence of which
Yahweh resolves not to drive out any more of the nations which Joshua left
unsubdued (v. >2f) - 21 ) ; in D a reform under each of the judges is followed at
his death by a worse relapse (v. 18 - 19 ). In 2 23 -3 6 fragments of a third source
are found ;f ch. 2 23a 3 2 give an altogether different explanation of the incom-
pleteness of the conquest from 2 21 3 la - 4 , and are ascribed by Mey. and Bu.
(cf. Kitt.) to the author of ch. I (J). J The list of nations, 3 3 , is thought
by these scholars to be derived from the same source, but this seems to me
less probable; 2 23a 3 2 appear to me to refer backward to ch. I, and neither to
require nor admit after them a list like 3 3 . This list, which corresponds to
Jos. I3 2ff - rather than to Jud. I, together with 3 la , I am inclined to attribute
to E, whose narrative would then run: 2 20 - 21 3 laa - 3 - 4 ; 3 5>(5 bear the stamp of
Rje rather than E, and may have as their basis a text of J; 2 22 3 la are
redactional, though perhaps not by the same hand.
II, 6-10. The Israelites settle on the lands allotted them.
Joshua and his contemporaries pass away. The new generation.
6.= Jos. 24 s8 . Joshua dismissed the people, <5rv.] the conclu-
* Be.'s analysis is : A u- W. 14-19; B 2 1 "*. 12. 20-23 3 i-6. A belongs to the frame-
work of the book, and is interpolated by its author in the older introduction (B) .
Bu. materially improves upon this : A (= Deut. author) a 11 - 12 - 14 - 16 - 18 - ; B (= E)
2 13. 20-22a 36. 6 ; A and B were united by a later editor (R) who added v. 17 .
t First recognized by Meyer, ZA TW. i. p. 145.
i Mey.'s analysis (ZA TW. i. p. 145) is : J && 3 ib. 2.9. E 222 (= 3 4) 23b 3 ia. 5. 6.
(continuation of Jos. 24^- 22). Bu. (Richt. u. Sam., p. 159 f.) ascribes to E 2^2a
3 5 - 6 ; 3 4 is introduced by R to recover connexion. The original, doubtless very
brief, form of 2 23 ~3 3 (in substance J), can hardly be recovered. Kitt. regards 2 28
3 1 - 3 (prob. J) as the only old part of this passage ; E is not represented. Kue.
also thinks 3 1 - 3 an extract from an older source ; 2 123 3* form the setting given it by
the author of Judges,
II. 6-8 65
sion of the account of the great assembly at Shechem and the
parting exhortations of Joshua (Jos. 24 1 ' 27 ; substantially E). It
was followed by the death and burial of Joshua (v. 8f - Jos. 24 29f -), to
which E's description of the subsequent apostasy of Israel and
its consequences (v. 10 - 13 - 14a - 16f - **-) immediately attached itself. The
insertion of Jud. i lb -2 5 , and the division of the books, left the
story in Jos. without a suitable close, and accordingly Jud. 2 6 - 8 - 9
were restored in their original connexion in Jos. (24 28 ' 30 ), carrying
over with them Jud. 2 7 (= Jos. 24 31 ), an addition of D.* 7. =
Jos. 24 31 (<& 24 29 ). The verse is not by the same hand as v. 10 , to
which it is parallel ; v. 10 is the sequel of v. 9 in E, v. 7 , in expression
and representation Deuteronomic, is its counterpart in D. The
elders who survived Joshua] the sheikhs, the head men of the
clans and families, who were the natural guardians of Israelitish
custom, law, and religion.f It is not used with primary reference
to age, | though the elders here meant were doubtless the coevals
of Joshua. Who survived Joshua] lit. prolonged days after J;
a very common phrase in Dt. (e.g. 4 40 5 s3 n 9 i; 20 22 7 3O 18 32 47 )
and Deuteronomic passages in other books (e.g. i K. 3" ; cf. also
Ex. 20 12 ) ; otherwise infrequent (Is. 53 Prov. 28 16 Eccl. 8 13 ).
Who had seen all the great work of Yahweh~\ v. 10 Jos. 24 31 had
known, experienced. The "great work of Yahweh" is not to be
limited to the conquest of Canaan, but comprehends his whole
great deliverance, the exodus, the wandering, and the invasion, of
all of which Joshua's generation had been witnesses ; cf. Dt. 1 i 2-7 ,
where Moses recalls to the Israelites, as they are about to cross,
the Jordan, how their eyes had seen " all the great work of Yah-
weh which he wrought" (v. 7 ), specifying the Egyptian plagues,
the deliverance of Israel and destruction of the Egyptians at the
Red Sea, &c. (v. 2 - 4 cf. y 18 - 19 ). The author of Jud. 2 7 , like the
author of Dt. 1 1 2 " 7 5 2ff - 7 18f> , represents the exodus and the con-
quest as falling within the lifetime of a single generation. In the
memory of these signal manifestations of Yahweh's power and
grace, that generation remained faithful to him even after their
great leader passed away ; cf. v. 10 . 8. = Jos. 24. The begin-
ning of the verse in Jos., and after these things, i.e., after Joshua
* Cf. Stud., Havernick, EM., ii. i. p. 79. f Be. . J Ba.
F
66 JUDGES
had delivered his farewell address and the people had entered
upon the possession of their allotments, may be part of the origi-
nal text, but is not indispensable. The servant of Yahweh~\ of
Joshua, perhaps the addition of an editor;* Dt! 34 5 Jos. i 1 and
often of Moses, see Dillmann on Dt. /. c. A hundred and ten
years old~\ the age of his ancestor Joseph, Gen. 5O 22 - 26 (E).
9. = Jos. 24 30 . They buried him within the bounds of his estate']
on the lands which were allotted to him (Jos. i9 49 ) ; not " on the
boundary," &c. Timnath-heres~\ Jos. 24 30 ip 50 Timnath-serah,
probably a metathesis to get rid of a name of heathenish sound ;
see note. Timnath is the modern Tibneh, NW. of Gifna (Gophna)
on the road to the coast. On the northern side of the hill which
lies over against the town to the south are remarkable tombs,
in one of which Gue"rin would recognize the burial place of
Joshua.f Samaritan, Jewish, and Moslem tradition in the Mid-
dle Ages fixed on a site nearer Nabulus (Shechem), at Kefr
Harith or at 'Awerteh. \ The Highlands of Ephraim} see on f.
North of Mt. Gaash~\ cf. " the Wadies of Gaash," 2 S. 23 30 =
i Chr. ii 32 ; there is no other clue by which to fix the location.
10. All that generation~\ the contemporaries of Joshua ; see
above on v. 7 . Were gathered to their fathers'} 2 K. 22 20 ; com-
pare the equivalent expressions, be gathered to his people, go to
his fathers, sleep with his fathers. The original reference is to
the family sepulchre, in which, as in a common abode, the mem-
bers of the family dwell together, and perpetuate in that shadowy
existence the relations of the former life. By a natural extension
the phrases are applied also to the nether world, in which, by
their clans, and tribes, and nations, all the dead dwell. In later
times they are only a euphemistic circumlocution for death.
Another generation} Joel, i 3 ; the defection began with the next
* S in Jud. ii also.
f On Tibneh see Eli Smith in Bibliotheca Sacra, 1843, p. 483 ff. ; De Saulcy,
Voyage en Terre Sainte, ii. p. 238 ff., Guerin, Samarie, ii. p. 89-104 ; PEF. State-
ments, 1873, p. 145, 1878, p. 22 f.; SWP. Memoirs, ii. p. 299 f., 374-378.
J Kefr Harith, about 9 m. SW. of Nabulus, is accepted by Conder (SWP. Me-
moirs, ii. p. 284 f. ; PEF. Statements, 1878, p. 22 f.) and G. A. Smith, Hist. Geogr.
of the Holy Land, 1894, p. 351, n. 3.
See Bottcher, De inferis, p. 54 ff. ; Schwally, Leben nach dem Tode, p. 54 ff. ;
Moore, in Andover Review, ii. 1884, p. 433 ff., 516-518 (literature).
II. 8-io 67
generation after the invasion. Who did not know Yahweh and
the work which he wrought for Israel^ see on v. 7 Jos. 24 31 . Not
would not acknowledge Yahweh (Ex. 5 2 i S. 2 12 ), but, did not, by
personal experience, know him as Deliverer, Leader, Conqueror
(cf. Dt. ii 28 i3 2 , &c.) ; they had not shared those wonderful ex-
periences which had been to their fathers the proof of Yahweh's
power and his jealous love for Israel, and made it inconceivable
that they should turn from him to other gods ; cf. Ex. i 8 .*
6. This seems more probable than the alternative hypothesis, that, after
the insertion of Jud. i 1 -2 5 , the close of Jos. 24 was repeated in Jud. 2 6ff - to
resume connexion. That the text in Jos. appears in some points more origi-
nal (nSxn on:nn nnx wi v. 29 ; the position of v. 81 =Jud. 2 7 f) is not con-
clusive. That the events narrated in 2 6 - 10 cannot be posterior in time to
v. 1 - 5 was recognized by older commentators, who tried to get over the difficulty
by exegetical artifices. Schm. connects : Caeterum quomodo, quae Angelus
Jehovae praedixit, impleta fuerint, ex his sequentibus apparebit: Postquam
dimisit Josua, etc. The structure of the following verses is suspended; the
apodosis begins in v. 11 , Turn vero fecerunt filii Israelis malum, etc. Similarly
Ba. : What is narrated in v. 6 - 10 * is to be regarded as virtually in the pluper-
fect; v. 10b - n connects with and continues v. 5 . Cf. also Ra., Ki., Abarb. 9.
Din njnn] probably Portion (sacred territory) of the Sun; cf. Har-heres (i 35 ;
see note there), Beth-shemesh, &c. In Jos. (24 80 . I9 60 ) rno njnn, and so
2U5 here. This is not the true name of the place (Stud., Ges. Thes., % Be., al.),
for which Din runn Jud. 2 9 is transcriptional error; neither are Din and mo
from the same root by metathesis, like t'3D, airj (Ki., Abarb., Schm.), or from
different roots of the same meaning (Ba.) ; but Din n is the original, and n
nio is prob. not accidental error but intentional mutilation of a name which
savoured of idolatry (Juynboll, Chron. Samar., p. 295). There are numerous
examples of similar procedure; cf. esp. Is. I9 18 , where for the same reason
Din has been altered to Din, or, in a few manuscripts, to Din. The latter
reading is found in some codd. and ed. Soncino in Jud. 2 9 . Possibly da/j.va<ra-
X a P <5 Jos. 24 30 (2I 40 Jud. 2 9codd -) represents another transposition. Cf. also
Baba bathra I22 a - b , Ra. on Jos. 24 30 Jud. 2 9 . At the beginning of our era
Thamna was the chief town of a toparchy which lay to the NE. of Lydda
(Diospolis) in the old territory of Ephraim (Fl. Jos., b. j. iii. 3, 5; Plin.,
n. h^ v. 70; Euseb., OS 2 . 21934 cf. 2603 23993 21191 1|). Here in the 4th cent.
* Noting the similarities of phraseology.
t In dS this verse stands in Jos. in the same position as in Jud., immediately
after v.28 = J u d. 2 6.
J Etymologizing, without warrant in usage, portio abundans v. redundans.
Havernick (Einl. ii. i. p. 79) considered Din 'n the old Canaanite, niD 'n the
Israelite name. || See also Schiirer, GjV. ii. p. 138 f.
68 JUDGES
the tomb of Joshua (Ivlff-ntMv . . . ^^a) was shown (OS' 2 . 26133 246(53;
Jerome, ep. 108, 13). It was identified with the modern-Tibneh by Eli
Smith in 1843 (Bibl. Sacr., p. 483 f.). Guerin, in 1863, was convinced that
he had discovered the tomb of Joshua in the most western of the rock tombs
over against the town. Many niches for lamps in the forechamber prove that
it was once a frequented shrine; and it is not improbable that it is the same
that was shown to Christian pilgrims as the sepulchre of Joshua in the 4th
century. For confirmation, the Abbe Richard in 1870 found in and before the
tomb flint knives, which he combined with Jos. 2^ 2i 40 .There are a
number of other places bearing the name Timnath : one in the hill country of
Judah (Jos. I5 57 , prob. also Gen. 38 12ff -); another the scene of Samson's
exploits (Jud. 14. 15; Jos. I5 10 IQ 43 ). The name Tibneh is also found east
of the Jordan in 'Aglun (Tristram, Land of Israel, p. 458 ff.).* 10.
VT ^ -WN] >P in this sense freq. in Dt., e.g. II 2 9 2 II 28 I3 3 - 7 - 14 2833-36.64. c f.
Jer. 9^, &c. (Di., NDJ. p. 588).
11-19. The defection of Israel ; neither punishment nor de-
liverance works amendment. A summary of the whole history.
11-13. The defection. Verse 11 is not the original sequel of
v. 10 (E), which is rather to be found in v. 13 , neither is it in place
before v. 12 (D), which it anticipates ; probably, therefore, inserted
by the editor (R) , employing motives of both E and D. The Is-
raelites did what displeased Yahweh~\ lit. that which was evil in his
eyes. Standing formula in the introduction to the stories of the
several judges (s 7 - 12 ^ 6 1 io 6 is 1 ; cf. Dt. ^ 9 18 if si 29 ), and
especially in the judgements passed on the character of the kings of
Israel and Judah (i K. is 26 - 34 I6 25 - 30 22 52 2 K. 3 2 , &c.) ; seldom
in Samuel (i S. i5 19 2 S. i2 9 cf. i S. I2 20 ), which was never sub-
jected to thorough Deuteronomic redaction. The evil is gener-
ally, though not always, an offence against religion, the worship
of other gods, or of idols of Yahweh ; see the examples above.
Served the Baals'] the gods of the Canaanites among whom they
lived (3 5f> ) , then, in general, fell into heathenism ; see further on
v. 13 . 12. The verse shows in every clause its filiation with the
Deuteronomic literature. Forsook Yahweh~\ io 6 - 10 - 13 , and often
throughout the O.T. God of their fathers'] only here in Jud. ;
frequent in Dt. (i 11 - 21 4 1 6 3 I2 1 26 7 27 3 29^ cf. Ex. 3 15 - 16 4 5 Jos.
i8 3 .). Who brought them out of the land of Egypt] the great de-
* The genitive, very likely in these cases also originally the name of a god, has
been dropped.
II. H-I4 69
liverance gave him a right to their allegiance. It stands thus as
the first of the Ten Words (Ex. 20 2 Dt. 5 6 ), the ground of
obligation and motive of obedience. Unfaithfulness has the base-
ness of ingratitude (Dt. 8 Uff - i3 10 , &c.). Followed other gods']
2 19 Dt. 8 19 ii 28 is 2 28 14 Jer. f n 10 i 3 10 , and freq. Of the gods of
the surrounding nations] Dt. 6 14 13. Exasperated Yahwe1i\ the
verb nowhere else in Jud. ; Dt. 4 25 9 18 3I 29 32 16 ; freq. in Deutero-
nomic strata of Kings and in Jer. It connotes defiant provocation :
superbe peccaverunt, nee curaverunt, si maxime Deus indignaretur
(Schm.). 13, 14. Verse 13 is a doublet to v. 12 .* As v. 12 clearly
belongs to D, v. 13 may be ascribed to E and connected immedi-
ately with v. 10 . Forsook Yahweh~\ see on v. 12a ; cf. also in E, Jos.
24 20 Dt. 3i 16f> . And sacrificed to Baal and Astarti] on the text
see critical note. The Baals and Astartes, i.e. the heathen gods
and goddesses, are coupled in the same way in Jud. io 6 i S. 7*
i2 10 ;t cf. Baals and Asheras, Jud. 3 7 . Baal signifies 'proprietor,
possessor ' of something, and requires a complement, expressed or
implied, thus : Baal-Sor, the Lord of Tyre ; Baal-Sidon, Baal- Leba-
non, Baal-Hermon, also Baal-Shamen, the Lord of the Heavens ; $
or Baal-zebub, Baal-berith, &c. It is not a proper name ; the name
of the Baal of Tyre, e.g., was Melqart ; in Israel the Baal (Propri-
etor) was Yahweh (Hos. 2 16 , Heb. 2 18 ). There were thus innu-
merable Baals, some of them having proper names of their own,
others distinguished only by the place where they were wor-
shipped, or by some attribute. In any religious community the
god to which it belonged would ordinarily be spoken of merely as
the Baal, the Lord, further definition being unnecessary ; but there
was among the Canaanites and Phoenicians no one god named
Baal. In the Old Testament the plural is sometimes used of this
multitude of local deities ; sometimes, as here, the singular, for
the whole genus false god in contrast to Yahweh. || Astarte]
* An elaborate exegetical explanation of this doublet in Abarb.
t Both probably E (e).
J That Baal was a solar deity is, however, an inveterate error. It is not certain
even that Baal-hamman was such ; see E. Meyer, in Roscher, i. 2870.
Cf. also names such as Eshbaal (son of Saul), Baaljada (son of David =
Eljada), and even Baaljah, i.e. Yahweh is Baal.
|| Cf. Hos. 13! Jer. 28, esp. nis Zeph. i*. See Sta., ZA TW. vi. p. 303 f.
7 JUDGES
Phoen. 'Ashtart; Heb. 'Ashtoreth.* One of the most widely
worshipped of the Semitic divinities ; in Babylonia and Assyria
as Ishtar, in southern Arabia as 'Athtar, in Syria as 'Athar. From
i K. ii 5 - 33 2 K. 23 13 it might appear that the worship of Astarte
was specifically Phoenician, but this would be an erroneous infer-
ence ; it was evidently common through all Palestine, east and
west of the Jordan. She had a temple among the Philistines
(i S. 3 1 10 ), gave her name to a city in Bashan, Ashtaroth-
karnaim (Dt. i 4 Gen. i4 5 ), and appears in the Moabite stele of
King Mesha ('Ashtar-Kemosh, 1. 17). Numerous inscriptions
from Phoenicia and its colonies attest the wide diffusion and im-
portance of her cult, which was early introduced into Egypt also.
As the principal female deity of the Canaanites, the name of
Astarte is used in the O.T. in conjunction with Baal as a quasi-
appellative for goddess, for which the Hebrew language possesses
no proper word.f
11. o^yan] the plural here and in nnntpy v. 13 does not refer to the many
images of the gods (Aug., quaest. 16, Ki., Ges., Stud., al.), nor to the manifold
local forms of one god (Renan, comparing the many Virgins of Catholic
lands, J Baethgen, al.) ; but to different gods. 13. nnntB'jjSi hyah napi]
the incongruity of number is most probably to be removed by reading rry\vyb
sg., though the plural is supported by fifl and verss. It would make no
difference in the sense if we made both plur. The construction of the verb
presents a more serious difficulty; h nay for nay with accus. is unexampled;
in Jer. 44 3 "ay 1 ? (> <H<&) is doublet or gloss to nap*?. This corruption suggests
the correction for our verse; I conjecture that the author wrote -napM burnt
sacrifices (Jer. 7 9 n^-if an( j often, Hos. n 2 , &c.), which was altered, by
accidental conformation to v. 11 , or intentionally, for emphasis, to nayi. On
BAAL see Baudissin, PRE 2 . ii. p. 27-38, where the older literature is pretty
fully given (p. 37 f.); Pietschmann, Gesch. d. Phonizier, p. 183 f.; Baethgen,
Beitr'dge zur Semit. Religionsgeschichte, p. 17 ff.; W. R. Smith, Religion of
Semites, Pt. i. p. 92 ff., and art. " Baal " in New Diet, of the Bible ; E. Meyer,
art. " Ba'al " in Roscher, Lexikon der Griechischen und Romischen Mythologie,
i. 2867-2880. On ASTARTE, Baudissin, PRJE?. i. p. 719-725 (older lit., p.
* With malicious substitution of the vowels of bosheth.
f Similarly in Assyrian (in the plural) , Hani u-ishtarati, gods and goddesses ;
Schrader, KA T*. p. 180 ; Tiele, Babylonisch-Assyr. Geschichte, p. 538. In the treaty
of Ramses II. with the Hittites we read of the " 'Astart of the Hittite country," just
as of the Suth of Heta ; W. M. Miiller, Asien u. Europa, p. 330.
J As Aug. had the many Junos.
In i S. 4 9 the meaning, ' be subject to,' is different.
II. 14-16 ?!
725); Pietschmann, op. cit.; Baethgen, Beitrage, p. 31 ff.; Barton, " Ashto-
reth and her Influence in the O.T.," JBL. x. p. 73 ff.; E. Meyer, art. "As-
tarte," in Roscher, i. 645-655. A satisfactory etymology and explanation of
the name mntry has not yet been given ; see Lexx. The fern, ending seems
to be distinctly Canaanite (Phoenician, Hittite).
14, 15. The punishment. 14. The two halves of the verse
are obviously doublets ; v. a is probably the continuation of v. 13 (E),
v. b its counterpart in D. Yahweh was incensed against Israel~\
v. 20 3 8 io 7 cf. 6 s9 ; a common phrase. He gave them into the
power of pillagers'] a somewhat unusual word; v. 16 i S. I4 48 2 K.
I7 20 Is. io 13 ; see note. He sold them into the power of the ene-
mies who surrounded them~\ parallel to the preceding (v. a ), in dif-
ferent terms ; 3 8 4 2 io 7 cf. 4 Dt. 32 30 i S. i2 9 Ez. 3O 12 Is. 50* ; for
the last clause see S 34 . The punishment is inflicted by the hand
of the same surrounding nations for whose religion they had for-
saken their own (v. 12 ) . The words may have originally followed
immediately after v. 12 , "they exasperated Yahweh." They were
no more able to stand before their enemies'] Jos. 7 12 cf. Lev. 26 36f-
Nu. I4 42 " 45 . 15. In every campaign] lit. wherever they went out
(to war) ; see note. Others, in every undertaking, in omni nego-
tio, propter quod exiverunt.* The hand of Yahweh, &c.~] Dt. 2 15 .
As Yahweh had threatened] the reference is not to any single
passage expressly containing this threat,f but to the whole tenor
of such chapters as Dt. 28 (cf. esp. v . 25 - 3 - 34 - 48ff -) and Lev. 26 (esp.
v. 17 - 36 " 39 ) ; cf. Is. 30 17 . And they were in great straits'] Gen. 32 7
2 S. i 3 2 .
16-19. Not even the judges whom Yahweh from time to time
raises up to deliver them are able to reclaim them from their
evil ways. Verses 16- 17 and v. 18> 19 _are entirely parallel ; v. 16 with
its sequel v. 17 is by the same hand as v. 14a (E) ; v. ]8 ' 19 correspond
in D and connect with v. 14b . 16. Judges'] the judges of this
book are the champions and leaders of Israel in its conflicts with
its enemies and oppressors. The name is synonymous with deliv-
erer (v. 16 - 18 3 9 - 13 - 31 ); see note on 3 10 . Delivered them from those
that pillaged them] v. 14a . It is possible that some such words as
" And the Israelites cried unto Yahweh " (3 15 ) have been dis-
* Schm. ; similarly Ba. f Certainly not Jos. 23^ Jud. 2*-3 /Schm., Ba.).
72 JUDGES
placed by v. 14b - 15 . 17. Continues the preceding.* Even their
deliverers had no influence over them. They apostatized to
other gods] lit. went whoring after other gods, 8- 7>33 (Gideon's
ephod) Ex. 34 15 - 16 Dt. 3i 16 cf. Lev. if 2O 5 - 6 . They deserted
Yahweh, their own god, and gave themselves up, body and soul,
to other gods. The figure suggests both the sin of unfaithfulness
and the shame of prostitution. It is very common in the lit-
erature of the yth century, and probably originated with Hosea,
whose own bitter experience with his adulterous wife became for
him the type of the relations of Yahweh and Israel (Hos. 1-3
cf. 9 1 , &c.). f They soon turned aside, &c.~] Ex. 32 8 Dt. g 12 - IG 1 1 28
3I s. Their fathers, the generation of Joshua (v. 10 - 22 cf. v. 7 ),
walked in obedience to God's commands ; their descendants did
not follow their example. 18. Parallel to v. 16 (see above) ; ob-
serve enemies, as in v. 14b , in contrast to pillagers, v. 14a>1? . Yahweh
was with the judge~\ cf. Jos. i 5 . For Yahweh was moved to pity
by their groaning} motive of the deliverance, v. a . Not repented,
i.e. changed his mind and gave up his purpose to punish them.
Tyrants and oppressors'} the words are synonymous; see note.
19. Counterpart of v. 17 , with a slight difference of representa-
tion; in v. 17 they pay no heed to the efforts of the judges to re-
strain them from their apostasy ; \ in v. 19 it is implied that their
propensity to heathenism was held in check during the life of the
judge only to break out the more violently at his death. At the
death of the judge they would relapse'} the tenses express what
happened over and over again with the regularity of law. This is
the conception of the history which dominates the Deuteronomic
setting of the stories of the judges; see 4 1 S 33 , &c. Worse than
their fathers'} Jer. f i6 12 . Not the godly fathers of v. 10 - 17 - 22 ,
but the generations which preceded them, and had sinned in the
same way under former judges ; each was worse than the last.
In running after other gods'] they went to still greater lengths in
the evil way on which their ancestors had entered (v. 12 ) . They
did not drop any of their practices or of their obstinacy] lit. stub-
* Bu., Kue., regard v. 17 as a late interpolation ; see note below,
t See Smend, Alttestamentliche Religionsgeschichte, p. 188 ff.
J As Israel in later times gave no heed to the warnings and expostulations of
the prophets.
ii. i 7 -2o 73
born way; viz., those of their predecessors. The collocation
"practices and way " (or ways) is frequent in Jer., e.g. 4 18 f- 5 i8 u .
14. ODIN -loir*! D^Dir T3] the punctuation distinguishes, without difference
of meaning, no^v. 16 I S. I4 48 23! 2 K. i; 20 &c. from DD: i S. i; 53 Is. I3 16 ;
cf. HDD and DDE, nm and DDI. Syn. of r?a Is. I j u 42 Jer. 3O 16 , plunder,
pillage.' The word seems to have been borrowed by the Egyptians as a
designation for the nomadic robber-tribes of the desert south of Palestine
($a-su, sa-sa, pron. sos}; see W. M. Miiller, Asien u. Europa,^. 131 f.
15. INP T.TN SOD] quocumque egrederentur ; i.e., quamcumque expeditionem
aggrederentur (Cler.); so rightly Ki., cf. Jos. I 7 - 9 2 K. i8 T . NS>, 'march out
to war,' make a foray (u 3 ), campaign (2 S. n 1 Am. 5 3 Dt. 28 7 and often);
see Lex. 16. Diy^y'i] sc. the judges: Kal eo-oxrev atfroi>s Kvpios. 17.
Bu. (Richt. u. Sam., p. 92) and Kue. regard v. 17 as an interpolation, inter-
rupting the connexion between v. 16 and v. 18 , introducing a new motive,
disobedience to the judges, and in expression varying from the Deut. pattern.
If the analysis proposed above be sound, v. 17 is the sequel of v. 16 , while v. 18
connects immediately with v. 15 . The last two clauses of v. 17 hang somewhat
awkwardly, and may, if any one chooses, be ascribed to R; there is no reason
for attributing the whole verse to him. inn no] the inf. abs. in adverbial
accusative, cf. v. 23 Ex. 32 8 Dt. 7* &c., Ew. 280 c. 18. rnrn . . . 'jn v> a^n 131
Bfltpn oy v'i] pf. . . . pf. consec.; recurring event in past time, Job I 5 Jud. 6 3
Gen. 38 9 (ox); 13 8 1 Hos. n 1 . onjjtjap] p of the origin of his emotion, its
cause. Dmprrn omxn 1 ?] yrh I 8i 4 3 6 9 'io 12 Ex. 3 9 i S. io 18 2 K. I3 4 - 22 Am. 6 1 *
&c. pm Joel 2 8t ; common in Aram.; in W& the usual equivalent of Heb.
ynS. 19. imruyni oc' 11 ] impf. frequentative; Hiphil of conduct, behave badly.
onS ninn^nVi annj; 1 ? . . . 'Ji n^V?] the first gerundial inf. (see on v. 22 ) specifies
the particular in which they behaved worse than their fathers; the following
inff. ('.n o-ttj? 1 ?) are a species of explicative apposition to no 1 ? 1 ?, showing
wherein the following of other gods consisted (Schm. well, serviendo illis, et
incurvando se illis} y not the motive of the Israelites (to serve theni). -N 1 ?
ornSSyDD iS^an] p of partitive object; cf. i S. 3 19 Est. 6 10 . Others render,
did not desist from their practices, &c., giving the Hiph. an internally transi-
tive force for which there seems to be no example or necessity. o^SyD in bad
sense, Is. 3 8 Jer. n 18 &c.
20, 21. The penalty of Israel's persistent defection; Yahweh
will not drive out any more of the nations which remained un-
conquered at the death of Joshua. Cf. v. y \ The verses are
with much probability ascribed by Budde to E ; * but in con-
formity with our analysis of the preceding we should connect
them with v. 16f -, rather than with v. 13 as he does. 20. Inasmuch
* Richt. u. Sam., p. 158 f.
74 JUDGES
as this people have transgressed the injunction I laid upon their
fathers'} Jos. 7 11 (E). RV. lit., my covenant which I commanded
their fathers. The verbs (transgress, enjoin) show that berith,
rendered in our versions with mechanical uniformity covenant, is
not here conceived of as a mutual compact or agreement, but
as an ordinance of Yahweh, a rule prescribed by him. In general,
in the older literature,* berith, in its religious use, is a formal act
by which the relations between Yahweh and his people are regu-
lated, or the relation thus regulated. Its author is God alone ;
man's part is only to accept it. In speaking of it, according to
circumstances, the thought may rest chiefly, or even exclusively,
on one or the other of its two sides ; on the solemn promise and
pledge of his favour which Yahweh has freely given, or on the
character and conduct which he requires, which are in effect the
terms of friendly intercourse with him and the enjoyment of his
blessings. In the former case it becomes, as in v. 2 , almost equiv-
alent to promise ; in the latter, to commandment, injunction, as
here, so that it may stand in parallelism to law (torah), as in
Hos. 8 1 .! The commandment given to the fathers was, that they
should worship Yahweh alone ; cf. Ex. 3 4 12 - 16 2 3 24f - 32f -. 21. /, on
my part, will not drive out, <5rv.] ; by their violation of his injunc-
tion they have forfeited the promise that accompanied it and was
virtually conditional upon their fidelity (Ex. 34 11 2$- 27 ' 31 ). A
single man of the nations that Joshua left when he died~\ cf. Jos.
23^- Jud. 2* io 13 .
20. nrn iun] >u seldom of Israel; Ex. 19 33 13 Jos. 3 17 4 1 Zeph. 2 9 (parallel
to ay, which is the usual word) Is. I 4 . Possibly the word is chosen for this
reason; n? itself sometimes has a tone of alienation like iste ; cf. Is. 6 9 8 12 .
nn3] apparently only in Hebrew. The older etymological theory is well
represented by Simonis : \ foedus ... sic dicitur a dissections animalium, in
pangendis foederibus usitata; similarly J. D. Mich., Ges. Thes., and many;
most recently Konig, Hauptproblemt der altisraelit. Religionsgeschichte, p. 85
= Religious Hist, of Israel, p. 152. Others suppose a development like that
in decider e> decisio ; scheiden, entscheiden, &c.; so E. Meier, Wurzelwb., 1845,
* J E and D in the Hexateuch, and the cognate strata in the historical books.
t See J. J. P. Valeton, Jr., " Das Wort nna in den jehovistischen und deutero-
nomistischen Stucken des Hexateuchs," ZATW. xii. p. 224-260; cf. it. p. 1-22 (in
the Priestly Law) ; Smend, Alttest. Religionsgeschichte, p. 294 ff.
J Cf. Castell, Lex. Heptaglott., s. v.
II. 20-22 75
p. 514, MV., aL The assumed primary meaning, however (ma * cut '), is facti-
tious. Fr. Delitzsch, Hebrew and Assyrian, compares Assyr. barn, ' decide.'
See Brown, Hebrew Lexicon, s. v. In O.T. usage the notion of agreement is
manifestly prior to that of either command or promise, and probably this
reflects the older history of the word. For the free nomadic Semite, all right
which did not exist by nature in the bond of blood originated in compact;
We., Proleg.? p. 443 f., Engl. transl. p. 418 f.; H. Schultz, Alttest. TheolJ
401 ff. = Old Test. TheoL, ii. p. 2 ff. nna nay] Dt. if Jos. y 11 23 16 2 K. i8 12 ;
cf. -ion v. 1 Dt. 3i 16 - 2, n:>y Dt. 4 23 , 3ry Dt. 29^, DND 2 K. I7 15 (Valeton, ZA TW.
xii. p. 235). n-Y$] with nna Jos. 7 11 23 16 i K. n 11 . 21. jnrirp aty -wx]
unusual use of 3?y; cf. 2 S. I5 16 . nD">i] which Joshua left #^ died. @ has
instead, /cai a^rjKev (subj. Yahweh) = PUII, as principal verb of the next sen-
tence; perhaps neither is original.
22-111. 6. Motives of Yahweh in leaving these nations;
enumeration of them ; consequences to Israel. 22. Cf. 3*.
Verse 22b has a distinctly Deuteronomic colour ; v. 22a is ascribed
by Budde, not without some hesitation, to E.* But the connex-
ion with v. 21 , as the history of interpretation shows, is loose and
ambiguous ; and the motive for leaving the nations, to try Israel,
is not easily reconciled with v. 20 *"-, where they are left as a punish-
ment for Israel's confirmed unfaithfulness. It seems more proba-
ble, therefore, that v. 22 is altogether by a different hand from v. 20 *,
presumably that of an editor. In order to prove Israel by them}
cf. 3 la<4 . Assuming the unity of the context, interpreters have
been divided in opinion whether the clause is a continuation of
the words of Yahweh in v. 21 , that by them I may prove Israel^ or
the writer's explanation of God's purpose, that he might prove
Israel. \ The latter is the more probable construction, and if the
verse be the addition of an editor the only natural one. The
object of the trial is to know whether Israel, thus exposed to close
and constant contact with heathenism, will remain faithful to its '
own religion. Keep the way of Yahweh'} observe the institutions
and ordinances of his religion, Gen. i8 19 Dt. 5 s3 Jer. 5 4 - 5 ; often
in plural, ways of Y., Dt. io 12 n 22 &c., which was probably the
original reading here (see note) . Compare the equivalent terms
of 3 4 . The phrase expresses more nearly than any other in the
* Richt. u. Sam., p. 159. f JL, Lth., Schm., RV., al. J Aug., Stud., Ba., al.
On the theological questions which this temptation or probation suggests, see
Aug., qu. 17; Greg. Magn., Dial., iii. c. t^fin.; a Lapide, in loc.; Schm., qu. 12.
76 JUDGES
O.T. what we call religion, from the external point of view, as
the fear of Yahweh does the inner side of religion ; compare the
use of 6805, Acts iS 25 - 26 9 2 &c. As their fathers "did'} 2 7 .
22. niw f^D 1 ?] Dt. 8 2 - 16 , cf. nojS Jud. 3 L 4 . At this distance from the
principal verb, the writer would probably have expressed tit experiar by the
personal construction nwK ]yth, avoiding all ambiguity. D3 roSV mm -pi]
for D3 63J& give a sing.; Houbig. and Doom, emend na. More probably,
however, the author wrote mm ij-n (masc. plur.), from which the present text
arose by accident. The plur. 03 in |$l is explained of the many command-
ments, statutes, and ordinances which constitute the way of Y. roSS] gerun-
dial, v.^.19 i S. I2 17 I4 83 2 S. 3 10 Jer. 44?- 8 ; Ges. 25 114, n. 4; Dr. 3 205.
23. Verse 23& , with 3 2 , clearly belongs to a different circle of ideas
from 2 20f - or 2 22 3 4 . In 2 2311 3 2 Yahweh does not drive out the peo-
ple of Canaan at once, in order that the succeeding generations of
Israelites also may have experience of war. This explanation ac-
cords well with J's point of view, and to that writer the verses are
with considerable probability ascribed by E. Meyer.* Verse ^
may perhaps be an editorial addition, connecting the statement of
v. 23 * with the time before Joshua's death (v. 21 ) ; it is possible, how-
ever, that the editor has only substituted the name Joshua for an
original Israel. Yahweh left these nations"} the reference is obvi-
ously to nations of which the writer had already spoken, not to the
list below in 3 3 . If our analysis be substantially correct, we shall
most naturally think of ch. i, in the fuller form in which it once
existed, in which, as appears from v. 36 , not only the cities within
their own borders which Israel did not conquer were named, but
the boundaries of the surrounding nations. Not expelling them
at once~\ cf. Ex. 23 29f - Dt. 7^, which differ materially, however, in
conception and expression. The reason for the gradual expulsion
is given in 3 2 . Did not give them into the power of Joshua'} the
commentators have found it very hard to explain how this could
be a punishment for the defection of Israel after the death of
Joshua, as in the present connexion it must be ; quas nimirum
non dederat in manum Josuae,f is what the connexion impera-
tively requires, but this cannot be extorted from the Hebrew text.
HI. 1. Verse la is the introduction to the catalogue v. 3 ; v. lb is
* See above, p. 64 and n. f Schm., cf. Abarb.
II. 22-111. 2 77
a doublet to v. 2b . To try Israel by them] it was a disciplinary
judgement; cf. Dt. 8 2 - 16 . This sense would be possible in the
assumed context of E (2 20 - 21 3 la - 3 ) ; perhaps, however, the words
were added by the redactor ; cf. 2 3*. Namely all those who
had no experience of all the wars of Cahaan~\ the generation fol-
lowing the invasion ; corresponding to those who knew not Yah-
weh and the great things he did for Israel (2 10 cf. 2 7 ). The words
are difficult and inappropriate in their present connexion; they
may be either an editorial addition derived from v. 2b , or, more
probably, a gloss to v. 2b intruded into the text in the wrong place.*
2. The original sequel of 2 23 \f The text is clearly corrupt; the
restoration is somewhat uncertain. The most conservative course
is to follow (& ; merely for the sake of the successive generations
of Israelites, to familiarize them with war. A bolder reconstruc-
tion would be, merely in order that the Israelites might have expe-
rience of war. The sense is not materially different. 3L well, ut
postea discerent filii eorum certare cum hostibus, et habere con-
suetudinem praeliandi. The incompleteness of the conquest is
not attributed to the sinful slackness of Israel (2^), nor is it
designed as a trial of Israel's fidelity to its religion (2 22 3 4 ), nor
a punishment for its persistent infidelity (2 20f> ) ; it is a wise
appointment of Yahweh, that his people, from generation to
generation, may have occasion to cultivate the virtues which only
war develops, and learn by experience the superiority of their
god to those of the heathen. Only those who had not known
them before~\ the generation of the invasion had had this training
and experience; it is their descendants who are meant in v. a .
The half verse is superfluous and may be secondary; v. lb is a
doublet to it.
23. DB>mn TtaS] the proper negative of the inf. (8 1 ) ; here in gerundial
use (see on v. 22 above), as in Jos. 23 6 'Ji "no inVaS, not turning. III. 1. "HPN
rnrv iron] @ AVLM s'I-/;o-oOs; conformation to 2 21 . 'wneunN D3 niDj 1 ?] S. dfficij-
<rcu . . . Kal 5i5acu TOU TTO\^/XOU TIJV r^v^v (Thdt., qu. 8). 2. nm njn fpn 1 ?
S*oo -02] the subject of the inf. cannot be Yahweh as in v.*, that he might
know the generations (Schror., Be., Ke., Reuss), expressing the motive of
* Stud.
t That 3 2 is not consonant with its present context is observed by Ziegler, who
regards it as an interpolation.
7 g JUDGES
putting them to the trial (v. 1 ); for then we can make nothing of the rest
of the sentence.* As the text stands it must be rendered, in order that the
generations of the Israelites might know (&&, Ra., Ki., Ckr., Schm., Stud.,
Ba., Cass., and most). But then the inf. has no object, or rather another
verb is interposed, non^D mnSS, to teach them %var.\ The whole sen-
tence, though intelligible, is overloaded and clumsy. < omits the first inf.,
njn 1 ?, which relieves the worst of the difficulty. J It is more satisfactory,
though bolder, to treat nm as corrupt doublet of r.jn, and moS 1 ? as a gloss to
the latter, or substitute for it; with the structure cf. Jos. 4 24 , "vy Sa njn fjJD*?
ji PK.I. Cler. compares Livy, xxxix. i. oiyp N 1 ? a^eS "WN] the pi. masc.
suff. referring to HDnSa is intolerable; the writer or scribe very likely had in
mind the jyja monSD of v. lb ; the discord in gender is not so unusual. The
half verse is not improbably an editorial restriction like v. lb ; observe the over
emphatic use of pi as well as the false concord just noted. pi] restrictive
particle, with nouns (i S. I 13 Am. 3 2 ), verbs (Jud. I4 16 ), and particles
(2 K. 2i 8 ). It does not always limit the next following word, but often
stands at the beginning of the sentence, limiting the emphatic word in it,
which has not, however, as in Arab, after -frJ^, a fixed position in the
sentence.
3, 4. The peoples which Yahweh left within the bounds of
Palestine to try the faith and obedience of Israel. The intro-
duction to these verses seems to be 3 la , these are the nations which
Yahweh left. The verses accord better with the representation of
E (or D) than of J, to which source v. 3 is attributed by Meyer
and Budde ; see above, p. 64. With the catalogue compare Jos.
i3 2 ' 6 . The five tyrants of the Philistines'} Jos. is 3 i S. 6 16 - 18 . The
five are Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Gath, Ekron. The word ren-
dered tyrant (seren) is used only of the Philistines, and is evi-
dently the native name. That these cities were not conquered
by Israel agrees with the statement in i 22 and contradicts i 21 ; see
there. And all the Canaanites\ in J, as we have observed in
ch. i above, Canaanite is the comprehensive name for the popula-
tions west of the Jordan which the Israelites in part subjected and
among whom they settled. It is hardly possible to reconcile all
* The verb in the relative sentence must, as Ba. urges, have the same subj. as
the inf. ; to teach them -war is another end, not easily harmonized with getting
knowledge of Israel.
t Ew. (G VI. ii. p. 382) would pronounce Dip L ' i ? (Qal), that they might learn.
t For JJ7DS with a noun, see Gen. 182* Dt. 3^2 K. 8 Is. 45* &c.
E. Meyer, ZA TW. i. p. 121 if. ; iii. p. 306-309 ; Budde, Urgeschichte, p. 345 ff.
III. 3-4 79
the Canaanites here with the usage of J ; * in the context, as
Schmid has justly observed, the words cannot refer to the un-
subjugated Canaanites in Israelite territory (ch. i), but to a com-
pact population on its borders.! In E (and consequently in D),
however, the name Canaanite seems to be employed in a more
restricted sense for the inhabitants of the lowlands of western,
and especially southwestern Palestine;]: Nu. \f (E) Dt. i 7 (cf.
n 30 ) Jos. 5 1 ; further, Jos. i3 3 - 4 2 S. 24' Zeph. 2 5 . This corre-
sponds, as far as I can judge, with the use of the name in Egyp-
tian sources, and would be altogether suitable in the text before
us, as well as in Jos. i3 3f -, "the Philistines, and the Avvim in the
south all the territory of the Canaanites." For this reason also
it is better to ascribe the verse to E. The Sidonians~\ Jos. i3 4 .
Here, as often, the collective name for the Phoenicians. || Sidon,
the ancient metropolis, gave its name to the entire people, and
the denomination persisted after the political and commercial he-
gemony had long passed to Tyre ; see io 6 18 7 1 K. 5 (Heb. 5 20 ).
The Hittites inhabiting Mount Lebanon} conjectural emendation ;
J^ and the versions have Hivvites, by a transcriptional error which
occurs in ^ in Jos. n 3 also. The Hivvites were a petty people of
Central Palestine (Gen. 34 2 cf. * 36* Jos. 9 7 );f the seats of the
Hittites, on the contrary, were in Coele Syria and the Lebanon
(i K. io 29 2 K. 7 6 ; cf. Jud. i 26 2 S. 24 6 <8),** where the Egyptian
inscriptions also place them. The emendation is therefore neces-
sary. From Mt. Baal Herman as far as the Gateway of Ha-
math\ Jos. i$ 5 defines their southern boundary somewhat more
precisely as "Baal-gad at the foot of Mt. Hermon." Baal-gad,
according to Jos. n 17 (cf. i2 7 ) the northern limit of Israelite
* That it is left to the reader to understand, " all those, namely, who were men-
tioned above in ch. i " (Bu.), is much too loose writing to impute to the author.
f Schm., p. 297 ; so also Ba.
J Also, apparently, of the lower Jordan valley and its southern extension, the
'Arabah. See Masius on Jos. 13*.
It is, of course, possible that the words " and all the C." are interpolated ; the
difference of form gives some ground for the suspicion.
|| So also in Homer, Od. iv. 84, &c.
II Compare also the catalogue of the " seven nations," in which the normal
order is, Perizzites, Hivvites, Jebusites; Ex. 332 &c. (13 times).
** See, however, Klostermann on the last passage.
8o JUDGES
conquest under Joshua, was in the valley of the Lebanon, the
Biqa, and must therefore have been on the western side of Mt.
Hermon, perhaps at the modern Hasbeiya.* Hamatfi] frequently
mentioned in Egyptian and Assyrian inscriptions as well as in the
O.T., is the modern Hama, a city of 60,000 inhabitants, on the
Orontes (el c Asi) ,t The Gateway of Hamath, often named as
ihe northern limit of Palestine (Am. 6 14 2 K. I4 25 i K. S 65 Ez. 47 20
48 1 Nu. 34 8 cf. i3 21 ), is probably the plain Horns, some 30 miles
south of Hama, at the intersection of four passes, and of main
roads from the coast, the Syrian desert, and north and south
through Coele Syria.
The verse implies that the boundaries of Palestine are the
desert on the south, and the northern end of the Lebanon range
on the north, and from the Antilebanon and the Jordan valley to
the sea. j The whole of this territory Israel regarded as included
in the gift of Yahweh. Its actual possessions, however, were of
much more modest dimensions. The entire seaboard, the Philis-
tine lowlands and the plain of Sharon, as well as the Phoenician
coast north of Carmel and the whole region of the Lebanon
remained in the hands of its old inhabitants or were conquered by
other invaders like the Philistines. This difference between the
ideal and the actual boundaries of the land of Israel is frequently
noted.
On the Philistines see New Bible Dictionary (A. & C. Black), s. v.,
where the older literature will be found; Hitzig, Urgeschichte u. Mythologie
der Philistaer, 1845; Stark, Gaza und die philist'dische Ktiste, 1852; Pietsch-
mann, Phonizier, p. 261 ff.; Schwally, ." Die Rasse der Philister," ZWTh.
xxxiv. p. 103-108; W. M. Miiller, Asien u. Europa, p. 387 ff. The Philistines,
so far as our present knowledge goes, did not make their appearance in Pales-
tine until the age of Ramses III. Shortly before the time of Saul they
subjugated not only Judah (Jud. I5 11 ) and Joseph (i S. 4), but the Canaanites
in the Great Plain (i S. 3i 10 ), and it is natural to surmise that these successes
were gained in the first impetus of the invasion. Under David Israel freed
itself from them, and they were thenceforward confined to the southern part
. * Kneucker, BL. i. p. 331 ; Ba., Di., NDJ. p. 499 f. ; Bads. p. 297.
f On Hamath see Pococke, Description of the East, ii. i. p. 143 f.; Burckhardt,,
Travels in Syria and the Holy Land, 1822, p. 145 ff. ; Rob., BR*. iii. p. 551 ; Bad 3 ,
p. 398 f. ; Arab geographers, Le Strange, p. 357-360.
I Cf. i K. 865 2 K. 1425 Am. 6.
The northernmost settlement of Israel was at Dan.
HI. 3-4 8 1
of the seaboard plain with its five cities. The Canaanites] in Egyptian texts
Canaan {Ka-n--na) appears to be a district of southwestern Palestine not
very remote from Egypt.* In the Amarna correspondence the land Ki-na-
ah-hi is mentioned a number of times, in connexions which point to the
vicinity of the Phoenician cities (Acco, BerL 8; Tyre, Land. 30). f The Phoe-
nicians called themselves Canaanites, their land Canaan. Before the advent
of the Philistines the plain south of Carmel was no doubt occupied by the same
race as the coast north of it, and Canaanites seem, at least in Southern
Palestine, to have occupied also the hill country back from the coast. The
current etymological explanation of the name, Lowland, Lowlanders ' (Ro-
senmiiller, Bill. Alter thumsk., 1826, ii. I. p. 75 f., Ges., al. mu.), in contrast
either to Aram, or to the Amorites (' Highlanders'), is false both in language
and fact; see my note, PA OS. 1890, p. Ixvii-lxx. The texts cited above for
the more restricted use of the name Canaanite in E and D are too summarily
disposed of by Mey. and Bu., who, because they conflict with the representa-
tion of J, regard them all as late and erroneous theory. But the theory itself
has its origin in the usage of E. The Sidonians] in Gen. io 16 Sidon (Phoe-
nicia) is the oldest son, i.e. the most important people, of Canaan; but Bu. is
perhaps right in his contention that in the O.T. the name Canaanites is never
specifically employed for the Phoenicians. || See further, Smend, HWB 1 .
s. v. " Sidon"; Pietschmann, Phonizier, p. 106 f. On the Hittites, see the
literature, DBP-. s. v. (i. p. 1379); and add Jensen, review of Peiser, ZA. vii.
357-366; also "Grundlagen fur eine Entzifferung," u.s.w., ZDMG. xlviii.
p. 235 ff. In Jos. 1 1 3 the departure from the usual order of the catalogue
suggests that Hivvites and Hittites have accidentally exchanged places, and
this suspicion is confirmed by gBMai. ft. We. (TJ3S. p. 218) emends accord-
ingly, Ike Hittites at the foot of Herman. The same correction is made in
Jud. 3 3 by Mey. (ZATW. i. p. 126) and Bu.; the objections of Di. (NDJ.
p. 497) are of no great force. The Hittite empire in Syria, with which the
Egyptian kings of the I9th dynasty waged long and obstinate war for the
possession of the land of Amor (Northern Palestine, Coele Syria), had disap-
peared before the advent of the Israelite tribes in Palestine. The Hittites of
* E. Meyer, ZA TVV. iii. p. 308 f. ; Wiedemann in Budde, Urgeschichtc, p.
346 n. ; Pietschmann, Phonizier, p. 97 ; Miiller, Asien u. Europa, p. 205 ff. Miiller
thinks that it does not include Phoenicia, for which a special name (Da-hi) exists ;
but the inference is perhaps unwarranted.
f Communication from Prof. D. G. Lyon ; see also Halevy, REJ. xx. p. 204 ff. ;
Delattre, PSBA. 1891, p. 234.
J Canaan (JJ7W) on a coin of Laodicea, above, p. 25 n. ; Xva. = yil, Hecataeus
[? Abder.] , Miiller, fr. hist. gr. t i. p. 17 ; Choeroboscus, Bekker, anecd. gr., iii.
p. 1181; Euseb., praep. cv. t i. io 26; Steph. Byz., s. v. With this shorter form
Kinahhi in the Amarna tablets must be connected.
This must be inferred from the usage of J.
|| Urgeschichtc, p. 348 ff., against Ba., Di., BL., art. " Kenaan " ; Kautzsch, H WB. t
art. " Canaaniter," al.
82 JUDGES
the Lebanon in the O.T. are, so far as we can judge, Semites, of the Palestin-
ian, rather than the Aramaean, branch of the race. Heth is a son of Canaan
(Gen. io 15 ), and the inclusion of their country in the ideal limits of the
promised land shows that it was regarded as part of Canaan. Baal Hermon]
i.e. the Baal of Mt. Hermon; cf. Baal Lebanon in Phoen. inscription. Many
scholars identify Baal-gad, Baal-hermon, with the modern Banias (Paneas,
Caesarea Philippi), on the southern end of Mt. Hermon; so Schwarz, Ges.
Thes.; Rob., BJP. iii. p. 409 f.; v. Raum., Sepp, Ke., JBe., MV., SS., al. The
only positive argument for this view is derived from I Chr. 5 23 ; but this late,
and in f corrupt, verse cannot stand against the explicit statement that Baal-
gad was in the Biq'ah, with which the site of Banias cannot be reconciled.
Still less can Baal-gad be Ba'albek (Heliopolis),* which by no stretch of
imagination could be said to be at the foot of Hermon. On Hermon as a
sacred mountain see Euseb., OS 2 . 21737; Jerome, ib. 9019; Hilary on Ps. 132;
DB 2 . i. p. 1340. Hamatfi\ the name is found in Egyptian and Assyrian
inscriptions; under the Seleucidae it was renamed Epiphaneia (Ptol., v. 15, 16;
Plin. n. h., v. 23 82; OS 2 . 25713; Jerome, on Ez. 47 16 ); but the old name
remained in local use (Fl. Jos., antt. i. 6, 2 138). nan NI^ ny] this use of
the inf. is almost confined to this phrase, Am. 6 14 Jos. I3 5 &c.; besides,
i Chr. 5 9 Ez. 47 15 (on wh. see Co.) . It is therefore not strange that <& should
take it as n. pr. On the situation see Post in DJP-. (Amer. ed.) ii. p. 987 f.;
cf. Rob., BIP. iii. 568 f.; Van de Velde, Narr., ii. 469-471; Ba.; on the
routes also E. Meyer, GdA. i. p. 222 f.
4. They served to try Israel by\ cf. 2 s2 3. Continuation of v. 3
by the same hand (E). The conception is a frequent one in E
(Gen. 22 1 Ex. 20 20 ) as well as D. To know, &c.~\ Theodoret
\qu. 8) will not allow that God tries men for the sake of knowing
what is in them ; it is only to let them develop and reveal their
true character; similarly Aug. (qu. 17, 3): non ut sciret Deus
omnium cognitor, etiam futurorum, sed ut scirent ipsi, et sua con-
scientia vel gloriarentur, vel convincerentur. The author's the-
ology was not so profound.
5, 6. The Israelites dwell among the natives of the land,
intermarry with them, and worship their gods. Meyer and
GBudde, in accordance with their analysis of the foregoing, ascribe
these verses to E ; but they contain nothing characteristic of E ;
.the catalogue of nations suggests rather Rje (cf. Ex. 34") or a
Deuteronomic hand (cf. Dt. y 1 - 4 Jos. 23 12 ). It seems to me more
probable that the verses are substantially from J, amplified by an
* Iken, J. D. Mich., Ritter.
III. 4-6 83
editor, as the cognate passage in Ex. 34 has been. Such a notice
might very well close J's account of the settlement in Canaan ;
his narrative was not devoid of religious judgement, though it was
not so dogmatic as in E and D. The Canaanites, 6-v.] to the
six peoples here recited the complete catalogue of the "seven
nations " of Palestine (Dt. y 1 ) adds the Girgashites (Jos. 3 24") ;
but usually only these six are named (Ex. 3 8 - 17 23^ 33 2 34" Dt. 2O 17
&c.). On the Canaanites, see on 3 3 ; Hittites, 3*; Perizzites,
i 5 ; Hiwites, 3 3 and note below ; Jebusites, i9 10f< . The Amorites~\
in E and D the comprehensive name for the peoples whom Israel
conquered and succeeded on both sides of the Jordan.* In
Egyptian texts the land of Amar, or Amor, is Northern Palestine,
with the region of the Lebanon in whole or in part.f It is at
least a noteworthy coincidence that in the historical tradition of
the northern tribes we find the name Amorites, in that of the
southern tribes (J), Canaanites. \ That the Amorites were of a
different race from the Canaanites, there is no conclusive proof.
6. The Israelites intermarried with the native inhabitants ; cf.
Ex. 34 16 Dt. 7 3f> Jos. 23 12 . And worshipped their gods\ the con-
nubium in itself involved the recognition of one another's religion,
and was naturally followed by participation in the cultus; cf.
i K. ii 1 - 4 - 8 &c. Religious exclusiveness in the ancient world was
possible only upon terms of complete non-intercourse.
5. The Nations of Palestine. On the lists see Ochla we-Ochla, No. 274.
The catalogue seems to be nowhere original either in J or E, but to be filled
in by Rje or Rd.; see Mey., ZATW. i. p. 124 f.; Bu., Urgesch., p. 344 ff.; Di.,
NDJ. p. 272. Here it is to be suspected that only the first name, the
Canaanites, is original; observe the ensuing asyndeton. nnn] like MID (i 5 ),
is supposed by many to have been originally descriptive of a mode of life,
people who lived in nin, Bedawin encampments; cf. "iw nin Nu. 32 41 , and
* Steinthal, Zeitschr. f. Volkerpsychologie, xii. p. 267 ; We., Comp. d. Hexat.,
P- J3S. 34i f- 1 Mey., ZA TW. i. 121 ff. ; Bu., Urgeschichtc, p. 344 ff.
t See E. Meyer, ZA TW. iii. p. 306 ff. ; Mttller, Asien u. Europa, p. 213 ff., who
restricts the term to the Lebanon region. Cf. also the use of the name in Amarna
correspondence (letters of Aziru), and of m&t amurri in Assyrian inscriptions;
Delattre, PSBA. 1891, p. 215-234.
t Cf. also Amos. Miiller (op. cit. p. 231) is unreasonably skeptical about the
existence of Amorites in Central Palestine, or even in Galilee.
Bacon (JBL. x. p. 115 n.) asserts that this list is never interpolated in E; but
query.
84 JUDGES
Arab. ( ^*>* So Ges. Thes. (paganus*), Fiirst, MV., Di. on Gen. io 17 , Sayce,
al.; cf. Ew., GVL i. p. 341 HI. i. p. 237. But the Hiwites of Shechem
and Gibeon (Gen. 34 Jos. 9) were surely not Bedawin; nor is it probable that
a descriptive name of the sort would have clung to them in spite of their
change of life. Perhaps the older interpreters in the Onomastica were more
nearly right in connecting it with rpn f (OypidSeis, wo-trep 5$eis) ; it is conceiv-
able that it is an animal name, the Snake clan. Amorites} the etymological
interpretation, ' Highlanders ' (Simonis, and many), is purely fictitious, like the
corresponding explanation of Canaanite (above, on 3 3 ) ; though in E and D
the Amorites are represented as the inhabitants of the mountainous interior of
Western Palestine, the land conquered by Israel (Nu. I3 29 Dt. I 7 ). The Amor-
ites are represented in Gen. io 16 as a Canaanite people, like the Phoenicians
and Hittites. Sayce has attempted to prove that they belonged ethnologically
to a distinct race; J in language, religion, and civilisation, however, they are
not in any way distinguished in the O.T. from the other peoples of Palestine.
III. 7-11. Othniel delivers Israel from Cushan-rishathaim.
The Israelites displease Yahweh by neglecting him for the
worship of the gods of Canaan (v. 7 ). In anger he gives them
up to Cushan-rishathaim, king of Syria on the Euphrates, to
whom they are subject eight years (v. 8 ). At last, moved by
their cries, he raises up a deliverer in the person of Othniel ben
Kenaz, who goes to war with Cushan, and by God's help prevails
over him (v. 9 - 10 ) . The land enjoys security for forty years, until
the death of Othniel (v. 11 ).
The pragmatic introductory and closing formulas in which each
of the stories of the judges is set, are here, where they are
employed for the first time, appropriately expanded to their com-
plete typical form. This amplitude of the setting, however, only
makes more conspicuous its emptiness. || It contains nothing but
the names of Othniel and Cushan, the former of which is derived
from i 13 , the other is an enigma ; no single detail of the struggle,
is recorded, it is evident that the author knew none. Nor does
* On the original meaning of ^^ (tent) see De Goeje in W. R. Smith, Relig-
ion of Semites, Pt. i. p. 256 n.
f A connexion of iin with n-in (Eve) may also be suspected; Cass., We., Comp,,
P- 343-
J See his article, " The White Race of Ancient Palestine," Expositor, July, 1888,
P- 48-57; Races of the O.T., 1891, p. 112 ff. See Introduction, 3.
|| The lack of substance in the story was felt by Fl. Jos., who fills in incidents
apparently suggested by events of the Maccabaean struggle (antt. v. 3, 2 179-184).
III. 7-1 1 85
the bare fact pass unchallenged. The subjugation of Canaan at
this time by an enemy from so remote a quarter is highly improba-
ble,* if not beyond the bounds of possibility; its liberation by
Othniel, a Kenizzite clan in the extreme south, scarcely less
improbable. It can hardly be regarded as evidence of inordinate
skepticism that many recent scholars have doubted whether this
typical oppression and deliverance has any basis of fact, or even
of tradition, and have surmised that the author filled the blanks in
his scheme with the first chance names at hand.f That of Othniel
would naturally suggest itself, and had the advantage of giving a
judge to Judah ; whence that of Cushan came it is idle to guess.
The method by which Sayce {Higher Criticism, p. 297 ff.) procures the
" verdict of the monuments " against the critics on this point is eminently
characteristic. We are told that the people of Mitanni (according to Sayce
the native name of Aram- nahar aim) were among the foes "Libyans,
Sicilians, Sardinians, Greeks, Cypriots, Hittites, and Philistines " who com-
bined against Egypt in the reign of Ramses III. (p. 298) ; and from the fact
that the King of Mitanni does not figure at Medinet Habu among the con-
quered foe, Sayce concludes that he probably remained behind in Syria or
Palestine (p. 300); the eight years that Cushan oppressed Israel would
exactly correspond with the eight years between the beginning of the Libyan
attack on Egypt and the campaign of the Pharaoh in Syria (303 f.). Prof.
Sayce gives no references. The land of Mitanni (Miten) is mentioned, so
far as I can ascertain, but twice in the inscriptions of Ramses III., \ and that,
not in any connexion with the incursion of the northern barbarians, but in
those catalogues of remote and strange countries which were compiled in
order that the Pharaoh might seem as great a conqueror as Thothmes III.,
from whose inscriptions many of the names are derived. That " we know
from the Egyptian records that Mitanni or Aram-naharaim took part in the
invasion of Egypt" is an assertion for which Prof. Sayce owes it to us to
produce the evidence. Without this proof, the whole combination is as base-
less as it is ingenious. ||
* It involves, it must be remembered, not only the conquest of the Israelite
tribes, but of the Canaanites, with their strong cities (ch. i).
f We., Comp., p. 219 ; Bu., Richt. u. Sam., p. 94 f. ; Sta., G F7 2 . i. p. 69.
J See Sayce himself, p. 300.
On the character of these lists, v. E. Meyer, Gesck. Aegypt., p. 319 ; Miiller,
Asien u. Europa, p. 284, who affirms that the name of Miten never occurs in a his-
torical text after the i8th dynasty.
|| Kitt, who does not admit that Othniel is an unhistorical figure, imagines that
the story is a dim reminiscence of the wars of Ramses III. and Tiglath Pileser I.
in Palestine (GdH. i. 2. p. 70).
86 JUDGES
7. See on 2 11 . Forgot Yahweh, 6rv.] Dt. 6 12 8 11 - " 19 3 2 18
i S. 1 2 9 Hos. 2 13 Jer. 3 21 &c. ; cf. also Jud. 8 34 . Served the Baals}
see on 2 13 . And asherahs~\ in by far the greater number of
instances in the O.T. the asherah is a wooden post or mast, which
stood at the place of worship ; see on 6 25ff \ In this verse, how-
ever, as in i K. i8 19 2 K. 23 4 ,* it is evidently intended for the
name of a divinity ; and as in these passages Asherah stands by
the side of Baal precisely as Astarte does elsewhere (2 13 io 6 1 S. f
i2 10 ), it was a natural inference that Asherah was only another
name (title or epithet) of Astarte.f The wooden asherah was
then supposed to be the symbol or image of this goddess. Others
distinguish Asherah from Astarte in different ways, j On the
other hand, the existence of a goddess Asherah is denied by some
conservative scholars, and by many recent critics ; || the passages
which seem to prove the contrary are to be explained either as
metonymy (the name of the symbol being put for that of the
goddess), or as the confusion by late writers of the symbol ashe-
rah with the goddess Astarte. So far as the O.T. is concerned
these scholars are right; it gives no sufficient evidence that a
goddess Asherah was worshipped by Canaanites or Israelites.
The name, Ebed-asherah,^[ in letters found at el-Amarna, may
signify no more than that the asherah post itself was esteemed
divine, a fetish, or a cultus-god, as no one doubts that it was in
O.T. times. See on the whole question, my article, "Asherah"
in the new Bible Dictionary.
In i K. 1 8M the 400 prophets of Asherah are interpolated (We., Sta.,
Klo.) ; 2 K. 2i 7 nn^xn SDD, hos is gloss, in the same sense in which 2 Chr. 33*
substitutes SDD; i K. i5 13 = 2 Chr. I5 16 mi^N 1 ? nxSfla is not, "a horrible
thing (traditionally, Priapus, phallus) to Asherah," but, as an asherah ; 2 K. 23 7
DTD is obscure and prob. corrupt; if the traditional -vestments be right,
* Cf. also 2 K. 2i7 i K. 1513.
t This is doubtless the cause of the frequent confusion in the versions ; see also
Thdt., qu. 55 in 4 Reg. The identification is accepted by Selden, Spencer, Ges.,
Vatke, Stud., Be., Renan, Schrader, al. mu. ; more doubtfully Baudissin.
% E.g, t Movers, Phdnizier, i. p. 560 ff. ; Sayce, Cent. Rev. t xliv. p. 391 f. ; Higher
Criticism, p. 80 f.
Hgstbg., Ba., Baethgen.
|| We., Sta., G. Hoffmann, W. R. Smith, Bu., al.
H Abad-As-ra-tum, &c., sometimes written with the divine determinative ;
Schrader, ZA. iii. p. 363 f.
III. 7-io 87
it would not prove the existence of a goddess or an idol, but only that the
sacred post was draped. 2 K. 23* remains, the only passage beside our text
in which there can be no doubt that a divinity is meant; but even here it may
only be one of the common cases in which part of the apparatus of worship
has become an object of worship a cultus god. That later writers took the
asherahs for heathen deities, or idols, is perhaps to be inferred from the
appearance of a new fern. plur. nntero, 2 Chr. ig 9 33 8 Jud. 3 7t ; in Old Hebrew
the name of the class is anPN, from which the nom. unitatis is formed in the
usual way, ma>N, which owes its fern, gender, not to its being or representing
a female divinity, but to grammatical formation.
8. Cf. 2 14 . Cushan-rishathaim~\ the second name suggested
to Hebrew ears risKah, wickedness, and the traditional pronun-
ciation probably intends " Cushan ( ? the Nubian) of double-dyed
villainy " ; * compare similar displays of wit in the names of the
kings Bera and Birsha Gen. 14*, f Tabal Is. f &c. Aram-
naharaim~\ Gen. 24 10 Dt. 23* Ps. 60 (title) f . RV. Mesopotamia, %
that is, the whole immense region between the Euphrates and the
Tigris, from the mountains of Armenia and the continuation of the
Taurus in the north to the latitude of Babylon, or even to the Per-
sian Gulf. The Aram-naharaim of the O.T. probably did not
extend farther east than the Chaboras (Habur) ; || it may, like
the Egyptian Naharin, have included also a more or less extensive
tract west of the Euphrates.^ 9. The Israelites cried to Yahweh]
standing formula ; v. 15 4 3 6 6 - 7 io 10 i S. i2 8 - 10 cf. Ex. 2* i4 10 Jos. 24 7 .
Yahweh raised up a deliverer, & > c.~] v. 15 . Deliverer is synony-
mous W^L' judge; cf. 2 16 - 18 . Othniel, <5rv.] see on i 13 . 10. The
spirit of Yahweh came upon him~\ KO! lyevero ITT avrov (^, not
fuitque in eo H. Cf. n 29 Nu. 24 2 i S. I9 20 - 23 and, with expressions
which give more prominence to the suddenness or violence of the
seizure, Jud. 6 s4 I3 25 i4 6 - 19 15" i S. n 6 i6 13 . To the energy of
the spirit of God is attributed whatever seems to transcend the
limits of man's own sagacity or strength ; the heroic valour of the
judges, the wisdom of the ruler (Nu. n 16f - i S. i6 13 ), the genius
* Sanhedr., io5 a ; Yalqut ; Ki. ( Abarb. in loc.
f STJer. I. ; Beresh. ra&. 42 (ed. Sulzb., f. 371).
J So <E in all other places and many codd. here, 3L, Vat., Schm., Cler., Ba., Be.,
Ke., al. mu. Strabo, xvi. p. 746 ; Ptol., v. 18, i ; Plin., . h., v. 66.
|| Kiepert, N61d. ( Di., Mey.
If See E. Meyer, Gesch. Aeg., p. 227 ; W. M. Muller, Asien u. Europa, p. 249 ff.
88 JUDGES
of the artist (Ex. 3i 3 36 1 ), the inspiration of the poet (2 S. 23 2 ),
the divine frenzy of the Nebiim (i S. io 10 ), the revelations of the
prophet (Ez. 3 24 &c.), extraordinary feats of any kind (Jud. 14
cf. i K. iS 46 ) ; see in general, Is. n 2 28 6 . In many of its mani-
festations, especially in older times, it was thought of as a physical
force (Jud. 14 15" i K. i8 12 - 46 2 K. 2 16 &c.). Extraordinary evil
as well as good is caused by it; for example, Saul's madness
(i S. i6 14 i9 9 ), false prophecy (i K. 22 22 ).* He vindicated
Israel'} RV. and most, judged Israel; but the verb means not so
much ' pronounce a judgement ' as ' establish a right,' and in the
present context it is parallel to deliver v. 9 , as in 2 1G - 18 io L2 ; cf.
"He ... that vindicates his country from a tyrant " (Massinger).
Others, became judge, began to exercise the office of judge ; f
without warrant in usage. The following clauses explain how he
vindicated Israel. He went to war] 2 15 cf. i S. 8 20 . He got the
upper hand of Cushari\ prevailed over him, 6 2 Ps. SQ 13 cf. Jud. i 35 .
The language imports that he not only liberated Israel, but subju-
gated the oppressor ; cf. 6 2 . 11. The land enjoyed security forty
years'} it was exempt from further attacks for a whole genera-
tion. This formula of the editor also v. 30 5 31 S 28 cf. Jos. n 23 i4 15 .
The forty years run from the victory of Othniel to his death ;
cf. 2 18 , " Yahweh was with the judge and delivered them from their
enemies as long as the judge lived." On the chronology, see
Introduction, 7. Othniel's death was the end of the period
of security, the beginning of a new period of apostasy and disas-
ter; cf. 2 19 .
8. o^njnzn JI^ID] Cushan is the name of a Bedawin tribe connected with
Midian (Hab. 3 7 ), perhaps a' subtribe of that people (Nu. I2 1 ; Moses'
Midianite wife is a Cushite, i.e. of Cushan) . An incursion of these Bedawin,
and their defeat and expulsion by the Kenizzites of Debir (Othniel), is con-
ceivable enough; and if the names are taken from any historical connexion,
we might conjecture that it was from some such story. faiD is related to e>)3
as fV? to taiS, jrp to pp, tyjD to yn Xra, pro to im &c.; observe the frequency
of clan names in an in the Midianite genealogy, Gen. 252, in comparison with
the Ishmaelites, 25 13ff -. The pronunciation jpia prob. intends a st. cons., after
* Maimonides, More Nebochim, Pt. ii. c. 45 ; Oehler, Alttest. TkeoL, 65 ; Schultz,
Alttest. Theol.t p. 586 f. = Old Test. TkeoL, ii. p. 202 f. ; Konig, Offenbarungsbegriff
d. A. T., i. p. 171 ff. ; Smend, Alttest. Religionsgeschichte, p. 460 if.
t Lth., Schm., Cler., Rosenm.
III. lo-ii 89
the analogy of Aram-naharaim, to which also the dual D?nj?an is probably
conformed. onnj DIN] apparently "Aram of two rivers"; the ancients
thought of the Euphrates and Tigris, many moderns of the Euphrates and
Chaboras, or Belias * (Belih); others of the Euphrates and Orontes,f or
Euphrates and Chrysorrhoas (Barada). J It may fairly be questioned, how-
ever, whether the pronunciation which makes the noun dual is not factitious.
As a geographical term Dnnj probably corresponds to the Egyptian Naharin
(there is no trace of a dual form), which lay on both sides of the upper
Euphrates; see Meyer and Miiller cited above, p. 87 n. The name would
then signify merely " River-Syria." The only cities in Aram-naharaim which
are named in the O.T. are Harran (Gen. 24!) and Pethor (Dt. 23 5 cf. Nu. 22 5 ) ;
the latter was on the west side of the Euphrates (Schrader, JfAT 2 . p. 156).
10. L) NTi>i nx B02"\] an exhaustive examination of the usage of the verb
oats' by Prof. H. Ferguson is to be found in JBL. viii. p. 130-136; see also
Bachmann, p. 25 ff. That tow often means 'give judgement,' LOQtrp 'judicial
decision,' needs no illustration; cf. only I K. 3' 28 . But it is often 'do justice,
or get justice done,' ' give one his rights or his dues.' It is thus equivalent on
the one hand to ' defend, deliver,' on the other to ' condemn, punish.' I K, 8 32
illustrates both; cf. the Latin vindicare in both senses. See Is. I 17 (|| 3n)
Jer. 5 28 Ps. io 18 72 4 26 1 (vindicate me, O Yahvveh). It is parallel to tsVa
Ps. 43 1 ; pnsn, *?>xn, B^B, 82 3 - 4 ; jwin 72*. In Judges it is synonymous with
the last-mentioned verb, 2 16 - 18 ^- io lf - &c.; cf. Neh. 9 27 , where JPBMD stands
for tODV^; and so well established is this signification that taos> is construed,
like other verbs of delivering, rescuing, with p or TC, I S. 24 16 2 S. i8 19 - 31 .
This is probably the sense in I S. 8 2:> ; the Israelites demand a king, "that our
king may vindicate (judge) us, and march out at our head and fight our
battles" (3T, Drus., al.), closely parallel to the present passage.
III. 12-30. Ehud kills Eglon, king of Moab, and liberates
Israel. The Israelites again offend Yahweh, who enables the
king of Moab to defeat them, occupy Jericho, and hold Israel in
subjection for eighteen years (v. 12 - 14 ). From this tyranny they
are delivered by Ehud ben Gera, a left-handed Benjamite, who
by a ruse secures from Eglon a private audience (v. 15 " 20 ) , assassi-
nates him (v. 21f -), escapes (v. 23 - 26 ), and at the head of his tribes-
men from Mt. Ephraim cuts off the Moabites west of the Jordan
(v. 27 ' 29 ) . The land enjoys a long period of security (v. 30 ) .
The author of the Book of Judges has furnished this story with
, BaAioxro?. f Howorth, Acad., Jan. 17, 1891, p. 65.
J Halevy, Melanges d' epigraph., p. 81.
In the Amarna correspondence Nahrima, with Canaanite, instead of Ara-
maic, plural ending.
90 JUDGES
the usual pragmatic setting, employing in both the introduction
(v. 12 - 15 ) and conclusion (y. 28 - 30 ) material derived from the older
narrative. As in other cases, he converts the story of a local
struggle into a chapter of the religious and political history of all
Israel. The unity and integrity of the story itself (v. 155 - 27 ) has
until recently been unquestioned ; only the beginning has been
supplanted by the phrases of D, and the sequel of v. 27 is not
completely preserved in v. 28 " 29 . Winckler, however, has lately
endeavoured to prove that the narrative is composite, and to sepa-
rate it into its elements, J and E.* Neither his analysis nor "his
exegesis is likely to be accepted, but he has shown that the story
is not as homogeneous as has been generally believed. Verse m ,
in particular, is not the sequel to v. 19 , but a variant parallel to it ;
and in the following verses to the end traces of duplication may
be discovered (see esp. v. 26ff> ).
It is natural to suppose that the memory of Ehud's exploit was
kept alive among his tribesmen of Benjamin ; his story retold on
holidays at Gilgal. It has the quality of the best Hebrew folk-
stories, and is beyond doubt one of the oldest in the book. From
what source it was extracted by the author of Judges, it is difficult
to decide with confidence. Stade ascribes it to E,t chiefly on the
ground of resemblances between 3 15 and io 10 - 13 ; but the expres-
sions in 3 15 are probably from the hand of D (cf. 3) . Schrader,
on the contrary, attributes it to J, $ and as between the two the
impression which the whole tenor of the narrative makes is favour-
able to the latter hypothesis.
The events related are in nowise improbable. It would indeed
be strange if the success of the Israelites in establishing themselves
west of the Jordan had not tempted others to follow their example.
The Moabites, whose territory, except in the times of the greatest
expansion of Israelite power east of the Jordan, extended to the
* Alttestamentl. Untersuchungen, 1892, p. 55-59. Winckler's analysis is: J.
3 14. 15a0, b. 17. 18. 19aj3, b. 20b/3. 21. 22. 24a a , b. 25a a . 26b(3. 27a a . 28a. 28b a . 29 ; E. 13b. . .". 16. ... 19a a .
20. . . , 23. 24a/3, b. 25a)3, b. 26a, b a . 27. 28bj3. 29.
J De Wette, Einl*, p. 327.
So also Bu., Richt. u. Sam., p. 100. Bu. notes that nnnnnn v. 26 is found be-
sides only in J (Gen. 19*6 43 io EX. I239a) ; this is perhaps true also of the Hiph.
S^nn v.25 (Gen. 8 10 J). Winckler also attributes the principal narrative to J.
in. 12-13 91
northern end of the Dead Sea or beyond, may very well have
brought under their power the plain of Jericho and the adjacent
parts of Mt. Ephraim (Benjamin). The well-designed and boldly
executed ruse by which the tyrant is slain, and in the ensuing
confusion his retainers cut off, has altogether the note of reality.
Noldeke,* while recognizing this, thinks that the name of the
deliverer cannot be historical : Gera is a son (Gen. 46 21 ) or
grandson (i Chr. 8 3 ) of Benjamin, i.e. a Benjamite clan, Ehud
himself a great-grandson ( i Chr. y 10 cf. 8 6 ) ; the concurrence of
the names of two clans of the same tribe is conclusive. There
is no difficulty, however, in supposing that a clan of Benjamin in
later times bore the name of the hero Ehud ; or even that, without
this, the name was introduced into the genealogies of the chron-
icler directly from our text.f
12-14. The Israelites again offend Yahweh; with his sup-
port Eglon attacks them and occupies Jericho ; they are subject
to Moab eighteen years. The usual introduction; only the
name of Eglon and his conquest of Jericho, the Palm City, are
derived from the old story ; the rest is made up of the set formu-
las of D. 12V 4 1 IO G I3 1 cf. 3 7 6 1 2 11 (comm. there). Yah-
weh enabled Eglon to prevail over Israel'} it was Yahweh who, to
punish the sin of his people, gave him this power ; cf. Ez. 3O 24
Jer. 27 6 " 8 43 lof * Is. 45 lff ". Somewhat similarly Mesha, king of Moab,
in his inscription : " Omri was king of Israel ; and he oppressed
Moab a long time, because Chemosh was angry with his land."
13. Eglon allied to himself the Ammonites and Amalekites; very
likely an exaggeration of D.J The Ammonites were the neigh-
bours of Moab on the NE. and their nearest kindred. The
Israelite settlements in Gilead interposed between them and the
Jordan. Moab and Ammon appear as allies against Israel in
2 Chr. 20^180. The Amalekites were Bedawin, chiefly of the
southern desert, against whom the Israelites cherished an impla-
cable hatred ; see on i 16 and especially on 6 3 . He went and beat
Israel and occupied the Palm City] of the war itself we learn
* Untcrsuchungen zur Kritik des A. T., p. 179 f. ; so also Sta., ZA TW. i. p. 343,
G K/ 2 . i. p. 68. t So also Budde, Richt. u. Sam., p. 100.
J Budde, Richt. u. Sam., p. 99. See further on n*.
92 JUDGES
nothing from these general phrases, and are tempted to surmise
that the author of Judges has here curtailed the story. The Palm
City is Jericho ; see on i 16 . The mention of Jericho here has
been found difficult. According to Jos. 6 21 ' 26 Joshua totally de-
stroyed the city and laid the site under a ban; i K. I6 34 records
the rebuilding of the city in the reign of Ahab and the fulfillment
of Joshua's curse. In the intervening centuries the place is
named only here and in 2 S. io 5 . These passages are commonly
harmonized with i K. i6 34 by the supposition that down to the
time of Ahab Jericho had been an unwalled town, and that Hiel
drew upon himself the curse by attempting to fortify it ;* but the
passage before us would rather lead us to infer that Jericho was a
strong place, the possession of which secured Eglon's hold on his
conquests west of the Jordan ; and it is not very probable that
David left this important position, one of the two great eastern
gateways of his kingdom (cf. 2 S. io 5 ), unfortified. 14, 15 a .
cf. v. 8b ' 9 .
12. pSjy] .as the name of a man only in this chapter. As a topographical
name it occurs repeatedly east of the Jordan in the modern form 'Aglun;
cf. Eglon in Judah (Jos. TO 3 - 34 ), modern 'Aglan. Roman names such as
Juvencus, Vitellius, Vitulus have been compared; see Ba. Moab~\ the land
of Moab lay east of the Dead Sea, stretching eastward to the confines of the
desert. On the southwest it bordered on Edom; on the northeast it had the
Ammonites for neighbours; and on the north, Israelite tribes, Reuben and Gad,
the former of which early disappears (see on Jud. 5 15 ). ':n itry "O hy~] in this
use >o is much less frequent than I^N; the instances are Dt. 3i 17 Jer. 4 28
Mai. 2 1 * Ps. I39 14 . Cf. -V.PN \yi and o )r, T.TN spy and -o spy, and see Ew.,
336 c; Roorda, 506. 13. iani] the plur. refers to the allies, but the
change of subject is harsh; 1L give a sing.
15-18. Ehud, chosen to convey the tribute to Eglon, secretly
arms himself; he presents the tribute and dismisses the bearers.
15 a . Ehud ben Gera] the author passes over to the older nar-
rative which he incorporates. Gera is a Benjamite clan (Gen.
46 21 2 S. i6 5 &c. Shimei ben Gera i Chr. 8 3 - 5 - 7 ) ; that Ehud
is also a clan name is less certain, and if true would not prove the
name of our hero unhistorical.t The deliverer comes from the
tribe on whose soil the Moabite invaders had planted themselves.
* Ew., G VI. iii. p. 490, Ke., Ba., Be., Di., al. f See above, p. 91.
III/I3-I8 93
A left-handed man} the literal and original meaning seems to
have been, a man with his right hand drawn up, contracted by
accident or disease ; but in usage it has come to signify no more
than one who has not the natural use of his right hand, left-
handed. He took advantage of this defect, in consequence of
which his movements excited no suspicion until he struck the
fatal blow ; see on v. 16 - 2L . The Israelites sent by him tribute^
lit. a present; 2 S. 8 2 - 6 i K. $ (EV. 4 21 ) 2 K. ly 3 - 4 Hos. io 6 Ps.
72 10 &c.* On the question whether Eglon's residence was at
Jericho or east of the Jordan, see on v. 26 . 16. Ehud provided
himself with a weapon peculiarly suited to his purpose. A two-
edged dirk a gomed long] the name of the measure does not occur
elsewhere in the O.T. ; it appears to correspond to the Greek
irvyprj, the distance from the elbow to the knuckles of the
clenched fist, about thirteen or thirteen and a half inches. The
old translators and most modern commentators think of a shorter
dagger, a span long ; but the description of Eglon's corpulence
(v. 17 ) is pertinent only in relation to the fact that a long dirk was
buried, hilt and all, in his belly.f He hung it under his clothes
on his right thigh"} the opposite side from that on which the sword
was usually worn, so that if the guards of the king felt for con-
cealed weapons it would not be likely to be discovered ; while at
the same time, if it was more than a mere stiletto, it was in
the most convenient place for a left-handed man to draw.
17. Now Eglon was a very fat man} a circumstance of impor-
tance in the sequel of the story is parenthetically introduced by
anticipation at the first meeting of Ehud and Eglon, instead of in
v. 20 or 22 . 18. Comparing small things with great, we may illus-
trate this presentation of tribute by the famous reliefs on the
black obelisk of Salmanassar, depicting the payment of tribute
by Jehu, with their long procession of Israelites bearing the treas-
ures of their land to present to the king. $ He dismissed the
* So in other languages; e.g. Swpa, Diod. Sic., i. 58; cf. Hdt., iii. 89, &c.
t Stud.
J Layard, Monuments of Nineveh, 1849, fol. Ser. i. no. 53; Nineveh, 1849 (8vo),
p. 347 ; cf. also the payment of tribute to Sennacherib at Lachish ; Egyptian scenes,
Lepsius, Denkmaler, Abth. iii. pi. 115-118 ; E. Meyer, Gesch. d. alt. Aegyptens, p. 242,
244.
94 JUDGES
people who carried the tribute'} the payment was, of course, made
in kind, so that a considerable number of porters would be neces-
sary, but in the East under such circumstances if is customary to
employ a much larger number than is necessary ; the size of the
retinue is a mark of honour. From the following verse * (cf. v. 26 )
we must infer that Ehud accompanied them part way on their
return, and when he had seen them safe beyond the reach of
subsequent pursuit, returned alone to the king's residence.
15. WD*" "p itDX a"x] "V.3X 2O 16t , (53L ambidextrous ; 3TJ5 more correctly,
drawn up, drawn out of shape. The vb. nax (cognate with otox) Ps. 6Q 16 f ,
'contract, close'; Ar. w^, 'bend into a hoop.' The adj. ncpx, of the
regular type for defects and deformities, would accordingly mean, maimed by
having the hand bent double, drawn shut, so distorted as to be useless
(Abulw., Ki. Lex., Ra., Tanch., al.). In 2O 16 , however, the writer cannot
mean that the 700 Benjamite slingers, this corps d^elite, were all maimed or
deformed,! and in MH. the meaning left-handed is well established; cf. Shabb.,
I03 a , Menach., 37* mid., Bechor., 45 b (see Ra. on the last two passages),
Tos. Bechor., v. 8 (ed. Zuckerm., p. 5403). So Fl. Jos. here, r&v xeipuv r^v
apurrepav dfj-etvuv KO.TT' eKelvys rrjv airaffav lff")(i)v H^av; Abarb., Stud., Ke.,
Be., Ba., Cass. 16. rVng ^e>] plur. of no, Ki., OL, Sta. It was dtffrofMv
/0os, Eurip., Hel. 983, cf. Ecclus. 2i 8 Hebr. 4 12 Apoc. I 16 , gladius anceps t
Prud., Catkem., vi. 85; a two-edged dirk, not as Jerome glosses in his transla-
tion, " habens in medio capulum," a double-ended dagger, which is incom-
patible with v. 22 nsnx IDJ] the Jewish interpreters explain gomed as a cubit,
more exactly, a short cubit, cubit minus the fingers; see Ra. in loc., Rashbam
on Baba bathra, 100, Aruch, s. v. 1DJ 2 ; cf. Jer. Yoma, iv. 4 (41) . J So it is
translated here by 5 a. It would thus correspond exactly to the Greek irvy^-f)
(Poll., ii. 147, 158). See my note in JBL. xii. p. 104.
19-22. Ehud contrives a private interview with the king
and kills him. 19. Ehud returns alone. From the sculptured
stones near Gilgal~\ probably rude stone images ; the translation
quarries || is an unnecessary and unwarranted departure from the
well-known meaning of the word ; graven images f perhaps too
* If it be the original sequel of v. 18.
t This holds even if the words are a gloss, as^Bu. conjectures.
J See also Weiss on Mechilta, fol. 59* ; Jastrow, Dictionary, s. v.
(EH, Lth., Schm., Stud., al.
|| &, Jewish and many Christian commentators, AV., RV.
f AVms- RVmg., and elsewhere uniformly in the text.
in. 18-20 95
specifically suggests statues. Gilgal itself probably had its name
from an old stone circle (cromlech),* whose stones, according to
a popular tradition, were set up by Joshua to commemorate the
passage of the Jordan (Jos. 4 20 ) ; and it has frequently been sur-
mised that the sculptured stones or images of our text are in
some way connected with the stones erected by Joshua.f Others,
gathering from v. 19> 26 that when a man had passed this point he
was safe on Israelite soil, suppose that they were boundary stones
(images) set up by Eglon. J I have a private communication .for
thee~\ a natural pretext, and all the more likely to be admitted
without suspicion because Ehud had just brought the tribute of
his tribesmen; cf. v. 20 . He commanded, Silence /] the command
is addressed not to Ehud, but to the attendants, || who are to
leave him in privacy. 20. The verse seems to be parallel to
v. 19 , rather than a sequel to it. In v. 19 Ehud appears before the
king in his public audience room and announces that he has a
secret communication to make to him ; the king has the room
cleared, leaving Ehud alone with him. In v. 20 Ehud goes in to
him as he is sitting in his roof-chamber alone and announces that
he has a divine communication for him. The difficulty was early
felt, and various exegetical expedients have been proposed to
relieve it. The favourite explanation is that the words of Ehud in
v. 19 , " I have a private communication to make to thee, O King,"
were not spoken by him in person in the public audience, but
were conveyed to the king by an attendant ; upon receiving this
message Eglon dismissed his court and received Ehud alone in
his private apartments.^" Another hypothesis is, that after hearing
the words of Ehud, spoken in public, Eglon dismissed the by-
standers and retired to his private roof-chamber, whither Ehud
was presently conducted.** Either of these suppositions is easy
* See on 2 1 .
t Fr. Junius, Ew., Knob., Vaihinger, Stud., ai., with very various and equally
groundless hypotheses about the nature of the connexion.
RLbG. (alt.), a Lap., Schm., Hgstbg., Ke., Ba., Cass.
BN, Ki., Abarb., Schm., a Lap., Cass., Doom, al.
|| ALai.H&E, pi. Jos., Ra., RLbG., Stud., Ke., Be., Ba., al.
IT Lth., Stud., Ke., Be., Ba.; cf. RLbG., Schm.
** To take the verb in v. 20 as pluperf., Now Ehud had entered, &c. (Doom.),
only aggravates the difficulty. .
96 JUDGES
enough in matter of fact; but neither of them is exegetically
plausible. If the author had meant the first, he would have given
Ehud's words in a different form ; * if the second; he would not
have left it to the imagination of the reader. Where he was sit-
ting in his cool upper story alone~\ not in the public divan. The
upper story Aaliyah, still called in Arabic by the same name) is
an additional, ordinarily third, story raised above the flat roof of
the house at one corner, or upon a tower-like annex to the build-
ing. It generally contains but a single apartment, of larger or
smaller dimensions, through which latticed windows on all sides
give free circulation of air, making it the most comfortable part
of the house. / have a divine communication for thee~\ cf. v. 19 .
The words naturally suggest a communication from the God of
Israel which had come to Ehud, whether by dream,f oracle, or
otherwise, and which it concerned Eglon to hear. J Others sup-
pose that Ehud meant by the intentionally ambiguous phrase, I
have God's business with you, a divine commission to execute
upon you. . It does not appear that the author had this ingenious
equivocation in mind ; or that he would have thought it worth
while to protect, by so slender a pretext, Ehud's reputation for
veracity. He tells of it as a clever and successful ruse, with no
more reflexion on its morality than on that of the assassination
itself. He arose from his chair] presumably as a sign of reve-
rence for the oracle. || The movement, which Ehud may have
reckoned upon, gave him an opportunity to get within striking
* I have a private communication for the king.
t Fl. Jos.
\ They are so understood by 3L3>, Ra., and most interpreters, ancient and
modern. It is not necessary, however, to suppose that Ehud assumed the char-
acter of a prophet (Cler., al.).
$ Schm., Stud., Be., Ba. ; Schm. even imagines that Eglon so understood the
words. Cf. Aug., qu. 20: Potest non esse mendacium, quandoquidem verbi
nomine solet etiam factum appellare Scriptura, et re vera ita erat. On the whole
question see further Schm., qu. 7. 8 ; Ba., p. 234 f.
|| Sanhedr., 60*. Rabb., Cler., Stud., Ke., al. According to the Midrash the mar-
riage of Ruth (the daughter or granddaughter of Eglon) was the reward of this
piety; Ruth rab. on i* (fol. 29*1, ed. Sulzb.), Yalqut. Other explanations, such as,
he arose in joy at the announcement (Fl. Jos.) , or in alarm at Ehud's menacing
words and gestures (Be.), to call his guards, or to defend himself or fly (Schm.),
are in varying degrees improbable. Schnurrer suggested that he wished to draw
nearer to Ehud for greater secrecy ; cf. perhaps <S.
III. 20-22 97
distance without exciting suspicion, which he could hardly have
done if Eglon had remained seated, and for this reason it is
related. 21. Ehud, still without arousing suspicion, reaches with
his left hand for his dirk (v. 16 ), quickly draws, and plunges it into
the king's belly. 22. The force of the blow was such that, in
spite of the length of the weapon, the hilt followed the blade in ;
the dirk was doubtless- without either guard or cross-piece. -
Ehud left the knife sticking in the wound. And the fat closed
after the blade~\ the fat which covered the intestines ; cf. v. 17 . It
is not necessary to infer from the preceding clause that the whole
hilt, pommel and all, disappeared ; so that there is no conflict
between the two statements.* The last words of the verse are
very difficult, and almost certainly corrupt. The most probable
interpretation is, and the dirt came out~\ the feces ; not from the
wound,f but through the anus, the usual consequence of such a
wound in the abdomen. \ This somewhat drastic touch is alto-
gether in the vein of the narrator ; cf. v. 16 - 17< 24b . The emendation
of the Hebrew text which it necessitates is not difficult. The
translation preferred in RV., and it (sc. the sword) came out
behind, gives a mere guess at the meaning of the word, and is
grammatically unsound. The rendering of RV mg> , he (Ehud) went
out into the antechamber, \ is only possible if, with Winckler, we
ascribe the words to a different author from the first clause of v. 23 .
For other hypotheses see note.
19. atP Nim] the nominal sentence emphasizing the contrast; he dis-
missed the bearers, but himself turned back, &c. DI^DD] plur. to the sg. SDS;
images of gods Dt. 7 25 I2 3 Is. 2i 9 cf. Hos. II 2 Mi. I 7 , in human or animal
forms Dt. 4 16 - 18 cf. v. 23 - 23 . So here ( ABTj % (= 9) yXvirruv, <S M Thdt. e/5<$-
Xw,l 2L. on iDXi)] an exclamation like Hush! Hist! Am. 6 10 &c. 20.
zyi Nini] circumstantial; Dr 3 . 160 mpnn mSjn] cf. v. 24 , cool upper-story.
So in sense (S3L, while 3D thinks of the upper story of a summer palace
(Am. 3 15 ). Such ^altyahs are frequently mentioned in the O.T.; in private
* Though it would be possible to ascribe them to two different sources.
fVatabl., cf. RLbG.
% So 1L, statimque per secreta naturae alvi stercora proruperunt, ST, Deresh. rab.,
99, Rabb., Lth., AV., al.
$ So, with various modifications, Schm. (aversa pars carports) , Cler. (postica pars
corporis, supra ctunes),Tr.-]un., Rosenm., Simonis (podex),Gzs. Thes. (interstitium
pedum) , Maurer (stercoreus} , &c. || (ffi.
Spiav \ ? transcriptional error for avSpidvTuv*
H
98 JUDGES
houses (guest chambers) I K. ly 19 - ^ 2 K. 4 10 - u , as well as in palaces, 2 K. i' 2
(latticed windows), Jer. 22 13 - u (spacious). A similar structure was sometimes
erected over a city gate, 28. 19* (EV. i8 33 ), or at an angle of the city wall (?)
(Neh. 3 31 - 32 ) ; often in Talm. Cf. v-trepyov Acts I 18 9 37 - 39 2O 8 . In the modern
East, see Shaw, Travels, 214-216 (N. Africa); Niebuhr, Reisen, i. pi. 68
(Sana'), Thomson, Land and Book*, ii. p. 634, 636 (fig.). na 1 ? V? -KPN]
naS is rightly connected by most scholars with the verb, sitting . . . alone ;
not in his private 'aliyah (Vatabl.). DTiSx "at] not aliqtiid admirandum ct
stupendum (Brenz) ; phrases like DTiSN nnn (Gen. 35 5 ) describe the terror as
caused by a god (panic). D^nSx is naturally used in speaking to a foreigner;
but in the mouth of Ehud means Yahweh, and would be so understood.
XD3] chair. Chairs were found in private houses (2 K. 4 10 ), but are more
frequently mentioned as the seat of persons of rank, for instance, of Eli
(i S. i 9 4 13 ), the queen mother (i K. 2 19 ), esp. the king (i K. i 46 naiSon NDO
&c.). The latter stood so high as to require a foot stool (Din), or was raised
on a platform and approached by steps (i K. io 19 ). See representations of
Egyptian chairs and thrones, Wilkinson, Ancient Egyptians, ed. Birch, i.
p. 408 ff.; cf. also Buchholz, Homerische Realien, ii. 2. 85; Baumeister,
Denkmaler, p. 1650 ff. 21. uaaa nypmi] the vb. 4 21 (driving a peg) 2 S. i8 14
&c. 22. 'jn NITI] G reads as a causative, and Bu. would emend a), he
(Ehud) caused the hilt to enter, which is less natural than JH awn*] hilt,
haft, Arab, nisab. an 1 ?] blade; lit. flame. ruicnfln N^I] the subject cannot
be the sword, for :nn is fern.; it might grammatically be the blade, anS, but
it is hardly in accordance with the natural logic of speech to go back to this
noun. Moreover, the meanings attributed to pans by those who construe
thus are fictitious, the product of most improbable etymological combinations,
that with Ar. tX-wiyi 'straddle' being not the least absurd. In the present
context the subject cannot be Ehud, whose exit is regularly related in the
next following words; no author is negligent enough to write, and he went
out to the parshedon, and Ehud went out to the misderon.* If we make Ehud
the subject, we must either assume that one of these two clauses is a gloss to
the other (Ew., Bo., al.), or that they came from two different sources and
have been most awkwardly juxtaposed by the compiler (Winckler). Against
the former alternative it may properly be urged that the supposed explanation
is as obscure as the word to be explained. It is barely possible, however, that
pans is a Greek gloss (? irpo<rT$ov}, or the corruption of such a gloss. The
translations irpoa-TdSa, Trapaardda ('A) ra irpbdvpa (2) are guesses following
hints in the sound of the word. In this obscurity it is perhaps best, with
Jewish exegetical tradition, to find in ruwuj the subject of the vb., and then
to emend with N6.,f Bu., uhsn Ex. 2p 14 &c., the feces (in the stomach and
bowels not excrement) ; ruittna may have arisen by accidental conformation
to rm-nOD v. 23 *.
* So Ki. rightly says. t Untersuchungen. p. 180 n.
ill. 23-25 99
23-26. Ehud's escape. 23. Ehud went out to the . . .]
Heb. misderon; from the context, the name of the part of the
building to which Ehud passed from the 'afiyah, and through
which he made his exit from the house. The meaning of the
word is, however, unknown, and in our ignorance of the con-
struction and arrangement of the house, it is of little use to guess.
The various renderings proposed guard-room, vestibule, portico,
arcade, gallery, balustrade, staircase, &c. show the inadequacy
of etymology to determine the meaning of a technical word.
And closed the doors of the upper story upon him"} sc. on Eglon,
shutting him up in the chamber. The plural, doors, of the two
leaves of a double door (i K. 6 3lf - M cf. Jud. i6 3 i S. 2i 13 ).* The
last words of the verse, and locked them, are, as the false tense
proves, the addition of a scribe, who, observing that the doors
were locked (v. 24> 25 ) , missed an explicit statement here that Ehud
locked them. 24. So he went out~\ he emphatic ; in English we
should subordinate the clause, after he went out, &c. Eglon's
servants came, and found the door of the upper story bolted.
From the connexion of the clauses, as well as from what follows,
it is naturally to be inferred that they saw Ehud pass out by the
usual way ; they would not have sought to intrude unsummoned
upon a private interview, and in v. b they evidently believe their
master to be alone. // must be that he is relieving himself in the
cabinet of the cool chamber} the sense of decency in such mat-
ters is very highly developed among Orientals, as it was in -general
in the civilized peoples of antiquity. 25. They waited till they
saw that they were mistaken} lit. to the point of confusion (2 K. 2 17
8 11 ) ; an idiomatic expression suggestive of confounded hopes or
expectations, perplexity, perturbation. Then, as he did not open
the door, they took the key and opened it. In the locks still
in common use in the East the bolt is shot by hand, or by means
of a thong. A number of pin-tumblers then drop into corre-
sponding holes in the .bolt and lock it. The key, which is used
for unlocking only, is a flat piece of wood in one end of which
are set pins corresponding in number and position to the tumblers
of the lock and in length to the depth of the bolt.f It is
* So Qvpai in Horn.
f Sometimes the key is a bent piece of metal ; but the principle is the same.
100 JUDGES
slipped lengthwise under the bolt, which is undercut for the pur-
pose, until its pins entering lift the tumblers clear and allow the
bolt to be pushed back.* The references in the* O.T. make it
altogether probable that the locks of the ancient Hebrews were
of this pattern. Having opened, they found their master lying
dead; cf. the very similar scene, Judith i4 14f \ 26. The two
halves of the verse have the appearance of doublets ; f the first
clause of v. b cannot be construed in continuation of v. a , and as a
circumstantial clause depending from the preceding he escaped
. . . he having passed over, \ is unusually awkward. The structure
is exactly parallel to v.% and the significant verb, he escaped, is
found in both halves. While they were delaying] v. 24 ^. He
passed the sculptured stones~\ the way in which these are mentioned
here and in v. 19 is thought to indicate that this was the last Moabite
outpost, beyond which he was in no danger of being stopped or
overtaken by the enemy ; but in our ignorance of the topography
this is a somewhat uncertain inference ; the words may be meant
only to describe the road Ehud took. In v. 26 we might even
translate, he crossed (sc. the Jordan) to, or near, the sculptured
stones / || see below. To Seirah~\ otherwise unknown. If v. 27
is the original sequel of v. 265 , it must have been a place on the
edge of the highlands of Ephraim.
It is commonly assumed, though without any distinct intimation
in the text, that the scene of Ehud's exploit was Jericho, v. 13 ,^[
where Eglon resided, either permanently, or, as is more probable,
at the time for the collection of the yearly tribute. But it is diffi-
cult, if not impossible, to reconcile this with v. 18f - 26b , since Gilgal is
not on the way from Jericho to Mt. Ephraim, but in exactly the
opposite direction, toward the fords of the Jordan leading to the
land of Moab.** All becomes natural, however, if we assume that
* Russell, Aleppo*, 1794, i. p. 21 f. ; Lane, Modem Egyptians*, p. 19 f.; Thomson,
Land and Book*, iii. p. 413 ; cf. Wilkinson, Anct. Egyptians, ed. Birch, i. p. 353 f.
t Winckler. J Driver^, 160 (p. 199) ; cf. 4!.
RLbG., Schm., al. ; see on v.19. || Bu.
f Fl. Jos., Ba., Cass., and most.
** We cannot evade this difficulty by supposing that a different Gilgal is meant,
(Masius, Ke., Ba., Ph. Wolff, in RLHW&. p. 518) ; in this connexion with Moab
and Jericho, Gilgal in the Jordan valley would necessarily be understood. If the
author had intended another, he must have added some definition.
III. 25-26 101
the residence of Eglon was east of the Jordan, in the land of
Moab, which is on other accounts also the more probable hypoth-
esis.* The name of the place need not have been mentioned;
or it may have been subsequently omitted.f
23. rumonn] the versions seem all, in one way or another, to connect
the word with MH. (Aram. Syr.) -no ' row, rank '; (5 t%ij\8ej> roi>s SiaTeray^-
vovs, & jmoaN 1 ? (<M?<?fy>a), & sQg4.l0^fl7i\ (u<rr6s); similarly Abulw., Ra.,
Ki., RLbG., Drus., Cler., and most moderns. n>^] upon him (Eglon), not
after himself (i.e. vnnx Gen. ig 6 ) ; Gen. 7 1C 2 K. 4 4 . "?>'ji] the tense admits of
no grammatical explanation, cf. 7 13 i6 18 2 S. I3 18 . Other instances Dr 3 . 133;
Roorda, 536. 24. xx^ NIDI] the nom. sent, describing the circumstances
or conditions under which the following action took place ; see on the whole
subject, Dr 3 . 156 ff. vS-n nx xin -pon ^x] IN restrictive; the only explana-
tion of the closed door is, &c. Ew. 354 a; Lex. s. v. The phrase cover one's
feet (i S. 24 4 ) is a euphemism from the posture assumed in evacuating the
bowels, the long garments forming a tent-like covering over the lower extremi-
ties (RLbG.); so 03UE& (vid.), Ra., Ki. (Comm.), Drus., Cler., Schm., Ke.,
Cass., al. % Not urinate (<& B , Ki. Lex. and Comm. on I S. 24*, Mi. Yophi) ; v.
M. Yoma, iii. 2; Bochart, Hierozoicon, ed. Rosenm., i. p. 777 ff. The root is
pD; Ki. Comm., Bo., Ol., K6. i. p. 354. mpon -nn] cstr. of "nn, Ol. 134 d;
Sta. 191 c. Probably a cabinet or closet in the mpn ((gAVLMO g j % v T fi
dirox^p^fffi TOV KOITUVQS, J5, RLbG., Schm., Rosenm., Cass., al.). That in
this sense we should necessarily have 'nn mSy 'n (Ba.) is too strong an asser-
tion. 25. e>!3 "i>? iSim] the Hiph. in this sense only Gen. 8 10 (J). In iy.
tt>u (2 K. 2 17 8 ut ) B>13 is inf. (Drus.), not pf. (Ki.); cf. nbS iy 2 Chr. 24 10 .
From the way in which it is used it seems that the original significance of the
vb. was no longer very distinctly felt, and that the phrase had become equiva-
lent to a long while (Fl. Jos. iro\f>v -^pbvov) ; cf. 1ND *iy very. It is unnecessary
to assume two roots (Castell, Stud., Furst). nnop] nom. instrum., Is. 22 22
I Chr. Q 27 f . nn nxix Sei] fallen to the ground, dead. The ptcp. of the
intrans. vb. is nearly equivalent to an adjective, prostrate on the grotmd ;
cf. 4 22 I9' 27 I S. 5 3 - 4 3i 8 . See Schultens, Origines, p. 144 (comparison of
Hebr. with Gr. and Lat. idioms of vb. ' fall ') 26. oncnonn iy] for iy with
inf. cf. Ez. 33 22 Jon. 4 2 . The original meaning of iy, ' duration,' distinctly
appears in these phrases; cf. 2 K. 9 22 , Ew. 217 e. The verb I9 8 2 S. I5 28 ;
in Hexat. Gen. ig 16 43 10 Ex. I2 39 (all J). D*tawv DM -nay xim] "not the
mere addition of a fresh fact like "i^>ii, but the justification of the preceding
loVcj," he having passed ; Dr 3 . p. 199. If the text is not composite, this is
* So Ra., Schm., Stud., F. W. Schultz. According to Winckler, J laid the scene
in Moab ; E in Jericho. t Bu.
J Cf. Berachoth, 62* ; FL Jos., */. ii. 8, 9 ; Bqrckhardt, Travels, &c., p. 445, 518 f.
\ If the text be sound,
102 JUDGES
the only possible construction. The accus. is commonly interpreted, he passed
the images; cf. I S. I4 23 .* Bu. proposes, he crossed (the Jordan) near the
images, comparing Gen. 32 32 , which is, however, usually explained like the
preceding example. A third possibility is, he passed over to the images, cf. 1 1 29
and note there. Winckler's conj. 'an n ^?, he sacrificed to the images, is a
particularly unhappy conceit. rim^n] n. pr., ace. of limit of motion after
&SDJ (Gen. I9 17 Is. 37 38 ). The article is evidence only that the meaning of
the name was kept in mind, not that it should be translated as appellative
(Ra., thicket, bush}, ^yv Jos. I5 10 on the boundary of Judah is much too
far away. Winckler would seek Seirah east of the Jordan.
27-29. Ehud raises the Israelites; they seize the fords
and cut off all the Moabites on that side of the Jordan.
The narrative is not free from derangement and repetition, which
are generally attributed to the interference of the editor, but may
arise from the combination of two accounts. 27. When he
came] in the context, we must suppose, to Seirah, though we
should in that case expect the particle thither. Some recensions
of $& have, to the land of Israel, which may be only an addition
of the translator, but shows that the incompleteness of v. 27 * was
felt, and is entirely suitable to the context. Sounded the alarm~]
lit. blew the war horn; a summons to arms, 6 s4 i S. i3 3 . The
Highlands of Ephraim} 2 9 4* f 4 Jos. i y 15 1 K. 4 8 &c. ; the moun-
tainous interior of Central Palestine, from the Great Plain south to
the neighbourhood of Jerusalem ; see note. The Israelites from
the neighbouring parts of this region rose at Ehud's call and has-
tened down, under his lead, to the plain of Jericho. 28. The
first half verse comes rather late after v. 27b ; the second, they
followed him down, is parallel to v. 2 . This interruption of the
natural progress of the story is commonly ascribed to the editor
who added v. 28a ; t it is possible, however, that v. 28 is the original
sequel of v. 26 , and v. 29 of v. 27 , which would give us two complete
and parallel accounts. Follow me down] J^ erroneously, pursue
me. They seized the fords of the Jordan against the Moabites~\
thus cutting off the retreat of those who were on the Israelite side
of the river; cf. f 4 i2 5 . J The fords here meant are the lowest
* That this requires '^ -ay (Winckler) is a rash assertion.
fBu.
J Fl. Jos., Ra., RLbG., Schm. ; not in order to prevent help from coming from
the Moabite side (Ki.). Cler. combines the two explanations.
III. 27-29 103
fords of the Jordan, near Gilgal (Jos. 2 7 2 S. i9 15 ).* Others inter-
pret, the fords leading to Moab, the Moabite fords ; but this is not
distinctive, for all the lower fords of the Jordan led to Moab, and
1 2 5 , where the construction is the same, cannot well be explained
in this way. 29. The verse, as a whole, is ascribed by Budde to
the author of the Deuteronomic book of Judges ; but see above
on v. 28 . Ten thousand men] see on i 4 . All stout and valiant
men] there were no others among them ; f not, every stout and
valiant man, \ as though they let others go, in conflict with the
following, not one escaped. The Moabites are represented as an
army of occupation, rather than as settlers.
27. wiaa TPI] (gBPNOai. e 4. e s yrjv I<Tparj\, a natural addition if the resi-
dence of Eglon was supposed to be east of the Jordan (cf. Ra.) . It is conceiv-
able, on the other hand, that the words were dropped from f, as conflicting
with the supposition that the scene of Ehud's deed was Jericho. If Seirah had
been meant, the author would probably have written HDB> iNiaa ; if Mt. Ephraim,
the sentence would have been differently arranged. ^DIBO ppn-o] the horn
(KeparivT), bnccina ) as a signal calling men to arms, Jud. 6 34 I S. I3 3 2 S. 2O 1 ;
warning of approach of the enemy, Am. 3 Ez. 33 6 Jer. 4 5 6 1 &c.; in battle,
Am. 2 2 ; sounding the recall, 2 S. 2 28 i8 16 2O 22 . On the form and fabrication
of the shophar, and its religious uses, see C. Adler, PA OS., Oct. 1889, p. clxxi.;
The Shophar its Use and Origin, 1894 (Rep. of U. S. Natl. Museum for
1892, p. 437-450). The Highlands of Ephraim] the mountains which form
the backbone of Central and Southern Palestine extend from the Great Plain
southward, gradually increasing in elevation to the vicinity of Hebron, south
of which they fall off, the hills terminating about Tell 'Arad and Beersheba. ||
The northern half of this region is the mountain country of Ephraim, occupied
by West Manasseh, Ephraim, and Benjamin; the southern, the mountain
country of Judah. There is no natural boundary between the two; the limit
shifted with the southward expansion of Joseph. At the time of our story the
territory of Joseph was separated from Judah by a Canaanite belt of which Jeru-
salem was the central stronghold; see above, p. 8. 28. nnx 13-0] read m
and v. b ; 2 K. 5 21 (Ba.) is not parallel to this use of p-i. aaoo 1 ?] equiva-
lent to a dativus incommodi ; cf. 1& axin hy, Ba., Reuss. Not vada Jordanis
quae transmittunt in Moab 31, Schm., Cler., Be., al. ('n VN) ; or periphrasis for
a second genitive, rets SiajScttreis TOU 'lopddvov rfjs Ma>a/3 <&&, the Moabite
fords of the Jordan. 29. *?>n Kx Sm ptr So] j DB? originally ' fat,' then
* SWP. Memoirs, iii. p. 170. There are now two fords, one at the pilgrims'
bathing place (Mahacjet flagleh) ; the other, at present overgrown, a mile or more
south of it. The former must always have been the main crossing.
t AV. J RV. Jerome on Hos. 58.
|| Robinson, Phys. Geog., p. 32-36.
104 JUDGES
'robust, vigorous.' Others interpret, 'rich, great' (Ki. 2, RLbG., Cler.,
al.), a familiar metaphor, but an inapposite sense in this place.
30. Moab was subdued~\ S 28 1 1 33 (cf. 4^) i S. 7^, in the closing
formulas with which the stories of the several judges are brought
to a conclusion. In the present instance the results of Ehud's
deed seem to be exaggerated. The story itself tells only of the
assassination of the king and the slaughter of the Moabites : west
of the Jordan, clearing the land of Israel of these intruders ; of a
subjugation of Moab it gives no hint. The land enjoyed security
eighty years} two generations ; cf. v. 11 above, and see Introduction,
7-
'jn 3N1D jJJDni] Moab was subdued ; 8' 28 n 23 I S. 7 18 I Chr. 20* 2 Chr. I3 18
Ps. io6 42 ; the Niph. is passive to Hiph. (2 S. 8!= I Chr. iS 1 ). Not to be
confounded with the trop. sense, ' be subdued in spirit, submit ' to the judge-
ments or reproof of God (Lev. 26 41 I K. 22 19 &c.). The phrase belongs
apparently to the " pre-Deuteronomic " Book of Judges; see We., Comp.,
p. 219; controverted by Kitt, Stud. u. Krit., 1892, p. 50.
On the moral aspects of Ehud's deed on which the narrator
in Jud. 3 certainly wasted no reflections and on the difficulties
which the story made for the older biblical apologetics, see
Schmid, quaestiones 7-10: Num Ehud Egloni mentitus est?
Num Eglonem Ehud decepit? Licuitne Ehudi Eglonem ty^
rannum occidere? Quomodo cum impulsu et instinctu divino
conciliandum est, quod Ehud adeo solicite ad caedem Eglonis se
praeparavit, tempus atque alia circumspexit atque observavit?
In more modern fashion, Bachmann, p. 231 ff.
III. 31. Shamgar kills six hundred Philistines with an ox-
goad. Shamgar is often reckoned as the first of the six " Minor
Judges."* The verse which tells his brief story exhibits, how-
ever, none of the distinctive formulas of the list lo 1 " 5 I2 8 ' 15 ;!
and, what is more conclusive, Shamgar is not embraced with them
in the final chronological scheme of the book ; neither the period
in which he wrought deliverance for Israel nor its duration is
given. | Chapter 4 1 (D) ignores Shamgar, connecting immedi-
* See Introduction, 7. f See on lo 1 .
J The Jewish explanation is that he died in the first year of his office ; Fl. Jos.,
Juchasin, Abarb., a Lap., al.
III. 30-31 105
ately with 3 30 ("when Ehud was dead"). It is to be inferred
from these facts that the story of Shamgar's exploit was inserted
here by a hand not only later than the Deuteronomic author of
3 30 4 1 , but than the editor who introduced the " Minor Judges "
and made them a place in the chronology.*
After him came Shamgar ben Anath~\ Shamgar is named in
Jud. s 6 , where, with Jael, he represents the hour of Israel's deepest
humiliation under the hand of its foes, just before the appearance
of Deborah, and there is no reason to doubt that he is a historical
figure. The story of the slaughter of the six hundred Philistines
reminds us of Samson, but, in its form, still more of the exploits
of David's heroes, 2 S. 2i 15 ' 22 23 8ff -,f and is very likely extracted
from the same or a similar source. The name Shamgar is foreign ;
perhaps Hittite. Anath is a goddess of whose worship there are
many evidences in Palestine in names of places which were seats
of her cult, % and whose name appears on Egyptian monuments
from the i8th dynasty. He smote the Philistines'] all the evi-
dence we have goes to show that the Philistines did not seriously
trouble the central tribes until shortly before the time of Saul ; see
above on 3 3 (p. 80) . The Song of Deborah celebrates the vic-
torious issue of the struggle of the central and northern tribes
against the Canaanites, who in the days of Shamgar (5 6 ) had
brought Israel to such straits. It knows nothing of a contempo-
raneous oppression by the Philistines. As a champion of Israel
against the Philistines, therefore, Shamgar appears too early.
With an ox-goad~\ || the Syrian ploughman's goad is a formidable
weapon, sometimes eight feet long, armed at one end with a spike,
at the other with a chisel-shaped blade for cleaning the plough ;
and on occasion would make a very good substitute for a spear.
But the six hundred men have always taxed the credulity of the
commentators, who have had recourse to various rationalizing sub-
terfuges. Clericus, for example, explains that Shamgar did not kill
* See Ewald, G VI. ii. p. 514 (cf. 449) = HI. ii. p. 317 ; No., Untersuch., p. 180;
cf. also We., Comp., p. 217 f. ; Bu., Richt. u. Sam., p. 166 (meant to replace Abime-
lech, the latest addition to the book). f We., Comp., p. 218 n.
J Beth-anath in Galilee, Jud. i 33 ; Beth-anoth in Judah, Jos. I5 59 ; Anathoth
near Jerusalem ; the modern 'Ainata on the Lebanon (see above, p. 52). We.
|| Bochart adduces in illustration, //. vi. 132-135, and Nonnus, Dionys., xx. 315 ff. ;
cf. Eustath. on //., l.c.
106 JUDGES
six hundred men with his own hand, but headed a peasants' revolt
in which so many Philistines fell.* And he too delivered Israel]
see on 2 16 . The form of the expression of itself would arouse the
suspicion that the introduction of Shamgar was an afterthought.!
Whether Shamgar is the original hero of this story may be doubted;
Jud. 5 6 certainly suggests no such deliverance. The similarity of the exploit
to those of David's Gibborim has been often observed (e.g. by Schm.). The
resemblance to the slaughter of the Philistines at Lehi by Shammah ben Age
(2 S. 23 llf> ) is particularly striking; and the conjecture may not seem too
hazardous that the feat of David's comrade has been ascribed, perhaps partly
in consequence of the similarity of the names, to the Shamgar of 5 6 , of whom
nothing was known. Cf. also Jud. I5 14ff - (Samson at Lehi). With the name
Shamgar we may perhaps compare Sangar, king of Gargamis (then the chief
city of the Hittite country) in the days of Asurnasirpal and Salmanassar II.
(9th cent. B.C.) ; J cf. also Samgar-nebo Jer. 39 3 . There was a kingdom San-
gara on the upper Tigris; a river Sangarius in Asia Minor (//. iii. 187, xvi.
719; Strabo, xii. p. 543; Ptol., v. I, 6). The similarity of the names may be
purely accidental; on the other hand it may be evidence of the movements of
population in these regions. Anath~\ is represented in an Egyptian stele in
the British Museum, sitting, holding shield and javelin in the right hand,
while with the left she brandishes a battle axe ; || in other places she appears
on horseback similarly armed,^[ or sitting upon a lion.** That she was espe-
cially worshipped by the Hittites (E. Meyer) is not indisputable. In what
relation this goddess stands to the Babylonian Antu is not certain; see
Schrader, ZDMG. xxvii. p. 404, and, against him, E. Meyer, ib. xxxi. p. 716 ff.
The evidence given by the Amarna tablets of long and profound Babylonian
influence in Palestine at an early period makes it probable that they are not
independent.ft The form of the name ruy p UDP is unusual; the conjecture
that it is abbreviated for ruj? -ay p (Baethgen, p. 141) is inadmissible (No.,
ZDMG. xlii. 479); cf. rather Tin p. npan inSD^] the abs. probably nnSc, a
common form of nom. instrum., Sta. 272 a, cf. Earth, Nominalbildung, p. 262.
Descriptions in M. Kelim> xxv. 2; Wayyiqra rab., 29; Abulvv., quoting
R. Sherira; Maundrell (1697) in Early Travels in Pal., ed. Wright, 1848,
p. 475 f.; Rob., BR 2 . iii. 62; esp. Schumacher, "Der arab. Pflug," ZDPV.
xii. p. 160 f.; Post, PEF. Qu. St. 1891, p. 112-114.
* Similarly a Lyra, al. f Bertheau.
J Tiele, Babyl.-Assyr. Gesch., p. 175, 189 f., 197 f., 200 f.
Frequently mentioned in Egyptian inscriptions ; W. M. Miiller, Asien u.
Europa, p. 279 ; Erman, Aegypten, p. 682 ; also in an Amarna letter, PSBA., June
1888, p. 569. || Wilkinson, Anct. Egypt., ed. Birch, iii. p. 236.
Tf Lepsius, Denkmaler, Abth. iii. pi. 138.
** De Vogue, Melanges d'archeol. orient., p. 47.
ft On Anath see further, De Vogue, Jour. Asiat., 1867, p. 125 ff. = Melanges
d'archeol. orient., 41 ff. ; Baethgen, Beitriige, 52 f.
HI. 3I-IV. 107
IV. Deborah and Barak deliver Israel from the Canaanites ;
the defeat and death of Sisera.
LITERATURE. G. A. Cooke, The History and Song of Deborah, 1892.
The Israelites again offend Yahweh, who gives them into the
power of Jabin, the Canaanite king of Hazor, and Sisera, his gen-
eral, for twenty years (4 1 " 8 ). Deborah, a prophetess, instigates
Barak to take the field against Sisera (v. 4 ' 9 ). He raises Zebulun
and Naphtali and occupies Mt. Tabor. Sisera, advancing against
him through the plain, is attacked and routed, and his army cut to
pieces (v. 10 ' 16 ) . Sisera escapes on foot to the tent of Jael, who
conceals him in the tent and kills him while he sleeps (v. 17 " 22 ).
Jabin is subdued (v. 2 -) .
The Song of Deborah, ch. 5 2 " 31 , is a triumphal ode, celebrating
the victory of the Israelites under the lead of Deborah and Barak
over Sisera and the kings of Canaan, and the death of Sisera by
the hand of Jael. The poem is in places obscure or unintelligible,
in consequence chiefly of corruption of the text ; but its general
tenor is clear. By the vividness of every touch, and especially by
the elevation and intensity of feeling which pervades it, it makes
the impression of having been written by one who had wit-
nessed the great events which it commemorates.* The prose
narrative, 4 4 ' 22 , also gives an account of a rising of Israelite tribes
instigated by Deborah and led by Barak, and of the defeat and
death of Sisera. The relation of this narrative to the Song must
be our first inquiry.
The chief points of difference between the two are these : i.
In the poem the kings of Canaan assemble to battle (v. 19 ).
Sisera is evidently at their head, the greatest king among them
(v. 20 ). In his palace the queen-mother, whose ladies-in-waiting
are princesses (v. 29 ), sits expecting his return (v. 23 - 30 ).f In the
prose narrative, ch. 4, Sisera is only the general of Jabin king of
Hazor (v. 7 - 17 ), who in v . 2 - 23 - 24 (D) is even called king of Canaan.
2. In ch. 5 all the tribes around the Great Plain Ephraim,
Benjamin, Machir (Manasseh), Issachar, Zebulun, Naphtali
join in the struggle, while the more remote tribes, Dan, Asher,
* See Introduction to ch. 5, below.
f In v, 80 some find mention of the queen ; see comm. there.
108 JUDGES
and even Reuben and Gilead beyond the Jordan, are bitterly
reproached for selfishly standing aloof from the cause of all Israel.
It is the uprising of a whole people. In ch. 4, on the other hand,
Barak collects a force of ten thousand men out of Zebulun and
Naphtali only.* 3. The most striking difference is in the descrip-
tion of Sisera's death. In 4 21 , as he lies fast asleep on the ground
in the tent, Jael with a hammer drives a tent-pin through his
temples into the earth. In s 2 ^ 27 , on the contrary, as he is stand-
ing at the door of the tent drinking milk from a bowl, Jael strikes
him a crushing blow on the head, and he sinks dead at her feet.f
Closer examination shows that the account in ch. 4 is not
entirely self-consistent. Jabin king of Hazor, or of Canaan, has
really nothing to do with the story ; he takes no part in the strug-
gle, and only reappears in v. 17 and the editor's words at the end.
Sisera is here, too, the real protagonist ; and that in this version
of his story also he was originally represented as a king is clear
from the fact that he has a residence city of his own, remote from
Hazor. The topographical data of the chapter are conflicting,
and make it impossible to form a consistent conception of the
battle and the flight. The Israelites assemble at Kedesh in
Naphtali, as if for an attack upon Hazor ; but march, peaceable
and unmolested, by the gates of the enemy's capital to Mt. Tabor.
Sisera advances against them from Harosheth (v. 13 ), and the battle
takes place in the plain at the foot of the mountain. The routed
Canaanites flee toward Harosheth, closely followed by the Israel-
ites (v. 16 ). Sisera escapes alone on foot to the encampment of
Heber the Kenite near Kedesh (v. 17 cl. u ), many hours distant to
the north, with Barak in hot pursuit. His flight took him straight
through the territory of the tribes which were in arms, and past
the very doors of his master's city. Why did he not take refuge
within its walls rather than in the tent of a nomad ?
* In 512 it seems that both Deborah and Barak belong to Issachar ; while in
ch. 4 Deborah's home is in the heart of Mt. Ephraim, and Barak's at Kedesh in
Naphtali. The text of s 15 , however, is too insecure to permit us to lay great stress
upon this.
f See in general, We., Hist, of Israel, p. 240-242 ; Comp., p. 220-223 ; Sta., G VI*.
i.p. 178; Kue., HC&. i. p. 345 f. ; Bu., Richt. u. Sam., p. 104-106; Co., Einl*..
P- 93-955 W. R. Smith, OTJC*. t p. 132; Wildeboer, Letter kunde des Ouden Vcr-
bonds, p. 35-39.
iv. 109
These inconcinnities probably result, at least in part, from the
combination of two narratives ; one an account of a war waged by
Zebulun and Naphtali against Jabin of Hazor, the other of the war
with Sisera king of Harosheth and his allies which is the subject of
the Song of Deborah. The two have been superficially harmo-
nized at the most essential point by making Sisera the general of
Jabin. An analysis of the chapter is scarcely possible ; nor can
we say what common feature led to the incongruous union.
The analysis is attempted by Bruston, " Les deux Jehovistes," Revue de
Theol. et Philos., 1886, p. 35 f. (quoted by Bu., Richt. u. Sam., p. 70 n.) as
follows : to the first Jehovist he ascribes . . . 4 2b 0- 3ba - 4 - (with minor traces of
redaction in v. 7 - 9 ) 10a 0> b - u-15*. 16 5 i-3ia. to t h e second, 4!- 2, bo. a>/j. as [ wor ds
corresponding to 3 9 - 1S ] 10a - u [defeat of Canaanites at Kedesh] 15b - 17 ~ 24 5 31b .
-r- If v. 17b is not an editorial addition, Heber must belong to the story of Jabin
(Bu., Co.), and as Jael unquestionably belongs to that of Sisera, it might be
conjectured that in making her Heber's wife the writer who combined the
two stories had attempted to harmonize them by an artifice similar to that by
which Sisera was made Jabin's general; and it might be further surmised
that in the original story Jabin met at the tents of Heber a fate like that
which overtook Sisera at the hand of Jael. But all this is mere conjecture.
The war of Zebulun and Naphtali against Jabin, king of Hazor,
and his allies is recounted in Jos. 1 1 1 " 9 , where it is magnified into
the conquest of all the northern Canaanites by Joshua and all
Israel, in the same way in which the victory of Judah and Simeon
over Adoni-zedek (Adoni-bezek) of Jerusalem (Jud. i 4 " 7 ) is elabo-
rated in Jos. 10 into the account of Joshua's conquest of all
Southern Canaan. We may surmise that the story of Jabin, of
which we have the fragmentary remains in Jud. 4 Jos. u, came
from the same source from which Jud. i and the kindred frag-
ments in Jos. were derived (J).* Too little is left of it to make a
reconstruction possible ; but it is a not improbable conjecture that
in its original connexion this story formed a chapter in the account
of the conquest of Northern Canaan, corresponding to the taking
of Hebron by Caleb and of Bethel by Joseph, the positive com-
plement of Jud. i 30 - 33 . The story of Sisera in ch. 4, after the
elimination of the elements derived from that of Jabin, gives us a
number of details which are not found in ch. 5 ; viz., the name of
* Bu., Richt. u. Sam., p. 66 ff.
1 10 JUDGES
Deborah's husband, Lapidoth; her home, between Bethel and
Ramah;* Barak's father's name, Abinoam, and his residence,
Kedesh in Naphtali ; f Sisera's city, Haroshefh ha-goyim ; his
chariotry; the position of the Israelites before the action, at
Tabor. In the description of Sisera's end there is both a close
resemblance and a striking difference between the two versions.
Wellhausen, $ W. R. Smith, and others think that 4 21 originated
in a prosaic misunderstanding of 5 20 (see comm. on the w.). It
would not follow, however, that ch. 4 is merely a bald prose ver-
sion of ch. 5.|| Dependence on, the poem, in this and other
particulars, does not exclude the use of other sources of tradition,
from which the details mentioned above may have been derived ;
and there is no substantial reason to doubt that the basis of ch. 4
is an old prose story of Sisera, which, though not rivalling the
Song of Deborah in antiquity, is not conspicuously inferior to
the other stories in the book.
It is an interesting question, and one the solution of which,
if it could be reached, would be of considerable importance,
whether the prose narrative was originally prefixed to the Ode as
an introduction, perhaps in such a collection as the Sepher
ha-yashar, in the manner familiar to us in the great Arab col-
lections. There are no very decisive considerations on either
side ; on the whole, the impression which ch. 4 makes upon me
is unfavourable to this hypothesis. Frojn what source the story of
Sisera in ch. 4 is derived can hardly be determined.^" It is intro-
duced in the usual way (4 1 ' 3 ) ; the close is found in 4 28f - ; the
chronological note, naturally, in 5 31f> .
1-3. The Israelites again offend Yahweh; he gives them
into the power of Jabin, king of Canaan, who cruelly oppresses
them for twenty years. The regular introduction ; the stories of
* This trait is, however, probably introduced by a later hand ; see on v. 5 .
t Perhaps this, too, is an error. J Comp., p. 222.
OTJC\ p. 132; Sta., GF/2. i. p. 178 n.
|| " Eine Reproduction, die die speziellen Ziige verwischt und verfalscht ; " We.,
Prol^., p. 251. The converse opinion of Vernes and others, that the poem is
derived from the prose narrative, see below, Introduction to ch. 5.
f For E we might point to nx>3j nti>N v .4 (cf. Holzinger, Einl. in den Hexateuch,
p. 209 f.), and vi arm v.is ( t s. 710 &c.).
IV. 1-3 III
Jabin and Sisera are combined and harmonized by making Sisera
the general of Jabin. 1. Cf. 2 11 3 7 - 12 . Ehud being dead~\ post-
poned circumstantial clause, introducing a fact essential to the
understanding of the situation.* The author's theory is that the
judges restrained the people from displeasing Yahweh as long as
they lived; cf. 3 11 and 2 19 (in contrast to 2 17 ). Observe that
Shamgar is ignored ; the verse connects immediately with 3, just
as 3 12 does with 3". 2. Yahweh sold them~\ 2 14 . Jabin, the
king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor\ the tendency to turn the
history of the Israelite tribes into the history of the Israelitish
nation, which is conspicuous in the editing of the book,| shows
itself in the transformation of Jabin king of Hazor (v. 17 Jos. n 1 )
into the king of Canaan (v. 23 ' 24 ) ; here the two are harmonized,
Jabin the king of Canaan, who reigned, i.e., had his capital (Jos.
i3 12 - 21 ), in Hazor. Hazor~] has not been certainly identified; it
must be looked for not far from Kedesh. $ Robinson fixed on
Tell Khureibeh, about an hour south of Kedesh ; Wilson || and
Gue"rin^[ prefer Khirbet Harreh, the ruins of a fortified place
about the same distance SE. of Kedesh, overlooking the Huleh ;
Conder and others would recognize the name in its Arabic equiva-
lent, Gebel Hadireh, three miles SSW. of Kedesh, a little west of
the modern village of Deishun.** His general was Sisera~\ in
this way the story of Sisera is harmonized with that of Jabin;
see above, p. 108 f. Sisera did not reside in his master's capital,
Hazor, but had a city of his own like an independent king.ff
Harosheth ha-goyim\ v. 13 - 16 . Now generally identified with
el-Harithiyeh, in the narrows of the Kishon valley at the western
end of the Great Plain ; see on v. 13 . 3. v. a , see 3 9 . Nine
hundred iron chariots~\ v. 13 i 19 ; by means of them he kept com-
mand of the plain; Jos. i; 16 - 18 (J). Thothmes III. counts nine
* Dr 3 . 159; Ges. 25 141. 2, n. 2; 156. i. 2. f See above, p. 90.
Cf. 2 K. 1529 Jos. igSSff. i Mace. n67 ; Masius on Jos. ii*.
BR*. iii. p. 364-366.
|| Jour. Sacred Lit., 1866, p. 245; see SWP. Memoirs, i. p. 237 f.
II Galilee, iii. p. 363 ff. ; so also Di.
** See DB 2 . s. v. ; SWP. Memoirs, i. p. 204; Schxirer, GjV. i. p. 185 n. ; RacR
p. 264.
ft The text cannot mean that Jabin lived at Harosheth (Thdt., Ki., al ; v.
Drus.).
112 JUDGES
hundred and twenty- four chariots among the spoils of his victory
in the battle of Megiddo.* He oppressed Israel cruelly for
twenty years'} half a generation.
2. The name Hazor appears in the list of Thothmes III. (No. 32) and in
the Papyrus Anastasi (Miiller, Asien u. Europa, p. 173); also in the Amarna
despatches. It was fortified by Solomon (i K. 9 15 ), as a place of command-
ing importance in Upper Galilee, and captured by Tiglath Pileser (734 B.C.;
2 K. 1 5 s9 ). The most definite clue for the determination of the site is given
by I Mace. U 67ff -, cf. Fl. Jos., antt. xiii. 5, 6 f. 154-162; v. 5, I 199.
Extensive ruins at Tell Harreh show that it was once a place of considerable
size and strength; those at Tell el-Khureibeh are less important; at Gebel
Hadireh none have been discovered. The last-named site perhaps best agrees
with the indications in I Mace. No great stress can be laid on the similarity
of the name; for haftreh is a common Arabic appellative (' sheepfold, pen ').
The relation of the Jabin of our text to the one in Jos. II, and the question
how Hazor, which was totally destroyed by Joshua, is here again the centre
of. the Canaanite power in the north, are much discussed by older commenta-
tors beginning with Thdt. (qu. 10). The common solution is, that Hazor had
been rebuilt (Thdt., a Lyra, a Lap., Masius, Schm., Cler., al. mu.), and that
the Jabin here named was a successor, and probably descendant, of the Jabin
of Jos. ii. The title king of Canaan gives a good deal of trouble to the
conscientious old commentator Schmid, who justly observes that Canaan was
not a political unity, under one king; cf. also Cler. X"\DID] the form of the
name is not Canaanite, and probably not Semitic; we may perhaps compare the
numerous Hittite names ending in -sir a (Htastra, Maurasira, &c., MUller,
Asien u. Europa, p. 332). It is found also in the list of Nethinim (native
temple-slaves) Ezra 2 58 Neh. 7 55 . r^Tiri] 8 1 i S. 2 16 Ez. 34*.
4, 5. Deborah. 4. The verse belongs to the old story of
Sisera. Deborah was the moving spirit in the Israelite rising
which overthrew Sisera (5 7 - 12 - 15 4 6 - 9f - 14 ). A prophetess'} in the
older sense of the word, an inspired woman; cf. Ex. I5 20 .
Impelled by the spirit of Yahweh, she roused her countrymen to
fight (4 6f - 5 12 ), and in his name promised them victory. We may
compare the German Veleda, who instigated and supported
Civilis in the attempt to throw off the Roman yoke,f and, in
* Brugsch, Gesch. Aegyptens, 1877, p. 303.
t Ea virgo nationis Bructerae late imperitabat, vetere apud Germanos more,
quo plerasque feminarum fatidicas, et, augescente superstitione, arbitrantur deas.
Tuncque Veledae auctoritas adolevit ; nam prosperas Gerrnanis res et excidium
legionum praedixerat. Tac., hist., iv. 61, cf. Germ. 8.
IV. 3-5 113
more modern times, Joan of Arc.* Wife of Lapidoth\ cf. 2 K.
22 14 Ex. i5 20 Lu. 2 36 . The name has given occasion to all manner
of conceits, among which we need only mention that which finds
in Lapidoth (' torches, flashes ' f) another name of Barak (' light-
ning '). I Was judging Israel~\ so the verb is interpreted in v. 5 ;
the latter verse is, however, secondary. In the connexion of the
original narrative (v> 6 ) we should render, in accordance with the
constant usage of the book, she delivered Israel, vindicated it ;
see on 3 10 . 5. A circumstantial addition by a latter editor, who
took the verb in v. 4 in the sense of 'judge, give judicial decisions,'
describing the way in which she exercised her judicial functions :
she did not, like Samuel ( i S. 7 16f> ) , go on a circuit, but the
Israelites from all quarters resorted to her at her home. She
used to sit under the Deborah Palm\ as arbitress, to settle dis-
putes (v. b cf. i S. 22). || Others, she dwelt under it (cf. 2 K.
22 14 ) ;1f but it is unlikely that the author represented even the
prophetess-judge as having her house or tent beneath the holy
tree. There was a Tomb of Deborah below Bethel (Gen. 35 8 E),
where, according to the ancestral legend, Deborah the nurse of
Rebekah was buried. The name of the Mourning Tree (Allon-
bacuth) under which it stood was explained of the mourning for
Deborah. This tree is in all probability the same with the
Deborah Palm,** the origin of whose name the writer evidently
connects with Deborah, the prophetess and judge. This associa-
tion of names is probably responsible for the idea that Deborah's
home was in the heart of the mountains of Ephraim. From 5 15
it would appear that she was of the tribe of Issachar ; and both
ch. 4 and 5 naturally lead us to think that her home was in or
near the plain of Jezreel. The conjecture is then not remote that
it was at Daberath (Aa/?eipoo0, Aa/?etpa) Jos. iQ 12 2I 28 , the modern
* Paulus, Reville, Cass. f Of lightning, Ex. 20".
J The identification is ancient mid rash ; see Yalqut, Ki., RLbG., old Cath.
comm. ; recently Hilliger, cf. We., Bu., Cooke.
These verses seem to stand in the same relation to v.!5 in which Jud. 4 5 does
to v.*. || So RLbG., Abarb., Cler., Reuss, al.
H Ki., Schm., a Lap., Stud., Ba. ; Ke., Be. confusedly combine the two inter-
pretations.
** Abarb., Tuch, Ew., De., Di. Ew. plausibly combines it also with the Tabor
Tree of i S. ic-3 (GVf. iii. p. 31).
I
114 JUDGES
Deburiyeh at the western foot of Tabor. The similarity of the
names is at least striking.* Between Ramah and Bethel~\ in the
same region in which Samuel afterwards judged Israel (i S. 7 16 ).
The Benjamite Ramah is meant ; the modern er-Ram, two hours
north of Jerusalem.! On Bethel see on i 23 . The Israelites
went up to her for justice^ to have their causes decided in
accordance with the common law of Israel.
4. Deborah~\ in Heb. means ' Bee '; cf. the Greek name MAio-0-a. f Animal
names of women are not uncommon in the O.T. ; Ba. collects the following :
Zipporah (little bird), Hoglah (grouse), Huldah (weasel), Eglah (heifer),
Rachel (ewe), Jael (wild-goat). ns>3j nts>x] cf. N-OJ e"N 6 8 , n L > BUN 19! 2O 4 ,
jro BN Lev s 2i 9 , run ns>s' Jud. n 1 I6 1 , iw^fl FWN 19*, njnSs n 2 S. i4 5 &c.
(cf. Engl. colloq., * widow woman '), nSira myj, &c. Apposition of genus and
species, Ges. 25 131. 2 a. The other prophetesses named in the O.T. are
Miriam (Ex. 152), Huldah (2 K. 22 14 ), Noadiah (Neh. 6 14 ); cf. Anna,
Luke 2 36 . Megittah, 14* enumerates seven. nwfl 1 ? na>N] the only natural
interpretation is that which takes 'h as the name of Deborah's husband (cf.
2 K. 22 14 ) , Men's names with fern, endings are not uncommon in the O.T. ;
cf. Naboth, i K. 2i lff -. The translation, ein Weib von Feuergeist (Cass.;
similarly Ar.' Montanus, Fr. Bo., al.) is pure midrash ; cf. Megillah, 14*,
Yalqut, in loc., and the Rabb. commentators. ntaajy x>n] $Si and apparently
all verss., judicabat ; and this interpretation is presupposed by v. 5 . If, how-
ever, the verb is synonymous with jwin as in 2 16 - 18 3 9f - io lf - (see on 3 10 ),
which was no doubt the meaning in the original connexion, we require not
the ptcp., but the histor. pf., MI ntooBf son. NIH resuming the subject after the
two appositive phrases; cf. Gen. 3 12 Jud. 7 4 &c. 5. nj^i> from] the words
admit either interpretation, sat or dwelt ; for the first cf. 6 11 i S. I4 2 I K. I3 14
I9 4 ; for the second, Jud. 4 2 IO 1 i K. 5 5 2 K. 22 14 &c. (Ba.). Doubtless the
author meant that her home was in the neighbourhood of the holy tree.
n-\i:n inn nnn] Verss., under Deborah 's palm, mi:n nnri : fC ~\vn (Jer. IO 5 f ).
The intention of this pronunciation and accentuation || is not manifest. There
is no evidence that "inh is a collective, ' palm grove ' (Bo., i. p. 458 f.). 2T has
some other curious information about Deborah; she lived in 'Ataroth of
Deborah,^ had palm trees at Jericho, gardens at Ramah, &c.; cf. also
Megillah, I4 a . Ramah} lay on the road north from Jerusalem beyond
Gibeah (i9 13f -), and is elsewhere named in connexion with Gibeon and Beeroth
* On Deburiyeh see SWP. Memoirs, i. 363. Cf. Niebuhr, Reconstellation des
Debar aliedes, p. n f.
t Rob., BR*. i. 576; Guerin, Samarie, i. p. 199-204; SWP. Memoirs, iii. p. 13.
t Freq. title name of priestesses of Demeter, Rhea, Artemis.
The constr. of "IDH does not occur in the O.T.
|| With the disjunctive cf. Gen. 1418 ; Wickes, Prose Accents, p. 50 f.
IT Modern 'Atara, midway between er-Ram and el-BIreh.
IV. 5-7 115
(Jos. i8 25 ), Mizpeh and Geba (i K. I5 21f - Is. io 29 ). See also Fl. Jos., antt.
viii. 12, 3 303; OS' 2 . 2871; Jerome, Comm. in Has. 5 8 ; in Sophon. I 15f -. It
was rightly identified with er-Ram by Brocardus (ca. 1283), Descriptio, etc.,
c. 7; Eshtori Parchi (fol. 68 b ), and other mediaeval Jewish. travellers. tos^nS]
on the various senses of this word see Batten, JBL. xi. p. 206-210.
6-9. Deborah calls on Barak to take the field against
Sisera. 6. The original sequel of v. 4 . Barak ben Abinoani\
the name Barak (Lightning) occurs in Palmyrene and Sabaean
inscriptions, as well as among the Carthaginians (Barcas) . From
Kedesh in Naphtali^ Jos. iQ 37 ; "in Galilee, in the Highlands of
Naphtali " (20 7 ) ; the modern Qades, west of the Huleh.* This is,
as has been remarked above, a natural rendezvous for a rising
against Jabin of Hazor, but hardly for a campaign against the
Canaanites in the Great Plain ; and makes insuperable difficulties
in the account of Sisera's flight. Doth not Yahweh, the God of
Israel, command thee .?] now, by me, his prophet. The question
which compels the hearer himself to make the affirmation is more
forcible than the affirmation of the speaker ; cf. v. 14 6 14 Jos. i 9 1 S.
I0 i &c. Yahweh the God of Israel] s 3 - 5 6 8 n 21 - 23 2i 3 cf. Ex.
5 1 34 s3 J os - 24 2 - 23 Is. 17 2 1 17 , frequent in Jer.| March on Mt.
Tabor] Tabor (8 18 ), now Gebel et-Tor, is at the head of the
northern arm of the Great Plain, the southern end of a low range
of hills. It is a symmetrical, rounded mountain (Ao<os /xaoroetS^s,
Polyb., v. 70), presenting from the south the aspect of a segment
of a sphere, from the north that of a truncated cone. The
summit is an oblong platform nearly three thousand feet from
east to west, and about thirteen hundred in its greatest trans-
verse diameter. Its situation and natural strength made it a
most advantageous position for the Israelites in a war with
the Canaanites of the Plain. J Ten thousand men of Naphtali
and Zebulun] that the levy is made from these tribes rather than
from those nearer to the plain, and from these only, in contrast
with ch. 5, would agree better with the story of Jabin than with
that of Sisera. 7. And I will draw out to thee~\ Yahweh, by his
* Rob., BRL. iii. p. 366-369; Guerin, Galilee, ii. p. 355-362; SWP. Memoirs, i.
p. 226-230 ; Bad 3 , p. 264. f Not in Amos or Hosea.
J See Burckhardt, Travels in Syria, 1822, p. 332-335 ; Rob., BK Z . ii. p. 351-360;
Guerin, Galilee, i. p. 143-163; SWP. Memoirs, \. p. 388-391.
Il6 JUDGES
prophet, promises to lead the enemy on to his ruin ; cf. Ex. 14*.
Sisera's march from Harosheth against the Israelites at Tabor
would bring him into the valley of the Kishon (v. 13 ), whose
streams, swollen perhaps by a sudden flood, turned defeat into
disaster (s 21 ). On the field of battle, see on 4 13 and 5 21 . Jabirfs
general] the words, and the corresponding clause, v. 17b , are not
an interpolation by D or a still later hand ; * but were introduced
by the older editor who combined the stories of Jabin and Sisera.f
See above, p. 109. The title here used is given in the history of
the Israelite kingdoms to an officer who was at the head of what
we should call the national militia. He was charged with the
enumeration and enrollment of the men liable to military service
(2 S. 24 2 ), raised the levies when war broke out, and commanded
them in the absence of the king (e.g. 2 S. n). The same sys-
tem doubtless existed in the neighbouring states, for example, in
Aram-zobah (28. io 16 ), Aram (2 K. 5 1 ), % &c. His chariot corps
and his troops~\ the common mass of footmen in distinction from
the chariot corps, which was composed of men of rank and wealth
who were trained in arms. 8. Barak accepts the commission only
on condition that Deborah accompany him into the field. The
presence of the prophetess will not only ensure to him divine
guidance (v. 14 ) , but give confidence to him and his followers.
9. Deborah answers that she will, of course, go with him ; but
forewarns him that the chief glory of the victory will not fall to
him, but to a woman. Howbeit thou wilt not gain the glory in the
expedition on which thou art going] the rendering of our version,
the journey . . . shall not be for thine honour, suggests, if it
does not distinctly express, a sense quite foreign to the text;
Deborah was not dissuading him from going. Into the power of
a woman] not Deborah, as numerous scholars understand, influ-
enced partly by an erroneous interpretation of this verse, partly
by ch. 5, in which the fame of Deborah does indeed eclipse that
of Barak ; but Jael, || as is quite clear in the sequel of the story,
* Be., Di. f Kue., Bu., Richt. u. Sam., p. 67, 107.
t Cf. also Gen. 2122. 32 2 626 (Philistines of Gerar). See Sta., G VI. i. p. 276.
Jerome (ep. 65, i), Ki., Abendana, Cler., Hitz., Reuss.
|| Orig., Ambros., Ephrem, Tanch., Schm., Ba., Be., Ke. Unsatisfactory fusion
or confusion of the two interpretations, Fl. Jos., antt. v. 5, 3 \ 203 cl. 209; RLbG.,
Abarb., Cass., Oettli.
IV. 7-9 II?
4 17ff -. The words of Deborah are generally understood to be a
reproof of Barak's lack of faith and courage. Instead of accept-
ing with alacrity the divine mandate, he insisted that she, a
woman, should take the field with him ; as a penalty, the glory
which he should have gained by the death of Sisera is taken from
him and given to a woman.* This interpretation is not, however,
required by the text or suggested by the context, in which there is
no sign of disapproval. That Sisera did not fall on the field, but
was killed in his flight by Jael, was a well-established feature of
the story ; it is natural that the author should make the prophetess
foretell this at the outset, and unnecessary to construe the pre-
diction as even an implicit condemnation. It is not at all clear
that the writer regarded Barak's urgent desire to have the proph-
etess with him as blameworthy. She went with Barak to Kedesh~\
where he mustered his clans. As the story now stands, she
accompanied him from the vicinity of Bethel to Kedesh in
Naphtali, a journey of four or five days. There is no great
intrinsic improbability in this; but it is very likely, on other
grounds, that in the original form of the narrative the homes of
the two leaders were not so far apart.
6. Kedesh of Naphtali f] also called Kedesh of Galilee, to distinguish it
from other places of the same name (Kadesh or Kedesh, i.e. Holy Place).
Kadesh on the Orontes has already been mentioned (see on 3 3 ). i Chr. 6 57
(EV. 6 72 ), in a list of Levitical cities, names a Kedesh in Issachar, in con-
junction with Daberath (Deburiyeh); and We. (Comp., p. 221) and others
have conjectured that in the redaction of our story this has been confused
with the more famous place of the name in Naphtali; but the corresponding
list in Jos. 2i 28 (cf. I9 20 ) gives the name Kishion. There is a Tell Abu
Qudeis on the southern side of the Great Plain, midway between Ta'annuk
and Leggun, about a mile north of the road between them, which is perhaps the
Kedesh of Issachar, and a Khirbet Qadish near the southern end of the Sea of
Galilee, in the territory of Naphtali. nw N^n] Jos. I 9 Ru. 2 9 . For this use of
sSn introducing in the form of a question a statement which commands assent,
cf. Dt. II 30 I S. 20 37 Mi. 3 1 , Ges. 25 150. 2, n. I. The verss. freq. render it
by iSoti, ecce, &c. The pf. refers not to an injunction given by Moses (Dt. 2O 17 ;
Ra., after Mechilta), or to an earlier communication from Deborah (Mi.), but
* Fl. Jos., Jerome, Ki., Schm., Stud., Ba., Be., Ke., al.
f On Kedesh in Naphtali see further 2 K. 1520 i Mace. n63-74 f pi. Jos., b.j. iv.
2, 3 ; cf. ii. 18, 1 ; antt. xiii. 5, 6 154 ; OS 2 . 27153. See Eli Smith, Bibl. Sacra, 1843,
p. ii ; 1849, p. 374-376.
Il8 JUDGES
to the command which follows; cf. 6 14 (Abarb., Cler.). natfDi V?] 5 14 2O 37 ;
transitively, v. 7 In describing military operations the vb. seems to be nearly
equivalent to totrs (see on 2O 37 ) and to be construed in a similar way; cf.
3 OVB (Chr. in the older books Sx or hy), 2 orta, &c.; cf. de Dieu on
Jer. 5 8 ; Stud, on Jud. 4 6 ; Ges. Thes. s. v. 7. >n:>tPDi] transitively, draw ;
with ace. pers. Ps. 28 3 Job 4O 25 . IJIDH] 'mass, multitude'; equivalent to
op v. 13 , the common soldiers; Ez. 3i 2 32 20 . 9. >3 DSX] limiting a preced-
ing statement or correcting an erroneous inference which might be drawn
from it; cf. Am. 9 8 Nu. I3 28 Dt. 15* I S. I 5 @. It may here be merely a
check to extravagant expectations; it is not necessary to supply in thought,
"in consequence of my going" (Ki., al.). fmNon mnn N 1 ?] lit. thy glory
that which is naturally anticipated from success in such an enterprise will
not come, be achieved (Schm., Ba.). The interpretation, the fame will not be
thine (victoria non reputabitur tibi 3L; Lth., Stud., Reuss, Kitt., al. mu.), is
too free, and accentuates too strongly the antithesis between this and the
following clause.
10-16. The battle ; rout of the Canaanites. 10. In accord-
ance with Deborah's direction (v. 6 ), Barak assembled the tribes
of Zebulun and Naphtali at Kedesh. There went up at his back
ten thousand men] of these tribes. Lit. at his feet; cf. 8 5 Ex.
1 1 8 i K. 20 10 &c. And Deborah went with htm] to Mt. Tabor
(v. 12 ). The words probably belong to 'the old story of Sisera;
see on v. 9 . 11. The narrator pauses here, before going on to
describe the battle, to say what was necessary about the scene of
Sisera's death ; where Heber's tent was pitched, and how these
Kenite nomads came to be so far in the north, in order that the
story might not be interrupted in its midcourse by these explana-
tions. The verse is therefore in a suitable place,* and not super-
fluous by the side of v. 17 ; there is no reason for regarding it as an
addition of the last editor.f It seems, however, to have come from
the story of Jabin ; see below. The words, the sons of Hobab,
Moses' father-in-law, may be a gloss borrowed from i 16 or the source
of ch. i ; but the Kenite is original here. } Heber the Kenite had
separated from Kain\ from the body of his tribe, which roamed
in the region south of Judah ; see on i 16 . Heber occurs also as
t
* See Schm., Cler., Be., Bu.
t Matthes, Th. T. xv. p. 609, Kue., HCC. i. p. 367.
J See Bu., Richt. u. Sam., p. 68, against Mey., ZATW. i. p. 137 n. 3.
On the wandering branches of Arab clans (tawaif}, see W. R. Smith, Kin-
ship and Marriage, p. 37.
IV. 10-13 H9
the name of a clan of Asher (Gen. 46 17 Nu. 26 45 ), as well as in
Judah (i Chr. 4 18 ).* And pitched his tent as far as the Tree of
Basaanim, which was by Kedesh~\ cf. Gen. i3 12 . This was the
northern limit of his wanderings, and the site of his encampment
at the time of our story. The place is named in Jos. ip 33 on the
boundary of Naphtali, but in a connexion which does not enable
us to determine its situation.! Heber the Kenite appears, there-
fore, to belong originally to the story of Jabin ; see below on v. 17
and 5 24 . 12 f. Sisera, being informed of Barak's movements,
assembles his forces, including nine hundred iron chariots (v. 3 - 7
i 19 ), and marches from Harosheth to the Kishon. Harosheth
ha-goyim\ commonly explained, " the Harosheth of the (foreign)
nations " ; cf. Gelil ha-goylm, Is. S 23 9 1 ; possibly in distinction from
a neighbouring Israelite Harosheth. J The place is mentioned only
in this chapter (v. 2 ' ^ 16 ) . It must be sought, not in the vicinity of
Hazor, or elsewhere in Upper Galilee, || but in or near the Plain,
where alone the chariots would be an effective arm ; cf. Jos. 1 7 16 " 18
Jud. i 19 . Thomson^ identified it with the modern Tell Harothieh
(Harithiyeh), in the narrows of the Kishon valley commanding
the entrance to the Great Plain from the Plain of Acre. The
similarity of the names is more striking than conclusive ; but the
situation is not unsuitable, though somewhat remote.** The
Kishon valley} v. 7 5 21 i K. iS 40 Ps. 83 9t . The Kishon, after
the Jordan the most considerable stream in the land of Israel,
drains the Great Plain, flowing in the main parallel to the range
* M. Jastrow, Jr., suggests that this clan name may be in some way connected
with the Habiri of the Amarna correspondence ; see JBL. xi. p. 120. Miiller
(Asien u. Europa, p. 174) thinks that the name Kenite here (cf. s 24 ) has nothing to
do with the nomadic Kenites of the South, but is derived from a town Kin, which
according to the Egyptian inscriptions lay in the Great Plain (cf. p. 153) .
t Conder ( Tent Work, ii. p. 132) suggests Khirbet Bessum, on the plateau west
of the Sea of Galilee, not far from Qadlsh (Kedesh) ; see below on v. 22, p. 125 f.
Cf. G. A. Smith, Hist. Geography, p. 395 f.
J Ba.; more probably goyim originally a particular tribe or people (Duhm).
$ Cler. [I Van de Velde, Kiepert, Kneucker, al.
U Land and Book, 1863, ii. p. 143 f. ; 2 ed. ii. p. 215 ff.
** The conjecture has been accepted, with more or less confidence, by most
recent writers ; Be., Ba., Conder, Socin, G. A. Smith, al. It is only possible, how-
ever, if the story of Sisera be separated from that of Jabin ; if the chapter is
treated as a unit, Harosheth must be sought, as Van de Velde and others rightly
argue, in Upper Galilee.
120 JUDGES
of Carmel, and emptying into the sea at Haifa. Its rnost remote
southern affluents come from the neighbourhood of Genm ; the
northern branch rises near el-Mezra e ah, west of Mf. Tabor.* It is
the latter that is meant here. 14. Deborah gives the signal for
the attack, and the assurance of victory.! Budde, comparing f*
(Jos. to 8 - 25 8 18a ), suspects that 14* is an addition of D, which in
turn has become the occasion of secondary additions in (& in v. 8 .
The verse is, however, in entire accord with the relations between
the prophetess and the chieftain in v. cf ", and in form corresponds
closely to v.. Hath not Yahweh gone out before thee ?~\ the
question, as in v. 6 , a more forcible assertion. Gone out; to battle,
as often, see note on 2 15 (p. 73). Yahweh is a mighty warrior (Ex.
i5 3 Ps. 24 8 ) ; his name is Yahweh of hosts, the god of the embattled
ranks of Israel (i S. if 5 ) ; in the sacred chest (ark) he accom-
panies them to the field ( i S. 4) ; he marches out for them, or
with them, to battle (Hab. 3 13 Zech. i4 3 cf. Ps. 44 9 ) ; or comes
storming from his ancient seats in tempestuous fury, discomfiting
the foe and delivering his people (5*- ; see comm. there).
Barak, with his ten thousand men, rushed down to the plain, by
his sudden onset apparently surprising Sisera upon ground unfa-
vourable to the manoeuvring of his chariots, which thus became a
source of disorder and disaster. During Vespasian's campaign in
Galilee (A.D. 67) the Jews, who had fortified the summit of
Tabor, attempted to surprise the Roman cavalry in the plain
under Placidus, but through his ruse the enterprise miscarried. J
15. Yahweh routed Sisera~] struck the foe with panic, threw them
into confusion and flight ; Ex. i4 24 Jos. io 10 i S. 7 10 . Josephus
supposes that their discomfiture was caused by a great storm (cf.
$**) . All the army} v. 16 Ex. i4 24 &c. ; cf. other expressions v. 7 - 13 ;
the mass of footmen in distinction from the chariot corps. At
the point of the sword'} see note on i 25 . The phrase appears in-
congruous with the verb and superfluous in the context ; it has
* Rob., BR*. ii. p. 363-366; SWP. Memoirs, i. p. 265 ff.
t On women in battle among the Arabs see Doughty, Arabia Deserta, I. p. 61 ;
cf. 'Ayesha at the Battle of the Camel, Muir, Caliphate, p. 361 ff., &c.
JF1. Jos., b.j. iv. i, 8.
Chytraeus quotes Pindar (Nem. ix. 63), ^ yap Aai/ow'ori <J>6/3ois *eu>u<n *al
iraiSes flewv.
IV. 13-16 I2I
perhaps been introduced here accidentally or unadvisedly from
v. 1Cb . Sisera dismounted from his war-chariot~\ being hard
pressed by his pursuers and unable to extricate his chariot from
the rout, perhaps entangled in the morasses of the Kishon or cut
off by its streams (see on 5 21 ), he abandoned it, and escaped from
the field on foot, alone. 16. The routed Canaanites, horse and
foot, fled toward Harosheth; Barak, pursuing them to the very
gates of the city, made an utter end of them. There was not as
much as one left~\ Ex. i4 28 ; not a single fugitive lived to reach
safety within the walls. It is not intimated that the city itself
was taken ; it may safely be inferred that it was not.
10. Sjw] is not Hiph. (Ki., Schm.), but Qal; the subj. is not Barak (H,
Lth., al.), but "ten thousand men" (&,&). The sg. with plur. numeral
subj. is unusual ; Ex. 32 28 Jud. 7 s I2 6 I S. 4 10 2 S. 24 15 are not precisely similar.
See Roorda, ii. p. 361 f. vSjm] following at his heels; 8 5 Ex. n 8 I S. 25 27
2 S. I5 17 - 18 &c.; equivalent to vnnN v. 14 . B"N iflSx mtpy] regularly we
should have o^tf as in v. 6 ; the other instances of this anomaly, according
to the Massora, are Ex. 32 28 Job I 3 (twice), cf. naan 'D'JN Gen. 24 60 . It is
perhaps only accidental; an abbreviation not properly resolved. 11. TUN
Gen. 139-11.14 c f. jo 5 -^. o^psa fiVx] Baer f?K, as also in I2 11 - 12 . In a^jraa,
3 is not the preposition (<g L Jos. IQ 33 , OS 2 . 29462, 3L Jos. Jud., &, Mas., Drus.,
Schm., Cler., AV., RV., and most moderns), in Saantm; for in that case pSx
would require the article, as in nma StPNn i S. 22 3i 13 ; cf. also Jud. 6 11
mflj ntPK nSxn, 9 6 Gen. 35* Jos. 24 26 &c. We must, therefore, take a^jraa
(a radical) as genitive; cf. v. 5 Gen. I2 6 I3 18 I4 6 35 8 Dt. ii 33 I S. io 3 and esp.
Jud. 9 37 D'OJiyn pSx. In Jos. I9 33 the name is written o^jjyxa, to which the
Qere in Jud. 4 11 conforms. It is more probable, however, that the true form
of the name is preserved in the text of Jud. (Kethib); cf. n^j?J3; and on
nouns with n suffix in general, Earth, Nominalbildung, p. 343 f.j Suyuti,
Muzhir, ii. p. 136. fVlj] the punctuation discriminates ^s, nVx, phx from
H7N, I'I'JN ; but in unpointed texts these could not be distinguished, nor can we
put much confidence in the constancy of the traditional pronunciation in face
of the bewildering inconsistency of the versions. Celsus (Hierobotanicon,
i. p. 34 ff.) thought that the Massorites consistently distinguish 'terebinth'
(W, fbyt, nSK, n 1 ?^) from 'oak' (j^Vx), and this theory has been generally
accepted, though with no agreement in the distribution of the names; see
J. D. Michaelis, Supplementa, p. 72 ff.; Rosenmiiller, Bibl. Alter thumsk., iv t
p. 229 ff.; Ges. Thes. p. 50 f.* There is no real foundation for the discrimi-
nation; the words signify in Aramaic 'tree' simply; in Hebrew usually, if
not exclusively, ' holy tree,' as the place, and primitively the object of worship,
* Against the whole theory, Lovvth on Is. i 29 .
122 JUDGES
without regard to the species. The Deborah Tree (p?x Gen. 35 8 ) is a palm
(Jud. 4 5 ), &c. See We., Prolegomena?, p. 248 n. = History of Israel, p. 238;
Sta., GVI, i. 455. On holy trees in Palestine, Baudissin, Studien zur semit.
Religionsgeschichte, ii. 143 if., esp. 223 ff. enp rx IB>X] 3 19 I K. 9 26 , cf.
D? 2 S. 24 16 . 12. rrjm] indef. subj., Ges. 25 144. 3 b. n 1 ?^] c. ace.,
Is. y 1 . 13. pj?P)] v. 10 ; call out and assemble by the war cry; cf. the passive
(Ni.) e 34 * i8 22f - I S. I4 20 &c. oy] soldiery, 9 s6 - 37 and often; here equivalent
to pen v 7 ., runn v. 16 . Harosheth~\ at Sheikh Abrek the Galilean foot-hills
project in a sort of bastion towards Carmel, forming a narrow pass through
which the Kishon flows, the hills here rising some 350 feet above the bed of
the stream.* About a mile and a half northwest of Sheikh Abrek, in the
narrowest part of the pass, el-Harithiyeh lies on the side of the hill, which
above it is covered with a fine oak forest. The Kishon at this point flows close
to the rocky base of Carmel, on the opposite side of the pass, and here the
main road must always have crossed the river. A stronghold at Harithiyeh
would thus command the entrance to the Great Plain from the Plain of Acre,
and the commercial highways which led through it. The situation of el-Hari-
thiyeh is not incompatible with the conditions of the narrative in ch. 4, or
with ch. 5 ; but the arguments by which Thomson supported the identification
are far from decisive, and the similarity of the names may easily be accidental.
14. mp] Up ! Summons to action; 5 12 f 8 20 - 21 Ex. 32 1 1 K. 2i 7 and often.
'Ji IIPN DVPI fir] the pronominal complement of the relative particle na>x is
omitted, as commonly after antecedents denoting time at or during which;
Dr., TBS. p. 149 n.; Ew. 331 c 3. fijuS xxi] on the verb see note on 2 15 .
The phrase is used of the leader, general, king, at the head of his forces, 9 39
I S. 8 20 &c.; of Yahweh as the leader of Israel in war, 2 S. 5 2 * cf. Dt. 9 3
(iJD 1 ? -a;?) &c. 15. XID->D nx mm nmi] DDH (subject always God) ' inspire
with panic terrors,' drive men beside themselves, so that they accomplish their
own ruin. See, besides the examples cited in the text, Ex. 23 27 2 S. 22 16
Ps. 1446. The object is generally the enemy in war; see, however, Dt. 2 15 .
Before Barak~\ Jos. io 10 cf. I S. 7 10 . ain iflS] the words cannot be joined to
omi in any sense which the usage of the phrase warrants; they are either
miswritten for the following pia ijD 1 ? or borrowed from v. 16 . naDiDn] chariot,
wagon, 5 2 8 2 K. 5 21 - ^ 9 27 &c. (33-1 is usually collective, ' chariot-corps'). The
name, with the thing, passed from the people of Palestine to the Egyptians
(marakabtiti, Muller, p. 301 ; above p. 38 n.). 16. ain ^ . . . Vfl>i] Jos. 8 24 .
inx iy ixtrj xS] stronger than not one (nnx -\xtrj xS Ex. 8 27 io 19 ); cf.
Ex. 9 7 2 S. i; 22 . The prepositional phrase is the logical subject of the verb,
Ew. 305 a.
17-22. The death of Sisera. 17. Sisera escapes on foot to
the tent of Jael. From v. 17a , especially when taken with v. 22 , it
is obvious that the narrator represented the tent of Jael as not
* SWP. Memoirs, i. p. 263.
IV. I 7 -I9 123
very remote from the battle field. Verse 17b , on the other hand,
taken with v. u , carries us to the vicinity of Hazor and Kedesh (in
Naphtali, v. 6 ), forty or fifty miles away. The most probable solu-
tion of the difficulty appears to be the supposition that Heber the
Kenite originally belonged to the story of Jabin ; Jael, to that of
Sisera. In that case v. 17aa is derived from the latter source, v. 17b
from the former. The words, the wife of the Heber of Kenite,
are possibly from the same source as v. 17b , and the conjecture may
be hazarded that in the story of Jabin the wife of Heber played a
part similar to that of Jael in the story of Sisera; see above,
p. 109.* The alternative is to regard v. 11 and v. 17b as editorial
additions ; but we should then still have to ask whence the editor
had the names and why he introduced them here ; moreover, the
editor (R) calls Jabin king of Canaan, not king of Hazor.
There were friendly relations between Jabin king of Hazor and
Heber the Kenite~\ the nomads had not been victims of the op-
pression from which the Israelite peasants had suffered, and had
not taken part in the rising of Naphtali. In the present con-
nexion the words explain why Sisera fled to the tent of Jael.
18. Jael came out to meet him, as she saw him approaching.
Walk in, my lord ; walk in to my tent; have no fear] cf. Gen.
i9 lf- . Unlike v. 17b , the natural inference from these words is, not
that Sisera directed his steps to these tents to seek refuge in
them, but that he came upon them in his flight and was induced
by Jael to turn aside and conceal himself there. The illustra-
tions which the commentators have collected of the ceremonies
with which a fugitive now claims protection at an Arab tent are in
either case irrelevant.! She covered him up with the rug] or
perhaps, tent curtain. The exact meaning of the word is un-
known ; the renderings proposed can only claim to be suitable to
the context. 19. Give me a little drink of water} Gen. 24 43
(J). She opened the milk- skin] the lamb or goat skin in which
* In 5 24 the words " the wife of Heber the Kenite " are regarded by many
critics, on formal grounds, as a gloss. The same explanation would have to be
given of the words " the wife of Heber " in 4 21 .
t Wetzstein, Reiscbericht, p. 148 ; Quatremere, " Les asiles chez les Arabes,"
Mem. de I'Acad. des Inscriptions, xv. 2, 1842, p. 307-348. If Heber and Jael origi-
nally belonged to different stories, we may dismiss another mooted question ; viz.,
Why did Sisera seek refuge in the tent of Jael rather than in that of Heber ?
124 JUDGES
milk was kept, and poured him a drink into a bowl (cf. $*)*
Her hospitality exceeded his modest request (cf. s 25 ) . His confi-
dence was naturally confirmed by this token of Friendliness.
And covered hini\ again. We miss the adverb in Hebrew as
much as in English. 20. He bids her stand at the door of the
tent to put the pursuit off the track, if it should come that way.
Then, overcome by weariness, he gives himself up to the sense of
security and falls asleep. It is quite needless to ascribe to the
draught an intoxicating or stupefying quality.! 21. When he
was sound asleep, Jael took one of the pins with which the tent
ropes are fastened to the ground (Is. 33 20 ), and a hammer, and
stealthily crept to his side where he lay in the inner part of the
tent. The tent pin was not of metal \ the bronze pins of the
tabernacle belong to the luxury of that structure but, as still in
the tents of the Bedawin, of wood. The hammer was probably
the mallet with which the tent pins were driven. Among the
Bedawin pitching the tent is woman's business, and so no doubt it
was in ancient times ; the mallet and pin were accustomed imple-
ments, and ready at hand. || And drove the pin into his temple so
that it went down into the ground~\ transfixing his head. He
being sound asleep and exhausted"] circumstantial clause, explain-
ing how it was possible for her to kill him in this way ; see note.
It was certainly an unusual way, and more ingenious than sure ; a
blow of the mallet upon the temple was a much simpler and safer
plan than to try to drive the blunt wooden pin through his head.
Wellhausen ingeniously conjectures that this description of Sise-
ra's death originated in a prosaic misunderstanding of the poetic
parallelism in 5 2<5 .^[ This is not improbable, though the obscurity
of the terms in 5 26 forbids too confident assertion ; but we should
not be warranted in inferring that the author of ch. 4 is also the
author, of this misunderstanding.** 22. Lo, there was Barak'] he
came up at that instant ; the particle calls attention to the striking
* See Doughty, Arabia Deserta, i. 221, 382, 430, &c.
t Fl. Jos., Rabb., a Lyra, Drus., a Lap., al. J Fl. Jos., RLbG., Cler., Ba.
Orig., Aug., R. Moses esh-Sheikh; see Shaw, Travels, 1757, p. 221; Burck-
hardt, Bedouins and Wahdbys, i. p. 39. || Doughty, Arabia Deserta, i. 221, &c.
11 Comp., p. 222; W. R. Smith, OTJC*. p. 132.
** We., Sta. ; contra, Kue., Bu., Co., Cooke. See above, p. no.
IV. 19-22 125
coincidence; cf. Gen. 2(f Jud. n 34 i S. 9". In the narrative as
it now runs, Sisera flees from the field in a northerly direction to
the vicinity of Kedesh in Naphtali ; Barak first follows the rout
of the Canaanites to Harosheth at the western extremity of the
Great Plain,* then strikes off to pursue Sisera fifty or sixty miles
through Galilee, and comes up just as Jael has killed him ; which
is obviously impossible. The hypothesis that Barak did not
accompany the main pursuit westward to Harosheth, but followed
Sisera in his flight in the opposite direction, does violence to v. 16 .|
See note below.
17. hy^] on animal names see on v. 4, and 7 25 . 18. miD] twice oxytone,
as frequently before a following N (including mm) ; J see Ew. 228 b\ Ol.
228 c; K6. i. p. 443. na^otra inojm] ALMO j g v T fi stppei, which in most
cases stands for Heb. n^n 1 ;; cf. Hesych., and Schleusner, s. v. We should
then perhaps think of one of the goafs-hair curtains which are used to divide
the tent. The exegetical tradition in general, however, is for a rug or wrap
of coarse stuff, such as is used to sleep in, and worn as a mantle in cold and
stormy weather (< BN <Sf!E) ; or a thick coverlet with long nap (R. Hai Gaon,
Ra., Ki.). The Syr. j.ralo.rc compared by Ges., Ba., Be., al. acquires the sense
triclinium, pulvinar from the custom of reclining at meals, leaning on the
elbow, and has nothing to do with the word in our text. IINJ] only here;
elsewhere in O.T. nsj (pronounced nod}, MH. TIJ. 20. ibj?] the masc. imv.
in direct address to a woman is anomalous. The use of the undefined predi-
cate (3 sm.) when it precedes its subject (Ges. 25 145, 7) is not analogous;
and the examples of irregularity in the use of the imv. alleged by Ba. (Mi. I 13
Nah. 3 15 Is. 32 11 ), al., do not lessen the difficulty here. We require the fern.,
nnj? (Ol. 234 ). n"]ps) . . . IDNI ^**<to ^ &"N nx mm] normal structure
and sequence of tenses in continued hypothesis; Dr. 3 121, p. 130, 136. I. a.
p] No! Ges. 25 p. 465. ruxni] intrans., as in i 14 (@ BNM s); others,
transitively, defixit, infixit ( APVLO 2L<S&) . f\y^ DTU Nim] the words are
pronounced and connected in two ways : riD^l *]V*)_ OTU xim, he had fallen
into a deep sleep and was exhausted, and nb'i fjVM o^~u Nim,|| he being fast asleep
so he swooned and died. The first makes the circumstantial clause consist
of two verbs, which stand in a most unnatural order; the second gives a
highly superfluous analysis of the act of dying, especially as the swoon could
* Supposing it to be rightly identified with Harithiyeh.
t G. A. Smith, Hist. Geog., p. 396 n., adopting Conder's view that Kedesh was
near the southern end of the Sea of Galilee.
J Once before j?, 3 times before i.
Or as a kind of fly or awning. On the Arab tent see Burckhardt, Bedouins
and Wahdbys, i. p. 37 ff. ; Doughty, Arabia Deserta, i. 224 ff.
|| Wickes, Prose Accents, p. 140 ; cf. Norzi.
126 JUDGES
form no distinguishable physical moment in the passage from deep sleep to
instant death. I prefer therefore to pronounce *]j?M D"nj xim, he being sound
asleep and completely exhausted (f)jr> adj.); f|jm JH is to be. connected with rpy
(med. ">). 22. If, with Conder and Smith, we look for Kedesh and Heber's
encampment by the Sea of Galilee at Qadish and Bessum, the identification of
Harosheth with el-Harithiyeh will have to be given up, not only as incom-
patible with v. 16 , but as altogether too remote from the scene of action. Tell
Abu Qudeis (? Kedesh of Issachar; cf. above, p. 117), between Ta'annuk
and Leggun, lies in the direction of Harithiyeh, and (again assuming that H.
is Harosheth) would suit v. 17a - 18ff - well enough; but it cannot be the Kedesh
of v. 17b cf. u (Heber the friend of Jabin of Hazor). On the whole, therefore,
we do not gain much by trying to substitute another place of the name for
Kedesh in Naphtali.
23, 24. The subjugation of Jabin. The regular close of the
story; cf. 3 30 . 23. God subdued Jabin] in the story itself we
have uniformly Yahweh; the use of Elohim here falls in well
with the hypothesis that the subjugation of the oppressors, which
is a standing feature in the close of the stories of the judges,
belonged originally to the pragmatism of E ; /. e. is pre-
Deuteronomic. The variations of the versions here, however,
make it somewhat doubtful whether Yahweh or Elohim was the
original reading. For the verb in active construction cf. Dt. g s
Neh. 9 24 i Chr. if*. King of Canaan] v. 2 - 24 (D) ; in the story
itself he is called king of Hazor (v. 17 ; see on v. 2 ). 24. The
hand of Israel bore harder and harder on Jabin] cf. 3 (D) .
The relation in v. 3b was completely reversed. 7577 they finally
destroyed Jabin king of Canaan altogether} . The chronological
note corresponding to 3 1L3 &c. stands naturally at the end of
ch. 5 .
23. D^SK JH3VI] (gBGN ^ Q e ^ ALM g K ^ plos Q^ O K {, pL0 ^ ^ DeUS, &&
vi, Nno. 24. ntfjji ^Sn . . .y?ni] double absolute object, the second being
an adjective; I S. I4 19 2 S. i8 25 . See Stud., p. 489; Ges. 25 113. 3 n. 2.
The morality of JaeFs deed, even more than that of Ehud, has
been the subject of great searchings of heart among the apologists
who have felt it necessary to judge it by the standard of absolute
ethics, and to justify it in that forum. That the inspired prophet-
ess should extol Jael for what, in all the circumstances, bears the
appearance of a treacherous murder (s 24 cf. 23 - 31 ), is, of course,
the greatest difficulty of all. We need not follow these inter-
IV. 2 3 -V. 127
preters into the morasses of casuistry into which an unhistorical
idea of religion and revelation leads them. To justify the deed
by the standards of Christian morality, it is necessary to lower
those standards to the level of the deed. See Abarb., a Lap.,
Schm. (gu. 16), and esp. Bachmann, p. 288-297, where additional
literature will be found.
V. The Triumphal Ode.
LITERATURE.* C. F. Schnurrer (1775), in Dissertationes philologico-criticae,
I 79> P- S^-P^; cf. J. B. Kohler in Eichhorn's Repertorium, vi. 1780,
p. 163-172, xii. 1783, p. 235-241; Herder, Briefe das Studium der The-
ologie betreffend, 1780, Geist der hebr. Poesie, 1783 {Werke, ed. Suphan, x.
p. 77 ff.; xii. p. 172 ff.); K. W. Justi, National- Ges'dnge der Hebraer, ii.
1816, p. 210-312; G. H. Hollmann, Commentarius philologico-criticus in
Carmen Deborae, 1818; R. D. C. Robbins, "The Song of Deborah," Bibl.
Sacra, 1855, p. 597-642; J. W. Donaldson, Jashar, 1854, p. 237 ff., 261 ff.;
E. Meier, Ubersetzung und Erklarung des Debora-Liedes, 1859; f G.
Hilliger, Das Deborah-Lied iibersetzt tmd erklart, 1867; G. Bickell, Car-
mina V. Ti. metrice, 1882; Dichtungen der Hebraer, 1882; A. M tiller, Das
Lied der Deborah, 1887 (" Konigsberger Studien," i. p. 1-21); M. Vernes,
"Le cantique de Debora," R&J. xxiv. 1892, p. 52-67, 225-255; G. A.
Cooke, The History and Song of Deborah, 1892; C. Niebuhr, Versuch
einer Reconstellation des Deboraliedes, 1894.
The Song of Deborah is an epinikian ode celebrating the victory
of the Israelites over the Canaanites near Taanach. After an
opening strain of praise to Yahweh for the great deliverance
(v. 2 " 5 ) the poet describes the state of things which preceded and
'provoked the war (v. 6 " 8 ). Verse 12 , with its invocation of Deborah
and Barak, leads over to the Israelite rising; the tribes which
took part in the glorious struggle receive their meed of praise
(v. 14 - 15a - 18 ) , while reproaches and taunts are heaped upon those
which held aloof (v. 15l) - 17 ). Then follows the battle itself and the
rout of the foe (v. 19 " 22 ) , and the death of the flying king by the
hand of Jael (v. 24 * 27 ) . The anxiety of Sisera's mother as his return
is delayed, the expectation of triumph and spoil, which is raised
* The older literature, to the beginning of this century, in Justi, National-
Gesdnge der Hebraer, ii. 1816, p. 217-225; see also Bachmann, Richter, p. 298-
301 ; Reuss, Gesch. d. A. T., 101. Only the most important titles are given above.
f See also his Gesch. der poet. National-Literatur der Hebraer \ 1856, p. 79 ff.
128 JUDGES
again only to be more cruelly disappointed, form the tragic climax
of the poem (v. 28 ' 30 ), which ends with the strain :
" So perish all thine enemies, O Yahweh !*"
The movement of the poem is throughout straightforward and
natural. It sets before us, first, the situation before the revolt ;
second, the rising of the tribes ; third, the victory and its sequel,
the death of Sisera. Notwithstanding many obscurities in particu-
lars, especially in v. 13 " 15 , the main tenor of the narrative from v. 12 on
is sufficiently clear. The same is true of v. 2 ' 7 , but in the interven-
ing verses ( 8J1 ) the difficulties are so accumulated that it is hardly
possible to be sure even of the general sense and connexion of
the passage. Verse 9 seems to resume the theme of v. 2 , and the
distinctly marked new beginning in v. 12 shows at least that v. 10 - u
must be joined to the preceding. We have then, as the natural
divisions, a. v. 2 " 11 , b. v. 12 " 18 , c. v. 19 " 31 . The connexion between
b. and c. is, from the nature of the matter, closer than between
a. and b., but this is not a sufficient reason for dividing the poem
into two, a Hymn of Thanksgiving (v. 2 " 11 ) ; and the Triumphal
Ode (v. 12 ' 31 ) .* On the contrary, v. 2 - 11 form the natural and indis-
pensable introduction to the Ode.
The obscurity of the middle of the ode was remarked by
Lowth.f It is of quite a different nature from the difficulties
which we encounter in the opening verses and in the latter half
of the chapter. These are due to our defective knowledge of
its very ancient poetical language, and affect particular words or
phrases without preventing our understanding the general meaning
of the passage. In v. 8 " 15 , on the other hand, while clauses here
and there are plain enough, the whole is unintelligible; as is
superabundantly proved by the translations which are given by
the commentators. We cannot lay this obscurity to the charge of
the author, who in the other parts of the poem writes clearly and
directly, but must infer that by some accident of transmission
* Ewald, Dichter d. A. B 2 ., i. p. 186 ff. Ewald supposes that the Ode was com-
posed for a different occasion from the Hymn ; viz., for the triumphal procession
" perhaps on the evening of the same day."
f De sacra poesi Hebraeorum, p. 274 : " Media, ut verum fateamur, obsederunt
haud exiguae obscuritates, multum officientes Carminis pulchritudini, nee facile
dissipandae, nisi uberior historiae lux accederet."
V. I2Q
these verses have suffered peculiarly. It would seem that, in a
manuscript through which our text is descended, this place had
become in good part illegible. The scribe who copied it made
out as much as he could, but was not always successful in recover-
ing the vanished letters. The obscurity of the text thus established
would naturally become a fresh source of corruption. This cor-
ruption is in the main older than the- Greek translators, who in the
worst places read substantially as we do and therefore give us
little help toward a restoration of the text.*
Critics have been almost unanimous in attributing the Ode to a
contemporary, and a participant in the glorious struggle which it
celebrates. So, to make but a single quotation, Kuenen writes,
" Form and contents alike prove that it is rightly ascribed by all
competent judges to a contemporary." f This consensus has re-
cently been challenged by Seinecke J and especially by Maurice
Vernes, but neither the methods nor the conclusions of these
critics have commended themselves to other scholars.
Seinecke, whose work in general is marred by a perverse fondness for
paradoxes, gathers from v. 31 that the ode was not written to celebrate the
victory over Sisera at all; but, like Ex. 15, to encourage the author's contem-
poraries by reminding them of the great deeds of Yahvveh in long by-gone
days, when the enemies of Israel were so fearfully punished that not one of
them was left. The idea of Yahweh's coming from Edom (v. 4 ) is inconceiva-
ble in ancient times, it is parallel to Is. 63 and refers to a future parousia;
the colossal exaggeration of v. 20 , " They fought from heaven, the stars in their
courses fought against Sisera," corresponds to the notions of later times, and
is to be compared with Jos. io 12 - 14 ; v. 6 (Jael a judge) and v. 14 (" Ephraim,
whose root is in Amalek," cf. I2 15 ) contain mistakes which a contemporary
* Probably few scholars would now agree with Ewald (Dichter, i. p. 178 n.)
and E. Meier (National-Literatur der Hebrder, p. 89) that the text of the poem has
been transmitted to us substantially intact not to mention the more extravagant
notions of its impeccability entertained, e.g. by Bachmann (p. 517 ff.). August
Miiller (Das Lied der Deborah, 1887, i. ff.) has proved, on the contrary, that the
corruption is extensive and deep-seated. Whether it also is beyond all remedy,
is a question about which opinions will differ; see, on the other side, Budde,
Richt. u. Sam., p. 102-104.
t HC&. i. p. 346; so also Vatke; We., Comp., p. 222 f.; Reuss, GAT. 101;
Sta., G VI. i. p. 178. Sporadic doubts of older scholars (De Wette in 1817, after-
wards retracted, Hartmann, Rodiger; see Ba., p. 510) were without influence.
% Gesch. d. Volkes Israel, i. 1876, p. 243-245.
RHR. vii. 1883, p. 332-338, and often subsequently ; see below.
K
130 JUDGES
could not make. The language exhibits Aramaisms and other marks of late
date, especially the relative w; the style is artificial; v. 10 , for example, is "a
frigid conceit of post-exilic times," reminding us of the Jseginning of Ps. I.
Finally, the names of Barak, Lapidoth, and perhaps Deborah have an
unhistorical ring. " We are forced to conclude, therefore, that the story of
the conflict of Barak and Jael against Jabin and Sisera is a bit of old Hebrew
mythology, in which the cleansing and purifying powers of nature, thunder,
lightning, and flame, are arrayed against the mist and clouds." * Vernes f
contests the common opinion that the poem, compared with the prose narra-
tive (ch. 4), has preserved a number of historical details and bears the fresh
impress of the events. On the contrary, though the prose story is late and
exhibits numerous inconsistencies, it is drawn from older sources, and is
infinitely superior to the poem. In the former, only two tribes take part in
the struggle; in the latter this is exaggerated to a national movement, all
Israel is oppressed, almost all Israel unites against the foe. Vague and
inaccurate phrases such as "new gods" (v. 8 ), "the kings of Canaan" (v. 19 ),
"the times of Jael" (v. 6 ), point to a date remote from the events. Moreover,
besides ch. 4, the author has made use of other writings which are themselves
late. The names of Taanach and Megiddo (v. 19 ) are taken from Jud. I 27 or
Jos. I2 21 , that of Meroz J perhaps from the same passage in Jos.; the repre-
sentation of Dan as settled on the seaboard (v. 17 ) can only come from the
unhistorical partition of Palestine in Jos. The poem must, therefore, be later
than the latest stratum of Jos. " If the prose narrative is not older than the
5th cent. B.C., the song put into the mouth of the prophetess-judge may with-
out hesitation be dated a century or a century and a half later." M. Vernes'
final estimate shall be given in his own words : " Nous disons done du chant du
Debora que c'est une oeuvre eminement artificielle, dont quelques tirades
eloquentes ou brillantes ne peuvent pas dissimuler le vide." In his later
articles in the Revue des etudes juives, M. Vernes reiterates this criticism at
length, in connexion with an exposition of the chapter, and adds an elaborate
argument from the language of the poem, which, so far from being archaic, is
paralleled throughout by that of the Ketubim, &&& often only there; so that
the linguistic evidence also brings the Song of Deborah into the company of
the latest books of the O.T. It is impossible here to examine this argument
in detail; so far as it seems worth while, we shall take notice of his observa-
* A mythical interpretation was earlier given to the poem by Steinthal (" Die
Sage von Simson," Zeitschrift fur Volkerpsychologie, u.s.w., ii. 1862, p. 164), who
finds in Deborah and Jael the beneficent rain-clouds, in Barak the lightning. This
explanation was adopted also by Goldziher (Der Mythos bel den Hebraern, 1876,
p. 162 = Mythology among the Hebrews ; 1877, p. 256) .
t RHR. vii. 1883, P. 332-338; Precis d'histoire Juive, 1889, p. no n. ; RHR. xix.
1889, p. 65 f. = Essais bibliques, 1891, p. 163-165 ; finally, REJ. xxiv. 1892, p. 52-67,
225-255. j Probably Meron, Jos. 12^ c f. i2 19 .
\ See the summary, I.e., xxiv. p. 249 f.
v. 131
tions on the usage in the critical notes below. Here it can only be said in
general that, so far as M. Vernes accurately states the facts, they do not justify
his conclusions. But philological d/cpt/3eta is not M. Vernes' strong point,
and his statements are frequently most deceptive half-truths. For example,
" garaph (v. 21 ) s'explique par 1'arameen," suggests that rp:> in this sense is a
distinctively Aramaic word, whereas the use of the word in the Song has
much closer parallels in Arabic.
The representations of the Song agree entirely with the histori-
cal situation, so far as we are able from our very scanty materials
to reconstruct it. We detect in it none of the anachronisms by
which a later writer so easily betrays his own age ; * nor does the
atmospheric perspective of the narrative indicate that the writer
stood at a distance from the events which he relates. It exhibits
neither the vagueness which is the first result of the blurring of
details in tradition, nor the artificial circumstantiality which marks
the subsequent attempt to recover them.f The impression of
reality which we receive from the Ode is hardly to be paralleled
in another poem in the Old Testament ; and a comparison with
others, especially with the Song of Moses (Ex. 15), the subject of
which has the greatest resemblance to the Song of Deborah,
strengthens this impression. \ These considerations have of
course no weight with those to whom' the poem is " an eminently
artificial work," the rhetoric of which is sometimes ingenious and
eloquent, sometimes strained and affected. Against such aesthetic
judgements there is no arguing.
The priority of the Ode to the prose narrative in ch. 4, and its
superiority in point of historical truth, appear from the compari-
* As when, for example, in the " Song of Moses " (Ex. 15) Israel is already
established in Canaan (v.^ff-J.and unless v. 1 ^- be rejected as an interpolation
the temple in Jerusalem already built.
t The indefiniteness of which Vernes complains is chiefly obscurity arising from
corruption of the text or context. He appears never to suspect the Massoretic text
nor the translation which he finds in the popular commentaries.
J The inference from the impression of reality to the contemporary origin or the
historical truth of a narrative is not stringent. It is the pre-eminent gift of the poet
to create this impression even when his story conflicts with our knowledge ; think
of Homer, Dante, Shakespeare. But the objective character of the art which is
capable of producing such an illusion is not easily exemplified among Semitic
poets. It is a simpler and more probable explanation in the present case, that the
poem was made by one under the immediate inspiration of the events, than that it
is a supreme work of the creative imagination. Vernes..
132 JUDGES
son instituted above in the Introduction to ch. 4 (p. 107 f.). It is
especially clear in the accounts of Sisera's death, 4 18 ' 22 5 s4 ' 27 . See
further the commentary on the last named verses. "
In the opinion of the great majority of scholars, Deborah her-
self is the author of the Ode.* It is attributed to her in the title
(v. 1 ), which, however, since we do not know how ancient this
superscription is, and since in other cases the titles are frequently
in error,f cannot by itself be regarded as decisive. Here the title
seems to be distinctly confirmed by v. 7 , " until I, Deborah, arose ;
till I arose, a matron in Israel." Unfortunately, this evidence is
not as conclusive as it seems ; (& and 31 $ have the verbs in the
third person, "until Deborah arose," and even in J^ the form of
the verbs is ambiguous, and may equally well be rendered, " until
thou didst arise, Deborah." The latter interpretation accords
with v. 12 , "Awake, awake, Deborah; awake, awake, deliver a
song," which the parallel half verse, "Arise, arise, Barak," &c.,
forbids us to take as the self-invocation of the poet. In v. 15 ,
again, Deborah is spoken of in the third person. The natural and
almost necessary inference from these verses is that Deborah her-
self is not the author of the Ode. || The other indications of her
authorship which commentators have found in the words of the
song are indecisive ; in some of them the text is insecure, in
others the interpretation. Much has sometimes been made of
the so-called psychological evidence ; the recital of Jael's deed
(v. 24 - 27 ) and the description of the scene in Sisera's palace (v. 28 ' 30 ),
it is said, could only have been written by a woman.^" This is a
matter which hardly admits of argument, but it is certainly a false
note when Bertheau finds in the reference to Sisera's mother a
touch of woman's sympathy.**
The historical value of the Song of Deborah can hardly be
exaggerated. It is the oldest extant monument of Hebrew litera-
ture, and the only contemporaneous monument of Hebrew history
* So, e.g., Ew., Dichter d. A.B., i. p. 186 f. ; Hitz., G VI. i. 112 ; Renan, Hist, du
peuple d' Israel, i. p. 316.
t E.g., in the ascription of many of the Psalms to David, and in attributing
Ex. 15 to Moses. + Both without variation. See below, in loc.
|| We., Geschichte, 1878, p. 252 ; Reuss, Graetz, Kue., A. Miiller, Kitt., Cooke,
al - If Herder, Reville, Ba., Be., Cass., al.
** See also Ba.; and, for a contrast, Herder (Briefe, u.s.w., Brief 7, end).
v. 133
before the foundation of the kingdom. When we compare the
situation of the tribes, as it appears in the poem, with the frag-
mentary traditions of the invasion and settlement in ch. i, we see
that Israel had in the meantime established itself more securely
in the land. The Highlands of Ephraim seem to be completely in
the possession of Joseph, and we may infer from the part taken
in the struggle by Issachar, Zebulun, and Naphtali, that the latter
tribes, too, had gained a firmer footing in Galilee, while Issachar
had probably already planted itself on both sides of the narrow
valley which at the eastern end of the Plain separates the hills on
the north and south. The Canaanites, however, were still masters
of the Plain ; their fortified cities commanded the passes which
entered, and the roads which traversed it; their formidable
chariotry kept the Highland footmen on either hand in awe
(cf. Jos. ly 16 " 18 ). With increasing numbers and strength, it was
inevitable that the Israelites should turn their eyes to the fertile
fields and rich traffic of the Plain. After a period probably of
peaceful expansion, the Canaanite city-kings, alarmed perhaps at
the steady encroachments of Israel, took the aggressive. They
blockaded the main roads and cut off communication ; from their
cities they sent out bands and harried the country, so that the
unwalled villages were deserted.*
Incited by Deborah, most of the Israelite tribes concertedly
took up arms to put an end to this intolerable state of things.
From the south of the Plain came the three branches of Joseph,
Ephraim, Benjamin and Machir ; from the north Zebulun, Issachar
and Naphtali. Each tribe and clan was led by its own chiefs,
who are repeatedly mentioned with especial honour. The united
forces were commanded by Barak, a chief of Issachar, or perhaps
of Naphtali.f The Israelites east of the Jordan, Reuben and
Gilead (Gad), were also summoned by Deborah's emissaries, but
either did not respond at all or dallied irresolute till the time for
action was over ; nor did the more remote northern tribes, Dan
and Asher, join in the rising. In the Ode these tribes are bitterly
reproached for their selfish indifference to the cause of Israel, and
* If this is the meaning of v.?a. It does not appear from the poem that the land
was so completely overrun and subdued as it was by the Philistines in the days of
Saul. f See v.15.
134 JUDGES
their conduct is contrasted with the alacrity with which Zebulun
and Naphtali braved the dangers of the field. When Israel is
arrayed in arms against Canaan, every tribe and clan is bound to
come to the support of Yahweh among the valiant warriors.*
We see from this that the Israelite tribes, although separated and to some
extent broken up in the invasion and settlement of Palestine and the tran-
sition from nomadic to agricultural life with all its profound changes, felt
themselves to be one people. This consciousness must have come down from
a time when the tribes were more closely united than they were in the first
centuries of their settlement in Canaan. But it does not spring solely from
the fact that they were, or believed themselves to be, of one race, or from the
memory of the days in which they had wandered and fought side by side; it
has a deeper root in their religion. Israel is the people of Yahweh (v. 11 - 13 ) ;
its enemies are his enemies (v. 31 ); its victories, his victories (v. 11 ).! To him
the enthusiasm with which chiefs and people offered themselves for the holy
war is gratefully ascribed (v. 2 - 9 );f the oracle pronounces his curse on the vil-
lagers of Meroz for not coming bravely to his aid. The whole Ode is a
triumphal Te Deum to Yahweh, Israel's God.
Yahweh was not a god of Canaan, whose worship Israel, in settling in the
land and learning to till the soil, had adopted from the natives, but the god
of the invaders, by whose help they conquered Canaan. His seats were in
the distant south, whence he comes to succour his people and discomfit their
foes, "going forth to war from Seir, marching from the region of Edom."
Thither, long after the time of Deborah, Elijah journeyed through the desert
to the old holy mountain, where he found Yahweh (i Ki. 19). It is the old
and constant tradition, that at this holy mountain Israel solemnly adopted the
religion of Yahweh. This coincides with the implications of the poem noted
above, and explains, as hardly anything else could, the strength of the religious
feeling and the consciousness of religious unity which express themselves in
the Ode. The indirect confirmation which is thus given to the tradition that
connects the beginnings of the religion of Israel, the great work of Moses,
with the holy mountain (Horeb, Sinai) is of no slight weight.
The battle was fought near Taanach and Megiddo (v. 19 ) , on the
southern side of the Plain. The Canaanite city-kings of these
* For this reason it is very significant that Judah is not named at all. It is diffi-
cult to avoid the inference that the poet did not count it among the tribes of Israel.
It was originally a small tribe, which grew into importance by union with clans of
different stock (Caleb, &c.), and it was separated from Joseph by a Canaanite belt
(see above, p. 8) ; but these things hardly account for its absence from the song.
Simeon and Levi are also wanting ; Reuben is the only one of the older, southern
group of Leah-tribes that is named.
f So, at least, these verses are generally understood.
v. 135
and neighbouring cities, relying on their chariots and their superi-
ority in arms, gave battle in the open field. Their leader, Sisera,
was doubtless the king of one of these cities ; and the glimpse
of his court and harem which is given us in v. 28 " 30 shows that he
was a powerful and opulent prince. The Israelites were able to
raise forty thousand men.* They were peasants from the hills,
and were armed only with peasants' weapons ; a regular military
equipment was hardly to be found among them (v. 8 ), The
Canaanites were routed ; the treacherous Kishon, perhaps swollen
by a sudden flocd, with its marshes and holes, completed their
ruin. Sisera, in his flight, passed by the village of Meroz (?),
whose Israelite inhabitants suffered him to escape.! At the door
of Jael's tent he halts to beg a drink of water ; she gives him a
great bowl of milk, and, as he buries his face in it in his thirst and
haste, fells him with a blow that crushes in his skull.
The results of the war are unknown to us. It is hardly probable
that Israel took from the Canaanites any of their strong cities,
but the power and prestige of the Canaanites and their terrible
chariots received a severe blow, j The union of Yahvveh's people
at the call of Deborah in a holy war must have done much to
strengthen the feeling of oneness in race and religion, and their
success have deepened their faith in Yahweh of armies, the god
of the embattled ranks of Israel. Thus the victory in the plain of
Megiddo foreshadowed and prepared the way for the kingdom
of Saul and David.
The Song of Deborah is unsurpassed in Hebrew literature in
all the great qualities of poetry, and holds a high place among
Triumphal Odes in the literature of the world. It is a work of
genius, and therefore a work of that highest art which is not
studied and artificial, but spontaneous and inevitable. It shows a
development and command of the resources of the language for
ends of poetical expression which prove that poetry had long been
cultivated among the Hebrews. Few fragments of this earlier
* This is a round number, and naturally not below the mark. Whether the
total fighting strength of Israel is meant, or that of the tribes engaged, is a question
which can hardly be answered.
f This seems to be the point of the contrast with the blessing of Jael.
J Such as the English yeomen at Agincourt dealt to the prestige of chivalry.
I3 6 JUDGES
poetry have come down to us ; probably few survived to the cen-
turies with which our Hebrew literature begins, J^ut we cannot
doubt that the nomadic forefathers of Israel took the same keen
delight in lyric poetry which is so strongly marked a trait of the
Arabs.*
The form of the Ode has received much attention from students
of Hebrew poetry, and many attempts have been made to reduce
it to metre and divide it into regular strophes.f Some of these
schemes are very ingenious; but those of them which adhere
more closely to the Massoretic text are so irregular that the terms
metre and strophe seem to be misapplied, while those which
achieve greater regularity do so by more or less violent opera-
tions upon the text. They help us very little to a better under-
standing of the poem, and can only with great caution be used as
a canon for the emendation of its obscure and corrupt places.
All that can safely be said is that the principal pauses in the poem
are after v. 11 and v. 22 , and that the prevailing rhythm of the poem
has four beats to the line.
1. And Deborah sang, and Barak~\ cf. Ex. I5 1 . The title was
probably prefixed by the editor who incorporated the poem in his
Book of Judges, and expresses his opinion that the Ode was com-
posed by Deborah, and sung in celebration of the victory. The
grammatical construction makes it not impossible that the words
and Barak are an addition by a later hand, suggested by the apos-
trophe in v. 12b> . % On that day] the day of victory ; there is no
reason to think that the writer meant the words in the looser sense,
at that time (cf. Jer. f z 34 13 &c.), nor can they be understood of
* It is an erroneous inference, however, that there must have been an extensive
poetical literature before Deborah. Early poetry was not preserved in books, but
in the breasts of men. It is quite possible that the Song of Deborah itself was
thus perpetuated for generations ; though we do not need to invoke the aid of this
hypothesis to explain the state of the text, and cannot admit it as a warrant for a
radical reconstruction of the poem, such as is attempted by Niebuhr.
t See Fr. Koster, Stud. u. Krit., 1831, p. 72 ff. ; Ewald, Dichter des A. B. t i.
I. p. 178 ff.; E. Meier, Poet. Natlonal-Literatur der Hebrder, p. 79 ff. ; J. Ley,
Grundziige des Rhythmus, u.s.w., p. 214 ff. ; Bertheau ; G. Bickell, Carmina V. T.
metrice, p. 195 ff. ; C. A. Briggs, Pres. Review, vi. 1885, p. 501 ff. ; A. Miiller,
Konigsberger Studien, i. p. 10 ff. ; &c. On other schemes, see Ba., p. 521 ff.
J Be., al. For various conjectures about the part that Barak had in the Song,
beginning with Ephrem, see Ba.
v. i-s 137
a subsequent celebration of the triumph or commemoration of the
victory. But, as we have seen above (p. 132), Deborah was prob-
ably not the author of the poem, and it certainly bears none of
the marks of improvisation. Nor is there any evidence in the
Song itself that it was sung by Deborah, alone or with Barak.*
2, 3. Exordium.t The poet announces his theme. 2. The
meaning of the two essential words in the first half-verse is
obscure. Most recent interpreters adopt the rendering of some
of the Greek translators : For the leading of the leaders in Israel,
for the volunteering of the people, praise ye Yahweh. \ The poet,
according to this interpretation, calls upon his hearers to praise
God that chieftains were found to head the rising of the clans, and
that the people nobly responded to their call. This gives a good
parallelism between the two members, and the whole corresponds
in sense to v. 9 (the marshals of Israel, the volunteers among the
people). The meaning ascribed to the words bipheroa peraoth,
however, rests only on very insecure etymological conjecture, and
is exposed to grave, if not insuperable, grammatical difficulties.
The translation of the second clause shares the uncertainty which
attaches to the parallel first clause, though all the words are
familiar; cf. 2 Chr. ly 16 Ps. no 3 . Bless ye Yahweh~\ render him
grateful homage, magnify him. 3. The rulers of the nations are
summoned to hearken to the praises of Yahweh. The poet would
make the world a witness of Yahweh's mighty acts and compel it
to own his greatness; cf. Dt. 32 L3 . Hear, ye kings ; give ear, ye
potentates'^ the two verbs are often coupled in poetical parallelism ;
cf. Gen. 4^ Ex. i5 26 Nu. 23 18 &c. ; the two nouns also occur
together, Ps. 2 2 Hab. i 10 . The words are addressed to the rulers
of the nations of the world, so far as they were within the horizon
of the poet's contemporaries ; they shall learn the great might of
Yahweh and his jealousy for his, people Israel. /, to Yahweh I
* The attempts to distribute the parts of the Song between the two singers, with
or without the addition of a Chorus, are very artificial. See, e.g. Fr. Bottcher,
Die altesten Biihnendichtungen, u.s.w., 1850 ; Donaldson, Jashar, p. 237 ff. Older
schemes may be seen in Ba.
f A translation of the Ode will be found below, p. 171 ff.
J So Schnurrer (1775), Herder 1 , Hollm., Ges., and with minor modifications,
most commentators in this century.
138 JUDGES
will sing} for my part; not /, even I, will sing unto the Lord
(EV.), which is doubly unjust to the emphasis of the line.
Observe the repetition of the pronoun, which lias a weight in
Hebrew that we< cannot give it in translation. The note of tri-
umph rings in this exaltation of the subject. Most interpreters
find in this dominant / the self-consciousness of Deborah, heroine
and poet, but for reasons already set forth this is improbable.
Wellhausen thinks that the / of this verse, as of Ex. 15, is Israel.*
1. pnai mm iani] Deborah has the leading part; Barak is in an alto-
gether secondary position; cf. Nu. I2 1 Ex. I5 1 . RLbG. and Abarb. (cf.
Ephr.) think that by this construction the writer meant to imply that Barak
had no part in the composition of the Ode, of which Deborah alone was the
author. T^ni, from "VIP med. i; K6., i. p. 510 f. 2. 'Ji rn>n-3 isnas] (gALMO
i g z fv T &pa<rOcu apxyyofc tv lffpafj\ cf. Dt. 32 42 . The intention of
the translators is no doubt correctly expressed by Procop., 5?;Xoi -fj pTjcris tv
r<f &PXOVTCLS kv T$ lo-par/X dva<j>a.lvevdai, Kal rbv \abv aurois virdKii> eKbvra.
yifl is compared with Arab. pyS 'eminent man' (lit. 'top' cacumen), and
the fern, is explained as the so-called intensive fern. (Wright, Arab. Gram.,
i. p. 157), used esp. in names of callings, titles of respect, and the like;
e.g. nassabat, 'consummate genealogist,' *allamat, 'perfect scholar,' &c.; in
Heb., perhaps, nSnp, rnob, &c. (Ges. 25 122, 4 ); or as one of the words
which are fern, in tropical significations (Bo. 645 cf. 630). (gBGN aVeKa-
\v<pdr) diroKd\v/j,fj.a ev I. (S, more clearly, ev ry ai>atca\v\//a<rOai ice^aXds) connect
the words with jns Nu. 5 18 Lev. I3 45 , yns 'head of long hair ' Nu. 6 5 Ez. 44 20 .
Cass. and Vernes, also, interpret of the wild streaming locks of the warriors
who have consecrated themselves to the holy war.f J5 and T (combined with
other interpretations) give the root the sense which it ordinarily has in Syr.,
Aram., and MH. (but not in BH.), for the retribution, the avenging, of Israel's
wrongs; similarly Ki., Abarb., Schm., Kohler, Herder 2 , al. Some modern
scholars, starting from the assumed primary meaning ' loose,' render the verb,
'set free, liberate'; so Lth. (das Israel wider frey ist warden), Cler., J. D.
Mich., Justi, Stud. Neither of these interpretations is justified by usage, and
neither makes a passable parallel to v. b . "pa] nowhere else takes a in the
sense 'for, on account of; we should expect hy (Dt. 8 10 ). This difficulty
exists equally for all the interpretations recorded above. The more natural
rendering of the prep, is with; and we might perhaps translate, with long
streaming locks in Israel, with free gifts of the people, praise ye Yahweh,
thinking of vows and offerings of gratitude for the victory achieved; or we
* Comp., p. 223 ; see on the other side, Be., ad loc.
f The second clause is then rendered in a corresponding way of the taking of a
warrior's vow.
V. 3-4 139
might give 2 with inf. its temporal sense. 3. UMNH . . . iyau>] cf. also Dt. 32*
Is. i 2 - 10 32; with a third synonym, a>s>pn, Hos. 5 1 Is. 28 23 a^n] a word of
the higher style, parallel to o^Sn Ps. 2 2 Hab. i 10 Pr. 8 15 31*, to px i63SB>
Is. 4O 23 . 'Ji mm 1 ? lijs*] the accents rightly set off the first pronoun; cf.
Ps. 76 8 , Dr. 198, Obs. 2. "ia?x] make melody, music, canere vel voce vel
fidibus (Cic., divinat., ii. 59, 122; cf. NDiin JOBT, NJDT &nDT, Gittin, 7 a );
often coupled with "P2> (Ps. 2i 14 &c.). The root is prob. onomatopoetic ; see
Hupfeld, Zeitschr. f. d. Ktinde d. Morgenlandes, iii. p. 394 ff., iv. p. 139 ff.,
Psaltneri 2 , i. p. 38 f.
4, 5. The awful coining of Yahweh. After the exordium
(V/*) the poet hurries us in medias res and describes the coming
of Yahweh from his ancient seats in the South to succour his
people. The cause of his coming is exposed in the following
verses (v. 6ff< ) . This is the only natural explanation of v. 4f - ; the
mention of Sinai in v. 5 , which seems to require a different inter-
pretation, is a gloss. With the description of Yahweh's advent
compare Dt. 33 2 Hab. 3 3ff - Ps. 68 7ff -, also 2 S. 22 8ff - (Ps. i8 7ff -) Mi. i 2 - 4
Ps. 97*"*; cf. //. xiii. 17-19. 4. Yahweh, when thou wentest
forth from Seir, when thou marchedst from the region of Edom~\
the words do not refer to the descent of Yahweh upon Mt. Sinai
(Ex. i 9 16ff -) or Horeb (Dt. 4 10 - 12 5 22ff -) at the institution of the
religion of Israel.* The imagery bears a certain resemblance -to
the passages last cited, though only in features common to all
such manifestations ; but the sublime phenomena which attended
the giving of the law have no obvious connexion with the subject
of the poem, nor is any suggested by the author. If a contrast
had been intended between the great deeds of God for Israel in
former days and the recent humiliation,! or a comparison of his
intervention in the destruction of Sisera with the prodigies at
Sinai, J it must have been intimated in some way. After the
announcement of the theme in v. 2 * we expect praises of Yahweh
for the great deliverance he has just wrought, not an irrelevant
historical reminiscence. Finally, Yahweh did not come to Sinai
from Seir, from the plateau of Edom (v. 4a ), to give the law; and
no plausible or even possible explanation of these words has
been proposed by the commentators who interpret v. 4f> of the
* nr, Ra.,a Lyra, Schnurrer, Rosenm., Ke., Be., Hilliger, Ba., Robertson,, Cooke,
al. mu. f Schnur., Ew., Be., Vernes, al. + Rosenm,
140 JUDGES
theophany at Sinai. Others, comparing Dt. 33 2 Hab. 3^-, refer
the .verses to earlier wars, such as those against Sihon and Og, in
which Yahweh led his people to victory,* or to the whole progress
through the desert to Canaan with Yahweh at their head.f But
this again is not in the text, and the same objections from the
context which were urged against the former interpretation are
valid against this. $
Text and context constrain us, therefore, to interpret the verses
of the coming of Yahweh to the help of his people in the war
with Sisera. The ancient seats of Yahweh were not in Canaan,
but in the South, at Sinai (J, Ex. ip 11 - 18 - 20 , P passim} or Horeb
(E, Ex. 3 1 i8 5 33 6 Nu. IO 33 &c., D passim) ; the latter is the tra-
dition of the northern tribes (i K. ip 8 ), and is probably to be
assumed here. Horeb was in the land of Midian, i.e. in Arabia,
east of the eastern prong of the Red Sea, the gulf of e Aqabah,||
among mountains which form the southern continuation of the
range east of the 'Arabah. From Horeb, Yahweh would come
into Canaan from Seir, from the plateau of Edom, as in our verse.
Cf. especially Dt. 33 2 Hab. 3 3 . When thou wentest forth~] to
battle; see on 2 15 4 14 . Marchedst~\ the two verbs are similarly
coupled in Hab. 3 12>13 Ps. 68 8 ; cf. the corresponding noun
2 S. 5 24 . Seir] is the home of Esau, the land which was given
him by Yahweh, as Canaan was given to Jacob (Jos. 24 4 Dt. 2 5 cf.
Gen. 32 3 33 14 ). It is the mountain range east of the 'Arabah,
from the southern end of the Dead Sea to the Gulf of 'Aqabah,
now called in its northern part el-Gibal, in the southern esh-
Sherah.^f The region of Edom~\ identical with Seir; see Gen.
32 3 and cf. also 36 8 . The earth quaked, the heavens dripped"]
* Ibn Ezra (on Dt. 33 Ps. 68), RLbG., cf. Ki.
t Ephr., Procop. (including the deliverance from Egypt), Cler., Lette, Justi, Ew.,
Cass., Vernes.
t See Schm., p. 463 f., whose statement of the matter can hardly be bettered,
though he is finally constrained by the mention of Sinai to adopt an interpretation
which he has himself shown to be untenable.
Kohler (1780), Hollmann, Stud., Reuss, We., Sta., W. R. Smith, al.
|| Aelaniticus sinus. Horeb was a distance of eleven days' journey, by the Mt.
Seir road, from Kadesh Barnea (Dt. i2). These are really the only clues that we
possess.
If See Buhl, Geschichte der Edomiter, p. 2 ff.; cf. Miiller, Asien u. Europa,
P- 135 f.
V. 4-5 141
cf. 2 S. 22 8ff (== Ps. i8 7ff -) Mi. i* Ps. 97 2 - 5 i 44 5f -. For dripped,
which might have been taken up accidentally from the next
hemistich, several recensions of (^ have, were in commotion;
Budde conjectures that this represents the original reading, the
heavens swayed. The clouds dripped water, 5. the mountains
streamed] in the derivative passage, Ps. 68 8 , these lines are lack-
ing. The second verb is generally translated trembled (cf. Is.
64 1 ), but streamed is a more natural rendering of the Hebrew
word and gives a better parallel, especially if we adopt the read-
ing of <& in the previous member. Before Yahweh (that is,
Sinai), before Yahweh, the God of Israel] the words that is,
Sinai are a gloss to the mountains in the preceding clause ; *
originally, as its form shows, a marginal note, made by some one
to whom the language of v. 3f - suggested Ex. 19. Subsequently it
intruded into the text in the wrong place. The rhythm of the
passage also gains by the removal of the words.
4. i^xa] with dagesh, distinguishing the inf. from the noun (Pr. 4 12 );
Ew - 2 55 d; Ol. 1 60 b. The primary meaning seems to be, 'walk with
great steps, stride, stalk'; of the stately march of a religious pomp, 2 S. 6 13
cf. 2 S. 22 37 Pr. 4 12 Job i8 7 , also Jer. io 5 Pr. f. DVIN msp] Gen. 32*, parallel
to -pyir pN; m;p is used of Moab (Gen. 36 35 Nu. 2i 20 &c.), Aram (Hos. I2 13 ),
Ephraim (Obad. I 19 cf. Jud. 2o' ; ), Philistines (i S. 6 1 zf- u ), Amalekites
(Gen. I4 7 ). It is not specifically the plateau in distinction from the moun-
tains, but is simply the region of Edom. IBSM D^Ctt> DJ>] the particle is not
climacteric, but cumulative; each clause adds a trait to the completeness of the
description. f)toj is ' drop, drip,' in distinction from ' pour, flow,' in a continu-
ous stream; usually with ace. as in the next clause. (JJJPVLNO s ^rapdxdii
A <fe<TTci0?7 M e&rri7t i turbatum est (Verecundus), i.e. Wiw (Bu., Richt. u.
Sam., p. 104). Jin is not 'melt away,' as commonly affirmed, but 'move in
waves, be violently agitated,' like the Arab. pr^** (Abulw., Vollers, SS.).
5. -iSji ann] in Is. 63 19 (accidentally repeated 64 2 ) the vb. is pronounced
iVn, by which the Ni. of SS? is prob. intended (cf. -iVJJ Is. 34 4 ) ; 1K& interpret
shake. So here (H (ra\evdr](rav I commoti sunt (Verecundus) 5, followed by
most recent comm. and lexx. (Ges., MV., SS., BDB., Hollm., E. Meier, Stud.,
Ke., Be., Ba., Bi., al.). The pronunciation of fft is then explained as due to
false analogy to the 3 sg. pf. of the normal verb. The parallelism, however,
esp. if we read WDJ in v. 4a , is better satisfied if we derive the word from Vrj
' stream.' In the first two members we see the earth quaking, the heavens
* Precisely so in Ps. 688. f G i<rra*v. B Sonfw Spocrous
I 4 2 - JUDGES
swaying; * in the last two, the clouds dropping rain, the torrents streaming
down the sides of the mountains. For the vb. cf. Job 36 28 Is. 45 8 Jer. 9 17 and
the poet, use of D^TU 'streams' Ex. I5 8 Ps. yS 16 &c. The suppression of the
ace., which is expressed in the preceding clause, occasions no difficulty. So
it montes fluxerunt.^ TD ru] Ps. 68 9 . Commonly taken deictically, yon
Sinai, Sinai there ; others, Sinai, I say. The first would only be natural if
Sinai were in sight, and for neither is there sufficient grammatical warrant.
Examples superficially similar are collected in the grammars, e.g. Green, 252,
2 a; Ges. 23 126, 5 n. 2, 136 n. 3, and esp. Driver in BDB. Lex., s. v. n?; but
they need to be carefully sifted. In some the pron. is pred. ; in a good many
others (esp. in the Pss.) we may recognize the influence of Aramaic syntax;
Ex. 32 1 (ntrn nr) i K. I4 U (see Klost.) Is. 23 13 (see Duhm) are glosses, in which
n? is used just as we use " i.e." The suspicion that in Jucl. 5 5 also the words are
a gloss receives some confirmation from the variations of the Greek versions;
see my edition of the Hebrew text in The Sacred Books of the Old Testament,
&.c. S alone renders quite grammatically TOUT fort, rb Stpa; cf. also Ps. 68 9 .
6-8. The state of things before the war. Travel on the
highways was stopped, and travellers were constrained to take
roundabout byways ; the country was harried by armed bands of
Canaanites, so that the Israelite peasants were compelled to
abandon their villages. This is not a mere instance and illus-
tration of the insecurity of the land under Canaanite misrule ; it
is the grievance which was the cause of war. 6. In the days of
Shamgar ben Anath, in the days of Jael~\ the period immediately
preceding the appearance of Deborah as leader and deliverer
(v. 7b ). The asyndeton would imply that Shamgar and Jael were
contemporaries. The latter can be no other than the heroine
celebrated in v. 24ff- ; t not an otherwise unknown judge of the
same name, in which case the author must have distinguished
them in some way, e.g. by adding the name of his father. The
difficulty, however, which this hypothesis is created to relieve is a
real one. It is singular that the name of this Bedawi woman
should be coupled with that of Shamgar. And how can the
period before the rise of Deborah be called the days of Jael,
when the deed which made her famous was only the last act in
* To the ancients the firmament was as solid as the earth.
f Rabb., Schm., Cler., Ew., al.
J Ff., Rabb., Schm., Cler., Rosenm., Ke., Ba., and most.
. Teller (1766), Kohler, Hollmann, Ges., Stud., Be., Oettli; a female judge,
Green (1753), Justi. Ew. conjectures that Jair (io3) .is meant.
V. 6-7 143
the deliverance which Deborah had already achieved? The best
that can be said is, that, although Shamgar and Jael, both of
whom in different ways wrought deliverance for their people, were
living, they did nothing to free Israel from the tyranny of the
Canaanites until Deborah appeared. But it must be confessed
that this is not very natural ; and it would perhaps be better to
regard in the days of Jael as a gloss.* If this be so, the question
will arise whether Shamgar was originally an Israelite hero at all.
In the comm. on 3 31 it has been shown that as a deliverer of Israel
he belongs to the latest redaction, and that the slaughter of the
Philistines is premature. If 5 is interpreted independently of
this unhistorical exploit, it would be quite as natural to see in him
the oppressor of Israel as its champion.t The name is strangely
foreign and heathenish. $ The obvious objection to this interpre-
tation is, that Shamgar plays no part in the struggle ; the chief of
the enemy is Sisera. Caravans ceased, and those who travelled
the roads went by roundabout paths'] the first words are usually
interpreted, as in ifH, the highways were disused ; cf. Is. 33 8 . It
is doubtful, however, whether the verb will bear this meaning, and
the parallelism is impaired. Commerce between different parts
of the land was cut off, and those who were compelled to jour-
ney by themselves took circuitous and unfrequented bypaths.
7. The first half-verse evidently continues the description of the
wrongs which Israel suffered in the days of Shamgar. The mean-
ing of the words, however, is uncertain. The noun (perazon)
occurs again in v. n , but no rendering which suits one of these
places seems to be possible in the other. In v. 7 we might per-
haps give it the sense, village population, or better, by a slight
emendation, read, hamlets ceased ; the peasants deserted their
villages for the protection of the walled towns. This is appro-
priate enough in the context, and may be right. || If so, the word
* Geddes, Bi., Cooke. f Cf. " in the days of the Philistines," 152.
% See above, p. 106. It would be the solitary instance in the O.T. in which an
Israelite bears openly the name of a heathen god (Baethgen, Beitrage, p. 140 f.).
We should have to supplement the hypothesis by another, that Shamgar had
died before the war and been succeeded by Sisera. The names are alike in being
neither Canaanite nor Hebrew.
|| It is so interpreted by STS, Abulw., Ra., Ki., Schm., Cler., Kohl., Ke., Cass.,
Ba., Bu., al. Cf, ffii'OP g I (Aug., al.)
144 JUDGES
in v. 11 must be given up, a step which, in the unintelligible and
indubitably corrupt text there, we need not hesitate to take. The
rendering mighty men,* or counsel, leadership, rule, judges,^ is
recommended by the fact that it would be possible in v. n also
but has no support in usage or etymology, and in v. 7 is less appro-
priate to the context and parallelism.
The repetition of the verb ceased without a subject may be
accidental, or a subject synonymous with perazon may have fallen
out of the text. \ Till thou didst arise, Deborah~\ the verbs may
be either the first person or the second person feminine with the
old ending; v. 12 (cf. v. 15 ) makes it probable that the latter is
intended. Budde thinks v. 7b a gloss ; see note. A matron in
Israel~\ the phrase occurs in the Old Testament only in 2 S. 2O 19 ,
a city and a mother in Israel (( correctly, /x^r/ooVoXts) , || from
which Niebuhr infers that Deborah also was not a woman, but a
town, Daberath-Deburiyeh.^F
nvm i"?in] Sin ' leave off'; intrans., ' stop, cease ' Ex. p 34 Dt. 15" &c.; that
it may also mean ' lie idle ' is not established by I S. 2 5 Job I4 6 . It is on all
accounts preferable to pronounce the noun rnrnx, * companies of wayfarers';
the same correction of the punctuation is demanded in Job 6 18 - 19 (caravans).
nwru -oSn] na>ru is a poet, synonym of -pi, cf. Jer. i8 15 . mSpSpy]
Ps. I25 5t cf. prtagg Is. 27 1 ; in MH. both words are used tropically of tortuous
conduct. nirnN 2 is erroneously repeated from the preceding line, to the
detriment of both the poetical expression and the rhythm.** 7. fine Vnn
SN-nena] v. ut . rnns Ez. 38 11 Zech. 2 8 are unwalled hamlets, >nsn i S. 6 18
Dt. 3 5 the peasant population of such hamlets; cf. also Esth. 9 19 and MH.
ma. It is barely possible that the abstract pno might mean ' peasantry,' and
be construed as collective with a plural verb; but as in this collective use we
find elsewhere ^non, it would be preferable to emend here nine, which is
actually found in a few codd.; so Stud. mm vicgtf ny] the rel. iff with this
pointing twice in the verse, also Cant. I 7 *; cf. Jud. 6 17 y 12 S 26 , Ges. 25 ' 36;
SS., s. v. The rel. p is frequent in late BH. (Cant., Eccl., &c.), and in MH.
supplants -WN altogether; but it is unsafe to infer that it was of late origin,
and hence that the half-verse is a gloss (Bu. ) , or the whole poem of late date
(Seinecke, Vernes).ft We have equally little ground for pronouncing v a
* 3L fortes; similarly ffiBGMN l (Verecundus) ; cf. Hab. 3"
t Teller, Schnurrer, Ges., Hollmann, Be., Reuss, Vernes.
t Bu. gee above, p. 132.
|| See above, p. 25 and n. 11 Reconstellation, p. II.
** Briggs. ft Observe -WN3, v. 2 ?.
v. 7-8 i 45
peculiarity of a northern dialect (Nachtigall, Bo., al.)-* The relatives "^>N
and & are probably of different origin, and may have existed side by side in
all periods of the language. For TiDp (5 1 1 % have the third person, until
Deborah arose ; ^ would then be a later change to the first person, dictated
by the theory that Deborah was the author of the Ode (v. 1 ).! It is simpler
to take the form TiDp as 2 s.f. with the old ending i (Ges. 25 44. 2 n. 4) ;
Rodiger (1839), Bo., Graetz, We., A. Miiller, Reuss, Kitt.
8. Continues the portrayal of the situation in Israel at the out-
break of the war, as is evident from the second half- verse. J. A
shield was not to be seen, nor a spear, among forty thousand men~\
the hyperbole is not to be pressed ; nor does the language imply
that the Israelites had been disarmed, as, according to a late and
exaggerated story (i S. i3 19 " 22 ), they were by the Philistines in the
days of Saul. But, compared with the well-equipped soldiers of
the Canaanite kings, they were a motley concourse, armed with
such rude weapons as each man could lay his hands on, or hur-
riedly fashion from the implements of his peaceful calling.
Verse 8 * 1 is unintelligible. The English version, following 2T and
Jewish commentators, || connects the verse with the following, and
understands it to refer to Israel's sin in worshipping strange gods
and its consequence, a hostile invasion : " They chose new gods ;
then was war in the gates." ^ This translation of the last hemi-
stich is impossible ; that of the first, for grammatical reasons, very
improbable. Moreover, if the poet had meant to speak of the
apostasy of Israel as the cause of the evils that had befallen it,
the natural place to do so was before v. 6 , where the description of
those evils begins. But that he construed the history of his times
as the author of the introduction to the Book of Judges does
(2 6ff -) is nowhere intimated in the Ode, and is in itself most
improbable. Other attempts to extract a meaning from the
* Neubauer and Sayce thought that they found the letters Stt> on a stone weight,,
prob. of the 8 th cent. B.C., which was found on the site of Samaria ; but the read-
ing is disputed. See Acad., Aug. 2, 1890, p. 94 ; Athenaeum, Aug. 2, 1890, p. 164.
The controversy in the Academy, 1894, is reprinted in PEF. Qu. St., July, 1894,
p. 220-231 ; 284-287. f See We., Comp., p. 223 n., cf. p. 356 ; Bi.
J E. Meier would put v. 8 after v. 9 ; cf. A. M tiller, Cooke.
Such seems, at least, to be the meaning ; the mutilated context warns us
against too confident an interpretation. || Ra., Ki., Tanch., RLbG., Abarb.
II Cf. Dt. 32" Jud. ail-is. So Drus., Cler., Schm., Schnurrer, Hollm., Stud.,
Ba., Cass., Reuss, Oettli, al. mu. The first clause is rendered in the same way by .
L
146 JUDGES
clauses are not more successful. Jerome translates : Nova bella
elegit Dominus,* et portas hostium ipse subvertit ; clypeus et
hasta si apparuerint in quadraginta millibus Israel. Ewald and
others, "They chose new judges (tlohitri)"\ namely, Deborah
and Barak. In the last hemistich & and some recensions of (51
find " barley bread " (cf. 7 13 ) . | See critical note.
9-11. The text of these verses has suffered so badly that there
is no reasonable hope that any art or skill by the critic will ever
be able to restore it. The ancient versions found the text in
substantially the same state in which it has been transmitted to
us, and had no tradition to guide them in interpreting it. The
disjointed words and phrases to which we can attach a probable
sense do not afford a sufficient basis for conjecture; the con-
nexion is impenetrably obscure. We are here, as more than once
in the following verses, in very much the same case as the epi-
graphist who has before him a badly defaced or mutilated inscrip-
tion, the difficulty of deciphering which, he has reason to suspect,
is increased by partial and unskilful attempts at restoration. What
can, with more or less confidence, be made out is this : 9 My
heart (goes out) to the rulers (?) of Israel those who offer
themselves freely among the people bless ye Yahweh 10 men
that ride reddish asses that sit on . . . and that walk on the
road . . . n from (?) a sound of ... between watering-places
there they rehearse the righteous acts of Yahweh the right-
eous acts of ... in Israel then went down to the gates the
people of Yahweh. ||
Verse 9 seems to repeat the motive of v. 2 , but unfortunately the
one is as obscure as the other ; v. 10 is generally explained as calling
* &, God chose a new thing, Ephrem, Lth., al. ; generally understood of the deliv-
erance of Israel by a woman. Cf. also RLbG., alt.
t Meier, Be., Briggs, al. ; cf. Ex. 216 22?- 8 (Ew.) .
J It is obviously impossible, as it would be unprofitable, in the obscure and cor-
rupt places of this poem, to discuss or even record all the guesses of commen-
tators. I shall pass over in silence such as seem to me to have no claim to serious
consideration. The curious reader may consult Bachmann.
I abstain from any interpretative punctuation.
|| Cf. A. Miiller, p. 16 f. Perhaps it may not be superfluous to give a warning
against the inference that because so many words can be recognized, therefore so
much of the text is sound.
V. 8-1 1 147
upon the persons there described, perhaps representing different
classes of society or men of different pursuits, to join in singing
Yahweh's praises for the security which they now enjoy, in con-
trast to v. 6> 7a . The archers ( ? ? ) among the watering-places are
also supposed to have something to do with celebrating Yahweh's
righteous acts. The first part of the poem would thus end, as it
began, with a summons to laud and magnify Yahweh's great name.
Verse llb is, upon this supposition, entirely unsuitable after v. lla and
before v. 12 ; it has been conjectured that it is accidentally mis-
placed from y. 13a .* This interpretation of v. 9 - 11 makes the verses
interrupt and delay the swift movement of the poem in a way that
is quite umike the author. f After the appearance of Deborah
(v. 7b ), we expect to hear of the preparations for the war, and this
is confirmed by v. llb , then marched down to the gates the people
of Yahweh ; cf. also v. 8b . With v. 12 the war itself begins.
8. D'Bnn DTI^N iroi] against the interpretations which make God subject,
it is decisive that throughout the poem the name mm is used; D>cnn new
things (msnn Is. 48 6 ) or new men is in this collocation fatally ambiguous.
The same objection holds against It (Israel) chooses (or, when it chooses) \
nerv gods ; an author who meant to be understood would hardly write thus.
Moreover, the idea is foreign to the poem, and is introduced in an inappro-
priate place. Perhaps a scribe may have tried to restore the partly illegible
words of his copy by the help of Dt. 32 17 ; cf. Jud. io 14 . New judges ascribes
to DTiVx a fictitious sense and adds a new element of ambiguity. or ?x
anjns>] it is difficult to imagine what is intended by this anomalous pronun-
ciation; see Ges. Thes., and Ba. After TN we expect a finite verb, as in
v< ii. 13. 19 ('JT ian Sj TN ) 22 ? an( j onyp is apparently accus.; but onS (Ps. 35 1
552. 3t) would be very suspicious here, and then he assaulted the gates would
hardly admit any interpretation but that of Jerome. (gAPVLMO \ % t fa
&prov KpLOivov, i.e. on]?!? nnS 7 13 (cf. Thdt., Ephr., Aug.), which is certainly
the most natural pronunciation of the consonants. For a conjecture based on
this, see Bu., Richt. u. Sam., p. 103; cf. also Kautzsch, Textkrit. Erlaut.,
u. s. w., in his translation of the O.T., p. 6. ntnr; DN pn] DS of the oath, or,
perh. better, interrogative, demanding for its answer an emphatic No ! (Dr 3 -
39 ) On <5 Aal - <nclm? vcavlduv K.T.C. see Ew., GGA. 1867, p. 635 f.; We.,
TBS. p. 8; Field, Hexapla, ad loc. The meaning is not that no one dared to
*Bu.
f This difficulty would not be so serious, if, with Ew. we made of v. 2 - 11 an inde-
pendent poem ; see above, p. 128. % & They chose.
\ Many codd. nrh, orb (De Rossi); against the Massora, Ochla, we-Ochla,
No. 373.
148 JUDGES
raise a hand against the oppression (Schm., Stud., al.). The number, 40,000,
is in notable contrast to the standing 600,000 of the post-exilic history of the
Exodus (Holhn., Stud., We.)- 9- Vs"W ippmS oS] j$, Schm., Ew., al. supply
"IDX says : better, simply, belongs to, goes out to, in gratitude and affection (?t
diligit, Ra., Ki., Cler., most moderns), ppin (Is. IO 1 ) seems to be the same as
Pi?.hp v. 14 (see there) Dt. 33 21 ; the form is best explained as ptcp. Qal.
'Ji D>'2 DO-uncn] closely resembles v. 2 , and is equally obscure; the ptcp. is
hardly appositive to D'ppin (Stud.), but its counterpart in loose construction
(Schm., Schnur.). 10. I see no way to do anything with -in* 1 ::', on which,
unfortunately, the understanding of the whole verse depends. It is commonly
translated, tell forth, proclaim, laud (It, most comm.; cf. Ps. 1052 I45 5 );
others render consider, meditate, muse (Cler., Schm., Schnur., Herd., Ba.,
al.), which the usage would rather admit, but which is even less suitable in
the context. nnnx nunx] on the colour (gray, or tawny, inclining to red)
see A. Muller, p. 4-6. On riding asses, see on io 4 . fnp hy >3a] the noun
is unknown. The older interpreters, by an impossible etymology, explain it,
judgement, or place of judgement; most moderns derive it from np (plur.
D^p 3 16 ),* with Aramaic plural ending. As the sense garments is obviously
unsuitable, it is assumed that the word had the wider sense, cloths ; hence
either, saddle-cloths, housings, or (rich) carpets (so the most). The phrases
are supposed by many to designate different social classes, with great diversity
of opinion as to what classes or how many; others, laying the emphasis on
the verbs, imagine the call to be addressed to every Israelite, whatever he may
be about; cf. Dt. 6 7 Ps. 1398 Is. 37 Ps. I 1 &c. (so Stud., Reuss, al.).
11. D^SNtfp f>3 D^nn Vipn] o^JWrtD f is formally possible as denorn. Piel from
Vn ' arrow,' 'men that shoot arrows' (Ki., RLbG., Kuypers, Lette, Ges., al.
mu.) ; others, ' cast lots with arrows ' (Schultens), for the division of the booty
(Schnur., al.); while others still derive it directly from vxn, to which they give
the meaning ' divide ' sc. the spoil (pSn ; Hollm., Stud., Ba.) . J But the difficulty
lies not more in this word than in the preposition JD and the noun DOB>D
(lit. 'places where water is drawn '). There is no clue to the meaning of the
line. -u n^ D^] the obscurity of the preceding prevents our seeing to what
place QV refers, or what is the subject of the verb, run 1 I 40 * is frequently
compared with Arab. ^-AO iv., ' eulogize ' (or ' defame '). But as equivalent
of Heb. njp the word is not conceivable in old Hebrew. mn> nipnx] seem-
ingly manifestations of his justice in defending and delivering his people; cf.
i S. I2 7 Mi. 6 5 &c. SNIE:J wnfl npix] see on v. 7 . In the context umo
must be gen. subj. ; country people (Ba.) will not do here; ruler ship, rule
(Be.) or leadership, leaders (Stud., Reuss, al.) are unsupported, and do not
* Killer, Schnur., Ges., al. plur.
t Every conceivable Heb. etymology of this word was discussed by Jewish
scholars in the Middle Ages ; see Tanch., quoted in Ges. Thes. p. 511.
J Bu. conjectures O'prwn *?)p, Hark, how joyful they are!
v. i2 149
suit v. 7 . 'Jn VTV TX] many commentators, taking urn as jussive continuing
the imv. )n>tt>, feel constrained to make a jussive also of nT, either emending
ITV (Schnur.) or forcing this sense upon the pf. (Hollm., al.). The gates
(metonomy for cities; cf. () are thought by some to be those of the Israelites,
to which they now return in peace and security, cf. v. 8 (so, with various
modifications, Stud., Ke., Ba., al.); others, with greater probability, interpret
of the gates of the enemy's cities, against which Israel now marched (3L, Ew.,
Be., Reuss, al.).
12-22. Israel marches into battle ; defeat and flight of the
Canaanites. The second part of the Ode. After an opening
apostrophe to Deborah and Barak, we see the tribes march down
to the fray and hear the reproachful questions which the absence
of others evokes. Then we are in the midst of the combat ; the
heavens themselves fight against Sisera, the torrents of Kishon
sweep his proud host to ruin. The text of v. 13 ' 15 is so corrupt that
we can hardly read more than the names of the tribes ; but their
general purport is manifest. From v. 16 the text is better pre-
served. 12. Rouse thee, rouse thee, Deborah; rouse thee, rouse
thee, strike up the song] interpreters who assume that in these
words Deborah calls upon herself to sing the Ode of Victory find
it hard to explain why this invocation stands thus in the middle
of the Ode, instead of beginning it.* The explanation of Studer
and others, that this is the real beginning of the Ode, to which
v. 211 is merely a prooemium, hardly relieves the difficulty; we
should have to go a step farther, and with Ewald, regard v. 2 ' 11 as
a distinct poem. The complete parallel between the call to
Deborah in v. 12a and that to Barak in v. 12b makes it improbable,
however, that in the former Deborah addresses herself; and we
have seen other reasons for believing that the heroine is not the
author of the Ode. In view of the following context, verse 12b is
best understood as a summons to Barak, not to participate in the
celebration of the triumph, but to attack the enemy ; and, accord-
ingly, v. 12a , which cannot be separated from v. 12b and referred to
an earlier time,t is to be explained, not as a call to Deborah to
sing a song of victory, but to strike up the song of battle. I The
* On this difficulty see, e.g. Schnur., who would supply, / said. Niebuhr in his
Reconstellation actually puts v. 12 in the place of v. 2 . f Stud., Ba., al.
J Schnur., Kohl., We., Reuss, cf. Bi., Cass. (Reminiscenz an das Schlachtlied
selbst).
1 50 JUDGES
verse is then in a suitable place. The poet sees the people of
Yahweh marching to attack the foe (v. llb ) and breaks in with an
apostrophe to the two leaders ; to Deborah, to fire the hearts of
her countrymen by song ; to Barak, to make prisoners the proud
foemen.* The obscurity of the preceding verses, however, makes
it impossible to say with confidence that this is the transition
intended by the poet. Up, Barak; lead captive thy captive
train, son of Abinoam~\ a bold prolepsis ; but not an unnatural
one for a poet after the event. With an equally admissible pro-
nunciation of the Hebrew word we might translate, lead captive
thy captors, and surmise that Barak, like Gideon (8 18 ' 21 ), had his
own wrongs to avenge as well as those of his people, a touch of
personal interest which we should welcome.!
13-15 a . The tribes are in motion against the enemy, The
verses are so mutilated that we can make out little more than the
bare names of the tribes. 13. The second member may be
read, The people of Yahweh marched down for him \ as heroes
(cf. v. 23 ) ; something of the same kind seems to have stood in the
preceding line, of which there remains, then marched down . . .
nobles. In view of the parallel it might be conjectured that the
name Israel was originally found in this line. 14. In the first
two lines nothing is certain but the names, Ephraim and Benja-
min. "From Ephraim their root (is) in Amalek after thee
Benjamin among thy peoples " is nonsense which must give
the most courageous translator pause. From Machir marched
down truncheon-bearers, and from Zebulun those who carry the
muster-master's staff] Machir is here Manasseh, of which tribe it
was the principal branch. || In later times the seats of Machir
were in Gilead ; but there is good ground for the opinion that the
conquest of this region was made, not in the first invasion of the
lands east of the Jordan by Israel, but subsequently, by a reflux
* This is preferable to the explanation which makes the words a shout of the
Israelite host as they go into battle (Stud, alt., al.) .
t We., Sta., Bu., Kitt. J (ffiB al. ; g f or me%
$ That is, after thee came Benjamin, &c. (Schnur., Kohl., Hollm., Stud., al.), or,
after thee, O Benjamin ! (Schm., alt., Ew., Mei., Ba.)
|| Machir the first-born son of Manasseh (Jos. 17!) ; or his only son (Gen. 50^
Num. 2629ff-). See Kue., Th. T. xi. 483 ff-
V. 12-15 151
movement from Western Palestine.* On Zebulun, see on i 30 .
The muster-master (lit. writer) in the later military organization
(2 K. 25 19 ) was an officer who had charge of the enumeration
and enrolment of the troops; a kind of adjutant general.! In
our text it is probably the chieftains themselves who muster the
quotas of their own clans; the poet evidently seeks changing
expressions for the often recurring idea, chiefs. 15 a . Issachar,
which is not named at all in ch. i, J is here mentioned with special
honour as the tribe of Deborah, and apparently of Barak also.
Unfortunately the text is here again in such disorder that the
latter point at least is extremely doubtful. The first line may per-
haps be made to read, And the princes of Issachar were with
Deborah, or, were the people of Deborah ; the rest defies transla-
tion. The second line connects Barak also in some way with Issa-
char ; but, in accordance with the uniform structure of the preceding
verses, we should rather expect the name of another tribe ; and, on
the other hand, the omission of Naphtali from this list is strange,
especially in view of v. 18 . In the third line the words, into the
plain . . . at his feet, suffice to show that the verse, like those
before it, describes the tribes pouring down from their hills into
the plain to give battle to the Canaanites. The original seats of
Issachar seem to have been south of Naphtali and southeast
of Zebulun, probably in the hills between the two valleys which
descend from the eastern end of the Great Plain to the Jordan
(Wady el-Bireh, Nahr Galud) ; it may comparatively early have
occupied a part of the range of Gilboa, south of the latter valley.
Toward the northwest it reached to the foot of Tabor, where it
met both Zebulun and Naphtali. The territory occupied by
Issachar was one in which it was peculiarly difficult to maintain
its independence, and in Gen. 49 14f> the tribe is taunted for the
ignoble spirit in which it preferred peace to freedom. ||
12. my] the accent is shifted for rhythmical variety, the first two being
milra, the last two mil* el; cf. Is. 51, Ges. 25 72 Anm. 3; Bo. 1134; Ba.,
* Smend, HWB^. p. 936 ; Sta., G VI. i. p. 149 ; Bu., Richt. u. Sam., p. 34 ff.
t JDMich., Schnur., Ba., al. Cf. also i Mace. s 42 . J See above, p. 49.
All this is merely conjectural; the tribe is not named in Jud. i, and the
boundaries and towns assigned to it in Jos. 1917-23 represent a much later time.
|| See Sta., G VI. i. p. 170 f.
152 JUDGES
p. 367. The alliteration nai . . . mm is very likely designed; * with -i:n
-ps> cf. 2 S. 22 1 Dt. 3i 30 . Tatf naan] -atf collective; cf. Ps. 68 19 ntf noc*
(Yahweh) ; so <2Lf and most comm. It is possible to pronounce rpair /Ay
captors, cf. Is. I4 2 ; so & a, Lth., JDMich., We., Sta., Bu. 13. TV bis'] the
context requires in both instances the perf. TV (@ BGN <&&, JDMich., Schnur.,
Stud., Ew., Be., and most recent scholars) ; cf. -ITV v. 11 - H . J51 TV undoubtedly
intends an apocop. impf. Pi. from mi (Ra., Ki.; cf. Stud.; Ges. 25 69, i c).
annxS Tnis>] TOfr is the survivor of a battle or calamity, often parallel to
BiVfl; collectively Is. I 9 . There is nothing in the usage of the word to
warrant the rendering a little band (Kohl., Stud., Cass., Reuss, and most) f;
nor can onnx 1 ?, in view of the parallel amaja (cf. v. 23 ), \ refer to the enemy
(&, Rabb., JDMich., Schnur., Herd., Stud., al.). fH (cf. MT) joins DJ7 to
the first member of the verse, to carry out its misinterpretation of TV; it is
rightly connected with the following (nvv oy) by BGN , Xads Kvpiov /car^Tj
aur< ev TOIS K/aarcuots, || in which aur^J (i^?) is also to be preferred to J-R 7.^
In the light of the parallelism, it may be conjectured that the unintelligible
*? TTP in v. a is a corruption of SjO!t. In amaja the a is perhaps in the
character of, as (Ges. 25 1 19, 3 b. i), rather than among; certainly not against.
14. onflx ^o] -ua twice in this verse (cf. fVuin v. b ) Is. 46 3 Mi. 7 12 Pss. Job.
pSaya DBntr] is commonly translated, their root is in Amalek (or, whose
root, &c.), and explained, they are firmly established in that part of the
territory of Ephraim called the Amalekites' Mountain, that is, in the region of
Pirathon (i2 15 , see comm. adloc.} ; ** so Hiller (1707), Schnur., Kohl., Hollm.,
and almost all comm. in the present century. But, apart from the enigmatical
form of the expression, the author cannot mean that only those clans of
Ephraim which were settled in that district came to the war (Ew., Be.); and
that that region was the centre and stronghold of the tribe is neither in
accord with the evidence of history nor relevant in this context. The words
stand in the place where we should have the predicate of the sentence; it is
equally awkward to have to borrow a verb from TV v. 13 (Schnur., Stud.) or
from ITV v. 14c (Ba.). oana> is probably the corruption of a verb, and for
P^Dya we may conjecture that the original reading was papa, which is given
by APLMO else; cf. v. 15 'ji nSp paya (see there). Taaj?3 pa^ja
* See on the whole subject, Casanowicz, " Paronomasia in the O.T.," JBL. xii.
1893, p. 105 ff. ; also separately, Boston, 1894.
f A remnant, that is, in comparison with the enemy ; a little band of Israelites
who have escaped from former defeats. Ba. quotes Verg., reliquiae Danaum atque
immitis Achillei.
J Remnant of the nobles (Hollm., Ew., Mei., Be., al.) is difficult to justify gram-
matically. So among modern interpreters, Hollm., Ew., Ke., Be., Ba.
|| Some Heb. codd. connect in the same way (De Rossi) ; so W. Green,
JDMich., Schnur., Kohl., Mei., Donalds., Bi., Cass., Reuss, Briggs, al. mu.
IF Kohl.
** The older commentators explained the words of wars against Amalek ; so
8T, Rabb., Ephr., a Lyra, Cler., al.
v. is 153
the same Greek texts give us ITIX, which may with reason be preferred (thy
brother Benjamin) ; but "poop is suspicious on account not only of the Ara-
maic form of the plural (cf. Neh. 9 22 - 24 ), but even more of the plural itself;
among thy kinsmen {populares) is less natural here than in thy ranks,
It would be rash, however, to emend in this desperate context.
ppnn Nu. 2 1 18 syn. of njjn^c, Gen. 49 10 parallel to 33;?, is a staff, carried by
men of rank and authority; here it is the man who carries such a staff as the
emblem of his authority (see the parallel clause); cf. Is. 33 22 (|| 30'^, "jSn)
Ps. 6o 9 Dt. 33 21 ( ? ). The interpretation, law-giver, law-giver's staff, is merely
an etymological deduction, and is not sustained by usage. nso 33tP3 D>atPD]
3 "j!2>D cf. I K. 22 34 , the usual construction in Arab. ; we might also render, those
who march with the 33 s% &c.; cf. on 4. With IDD in this use cf. T^ir (from a
root of similar meaning; often coupled with Bfltr), cf. 2 Chr. 26 11 . In
2 K. 25 19 pKn >> n oson axn -W ison, asn w may reasonably be
suspected of being a gloss; in Jer. 52 25 the words have been rendered gram-
matically correct by dropping the article before nsD. Klost. takes "ISD (or
J3D) as n. pr. Bu. conjecturally joins nso in Jud. 5 1 * to the following verse:
mian oy "wc^a nir 1 " 1 ??> cf. W. Green (1753), '.n ontp -nap. 15a. nfen
mian ay "Wi^a] my princes is obviously impossible; the correction nfer
(constr. before preposition), princes in Issachar (Schnur., Stud., Be., al.)>*
though grammatically admissible, is otherwise not much better; *vj:!>2 n:i> the
princes of Issachar gives a satisfactory sense, but we cannot be confident that
this restores the original text. For a.y we might also read ny (Bu.). "otPB")
P*)3 p] Stud, conjectures that instead of this second Issachar, which neither
<> nor 3L seem to have read, the original reading was Naphtali ; cf. 4 5 18 .
The insertion of 3 before the first member of the comparison removes the
grammatical harshness; but it is difficult to imagine a worse anticlimax than,
and as was Issachar so was Barak. vS:na nW popa] the passive is certainly
wrong (Muller) ; the unintelligibility of the preceding clause forbids us to
say more than this. Perhaps the same verb which in v. 14 has been corrupted
to DEna> originally stood here also.
15 b -18. The encomium of the tribes which under their gallant
chieftains marched down to the fray (v. 13 - 1511 ) is followed by
reproaches of those who were missing from the ranks of Israel ;
their conduct is contrasted with the shining example of Zebulun
and Naphtali (v. 18 ). Natural as the transition is, the text can
scarcely be intact; a stichos corresponding to v. 15 seems to be
lacking.! 15 b . Modern interpreters nearly all translate, By the
* Other explanations of the form give us grammatical anomalies ; see Ba. It
will probably not occur to any one to fortify the hypothesis of a plural absolute
in i by the plurals of this form in the Senjerli inscriptions (see D. H. Muller,
WZKM. vii. 1893, p. 119 f.). t A. Muller.
154 JUDGES
watercourses of Reuben (RV.) ; cf. Job 2O 17 .* The old versions
all, in one sense or another, render, divisions.^ which is probably
to be preferred ; the fractions of the tribe were divided in counsel,
and squandered in dissensions the time for deeds. Great dis-
cussions^ lit. investigations of mind ; to find out one another's
/eeling and purpose. The text is to be corrected by v. 16b , \ where
in the repetition of the line the important word has been better
preserved. For the meaning, cf. i S. 20 12 . 16. The reproaches
cast upon the recreant tribes are couched in the form of taunting
questions. Why satest thou between the . . . ?] the last word,
which occurs besides in Gen. 49 14t in a similar figure for base
inertness (cf. also Ps. 68 13 ), is translated by most recent inter-
preters, folds, enclosures surrounded by a paling or hedge for the
protection of the flocks. The rendering, ash-heaps, or heaps
of refuse, by the villages or encampments of the tribe, adheres
more closely to the concrete meaning of the cognate Hebrew
words, which is here our only clue. In the next clause the trans-
lation of Jerome, after some of the Greek versions, is generally
adopted, ut audias sibilos gregum ; which recent scholars rightly
interpret, not of the bleating of the flocks, || but of the piping of
shepherds among their flocks;! better, perhaps, of the calls
of the shepherds to their flocks. The rest of the verse is
repeated by mistake from the end of v. 15 .** The seats of Reuben
were east of the Dead Sea in northern Moab (Num. 32 37f -), where
its relation to the native population was probably not unlike that
of Asher and Naphtali among the Canaanites in Galilee (i 31f>33 ).
Like Simeon, it seems never to have settled down to agri-
culture. In ancient times, according to the patriarchal legend,
one of the leading tribes of Israel, the first of the Leah group,
early in the historical period dwindled into insignificance. In the
Moabite inscription of Mesha it is not mentioned ; Gad has taken
* JDMich., Schnur., Herd., Kohl., Hollm., Ew., Be., Ba., al.
f So also Schm., Stud., Fiirst, Delitzsch (on Job 20^), MV., al. (districts).
% Houbig., Kohl. ; cf. the ancient versions.
Pagninus, Lth., AV., Ludolf, Teller, Kohl., Ges., Hollm., Ew., al. mu.
|| &, Lth., Bochart, Schm., Cler., Schnur., Herd., al.
IF Ges., Hollm., Stud., Ew., Be., Ba., al. mu.; the pasloria sibila, Ovid, Met.,
xiii. 785.
** Teller, Reuss, A. Miiller, Cooke. Bi. conj. that a line (v.^c) has been lost.
V. i 5 -i 7 155
its place ; and in Dt. 33 the prayer for Reuben is, May Reuben
live and not die. The fate of the tribe was ascribed to an ances-
tral curse, Gen. 49 3f ', the cause and meaning of which are not
clear.* 17. Gilead remained on the other side of the Jordan\
Gilead is the region east of the Jordan, north and south of the
Jabbok (Nahr ez-Zerqa) , with shifting limits in either direction.!
The name is sometimes used for the whole of the Israelite pos-
sessions east of the Jordan, of which it was indeed the chief part.
It was occupied by the tribe of Gad, which is doubtless meant in
our verse. \ The disposition of Reuben and Gad to pursue their
own interests and let their brethren on the other side of the Jor-
dan fight their own battles is reflected in Nu. 32 lff- .
The more distant northern tribes also stood apart and were not
represented in the ranks of Israelite warriors. And Dan, why
does he live neighbour to the ships /] the words are difficult ; but
there seems no sufficient reason for suspecting the text, which is
supported by the parallel line about Asher. This parallel also
shows that the northern settlements of Dan (iS 2711 -) are meant, ||
not the earlier seats of the tribe in the southwest (\ m y see
there). ^[ In neither place did Dan actually come down to the
seaboard.** The words would be quite inexplicable if we had to
translate, why did he remain in the ships (RV.). The rendering
adopted above, which gives the meaning of the verb more exactly,
removes the difficulty, if we may interpret, Why does he live as
a dependent, under the protection of the Phoenician sea-farers ? ft
This was probably the situation of the Danites, as it had been of
the inhabitants of Laish before them (i8 7>28 ). The only objection
to this explanation is, that ships is a somewhat remote metonymy
for a seagoing people; compare, however, 'ship coast' for sea
coast, Gen. 49 13 . Asher abode toward the coast of the Great
Sea~\ cf. Gen. 49 13 , of Zebulun. And remains by its landings]
* See Sta., G VI. i. p. 151 f. t See on 116.
J Cf. Ps. 6o 7 . & here reads Gad. The conquests of Manasseh in northern
Gilead are probably later than the time of Deborah ; see above, on v. 14 .
Bu., Richt. u. Sam., p. 16 n. ; cf. Kitt., GdH. i. 2. p. 65 n.
|| Procop., Ki., Cler., Stud., Cass. IT Kohl., Hollm., Be., Ba., al.
** Even in Jos. ig 46 Joppa lies outside his border (Ki., Stud.).
ft Cf. <ffi ei s TL wapoiKel irXotots ; it is not necessary to suppose that Danites served
on Phoenician ships (Stud., al.).
156 JUDGES
the last word is found only here ; 1L in portubus morabatur. The
parallel line, the meaning of the root, and the use of derivatives
of the corresponding root in Arabic make the g'eneral sense suf-
ficiently certain. Asher occupied the mountainous inland, behind
the Phoenician coast, and it is not impossible that Asherites may
have settled in the Phoenician towns, as they did among the
Canaanites in the interior. There is no reason to imagine that
they had established themselves on the seaboard in any other
way ; and in view of what is said of Dan it is hardly necessary to
press the language even as far as this. See further on i 31f> .
18. In strong contrast to the unpatriotic or cowardly conduct of
the eastern and northern tribes stands the conspicuous gallantry
of Zebulun and Naphtali.* Zebulun is a band that recklessly
exposed itself to death'] lit. that contemned its life to death.^
And Naphtali, upon the heights of the open field~\ Naphtali dis-
played equal valour. The last words cannot refer to the home of
Naphtali among the hills of Galilee, \ but to the field on which
the two tribes won this renown. The expression seems, how-
ever, inappropriate to the scene of the battle against Sisera, in
the plain on the banks of the Kishon (v. 19 - 21 ) . Many commen-
tators think that Mt. Tabor (4 6 - ^ H ) is meant ; || but Tabor is not
mentioned in the Ode, which locates the field of battle, not at the
foot of the mountain (4 14 ), but on the other side of the plain
near Taanach. The word used for heights does not necessarily
denote a great elevation, but is rather a relative term (cf. Prov. 8 2
9 3 - 14 ) ; and may perhaps be employed here of the mounds and
hillocks in the plain, which, however inconsiderable, were positions
of advantage in the battle, especially as rallying points for the
hard-pressed Canaanites before the rout became complete.
These elevations, where the enemy fought with the ferocity of
* According to ch. 4 these two tribes furnished the whole army of Barak.
t For parallels from Arabic sources illustrating the use of the verb, see Schul-
tens, Animadversiones, p. 66 ; Lette, Schnur., ad loc. Cf. e.g., Hamasa, ed. Freytag,
p. 47.
J Schm., Cler., Schnur. ; the mountain tribes in contrast to the servile low-
landers, Stud., Ew.
Kohl., Hollm., al.
|| Ra., RLbG., Abarb., and many; where the assembled tribes were filled with
heroic valour (Ba.).
V. i 7 -i8 157
desperation, Zebulun and Naphtali with reckless hardihood
stormed and carried. So, at least, we can imagine it ; a certain
interpretation is hardly to be given. There is something tempting
in 3L's in regione Merome ; the words would then refer to former
exhibitions of impetuous bravery by these tribes, perhaps against
Jabin; but the text of J^ is supported by (>, and H probably
does not represent a different reading, but an ungrammatical
translation.
15b. pim fiufaa] in Job 2O 17 nvho is explained in the parallel line ^m
nxnm tton. D^Sa, usually in the phrase DID -uSs, are primarily canals and
ditches distributing water for irrigation; cf. Prov. 2I 1 Ps. 46 5 and the vb.
Job 38 25 , also Arab, falag.* We can hardly imagine, however, that Reuben
was at this time so far advanced in agriculture; v. 16 shows that it was chiefly
a pastoral tribe. For this reason it seems better to understand the word here
of the divisions of the tribe; cf. nuSs, rmVas, 2 Chr. 35 5 - 12 , and cognate words
in Aram, and Syr.f a 1 ? >?.'??] W" I s - IC)lt * decrees, edicts'; the form is
scarcely to be derived from ph (Ol., p. 628; Ges.' 25 , p. 261), but from a parallel
form heq ; cf. Vx cstr. pi. ^ht Jer. 6 4 . But no meaning that can legitimately
be given to pn is suitable here. J The true reading is preserved in the
misplaced repetition of this line, v. 16b , aS npn; see there. 16. a^na^n pa]
Gen. 49 14t cf. v>nav pa paaan ON Ps. 68 14 . The ancient versions for the most
part render between the territories, boundaries, or between the ranks of the
two armies (S) ; || <g B GN j n j u( j. & v & ^ Qv T ^j 5ryo/ias, cf. Gr. Venet. Gen. 49 14
d,v& rh. ijiJU(f>6pTia.; so Ki. on Gen. I.e. and Lex. s.v.; Schm. The interpreta-
tion enclosure is found in Abulw. Lex. s.v., Ki. on Jud. 5 16 (sheep-pens},
Abarb., Pagninus, Ludolf (Lex. Aethiop., 1661, p. 66; 1699, p. 76), Teller,
and NWSchroeder, and is adopted by most modern commentators.^ The
etymological arguments by which this explanation is supported may be seen in
Ges. Thes. p. 1471 f. (Roed.); they are, as Stud, justly remarks, far-fetched
and very dubious. We should perhaps rather compare nstrx (also MH.),
noil' 2 K. 4 88 Ez. 24 s , and Ar. 3-, &c. (Schultens) ; the stones on which
the pot is supported over the fire, fireplace.** omy rnpntr] cf. Is. 5 26 7 18
Zech. io 8 (|| yap); the verb is not used in the O.T. or MH. of playing on'a
* JDMich., Supplementa, p. 2013 (irrigation ditches) ; Schnur.
f Cf. % diviso contra se Ruben. Of divided mind, perfidy, Ra. ; aloof on the
other side of Jordan, Ki. ; &c.
t The contrast between great resolves at first and great vacillation afterwards
(Schnur., Stud., Ew., Be.) does not lie in the words, and if intended must have
been in some way indicated. So Stud.
|| So Ra., Ba. ; Reuben tried to be neutral in the struggle.
H Canales unde pecora bibunt (cl. Arab, saftta ; JDMich., Schnur.) is phoneti-
cally impossible. ** Cf. Lette, and W. R. Smith, Religion of Semites, p. 357.
158 JUDGES
pipe. 3*7 npn] ^ is obj. gen. (cf. Jer. i; 10 Prov. 25 3 &c.), and the phrase
can hardly mean self-questionings, hesitating between pro and contra.* Jew-
ish interpreters understand the words of the questionings which the absence
of Reuben causes among the other Israelites. 17. nvjx -IIJP no 1 ? pi] nu
c. c. ace. Is. 33 14 Ps. 5 5 I2O 5 ; not, wyfcy diw he fear the ships (Schm.,
JDMich.; recently, Niebuhr). Bu. (Richt. u. Sam., p. 16 n.) conj. vnw;
cf. Cooke. D>D> lin 1 ?] the P lur - Gen - 49 13 Dt - 33 19 (of Zebulun) &c.
only here; the suff. prob. refers to pn. Cf. Arab. JLoyi, place where boats
or ships are drawn up, or where they lie to unload. The translation bays,
harbours, is scarcely warranted.
19-22. The battle ; rout of the Canaanites. The kings came,
they fought^ observe the effect of the asyndeton. The kings of
Canaan~\ united against Israel under the lead of Sisera. At
Taanach, on the waters of Megiddo~\ on Taanach and Megiddo
see on i 27 (p. 44 ff.).| The waters of Megiddo are the Kishon
and its branches in the neighbourhood of that city. The field of
battle was therefore on the southern side of the Great Plain, not,
as in ch. 4, at the foot of Mt. Tabor at the head of its northern
arm. Taanach is separated from Tabor by the greatest breadth
of the plain, about fifteen miles. They made no gain of money\
it was a most unprofitable campaign for them ; a sarcastic meiosis.
The gains of war were in the ancient world one of the principal
causes of war ; cf. Ex. i5 9 . 20. From heaven fought the stars~\
this division % preserves the rhythmical balance of the distich,
which is needlessly destroyed by the massoretic punctuation.
The words are a poetical description of the intervention of Yah-
weh to discomfit the enemy and give victory to Israel; the
powers of heaven themselves were arrayed against Sisera and
the victory was not won by the prowess of Israel alone. || It is
not necessary to suppose that the poet represented the stars as
animated beings, the host of Yahweh,^" which in some unseen way
* Schultens, Animadvers., p. 100, notes that in Arabic other verbs of inquiring,
investigating, are tropically used of altercation.
t On Megiddo see also G. A. Smith, Hist. Geography, p. 386 ff., and Conder,
Crit. Review of Theol. and Phil. Lit., iv. 1894, p. 290 f. The attempt to find the
name Megiddo in Nahr Muqatta' (Smith) ought to be given up once for all.
J Procop., Cler., Trendelenburg, KohP., Herd., Mei., Bi., Briggs, A. Miiller, al,
Procop., Ew., Be., Ba., al. || RLbG.
If Hollm. ; cf. Ges., Jesaia, ii. p. 329.
v. i9-2i 159
gave aid to Israel ; * or that the figurative language is to be inter-
preted of a furious storm which threw the Canaanites into con-
fusion.t See on v. 21 . From their paths they fought with Sisera~\
lit. highways ; their established and unchanging track through the
sky. The preposition is not to be explained, leaving their paths, j
to descend and take part in the battle, but manentes in ordine et
cursu suo adverstis Sisaram pugnaverunt (3L) ; we should avoid
the ambiguity by translating, in their paths. 21. The stream of
Kishon swept them away~\ not merely the bodies of the slain,
but the living. The Kishon is not in this part of its course
a permanent stream, much less at ordinary times a dangerous
torrent. || The battle must have been fought in the winter or
spring, more probably the latter ; and it is possible that a heavy
spring shower suddenly swelled the stream, though it is not neces-
sary to infer this from either v. 20 or v. 21 .^[ The next words are
obscure ; one of the Greek translations ** and the Targum inter-
pret, stream of the ancients, stream where great deeds were done
in ancient times ; ft but even if this presented no formal diffi-
culties, it is a strange title to give to the river ; ancient mountains
(Dt. 33 15 ) is not parallel. Another interpretation, suggested by
Abulwalid is, stream of encounters, \ % where the two armies met ;
or stream of champions. The former lacks analogy in Hebrew ;
the latter is a distinctively Arabic turn of the word. The next line
* Stud. Many older commentators thought that the angels were meant ; so
Ephrem, Schm., Cler., al. mu.
t Fl. Jos., antt. v. 5, 4 \ 205 f., gives a highly embellished description of this
storm; see also Schnur., Hollm., Ke., Reuss. Cf. the Midrash, Pesackim, u8 b .
Cass. thinks of a night attack. J Ew., Be., al. IL.
|| On the Kishon, and the hydrography of the Great Plain in general, see Rob.,
BE?, ii. p. 363 ff. ; S WP. Memoirs, i. p. 265-267 ; ii. p. 39. See also Shaw, Travels,
1757, p. 274 f. ; and Ba., ad loc.
*fi It is said that in the battle of Mt. Tabor, Apr. 16, 1799, a number of Arabs
were drowned in the stream coming from Deburiyeh, which then inundated a part
of the plain (Burckhardt, Syria, p. 339). Napoleon himself speaks only of the
drowning of great numbers in the Jordan, which the rains had swollen making the
ford dangerous (Bertrand, Campagnes d'Egypte et de Syrie, ii. p. 88).
** ffiBGN. The other recensions of <S, with 3LS>, take the word as a proper noun ;
so Cler.
ft Or, ancient stream, Ba. ; cf. RLbG., Abarb.
t Trem.-Jun., Piscat., Lette (alt.), Schnur., Kohl., Hollm., Briggs, al,
$ Brave stream, Ew. ; der alte Siegesbach, Reuss.
160 JUDGES
is quite unintelligible ; conciilca anima mea robustos, * or, concul-
cabit fortiter, is simple bathos, and, aside from that, most inappro-
priate as the conclusion of v. 20 - 21 , which tell how heaven and earth
conspired to destroy Sisera. Probably what originally stood here
formed the end (predicate) of the second stichos of v. 21 , the
repetition of the words stream of Kishon being a gloss to the
subject.f The line would in that case correspond in sense to
the preceding. 22. The verse describes, not the charge of the
Canaanite chariot corps, but its precipitate flight. We hear in
the Hebrew words the wild rush of the frantic steeds. Then
the horses' hoofs pounded] sc. the earth ; J but see critical note.
With the gallop galloping of his steeds] cf. the description of the
charge in Nah. 3 2f> : " The swish of the whip, and the thunder of
wheels, horses galloping, chariots bounding, horsemen mounting,
a flash of swords, a gleam of lances," &c.
19. f|DD J7X2] many interpreters render, a piece, bit, of silver (Tanch.,
Schnur., Kohl., Hollm., Ew., Be., Reuss, al.); but there is no reason to
prefer this supposed etymological explanation to the sense which alone is
supported by Hebrew usage. 20. inrrVj D^DO p] the erroneous division of
the lines in fft has led some commentators to construe iDnSj impersonally
(Lth., Schnur.), or to supply DTI^N as subject (Schm.). onV?DCD] on the
form of the suff. see Bo. 887; cf. Is. 59 7 . mo^D op] DJ? nrta i S. i3 5 i; 33
i K. I2 21 and freq. 21. Ofl"u] *pj MH. 'shovel, scoop, scrape' up, or out
(Levy, NHWb. i. p. 364) ; in & equivalent of Heb. |B (e.g. Is. 8 8 ) ; cf.
Arab, garafa, used of a torrent; guruforgurf, a bluff scooped out and under-
mined by a torrent; guraf, a torrent that sweeps everything away, &c. (Lette,
Hollm.). Oionp *?ru] BGN ^ei/ucippous apxa-lw, those who were in old
times, predecessors. Some modern scholars regard it as an abstract noun
denoting 'antiquity,' connected with onfi as anipj with T;J, D->jipT with fpr,
why with aS>;, &c. (see Dietrich, Abhandl. zur heb'r. Gram., p. 35 f. ; Earth,
Nominalbildung, p. 85) ; so Ba. If we were to go to the Arabic dictionary
9 ^
for the word, it would be the simplest thing to connect it with [t^tXs (TA.
ix. p. 19 end), one who is always in the front of the fray, a bold, daring man;
comparing for the form, Lagarde, Bildung der Nomina, p. 59 f. The words
}"p Sm at the end of the line are omitted by Bi. as " repetitio prorsus inu-
tilis." win] cannot legitimately be turned into a past tense (Ki., RLbG.,
C, Ra., JDMich., Stud., Ba.
f An alternative hypothesis is that a line has been lost ; see A. Miiller.
X Schnur., Hollm., Reuss, al.
For other variations see my edition of the Hebrew text,
v. 21-23 i6i
Schnur., Kohl., Hollm., al.); it is now generally rendered as a jussive
(Stud.), but the second pers. of the jussive is rare, except after SN, and no
reason is apparent >vhy the imperative should not have been used here as
usual. TpJ is construed by many, especially older scholars, as direct object
(robttr metonymy for robzistos} ; by others as accus. of manner (Herd., Ew.,
Hitz., Be., Cass., Reuss, al.). In accordance with the suggestion made above
(p. 160), we might conjecture something like Ty I^QJ TH Dinnp Snj (trample
under foot, cf. Is. 63 3 ) ; but we can have no confidence in any such restora-
tion. 22. 'Jl TO^n TN] the vb. v. 26b Is. i6 8 Ps. 74 &c., 'give a heavy blow,
pound.' The construction generally adopted by modern interpreters labours
under two difficulties; the suppression of the object (the earth), and the
preposition JD in the next line. The old versions all took the verb as passive,
or at least neuter, as do also Ki., RLbG., Abulw., Tanch., Schm., Cler.; and
it must be admitted that the construction is much simplified by the rendering,
then the heels of the horses were battered by the gallop galloping of his steeds.
It would then be preferable to pronounce inVn (Pual). wax nnm rvnmD]
the repetition probably imitative of the sound of galloping hoofs, as well as
intensive in sense; cf. the exx. in Ew. 313 a. Observe the suspended stat.
constr. in the first word. The root only Nah. 3 2 nrn DID; not in MH.
Etymological connexion with -in (JDMich., Supplem.; Ges. Thes. t al.) is
very improbable; more likely the word is onomatopoetic. mox] his steeds ;
Jer. 8 16 47 8 50". The suff. refers loosely to the enemy. Others translate,
under the wild driving of their mighty men (Hollm., Stud., Be., Ba., Reuss,
al.) ; but this gives a less perfect parallelism and assumes that "vn could be
used not only of the horse, as in Nah., but of the charioteer. The only reason
for this somewhat forced interpretation vanishes if we make inSn passive.
23-31. Death of Sisera. The third division of the Ode con-
sists of two parts ; the flight and death of Sisera (v. 23 " 27 ), and the
scene in his palace, where his mother and her women await his
return (v. 28 " 30 ) . 23. The curse is obviously a foil to the following
blessing (v. 24 ) ; the conduct of the people of Meroz is contrasted
with that of Jael. From this fact, as well as from the position of
the verse, we may probably infer that the enemy in his flight
passed this Israelite village, whose inhabitants, instead of cutting
him off', like cowards allowed him to escape.* Curse Meroz}
the place is unknown, and we have no clue to its situation.
Assuming that it must have been a town of considerable note,
some scholars have surmised that the name Meroz is miswritten,
by accident or design, for Merom (Jos. n 5 ),t or Meron (Jos. I2 20
* Hollm., Stud., Ew., Don., Be., Ke., Ba., Reuss, Miiller, al.
t Pagninus, Cler., Fr. Bo., Fiirst.
M
162 JUDGES
cf. n 1 <),* or Meroth (Fl. Jos., b.j. ii. 20, 6) ; t Dut the premise
is insecure, and the places suggested are all too far from the field
of battle. It is more probable that Meroz was -a mere hamlet
which lay in the line of Sisera's flight. The various identifications
that have been proposed by modern travellers may safely be
dismissed. \ The Messenger of Yahweh~] not the human messen-
ger who bears the word of Yahweh, his prophet, but God him-
self as he reveals himself to men, cf. on 2 1 6 11 ; we should think
here more naturally of the Yahweh who goes before his people
into battle (4 14 cf. 5^), and with the use of Messenger compare
Ex. 23 20 - 23 and Jos. 5 13 " 15 . || But it must be conceded that the
phrase has here some difficulty. Because they came not to the
help of Yahweh'] the position of the verse, in the midst of the
description of the Canaanites' wild flight, shows that the words
refer, not like v. 15b ~ 17 to their failure to join the rising of the tribes,
but to their failure to help destroy the vanquished foe; cf. 7 24
8 5 - 9 - 15 - 17 . To the help of Yahweh as brave men] cf. v. 13 " Ps. 55 19
&c. Or, among the brave ;^[ not, against the valiant foe.** -
24. In contrast with the cowardice or perfidy of the men of
Meroz, the fearless devotion of Jael appears doubly glorious.
Blessed above women shall Jael be~\ the Hebrew superlative ; the
most blessed of them all. Above Bedawin women shall she be
blessed"] lit. women in the tent, tenting women ; cf. 8 11 Gen. 4 20
Jer. 35 7 , Arabic *ahlu-lwabar, the people of the hair-cloth tents,
Bedawin.tt The words, the wife of Heber the Kenite, are a gloss
derived from 4 17 , which entirely destroys the balance of the verse. Jt
25. The poet sets us before the door of Jael's tent, where
Sisera has paused a moment in his flight to beg a drink of water.
Water he asked, milk she gave~\ the pronouns are very effec-
tive ; no need to name the actors in this tragedy. In a bowl
fit for lords she handed him sour milk~\ a large milk bowl ; cf. 6 s8 .
The milk is artificially soured by being shaken for a few moments
* Kruse, Ew., Don., Vernes. f Justi, Krochmal, Boettger.
t See Ba., p. 452.
Deborah (4*) Kohl., Cass. ; Barak & (but the word is apparently a gloss), Ra.
|| Stud.; cf.Ke. H So most.
** Justi, Stud., Cass., Niebuhr. ff Schnur., Stud., al.
tt Bi., A. Miiller, Bu., Oettli. Professed metricians like Ley may find it sufficient
to call the unhappy verse a " decameter (catalectic ?) " I
V. 23-26 163
in the skin kept for the purpose, in which the portion adhering
to the inner surface of the skin from former occasions serves as
the ferment to sour the new milk. It is a most grateful and
refreshing drink, the best the Bedawin have to give.* 26. As
he was hastily draining the bowl, Jael seized some heavy object
that lay close at hand and felled him to the earth with a blow.
She reaches her hand to the pin~\ the word ordinarily means a
pin or peg, frequently, as in 4 21 , a tent pin ; or an implement
shaped like a peg (Dt. 23 13 Jud. i6 14 ). The words in the next
line which name or describe the weapon are very obscure. They
are generally translated, workmen's hammer^ comparing 4 21 ; but
it is extremely doubtful whether the Hebrew will bear this sense,
and the expression is certainly a strange one. The following
verbs make it clear that it was a heavy, blunt implement which
crushed Sisera's skull ; a mallet or hammer would be entirely
suitable in the context, but no light is thrown on the difficult
words. It is a question of more importance, whether in the two
lines two different weapons are meant, a pin and a mallet (?),
as in 4 21 ; or whether, as in the poetical parallelism is intrinsi-
cally not less probable, one weapon under two names or descrip-
tive epithets. In answering this question we cannot be governed
by the prose story (4 21 ), which is later than the Ode, and may
have followed a different tradition or even have originated in a
misunderstanding of 5 26a . \ The verbs in v. 26b speak of pounding,
smashing, rather than piercing ; and v. 27 seems to be decisive. It
describes the collapse of a man who, standing, receives a mortal
blow on the head ; not the writhing death agony of one who is
pinned to the ground ; see comm. there. Wellhausen thinks that
the pin is the handle of the mallet ; A. Miiller and others doubt
this. The uncertainty as to the precise nature of the implement
renders it doubtful what is meant by the pin ; but the main point
is not affected by this doubt. Jael used one weapon, not two.
And strikes Sisera a blow, destroys his head~\ puts it out of 'exist-
ence. The second verb not elsewhere in O.T. Smashes and
* Doughty, ArabiiT Deserta, i. p. 263, cf. ii. 304 ; so Schnur., al. The opinion
that the milk was intoxicating, see above, p. 125.
f Ki. ; smiths' hammer, Ew., al. after H; see crit. note.
% See above, p. no. See against this view, JBe. and Reuss.
1 64 JUDGES
demolishes his temple} lit. makes it vanish. The two lines are
symmetrical ; the first verb in each describes the act, the second
the result. In view of this symmetry we might be tempted to
conjecture that the name Sisera is a later addition ; she smote,
destroyed his head, &c. 27. At her very feet he sank down,
fell, lay still'] observe the effect of the asyndeton in the swift
succession of verbs. The interpreters who, in harmony with 4 21 ,
assume that Sisera was lying asleep, are compelled to do great
violence to these words. Bachmann candidly says that in accord-
ance with the usage of the three verbs elsewhere, singly or in con-
junction, they would be understood as they are translated above,
he went down on his knees, fell prostrate, and lay there dead ; *
but he feels constrained, in defiance of usage, to render instead,
he writhed, fell (i.e. died), lay there dead.f Others, to explain his
fall, imagine that Sisera was lying on a raised bed ! J The words,
at her very feet he sank down, fell, are accidentally repeated.
On the spot where he sank down, there he fell, killed'} lit. a victim
of violence.
23. rnn mx] the 2 pi. is addressed to the people. For Meroz <gAMO ai.
Mafcop; otherwise the tradition of the name is constant. inx nx] the inf.
abs. gives a strong emphasis, curse with all your might. "nx means, not
' revile, utter curses,' but ' blast with an efficacious curse.' Many have inferred
that the indignant Israelites destroyed the town (Be., Cass., Reuss; cf. E).
omaaa mm mij? 1 ?] it is perhaps better to pronounce omaja, in the character,
quality, of heroes; cf. n 35 , Ges. 25 p. 366. 24. Dimn Tpbn] opp. of "nx
Gen. I2 3 &c., is also not a benevolent wish, but an effective invocation. The
imperf. is stronger than the usual ptcp. nan a. As the verb with its pers. subj.
is necessarily definite, p has not merely comparative force (more blessed than
other women), but superlative (the most blessed). 25. ann Suoa] VCD
6 38t , not infrequent in MH., a bowl or basin, here probably of wood. || Beside
MH., the word xSfl'-D is found in Palestinian Aramaic, both Jewish (@[J er -
Nu. I5 7 ) and Christian (Evang. Hierosol., John I3 5 = varr-tip); in Assyr.
saplu (Schrader, KA T 2 . p. 20813) On Arab, sift see Fleischer, Kleiner e
Schriften, ii. p. 556 f.; Frank el, Aram. Lehnworter im Arab., p. 67. M.
Vernes, " cephel, coupe, appartient au chaldeen et au syriaque," makes the
reader rub his eyes, annx (v. 13 Nah. 3 18 Jer. I4 3 &c.), 'mighty men.' With
the notion of extraordinary strength that of extraordinary stature is naturally
* See also Stud. f Similarly many others ; see crit. note.
t Hollm., Rosenm., al. ; against this very absurd theory see Stud.
Reuss, A. Miiller, Bu. || See Burckhardt, Bedouins and Wahdbys, i. p. 46.
V. 26-27 165
connected, as e.g. in the case of Saul; and as a bowl for giants would be of
corresponding proportions, we should probably be not far .from the mind
of the author if we rendered, in a huge bowl ; cf. Sx mrj, *?N niN, &c. The
genitive is, however, not a mere circumscription of the adjective. HNDH]
parallel to uSn Dt. 32 14 Is. y 22 . It is not butter (versions and many), nor
cream (Stud., Ba., Be., Cass., al. mu.), neither of which is in accordance with
the usage of the word or the habits of Bedawin, but soured milk, the meat
and drink of the nomads (Schnur.). See Burckharclt, Bedoidns and Wahd-
bys, i. p. 239 f.; Doughty, AraMa Deserta, i. p. 263, 325, 382. 26. im 1 ? m>
runSpn] m> is parallel to n^o% as in Is. 48 13 Ps. 2i 9 26 10 &c. (Ba., We.); not
in distinction from it, her left hand <S1L, J. Kimchi, RLbG., Cler., Kohl.,
Hollm., Be., Ke., Oettli, al. mu.). njrbtwi is pointed as 3 pi. fern.* How the
punctuators construed this it is difficult to imagine; fortunately it is also
unnecessary. Most recent grammarians pronounce as 3 s. f. with suff. runStpn
(De Dieu, Cler., Schnur., Be., OL, Sta., Ges. 25 , K6., Bi., al.), taking m> as a
casus pendens ; her hand to the pin she reaches it. The versions show no
trace of this ending or suff. 2^?,v TOCSflf?] the ancient translators found these
words perplexing : ( AM g (cf. L ) exhibit eis oTroro/aas /cara^Trwv, apparently
meaning, " for the decapitation of exhausted men "; cf. ^ pDjxi pjwi -lamDV;
(gpv al. (O al. as doublet) I Tou eis re'Xos (o-'D 1 ?^ 1 ?) axpetwcrat. The commonly
received translation is that of Aquila, cts (npvpav KoirubvTuv (@ BGN ), H, ad
fabrorum malleos, & a to the carpenters hammer; that the weapon must be
a hammer or mallet seemed certain from 4 21 (nagsn). But although a deriva-
tive of D?n might, for all we know, be the name of a mallet, the form n-inSn
does not tolerate such an explanation. The afformative ut is, to say the least,
very rare in Old Hebrew, and is specifically the ending of secondary abstract
nouns, f much like tas in Latin, and never makes nomina instrumenti. Prob-
ably the punctuation intends a secondary development of the infinitive after
the Aramaic fashion, as ^C@ PVal - understand it; J but this is quite impossible.
We do not gain much by pronouncing rnnVn (It), for, assuming that nnSn
might mean ' mallet,' how many hammers are we to suppose that Jael used on
her guest's head? Finally, D^DJ! does not mean artisans (smiths, carpenters),
but men who are worn out, or wear themselves out, with toil and hardships;
* hammer of hard-working (or weary) men ' is a singular metonymy for a
heavy hammer! itfjo npnn] the verb, only here in O.T., is freq. in MH.
in the sense, * scrape off, efface, erase ' ; in Arab, mahaqa is ' destroy utterly,'
so that no trace of the thing remains, ' annihilate.' Most interpreters, assum-
ing that the word must be synonymous with the preceding noVn, translate,
smote, shattered, or Jhe like, frequently supporting the rendering by hazardous
etymologies; but the context does not require us to depart from the sense
* Other explanations may be found in the older grammars ; cf. Ges. Lgb., p. 800 ;
Bo. 929 5. The reading of 1 is defended by Hollm., Stud., Ba.
f See Barth, Nominalbildung, p. 413 f. J So Ra. ; D^VojJ means Sisera,
$ Cf. Ki., RLbG., JDMich., Herd., Stud., Ke., al.
166 JUDGES
which MH. and Arab, suggest and which the parallel clause confirms. nsrro
inpn nsSm] it seems preferable, with many codd., to omit the conjunction
before the first verb, frm ' smash, shatter ' by a heavy blow, as with a club or
mace, Ps. no 6 68 22 (the head) Dt. 33 11 (loins) Ps. i8 39 . The second verb,
nuVn, is usually translated pierced, transfixed, sc. with the pin (Versions, Ra.,
Ki., Cler., Schm., Hollm., Ew., and almost all recent scholars). Job 2O 24 is
alleged in support of this rendering; but the cases are not at all parallel. The
image of the swift arrow pursuing and overtaking the fleeing man is easily
connected with the ordinary usage of fjSnj that the shaft pierced his vitals is
implied by the following rather than said in insSnn. In Jud. 5 s6 there is no
such connexion ; it is impossible to associate making a hole in a man's head
with any sense in which we know the verb f?n in O.T. or the cognate
languages. Here again the meaning transfix has been invented to suit the
situation described in 4 21 . If 5 26 had been interpreted for itself, no one
would ever have thought of such a rendering. I take noSn to correspond to
nprin in the foregoing line, 'cause to pass away, vanish'; cf. the intrans. use
Is. 2 18 ; trans. Is. 24 5 (|| -ay, ion). 27. rnSn pa] the preposition need not
be taken literally; * it is more emphatic than SN or hy. Schnur. and others
compare the Arab, idiom, &(X? i>^> in his presence, &c.; but it may be
doubted whether the expressions are really parallel. 33B> Sflj jro] the first
two verbs together Ps. 2O 9 cf. Is. io 4 ; jna and aae> Nu. 24. jna is prop. bend
the knees,' kneel, or crouch, squat on the heels; cf. Jud. 7 5 - 6 I S. 4 19 2 K. I 13
&c.; said of a mortally wounded man whose knees fail under him 2 K. 9 24 .
That it could be used of the spasmodic drawing up the legs, as of a man who
while lying received a death wound,f is not inconceivable; it is the sequence
Soj J?-D which makes this impossible, *?flj is indeed not infrequently used (esp.
in the ptcp.) of one who is prostrate on the ground (3 s5 IQ 27 I S. 3i 8 &c.),
but only of one who has fallen (A. M tiller). Tnis>] a victim of violence.
The vb. of persons Jer. 5 6 Ps. 17', cf. Pual (of nations) Jer. 4 13 &c.
28-30. In Sisera's palace. With the vision of the king lying
dead at the feet of his slayer still before our eyes, the poet
transports us to Sisera's palace, where the queen-mother is
anxiously watching for her son's return. The presentiment of
evil which she herself stifles ; the sanguine confidence of the
ladies of her court, who see in imagination the division of the
booty, an Israelite maiden or two for each man, and abundance
* Stud., Reuss, al., e.g. imagine that she held his head between her knees while
she drove the pin into his temple ; cf. Donaldson. The Haggada (Jebam., io3 a )
gives the words an obscene sense.
f Cler., Ba., al. mu. ; Schm., incurvavit se, quasi se de terra erecturus ; sed
erectus aliquousque, rursus concidit et jacuit. Similarly Schnur., Cass., Oettli, al.
V. 28-29 1 67
of the richly dyed and embroidered stuffs which they themselves
prize so highly ^- all this is depicted with inimitable skill. Their
light-hearted anticipations form a striking contrast to the ill-sup-
pressed forebodings of the mother's heart, and the whole scene pro-
duces on the reader, who knows the ghastly reality, an incomparable
effect. Lowth * justly says that there is nothing in literature more
perfect in its kind than these verses. It is only modern senti-
mentality that can discover in this passage the note of a woman's
pity for the mother of the fallen king. It is the pitilessness of
triumph ; we need not say, the exultation of gratified revenge.|
28. Through the window she peered~\ the effect of the tran-
sition is heightened by this postponement of the explicit subject
to the second clause ; the reader must himself feel who this
anxious woman is (cf. v. 23 ) . The verb rendered peer is used of
one who, leaning forward, looks down on something below him ;
cf. 2 S. 6 16 Nu. 23^ &c. The meaning of the next verb (EV.
cried} } is doubtful ; the root is not found elsewhere in the O.T.
In Aramaic it means, sound the trumpet, raise a clamour, in war
or jubilee ; in one instance in MH. it seems to be used of the
clamorous cry of the mourning women ; but neither of these
senses is appropriate here, || and for the sake of the parallelism,
especially in these interlocked lines, we desiderate a synonym of
the preceding peer, as (i AaL & render ; see crit. note. Through
the lattice-window} the translation is conventional ; we know the
word, which occurs here and in Prov. 7, only as a synonym for
window. Why does his chariot corps fail to come ? Why tarry
the hoof-beats of his chariots ?~\ the first sign of the return of the
warriors would be the distant sound of horses feet; cf. v. 22 .
29. The sages t of her princesses answer~\ there is a fine irony in
the allusion to the wisdom of these ladies, whose prognostications
were so wide of the truth. The next line is very variously inter-
preted. Many recent commentators make it parenthetic, but
* De sacra poesi Hebraeorum,^. 118-120 ; cf. also Herder, Briefe, das Studium
der Theologie betreffend, jter Brief. f See Herder.
J Cler. (exclamavif) , Hollm.; Be., Ke., Reuss, al. ; others interpret more defi-
nitely, ululavit (11), heulet (Lth.), similarly RLbG., Ew., al. mu.
$ If the text be sound ; see crit. note.
|| In the first it is taken by Schultens, Lette, al. (joyous anticipation of victory).
1 68 JUDGES
she (sc. the mother) kept repeating her words to herself,* con-
stantly reverting to her foreboding questionings. I prefer, with
older scholars, to translate, Yea, she herself replies to herself; f
she tries to silence her presentiment by the same kind of answer
which her sage companions give her. 30. No doubt they are
finding, dividing booty~\ lit. are they not; the tenses depict the
scene. Cf. Is. p 3 . A wench or a couple of them for each man\
a coarse word seems to be intentionally employed. Women
captives were the slaves of the captors; cf. Dt. 2i 10-14 . In the
remainder of the verse some awkward repetitions mar both the
rhythm and the sense. It is clear only that richly dyed and
embroidered stuffs are meant, in the distribution of which the
women of Sisera's harem had a keen interest. \ Reuss, by omit-
ting the intrusive words, restores the verses : Booty of dyed stuffs
for Sisera ; A piece of embroidered work or two for the neck of
the booty. || The last words cannot be right ; it is absurd to
imagine that the victors used these rich stuffs to deck out for the
triumphal procession the beasts they had taken ;^T and if the
meaning were that they adorned with them the shoulders of their
fair captives,** these would hardly be called simply the booty, nor
would this word be used in one line for the dyed stuffs themselves,
and in the next for the prisoners "who are arrayed in them.ft The
parallelism would lead us to expect here a designation of the
person or persons for whom these costly prizes were destined,
corresponding to the words, for Sisera, in the first half of the
verse. Ewald very ingeniously conjectured, for the neck of the
queen, \ \ changing but one letter of the text. Reuss, supposing
the queen mother to be speaking, emends, for my shoulders. In
the general disorder of the text in this verse, it is impossible to
* Lth., Evv., Be., Ke., Oettli.
t Ra., Cler., Schm., JDMich., Kohl., Stud., Cass. Others, she replied to the
one of the ladies who spoke (Hollm.) ; or took back her words of doubt (Schnur.,
Justi).
% Lowth quotes Aen. xi. 782, Femineo praedae et spoliorum ardebat amore.
So A. Miiller. Bickell reconstructs differently ; see crit. note.
|| Reuss, for my neck ; see below.
f JHMich., Schnur., Rosenm., al.; cf. i S. 1518.
** Schm. (alt.), Justi, Rod., Ba., Cass., Ke!
ft Embroidered ornaments for the neck of the dyed garments ; Schm., Cler.
It Be., Oettli, Renan, Kautzsch.
V. 29-31 169
feel much confidence in any restoration. 31. With consummate
art the poet breaks off, leaving to the imagination of the reader,
who knows all, the terrible revelation of the truth. S0 shall
perish all thine enemies, Yahweh~\ cf. Ps. 68 2 - 3 92. The one
word so brings it all before our eyes again ; how proudly they
marched out under the admiring eyes of their ladies ; how gaily
they rode into the fray ; the repulse, the defeat, the panic the'
wild flight sauve qui petit; the king's death by a woman's
hand, disgrace worse than death ; the anguish and dismay of those
who loved him. So perish all thine enemies ! But his friends *
shall be as when the sun rises in his might~\ splendid, invincible ;
vanquishing, annihilating the darkness of the night, the mists of
dawn. No more fitting or impressive figure could be conceived ;
cf. Ps. i9 5f- . And the land enjoyed security for forty years~\ the
chronological note of the editor of the book ; cf. 3".
28. p"?nn i?2] Gen. 26 8 Jos. 2 15 i S. i9 12 Joel 2 9 . aavn] 2^ is in all the
Targums the usual equivalent of Heb. ynn, the noun torn of nynn; f but in
the places where j?nn means ' cry out in terror or anguish' (Is. 15* Mi. 4 9 ) it is
not rendered by aa% nor is such a sense demonstrable in Syriac. Under these
circumstances it is unsafe to base an interpretation on Jerus. Jebamoth, xv. 5
(fol. I5 d ; ed. Sitomir fol. 78 a ) o^ncn pa viaa^D njjipcn Sip; Tos. Jebam.,
xiv. 7 (ed. Zuckerm. p. 25913), reads imarc. AL % (sub aster.) J have here
KaTendvdavev (elsewhere used for verbs of seeing, gazing), C xp^c 'looked
attentively'; which might lead to the conjecture that they read taari\ More
probably they were guided only by the context. Menahem and Ra. seek an
etymological connexion with naa 'pupil of the eye.' The tense of aami
conforms to the regular sequence of tenses in prose; but has no parallel in
the Ode (cf. Ex. 15), and makes a most prosaic impression. || ajaN] we
know the word only as a synonym of fV?n. The rendering lattice comes from
(gALMO al. e I g 5i<i TTJS diKTvwTTJs. The etymology which has done duty since
Lette (Roed. in Ges. Thes., MV., al.), connecting the word with Arab.
Manila ' it (the day) was cool,' is phonetically impossible.^ Other interpreters
think of a narrow window, loop-hole in the wall; so (BGN KT fo T0 o TOJ-IKOV.
* 1LS thy friends.
f Not quite as constantly in the prophets proper as in other books.
J This reading has been displaced in many other codd. by a doublet. BGN V ac.
So edd. VeneU-2 and codd. Br. Mus.; xp>nn (Buxt., al.) is mispointed. Ki.
cites spr-nxi as the reading of & ; the sense would be the same.
|| Cf. Dr8. \ 132 n.
If It is almost a pity these etymologists did not think of the modern Arabic
meaning ofsanab, ' moustaches.'
JUDGES
o is stronger than noV, 'why in the world'. C"j'j cf. Ex. .32*,
disappoint the expectation of his coming, fail to come (cf. note on 3'- 5 ) ; here
parallel to inx ' put off, delay '. -nn] on the form of the Pi. see Ges. 25 p. 1 70
n. 3; Ko. i. p. 397. vniaaiD ivyo] Bi. makes the prosaic observation, currus
non facit gressus, and cancels IDJ?Q ! 29. nijyn rpnna> niDDn] * with the
superlative cf. Dt. 33 Is. 19" &c., Ges. 25 133, 3 n. I. The verb is pro-
nounced as 3 s. f. with suff. 3. s. f. But this discord of number is intolerable;
we should pronounce nrjyn 3 pi. f., and suppose that the object pronoun was
omitted, being easily supplied from rh in the next line. An alternative would
be to pronounce the noun mean,! the wisdom of her princesses answers her.
The abstract noun may be followed by the singular verb as in Prov. g 1 , and
we should be able to retain the suff. in rujyn. On the whole, however, the
former construction is probably the safer one here. rh nnnx a>8Ti XTI ^K]
onoK a v J>n 'answer', like nan awi; cf. Prov. 22 21 r\rhvh onDK a^nS. The
suffix is unusual, but not against the logic of speech ; J on the contrary, it
seems altogether suitable to the emphasis on the reflexiveness of the action ;
she returns her answer to herself. It is unnecessary, with Bi., to substitute for
the last pronoun n^'fljV. This is the only interpretation of the words that
preserves the parallelism, which is rudely disturbed by making them a par-
enthetic circumstantial clause; and it is also much more like the poet to
make the anxious mother catch at the straw of hope that shall so cruelly
disappoint, rather than with too true foresight reject the reasonable answer
of her ladies. 30. ixxr^ xSn] the question carries the affirmation into the
mind of the hearer; cf. 4 6 - 14 &c. Note the force of the tense, they are ever
finding fresh booty. D>PEm Dm cf. I5 16 Is. 17 Am. I 3ff - and similar colloca-
tions of consecutive numbers to indicate that the numeral is to be taken
loosely. Here it gives the effect of a certain lordly disregard, a wench or
two, what matter, more or less? orn, only here in Heb., is used by Mesha of
Moab (1. 17) in recounting the captives he had taken from Israel. It is
probable that this is a tropical use of the word Dm 'womb'; cf. the con-
temptuous cunnus for woman in Latin. || "m biri?] per capita. In this
sense rbh) is common in later Heb. (P and Chr.); ~uj (Mesha 1. 16) is
rare in old Heb. prose except in the distributive phrase cnaj 1 ? (Jos. 714.17.18
i S. io 21 <); cf. Ex. lo 11 I2 37 (?) Dt. 22 5 &c. D^-ax y?e>j booty of dyes,
for dyed stuffs; cf. MH. a^iyax ^XL Jer. Kethub. t vii. 7 (fol. 31, ed. Sitomir
fol. 4i a ). Bi. omits o^ax "?Sts> inD^D 1 ?; Reuss and Miiller om. o^ax hhv and
* Norzi prefers nj>j?n as the reading of old and correct codd.; so ed. Venet.
1547 al. The Massora (Ochla we-Ochla, No. 369) treats it as a plur.; cf. Dikduke
55 ; Ko. i. p. 547, 559 f. As sg. it is rendered by JLuna sapientior ceteris uxori-
bus; cf. Ki., each one.
t The same change is rightly made by Hitz., De., al. in Prov. 14!, cf. 9!.
jBa.
Of the versions only H has come near the true sense; the words are rightly
interpreted by Ra., Ki., Lth., Schm., Cler., al. || Hor., Sat. i. 3,107.
V. 28-31 I/ 1
pax two words further on. nnpl] Ez. i6 13 Ps. 45 15 &c.; embroidery, in which
patterns were worked with a needle in various colours.* The name, which
apparently signifies ' variegated,' may also include stuffs woven in patterns of
different colours. f How such things were prized is to be seen from 2 S. I 24 ,
where also spoils of war are perhaps meant. The dual o>riDjn does not mean
6 embroidered on both sides,' but ' a couple of pieces of embroidery,' precisely
as in n^nnm above. SSi5> nwixS] Ew. conj. VJIP, queen (Ps. 45 10 Neh. 2 6 ).
The pi. nw is not conclusive against this (A. Miiller) ; cf. Gen. 27 16 46 29 45 14
&c. W. Green suggested hhw nsisS, for the neck of him that takes the spoil,
sc. Sisera; cf. S), RLbG., Buxt., Tremell., Hollm., al. Teller, Don., conj.
j Reuss, Briggs, al. SSt^nNixb, for.my neck, as a spoil; E. Meier msix 1 ?
(De Sacy nxix*?), cf. <{ABai.. Q, ad ornanda colla, Bu. reconstructs
DTiDp-( nnpn VSiP NID^D*? oiyax yax ^hv. 31. E. Meier regarded this
verse as a later addition to the Ode, on account of its contents and because
it has no place in the system of strophes, i.e. of Meier's strophes. Winter
also (ZATIV. ix. 1889, p. 223 ff.) strongly doubts its genuineness. To him
the idea expressed in vanx is a stumbling block. Observe the paronomasia
in iiaw and vans.
Translation of the Ode. \
2. While . . . . in Israel,
While the people offer freely, bless ye Yahweh.
3. Hear, ye kings; give ear, ye rulers:
I, to Yahweh I will sing,
Will hymn to Yahweh, Israel's God.
4. Yahweh, when thou wentest forth from Seir,
Marchedst from the region of Edom,
The earth quaked, the heavens swayed (?);
The clouds dripped water, .
5. The mountains streamed before Yahweh,
Before Yahweh, the God of Israel.
6. In the days of Shamgar ben Anath, caravans ceased,
And wayfarers travelled by roundabout paths.
7. Hamlets (?) ceased in Israel,
ceased,
Till thou didst arise, Deborah,
Till thou didst arise, a matron in Israel.
*Joma l 7&>, sub fin.; Ki. Comm.; Schroeder, de vestitu mulierum, p. 221 f.;
Braun, de vestitu sacerdotum, ed. za., p. 301 ff.
f Ki. Lex. s.v. Many scholars think that woven stuffs are exclusively meant;
see Hartmann, Hebrderin, i. p. 401 ff. ; iii. p. 138 ff.
J This translation is ancillary to the preceding interpretation, and is as literal as
possible. No attempt has been made to produce a literary version of the poem,
or to imitate its rhythm.
172 JUDGES
8. .
Shield was not to be seen, nor spear,
Among forty thousand in Israel.
9. My heart turns to the marshals (?) in Israel,
Those who freely offer among the people, bless ye Yahvveh.
10
ii.
Then marched down to the gates the people of Yahweh.
12. Rouse thee, rouse thee, Deborah, strike up the song;
Up, Barak, and take thy captives, son of Abinoam.
13
The people of Yahweh marched down for him as heroes.
14. . . Ephraim
Benjamin
From Machir marched down truncheon-bearers,
And from Zebulun those who lead with the muster-master's staff.
15. And . . . Issachar with Deborah;
And .... Barak . .
Among the divisions of Reuben were great discussions.
1 6. Why didst thou sit still among the dung-heaps,
Listening to the calling of the flocks?
17. Gilead remained beyond the Jordan;
And Dan, why does he seek the protection of the ships?
Asher sat still on the shore of the Great Sea,
And remained by its landing-places.
18. Zebulun is a tribe that recklessly exposed itself to death,
And Naphtali, on the heights of the open field.
19. The kings came, they fought;
Then fought the kings of Canaan,
At Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo;
Gain of silver they did not make !
20. From heave'n fought the stars,
From their paths they fought with Sisera.
21. The stream of Kishon swept them away,
The stream of
22. Then were battered the heels of the horses,
From the gallop galloping of his steeds.
23. Curse ye Meroz, saith the Messenger of Yahweh,
Curse ye bitterly its inhabitants,
vi.-vm. 173
Because they came not to the help of Yahweh,
To the help of Yahweh, like brave men.
24. Blessed above all women shall Jael be,
Above all nomad women shall she be blessed.
25. Water he asked, milk she gave;
In a bowl for lords she brought him sour milk.
26. Her hand to the pin she reaches,
And her right hand to the
And hammers, destroys his head,
Smashes and demolishes his temple.
27. At her very feet he sank down, fell at full length, lay still;
On the spot where he sank down, there he fell, killed.
28. Through the window peered
The mother of Sisera through the lattice :
Why does his chariotry fail to come?
Why tarry the footfalls of his chariots?
29. The sagest of her princesses reply,
Yea, she answers her own question :
30. No doubt they are finding, dividing booty;
A wench or two for each man,
Booty of dyed stuffs for Sisera,
A piece of embroidery or two for the neck of .
31. So shall perish all thine enemies, Yahweh !
But his friends shall be as when the sun rises in his power.
VI.-VIII. Gideon delivers Israel from the Midianites. The
Israelites again offend Yahweh, who allows the Midianites to harry
them for seven years. At every harvest time the Bedawin hordes
come down upon them and strip the land bare (6 1 " 6 ). The cause
of this punishment is explained by a prophet (v. 7 ~ 10 ). The
Messenger of Yahweh appears to Gideon and summons him to
free Israel from the incursions of Midian (v. 11 ' 24 ). At the bidding
of Yahweh, Gideon destroys the altar of the Baal of the place
and cuts down and burns the sacred post (asheraJi) ; he is saved
from the vengeance of his towns-folk by the shrewd speech of his
father (v. 25 ' 32 ) . The Midianites again invade the land, and encamp
in the Plain of Jezreel. Gideon raises his clansmen of Abiezer,
also the rest of Manasseh, Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali ; he is
assured by a miracle that Yahweh will save Israel by his hand
(v. 33 ' 40 ). At the command of Yahweh his force is reduced to ten
thousand, and then, by a singular test, to three hundred men
1 74 JUDGES
(7 1 " 8 ). Encouraged by an ominous dream which he heard a
Midianite telling to his tent-mate (v. 9 ' 14 ), he furnishes his three
hundred men with torches, earthen jars, and horns", and surrounds
and alarms the camp of Midian, which breaks up in wild flight
(v. 15 ' 22 ) . While he follows them up, the Ephraimites head them
off in the valley of the Jordan and slay the two chiefs (v. 23 * 25 ).
Having appeased the jealousy of the Ephraimites (8 1 ' 3 ), he pur-
sues the Midianites across the Jordan. The people of Succoth
and Penuel refuse him food and are threatened with dire ven-
geance (v. 4 " 9 ). He surprises the foe where they thought them-
selves secure and captures the two kings (v. 10 " 12 ). Returning in
triumph, he visits exemplary punishment on Succoth and Penuel
(v. 13 " 17 ), and puts to death his prisoners to avenge his slain kinsmen
(v. 18 ' 21 ). He refuses the kingdom which his grateful countrymen
offer him (v. 22 ^), but takes the golden ornaments they have
stripped from the slain and from their camels to make an idol
(ephod), which he sets up at Ophrah (v. 24 - 27 ). The Midianites
are quelled and dare not lift their heads again ; the land is secure
for forty years (v. 28 ). The story closes with a brief notice of
Gideon's family (v. 29 - 32 ) and of the relapse of Israel after his
death (v. 33 " 35 ), which forms the connexion with the story of
Abimelech, ch. 9.
Studer (1835) called attention to the fact that 8 4ff - is not the
sequel of the foregoing narrative. In 7 24f - the Midianites are
intercepted in their flight by the Ephraimites, and the two
chiefs, Oreb and Zeeb, killed. When Gideon, who is in pursuit
of them, comes up, the Ephraimites inveigh violently against him
because they were not summoned at the beginning, and are only
appeased by his flattering comparison of their achievement with
his own : Is not the gleaning of Ephraim better than the vintage
of Abiezer? God has given into your hands the two chiefs of
Midian what have I been able to do to compare with you ? The
quarrel itself, and especially Gideon's reply, show that the pursuit
was over; vintage and gleaning were both complete. In 8 4 " 21 , on
the contrary, we find Gideon and his three hundred men following
the retreating marauders across the Jordan, with such uncertain
prospect of success that the townsmen of Succoth and Penuel
scofiftngly refuse to furnish the food he needs for his hungry men.
VL-VIII. 175
He pushes on, surprises the camp of the Bedawin, and makes pris-
oners the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna. Nothing can
be clearer than that 8 4 ' 21 is not from the same source as 8 1 " 3 with
its premises in the preceding narrative. Closer examination shows
that ch. 6, 7 are not of one piece throughout ; 6F ff< , e.g., is not the
continuation of 6 11 " 24 ; the second sign, 6 36 " 40 , is strange after the
miracle 6 21 ; compare also 6 s4 with 6 s5 7 2 ~ 8 , and on the other hand
6 s5 with 7 23f - 8 1 .* The question thus arises whether those parts of
ch. 6 1 -8 3 which obviously do not belong to the principal narrative
are additions made to the old story by the author of the Book
of Judges or later editors ; f or whether two stories have been
united by a redactor. J In the latter case we have further to
inquire whether the antecedents of 8 4 " 21 are to be found in either
of these sources, or whether we have to recognize in 8 4ff- the end
of a third story, whose beginning has been entirely supplanted.
Finally, it is to be asked whether any one, or all, of the sources
of these chapters can be identified with the old books of Israelite
history which are used in the composition of the Hexateuch. ||
These questions are as yet far from a definitive solution; the
attempt which is made below can claim only the character and
value of a critical experiment.
On the critical problems of ch. 6-8, see Studer, p. 212-215; Wellhausen,
Camp., p. 223-228; Prol z . y p. 250 ff.; Bertheau, p. xxii. f., 129 ff.; Stade,
GVI. i. p. 181-192; Bohme, ZATW. v. p. 251 ff.; Kuenen, HCO*. i. p. 343 f.,
346 ff.; Budde, Richt. u. Sam., p. 107-125; Cornill, Einl"., p. 95 f.; Kittel,
Stud. u. Krit., 1892, p. 55-60; GdH. i. 2. p. 71-74; Winckler, Altorienta-
lische Forschungen, p. 42 ff. In regard to the main narrative in 6 1 -8 3 , the
differences among the critics named above are not very great. Wellhausen
leaves to it 6 1 - 21 - 1 ^ 7 1 - s- 25 8 1 - 3 , and the original account of the making of the
ephod in 8 22ff -. Stade defines it somewhat more precisely, assigning to it the
basis of Rd's introduction in 6 1 - 6 , 6 11 - 22 *- sat yi. 9-25 gi-3.** Kitt. : 6 2 -^- u- 24 - * 3 6 - 40
yi. 9-11. 13-25 gi-3. 24-27a t j| The remainder of the chapters consists, according to
all these critics, of additions by different hands and of different dates; 8 4 - 21 is
* See We., Comp., p. 223-226; Sta., GVI. i. p. 181 ff.
t We.,. Sta., Kiie., Kitt.
J Be., Bu., Go. So all the critics cited. || Bohme, Bu., Co.
If Of course excepting the traces of the editor's hand in the introduction.
** 722 i s not all from one hand; v. 25b a harmonistic addition,
ffr Except the last words of 6 s {the Amalekites and Bene Qedem) ; 7^-22 has
been retouched.
176 JUDGES
from a second source, from which ch. 9 also is derived.* Bu., whose analysis
is adopted by Cornill, finds in ch. 6 1 -8 S two sources united by a redactor; viz.,
J 62b-6a. 11-24 j. yl. 9-11. 13.* 14.* 15-22.* 23-25 gl-3. 29 . 67-10. 25-32. 36-40. fo fte first
editor (Rje) he ascribes extensive additions in 6 2 ' 6 , interpolations in 6 11 - 20 ,
635 ^2-8. ia t the introduction of the horns in 7^-22, perhaps the latter part of 8 27 ;
to Rd the characteristic phrases in 6 1 - 2a 8 28 , perhaps the end of 8 27 . Ch. 8 4 - 21
is the end of an independent story, which is not, however, an irreconcilably
divergent account of the events narrated in 6 1 -8 3 , but relates to an entirely
different occurrence. Bu. rightly declares against the exaggerated contrast
drawn by previous critics between 8 4 " 21 and 6 ! -8 3 , which makes the latter
historically worthless. J It is assumed by all these critics, beginning with
Wellhausen, that the antecedents of the story 8 4 " 21 cannot be found in 6 1 -8 3 .
The postulates of the former are, it is said, of a wholly different kind. Instead
of following a divine call to deliver Israel, Gideon has, like Barak (5 12 ), a
personal wrong to avenge; the Midianites in a foray have killed his brothers
(8 18f> ). To avenge their blood he raises his kinsmen of Abiezer, pursues the
Bedawin across the Jordan, overtakes and surprises them on the border of the
desert, and makes them pay the penalty. The motive, the actors, the scene
of the action, are different. But, on the other hand, the resemblances between
the two stories are not less striking; the Abiezrites (6 84 ), the three hundred
men (7 8 ), the two chiefs or kings of Midian whose names sound so suspi-
ciously alike, are the real actors in both. The pursuit across the Jordan and
surprise in their own desert does not exclude a previous night alarm and flight
like that narrated in 7 15ff -. That Gideop had a wrong of his own to avenge,
is not incompatible with the representation that he was called of God to
deliver Israel from the scourge; the sharp severing of natural and religious
motives is more in the manner of the modern critic than of the ancient story-
teller. On the other hand, especially if 6 1 -8 3 are regarded as composite
(Bu., Co.), it is very inconvenient to have 8 4 ' 21 left over; such a remainder
may not unfairly be deemed a failure of the solution. The attempt may
therefore be made to discover the beginnings of the narrative 8 4 " 21 in the
preceding chapters. || They are, of course, not to be found in that strand of
the story which ends with 7 24 -8 3 , with which 8 29 appears to connect imme-
diately. The account of the night attack on the camp of Midian, 7^-22, is
composite; the horns are not introduced by the redactor (from Jericho; Bu.),
but belong to a different version of the story.1| In one account the panic is
caused by the shattering of earthen jars, the sudden flashing out of hundreds
of torches, the war-cry, For Yahweh and Gideon ! The Midianites flee in
* On the latter point Kitt. expresses himself guardedly ; cf. also Kue.
t After the removal of some editorial interpolations ; see below.
t Cf. also Kitt., GdH. i. 2. p. 73 n. \ Cf. 85 ; Kue.
|| Compare Winckler, who regards 6l-8 as composite (JE) ; S 4 - 22 as a homo-
geneous extract from J added by a later hand. As in 312-30 (Ehud), I am unable
to follow his analysis. If Be. ; see below on 7^.
vi. i 177
wild disorder (v. 21 ). In the other the camp is alarmed by horns on every
side sounding the attack; the Midianites, in the darkness thinking that the
Israelites are upon them, lay wildly about them and kill one another (v. 22 ).*
The antecedents of these two accounts are easily discoverable in 7 1 ' 15 ; 7 2 ' 8
belongs to the trumpet version of the story; Gideon's reconnoissance, 7 9 - 14 , to
the other. In ch. 6, Budde's analysis may in the main be followed. Accord-
ingly we have : J, part of the older material incorporated in 6 2 " 6 , 6 11 " 24 - 34
yi: 9-ii. 13-15^-j. fjjg version of the stratagem in v. 16 " 20 in which the jars and
torches appear, v. 21 , part of v. 22b describing the direction of the flight, 8 4 ~ 21 ,
v .24-27a substantially, v. 30 * 1 - : for E, 6 2 - 6 in part, 6 7 - 10 - *& 32 - &, [the call of
Gideon to deliver Israel], v. 36 - 40 , v. 35 * (Manasseh), 7 2 ~ 8 , that version of v. 16 - 20
in which the horns play the chief part, vV-> (in part), v. 23 (?) 24f - 8 1 - 3 - 29 -
In ascribing this part of the story to E, I do not affirm that it is all by one
hand; 6 7 ' 10 , e.g., seems to be one of those secondary pieces which we so often
find in E contexts, both in the Hexateuch and the Books of Samuel. The
editorial additions in ch. 6-8 (9) are not very extensive or important.
1-6. The Israelites offend Yahweh; he allows the Midian-
ites to overrun and plunder them for seven years. In this
introduction the familiar phrases of D appear in v. L 6b ; his hand
is also probably to be recognized in certain notes of exaggeration
in v. 2 " 5 . The substance of v. 2 ~ 6a must be derived from the old
story which runs through the following chapters. The verses are,
however, much overloaded, and it is probable that more than one
source has been put under contribution.
1. Introductory formulas of the editor ; see on 2 1L 14 . Midian\
the most important of a group of tribes in N.W. Arabia which the
Israelite historians reckoned to their own race (Abraham), though
not of the full blood (the concubine Keturah, Gen. 25 1 ' 6 J), and a
step farther removed than the Ishmaelites. The land of Midian,
i.e. the district occupied by the settled part of the tribe, was in
the northern Higaz, east of the Gulf of 'Aqabah, where a town
of the name lay. The nomad branches of the tribe wandered
northward along the margin of the desert, making forays into
the pastures and cultivated tracts of Edom, Moab, \ and Gilead,
and even pouring across the Jordan into Western Palestine.
* See also Winckler, p. 50 f.
f Disregarding minor traces of the editor's hand. J Cf. Gen. 36 35 .
On the wanderings or migrations of modern Arab tribes to the north, see
Doughty, Arabia Deserta, i. 271 f. ; especially the wide range of the 'Anezy, ib.
p. 330 ff.
178 JUDGES
Seven years'} on the chronology see Introduction 7. 2. The
power of Midian prevailed over Israel'} 3 cf. 3 12 ; words of the
editor who transforms the annual forays of the Bedawin into a
subjugation and seven years' oppression.* To the same hand
belongs v. 6b , and, in part at least, the amplification of v 2 ' 5 - For
safety from Midian they made the . . . which are in the hills, and
the caves, and the fastnesses'} cf. i. Sam. i3 6 . The word which is
omitted in the translation must in the context mean a place of
concealment or security; its precise signification is unknown.
The meaning ravines, gorges, ascribed to it in the lexicons rests
solely on an absurd etymology. The author thus accounts for the
abandoned hill-forts and rock dwellings scattered over the land,
which perhaps were really the work of a more primitive popula-
tion. Many remains of this sort are still found east of the Jordan.
3-5. The yearly inroads of the Bedawin robbed the Israelitish
peasants of the fruit of their toil and greatly impoverished them.f
The verses are not a unit, as appears not only from the awk-
ward surplusage, but from the false sequence of tenses. This
redundancy is not altogether due to editorial amplification ; both
the sources from which the following chapters are derived must
have had such an introduction, and probably both have been
drawn upon here. 3. The disorder of the text is sufficiently
shown by a literal translation : Whenever Israel had sown, Midian
used to come up, and Amalek and the Bene Qedem, and (they)
used to come up against it (Israel). 4. And they encamped
against them (Israel) and destroyed, &c. The confusion of tenses,
which in English is only awkward, is in Hebrew ungrammatical.
The Amalekites are Bedawin whom we generally meet in the
deserts south of Palestine; the Bene Qedem, as their name
imports, come from the east, the great Syrian desert. The intro-
duction of the names here is very likely an exaggeration of the
editor ; cf. on 3 13 . It is possible, however, that the exaggeration
already existed in E ; cf. v. 33 7 12 . Of the rest, we may surmise
that the frequentative tenses come from one source (?E), the
narrative aorists from the other. Following this clue it is possible
* See Introduction 6, and above on 312-30 (p. QQ).
f Similar incursions of tribes east of the Delta into Egypt, Burckhardt, Syria,
P- 558 f-
vi. 2-6 179
to construct out of the verses two tolerably complete parallel
accounts ; but the combination can be made in more than one
way, and we cannot feel any confidence that our analysis thus
recovers the sources. Cf. also y 12 . As far as the vicinity of
Gaza~\ in the extreme south-west. And they would not leave
any thing to live on in Israel] frequentative tenses, as in v. 3 *.
And sheep and ox and ass~\ Jos. 6 21 i S. 22 19 ; sc. they would not
leave. The words may be a gloss to the preceding subsistence.
5. The duplication of clauses and confusion of tenses continues.
Locusts afford an effective figure for the swarming, hungry
hordes of invaders ; Quid enim locustis innumerabilius et fortius,
quibus humana industria resistere non potest.* 6. Israel was
greatly reduced by reason of Midian~\ cf. 2 S. 3 1 . The second
half of the verse is editorial ; cf. on 3 9 . Observe Bene Israel (as
in v. 1 ) in contrast to Israel v. a .
1. The name Midian appears in the towns Modlava or MoSoOm, Ptol.,
vi. 7, 2, and Ma5/xa (further inland) vi. 7, 27; cf. Euseb., OS 2 . 27653. f
According to the Arab geographers, it lay five days south of Ailah on the
eastern side of the Red Sea. J In the Hexateuch, E brings Moses before
the Exodus into intimate relations with Jethro, the priest of Midian (Ex. 2 15f -
i8 lff -> The Mountain of God (Horeb) was in the land of Midian (Ex. 3 1 ) ;
thither Moses led the people from Egypt. Though it is not expressly stated,
the narrative of E hardly leaves room for doubt that the Midianites wor-
shipped Yahweh at Horeb before Moses ; and the name mrr, till then
unknown to the Israelites and having no natural etymology in their lan-
guage, is perhaps of Midianite origin. Close relations between Israel and
Midian are also indicated by the recurrence of Midianite clan names in Judah,
Reuben, and East Manasseh. || The Midianites appear as caravan traders
(Gen. 3728-86 is. 6o 6 ); nomads dwelling in tents (Hab. 3 7 ). The latest
stratum of the narrative of the Exodus (p) brings Israel into conflict with
the Midianites in the plains of Moab shortly before the crossing of the
* Jerome, on Joel i 6 .
f See also i K. ni8.
J Le Strange, Palestine under the Moslems, p. 497 f. On modern Midian, see
Burton, Gold Mines of Midian, 1878 ; Land of Midian, 1879.
In P Sinai. According to Yaqut, Tur SIna is the name, ' in the language of
the Nabataeans,' of a mountain near Madyan, which is an extension of the range
above Ailah. See Le Strange, I.e. p. 73.
|| Noldeke, BL. iv. p. 218. Epha, Gen. 25*, is in i Chr. 2 46 a concubine of
Caleb ; 2 47 a son of Jahdai (in Judaean clan list) ; Epher, i Chr. 4 17 (Judah) 5 24
fEast Manasseh) ; Hanoch, Gen. 468 (Reuben).
180 JUDGES
Jordan (Nu. 25 6 - 18 31 Jos. I3 21 ). Nu. 25 6 - 18 is a substitute for the fragment-
ary story of the offence at Baal Peor, Nu. 25 1 - 5 (JE) ; and, with its sequel
ch. 31, has no historical worth; the introduction of the sheikhs of Midian in
Nu. 22 4 - 7 is probably harmonistic. To judge from the echoes in the later
literature, the defeat of the Midianites narrated in Jud. ch. 6-8 must have
been most disastrous. "The day of Midian" is for Isaiah (9 3 , cf. io 26 ; also
Ps. 83 10 - 12 ) synonymous with a signal and irretrievable catastrophe. It has
often been surmised, though without any very good grounds, that the defeat
inflicted upon them by Hadad of Edom (Gen. 36 35 ) fell about the same time.
After the time of the Judges the Midianites scarcely reappear in the his-
tory. See further, Noldeke, BL. iv. p. 217 f.; Die Amalekiter, u. s. w., 1864,
p. 7 ff. 2. JHD "OSE] best taken literally, from before, as with verbs meaning
'withdraw, flee, conceal,' and the like; cf. v. llb 9 21 n 3 &c. rvnnjD] <& BN
Tpv/j.a\ids, (gPVLOM e % fjLdvdpas, Orig. septa, pens, kraals, cf. I S. I3 6 . The
etymological explanation of Jewish comm., subterranean chambers or caves
with a small opening for light (inj),* is not more improbable than that
adopted from Schultens (Job, p. 49) f by Ges. and many modern scholars,
which connects it with Arab, manhar (on which see Lane, p. 2858) ; see Stud.
RLbG., ' beacons,' perhaps towers for fire signals from hill-top to hill-top, to
give warning of the approach of the enemy; cf. Abulw. nnjnan no] Bu.
suspects that the words are a gloss to the preceding. nnxDPi] i S. 23 14 - 19 24 1 ,
with rnjfD Ez. 33 27 ; cf. the fortress Ma<rc5a Fl. Jos., antt. xiv. u, 7 296; b.j.
vii. 8, 3 ff. On Amalek see Noldeke, Die Amalekiter, 1864; Bertheau, BL.
s. v. The historical notices of Amalek all locate them in steppes or desert
south of Palestine; see I S. 15 (Saul) I S. 30 (David), cf. also Nu. I4 43 - 45 .
In the traditions of the Exodus, Israel was attacked by the Amalekites before
reaching the sacred mountain, probably in traversing the deserts north of the
Sinaitic peninsula (Ex. I7 8ff - E); cf. Dt. 25 17 - 19 I S. 152. The relentless wars
waged upon them by Saul and David seem to have broken them up; they are
scarcely mentioned in the later history. The oracle of Balaam (Nu. 24 20 )
foresees their complete disappearance. A fragmentary notice in I Chr. 4 42f -
tells us that a band of Simeonites exterminated the last remnant of the race in
their refuge in Mt. Seir. The Bene Qedem (Easterns) are mentioned in
Jer. 49 28 (in conjunction with the Kedarenes), and Ez. 25 4 - 10 , where they are
evidently inhabitants of the deserts east of Ammon and Moab; cf. also Is. 1 I 14 .
4. cm 1 ?;? um] the impf. cons, after the frequentatives is not in itself without
analogy (negligent lapse into simple narration; cf. I2 5f -, and see Dr 3 . 114;
TBS. p. 24), but the vibration between the two constructions in this and the
following verses is hardly to be so explained. nTiD] subsistence, I7 10 (MH.);
cf. victus from vivere. Slip] Dt. 32 22 n 17 Lev. 26 4 - 20 Ez. 34 27 . 5. orpSriNi
iN3-] Qere wa-i conforming to the preceding V?y\ ALMO j g
= W3\ nnntf 1 ?] Piel Gen. 13! i9 1 3- 29 &c.; cf. Hiph. v. 4 .
* Ra., Ki., Abarb. ; cf. Wetzstein, Haiiran, p. 46,
f Cf. Schm.
VI. 7-8 l8l
7-10. Yahweh sends a prophet to upbraid the Israelites for
their defection. When the Israelites in their distress cry to
Yahweh, he sends a prophet, who calls to mind the great deeds of
their god in saving them from Egypt and giving them the land
of Canaan, and recites the fundamental law, which here, as in
Ex. 20^, has its ground in the great deliverance God has wrought :
You shall not adopt the religions of Canaan. This prohibition
they have disregarded. Cf. -2 lb - 5a IO 11 - 16 i S. f- io 17 - 19 I2 6 - 25 .
The speech breaks off abruptly with this introduction. We
miss in the words of the prophet the positive accusation and the
denunciation of Yahweh's anger, and in the narrative, the result
of his reproof, which not only the whole drift and purpose of the
speech, but the analogy of similar discourses in Judges and
Samuel, leads us to expect ; cf. 2 1 " 5 and especially IO 11 " 16 . It is not
likely that the author left the speech thus without the point which
is its reason for being ; more probably the conclusion was dropped
by the compiler who subjoined v. llff - from the parallel narrative.
The incompleteness of the speech, as well as the evidence of
language and style, which in this case is unusually decisive, shows
that v. 7 ' 10 are not to be ascribed to the compiler,* but to an
Elohistic hand.f 7. On account of Midian~\ the Hebrew
phrase is not very common and is all but confined to E. \
8. A prophet~\ lit. a prophet-man ; cf. 4*. Yahweh the God
of Israel^ 4 6 ; corresponding phrases are, I am Yahweh thy God
(Ex. 20 2 ), and, Yahweh our God (Jos. 24") . / led you up from
Egypt and brought you out of the slave house~\ the place where
you were slaves. This deliverance is the origin of the peculiar
relation between Yahweh and Israel and the ground of its obliga-
tion to keep itself to him only. It is therefore constantly recalled
as the prime motive to faith in Yahweh and faithfulness to him
alone, or to aggravate the guilt of unfaithfulness by exposing its
folly and baseness and justify the extreme severity of judgement ;
* D ; so Be., We., Sta., Dr., Kitt. f Bu., Richt. u. Sam., p. 107 f.
J See Holzinger, EM. in den Hexateuch, p. 182 f.
Cf. i S. 2 27 . On these anonymous prophets, who play the chorus to the story,
see Sta., G VI. i. p. 182 n. The motive here is obvious ; reformation must precede
deliverance. According to Jewish authorities (Seder Olam c. 20), the prophet of
our text was Phineas.
1 82 JUDGES
cf. Am. 3 lb Hos. i3 4 Jud. 2 1 i S. io 18 &c. 9. I rescued you from
the power of Egypt] Ex. 3 8 i8 9 - 10 , cf. Jud. S 34 i S. I2 10 - 11 , also
Jud. io 11 (a different verb). And from the power of all your
oppressors] 2 18 esp. i S. io 18 .* And expelled them before you
and gave you their land~\ the pronouns grammatically refer to
the oppressors, but the writer is thinking of the populations of
Canaan ;t cf. Jos, 24 12f>18 Ex. 34 11 23 28 . 10. I am Yahweh your
God] Ex. 2O 2 . You shall not revere the gods of the Amorites,
in whose land you dwell] with the form of the expression cf. 2 K.
I7 35 - 40 , in substance Ex. 2O 3 (Dt. 5 7 ) Ex. 34 14 Dt. 6 13 ' 15 12**. On
the Amorites, see above on 3*.
8. onxDD D3HN TpSyn] common in E, but not characteristic of that work
(Di.) ; see Holzinger, p. 186. ona? no] ergastulum ; Ex. I3 3 - 14 2O 2 Jos. 24 17
Dt. 5 6 6 12 &c. (E, Rje, D). 9. a^xnS] see on i 34 2 18 . Bhwn] Baer, with
a few codd. and old edd., as the context requires. % The recepta is anjNi ;
examples of the same anomaly, in some instances explicitly prescribed by the
Massora, see Bo. 973, 2 ; Dr 3 . 66 n. On the use of the verb see above
on 2 s . rnrw] the energetic (cohortative) form in the consec. tense; cf. v. 10
io 12 I2 3 (ter) Dr 3 . 69, Obs. It is particularly common in the case of jru
(Nu. 8 19 i S. 2 28 2 S. I2 8 Is. 43 28 ), where perhaps compensation has some-
thing to do with it.
11-24. The Call of Gideon. First account. The Messenger
of Yahweh appears to Gideon and summons him to deliver Israel
from the Midianites. He protests that the task is beyond his
powers, and is assured of the support of Yahweh. Gideon brings
food to set before the stranger, at the touch of whose staff fire
bursts from the rock and consumes the bread and meat. The
visitor vanishes. Gideon recognizes that it was the Messenger of
Yahweh and fears for his life. He is reassured, and builds the
altar, Yahweh-shalom, which stands in Ophrah.
The passage has no connection with v. 7 " 10 ; its premises are
rather to be found in v. 2 " 6 . In what follows, v. 25 ' 32 is not the sequel
of v. 11 " 24 , but a second account of the call of Gideon and the
building of the altar. The closest parallels to v. 11 ' 24 are the
* The similarity between Jud. 68 f - and i S. io 18 is such as to prove either that
they are from the same hand or that one author has copied the other,
t This awkwardness leads Ki. to interpret of Sihon and Og; cf. Schm.
J Ew., Krit. Gram., p. 555 ; cf. K.6., i. p. 190.
vi. 9-n 1 83
appearance of Messenger of Yahweh to the parents of Samson,
Jud. I3 2 " 23 , and the appearance of Yahweh to Abraham at the
sacred trees of Mamre, Gen. i8 lff - (J). In Jud. 6 11 ' 24 i3 2 ' 23 the
whole conception and representation, as well as the more external
features of language and style, strongly resemble the Yahwistic
narratives of the Hexateuch, and the passages are with consider-
able probability ascribed by Bohme, Budde, and Cornill to the
same author.*
The narrative has suffered some changes at the hand of the
redactor or later editor, the distinctive note of which is the antici-
pation of Gideon's recognition of his visitor (v. 22 *). In the
attempt to separate these secondary elements and restore the
original context, Bohme undoubtedly goes too far;| Budde's
analysis is more conservative, but still perhaps subtracts more
than is necessary. J Verse 17b , in which Gideon already recognizes
the Messenger, but wishes to have the confirmation of a miracle,
is clearly not original. Verse *, in which the flesh and the cakes
are disposed on the rock as on an altar and the broth poured out
as a libation, is also secondary. Corresponding changes have not
improbably been made in v. 16 , and in v. 18 - 19 .
11. The Messenger of Yahweh'] 2 1 s 23 i3 3ff -. The MaVak Yah-
weh is a theophany. In all the old accounts of such appearances
the maVak is, first or last, identified with the deity ; see Gen. i6 7 ' 14
with Hos. i2 4f -, Gen. 48 15 - 16 ; further Gen. 18. 19, in which Yahweh
appears precisely as elsewhere the MaVak Yahweh. In the Yah-
wistic narratives in the Pentateuch, as in Judges ch. 6 and 13, the
Messenger of Yahweh appears in human form and converses freely
* The resemblance is admitted by Kue. (HCCft. i. p. 355), who questions the
validity of Bohme's inference. Kitt. (Stud. u. Krit., 1892, ,p. 57 f.) points out
countervailing differences; cf. also Ko., EinL, p. 253 f., and on the whole question
whether J and E can be traced in Jud., see above, Introduction 6.
t ZA TW. v. p. 251 ff. Bohme (p. 259) leaves for the original story only v. 11 to
may (irx to n?j?n), pjnJi to o^ton (conclusion to pic), v. 12 - 1 ^- 14ft nnjoi to VNT^",
V .i7a. I8a to I'S**, v.^b. I9a to nWD ( 19 l>) v.21-24. (The parts about which he is less
confident in parenthesis.)
J Richt. u. Sam., p. 108 f. ; cf. Co., Einl 2 . p. 95 f. ( Budde (p. 109) ascribes to J,
v.n-i3a. isb from nnjn on, v. 14a from inx <| i on, v. 15 - 16 (read rnrp -o) v. 1 ^- i8a to
(the original object has been supplanted), v.isb. I9a to nwo, v. 1 * to nSttn, v.21-24.
1 84 JUDGES
with men : in E this anthropomorphism is shunned ; the Messenger
speaks from heaven, or in a dream, or is revealed in the flames of
the burning bush (Ex. 3 2 ).* And sat down~\ like a wayfarer
seeking rest in its shade. Under the holy tree that is in Ophrah}
on holy trees see on 4 11 (p. 121 f.).f Ophrah, v. 24 (cf. 8 32 ) Ophrah
of the Abiezrites, the Abiezrite Ophrah, probably to distinguish it
from a Benjamite town of the same name (Jos. iS 23 i S. i3 17 ).
The site is unknown ; from ch. 9 it may be probably inferred that
it was not very far from Shechem. Fer'ata six miles WSW. of
Nabulus has been suggested, $ but this is more probably Pirathon
(i2 15 ). Which (tree) belonged to Joash the Abiezrite'} the holy
tree was in the possession of Gideon's family, just as in the other
narrative (v. 25 ) the village altar of Baal belonged to Jerubaal's
father. The Abiezrites were a clan of Manasseh (v. 15 Nu. 26 30 ||
Jos. 1 7 2 ) . Beating out wheat in the wine-press} threshing in the
ordinary way was not to be risked; the threshing-floors were
especially exposed places.^" The wine-press, on the contrary, a
square or oblong vat excavated in the sloping surface rock,
afforded some concealment.** Hither Gideon had brought a few
sheaves of wheat and was whipping them out with a stick on the
floor of the press. 12. The Messenger shows himself and
salutes Gideon. Yahweh is with thee~} the answer shows that in
Hebrew (in which the copula is not expressed) the sentence is
felt to be an assertion,!! rather than a wish. Stalwart hero~\ in
Jud. only n 1 (Jephthah) ; i K. n 28 2 K. 5* &c. ; cf. Jud. i8 2 .
13. The salutation sounds to Gideon almost ironical ; the present
distress is plain proof that Yahweh is not with them. Where are
all his wonderful interventions'} Ex. 3 20 34 Jos. 3 5 Mi. 7 15 .
* See Kosters, " De Mal'ach Jahwe," Th. T. ix. 1875, p. 369-415 ; Schultz, Alttest.
TheoH. p. 600 ff. = Old Test. Theol., ii. p. 218 ff.; Smend, Alttest. Religionsge-
schichte, p. 42 ff. Older literature and theories, see Oehler, Alttest. Theol. 59. 60 ;
cf. Schm., quaest. 3.
t On holy trees and tree worship in general, see the literature in Chantepie de
la Saussaye, Religionsgeschichte, i. p. 61 ; Tylor, Primitive Culture*, ii. p. 214 ff. ;
Frazer, Golden Bough, 1890, i. p. 56-108.
t SWP. Memoirs, ii. p. 162.
Rob., BRi. iii. p. 134; Guerin, Samarie, ii. 179 f.
|| The name is mutilated, perhaps not by accident ; cf. . If See on v.37.
** For a description of the wine-press, see Rob., BRi. iii. p. 137; cf. Nonnus,
Dionys., xii. 331 ff. ff Fl. Jos., Aug., al.
vi. ii-i 4 i8s
Which our fathers recounted to us~] phrase parallels, Ps. 44* 78 3 ;
cf. Ex. i2 2(5f - i3 8 - 14f -. But now Yahweh has cast us off and given
us into the grasp of Midian\ cf. Jer. i2 7 i S. i2 22 i K. 8 57
2 K. 2 1 14 .*
11. "^D] is found in Heb. only in a concrete, personal sense, 'messenger';
or, as we might perhaps translate, ' agent,' thus making the relation of the
word to roxSn more obvious. There is no warrant in usage for an explanation
of the phrase mm ^xSn which goes back to an assumed abstract sense, 'the
sending of Yahweh ' (Vatke, Ew., Reuss, al.). aw 1 ? T^N] the tree . . . which
belonged to Joash (<2L, Cler., Reuss, Kitt), not Ophrah which belonged to J.
(<& a, Ki., Drus., Schm., Stud., Be., Oettli). 'Ji I23n uo pjnji] as Gideon
was, &c.; circumstantial clause, Ban Is. 28 27 Ru. 2 17 cf. Dt. 24 20 . ru is
properly the upper trough, in which the grapes are trodden; ap; 1 (7 25 ) the
lower one, in which the must is collected. D^nS] Ex. 9 20 . 13. >JIN 13] v. 15
I3 8 ; a deprecatory formula, if I may speak without offence, begging your
pardon; cf. Gen. 43 20 44 Ex. 4 10 - 1 3 (all J), Nu. I2 11 i S. I 26 &c. mm v>\]
if he really is, as you say. Instead of a conditional sentence with subordinated
protasis (ON), we have simple parataxis; cf. I3 12 2 K. io 15 . So very often
in older English ; e.g. And it please your grace, you did once promise me
(Shakespeare). See New English Dictionary, i. p. 31 7 b . mx] skeptical;
' what has become of; cf. the ironical use of the particle 9 38 Jer. 2 28 Dt. 32 37
(IK) &c. vmxVflj] things extraordinary, surpassing men's power or compre-
hension (cf. itfhs I3 18 ); especially of the wonderful interventions of God in
the history of his people, and (later) the wonders of his works in nature.f
References to Yahweh's wonderful deliverances are frequent in the Psalms,
but it does not follow that all references to them are so late. The exx. cited
above (Ex. 3 20 34 10 Jos. 3 5 ) all occur in Yahwist contexts. In the passage
before us the words, if not original (J, cf. the Hiphil I3 19 ), must be ascribed
to Rje, not to Rd, in whom the word seems not to occur. mm wtoj nnpi]
can hardly be separated from the foregoing (Bu.), but stands or falls with it.
Cf. Jer. 23 s3 - 39 esp. I2 7 , which Bohme, without sufficient reason, regards as
the source of the phrase in our text; see also Is. 2 6 . pnn pa] for the more
common T>a, v. 14 i S. 4 3 2 S. I9 10 &c.
14. Yahweh turned to him] % with the following (v. 14 - 16 ) cf.
Ex. 3 10 ' 12 . The Messenger is Yahweh himself; see above on v. 11 .
* From these parallels, chiefly in writings of the age of Jeremiah or later,
Bohme infers that v.^b i s an editorial enlargement on the original question, v. 13 a.
Budde agrees as to the beginning of v. 13b (as far as from Egypt), but attributes the
rest (but now, &c.) to the first narrator, connecting it with v. 13a .
f Cf. the verb 2 S. 132 Dt. 178 30" ; of God., Gen. 18^ J er . 2i 2 ytf. 27.
J Bohme, Bu., ascribe the words to an editorial hand, but I see no sufficient
reason for this.
1 86 JUDGES
( o ayyeXos Kv/uou to conform to v. n . Go in this might of
thine} visible in his powerful frame and the vigorous strokes of
his staff, which drew from the. visitor the admiring address, stal-
wart herd, v. 12 ; not, the might which is now given thee.* Do
not I send thee ?~\ | the question as in 4 6 . Since the visitor does
not reveal himself in his true character till v. 21 , we should expect
rather, doth not Yahweh send thee? cf. 4. We may suppose
either that Gideon took his visitor for a man of God (cf. i3 6 ), or,
more probably, that the author lapsed from strict dramatic pro-
priety ; see also on v. lc . 15. Gideon remonstrates that he is not
equal to the task. How (by what means) should I deliver Israel?
My sept is the poorest in Manasseh, and I the most insignificant
man in my family~\ cf. i S. Q 21 . The protestation is, no more than
that of Saul, to be taken too literally. Both the following nar-
ratives assume that the hero's family was one of ranjc and influ-
ence in the clan. 16. Yahweh said to him, Surely I will be with
thee~\ @ Bah , the Angel of the Lord said to him, the Lord will
be with thee. If it be thought too violent a supposition that
the author here, as in v. 14 , used the first person in conformity
with the knowledge of his readers that the speaker was Yahweh,
rather than with Gideon's supposed ignorance of that fact, we
may conjecture that the original text was simply, and he said,
Yahweh will be with thee, \ and that in supplying the explicit sub-
ject and recasting the sentence to correspond with it, the editor
of J^ had Ex. 3 12 in mind. As one man} Nu. i4 15 . 17. Gideon
asks the stranger to wait till he can set food before him, and pre-
pares him a meal ; cf. Gen. iS 3 " 8 Jud. i3 15 ' 19 . If I find favour in
thy sight] Gen. i8 3 ; a favourite phrase of the Yahwist in the Penta-
teuch. Make me a sign that thou art speaking with me"} Gideon
recognizes his supernatural visitant, but for assurance desires a
sign such as is given in the sequel. The half-verse thus antici-
pates v. 21f> in a way that the author of the latter verses cannot have
done ; v. 18a connects immediately with v. 17a , just as Gen. iS 3 * does
with v. 3b - 4 , and has no ulterior purpose. Verse 17b is therefore an
editorial addition, probably by the same hand which inserted v. 20
* Ki., Be., al. This strength of faith, Thdt.
t Bohme regards this clause also as secondary. + dPV al. ; Bu.
Di., NDJ. p. 625 ; Holzinger. Einleitung in den Hexat. t p. 97 f.
VI. I 4 -I9 1 87
under the impression that the meal Gideon prepared was intended
from the first as a sacrifice, contrary to Gen. i8 3 ' 5 and esp.
Jud. i3 15f \* That the words are not part of the original narrative,
is in some degree confirmed by the unusual relative particle tp.f
18. Originally followed immediately upon v. 17a ; see above. My
offering^ Gen. 33 43" i S. lo 27 ; a present to the guest. It is not
impossible that the word has been substituted for the original
expression, in conformity with the theory that Gideon from the
beginning intended a religious offering ; see note. 19. Gideon
prepared a kid~\ i3 15 - 19 - in Gen. i8 7 the rich sheikh Abraham
kills a calf. An ephah of flour~\ The quantity (more than a
bushel) is altogether disproportionate, especially in the circum-
stances ; cf. i Sam. i 24 , where an ephah of flour is enough to go
with a three year old bullock (< & ; Jif three bullocks !), Gen. i8 6 .
The meat he put in a basket and the broth in a pot, and
brought it out to him under the tree and presented if\ cf. Gen. i8 8 .
Bohme and Budde ascribe the half verse (Bu. excepts, and
brought it out to him under the tree) to the redaction. It seems
improbable, however, that these concrete details, which are not
essential to the conception of an offering, or, indeed, consonant
with ritual customs, were introduced by an editor.
15. *rw 13] the pronunciation, in distinction from >nx v. 18 , means to
intimate that Gideon now recognizes his visitor as divine. Sin >fl*?N] p|Vx is,
like nnatyn, a branch of a tribe '(oasf) larger than the family (sx rvo); see
i S. io 19 - 21 . "rjran] i S. 9 21 ; often in the sense minor natu, Gen. 25 23 43 33
48 14 &c. 16. ivy rpnx *o] verbatim Ex. 3 12 . It has been conjectured above
that the author wrote, *pp mm mm (i S. i; 37 ); cf. @. 17. nix ^ ruwjn]
perhaps the sign also was suggested by Ex. 3 12 . The words must be construed
as apodosis; cf. Gen. 33 10 . m ne>p Ex. 4 17 - 21 Nu. I4 11 - 22 Jos. 24 17 Dt. n 8 ;
nowhere in precisely this sense, in which we should expect nix jnj (Jos. 2 12 ).
>DJJ *UID nnxu'] we expect "aiDD (Gen. 45 12 ), that it is thou that speakest;
the article may have been accidentally omitted. The relative w in Jud. 5 7 6 17
7 12 8 26 ; only here in O.T., elsewhere before gutturals K f . 18. Bohme
ascribes v. 18a (and bring out my offering and set it before thee) to an editor;
Bu. thinks that the editor has changed the original object of the verb (food;
cf. Gen. i8 5 Jud. I3 15 ) into a religious offering. But it is not clear that
nrun need be taken in this specific sense; J the verb (nijn) certainly does not
suggest such an intention. The noun may possibly have been chosen on
* Sta., G VI. i. p. 183 n. f Giesebrecht, ZA TW. i. p. 280 n. ; cf. 7 826.
J In 13^ nrunn nxi is an interpolation.
1 88 JUDGES
account of its ambiguity, as a hint, not a bald anticipation, of the disposition
of what Gideon set before the stranger.* TiNXirn . . . IND ny] see on i6 2 ;
Dr 3 . 115 (p. 134). 19. nisn ncp PD^N] he prepared it as unleavened cakes,
made it up into cakes; cf. i S. 28 24 , Gen. i8 6 Nu. n 8 (rvuy), Ex. I2 39 . The
ephah was according to the smallest computation over a bushel. p^on] (so
Ki., Norzi, Baer) v. 2(> Is. 65* (Qere); w/x6j, jus; cf. Arab, maraq; others
understand the pot liquor in which the meat had been boiled (Ki.; cf.
Schm.). So] a closely woven shallow basket or tray, Gen. 40" &c. ins]
Nu. ii 8 I S. 2 14t a cooking vessel, of what kind we have no means of ascer-
taining. Bohme (l,c. p. 254) rejects v. 19a with v. 20 ; the broth was introduced
by some one who thought a libation indispensable; the whole representation
presumes that a religious offering is intended. So Bu. also. But if the object
was to convert Gideon's hospitality into a sacrifice, it would have been done
unmistakably. In no ritual that we know was meat presented in a basket (as
unleavened cakes were) or a libation made of broth. It is conceivable that
such rites existed in this early time; f but not that such a description proceeds
from a late editor. I find in the words, however, no certain evidence of a
sacrificial intention; even BUM is properly used of bringing food to one, putting
it within his reach (Gen. 27 25 ).
20, 21. The food which Gideon brings out is converted into an
offering. Fire from the rock consumes it ; the Messenger van-
ishes. 20. Messenger of God, instead of Messenger of Yahweh,
is striking, and with some other peculiarities of expression arouses
the suspicion that the verse is by a different hand. This sus-
picion is strengthened by the contents of the verse ; and Bohme
and Budde are probably right in regarding it as a later addition to
the story. Verse 21 connects equally well with v. 19 . See further in
crit. note. 21. The Messenger touches the food with the tip of
his walking-stick, at which fire springs up from the rock and con-
sumes it; cf. i K. iS 38 2 Chr. 7* 2 Mace. 2 10 ' 13 Lev. 9*. The
Messenger of Yahweh passed from his sight~\ this is in conflict
with v. 22 - K 9 in which Gideon addresses his visitor and is answered
by him as though still present. That the reassuring voice (v. 23 )
came back from heaven J is in no way intimated in the text.
Probably the words are an addition suggested by i3 20 ; the
* Stud. On the other hand, the word may have been the occasion of the
editor's misunderstanding and led to the other changes in the verses.
f We., who is inclined to see here a very old custom.
+ Ki., RLbG., Schm., and many.
Observe how completely the two stories are fused by Fl. Jos., antt. v. 8, 3
283 f., and cf. the unconscious conformation in the interpretation of Ki., al.
VI. 20-24 1^9
unsuitable position of the clause is explained by a comparison of
6 22f - with i3 22f -. 22. Oh, my lord Yahweh !~\ cry of consternation
or distress ; Jos. f, Jer., Ez. ; cf. Jud. n 83 . Because I have seen
the Messenger of Yahweh face to face~\ and therefore must die.
The belief that such a sight forebodes the death of him whose
profane eyes have thus violated the mystery of godhead, Jud. i$ 22
Gen. i6 13 32* Ex. 20 19 < 16 > 332 Is. 6 5 . 23. Yahweh reassures
him. Thou art safe~\ lit. if is well with thee ; cf. Gen. 43^
Jud. ip 20 . 24. Gideon builds an altar which in the author's day
was still standing in Ophrah, the name of which, Yahweh-shalom
(Yahweh is well-disposed), perpetuates the words of God in v. 23 .
Examples of altars with commemorative names, Gen. 33 20 * 35 7
Ex. i y 15 . That y. 225 " 24 are an integral part of the original narra-
tive is rightly maintained by Bohme | and Budde, \ against Well-
hausen.
20. a>n'?Nn IN^D] as in 4 23 (q.v.} the tradition is conflicting; only < BN
supports Pf ; all other versions have Angel of the Lord, The text will hardly
sustain the inference that the original narrator of 6 1 -8 3 used Elohim and not
Yahweh. || irnSxn "in |^ may be due only to transcriptional accident; so far
as appears, both Rje and Rd write mm *]xVn. Compare the divine names in
Nu. 22 Jud. 13.!" Other differences, v. 20 yho, v. 21 i; v. 20 the rare demon-
strative T 1 ?.-! (i S. I4 1 i; 26 &c.), 21. nj;?2>D] etymologically, something on
which a man leans for support, Ex. 2i 19 Zech. 8 4 , perhaps a walking-stick
rather than a staff (ntDD, B??0; c f- 2 K. J ^ 21 Ez. 2 9 6f> - V^J?D "|*?n mni ixSm]
I3 20 raTDn 3n*?3 mm IN^D Syi. The two narratives are throughout so much
alike that further assimilation in such details was almost inevitable. Kosters
seems to go too far in thinking that 6 18 " 23 has been worked over throughout in
conformity with ch. 13.** 22. p ^y -o] in the Hexateuch chiefly in J. o^jfl
D>JO VN] Gen. 32 31 Ex. 33 11 Dt. 34! cf. 5*. 24. oiSa' mm] many scholars
take the second noun as genitive, (altar of) the Yahweh of Welfare, cf. mrp
rw3X;tt but this is unnecessary (see i S. 25 6 ) and against analogy; cf. rather
DJ mrr (altar) Ex. I7 15 , upnx nin> (prophetic name of Jerusalem) Jer. 33 16 .
Other names of a similar sort are ruoi mm Gen. 22 14 , nD % ^ mm Ez. 48 35 .
nryn >2x mova] cf. min> on 1 ? no ly 7 , D^nty^a m, &c., Ew. 286 c- y Roorda,
* But the original word here was stele (massebah). f ZA TW. v. p. 252 f.
J Richt. u. Sam., p. 109. Comp., p. 226 ; cf. Sta., G VI. i. p. 184.
|| We., Comp., p. 226 ("possibly").
If See Klostermann, Neue kirchl. Zeitschrift, i. p. 712-716, whose caution on
this point deserves attention, in spite of exaggeration. ** Th.T. ix. p. 397 f. n.
ft So Lth., Drus., Cler. (alt.), Ges. (supposing an inscription OlStP mm 1 ?; cf.
Schm.), Stud., Sta., al.
I QO JUDGES
449. We. (Comp., p. 226) finds that the altar and sacrifice (?) of v. 22 - 24
come post festum ; the original altar was the stone itself. Stacle {GVI. i.
p. 183 f.) thinks the verses possibly the close of a lost account of the origin
of the holy place at Ophrah. But when the changes made by editorial hands
in the preceding verses are recognized, v. 22 - 21 is seen to be the natural and
almost indispensable close of the narrative before us in v. 14ff -
25-32. Call of Gideon. Second account. Yahweh calls Gideon
first of all to destroy the altar of Baal which belongs to his father
and the sacred post (asherah) that stands beside it ; to build
on a designated spot an altar of Yahweh, and offer upon it a
certain bullock as a dedicatory sacrifice. He does so by night.
When the sacrilege is discovered and its perpetrator detected, the
townspeople demand that he be put to death. His father Joash
persuades them to leave it to Baal to avenge the outrage done
him, " If he is a god let him take his own part." The oracular
words of Joash, who as the custodian of the holy place was natu-
rally the priest of Baal, explain the name Jerubbaal.
These verses are loosely joined to the foregoing by the words,
in that night (cf. 7), but so far from being the continuation of
v. 11 " 24 , v. 25 " 32 belong to a second and altogether different account
of the call of Gideon. The writer who narrates in v. 24 the build-
ing of the altar, Yahweh-shalom, cannot have gone on to relate
the building of another altar of Yahweh in v. 25 ^, nor did the
author of the latter verses have before him v. 21 " 24 . In v. 11 the holy
tree at Ophrah, on the land of Joash, is the sacred spot where
Yahweh appears, and there is no intimation that Israel is addicted
to heathenish cults, or that its calamities are the punishment of
defection ; in v. 25 ^ Joash is the proprietary custodian of the vil-
lage altar of Baal with its sacred post (asherah), and these must
be destroyed before Yahweh will deliver his people. The premises
of v. 25 - 32 are to be found rather in v. 7 ' 10 . The latter verses break
off abruptly (see p. 181). We may infer from the analogous
passages (2 lb - 5a lo 11 ' 16 1 S. 7 3ff - io 17 ' 19 i2 6ff -) that in the original con-
nexion the prophet went on to upbraid them more specifically for
their lapse into heathenism (worship of Baal), and to declare that
it was for this that Yahweh had given them over to their foes. As
a sequel to this, Gideon is called to begin the reformation by
destroying the village altar of Baal and restoring the abandoned
VI. 25 IQI
worship of Yahweh. Budde appears to me to be right in seeing
in v. 25 ' 32 , not a free amplification of the story by a later author,*
but part of a parallel narrative, which may with considerable
probability be ascribed to E.
25. That night'} cf. 2 S. f 2 K. iq 35 . In the present con-
nexion, the night after the appearance of the Messenger of
Yahweh to Gideon ; originally, if our analysis is correct, the night
after the prophet delivered his reproof (v. 7 - 10 ) . Verse ^ speaks
apparently of two bullocks, and in the sequel we read of the
sacrifice of the second bullock (v. 26 ' 28 ) ; but what is to be done
with the other does not appear. The text is unintelligible, and
no satisfactory emendation has been suggested. Kuenenf pro-
posed to restore, with the aid of v. 27 , Take ten men of thy servants
and a bullock of seven years, but it is difficult to imagine how this
could have been so corrupted. See critical note. Pull down the
altar of Baal which thy father has, and cut down the sacred post
which is by it~\ the altar was the holy place of the town (v. 28 ^) ;
Joash was its custodian by proprietary right, as the family of
Micah would have become of his temple in Mt. Ephraim (i7 5ff ')>
or as Gideon's descendants would have been of the image of
Yahweh in Ophrah (S 27 ). j On Baal see above on 2 13 (p. 69 f.).
The sacred post which is by it~\ the sacred post (asherah) was
of wood, and, if we may argue from v. 26 , of considerable size.
Such posts seem to have belonged to every Canaanite place of
worship (Ex. 34", altars, steles, asherahs, Dt. i2 3 1 K. I4 23 2 K. 17
Is. i7 8 ), and in old times stood not only beside the altars of the
Baals, but by those of Yahweh (Dt. i6 21 ), even in the temple at
Jerusalem (2 K. 2i 7 23 6 ). According to Jewish tradition the
asherah might be a living tree, and many modern scholars infer as
much from Dt. i6 21 ; but usually, beyond question, it was a post or
mast. The shape of the asherah is not certainly known ; but it
is not improbable that asherahs are represented by the posts of
varying forms, often with a conical top, which occur so frequently
in sacrificial scenes on Assyrian marbles, and on Assyrian, Phoeni-
* We., Sta., Kue., Kitt. ; see above, p. 175 f.
f In Doom., p. 70 n. ; adopted by Kautzsch.
J On such rights in holy places see We., Reste arabischen Heidentumes, p. 128 f. ;
cf. Ibn Hisham, ed. Wiistenfeld, p. 54 f.
192 JUDGES
cian, and Cypriote seals and gems.* The origin and meaning
of the asherah are also involved in obscurity. 26. Gideon is
directed to build an altar to Yahweh on a different site. On the
highest point of this stronghold] the word which follows is not
intelligible in this context ; either it is a technical term the mean-
ing of which is lost, or, as seems more likely, the text is at fault.
It is to be presumed that, as in the parallel narrative (v. 24 ), the
writer has in mind an altar standing in his day, and that the words
describe its site. He is to dedicate the altar by the sacrifice of a
bullock, using for fuel the wood of the sacred post which he has
cut down. The whole burnt offering is the proper dedicatory
sacrifice. The second bullock] v. 28 . The words are grammatically
unimpeachable, but the disorder of v. 25 makes it doubtful whether
they are correct ; not improbably the second is interpolated in
both verses, to conform to the (corrupt) text of v. 25 .
25. That the text is corrupt should need no demonstration; mtrn ~\D and
orjiP J731P "oari is are meaningless and grammatically impossible collocations
of words. The second bullock of seven years old (EV., following <5I!L<S) t
would be QijtP pa 5P p. As nothing is said in the sequel about any other
bullock, many interpreters infer that only one is spoken of here, and translate,
Take the bullock which belongs to thy father, even the second bullock, &c.;
so Trem.-Jun., Pise., AV., RV., Ke., al.; the conjunction is explained in the
same way (et quideni) by Ew., Stud. (cf. RJes.); it is omitted by <5I ALM .
Ingenious, but improbable explanations of the second bullock (second calf of
its dam) are given by Abulw., Tanch. (on I S. I5 9 ); cf, Ki., Roed. (Ges. Thes.
p. 1451), Bo., al. RJes. and Stud, interpret fatted; .Ew. connects ">'}& with
rw in the sense, annosus. The word is omitted by (gMN-PV su b ast. S; appar-
ently iit^n ic and >jt^n na are doublets, and both corrupt. suggests the
conjecture jDtfn ncn (cf. I S. I5 9 , We., Dr.), but the corruption is probably
deeper. With the seven years it seems impossible to do anything at all;
cf. {, Temurah, 28 b , Ra., RJes., al.; Hitzig conjectured that they were
accidentally introduced from 6 1 . man vSy IB>X mtPNm] not upon the altar,
but beside it. mc>N almost uniformly < #X<ros 3L, lucus AV. grove ; RV.
Asherah, explained (Ex. 34 13 mg.), the wooden symbols of a goddess Asherah.
The asherah is named in conjunction with high places, altars, steles, carved
stones, images. The verbs which are used in describing the making and
erection and the destruction of an asherah show that it was an upright
* See numbers of them in Lajard, Culte de Mithra, 1857 ; Ohnefalsch-Richter,
Kypros. See further, art. " Asherah" in New Bible Dictionary (A. & C. Black) ;
W. R. Smith, Religion of the Semites, p. 171 ff. On the goddess Asherah, see
above on 3? (p. 86 f.). f Or, a second bullock-
VI. 25-30 193
wooden post or mast.* From Dt i6 21 it has been inferred that it was
originally a living tree,f for which the post is then supposed to be a conven-
tional substitute; see e.g. Di. on Dt. I.e. But in this passage we should not
translate, an asherah of any kind of tree (RV.), but, an asherah, any
wooden object.\ For ft? 'pale,' cf. Dt. 2i 22 . As yet the Phoenician inscrip-
tions, in which the word has been found once or twice, throw no light on the
subject. The etymology of the word is also obscure. G. Hoffmann would
connect it with Arab, athar ; perhaps only the mark of a place of worship.
The Assyr. aSru, a~$irtu, pi. asrdti, also e$reti, which Fr. Delitzsch and others
interpret ' holy place, sanctuary, temple,' have also been compared. See
New Bible Dictionary, s. v. 26. nyn] perhaps a natural stronghold rather
than a fortification; cf. nj?D i)X Is. ly 10 . The word does not occur elsewhere
in the historical books; cf. n-mn in the story of David. n:n>?D:i] n:nj?D is a
row or rank; in hist, books, of soldiers in line of battle, but hardly, place
where the ranks are formed {place d'armes) . \\ Jerome interprets of the wood
regularly laid upon the altar, similarly Ke. (MH. usage) ; Stud., Be 1 ., of the
courses of stone of which the altar was to be built (cf. the verb, Nu. 23*) ;
Cler., Be 2 ., al., of a rampart or bastion built of courses of masonry. 1x^3
a^xp Jire wood Gen. 22 7 - 9 Is. 3<D 33 and often.
27-32. Gideon destroys the altar of Baal. He is saved from
the wrath of his townsmen by Joash. 27. Gideon with ten of
his men carries out the divine command. In this narrative Joash
is supposed to be a man of much importance in the community,
with a numerous household of servants, a representation quite
different from that of v. n ' 24 .^[ For fear of his fellow townsmen,
and of his own family, who as the custodians of the holy place
would be most incensed by its destruction, Gideon did his work at
night. 28. The townspeople awoke in the morning to find the
altar of the Baal pulled to pieces and the sacred post cut down.
The second half- verse is somewhat clumsily phrased and is not
improbably the addition of a scribe, who missed an explicit men-
tion of the fulfilment of the direction in v. 265 . 29. Upon inves-
tigation they ascertain that Gideon is the perpetrator of the
sacrilege. 30. They demand that Joash surrender his son to
them, that he may expiate his offence by death. To take him by
* So Saad. and Abulw. translate.
f Cf. Si/re on Dt. 128 ( 61) ; Abodah zarah, 45*- b ; Ra., Ki.,
J Cf. Sifre \ 145 ; Tamid, 28 b . Not impossibly the words yy Su are a gloss.
Assyr. Hattdworterbuch, p. 148. See against Delitzsch, Jensen, Kosmologic t
p. 200. || Cf. Schm., JHMich. 1 Note especially v."- is.
o
194 JUDGES
force might embroil them with the kindred of Joash and be the
beginning of a blood feud whose end no man could foresee. So
the Qoreish at Mecca tried to persuade Moharnmed's uncle,
Abu Talib, to withdraw from him his protection, that they might
kill the pestilent agitator without incurring the vengeance of his
family.* 31. Joash, who as the proprietary custodian of the
holy place may be supposed to speak also for the god, rebukes
their presumption ; will they intervene to prevent Baal from vin-
dicating himself? To all who were arrayed against him] lit.
stood; others, who stood near him, in which sense the words are
superfluous. Will you take up Baal's quarrel? Or will you
vindicate him ?~\ save him from his adversary; cf. Job i3 8 . If
he is a god, let him take his own part~\ deorum injuriae dis curae.f
In the thought of the writer, which, however, we must beware of
attributing to Joash, the words have an ironical point; Baal's
inability to defend himself is a proof that he is no god ; cf.
i K. iS 21 ' 89 . The conditional sentence would naturally follow
immediately .upon the question in v. a : Will you take Baal's part ?
will you defend him? If he is a god, let him take his own part.
This obvious connexion is broken by the sentence which is inter-
posed : Whoever takes up his (Baal's) quarrel shall be put to
death by morning] in these words, the difficulty of which cannot
be evaded by a different translation, Joash appears to threaten
with death any one who rashly puts himself forward as the
champion of Baal ; he will defend his son by force if need be. }
This would be in itself a conceivable sequel to his question ; but
a very tame one compared with v. b , If he is a god, &c. ; both
cannot be original. Probably, therefore, the intruding words were
added here by an editor or scribe ; perhaps originally a gloss
intended for a different place or in a different sense. At the end
of the verse the words, because he pulled down his altar, seem to
have been repeated from v. 32b with superfluous explicitness.
32. Explanation of the name Jerubbaal. He (Joash) gave him
that day the name Jerubbaal~] better, pronouncing the verb as
passive, He (Gideon) was called, he got the name. That is to
* Ibn Hisham, ed. Wiistenfeld, p. 167-169.
f Tiberius ; Tac., annul., i. 73. + RLbG., Schm., Cler.
VI. 30-32 195
say, Let Baal contend with him, because he pulled down his
altar\ Jerubbaal is another name of Gideon (y 1 S 29 - 35 9 passim) ;
in the present shape of the narrative the relation between the two
is not clear 1 . For a hypothesis about the use of the names in the
older stories of J and E, see on 7 1 . For several centuries after
the occupation of Canaan the word bdal (proprietor) was used
by the Israelites as innocently as el (numen) or adon (lord), and
men whose loyalty to Yahweh is above suspicion gave baal-names
to their children. Saul had a son Ishbaal; Jonathan, a son
Meribaal ; David, a son Baaljada. As in similar compounds of
el and adon, the unnamed deity is no other than Yahweh. So,
doubtless, it was with Jerubbaal. In later times, through the
operation of causes which we cannot develop here, the baals of
Canaan are set over against Yahweh the God of Israel, and the
name baal becomes the very signature of heathenism. The old
proper names compounded with baal then became a stumbling
block, and in our texts are generally mutilated. Jerubbaal
becomes Jerubbesheth (28. n 21 ), as Ishbaal is perverted into
Ishbosheth.* In our text also it is assumed that the Canaanite
Baal (v. 25 ^) is meant, but by an ingenious etymology the name
is made to signify, Adversary of Baal.
27. 'y\ rwjJD . . . vax rva nx Ny ntt'ND] combination of two common
constructions of KT, with the ace. of the person feared, and with p and
the inf., fear to do something; cf. Ex. 34 30 . 28. rbjjh >^ n -ion nxi] passive
with direct obj. in ace.; Ges. 25 121, I; on the frequency of this construction
in late Hebrew, see Giesebrecht, ZA TW. i. p. 263 f. njan] Neh. 7* Cant. 4*
Ps. I22 3t . 31. vSy nny nirs S3 1 ?] hy icy in the sense 'stand up against one'
(Sj? Dip) is found only in late Hebrew (Ges., Stud.), but we may take noy in
its usual meaning and still give to the preposition a hostile force. nnsn
SyaV pann] f the emphatic pronoun in contrast to the last clause, If he is a
god let him contend for himself. Cf. Job I3 8 pann SxS DX. jwin] vindi-
cate, avenge; I S. 25 26 - 31 - 33 . Observe how the old imperfect endings roll out
in the energy of speech. iS an> ntrx] (with various turns) and 3L (qui
advcrsarius est ejus) take h an in the sense of Sx an contend against, Jud. 2I 22
Jer. I2 1 Job 33 13 ; but in this connexion the author cannot have employed the
preposition with a force exactly the opposite of that which it has in the pre-
ceding and following clauses, especially as he had the choice of three or four
* See We., TBS. p. 30 f. ; Baudissin, Studien zur semit. Religionsgeschichte, i.
p. 108 n. ; Driver, TBS. p. 195 f.
f B puts the words into the mouth of Gideon.
196 JUDGES
usual and unambiguous expressions. -^pan nj? nnr] the Hophal would hardly
be used if the meaning was that Baal would slay him.* npan -\y by morning ;
usually the morning of the following day; cf. Jud. i6 2 I Sf2$ 22 2 S. if 2 &c.
(Stud.). Others interpret here of the same day, during the mowing (Schm.,
Cler., JHMich., Be.f). V? an>] Job I3 8 ; for reflexive force of suff., cf. Gen.
22 16 Ex. 32 18 &c. 32. V? N^PM] perhaps better sn^i. Vga'v] the author
explains the name as if it were made from Sya aV // .Zfa0/ contend. Such a
compound would not be strange (cf. an^rv), and this etymology is accepted
by many modern scholars (S^a a-fp -#/ contends; Kue., Dr., Baethgen).
This seems to be excluded, however, by the fact that the impf. of an is yarlb
(twice in this verse), and that no trace of an alternative yarub exists. We.
{TBS. p. 31), with greater probability, thinks that the name is formed like
SKW, $ in meaning equivalent to vrw, ' Yahweh founds.'
33-35. The Midianites invade the land ; Gideon summons his
countrymen to resist them. The hordes of Midian and its allies
cross the Jordan and encamp in the Great Plain. The spirit of
Yahweh fills Gideon ; he raises his clan, Abiezer ; then his tribe
Manasseh; finally, he calls out the tribes north of the plain,
Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali. Verse 34 belongs to the first narra-
tive (v. 11 ' 24 , J) and may originally have followed immediately upon
v. 24 ; in this narrative the description of the invasion preceded
the appearance of the Messenger of Yahweh to Gideon (v. llb ).
Verse 33 may then be from the hand of E, who, if our surmise be
correct, || described at the beginning in general terms the annual
forays of Midian, and might therefore appropriately relate here
particulars of their last invasion. The author of f~ 8 must have
narrated how Gideon called out at least his own tribe, Manasseh,
and, if we may argue from the numbers, probably others ; but this
account would naturally stand after 6 36 " 40 , in which Gideon, who
seems to be at home, seeks the assurance of a sign that he is
truly called of God to deliver Israel. Verse 35 may, therefore, be
derived in part from E, but has been attracted from its original
position by the parallel v. 34 ; the number of tribes called out is
* In Ez. i8 13 the influence of the common legal formula for the death-penalty
explains the unusual expression ; cf. A ai. &.
t Be. misstates the usage ; ipa ip is found chiefly in P.
J Cf. also otem
So also Baudissin, Sfudien, u. s. w., i. p. 108 n. ; cf. Sta., G VI. i. p. 181 n.
|| Above, p. 178 ; the Amalekites and Bene-Qedem are probably added by R, as
in other cases.
VI. 33-35 197
probably exaggerated by the redactor. Certainly, in its present
form, 6 s5 is in conflict with y 23 ; but we cannot be confident that
the latter verse is original. On the other hand, v. 36 must have
been preceded in E by an account of the calling of Gideon to
deliver Israel, which has been omitted by Rje as superfluous
after 6 11 ' 24 .
33. Cf. v. 3 - 5 7 12 . The Plain of Jezreel~\ so called from the city
Jezreel, the modern Zer'm, on a spur projecting from the Gilboa
range. The Valley of Jezreel (Jos. i7 16 Hos. i 5t ) is in the vicinity
of that city, the eastern end of the great depression which divides
the highlands of Central Palestine from Galilee ; there is no
evidence that the name was in Old Testament times extended
to the whole plain.* Until quite recent times such inroads of
Bedawin into the Great Plain have been of frequent occurrence.!
34. The spirit of Yahweh took possession of Gideon} lit. put him
on, as a garment, clothed itself with him ; i Chr. 1 2 18 2 Chr. 24 20 .
On the spirit of Yahweh, see comm. on 3 10 . He sounded the
war horn] 3 27 . Abiezer was catted out~] v. 35 y 22 - 23 i S. I4 20 and
often; cf. the active, 4 10 - 13 . He raised his own clan; and it is
not improbable that in J the three hundred men with whom he
puts the Bedawin to flight and pursues them ov.er the Jordan were
merely these clansmen. 35. The critical questions which this
verse raises have been discussed above. Through all Manasseh~\
his own tribe. West Manasseh only can be meant. Asher,
Zebulun, and Naphtali~\ see on i 30 ' 33 (p. 49 f.) ; here, as in ch. i
and 4, Issachar is passed over. The two halves of the verse are
constructed on the same model ; \ the second is perhaps an exag-
gerating addition. In y 23 Naphtali, Asher, and Manasseh are
called out after the success of Gideon's stratagem, to pursue the
fleeing foe. It is hardly possible that both verses are original.
They went up to meet them] may be from E's narrative : He sent
messengers through all Manasseh, and they went up to meet the
Midianites. Went up, in the military sense; marched against
them. In the present connexion the words form an awkward
parallel to the end of v. a .
* See Furrer, BL. iii. p. 302 ; Bad.3, p. 229; G. A. Smith, Hist. Geog., p. 385.
t Thomson, Land and Book?-, ii. 179 f. \ Cf. also 7 24a ,
198 JUDGES
33. The plain is called the plain of Megiddo (Zech. I2 11 2 Chr. 35 22
Esdr. i 27 ); the Great Plain (i Mace. I2 49 , Fl. Jos., antt. viii. 2, 3 36; b.j.
iv. i, 8 54); the great plain of Legio (Euseb., OS 2 . 24654} ; the great plain
of Esdraelon (Judith I 8 ); see also above on I 27 *'- (p. 43 ff.). It is the histori-
cal battlefield of Palestine; see esp. G. A. Smith, Hist. Geography, p. 391-410.
34. r x\ HBO? nin> rim] the same tropical use in here and i Chr. I2 18 , &
here; in Syriac freq. of demoniac possession (PS. 1887). pyw] Niph. as
pass, to Hiph.; iS 22 - 23 ; cf. pjnu 7 23 - 24 .
36-40. The sign of the fleece. Gideon asks a sign that God
will deliver Israel by his hand. A fleece exposed at night on the
threshing floor is drenched with dew, while the ground around is
dry. In a second test the fleece alone is dry, while the ground is
wet with dew. It is scarcely to be supposed that after the won-
derful manifestation of the Messenger of Yahweh, v. 21 ' 23 , Gideon
ventured to require another sign ; the premises of v. 36 " 40 are not
to be sought in v. 11 " 24 , but in the missing parallel account of the
call of Gideon, in which the summons to be the champion of
Israel probably came, not through the Messenger of Yahweh, but,
as commonly in E, in a dream or night vision.* A revelation of
this kind may well require the attestation of a tangible sign such
as Gideon here proposes. This hypothesis is confirmed by the
fact that in v. 36 - 40 , in contrast with v. u ' 24 , we have without excep-
tion Elolum (v. 40 ) and ha-Elohim (v. 36 ' 39 ) instead of Yahweh and
MaVak Yahweh. We may, therefore, with much probability
attribute v. 36 - 40 to E.
36. As thou sayest~\ v. 37b ; the words now refer to v. 14 - 16 .
37. The hard, bare surface of the threshing floor and its exposure
to the wind made it the most suitable place for such an experi-
ment.f 38. The test resulted as he had proposed ; in the morn-
ing he squeezed the fleece and drained out of it dew enough to
fill a bowl with water. 39, 40. To make sure that this was not
due to some natural cause, he proposes to invert the experiment ;
this time the fleece alone shall be dry, while all the ground is
covered with dew. On the following morning he finds it so.
* Bu., Richt. u. Sam., p. no f.
t On Syrian threshing floors, see Wetzstein, in Zeitschrift fur Ethnologie, 1873;
Rob., BE*. ii..p. 83 ; DJ&. i. p. 65 f.
VI. 36-VII. i 199
36. jwin *|e ON] Gen. 24 43 - 49 43 4 i S. 23 23 ; corresponding constr. of p
Ex. 8 17 i S. I9 11 ; iiy Ex. 9 2 . See Dr 3 . 137 (a). 37. ?")>] some modern
Arab, dialects gurn (Mohit, p. 243), or guran (Bar Bahlul, ed. Duval, 41);
Ethiopic, see Di. Lex. (perhaps loan-word). 38. -ipi] generally derived
from "w; K6. (i. p. 328) would make it from -nr, an (imaginary) softer form
of "nx. There is better ground for thinking that the root is TT. Sfcbfl] 5 25t .
39. "JON nni SN] Gen. 44 18 Ex. 32 22 . open ] maiao] on oysn see on i5 3
l6 28 . The clause has very likely been borrowed from the intercession of
Abraham, Gen. i8 32 . It is superfluous before the following, let me try it only
this time with the fleece, and the sentence gains much by its removal (Bu.).
VII, 1-8. Gideon's numbers are reduced to three hundred
men. Gideon, with thirty-two thousand men, encamps near the
enemy, at Ain Harod. At the command of Yahweh, who will
not have the victory attributed to human might and prowess,
Gideon dismisses all who fear the encounter. Of the ten thou-
sand that remain, three hundred are picked out by a singular test ;
these are furnished with the provisions and the horns of the rest,
who are dismissed to their homes. The great numbers presup-
pose the raising of more than one tribe (6 s5 ), and, like that verse,
conflict with > j 23f - ) where the tribes are called out after the success
of Gideon's attack, to pursue the fleeing enemy and intercept
their retreat. The aim of the whole story (v. 2 ' 8 ) seems to be to
enforce the lesson that it is as easy for Yahweh to deliver by few
as by many (i S. i4 6 ), and that to rebuke man's vaingloriousness
he chooses the weak things of the world to put to shame the
strong (i Cor. i 25 - 27 ; Studer). The verses seem to be from E,
and belong perhaps to a secondary stratum of that work.* Verse *,
on the other hand, seems to be the continuation of 6 s4 , and to be
continued in 7 9ff v 1. While the camp of Midian was north of
Gibeath ha-Moreh] the text has, north of him, from Gibeath ha-
Moreh, in the plain, which cannot be right. The cause of the
disorder is perhaps contamination from v. 8 . In our ignorance
of the topography, the restoration is merely conjectural. As 6 s3
locates the camp of the Midianites in the Plain of Jezreel, Ain
Harod and Gibeath ha-Moreh have naturally been looked for
there. Stanley would find the former in 'Ain Galud, a very
copious spring at the foot of Gilboa, about half an hour east of
* Bu. ascribes them to Rje ; see above, p. 176.
200 JUDGES
Jezreel (Zer'm) .* Gibeath ha-Moreh is then supposed to be the
hill now called Nebi Dahi, on the northern side, of the valley,
above Solem (Shunem). The positions would thus be very much
the same which were occupied by Saul and the Philistines before
the battle of Mt. Gilboa (i S. 28* cf. 29*). These conjectures rest,
however, on a most insecure foundation. Ch. 6^ is not from the
same source as 7*, and it is not certain that the author of the
latter (J) laid the scene of action in the Plain of Jezreel. The
name Moreh occurs elsewhere only in the neighbourhood of
Shechem (Gen. i2 6 Dt. u 30 ), and, in the absence of any other
clue, it is the least hazardous supposition that the same place is
meant here. The other indications in J agree very well with this
hypothesis. In this narrative Gideon has behind him his clan,
Abiezer, whose seats are about Ophrah, probably not very far
from Shechem.| In his pursuit of the Midianites he crosses
the Jordan not far from Succoth, by the fords ordinarily taken
between Shechem and Gilead (Gen. 33 17 - 18 ' 20 ; see below on 8 5 ),
as he would do if he had come down Jby Wady FaYah ; the com-
posite verse 7^ shows that the direction of the flight and pursuit
was differently described in the two sources. J
1. p?"U Kin ysT] if Gideon had been original here and Jerubbaal been
introduced by a subsequent hand (Kitt.), we should have had, And Gideon,
that is, Jerubbaal. *nn py] cf. the gentile, mn 2 S. 23 25 (i Chr. u 27 ).
Graetz conj. for "nn pp, INI pp Ps. 83 11 . mion npaJD psxn V? rpn jno njno)
pnj?a] Bu. emends, after v. 8b , 'Ji mran npaj 1 ? |IWD nnno V? run. It seems to
me more probable that combination with v. 8 is responsible for the disorder of
the text, and I should prefer to restore minn r\yiih fifiXD n-n, omitting iS and
PDJ72. Another possibility mien npaja PQXD V? n>n. 'Ain Galud was early sup-
posed to be the scene of David's fight with Goliath (7/z'. Hierosol.} . Eshtori
Parchi (fol. 67 b ) calls this a Moslem blunder. It is more likely that the
similarity of the name was the occasion of the error, than that a mislocation of
the conflict with the Philistines (under the influence of i S. 28*) gave rise to
the name. 'Ain Galud is often identified with the Tubania of the Talmud
and the crusading historians; Eshtori Parchi rightly distinguishes them, and
'Ain Tuba'un is in fact about a mile NE. of 'Ain Galud (SWP. Memoirs, ii.
* Sinai and Palestine, 1856, p. 338. So Furrer, BL. iv. p. 239; Be., G. A. Smith,
Hist. Geography, p. 397 f. ; al. Descriptions of 'Ain Galud in Rob., BR 2 . ii. p. 323 f. ;
Guerin, Samarie, i. p. 308 f. ; SWP. Memoirs, ii. p. 79. Cf. also D&*. i. p. 1288.
f See above, on 6". + On Tabor, 8", see there.
See Rob., BR*. ii. p. 324; G. A. Smith, Hist. Geog., 397 f. n.
VII. 1-4 201
p. 79). Conder (SIVP. Memoirs, ii. p. 81) would find Ain Harod in 'Am
el-Gema'm, much nearer Beisan, imagining that a reminiscence of the " two
troops " of Israel and Midian survives in the name. Nebi Dahi is now often
called Little Hermon. minn ny:n] cf. mio p^N Gen. I2 6 , mm jiSx Dt. I2 6 ;
cf. D'UJiya p*7N Jud. 9 37 (see there).
2-8. Gideon dismisses all but three hundred picked men.
2. Yahweh will not give the enemy into the power of Gideon's
army. Lest Israel vaunt itself against me, saying, My own hand
wrought deliverance for me~\ cf. Is. io 13 ' 15 Dt. 8 11 ' 18 9 4f -, and with
the last phrase i S. 25 26-3L33 . Gideon shall first dismiss all who are
lacking in courage. 3. Proclaim to the people : Whoever is fear-
ful and in terror] cf. Dt. 2O 8 ; a similar measure with a different
motive. The second verb (harad) perhaps plays upon the name
Harod, though it is not intimated that the name is derived from
this terror.* The following words, translated in RV., and depart^
from Mt. Gilead, present great difficulty. The meaning of the
verb, which is found only here, is unknown, and the mention of
Mt. Gilead (east of the Jordan, 5") is quite irreconcilable with the
topography of the story. The emendation of Clericus, Gilboa,
would bring the situation into accord with 6 s8 ; but if Gideon was,
as is supposed, encamped on Mt. Gilboa, the direction to return
home from Mt. Gilboa is entirely superfluous. % Ewald, surmises
that the words are an old proverbial saying in East Manasseh, in
the present context meaning no more than " slink from the field of
battle." But the use of such an expression by the writer, without
explanation, would simply invite misunderstanding. Twenty- two
thousand men availed themselves of this permission; ten thou-
sand remained with Gideon. 4. The numbers are still too
great ; Yahweh prescribes a new test. Take them down to the
waters, and let me separate them for thee there~\ remove the infe-
rior elements which are not fit for the high enterprise ; the figure
is taken from the refining of the precious metals by smelting out
the baser admixture of the ore; Is. i 25 Mai. 3 2 ' 3 . What waters
are meant, we cannot determine. The common opinion that they
are the Nahr Galud, the stream which rises in 'Ain Galud (see
* Ew., al. f Margin : go round about. % Dathe, Stud.
GVI. ii. p. 543; so Sta., GVI. i. p. 150; Bu., Richt. u. Sam., p. 112 n.
202 JUDGES
on v 1 ), and, fed by other springs, flows past Beisan to the Jordan,
labours under all the uncertainties and difficulties which beset
Stanley's hypothesis. Yahweh will there tell him who shall go
with him and who not. 5. Those who throw themselves flat on
the ground, with their faces to the water, and lap it up with their
tongues like dogs, are to be set by themselves, and those who
kneel down to drink (from their hands), by themselves. 6. The
number of those who lapped with their hands to their mouths
amounted to three hundred men] the words, with their hands to
their mouths, are as @ shows, a gloss, and in this place an erro-
neous gloss ; to lap with the tongue, and to raise water to the
mouth with the hand, are precisely the two different ways of
drinking which are here distinguished. Perhaps the words were
meant to stand at the end of v. 6 , where they would be a correct
explanation ; see note. The contradiction at this point between
v. 5 and v. 6 has involved the whole interpretation in obscurity.
Clericus imagines the three hundred drinking standing : * intelli-
guntur qui rrianu aquam hauserant, eamque e manu stantes bibe-
bant, nequaquam inflexis genibus ; they were the hardy warriors
who did not yield to their thirst,f or were too eager to be at the
enemy to stop even to drink. Josephus, on the contrary, thinks
that they were the greatest cowards in the army, who in the
presence of the foe were afraid to drink in the usual manner. \
The miraculous character of the deliverance is thus heightened.
The interpretations are equally far-fetched ; if any significance is
to be attached to the way in which the three hundred drink, we
should find it in the comparison to dogs (v. 5 ) ; they were the
rude, fierce men ; compare the name Caleb. It is doubtful,
however, whether the character of the three hundred is in the
writer's mind at all. 7. Yahweh will deliver Israel by means of
the three hundred ; all the rest of the people shall go to their
homes. 8. Those who are sent home leave their provisions and
their horns with Gideon, who is thus enabled to furnish each of
* Cf. Be., Ke., Cass. ; against this impossible theory see Stud,
t Or who disregarded convenience ; cf. Aug.
J Antt. v. 6, 3 217 ; Thdt. ; cf. Procop.
\ In the number 300 (Greek T) the Fathers saw an allegory of the cross ; see
Aug., quaest. 37.
VII. 4-8 203
his three hundred men with a horn. The verse is clearly written
with reference to v. 16tfg , to explain how Gideon came to have so
many horns at his disposal. The repeated change in the subject
of the verbs is harsh and the text is in at least one place at fault.
Perhaps v. a in its present form is the work of a redactor, who is
preparing for v. 16 " 22 ; see note. The camp of Midian was below
him in the valley} corresponds to v. 1 , and is E's introduction to
the surprise of the Midianite camp in v. 16 ' 22 .
2. innn ... an] p comparative with infinitive, Gen. 4 13 27* 2Q 19 Dt. 28 56
i K. 8 64 , Roorda, 485. ty -ixann] Is. io 16 , glory over. "? njnenn vr]
i S. 25 s6 - 33 cf. Is. 59 16 63 5 Ps. 44* 98 1 ; h jpann io 14 . 3. ijtan nnn TOU] in
rendering depart, set forth quickly, &c., the versions (US) seem to have
been guided only by the context and the preposition; depart early (AV.),
sc. in the morning, follows Ra., Ki., RLbG., Drus., al. in connecting the word
with Aram. &ODX 'morning'; make a circuit (Abulw., Tanch., Ges., Stud.,
Be., Cass., al.; cf. Ki. Lex.}, connects it with Heb. frvcs 'fillet'* (encircling
the head), cf. Ez. f- 10 . Others compare Arab. J^o in the sense ' run quickly,'
or ' spring, bound '; so SS. The context would make the general meaning of
the verb sufficiently clear if the following words lyVjn -\HD were intelligible in
this place. JDMich. conj. inr>, flee quickly to Mt. Gilead; but this is both
intrinsically improbable and in direct conflict with v. 7 - 8 . Cler. proposed inn
paSjn, from Mt. Gilboa, which is adopted by Hitz., Be., Graet?, Ke., Doom.,
Reuss, al.; but Dathe and Stud, rightly observe that the words are then mean-
ingless. Ewald's old Manassite saying, in which Gilead is used proverbially for
the battlefield, is without the slightest foundation or plausibility. Cass. elabo-
rates a somewhat similar theory. Stud.'s explanation is, that, as the Midianites
in the Plain of Jezreel lay between the men of the northern tribes (6 35 ) and
their homes, they are bidden to cross the Jordan, and by a circuit through
Mt. Gilead go around the enemy. But if this was the author's meaning he
could not have expressed himself more obscurely. If a conjecture may be
ventured in this state of the text, I would suggest, fjn,i Df?"^" 1 ! Gideon put them
to the test; for the verb cf. v. 4 .f 5. aian p uitrSa p->i *WN SD] the vb. \>\h
(onomatopoetic) i K. 2i 19 (bis) 22 88 ; cf. ^nS Nu. 22 4 &c.; @ BN diro rov
i/Soros, better than IK (<5 AVLM ). -aS iniN jpxn] jrxn of persons, Gen. 33 15 43
47 2 ; cf. of things Jud. 6 37 8 27 ; see note on the latter verse. niaS without suffix,
Ex. 26 9 36 16 Zech. I2 12 - 13 - 14 . 'Ji JH:P -WN hy\\ the vb. see on 5 27 . At the end
(gALMN ( c f_ g) adds /AercKm^reis atrbv Ka.0' avrbv, Pv ^eracrr Berets avrov.
The words may have been accidentally omitted in |; the nature of the
* Originally ' braid, plait.'
t Cf. RJes., who regards toioi as equivalent to rpxii by metathesis. Graetz
conj. ( p3 > i 'break through.'
204 JUDGES
attestation makes it less likely that they were added by <5, cf. H&. 6. oi>a
on>a VN] similarly @BNVO ( c f. Y\. Jos., antt. v. 6, 3 217), probably 6; see
Grabe, Ep. ad Millium, p. 14; Field, ad loc. An explanation of ppS which
is in contradiction to uiw'S^ v. 5 ; obviously an erroneous gloss. In its place
(gALM \ have the correct gloss tv TT) 7X^0-0-77 avrwv; conflation of the two
in <S PVO g. Perhaps the gloss in |^ was meant for the end of v. 6 , where it
would be right in fact (Doom.); hardly genuine at the end of v. 5 (Bu.),
against which the change of number seems conclusive; at the end of v. 6 ,
whether the words were genuine or a gloss, we should expect ve Sx YTO.
8. The change of subject in inpn is abrupt and awkward; only less so, that
jn rhtf v. b ; o?n mx is incorrect. For the latter, the emendation oyn mx (or
oyn TX Jos. 9 5 - 14 ) would suffice to remove the grammatical difficulty; but the
statement that the three hundred took the provisions of the rest of the people
is not obviously relevant. Gideon was not planning a long campaign and had
no need to encumber his three hundred men with the rations of ten thousand.
If" the author meant to explain how Gideon's men got the jars of v. 16ff - as well
as the horns, he would hardly have said it so indirectly, especially as the
provisions were certainly not transported in earthen jars. If we were sure
that such was his intention, we should without hesitation emend D>?n ^3, with
which DT3 also would better accord. But as in v. 16 - 22 the horns come from
one version of the stratagem, the jars from the other, this emendation or
interpretation would constrain us to regard v. 8a as the work of a redactor
displacing the original beginning of the verse, in which the name of Gideon
probably stood. If v. 16 - 22 were homogeneous, v. 8 * 1 might be restored : rm np>i
DTD oyn mx, which would remove all formal difficulties. "P^nx 1 ? ttx] I S. I3 2
4 10 2 S. I9 9 , iSnsS Jud. 2O 8 ; cf. iDpo 1 ? v. 7 9 55 &c. The phrase is a survival
from the nomadic life; the plur. refers to the group of tents belonging to the
family or clan.
9-15. Gideon, creeping down to the camp by night to recon-
noitre, hears a Midianite tell an ominous dream. The verses
belong to the first narrative (J), and originally followed immedi-
ately on v. 1 . 9. That night"] cf. 6 25 . In the present context, the
night following the dismissal of the greater part of Gideon's force
(v. 2 ' 8 ) ; in its original connexion, the night after he encamped by
the spring of Harod (v. 1 ) . Up, descend on the camp] attack the
enemy at once ; cf. 4 14 . If he is afraid to attack, he shall go
down with a single attendant an4 hear the talk of the camp ; he
will then hesitate no longer. Gideon does so. 10. Thou ana
Phurah, thy page\ lit. boy; the armour-bearer or attendant of a
warrior of rank, 9 54 i S. i4 L6 &c. 11. To the outskirts of the
armed men who were in the encampment] cf. to the outskirts of
the camp, v. 17 - 19 . The precise meaning of the word translated
vn. 9-14 205
armed men is uncertain; cf. Ex. i3 18 Jos. i 14 4 12 . It is natural to
imagine that in such a raid a part of the invaders, better armed
and perhaps better disciplined than the rest, lay along the front of
the camp to cover it from attack ; see note. 12. The immense
numbers of the invaders; cf. 6 3 ' 5 8 10 . The verse in its present
form cannot belong to the original narrative ; it has either been
amplified and exaggerated by an editor, or is wholly his work,
combining motives borrowed from 6 3 " 5 . Like the sand on the sea
shore~\ a common simile for countless numbers; Jos. n 4 i S. i3 5
2 S. I7 11 . It is probably meant, not of the camels, but of the
enemy themselves; but it hangs very loosely at the end of the
verse and may be an addition by a still later hand. 13. Just
as Gideon came within hearing, a Midianite was telling his com-
rade a dream. A cake of barley bread~\ the specific meaning of
the word rendered from the context, cake or loaf, is not known.
We are probably to imagine a round, flat, hard-baked ash-cake,
trundling through the camp till it strikes the tent and turns it
upside down. The tent is the natural symbol of the nomad ; the
barley cake might very well represent the peasant. As barley is
an inferior grain, many interpreters find in the words a scornful
allusion to the poverty of the Israelite peasantry, who were
reduced to eating what is fit food only for animals. It is doubt-
ful, however, whether this is intended ; there seems to have been
a particular kind of barley ash-cake or griddle-bread (Ez. 4 12 ),
and selul may be the specific name for a cake of peculiar shape
or solidity, which was made of barley meal. // came to the tent~\
not the tent of the head chief,* but that of the narrator, or, per-
haps better, in view of the symbolical character of the dream, to
a tent. The definite article is idiomatically used in Hebrew when
an object is made definite in the imagination of the speaker by
what is done with or to it in the story. And struck it, and it fell,
and turned it upside down, and the tent lay prostrate] the words
printed in Roman letters are redundant ; comparison with (, and,
in the latter instance, the false tense in J^, show that they are
glosses. 14. His comrade interprets the portent. This is noth-
ing else than the men of Israel~\ the text has, the sword of Gideon
* Fl. Jos., Be., al.
206 JUDGES
ben Joash, the man of Israel; but this is a later and erroneous
interpretation. The barley bread naturally represents the peas-
antry as a class, not an individual among them ; the Hebrew
phrase translated the men of Israel is uniformly collective ; and
it is hardly likely that the first narrator made his Midianites know
by name the deliverer whom Yahweh had just called from the
flail. The words, the sword of, may be original, but more prob-
ably they come from v. 20 . God has given into his hand Midian
and all the camp~\ God, not Yahweh t is proper in the mouth of a
foreigner ; cf. 3 20 . Amplification by the editor may be suspected
here also. Midian and all the camp is redundant, and, of the two,
the order of the sentence indicates that the latter is original ; it
also corresponds to the description of the portent (v. 13 ) . Midian
and is perhaps from the same hand which over-filled the first half
of the verse by the insertion of Gideon's name. 15. Gideon
accepts the omen, returns to his own camp, and prepares for an
immediate attack. Prostrated himself^ in homage to the deity
who gave the omen. Up ! for Yahweh has given into your hand
the camp of Midian.
9. njnnu -n] v. 11 cf. i S. 26 (norta:)). 11. -yv rupmn] 2 S. 2 7 Zech. 8 9 - 13 .
Dunlin nxp Sx] & (so uniformly; see Norzi and Lonzano on Ex. I3 18 ). In
Jos. I 14 4 12 , men in fighting order; syn. D^iSn (Jos. 4 13 Nu. 32 30 - 32 Dt. 3 18 ).
12. poya D^Scj] the verb was perhaps suggested by the comparison to
locusts, had lighted (and lay) in the plain; it is scarcely to be connected with
the sense, fall upon, attack ' (c. 3 pers.), Jos. 1 1 7 &c. (Be., SS., al). Sptf] see
on 6 17 ; cf. Giesebrecht, ZATW. i. p. 280 n. 13. SiSx t] Qere S^x, perhaps
meaning to hint a connexion with nSx, cf. 'A. From the context, a round
(disk-shaped) cake or loaf; @ pay Is S Ko\\vpa 'A eyicpv<t>ias IL subcinericius
panis. DnS is possibly a gloss to the rare word. The conjecture of G. Hoff-
mann is ingenious, but improbable : a clash of fighting about the gates -went
circling about the camp (anvtf DnS S'Sx, cf. 5 8 ).* Barley was a grain of inferior
value; if 2 K. 7 1 may be taken as an average estimate, worth about half as
much as wheat. It was used for bread, as in the massot of the Feast of
Unleavened Bread, cf. further 2 K. 4 42 Ez. 4 12 John 6 9 - 13 , also Ru. 2 17 &c.;
and as provender for (the king's) horses, I K. 5 8 (EV. 4 28 ), cf. Pesach., 3 b
inf. In early times its use for food was well-nigh universal; then as a cheaper
and coarser diet it was chiefly consumed by the poorer classes; finally it
became almost exclusively provender for animals. See Plin., n. h., xviii. 72,
antiquissimum in cibis hordeum. 74, panem ex hordeo antiquis usitatum vita
*QPB.
vii. H-IS 207
damnavit, quaclripedumque fere cibus est. Fl. Jos., antt. v. 6, 4 219 (on
the present passage), fj.aav ^56/cet Kpidlv-rjv vw 1 evreXefas avdpAwoLs &^p<arov.
There is no reason to think that in old Israel the use of barley bread was
as restricted as it became in later, not to say in modern, times. -jflnnD
runca] cf. Gen. 3 24 , the flaming sword that turned in every direction; it
seemed to be everywhere. Others, simply turning over and over, or rolling
like a wheel, which seems less in accordance with the usage of the verb.
SnNfi ny] many Greek MSS. add, of Midian. Sc^i] > <gPVLMO su b as ter. s.
SnNn Sflji] the false tense betrays the gloss; the words are wanting in
<gpv . 71. 75. 121. _ 14. DN , n s 3 nN? p N ] Gen. 47 18 (? J) ; with verb (pf.)
Am. 3 3 - 4 . nsT, the content of the preceding relation, what passed in the
dream; fern. pron. where in Greek or Latin we should have the neuter.
*?Nn2 ty>N] is grammatically definite, and in usage regularly collective, the
(body of) Israelite men {die israelitische Mannschaff), Jud. 7 23 8 22 9 55 2O 20 ;
so all similar phrases, e.g. anaN BN 7 24 8 1 I2 1 , j>n^a ttN 2o 41 , mirp C"N 15!
i S. 15* 2 S. 1917.42.43.44 20 4 2 K. 232 &c. The apparent exceptions are B"N
-\3W> Jud. lo 1 , pD-ua C"N I S. 4 12 ; * cf. Nu. 258. With the name of Gideon
falls also the word a-in; cf. v. 2(> . 15. ISDD] in this sense only here, though
">9D ' recount, relate,' is common; cf. Engl. ' tale ' = ' number ' and ' narrative.'
'nau? nxi] interpretation (so only here; syn. fnn9 and late ."^s); lit.
the breaking of it, a trope similar to the * solution ' of an enigma, &c.
16-22. Gideon's stratagem ; panic and flight of the Midian-
ites. The narration is redundant and confused. To carry a
lighted torch concealed in an earthen jar would give full occu-
pation to both hands; how Gideon's men managed the horns
besides does not appear.f Kuenen thinks that the torches and
jars may have been added by the editor. J Budde recognizes in
them an original and characteristic feature of the story; in his
opinion it is rather the horns, " which come from Jericho," that
the editor has brought in. The following narrative, however,
gives plain evidence, not of editorial amplification, but of the
attempt to combine two accounts. This is particularly clear at
the beginning and end of the passage (v. 17 , v. 21 - 22 ). The doubling
is such as the mere introduction of the horns would not produce ;
and further, as Kuenen rightly saw, the blowing of the horns now
constitutes the principal strand of the narrative. We have found
* See We., Klost., ad loc. The exx. in Ew. 290 a 3, to which Dr., TBS. p. 38,
refers, are inconclusive.
f Studer's explanation is not satisfactory,
t HCOi. i. p. 347-
208 JUDGES
above two accounts of the call of Gideon and of the raising of
his countrymen against Midian. In the sequel of the story, not
only >] ff - but 8 4ff< represents the enemy as in full flight.* The
source from which the latter is derived also presumably told how
they were put to flight ; and as from 8 nff - it does not appear that
they had previously sustained an actual attack, it may be inferred
that they had been alarmed by a stratagem such as is described
in 7 16 " 22 . These facts seem to commend the hypothesis that the
trumpets are derived from one source, the jars and torches from
the other. The former may with considerable probability be
ascribed to E ; the latter will then come from J. If the latter,
as there is some reason to believe,f laid the scene of action, not
in the Plain of Jezreel, but in the vicinity of Ophrah, the execu-
tion of this original manoeuvre is more easily conceivable ; the
jars could be fetched by Gideon's clansmen from their homes for
this purpose. The redactor has united the two diverse accounts
as best he could, binding them together with clauses borrowed
from one or the other of his sources. That in which the trumpets
play the leading part, being the more detailed, furnished the warp
of his fabric.
To E may be ascribed : v. 16a ' ba [and said to them] 17b - 18a - ba - 19a ' ba - 2 aa - 22a -
(from mm DBI) 22b (in part) 2sff -. J's narrative, which is less completely
preserved, probably ran somewhat as follows: [He gave them, or, they took]
empty jars, and torches -in the jars (v. 16b ); and he said to them, See from
me what to do, and do likewise (v. 17a ). [They surrounded the camp; Gideon
gave the signal by breaking his jar (? v. 19b )]; J and they broke the jars and
grasped the torches (? in their left hands, and in their right their swords?)
and cried, For Yahweh and Gideon ! (v. 20a 0> b *). And they stood as they were
around the camp, and all the camp ran away. And they fled (v. 21 ) to ...
(v. 22 in part).
16. Gideon divided his three hundred men into three bodies']
the object of this division was to make a simultaneous demonstra-
tion from different sides of the encampment ; the disposition is
not further detailed. And furnished them all with horns, and
empty jars, and torches inside the Jars'] the horns probably belong
* Note rpi, v.4- 5 ; Kue. f See above, p. 200. J Recast by Rje.
With this attempt at an analysis, cf. Be., p. xxii, and Winckler, Altorientalische
Forschungen, p. 50 f.
VII. 16-20
to one version of the story (E), the jars and torches to the other
(J) ; see above. The horns, and perhaps the jars also, are pro-
vided for in v. 8a (R) ; see comm. there and note (p. 203 f.). The
jars were used to conceal the light of the torches till the Israelites
had got into position around the camp ; * these were broken with
a startling crash which would sound to the terrified Midianites
like the clash of arms. 17, 18. Gideon instructs his men.
You shall see from me and do likewise} an unusual breviloquence ;
cf. 9 48 . In v. b the same thing is repeated in common phrase, and
as I do, so shall you do. These words are not improbably edito-
rial ; beside the detailed instructions in the following verse they
are superfluous, and v. 18a would connect much better with the
preceding if they were away : When I reach the outskirts of the
camp, 18 and blow a blast on the horn, . . . then you also shall
blow, <5rv.] the Midianites, hearing the charge sounded on different
sides of the camp, would be bewildered by the expectation of a
simultaneous attack from several quarters. And say, For Yah-
weh and Gideon} introduced by the editor from the other nar-
rative (v. 20 ) ; observe the colourless, say, for shout.
19. The beginning of the middle watch} the night was divided
into three watches ; the first watch, the middle watch, and the
morning watch (i S. n 11 ). The division into four watches
(Matt. 1 4 s5 Mk. 6 48 ) was adopted from the Romans; see note.
They had but just posted the guards'} Jer. 5i 12 cf. 6 17 . More
precise note of time ; it was immediately after the turn of the
watch, not far from eleven o'clock. It is not intimated that this
was a relief guard ; the Midianites may not have thought it neces-
sary to keep guard during the evening. In v. 13f> Gideon was able
unobserved to approach near enough to the camp to hear their
talk.f And blew the trumpets, and smashed the jars which they
had in their hands'} the juxtaposition of the two clauses corre-
sponds to v. 20 ; the second is probably derived in substance from
J (Gideon smashed the jar he held ; cf. v. 16B 0) ; but it has been
thoroughly recast by the redactor ; observe the construction, on
which see note. 20. The three companies'} as soon as the signal
* See Lane, Modern Egyptians^, 1860, p. 120.
t These verses, however, are probably not from the same source as v. 19 .
P
210 JUDGES
was given, the other two divisions joined their blasts to those of
Gideon's own command. And shattered the jars'] the other
strand of the narrative (J). And held on to the torches^ the
text adds, with their left hands, and with their right, the horns to
blow. This is obviously harmonistic ; it is a question, however,
whether the editor added it all of his own conception, or whether
he only altered an older text. If, for the horns to blow, we should
substitute their swords, the words might be thought to be an
original part of the narrative.* But the swords play no part in
the rout of the Midianites, as the author explicitly tells us (v. 21 , J);
the words are therefore better attributed wholly to the redactor.
And cried, For Yahweh and Gideon!'} this seems to be the
original form of the war cry (cf. v. 18 ).f The word Sword 7 is
probably a gloss ; cf. v. 14 . The cause of /Israelites against foreign
foes is Yahweh's cause ; and he who smites for Gideon, smites for
Yahweh (see introduction to ch. 5; esp. p. 134). It is a his-
torical misapprehension, however, to describe the conflict with
the Canaanites (ch. 4. 5) or Midianites (ch. 6-8) as a religious
war ; and especially to compare it with the wars of Islam. J
16. D^Bn np 1 ?^] technical term for divisions of a military force; esp.
columns or parties formed to execute a concerted attack or stratagem; cpti*-
I S. n 11 I3 17f> Job i 17 . It is a second accusative after ymi; cf. I S. n 11
(ott"i), Ges. 25 117, 5 c. nnaisp] see on 3 27 . c^pn DI-O] "o is a vessel used
to draw and carry water, Gen. 24 14ff - I K. i8 34 Eccl. I2 6 ; to keep meal in,
i K. i; 12 - 16 . So in MH., for honey, oil, barley, dates; see Levy, NHWb. ii.
p. 293 f. In all cases where we can form a judgment, a vessel of some size.
n^pn 2 K.4 3 (D'-VD). oncS] torches, not lamps (-u), cf. I5 4f -; see the descrip-
tion in Aruch, s.v.; Levy, ii. p. 517. Thomson's illustration {Land and
Book* 2 -, ii. p. 182): "I have often seen the small oil lamps of the natives
carried in a pitcher or earthen vessel at night," is not at all in point.
17. wpn p) iNin >JDD] learn your part from me by observing what I do. p
refers to the unexpressed object of non; cf. 9 48 . 'x\ *o ^DJN run] cf. 9 33
Gen. 5o 5 Jos. 2 18 2 S. i; 9 &c. 18. njnnn SD maoo] rna^ao adverbial accu-
sative; cf. h 3OD v. 21 . Of the instances of the plur. a considerable part are in
passages generally ascribed to E; see Gen. 35 5 4i 48 Ex. 7^ Nu. II 24 - 31 -32 2 2*
Jud. 2 12 . pruS) nin^S] PVMNO p rae m. o/i0aa; so also & and some codd.
of "fa (De Rossi): conformation to v. 20 ; see note there. 19. BN
read B"Nn rmm; the article accidentally dropped after the final n.
mDNn] cf. Lam. 2 19 nrtWN PNi 1 ?, Ex. i4 23 i S. u 11 ipbn
Bu., Winckler. f Bu. J Baethgen, Beitrage, p. 206 f.
VII. 20-22 211
The middle watch implies that the night was divided into three, not four,
parts. On this subject see Berachoth, 3 b . in'pn op.n IN] IK restrictive; there
had been no time for anything more; cf. Gen. 27 30 apy NX^ NX> -JN, Jacob had
barely gone out; see also Jud. 3 24 . The words are understood by not a few
older interpreters to refer to Gideon and his men : they had barely roused
the guards (i.e. had reached the furthest outposts of the camp), when they
sounded; so Bal - 3L&, Lth., Cler. (n^pn in this sense, Gen. 49 Nu. 24 9 ).
'Ji onan r\wi] rsJ Kal, Jer. 22 s8 * (>); Pi. Jer. 48 12 Ps. 2 9 &c. The inf.
absol. continuing a finite tense, i S. 2 28 Gen. 4i 43 , Roorda, 385; Ew. 351 c\
Ges. 25 113, 4 a. The construction is more common and freer in the later
literature. 20. onoVs . . . ipnrm] in the original context probably, held on
to, kept, as in v. 8 ; in the sense of the editor who added the following clause,
grasped. Notice further the change of construction; in the first clause 2, in
the second the ace.; JttpnS also comes in tardily after all the blowing already
done (v. ia20a ). pjruSi mmV mn] not equivalent to a genitive, gladius
Domini et Gedeonis (31, Lth., EV., Drus., Cler., Cass., Kitt., al.). 3in is
rather an exclamatory sentence of one member (Paul, Principien, p. 104),
probably psychological predicate (observe the indetermination) ; cf. Ges. 25
147. 3-
21. And they stood where they were~\ lit. each man in his place;
cf. i S. i4 9 . They did not rush in, sword in hand, but remained
as they were, waving their flaring torches and shouting their war-
cry. The rest of the verse presents considerable difficulty, though
the meaning is plain enough. The first verb, all the camp ran,
is not usual in sense ' run away, flee,' and if so interpreted is an
unnecessary anticipation of the following, they fled. The render-
ings, took to their heels, or ran together, are not sustained by usage.
Perhaps, by a slight change in the Hebrew, the text should be
emended, all the camp awoke, and they set up a wild cry and
fled. The verb then adds an effective touch to the description
of the night alarm. 22. And they blew the three hundred horns'}
repeated by R, to give the following description of the panic in the
camp the same connexion which it originally had in E (after
the first words of v. 20 ) . Imagining that the Israelites had taken
the camp by surprise, and in the madness of fear each thinking
his comrade a foeman, they turned their swords against each
other, and the panic became complete. Yahweh set each man's
sword against his comrade"] cf. i S. I4 20 2 K. 3^ 2 Chr. 2O 23 .
The direction of the flight is not made clearer by the mul-
tiplication of names in v. 225 , in which the fusion of two sources
212 JUDGES
is to be recognized. The sites of the places named are not
certainly known. From v. 2 * it appears that E represented the
Midianites as turning southward through the Jcfrdan valley, in
which they are intercepted by the Ephraimites. In J, if our sur-
mise about the scene of the action be correct, they would naturally
flee eastward by the main route from Shechem to the other side
of the Jordan, which descends into the great Wady Far'ah.
From the difference of construction in Hebrew, it is probable
that Sererah is not derived from the same source as Beth-shittah.
21. IDUM ipi-vi njnDn.?^ TH" 11 ] the verbs must all have the same subject; viz.,
the Midianites (<!L, AV., Cler., al.). The Kethib WOM represents an inter-
pretation which made Gideon's men the subject of both the last verbs : they
shouted the war-cry and put (them) to flight (RV.) ; not, they (Midianites) tried
to save their goods (Jud. 6 11 ; Be.) For fvi I would emend VP"i, all the
camp awoke ; see above. lyn" 1 )] shouted in alarm> raised a great cry, Mi. 4 9
Is. I5 4 cf. Hos.,5 8 (3L, Ki., Schm., Cler., Be., al.) ; <S fff^fj.avav KCU e(f>vyoi>, prob.
sounded the retreat (Ra., Stud., al.) 22. nnmsri JIWD vhv lyprm] these
words are hard to construe : they blew the three hundred horns, gives undue
prominence to the instruments. The three hundred horns sounded (<J| AVLMO ),
is against the usage of the verb. Very likely the editor wrote niNDn vhv
nnov^n, the three hundred blew their horns (j?pn c. c. ace. as in Jer. 4 5 &c.);
this construction might easily give rise to misunderstanding, since throughout
the passage the verb is construed with 2. njnon SMI] i accidentally repeated
from iny-n. Such cases are often explained as instances of i explicative, et
quidem ; Ew. 340 b; BDB. s.v. Of the places here named, Abel- meholah,
the birthplace of Elisha (i K. I9 16 ), was, in the system introduced by Solo-
mon, included in a prefecture which extended from Taanach and Megiddo in
the Great Plain, by Jezreel and Beth-shean, into the Jordan valley. Euseb.
(OS 2 . 22735 cf. 9711) suggests a village, B?70/taeXa, 10 m. S. of Scythopolis;
doubtless in the modern Wady Malih. This name, however, is given by
the warm salt spring in the Wady,* and has nothing to do with Meholah.
There is even less ground for Conder's identification of Abel-meholah with the
neighbouring 'Ain Helweh (Sweet Spring). f Sererah is commonly supposed
to be miswritten for Seredah (i K. H 26 ),t and the latter to be the same as
Sarthan (i K. 4 12 7 46 ), with which it seems to be identified by the chronicler
(2 Chr. 4 17 ). Sarthan is to be looked for, not in vicinity of Beth-shean, but
near Adam (Jos. 3 16 ), i.e. probably the modern ed-Damieh, where the main
road has doubtless always crossed the Jordan. This is confirmed by i K. 7 46 ;
the bronze castings for the temple were made in the Jordan district, at the
crossing (ford) of Adamah between Succoth and Sarthan (read
* Rob., BFP>. iii. p. 306 f. ; S WP. Memoirs, ii. p. 226.
f SWP. Memoirs, ii. p. 231 ; G. A. Smith, Hist. Geogr., p. 581. J
VII. 22-24 213
nDiN[n] for the meaningless napoa). The Succoth of I K. y 46 is then not
'Ain es-Saqut, about 9 m. from Beisan (Rob., BR 2 . iii. 309-312; and many), but
is the same place named in Gen. and Jos., east of the Jordan. With this Jud. 8 4 - 6
admirably agrees; and we shall probably not err in ascribing nrmx Jud. 7 22
to the author of 8 3ff - (J). As Abel-meholah is named with Sarthan in I K. 4 12 ,
it also may come from J here.* The identification of Sarthan (frnx) with
Qarn Sartabeh (Talm. JOB-ID), the great landmark of the Jordan valley (Van
de Velde, Knob., Ke., al.), is not possible (Di.). Beth-shittah, only here;
Shatta, 5f E. m. NW. of Beisan and about 6 m. E. of Zer'in (Rob., BR*. ii.
p. 356) is much too near the supposed scene of the surprise. Tabbath also is
unknown. The narrative in v. 24 , however, supposes that the places were in
the valley of the Jordan, toward the middle of its course.
23-25. The pursuit ; death of the chiefs. Gideon summons
other tribes to pursue the retreating foe. At his bidding the
Ephraimites pour down from their highlands and intercept the
Midianites in their flight down the Jordan valley. The two chiefs
are captured and slain. Verse ffl is an editorial addition ; v. 24 - *
with S 1 ' 3 form the close of the narrative of E. 23. The men of
Israel~\ all the men capable of bearing arms. Naphtali, Asher,
and all Manasseh~\ the men of these tribes, with Zebulun, had ac-
cording to 6 s5 been raised at the beginning of hostilities, only to be
summarily dismissed (7 3>8 ). Now, before they could have reached
their homes, they are called out again. Even if we set 6 35b aside
as an exaggeration of the redactor, the difficulty in 7^ is only in
part removed. Naphtali and Asher were too remote to be of any
use in such a pursuit. All Manasseh was called out and pursued
Midian (cf. s 27 ^), would not be exposed to this objection; but
cannot be part of the original text ; for, first, it conflicts with 6 35&
7 3 - 8 ; second, in 8 1 , where Gideon is berated in such a menacing
tone by the Ephraimites, it is plain that he has not the whole tribe
of Manasseh at his back. The entire verse is therefore the
addition of a redactor. The form of the verse, with the ante-
position of the object, And messengers he sent, is exactly the same
as in 6 s5 . 24. Gideon sends messengers through the Highlands
of Ephraim, bidding the tribesmen hasten down into the Jordan
valley and cut off the retreat of the Midianites by holding against
* The text of i K. 4 12 is in disorder, " all Beth-shean which is beside Sarthan
below Jezreel " is obviously corrupt. No O.T. author could have felt it necessary
to describe in such a way the situation of Beth-shean.
214 JUDGES
them some of the streams which they must pass. Seize the water-
courses against them, as far as Beth-barah~\ cf, f f - i2 5f> . The
watercourses (lit. waters ; cf. waters of Megiddo, J 19 ) are not the
fords of the Jordan (3 i2 5 ), but a stream emptying into the
Jordan. The site of Beth-barah is unknown ; in an attempt to fix
the position of the stream we have to be guided by general con-
siderations : first, it must have been large enough, when held by
an enemy, effectively to stop the Midianites in their flight;
second, it must be far enough south to give the Ephraimites time
to get there before the Midianites. These conditions are best
met by the Wady FaYah, a perennial stream, which in the spring
is impassable at its mouth,* as are also the adjacent fords of the
Jordan (Damieh). In the tongue of land between W. FaYah and
the Jordan the Midianites would be in a cul de sac, where, in their
disorder, destruction was inevitable. Finally, the road leading
down this Wady from the highlands in a SE. direction would be
the most advantageous line for the Ephraimites in their movement
to intercept the foe. We may, therefore, with some confidence
locate the scene of v. 24 * near the mouth of the stream which
comes from Wady FaYah.f As far as Beth-barah~\ the site is
unknown. | And the Jordan} that is, hold the Jordan also
against them. It may perhaps be suspected that the words have
been added here and in v. b , from 3^ i2 5 . 25. The leaders are
taken and slain. They killed Oreb at Oreb's Rock and Zeeb at
ZeeVs Press"] the names of these places commemorated the fate
of the chiefs. It has been thought that Is. IO 26 (the slaughter of
Midian at Oreb's Rock) follows a different tradition, in which
Oreb's Rock, which in Jud. *f* is only mentioned incidentally,
was the scene of the principal encounter and the overthrow of
Midian. || But, in so far as the representation of Is. IO 26 differs
from that of Jud., it may be explained as the result of a very
natural interpretation of the latter. The victory over Midian is
* SWP. Memoirs, ii. p. 385; "a narrow trench full of water ... 5 yards to 10
yards across."
t This reasoning does not necessarily assume the historical accuracy of the nar-
rative, but only adequate topographical knowledge on the part of the narrator.
J It can, of course, not be Mahadet 'Abareh, north of the mouth of Nahr
Galud (SWP. Great Map, sh. ix. Qk ; Memoirs, ii. p. 79). Bu.
|| Stud., p. 215 ; We.
VII. 24-25 215
alluded to also in Is. 9* Ps. 83 9 " 12 . It is worthy of notice that
Oreb and Zeeb are both animal names, Raven and Wolf.*
And pursued Midian\ on the text, see crit. note. This pursuit
comes too late after the capture and death of the chiefs; the
clause also interrupts the connexion between the account of the
death of Oreb and Zeeb and the bringing of their heads to
Gideon. The words are no doubt part of the attempt to har-
monize 7 23 -8 3 with 8 4ff> . The redactor's representation is that the
main body of the Midianites escaped across the Jordan; the
Ephraimites, bearing their trophies, followed them over, and there
fell in with Gideon. On the other side of the Jordan} harmo-
nistic addition of the redactor.! The author of 7 24f -, on the
contrary, represented Gideon as following the Midianites in hot
pursuit down the . valley, driving them into the arms of the
Ephraimites, who bring the heads of the chiefs to him as he
approaches the scene of the slaughter.
23. pjnw] v. 3 *; pjw 6 s4 - 35 cf. 4 10 - 13 . Wvz" tZ"N] see on v. 14 . 24. mo]
running water, stream, Nu. 24 6 &c. rm no] is often explained as equivalent
to msy n>3, y being sloughed in the common speech (Cler., Reland, Ges.,
MV., al. mu.); but no such tendency appears in Heb. The premise of
Reland's conjecture, viz., that the place is identical with RyQapapa (east of
the Jordan), in the Receptus, John I 28 , is untenable; and with it the chief
motive for the theory falls. <& Eai6ftrjpa (Bat^pa AB i- j s transcription al
error) 2L& would rather suggest nnxj; cf. Jerome, OS 2 . 10612, quod interpre-
tatur domus aquae, sive putei. 25. SNT 3pi] apt see on 6 11 ; like nj it is
sometimes used for the whole; Dt. I5 14 &c. |HD SN IDTVI] the prep, is quite
anomalous; we should probably emend nx (cf. ffiltE). 2NT1 aip a>*o] two
genitives after one noun; see on I 6 . The singular, trxn, is in accordance with
Heb. idiom. p-v 1 ? nara] on the other side (east) of the J., where Gideon
was (IL5, Ra., Ke., Be., Reuss.), Nu. 22 1 34 16 ; cf. S JISXD 2 9 , and note on I 16
(p. 34). Not, from the other side of J. (Cler., Stud., Ew. GVI. ii. p. 546,
cf. 541, Cass., al.). The view of Ges. (on Is. lo 26 ), Cass., al., that Oreb's
Rock and Zeeb's Press were east of the Jordan, is mistaken.
VIII. 1-3. The Ephraimites quarrel with Gideon; their
anger is appeased. The beginning strongly resembles I2 1 ' 7 .
* On animal names among Semites, cf. W. R. Smith, Journ. of Philology, ix.
p. 75 ff. ; Kinship and Marriage, p. 190 ff., 218 ff. ; Noldeke, ZDMG. xl. 1886,
p. 156 ff. ; J. Jacobs, " Are there Totem-Clans in the Old Testament," Archceol,
Review, iii. 1889, p. 145 ff.
t We., Comp., p. 225 ; Sta., G VI. i. p. 187 n. ; Bu., Richt. u. Sam., p. 115 ; al.
2l6 JUDGES
Wellhausen regards the latter as a purely secondary development
of a motive borrowed from 8 1 " 3 ; * Kittel is of the opposite opinion,
viz., that 8 1 ' 3 is an imitation of 1 2 U7 .f The identity between the
two stories does not, however, extend beyond the beginning ; the
sequel is as different as can be imagined, and in each is in entire
conformity with the situation. That the Ephraimites, in the pride
of their pre-eminence as members of the leading tribe in Israel,
should resent being left out and so deprived of their share of
glory and of spoil, and should vehemently assail a leader who had
dared to succeed without their counsel and aid, seems so natural
a thing that we can without difficulty believe that it happened
more than once, or was the subject of more than one tale.
1. What trick is this thou hast played us, not to call us~] cf. 12*.
The great tribe is jealous of its natural hegemony, and angry that
it should seem to be ignored ; see above. They quarrelled with
him violently] very likely with such threats as are uttered in 1 2 1 .
2. Gideon placates their anger by magnifying their achieve-
ment, and speaking of his own part as an insignificant one. The
skill with which his answer is turned reminds us strongly of 6 31 ,
which our analysis would assign to the same author. What have
I done now to compare with you ?~\ now ; after all. Is not the
gleaning of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer\ an apt
and striking figure. The Ephraimites had indeed not been called
into action until after Gideon and his followers had gained the
first success over the enemy, but a far greater success had been
reserved for them in the slaughter of the invaders and the capture
of their chiefs. In contrast with the tribe of Ephraim, and in
congruity with the metaphor, Gideon does not name himself, but
his clan, Abiezer. 3. The meaning of the figure. God has
given] the name may perhaps be some indication of authorship ;
but, as in many instances, the tradition is not consentaneous.
What have I been able to do, to compare with you ?~] the pride of
the great tribe ought to be fully satisfied by the event ; God has
thrown into their hands the chiefs of Midian. He himself had
only beaten up the game which they had killed. Their anger
* Cornp., p. 229 ; cf. Doom., p. 101.
t GdH. i. 2. p. 72 n. ; cf. p. 80 f.
VIII. 1-3 21 7
against him was softened by this speech. It is conjectured that
S 29 was the original sequel of 8 3 ; see above, p. 1 76.*
1. ansx c"N vSx IIDNM] plur. with following collective subject. -ain no
uV nwy n?n] Ges. 25 p. 472; Paul, Principien, p. 114 f. ntnp ^rtaV] Baer;
the common edd. have rnjop. The normal inf. is *np; grammarians explain
the form in the text as due to the analogy of n"S (Sta. 619 k\ K6., i. p. 61 1).
Possibly we should rather attribute n*np viSaS to the analogy of the common
nV?. roSn o] w/k> (3LC&); 2 18 Hos. n 1 &c. Be. construes as an
exclamation, For thou iventest out ! nprra] 4 3 . 2. DSD] v. 3 , an inexact but
not uncommon shifting of the point of comparison from the act to the person
(agent or object); Dt. 3 20 &c. A number of codd. and some of the oldest
edd. have DDU, what have I done to you (Ex. I2 12 2 S. i8 13 ). nV?*??] gleanings
of a vineyard (Mi. 7 1 ) or olive tree (Is. I7 6 ); not of grain (top 1 ?). The pred.
adj. 210 is not infrequently uninflected; I S. 19* 2 K. 5 12 &c., Davidson, Syntax,
116, Rem. 3. "VXJD] one of the rare cases in which a mute loses its
doubling in consequence of the reduction of the vowel; Ges. 26 20, 3 b.
3. D^nSN] << ri'"i\ nwy irby no] inf. in direct regimen; Gen. 37* Ex. 2 8
i8 23 Nu. 22 38 &c.; cf. Jud. n 35 . onn mm TN] nn, excited feeling, passion;
the specific definition is given by the context; cf. Job I5 18 Eccl. io 4
cf. UDD tp>i Ex. 4 26 , also Jud. 1 1 37 .
4-27. The pursuit beyond the Jordan. Gideon, with his
three hundred men, follows the Midianites across the Jordan.
The men of Succoth and Penuel refuse him food for his hungry
band ; with threats of vengeance, he presses on (v. 4 " 9 ) . He sur-
prises the camp and takes prisoners the two kings (v. 10 " 12 ).
Returning in triumph, he inflicts condign punishment on Succoth
and Penuel (v. 13 ' 17 ), and slays the captive kings to avenge the
death of his brothers (v. 18 - 21 ) . He declines the offer of the king-
dom (v. 2 ^-). Of a part of the gold taken among the spoils he
makes an image (ephod) which he sets up at Ophrah (v. 24 " 27 ).
The unity of this part of the story is obvious and unquestioned.
The only exception is v. 22f> , in which the 'men of Israel' offer
Gideon the kingdom and he declines from theocratic motives.
These verses certainly do not belong to the narrative of J ; see
comm. in loc. In the enumeration of the spoils (v. 26 ) some exag-
geration by later editors or scribes may be suspected. On the rela-
tion of 8 4ff to 6 1 -8 3 , see above, p. 176 f . ; and on the connexion
with ch. 9, see introduction to that chapter. 4. Gideon came to
* See, however, on 8 22f -.
2l8 JUDGES
the Jordan] if our analysis be correct, this is a continuation of J's
narrative. In 7 22 he has told us that the Midianites fled to
Seredah, probably near the principal crossing o"f the Jordan
between the vicinity of Shechem and the opposite region of
Gilead. The Bedawin on their camels (8 2L26 cf. 6 5 ) easily out-
stripped the pursuit and made their escape across the river. The
answer of the men of Succoth shows that they believed the
raiders to be already far out of reach ; the surprise of the camp
shows that the Midianites imagined themselves to be so. Cross-
ing over, he and the three hundred men~] the participial con-
struction is an unusual one; the ordinary expression would be,
and crossed over. Perhaps the word is a gloss ; see note. The
three hundred men are evidently a constant feature in the dif-
ferent versions of the story ; cf. y 6 " 8 . Exhausted and pursuing]
cf. 4 21 . The ancient translators found the order of the words
unnatural, and tried various shifts with them. 5. Succoth] evi-
dently lay east of the Jordan, not very far from the ford ; Jos. if 1
(cf. Ps. 6o 6 ) locates it in the valley ; Gen. 33" (cf. 32 30 - 31 ) brings it
into connexion with Penuel, as in our passage ; both are in the
vicinity of the Jabbok (Nahr ez-Zerqa).* The sites have not
been recovered. In the Jerusalem Talmud, Succoth is identified
with Dar'ala, the modern Tell Deir 'Alia just north of the Zerqa ;
but it is very doubtful whether this is any more than an inference
of Jewish scholars from the passages in the Old Testament which
are cited above.f A place north of the Jabbok would be out of
the line of Gideon's pursuit, if the other topographical notices
of our story have been rightly interpreted. The connexion in
Gen. also favours a site south of the Jabbok. J Loaves of bread~]
round flat cakes; i S. io 3 . To the men who are at my feet] 4 10 .
Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian] cf. Oreb and Zeeb,
the chiefs of Midian, in ch. 7. The pronunciation of the names
has very likely been perverted by malicious wit; see note.
6. The authorities of the town refuse Gideon's request. The
translation, princes of Succoth (EV.), is not quite accurate, the
* On Succoth see Reland, Palaestina, p. 308 ; Neubauer, Geog . du Talmud,
p. 248 f. ; S. Merrill, East of the Jordan, p. 385 ff.
f See Merrill, " Identification of Succoth and Penuel," Bill. Sacra, xxxiv. 1877
p. 742-754 5 on the other side, Paine, ib. xxxv. p. 481-498. J Kohl., Di., Del., al.'
VIII. 4-7 219
word means rather officials ; here, the men who stood at the head
of the council of elders ; see on v. 14 . The disposition of the
tribes east of the Jordan to pursue their separate interests, uncon-
cerned by what befell their kinsmen across the river, is made a
reproach to them in the Ode of Deborah ; see on 5 17 . It is not
improbable, moreover, that in Succoth and Penuel, as in Shechem
(ch. 9), the native population predominated. It is hardly neces-
sary to seek a motive for the refusal in the fear of reprisals by the
Midianites.* They add to denial, derision. Are Zebah and
Zalmunna already in thy power, that we should give thy soldiers
bread ' ?~\ Gideon was on a bootless errand; the Midianites were
already far away, and if he and his little company should come
up with them, it would only be the worse for him. Why should
they help him on in this wild expedition? 7. He answers their
jeer with a threat. When he returns victorious, he will requite
their conduct as it deserves ; cf. v. 15 . / will thresh your flesh
with thorns of the desert and thistles^ cf. v. 16 . With, not of
instrument, but of accompaniment, together with. He will throw
them naked into a bed of thorns and trample them together, like
grain on the threshing-floor.t This is the only natural interpre-
tation of the words, but it does not seem to agree with v. 16 , and
the text is perhaps glossed; see note. Palestine has a great
variety of thorny plants and shrubs, many of which are formi-
dably armed. The meaning threshing-sledges, frequently attributed
in modern dictionaries and commentaries to the word translated
above, thistles, is a figment of bad etymology.
4. "iaV] this use of the circumstantial ptcp. is anomalous (though cf.
Nu. i6 27 ). J We expect "Opi; and the text is either to be so emended
(cf. a3L$tfK) ; or, more probably, -op (^abar) was originally a marginal gloss,
which, when transferred to the text, was forced into construction by pronounc-
ing 'ober. 5. niDD] Jer. Shebiith, ix. 2 (fol. 38 d ) identifies the places named
in Jos. I3 27 in order from south to north: Beth-nimrah, jncj n*a (now Tell
Nimrin) ; Succoth, nSjni (later edd. nVjnn ; modern Deir 'Alia) ; Zaphon,
inn? ('AjuafloGs Fl. Jos., antt, xiii. 13, 3 356, cf. OS 2 . 21975; now Amateh,
near the Jordan, north of Wady er-Rugeib). jnp 1 ?:*) rut] Ze/3ee Kal
Jft, as so often in similar cases, by an inept witticism makes
* Arias, Cler., Stud., Reuss, al. f So 3T, rightly interpreted by Ki.
J Cf. Ew. $ 341 6, 3. Cf. Jud. 12*.
220 JUDGES
the names mean Victim and Protection refused. What the former really was
can hardly be made out; * the latter is probably a compound of oSx, cf. awnSs
in an inscription from Teima.f With the second element, cf. yjD> I Chr. 78$,
jjjnn Gen. 36* (Edom). In all probability we have here a genuine Midianite
name. 6. D13D ne> IDJOI] probably to be emended nnx>i; the uninflected
predicate of the verbal sentence with a human subject is not in Hebrew used
with the same freedom as in Arabic; Ges. 25 145, 7; cf. Roorda, 589. Com-
pare 4 10 7 3 12. 7. ^neni . . . mm nna] consec. pf. after temporal clause,
Dr 8 . 123 )8; Ges. 25 112, 5 c. nanon wp nx] cum spinis (31, cf. &S hy,
<5 tv) ; so Drus., Cler., Stud. The preposition nx is not instrumental, / will
beat you with thorns (Ki., Abarb., al. mu.). Others take nx as nota accusative
(Schm. ) ; recent interpreters who adopt this view construe the verb with two
accusatives (Ew. 234 e ; Be., Ke., al.), I will make the thorns thresh your
flesh. None of these constructions is satisfactory. The first, which alone is
grammatically unimpeachable, is hardly the natural expression, and does not
seem to accord with v. 16 . It is possible that the words nxi iinon >xip nx
D^|"n:in are a gloss borrowed from v. 16 , and that the original text in v. 7 was
merely wi&>:i nx TIEHI. D^i'ip is the most general word in the O.T. for thorn-
bushes. D^p-an] <& LM S TplfioXoi 'A rpaydKav6ai H tribuli, so also & a,
Abulw., Ra., Ki., Abarb., and all older Christian interpreters. In the Egyp-
tian dialect of Arabic berqan is the name of Phaceopappus scoparius Boiss.
= Centaurea scop. Sieber, a composite plant with thorny heads; see Ascherson
in Low, Aram. Pflanzennamen, p. 429. This is entirely suitable in the con-
text; a teasel or knapweed would be admirably suited to Gideon's purpose;
see on v. 16 . | The meaning threshing- sledges was invented by J. D. Michaelis
( Orient. Bibliothek, vii. 1 774, p. 17). The steps by which this result is obtained
are these: p"O ('lightning') might be applied to fire-stories; fire-stones might
be set in the bottom of the threshing-sledge; the whole implement might be
called from these stones, fp-o (or ypia, Ges.) : ergo D^jpin are threshing-
sledges^ Michaelis' theory was taken up by Gesenius in his Lex. (1810), ||
and has since maintained its place in commentaries and lexicons (Ges. Thes.,
MV., SS., Ew., Reuss, al.). It is rightly rejected by Stud., Be 2 ., Ke., Wetz-
stein (Zeitschr. f. Ethnologie, v. 1873, p. 285), Low (Pftanzennamen, p. 356).
Stud, rightly observed that nx is entirely irreconcilable with this theory.
8. Thence he went up to Penuel~\ Succoth lay in the valley;
Penuel was farther from the Jordan, in the upland. From Gen. 32
* Note, however, the resemblance to Zeeb in the other version. If Zeeb origi-
nally stood in J's narrative also, it would have to be changed after 7 25 .
t Noldeke, Berichte der Berliner Akademie, 1884, p. 815 ; Baethgen, Beitrage,
p. 80 f. J Older identifications, see Celsius, Hierobotanicon, ii. p. 192-195.
\ Captives ground to death under threshing-sledges, Am. i 3 2 S. I2 31 . For a
description of the modern Syrian threshing-sledge, see Post, PEF. Qu. St., 1891,
p. 114. || Cf. also Eichhorn, in his fed) ed. of Simonis' Lexicon (1793).
VIII. 8-n 221
it appears to have been on the Jabbok, at the point where the
road from the north crossed the stream. It was evidently a
position of importance, for one of the first acts of Jeroboam I.
was to fortify Shechem and Penuel (i K. I2 25 ). The name (Face
of God) was perhaps originally given to some projecting rock in
whose contour a face was seen ; compare the promontory eov
Trpoo-ooTToi/ on the coast near Tripolis.* It has not been identified ;
Merrill would put it at Tulul ed-Dahab. He made the same
request at Penuel as at Succoth, and got the same answer.
9. When I return successful, I will pull down this tower} the
stronghold of the town, which was itself probably unwalled ; cf.
v. 17 9 47 - 61f -. Numerous remains of such towers (of course of later
date) are found east of the Jordan.f 10. Zebah and Zalmunna
were in Karkor\ the place is otherwise unknown ; Carcaria, one
day's journey from Petra, with which Eusebius identifies it, is
much too remote. On the topography in general see on v. 11 .
Their force was with them~\ the clans which had taken part in
the foray had not yet dispersed. The latter part of the verse is
obviously inserted by the redactor to harmonize 8 10a with y 23 ^.
The fifteen thousand men whom the kings still had with them
were the pitiful remnant of the host with which they invaded
Palestine; a hundred and twenty thousand fighting men had
perished. The enormous figures remind us of ch. 19-21 (cf. e.g.
2O 2 ), and especially of Nu. 31, the destruction of Midian in the
days of Moses. The original narrative may have given the num-
bers of the Midianite host which Gideon with his three hundred
put to flight, but in the connexion it is not unnatural to suspect
that the figures (15,000) have been raised. 11. Gideon went
up by the road . . . , east of Nobah and Jogbehah~\ the words
omitted in the translation are generally interpreted, the road of
the dwellers in tents, i.e., of the Bedawin. So all the ancient ver-
sions ; cf. especially 2T : The way to the camp of the Arabs who
were encamped in tents in the desert east of Nobah. But the
Hebrew text does not admit of any grammatical interpretation ;
probably the name of a place originally stood here. Jogbehah is
* Strabo, xvi. p. 754 f.
f Porter, Damascus, ii. p. 195 ; Merrill, East of the Jordan, p. 15, 37, 405.
222 JUDGES
named in Nu. 32^ among the cities built, or fortified, by Gad.*
It is now generally identified with Khirbet el-Gubeihat, NW. of
'Amman and about midway between that place and es-Salt.f
The site agrees sufficiently well with the scanty indicia of our
narrative. The general course of the flight from the fords of the
Jordan was then south-east, toward the great desert. Nobah
occurs in Nu. 32^, where we read that a clan Nobah (from the
context a branch of Machir) conquered Kenath and its depend-
encies, and gave the place its own name. Kenath is commonly
supposed to be el-Qanawat in the Hauran ; \ but this cannot be
meant here. It has been suggested that the Nobah in our text
was the earlier seat of the clan, from which it migrated to the
north, to Kenath ; but the identification of the latter with Qana-
wat is rather to be given up. || The Midianites, imagining that
they are safe from pursuit, allow themselves to be surprised.
12. The two kings flee, but are pursued and taken. He threw
all the camp into a panic\ the panic of the Midianites seems to
come too late, after the flight and pursuit of the kings. Scharfen-
berg conjectured, he devoted all the camp, utterly destroyed it
(see on i 17 ). It is not necessary, however, to touch the text.
The capture of Zebah and Zalmunna is the point in which the
interest of the narration centres ; the rest in their fright fled in all
directions, leaving the kings to their fate ; cf. 2 S. i y 2 , and with
the verb, Ez. 3o 9 .f
* Most of the other places in this list were in northern Moab ; several of them
occur also in the inscription of Mesha.
f See Burckhardt, Syria, p. 361 ; Conder, SEP. Memoirs, p. in f. The identifi-
cation, Knobel on Nu. 32^ ; Ewald, G VL ii. p. 547 n. ; Dietrich, in Merx, Archiv,
i. 1867, p. 346-349 ; Be., Ke., Di., Bad., al. G. A. Smith strangely supposes it to
have originated with Conder. In general, the author of this Historical Geography
is not very well informed about the history of geography.
J Descriptions of Qanawat, Burckhardt, Syria, p. 83 ff. ; Merrill, East of Jordan,
p. 36-42 ; Bad3. 207 f. Kaj>a0a, Fl. Jos., b.j. i. 19, 2 366 ; Ptol., v. 15, 23 ; Plin.,
. A., v. 74. The identification is made by Euseb., OS 2 . 269^, but is probably
mistaken; we should not look for the Kenath of Nu. 32*2 in the remote NE.
i Chr. 2 2 3, when rightly translated, lends no support to the theory. Dt. 3^ Jos. is 30 ,
which put the Havoth-jair in Bashan, are the result of a late and erroneous combi-
nation (Di., NDJ., p. 201 ; Kue., Th. T. xi. p. 479 ff.) ; see below on io 4 .
Di., NDJ., p. 201 f. ; Sta., G VI. i. p. 149.
|| Socin, Be.
If Stud.
VIII. II-I3 223
8. *?N)Js] Merrill {East of the Jordan, p. 390-392) thinks that Penuel was
at Tulul ed-Dahab, conical hills, crowned by old ruins, which rise from the
middle of the Jabbok valley to a height of 250 feet. The stream, with a sharp
bend, winds between them. With the name Penuel compare hyz ]Q in
Carthaginian inscriptions to Syj JB run, in which Halevy and E. Meyer are
very probably right in seeing, not a mystical epithet, "Tnt, face of Baal,"
but the name of a place; cf. promunturium quod Saturni vocatur, Plin., n. h.,
iii. 19. 10. ~pip3] a similar name (Qarqaru) is found in inscriptions of Sal-
manassar and Sargon; apparently a place in the vicinity of Hamath (Schrader,
KAT\ p. 180). In v. 11 & m puts the camp at 'Aro'er (see on n 33 ).*
t]hx "\vy n^nno] with the irregular construction of the numeral cf. 2 S. I9 18
Jud. 20 25 , Ges. 25 97, 2 n. Dip >J2] in a wider sense than in 6 3 - &, to include
?.\\ the Bedawin. D^DJH] the slain; 2O 46 Jos. 8 25 Jer. 6 15 8 12 &c. ain *^v\
excludes non-combatants; the phrase 2O 2 - w - 17 - ^>- 46 2 S. 24 &c. The resem-
blances in this part of the verse to ch. 20 are to be noted. 11. o^riNa \J-i3tpn]
commonly rendered, those who are lodged in tents, i.e., the Bedawin, and
explained, the road which they ordinarily took in crossing the country, per-
haps a trail which avoided the larger towns. This interpretation is more
ingenious than convincing. The construct state before a preposition is not
infrequent (Philippi, Status constructus, p. 57; Ew. 289 b; Ges. 25 130, i);
but the article before the construct is foreign to the whole genius of the
Semitic languages, and is not rendered less objectionable by reference to other
instances of the same error (Ps. H3 5 - 6 I23 1 ; cf. Philippi, p. 40 f.; Ol. on
Ps. H3 5 ). The pass. ptcp. is also a stumbling-block, not so much in itself
(see Ko., i. p. 176 f.), as because the act. ptcp. of this verb is usual in this
sense and construction. Finally, -pi with a gen. is elsewhere always the way
to, or by, a place; not that used by such and such persons; f the road leading
to the Bedawin camps, would be suitable here, but cannot be extracted from
the text. nn ijp] C xncn ; by etymological combination. naa n>n n jnnni]
na:j is predicate, not adv. accus. of state (Be.). 12. nnnn] so versions (exc.
A3j ). Scharfenberg conj. annn; J Schleusner nnan. If an emendation is
necessary, Tnan (Ex. 23 23 Ps. 83 5 ) would perhaps be preferable to either;
cf. <& A t&rpuf/ev. Cf. however, Ez. 30 Zech. 2* 2 S. I7 2 .
13-17. Gideon returns with his prisoners and punishes Suc-
coth and Penuel. 13. The end of the verse is obscure. The
words are now commonly understood to designate the point at
which Gideon turned back, from the pass of Heres;% and the
significance of this notice is supposed to be, that from this place
* Stud, suggested that npip may be a harder pronunciation of "ijnp ; cf. Aram.
for Njnx.
t Nu. 2I 1 is not an exception ; way of the spies is inadmissible (Di. ad loc).
I Cf. FI. Jos., Steppe. OUA ai. &, Be., Ke., al.
224 JUDGES
he returned to Succoth by a different road from that which he
had taken in the pursuit, and so took the town by surprise.* In
our ignorance of the topography, we may hesitate -to pronounce
decidedly against this explanation ; but we cannot have much
confidence in it. The text is not intact, and it is doubtful whether
the slight emendation which this interpretation requires is suf-
ficient to restore it. 14. He caught a boy from Succoth and by
questioning got from him a list of the principal men of the place.
He wrote down for him the officials of Succoth and its elders']
in v. 6 only the officials (sarini) are mentioned ; in v. 16 only the
elders (zeqeriim). The latter are the heads of the families or
septs which were settled in the town ; all the functions of govern-
ment, so far as they existed in such a state of society, were in the
hands of the council of elders.f The word sar, on the other
hand, designates an officer, official, especially one appointed by the
government ; cf. 9 30 , the commandant of the city, &c. Here also
it may perhaps mean military officers, the leaders of the men of
Succoth in war ; cf. the chiefs (sarim) of Midian, 7^ 8 3 . Seventy-
seven men] one of those round numbers that are hardly meant to
be taken arithmetically. In early times the number of elders in a
city was naturally determined by the number of families that were
able to establish their right to be represented in the council.
15. With this description of the men who were to be held
responsible for the affront he had received, Gideon came to Suc-
coth. The place does not seem to have offered any resistance ;
it was probably not walled. Here are Zebah and Zalmunna, with
whom you taunted me'} v. 6 . He had kept his prisoners alive in
order to show them thus to the citizens of Succoth and Penuel.
To thine exhausted men] the adjective which Gideon himself uses
in v. 5 is effectively put in the mouth of the men of Succoth to
aggravate their churlishness. 16. He carries out his threat (v. 7 ).
He took the elders of the town and thorns of the desert and
thistles, and threshed with them the men of Succoth'] for threshed
%fy has, taught; cf. i S. i4 12 . None of the versions, however, seem
to have read so, and the correspondence to v. 7 is otherwise so
close that we should expect the same verb which is used there.
*Ew.
VIII. 13-17 225
The form of torture intended is probably one to which there are
numerous references in Greek authors, and which has survived to
modern times under the name of carding. Thus Croesus is said
to have put to death a partisan of his brother : CTTI KVOL^OV e\.Kw
Si<0/)e ; * and in Plato's Inferno the very worst offenders, such as
the tyrant Ardiaeus, are tortured in this way ; f see note. Budde
suspects that the words, the elders of the town and, are a gloss.
17. Gideon carries out his threat by destroying the tower of
Penuel, and slays the inhabitants of the place. It would be
hazardous to infer, from the fact that the chastisement of Succoth
precedes that of Penuel, that the author represented Gideon as
returning by a different road from that which he followed in the
pursuit ; it would be not unnatural for him to relate the fulfilment
of Gideon's threats in the order in which they were made (v. 5 " 8 ),
without reflecting that on his way back he would come to Penuel
first.
13. D-inn nSycSc] (AVLMO g fab dvafido-ews Apes; J so also &. Cf. Jerome
2 . 963), adscensus Ares, pro quo Aquila interpretatur saltuum, Symmachus.
montium. The former renders ehhn (cf. I S. 23 18 'A ets rbv dpvfjiAv), which
reminds us of the Moabite names fcnn -pp, nfenn ~pf>. S represents nnnnj
also is said to have had 8povs; the word Din was evidently a stumbling-
block, as in I 85 (see Field ad loc.}. rbyvpass I 36 Jos. io 10 I5 7 . 6 BN d-n-6 eird-
vuBev Apes (TTJS wapardt-ews 2 in B is an accidental repetition), i.e. nSynVri;
but this would require D^nS. Others take onnn appellatively; so 3L ante solh
ortum ; \\ f&, Ra., before the sun set ; Ki. gives us the choice of these two
renderings. Neither is admissible; nSpn is not the act of rising, but the place
where or by which one goes up, pass, steps, &c. (Schm.) ; the translation of
& confounds the word with Aram, ^gp, from a different root (cf. Dan. 6 15 ).
If we interpret, from the pass of Heres, it will be necessary to emend n*?j?DD;
the composite preposition is consistent only with the interpretation of (S B airb
tirdvw0ev; see Stud. 14. V*?N an^i] 2 S. n 14 &c.; cf. 'S ana Dt. 24! &c.
There is as little reason to depart from the usual meaning of the verb as there
is to infer from it that the Israelites of Gideon's time could all read and
write. 15. QtQjnn] v. 5 D>fl^n. 16. ni^D >BJN nx ana jrvi] the Hiph. of jm
without 1 is anomalous, ^f has the same verbs as in v. 7 (j/\6ri<rev BN , KO.T-
* Hdt., i. 99 ; Plut., de malign. Herod., p. 858. f Rep., x. p. 616 A.
J <S M ewi ; cf. I in ascensione Hares. Cf. Stud., Ew.
|| Similarly, RLbG., Abarb. (he turned back at sunrise) , Vatabl., Tremell., Drus.,
Cler.
IT In Nu. i6 5 the spelling may intentionally leave the choice between Kal (<@)
and Hiph.
Q
226 JUDGES .
ai /ej/ AMO g);* so also IL contrivit (with the doublet, et comminuif). &
renders eMannad, tortured, ft presents an unusual number of variants; ven - 2 ,
Ra., Ki. -an, reucJi.,m n -,j ('drag'), ant - inj ( ven - l -nj, typographical error);
all seemingly rendering by the context. He taught the men of Succoth a lesson
(Ew., er witzigte), would be well enough; but the unusual form in $% and the
evidence of the versions make it most probable that the author wrote #"!; a
mutilated v in the square alphabet might easily be read as j?. On this form
of torture cf. Hdt, i. 92; Plut., de. malign. Herod.^. 858; Aristoph., Acharn.
319 f., with the Scholia; Plat., Rep. x. p. 616 A; Clem. Alex., Strom, v. p. 700
Potter; esp. Hesych. s.v. tiri Kvd<puv $\KWI> (Hdt., i. 92) : rb y&p irporepov oi
yva<f)is aKavdCbv vwpbv <rv<rTp\[>avTs TO, 1/j.dTia tiri TOV aupov eKvairrov 6 d
ffwpbs tXtyero yvd<pos ' 6 otv K/>ot(ros rbv ^P ov vepiQavc rats di(dt>0ais Kal
oi/rws e(p0eipev.-f In Jud. 8 7 - 1G the LXX rendering of the verb is Kara^o-lvta.
On carding see New English. Diet., s.v. Card and Carder.
18-21. Gideon puts Zebah and Zalmunna to death to avenge
his brothers, whom they had killed in their foray. 18. Having
executed his threat upon Succoth and Penuel, he turns on his
prisoners. Where are the men whom you killed at Tabor /] the
menacing question shows that he knows what they have done, and
challenges an avowal. They meet it, like admirable savages as
they are, with a boast : They were just such men as you ; men of
kingly figure. \ Because this answer does not formally correspond
to the question, where are the men, many interpreters think it
necessary to make the question correspond to the answer, and
translate, what kind of men were those that you slew ? but this
is against the usage of the particle, and much tamer than what
the author wrote. Tabor\ is generally understood to be Mt.
Tabor, on the northern side of the Great Plain, || or a village of
the name in the vicinity of the mountain.^" But it is not clear
what Gideon's brothers were doing up there, so far away from the
seats of the clan ; the narrator does not intimate that they fell in
a fight with the Midianites, but rather gives the impression that
they were murdered at their homes. Moreover, the author of this
* KaTearev is LXX, as a comparison of <SN w ith B in the light of shows,
f See also Schleusner, Thesaurus, s.v. Karai-aiix*.
J The spirit of this answer is quite lost when it is supposed that they were igno-
rant of Gideon's relation to their victims, as is done by Stud., al.
IS, EV., Be., al.
|| See on 46.
IF Cf. i Chr. &7 (Heb. 662) j os> J9 22 . note a i so Aznoth-tabor, Chisloth-tabor.
VIII. i8-2i
227
chapter (J) seems not to lay the scene of the action in the Plain
of Jezreel, as the other version of the story does,* but in the
vicinity of Shechem. For a conjecture, see critical note. They
were just like thee~\ the nature of the resemblance is defined in
the next words ; it was their princely stature and mien ; cf. i S. 9 2
i6 7>18 i K. i 6 . The meaning is clear; on the text see note.
19. They were my own brothers /] sons of the same mother as
well as the same father; Gen. 43^ Dt. i3 6 Cant. 8 1 ; cf. Gen. 2O 12 .
By Yahweh, if you had spared their lives, I would not have
killed you] it is the personal wrong that whets his sword ; brothers'
blood demands vengeance. 20. He calls on Jether, his oldest
son, upon whom, after himself, the blood feud devolved, to avenge
his uncle's death. For the boy it is an honour ; for the captive
kings an ignominy. Jether is the same name as Jethro (Ex. 4 18 ) .
Besides Moses' Midianite father-in-law, it occurs as the name of
the Ishmaelite father of Amasa (i K. 2 5 cf. 2 Chr. 2 17 2 S. i; 25 );
also of families of Judah (i Chr. 2 32 4 17 ) and Asher (i Chr. 7 s8 ),
and, with slight variation of form, of an Edomite clan (Gen. 36 s6 ).
Commentators have felt some difficulty in explaining how this boy
came to be among the picked three hundred ( f' 8 ) . In reality 8 4ff -
is not connected with ch. 7, but belongs to the older and simpler
version in which Gideon's followers were his clansmen of Abiezer
(6 s4 ) ; Jether's presence in the expedition, therefore, need occasion
no surprise. It is more than likely, moreover, that Gideon led his
prisoners home in triumph, and that they were put to death at
Ophrah, near the place where the murder had been committed.!
The boy had not the heart to draw his sword. 21. With true
Arab spirit the captives challenge Gideon to give the death-stroke
with his own han<J. Slay us thyself, for a man has a man's
strength] lit. as the man, so is his strength. An immature boy is
not to be expected to do what requires a man's arm and a man's
heart. Kimchi and others conceive the meaning to be that
Jether could not dispatch them outright, but would hack and
mangle them in his weak and clumsy efforts to kill. \ Gideon
kills them and takes their spoil. The crescents which were on
the necks of their camels'] necklaces or collars (v. 26 ), the elements
1 ; cf. above, p. 200.
t Cass.
J Stud.
228 JUDGES
of which were little golden crescents. They were worn by men
(v. 26 ) and women (Is. 3 18 ),* and, like all such ornaments, were
originally amulets.f Riding camels are still often decorated with
jingling strings of cowrie shells and metal crescents. In the O.T.
camels appear only in the possession of the nomad neighbours of
Israel and in the patriarchal story in Genesis.
18. nj>N] where, Gen. 3; 16 i S. I9 22 2 S. 9* (in all 10 times). So here
<&C, Abarb., SS. Other renderings : rives 6 M , Trotcu 58 , quotes 3U5 a, Ki., Lth.,
EV., Cler., Schm., Be., Ke., Ges., MV., BDB., al. Stud., rightly feeling that
it is hazardous to invent a new meaning for the particle for this one place,
conj. ro>N (cf. Doom.) ; but njiN (rivi rpoiry, see on 2O 3 ) is found only before
verbs, and is not used in the sense of qualis. If the explanation given in the
text be not thought sufficient, the most natural emendation would be NICK ^D
Gen. 2; 33 &c., -who, then, were the men. onina TIED] nominal sentence, lit.,
'the like of the e is the like of them ; I K. 22 4 Gen. i8 25 44 18 Nu. I5 15 Dt. I 17
Is. 242 Jos. 14", Roorda, 488; cf. Ges. 25 118, 6. ^nn ya -wna nns] most
modern interpreters take IPN distributively, each one resembled the children of
a king; AV., RV., with Lth., Cler., Schm. (unusquisque sicutfilii regis}, Be.,
Ke., al. mu. But nnx is nowhere used in this way, J and this interpretation did
not suggest itself to any of the ancient translators or commentators. <& M 3U
render unus ex eis ; (^BNAPVO g j$ do not represent inx at all. Ra. (alt.),
Ki., Stud., connect it with the preceding as adverbial accusative, lit., thy
likeness was their likeness, all one ; but for this again there is no analogy.
The text can hardly be sound; the simplest emendation is probably inx SD.
^xn 'figure, stature, bodily presence.' At Tabor] man pVx i S. io 3 , not far
from Bethel, is as much too far to the south as Mt. Tabor to the north. It
may perhaps be suspected that the true name of the place where Gideon's
brothers were killed is preserved in 9 37 (piNn "VQto), and that it has been
changed here to "nan in conformity with the representation of 6 33 . 19. TI
m;r] a common form of oath; lit. Yahweh is living; Ges. 26 149. omnn fc
>njin xS . . .] cf. I3 23 . iS with pf. in hypothesis contrary to reality; Dr 3 .
139; Ges. 25 p. 482. Obs. the pf. in apodosis also; they are already as good
as dead, rvnn ' spare, let live,' Nu. 22 33 2 S. 8 2 &c. 20. -in 1 -] = nn> Ex. 4 18 .
21. irmaj BM*O 13] in the sense in which we have translated the words
(quia juxta aetatem robur est hominis 2L), imnj p would be expected; but
the ellipsis may be possible. @ BN cfn d>s avdpbs ij Svva/j.ls ffov. Dinnfer] v. 26
Is. 3 18 ! . The word is connected with Aram. Syr. Nino ' moon,' and both name
and thing appear to be of foreign origin.
* See Schroeder, De vestitu mulierum, p. 33-44 ; Hartmann, Die Hebraerin, ii.
P- 265 if. f Cf. Gen. 35*.
J The examples alleged, such as I K. 5 2 2 K. i5 20 , are essentially different ; they
all have the distributive S. See above on 4 5 , p. 113.
VIII. 21-22 229
22, 23. Gideon declines the kingdom. The Israelites offer to
make Gideon and his descendants hereditary rulers ; he refuses
out of religious scruple. This does not agree with the represen-
tation of J in the preceding narrative, in which Gideon and his
clansmen of Abiezer act for themselves and by themselves : the
men of Israel appear on the scene quite unexpectedly;* we
must imagine them convoked for the express purpose.! The
refusal, v. 23 , is at variance also with ch. 9, from which we see that
Jerubbaal had, at least in the vicinity of Shechem, an authority
which would in natural course devolve to his sons. J If v. 22t23
belong to either of the two sources which we have tried to sepa-
rate in ch. 6-9, it must be to E, in which the tribes of Manasseh
and Ephraim, and perhaps others, take part in the campaign.
For this origin of the verses we may also adduce i S. 8 7 io 19 i2 12
(E), in which the same condemnation of the kingdom, as con-
flicting with the sovereignty of Yahweh, is expressed in very
similar terms. A later writer (D) || would have no visible motive
for introducing the offer and rejection of the kingdom in this
place. If E is the author of the verses, they must have stood in
his narrative after 8 1 ' 3 ; the editor who combined y^-S 3 with 8 4 " 21
(Rje) would be constrained to transpose them to their present
place. To this hypothesis it may be objected, that the author
who represented the Ephraimites as meeting the victor in such a
truculent mood (8 1 ' 3 ) can hardly have conceived of their turning
around and offering to make him king. If 8 1 ' 3 are genuine, as I
have tried to show, the only answer would be that 8 22 - ffl belong to
a secondary stratum in E (E 2 ), to which we might then perhaps
ascribe y 23 also. This, again, would have the support of the cor-
responding passages in Samuel, which are commonly attributed to
E 2 . 22. The men of Israel^ the body of freemen who brmed the
army ; cf. y 14 <f\ What tribes the author meant to represent as
taking part in this assembly can hardly be determined ; Manasseh
and Ephraim pretty certainly, possibly also the others named in
7 s23 . Rule over us\ $ 2 cf. reign in Jotham's fable ( 9 8 - 10 - 12 - 14 ) .
* In y 14 in the mouth of the Midianite the phrase has a different connotation,
t Contrast i S. n 1 ^- J We.
See Vatke, Alttest. TheoL, p. 263 f. ; We., Comp., p. 227 ; Co., Einl*. p. 95 f.
II Kitt,
230 JUDGES
We should hardly attribute any significance to the fact that the
latter word is not used here ; * what they offer him and his
descendants is in fact a kingdom, differing by the hereditary prin-
ciple from the purely personal authority of the Judge (shophef).
Because thou hast delivered us~\ cf. io 18 ii 8 - 9 . To deliver his
people in war is the very calling of a king ; i S. p 16 Is. 33 22 &c.
23. / will not rule over you, nor shall my son rule over you;
Yahweh shall rule over you} cf. i S. i 2 12 - 17 - 19 8 7 io 19 Hos. 13
9 9 io 9 . The condemnation of the kingdom as in principle irrecon-
cilable with the sovereignty of Yahweh, the divine king, appears
to date from the last age of the kingdom of Israel, those terrible
years of despotism, revolution, and anarchy which intervened
between the death of Jeroboam II. and the fall of Samaria, when
history seemed to write large the words of Yahweh by a prophet
of the time : Thou saidst give me a king and princes ; I give thee
a king in my anger and take him away in my fury.f It first
appears in Hosea and in the Ephraimite historians of his time or
a little later (E 2 ).J
On v. 22f - see Wellhausen, Cornp., p. 226 f.; Stade, GVI. i. p. 190 f.;
Kuenen, ffCO 2 . i. p. 348; Budde, Richt. u. Sam., p. 115-117; Kittel, GdH.
i. 2. p. 73 f. (cf. p. 5); Cornill, Einl*. p. 95 f.; Wildeboer, Letterkunde,
p. 99. We. and Sta. (cf. also Kue., Kitt.) surmise that in the original
narrative the kingdom was not only offered, but accepted; a later editor
corrected this in a theocratic spirit (v. 23 ). 23. On the gods as kings in
Semitic religions, see W. R. Smith, Religion of the Semites, p. 66 ff. The
sovereignty of Yahweh was, of course, universally recognized in old Israel
(cf. e.g. Jud. 5); the whole development of the religion presupposes this
principle. But it is one thing to acknowledge Yahweh as the divine king, as
Isaiah, for example, does, and quite a different thing to conclude that he
cannot endure the existence of a human king in Israel. This is by no means
a necessary theological inference; it must have had a definite historical reason
such as the experience of Israel in the 8th century afforded.
24-27. The origin of the idol at Ophrah. At Gideon's
request the warriors give him the rings which they have taken
from the fallen Midianites. Of this gold he makes an idol
* Observe that rule is employed in v. 23 also, of Yahweh's sovereignty, and in g 22
of Abimelech. f Hos. 1310*"-
% Vatke, Alttest. TheoL, p. 478 n. ; We., Sta., Co., Bu., Smend, Alttest. Reli-
gionsgesch,, p. 193 f. Is. 65; see Smend, p. 205.
VIII. 22-26 231
(ephod) which he sets up at Ophrah. The Israelites worship
it ; and it becomes a cause of evil to Gideon and his family.
The making of the ephod which stood in the holy place at Ophrah
may very well have been narrated in J ; it was a famous trophy
of the great victory over Midian. The latter part of v. 27 , which
makes it a cause of apostasy to Israel and of ruin to the house of
Gideon, expresses a very different feeling toward it; both the
thought and the language betray a later writer (cf. 2 17 , 2 3 ).
Verse 24 ~ 27a are ascribed by Kuenen, Budde, and others to the older
narrative, which spoke of the ephod without a suspicion of dis-
approval.* The verses are, however, closely connected with v. 22f- ,
and in this connexion, as well as in the additions to v. 26 , the hand
of the editor must be recognized. 24. Let me make a request
of you~\ the words connect very naturally with v. 221 "' ; he declines
the kingdom which in their gratitude for deliverance they offer
him, but asks of them the golden ornaments they have stripped
from the slain. If v. 22f - are rightly ascribed to a different author
from y. 24 ' 2711 ,! the beginning of v. 24 must have been harmonized by
the editor who combined them (Rje). In J the request could
only be addressed to Gideon's followers, the Abiezrites. Every
man give me the ring of his spoil~\ ear-rings are probably meant ;
nose-rings appear in the O.T. only as women's adornments.
They wore gold rings, for they were Ishmaelites~\ Ishmaelite seems
to be used here not of the race, but of the mode of life, Bedawin.
In the genealogical systems, the Midianites belong to a different
branch of the Abrahamidae from the Ishmaelites ; see on 6 1 . We
are to infer that such ornaments were not worn by the settled
tribes. J The half-verse is perhaps a gloss. 25. They willingly
accede to his request ; a mantle is spread on the ground, and the
rings they had stripped from the slain are thrown into it. The
mantle (simlah) was a wide outer garment or wrapper. It could
readily be converted into a sack by bringing the corners together
and tying them; cf. Ex. I2 34 Prov. so 4 . 26. The weight of the
* Cf. Kitt. In v.26 the list of spoils has been lengthened by other hands (Bu.).
We. and Sta. consider the whole passage, v.22-27, a later addition. See the authors
cited above on v. 22 ?-, p. 230. f Kue., Co., Kitt. ; cf. Bu.
j The caravan-traders, whose connexions extended to the gold lands of Arabia,
were far richer in such things than the peasants.
232 JUDGES
gold rings amounted to seventeen hundred shekels, not far from
seventy pounds. The figures are not excessively large, even if
they represent the spoil of Gideon's three hundred men ; a single
ring might often weigh half a shekel (cf. Gen. 24 22 ) . Not
including the crescents, and the pendants, and the purple garments
worn by the kings of Midian\ cf. v. 21 . The half-verse is an edi-
torial exaggeration such as we have noted in a number of other
places. This catalogue of things which were not used in making
the ephod is quite superfluous, and only interrupts the narrative.*
Crescents and pendants'} coupled in the same way in Is. 3 18f> ,
the only other place where the latter word occurs. The transla-
tion pendants ( ? ear-drops) is suggested by the etymology ; just
what kind of jewelry is meant cannot be certainly known ; on the
crescents, see on v. 21 . The purple garments worn by the kings of
Midian\ the spoils of the kings naturally fell to the leader of the
expedition (v. 21 ). Purple robes are the badge of royalty; but
would J imagine the Bedawin chiefs riding to a foray in their
robes of state ? The necklaces that were on the necks of their
camels~\ v. 21 . Budde sees in these words the only genuine part
of v. 261 ', and regards v. 21b/3 as a gloss, explaining in an unnecessary
way how Gideon got these crescents. f Wellhausen and Stade,
on the contrary, rightly hold v. 21 to be genuine, and the whole of
v. 2611 secondary ; observe the substitution of the general necklaces
for the rare and characteristic crescents. The author of v. 26b wished
to enumerate all that fell to Gideon in the distribution, as well as
what was given him at his request by the people, regardless of the
inappropriateness of the inventory in this place. 27. Gideon
made it into an ephod~\ the ephod was made of the gold rings of
the Midianites (v. 25 ' 26a ) ; \ v. 26b is obviously a gloss ; see above.
Ephod is the specific name of a kind of idol; cf. if i8 14 &c.
Hos. 3 4 . This appears here from the material, and the quantity
of it employed, as well as from the verb, place. That it was so
understood by the editor is evident from his comment, all Israel
went whoring after it, his standing expression for heathenish or
idolatrous worship. The ephod seems to have been peculiarly
* Especially the purple robes. f Richt, u. Sam., p. 116.
% The rings were amulets (Gen. 35* ; cf. the Aram. NH,->) ; the gold was
already holy. Procop., fiavrelov i) eiSwAov.
VIII. 26-29 233
an oracular idol ; see more fully on i f. And placed it in his
native city, Ophrah~\ where it remained to later times. On the
verb see note. All Israel went astray after if\ 2 17 ; it became
the object of an idolatrous cult, in which Israelites from all parts
of the land participated. And it became a snare to Gideon and
his family} 2 3 ; the cause of the ruin that overtook his house.
The clauses are an editorial addition, expressing the judgement of
a later time, and have possibly supplanted the original close of the
sentence. 28. Closing formulas of the editor; see on 3 30 .
And did not lift its head again] Zech. i 21 ; their power and spirit
were completely broken by their defeat. 29. And Jerubbaal
ben Joash went and dwelt at his home'} the verse stands singu-
larly out of place. That the making and setting up of the idol
at Ophrah is related before his return home, might perhaps be
explained by supposing that the writer wished to finish at once
telling what was done with the spoils of the Midianites ; but v. 28
brings the story of Gideon to a formal close, v. 29 cannot stand
after it. Budde conjectures that v. 29 originally stood after 8 3 ,
being the conclusion of the first of the two stories of the rout
of Midian ; from this place it was necessarily removed when 8 4ff -
was combined with 7 24 -8 3 . If 8 22f> be from the same source, place
must be made for them between 8 3 and S 29 .*
24. n^Nty] cognate object. urn] imv. corresponding to the preceding
impf. energ.; and do you give. D?J] nose-ring is ordinarily r}sn on (IN Vj?
'So, n3), Gen. 24 22 (Sam.) 47 Is. 3 21 Ez. i6 12 Prov. u 22 . Cf. Jerome on
Ez. I.e. (Opp. ed. Vallarsi, v. 155); Hartmann, Hebraerin, iii. p. 205.
25. jru pro] certainly, we will give them ; emphasizing the willingness with
which they accede to his request; cf. 4. nSccn] the particular one taken
for the purpose, and made definite in the mind of the writer by that fact; cf.-
on 7 13 , Ges. 26 126, 4; Davidson, Syntax, 21 e. 26. The omission of the
unit of measure (shekel} is common; cf. 9* 172.8.4 c ._ o^nnirn] see on v. 21 .
nio-'tojni] the ancient versions took the word as the name of some kind of
necklace or collar.f Some Jewish interpreters connected it with ^toj Ex. 3O 34
(0-Ta/cTiJ), and explain, capsules in which this sweet-smelling gum was worn
(older scholars quoted by Ki., RLbG., al.) ; so Schm., Buxtorf. Abulwalid
suggests that it may be equivalent to the Arab. natafat un , a small, clear pearl
(from its resemblance to a drop of water), or a bead of gold or silver (origi-
nally of spherical or elongated form) fastened to the lobe of the ear, ear-drop;
* For an alternative hypothesis, see note below.
f Only 3T N>S>S3, diadems, chaplets.
234 JUDGES
cf. ffTa\dyiuov. This interpretation is adopted by Schroeder, JDMich. (pearls),
Ges. Thes.) Stud.; others simply, ear-drops (Be., Reuss, al.). See esp. Schroe-
der, De vestitu mulierum, p. 45-56. fD.nNn nj2] the colour is a red pur-
ple, not violet: see Plin., n. h. ix. 133-135; Delitzsch, PRE?. iv. p. 490 ff.
The name is foreign; cf. Assyr. argamannu, Fr. Del., Assyr. Hwb., p. 129.*
The dye was extremely costly (Plin., n. h. ix. 124). ^y^] see on 6 17 ;
observe ntrN immediately after. 27. TION] on the etymology and meaning
of this word, see note on ry 5 . jrxn] 6 37 Gen. 3O 88 i S. 5 2 2 S. 6 17 . 28. ^a
pjru] Bu. would emend 'J ^ *?:>, after 2 18 . 29. Jerubbaaf} if the verses
came originally from E, we should probably have to assume that Jerubbaal
had been substituted for Gideon by an editor. An alternative would be to
suppose that the account of the making of the ephbd comes from EI (instead
of J, as in our analysis above) ; v. 29 would then be the conclusion of J's story,
following immediately upon v. 21 . This hypothesis would also better explain
the intimate connexion which now exists between v. 22 *"- and v. 24 - 27 .
30-35. t Verses 33 " 35 belong to the Deuteronomic framework of
the book ; thought and expression correspond to those of D in
2 i2ff. y ^ see b e i ow ) . What these verses contain in addition to the
author's pragmatic formulas ; viz., that the Israelites adopted the
worship of the Shechemite Baal-berith (v. 331 *), and their ungrate-
ful treatment of Jerubbaal's family (v. 35 ), is derived from ch. 9.
These notices are inserted not as an introduction to ch. 9, \ but as
a substitute for it. Ch. 9, as will appear below, was not included
by D in his Book of Judges. The story of Abimelech and the
Shechemites did not naturally fall into his scheme of apostasy,
oppression, and deliverance; its moral was of a different kind.
He therefore omitted it, only taking the worship of Baal-berith
as an instance of the chronic lapse into heathenism, and summing
up the rest in v. 35 , as a proof of Israel's ingratitude to their
defender, matching their forgetfulness of the divine deliverer.
Verses 30 ' 32 , on the contrary, form an introduction to the story of
Abimelech ; some such preparation is presupposed in 9 1 , where
Abimelech first appears upon the scene. In their present form,
however, these verses can hardly be attributed to the author of
* We should naturally expect the name of this colour to be of Phoenician
origin, and to have come to the Assyrians from the West, rather than from the
Assyrians to the Hebrews ; and though we cannot at present prove this, it is the
safer assumption. So also G. Hoffmann, Z.A. 1894, p. 337 f.
t On these verses see especially Budde, Richt. u. Sam., p. 119-122.
J So most recent critics. Bu.
VIII. 3 o-33 235
ch. 9 ; more than one phrase in them suggests rather a writer famil-
iar with the Priestly narrative in Genesis.* There is no trace of a
Deuteronomic hand. In view of these facts, the hypothesis of
Budde is the most acceptable which has been proposed. It is
that the final editor (Rp) restored ch. 9, which Rd had omitted,
prefixing to it this introduction (v. 30 ' 32 ), the substance of which he
derived from the pre-deuteronomic source in which he found the
story of Abimelech. To this source probably belonged also the
notice of the burial of Jerubbaal ; cf. 2 9 . 30. Now Gideon had
seventy sons~\ the number, g 2 - 5> 18- 24> 56 ; cf. Abdon's seventy sons and
grandsons (i2 14 ), Jair's thirty sons (io 4 ), &c. Who issued from
his loins'] fa., thigh; Gen. 46 Ex. i 5 cf. Gen. 35" (P) f . For he
had many wives'] the numerous hareem is an evidence of his
wealth and power; see below on 9 2 . 31. His concubine who
lived in Shecheni] 9^ 2> 18 . The woman was evidently a Canaanite,
and a free woman (see 9 1 " 3 ), notwithstanding Jotham's fling (9 18 ).
The relation of Jerubbaal to her was probably like that of Samson
to his Philistine wife at Timnath, a sad'iqa marriage ; see on i4 5 .f
He gave him the name Abimelech] the name is not to be inter-
preted, * My father (Jerubbaal) is king ' : as in all similar cases,
Melek is a divine title or name; cf. Ahimelech, Elimelech,
Nathanmelech ; also Malchishua, &c. It is doubtful, however,
whether we should explain the name, ' Melek (the god- king) is
(my) father,' or ' Father of Melek ' ; the latter, impossible as it
sounds to our ears, is not without analogy in Semitic proper
names ; see note. For the worshipper of Yahweh, he is the
King; for the Canaanites of Shechem, their Baal-berith.
32. % At a good old age~] the phrase occurs only in Gen. i5 15 (Rp)
25" (P) i Chr. 29 28 . And was buried in the tomb of Joash
his father] cf. 2 9 = Jos. 24 30 . In Ophrah] see crit. note.
33. On v. 33 " 35 see above, p. 234. As soon as Gideon died] cor-
responding to the general theory of D (2 19 ); the death of the
judge was always the signal for a lapse into heathenism ; cf. a 5 * 11 - 13 ,
3 1L 12 , 4 1 . The Israelites again apostatized to heathenism] lit.
returned and went whoring after the baals. Cf. v. 2715 2 17 ; Ex. 34 J5f -
* Observe, issuing from his loins (v. 30 ) ; a fine old age (v. 32 ) ; see comm. on the vv.
f Bu., p. 121 ; cf. W. R. Smith, Kinship and Marriage, ch. 3 ; esp. p. 76.
236 JUDGES
Dt. 3 1 10 . The phrase is not that used by D in the Hexateuch
(other gods, 2 12<19 &c.) ; it may have been chosen here with refer-
ence to the worship of Baal-berith, v. b . On the'baals, see on
2 u. 13^ ^ n rf ma d e Baal-berith their god] specification to the
general charge. Baal-berith, in Q 46 called El-berith, was the god
of Shechem, where he had a temple 9 4>46 .* The author of S 33
evidently assumes that the people of Shechem were Israelites,
and generalizes the local worship of Baal-berith into a defection
of Israel as a whole. Nothing is clearer, however, in ch. 9 than
that the population of Shechem was Canaanite ; the insurrection
fomented by Gaal is a rising of the native inhabitants against
the rule of the half- Israelite Abimelech ; see esp. v. 28 . 34. Did
not remember Yahweh their god] cf. 3 7 . Who rescued them from
the power of all their enemies on all sides] cf. i S. 12" io 18 ; with
the last phrase, Jud. 2 14 Dt. i2 10 25 Jos. 23 1 i Chr. 22 9 .
35. And were not good to the family of Jerubbaal] the substance
of Jotham's accusation (9 16 ~ 18 ); as in the foregoing verses (v. 33 ' 34 ),
what the Shechemites did is laid to the charge of all Israel. Deal
well with one, requite good with good, Gen. 2I 23 Jos. 2 12 Jud. i 24 .
Jerubbaal Gideon] the name Jerubbaal alone is used in ch. 9 ;
Gideon alone in ch. 8 (except v. 29 ) ; on the margin between the
two, one name is glossed by the other. As the author draws
directly from 9 16 , he may have written Jerubbaal here, though in
v. 33 he writes Gideon ; comp. on y 1 .
30. rn pin.! 1 ?)] cf. i 1 ? r>n man o^tw :>; it is all in the past. 31. ICM^D)]
19 passim, 2O 4 - 5 - 6 ; in 9 18 Jotham says IHDX. Di. (on Gen. 25) has observed
that in Gen. CM^O is more than once introduced by R. NVI D.I] Gen. 4 s2 - *
I9 88 22 20 . IDB> n Di?vi] c f. 2 K. i; 34 Neh. 9 7 Dan. i 7 5 12 (late; Bu.).
jSn-aN] Gen. 20 21 26; cf. ^DTIS (i S. 21 2 S. 8 17 ),f and the Phoenician
names -jScn, and especially iSnnnN (-[Serin). In the last the grammatical
relation is unambiguous; the name is, Sister of Milk (Melek). Ahimelech
is accordingly, Brother of Melek, not, My brother is Melek, and Abimelech,
Father of Melek. \ 32. mia rweo] Gen. I5 15 258 i Chr. 29 28 . ON mopa
nryn] grammatically incorrect. Doom, would emend mspa (6 24 ) ; Kautzsch
(Ges. 25 p. 401) suggests that maya should stand either after ">ap>i or at the
end of the verse. Another possibility is that mpn ox is a gloss from 6 24 , to
* See comm. on 9 4 .
t Other compounds of Melek, see Baethgen, Beitrage, p. 146.
J Noldeke, ZDMG. xlii. 1888, p. 480; cf. Phoen. nine-yex, Mother of Astarte,
VIII. 33-35- IX. 237
which the preceding word was not brought into grammatical accord.
33. py-u Vy^-p] even as a gloss we should require pjnj Ninj cf. <@BNai. .
IX. Abimelech and the men of Shechem. Abimelech, the
half-Canaanite son of Jerubbaal, persuades the people of Shechem
to have him for their ruler in preference to the other sons of his
father. Abetted by them, he kills his brothers, Jotham, the
youngest, alone escaping the slaughter, and is made king in She-
chem (v. 1 ' 6 ) . Jotham in a fable vents his contemptuous opinion of
their new lord, upbraids them for their base ingratitude to Jerub-
baal their defender, pronounces a curse upon them and their king,
and flees (v. 7 - 21 ). After three years the Shechemites fall out with
Abimelech; an insurrection is fomented by one Gaal, a new-
comer (v. 22 ' 29 ). Abimelech, apprised of the situation by the
governor of the city, comes with his soldiers ; Gaal goes out to
fight with him ; is beaten and driven back into the city, only to be
cast out by the governor (v. 30 - 41 ). In a second day's fighting,
Abimelech takes the place by stratagem, puts the inhabitants to
the sword, and destroys the city (v. 42 - 45 ). The people of the
neighbouring Tower of Shechem take refuge in the temple of
El-berith ; Abimelech burns it over their heads (v. 46 ' 49 ) . While
besieging Thebez, Abimelech is fatally hurt by a millstone which a
woman threw from the wall, and dies by the sword of his armour-
bearer. So Jotham's curse is fulfilled (v. 50 - 57 ) .
The character of the narrative as a whole displays a striking
affinity to 8 4 * 21 ; of the pragmatism which pervades large parts of
ch. 6. 7 there is no trace.* We should be inclined, therefore, in
conformity to our analysis of the preceding chapters, to ascribe it
to J.f Budde, on the contrary, derives it from E, who, in retelling
the old folk-story, introduced of his own invention the fable of
Jotham (v. 7 - 21 ).|
The unity of the chapter has hitherto been almost unquestioned.
It is, however, not unquestionable. There are clearly two accounts
of the origin of hostilities between Abimelech and the Shechem-
ites. In v. 22 ' 25 an evil spirit sent by God stirs up the Shechemites ;
* Stud., We., Co. f Schrader-De Wette, Einl*. 209.
J To E the chapter is attributed by Bruston also (Bu., p. 118 n.). On Jotham's
fable, Kue., I/CO 2 , i. p. 349. See further in crit. note below.
238 JUDGES
their armed bands rob all who pass through their territory : in
v. 26 " 29 a family of new-comers, headed by Gaal, incite a revolt by
appeals to race-pride and hatred. The sequel of the first of these
accounts is found in v. 42 ' 45 ; Abimelech lays an ambush against
the city, takes and destroys it : that of the second is v. 30 " 41 . We
obtain thus two complete narratives, and the confused repetitions
of the story as it now stands disappear. The fable of Jotham
(v. 7 " 21 ) is cognate to the first of these two narratives, and carries
with it its premises in v. 1 ' 6 ; from this source v. 56 ^ also is derived.
If our observation is correct, the version of the story in which
Gaal plays the leading part may be ascribed to J ; the other to E.
No traces of D's hand are discoverable in the chapter. The
story of Gideon is concluded in the usual way in S 28 ; the intro-
duction to the story of Jephthah, io 6ff> , follows. We must infer
from the absence of D's characteristic .setting that the history of
Abimelech and the Shechemites was not included in the Deutero-
nomic Book of Judges, into whose pragmatism it could not easily
be coerced.* It was found, however, in the older Jehovistic book
which D worked over ; the same sources run through it which we
have discovered in ch. 6-8 ; and that it lay before D appears from
333-35^ w hi c h i s his brief substitute for it. It must have been
restored by a still later editor, who wrote 8 30 ' 32 to introduce it.f
An analysis of ch. 9 is attempted by Winckler (Altorientalische Forschungen,
p. 59 ff.), as follows: J 91-5.21.26-29.41.42.43.46-49. 9 6 [7-20] 21 * 23-25. 30-33. 34-35
[ v .36-38 R? ] 39.40.44.45. To which of the two v> 50-54 belong is uncertain;
v. 22 - ss-s? are added by D.
The story of Abimelech is one of the oldest in the Book of
Judges, and in various ways one of the most instructive. We
have learned from ch. i that the Israelites in no part of the land
completely dispossessed the native population ; that, on the con-
trary, the latter, even where the new-comers were strongest, retained
many of the most important places. Ch. 9 gives us a glimpse of
the relations between the two peoples thus brought side by side.
The Canaanite town, Shechem, J subject to Jerubbaal of Ophrah ;
* See above, p. 234 f.
f See Bu. ( Richt. u. Sam., p. 119-122; and above, Introduction, 7.
J Predominantly Canaanite ; Israelites were no doubt settled in the town ; they
were not, however, ' citizens of Shechem,' but gerim.
ix. 239
his half-Canaanite son Abimelech, who naturally belongs to his
mother's people (see on v. 1 ) ; the successful appeal to blood,
'which is thicker than water/ by which he becomes king of
Shechem, ruling also over the neighbouring Israelites ; the inter-
loper Gaal and his kinsmen, who settle in Shechem and instigate
insurrection against Abimelech by skilfully appealing to the pride
of the Shechemite aristocracy, all help us better than anything
else in the book to realize the situation in this period.
Many scholars see in the story a kind of prelude to the history
of the kingdom of Saul. Gideon, it is said, was in fact king in
Ophrah, whatever we think of 8 22f - ; * that his sons would succeed
him is a matter of course (g 2 ) ; Abimelech is formally created king
(9 6 ), and reigns over Israelites (Joseph) as well as Canaanites ; a
short-lived Manassite kingdom thus preceded the Benjamite king-
dom of Saul. All this shows that Israel was feeling its way toward
a stronger and more stable form of government.! There seems
to me to be some exaggeration in this. It is a very uncertain,
and in my opinion improbable, conjec.ture that 8 22< M supersede an
older statement that Gideon was made king in consequence of
his victory over Midian, as Saul after the relief of Jabesh Gilead. J
That Shechem had been subject or tributary to him, and had
reason to expect that his sons would maintain their authority over
the city, does not prove that he was in fact king in Manasseh
and Ephraim ; that his authority descended not to one son, but to
all of them jointly, implies quite the opposite. Abimelech is king
of Shechem, a Canaanite town, in which, as among the Canaanites
generally, the city-kingdom was the customary form of govern-
ment. That he was also recognized as king by purely Israelite
towns or clans is not intimated, and is not a necessary inference
from the fact that he has the Israelites at his back in his effort to
suppress the revolt of the Canaanite cities (9^) .
The moral of the story is brought out strongly, but naturally.
Abimelech and the people of Shechem enjoy but a little while the
* The name Abimelech cannot be appealed to as evidence of this ; see above,
P. 235-
fSee We., Cotnp., p. 227; Kilt., GdH. i. 2. p. 73 f . ; especially Sta., GVI. i.
p. 181 ff. (Das manassitische Konigthunt), esp. p. 190 f.
J -See above, comm. on 8 22f> .
240 JUDGES
fruits of their common crime ; then they fall out, and become
fatal to each other. Abimelech destroys Shechem, but loses his
life before Thebez, which had apparently conspired with Shechem
in the revolt. This righteous retribution is denounced beforehand
by Jotham, and the writer closes by pointing out how signally his
prophetic curse had been fulfilled. Studer remarks that we have
here a religious conception of history very similar to that of the
Greeks in the time of Herodotus and the contemporary tragic
poets, " who would have found in the fate of Gideon's house, if it
had belonged to their national cycle, fruitful material for their
magnificent compositions."
1-6. Abimelech is made king of Shechem. Abimelech per-
suades the people of Shechem, his mother's town, to support him.
With money from their temple treasure he hires a band of bravos
and murders his brothers. He is formally made king of Shechem
and Beth-millo. 1. Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal went to
Shechem] after his father's death (8 32 ). Jerubbaal throughout
the chapter ; see on 6 32 y 1 . To his mother's brethren} the nearer
kinsmen; cf. i4 3 i6 31 . The whole clan of his mother's family}
the clan to which it belonged. Shechem, the modern Nabulus,*
lay in a valley between Mt. Ebal on the north and Mt. Gerizim
on the south, in the heart of Mt. Ephraim. The neighbourhood
of the city is well-watered and exceedingly fruitful. The principal
road from Central Palestine across the Jordan to Gilead started
from Shechem (Gen. 32 33) ; the continuation of this road west-
ward led down to the seaboard plain. The great north road from
Jerusalem through Bethel also passed through Shechem, con-
tinuing north by En-gannim (Genin) into the Great Plain, or
striking off NE. to Beth-shean. It had thus every advantage of
position, and was doubtless even in pre- Israelite times a pros-
perous and important place. It is mentioned more than once
in the patriarchal story (Gen. i2 6 33 18 34 35** 37 12ff- ). The treach-
erous attack on Shechem by Simeon and Levi (Gen. 34 49 5 " 7 )
must have been among the earliest attempts of Israelites to estab-
lish themselves west of the Jordan. It resulted, in the end, most
disastrously for the two tribes, which never recovered from the
* Flavia Neapolis; Justin Martyr, Apol. i. c. i; Schiirer, GjV. i. p. 546*
ix. i-2 241
vengeance which the Canaanites took upon them. At Shechem
was the ancestral tomb of Joseph (Jos. 24 32 ) ; there according
to Jos. 24 L25 ,* Joshua assembled Israel to receive his parting
instructions and make the solemn covenant of religion ; cf. Dt. 1 1 29 .
In Shechem, also, the chief place of Ephraim, the assembled
tribes made Jeroboam ben Nebat king (i K. 12); one of the
first acts of his reign was to fortify the place.f 2. He puts his
kinsmen up to speak for him to the citizens. The freemen of
Shechem] v. 3 2O 5 i S. 23 1L12 2 S. 2i 12 ; lit., the proprietors, those
to whom it belonged, the citizens ; then, perhaps, without dis-
tinction of citizen and metic, the inhabitants. Which is the better
for you , that seventy men rule over you all the sons of Jerubbaal
or that one man rule over you .?] the authority of Jerubbaal, he
intimates, would descend to his sons jointly, not to one designated
successor. If this representation is true, it is evident that we
cannot think of Jerubbaal as the founder of a kingdom, however
short-lived ; for in that case the succession must have been his first
care. Nor need we suppose that the people of Shechem recog-
nized any right to rule in Jerubbaal or his sons ; they would suc-
ceed to his power, that is all. The evils of such a many-headed
tyranny needed no argument; the earliest political experience
of men taught the lesson : OVK ayaObv TroXvKOLpavi-q ' ets KOIJOO.VOS
&TTO), ets j3a(nXev<s. Wellhausen thinks that the monarchy is here
regarded as an advance upon the patriarchal rule of the nobles,
and infers that the story was not written till after the establish-
ment of the kingdom in Israel. I do not think we need see in
Abimelech's words deep reflections on the advantages of different
forms of government, behind which must lie the experience of
the monarchy. The present case was plain enough in itself.
Remember, besides, that I am your own flesh and blood~\ lit. your
bone and your flesh; 2 S. 5 1 iQ 12 - 13 ; j cf. Gen. 29" 2 28 . If, as
has been suggested above (p. 235), Gideon's concubine who lived
* $ : <& Shiloh.
f On Nabulus, see Seetzen, Reisen, ii. p. 170 ff. ;. Rob., BR%. ii. p. 275 ff. ; Rosen,
ZDMG. xiv. 1860, p. 634 ff.; Gu6rin, Samarie, 1^.390-423; SWP. Memoirs, ii.
p. 203-210; Bad 8 ., p. 218-223; G. A. Smith, Hist. Geog., p. 119 f. It has a singu-
lar interest from the fact that the last remnants of the Samaritans live there, and
the rites of the old Israelite religion are still in some sort observed.
J In the last passage David makes the same appeal to the elders of Judah.
R
242 JUDGES
at Shechem (8 31 ) was a sad'iqa wife, this appeal would have
double force ; for the children of such a marriage belonged to the
mother's tribe, not to the father's.* 3. His mother's kinsmen
took up his cause, in which they doubtless discerned their own
interest, and easily persuaded the freemen. Their hearts inclined
to follow Abimelech, for they said, He is our brother} he is one
of us . 4. They furnish him money from the temple-treasure.
Seventy shekels of silver from the temple of Baal-berith~\ the
temple, like those of other ancient peoples, had its treasure,
accumulated from gifts, payment of vows, penalties, and the like,
which was drawn upon by the authorities for public purposes,
or in times of emergency.! If there was any public treasure
besides, it was kept in the temple for security ; \ and the wealth
of private persons was often deposited there for safe-keeping.
So it was, doubtless, in a small way, at Shechem. Baal-berith ;
cf. El-berith v. 46 . The names are equivalent : el is the numen
loci; bdal, the god proprietor of the place. Baal-berith is
interpreted, covenant Baal, and explained either as the god who
presides over covenants, obligations, alliances, and the like ; || or,
with a more particular reference, the god of the Canaanite league
at the head of which Shechem stood ; ^[ or who presided over
the treaty between the Canaanite and Israelite inhabitants of
Shechem.** It is wiser to confess that we know nothing about the
original significance of the name. With this money Abimelech
hired a band of bravos. Worthless and reckless men} ready for
the commission of any crime. The seventy shekels curiously cor-
respond to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal ; the price of their lives
was but a shekel each. 5. With these followers he went to his
father's home in Ophrah and slaughtered his brothers. Seventy
men on one stone} v. 18 . Like a hecatomb of cattle, cf. i S. i4 33f- .
This is not to be regarded as a wanton atrocity ; ft tne verv con '
formity to the precautions taken in slaughtering animals in the
* See on I4 5 .
t So at Jerusalem ; i K. 76! 2 K. 2oi3, i K. 1518 2 K. i8l5 cf. 2 K. 12*- 9ff- 22*.
% So, e.g., at Athens in the 67ricr06fioAios of the Parthenon ; at Rome in the temple
of Saturn on the Capitoline (Stud.). Cf. 2 Mace. 310-12.
|| Cf. Zevs op/cios, Deus fidius ; Ges. TAes., al. Other theories in Schm., Quaest.
3 (p. 914). If Ew., G VI. ii. p. 484.
** Be. We might then perhaps think of the treaty, Gen. 34. ft Stud.
IX. 2-6 243
open field * shows that the motive was to dispose of the blood, in
which was the life of his victims, in such a way that they should
give him no further trouble, f It is an instructive instance of the
power of animistic superstitions. Compare the slaughter of the
seventy sons of Ahab and the brothers of Ahaziah by Jehu,
2 K. io lff - 12 - 14 , and that of the princes of Judah by Athaliah, 2 K.
ii 1 - 3 . Only Jotham, the youngest son, escaped; cf. 2 K. n 2 .
6. The Shechemites make Abimelech king. All Beth-millo\ here
and in v. 20 named with Shechem, but distinguished from it, is sup-
posed by many interpreters to be the same as the Tower of She-
chem (v. 46 - 49 ) ; % but the identification is very doubtful, especially if
we recognize two strands in the narrative. By the massebah tree
which is at Shechem} the king was acclaimed at the sanctuary of
Shechem, as Saul was at Gilgal (i S. n 15 ). Under the holy tree
at Shechem Jacob concealed the idols and amulets of his house-
hold (Gen. 35 4 ) ; under it, too, Joshua set up the witness-stone,
which had " heard all the words which Yahweh spoke " (Jos. 24 2flf -,
E). || From the latter passage it appears that in the eighth cen-
tury there was an old standing- stone (massebah) under the holy
tree. The word massebah, which in later times was an offence,
was mutilated by an editor or scribe ; see critical note.
1. Jos. 24 (E) assumes that at the end of Joshua's life Shechem was in the
possession of the Israelites; Gen. 48 22 Jos. 24 32 give different accounts of the
Israelite title to the place. That in the days of Abimelech it was still Canaan-
ite appears beyond question from the following story. The difference in this
point between Jos. 24 and Jud. 9 is an argument against ascribing the latter
to E; see, however, Bu., p. 119 n. On the use of nnctPD see on 132. 3N n>3
is virtually a compound noun; cf. the plur. nux no Nu. I 2 &c. (never >n2
not*); not, the house of his mother's father, but his mother's fathers-house^
family. 2. 'Ss OTJO nm] speak in the hearing of, before; for one's self
(Gen. 50*) or in behalf of another (Gen. 44 18 ); sometimes, address one in
the presence of another (Gen. 23 10 - 13 - 16 ). It does not appear that the phrase,
which is a common one,^[ has any peculiar emphasis, urge the question (Kitt).
nnx aN Daa Sa>D ox ... BN D'jjaip DDS Sirnn] the alternative with ox ... n,
20 28 2 S. 24 18 I K. 22 6 - 15 &c.; cf. Jud. 2 22 . ' The subject of the inf. is here
* Cf. Dt. I2i6- 24. f Somewhat similarly, Hitzig, G VI. i. p. 115.
J Serar., Schm., Stud., Be., Sta., al.
$ Winckler propounds as a novelty the old conjecture that Millo was the name
of Abimelech's mother's family. [| On holy trees, see on 4 11 6U.
If Cf. also, 'So >JTX3 1DX I7 2 ; Op Ex. 247.
244 JUDGES
separated from it by the complementary prep, and its object. In such cases
the subj. is to be regarded as a nominative; see Ges. 25 115, 2. 4. o^n],
1 i 3 (Jephthah's band) 2 S. 6 20 2 Chr. 13? (|| SpSa >ja). Proj). ' empty ' (716) ;
idle (Prov. I2 11 28 19 ); wanton (2 S. 6 20 ). Others, portionless (21 inopes),
like Jephthah himself (cf. Neh. 5 13 ), men without a stake in society; or good
for nothing, like the empty ears of grain, Gen. 4i 27 , homines nullius frugis
(Stud.). Cf. paicd Matt. 5 22 ; Kautzsch, Aram. Gram., p. 10. anno]
Zeph. 3 4t cf. Jer. 23 32 (mrna) Gen. 49*. In Arab, the verb means 'act arro-
gantly, insolently, swagger ' ; in Aram, and Syr. it is used more particularly of
the impudent boldness of men heated by wine, or of reckless licentiousness.
The notion of perfidy which Abulw. finds in the Heb. word is not confirmed
by the usage, ^ven. i rcuchi. m. Aruch j np3 ( c f. Ki.). 6. N^D no] compare
the Millo (xiSrn, always with the article) in Jerusalem, 2 S. 5 9 i K. 9^-24 ^27
2 Chr. 32 5 ; an important part of the defences of the city (@ usually TJ &Kpa).
At a Beth-millo (query, in Jerusalem?) Joash was murdered (2 K. I2 21 ).
Following 1& xn^D ( = Heb. nSSo Is. 37 s3 , cf. Ra. ) and the context in
i K. II 27 , the word is commonly interpreted 'fill' (of earth), earth- work
(Ges. 7/for.), more specifically, an outwork covering the entrance to a city or
fortress (SS., cf. Sta., GVI. i. p. 343). These etymological explanations are
uncertain; the word is apparently Canaanite. We have no clue to the site;
the place must have been near Shechem. axo pSx DJ?] $K, points asp as
ptcp. Hoph. (Gen. 28 12 ), a tree set up (cf. S It), which is perilously near
nonsense. Context and construction require the designation of a particular
tree; in place of axn we should have a genitive with the article. (gALFVai. % *
irpbs Ty pa^dvif) TTJS ffTdo-eus pronounced asc[n] (Jos. 4 3 cf. I S. I3 23 ); cf.'A
cTri ireSiov (rrryXci/taros Nnop 1B"D DJJ. In the light of Jos. 24 26f - we need
have no hesitation in emending nasDn pSx. That asp is a noun of the same
meaning as naxD (Stud., SS., al.) is a much more hazardous conjecture; the
article is indispensable, and the noun-type asp inexplicable. In other places
the naxD has been rendered harmless by substitution of nara (Gen. 33 20 ) ; cf.
Gen. 3 1 49 (HDSD, cf. v. 45 ) and S a here masptya.
7-21. Jotham's apologue. Jotham is apprised of the pro-
ceedings, and, from a safe position on Mt. Gerizim, shouts in the
ears of the assembly his fable of the trees who made them a king,
giving it a pointed application to the Shechemites and their new
lord. The application is not on all fours with the fable. The
proper lesson of the fable is, that the good and useful members
of the community have too much to do in their own station and
calling to leave it for the onerous responsibilities of the kingdom ;
it is only the idle and worthless who can be persuaded to take the
* Also BN w hh the doublet T j5 eupe T }j (NXDJH) ; cf. M.
IX. 7-21 245
office. It is natural to see in the former part of the fable a refer-
ence to Jerubbaal, who declined the kingdom which the unworthy
Abimelech had just assumed ; * but if this contrast was in the
writer's mind, he does not bring it out more distinctly in the
sequel, which is exclusively occupied with Abimelech. The most
striking incongruity is in the very point of the application. In
v. 15 the question is, whether the trees are acting in good faith
toward the box-thorn in making him king; in v. 16 , whether in
making Abimelech king the Shechemites have acted in faith and
honour toward Jerubbaal and his house.f
From this discrepancy it has been inferred that the fable (v. 8 - 15 )
was not original with the author of v. 7 ' 21 , but was borrowed by
him, perhaps from a collection of popular apologues, and put to
a use quite foreign to its native purport. J It is somewhat hazard-
ous, however, to draw this conclusion from the premises. Faith
and honour are indeed used with a different reference in v. 16 from
that which they implicitly have in v. 15 ; the application is logically
defective. But such looseness of connexion is not altogether
uncommon in the moral of apologues ; the parables of the New
Testament would furnish more than one example. While we
concede the possibility, therefore, that the author has here drawn
upon the stores of folk-wisdom, rather than on his own inven-
tion, this supposition is by no means necessary ; and it remains
the simpler and more natural hypothesis that the fable is of the
same conception with the rest of the speech. If this be the
case, it is very doubtful whether we should see in the fable a
judgment upon the kingdom as a form of government, such
as a number of recent critics are disposed to find in it. ||
The author had in mind a concrete instance, beyond which
he had no occasion to travel. The attempt to determine the
* Ch. a 22 *"-. So the older interpreters generally ; see comm. on v. 13 . The reason
for refusing the kingdom in 9^- is totally different from that given in S 23 .
t This is true, even if, with Doom., we regard v. 16 b-i9a as a gloss ; for these
verses are at least a correct exposition of the author's meaning (Smend).
J See Reuss, GA T. 104 ; Wildeboer, Letterkunde d. O. V., p. 39-41 ; cf. Smend,
Alttest. Religionsgesch. p. 66 n.
Cf. e.g. the parable of the Unjust Steward, Lu. I6 1 - 9 . Stud, refers to the con-
fusion of figures in John io lff -.
|| So, in different ways, Reuss, Wildeboer, Bu., Smend, al.
246 JUDGES
age of the fable by its attitude to the kingdom is therefore very
precarious.*
Jotham's speech is hardly to be deemed historical ; f it is the
way in which the author sets forth, at the appropriate moment,
the true nature of the new kingdom, and foretells what will come
of it (cf. v. 66 '-). It is noteworthy, however, that these words are
uttered, not, as in so many similar cases, by a nameless prophet,
or by an angel, but by the man from whose lips they come with
the most dramatic fitness. In this also we may perhaps see
evidence of the antiquity of the whole story. } With the apo-
logue, cf. especially 2 K. i4 9 .
7. People told Jotham~\ that the citizens of Shechem were
making Abimelech king. The author apparently represents
Jotham as addressing the multitudes assembled at the holy tree
to acclaim the king (v. 6 ) . The words lose much of their point if
we imagine that, after Abimelech had again left Shechem, Jotham
himself called the people of the town together on Mt. Gerizim
and delivered to them his speech. He stood on the top of Mt.
Gerizim] Mt. Gerizim is on the southern side of the valley in
which Shechem lies, Mt. Ebal on the northern; see above, on
v. 1 . || From the summit of Gerizim, more than nine hundred feet
high, a man could hardly make himself heard by people in the
valley below ; ^ but the writer's language need not be pressed to
this absurdity. Modern travellers have remarked a projecting
crag on the side of the mountain, which forms a triangular plat-
form overlooking the town and the whole valley, a natural pulpit
admirably suited to the requirements of the story.** Listen to
me, ye freemen of Shechem, and may God listen to you /] may
God give ear to your prayers as you give ear to me.
8-15. The Fable. 8. Once upon a time the trees went about
to anoint a king over them] they offer the kingdom first to the
* See, e.g. t Reuss, Wildeboer.
t See, on the opposite side, Kitt., GdH. i. 2. p. 76. J We. Kitt.
|| On Gerizim see Guerin, Samarie, i. p. 424 ff.; SWP. Memoirs, ii. p. 148 f.,
187-193. U Kue.
** Furrer, Wandcrungen durch Palastina, 1865, p. 244 f.; BL. ii. p. 330; Bad 3 .,
p. 222.
IX. 7-13 247
olive, which in the zone in which it nourishes is the most valuable
of trees to man ; olea . . . prima omnium arborum est (Columella).*
In the fertile vale of Shechem (Nabulus) there are still extensive
and beautiful groves of olive trees.f 9. The olive declines the
proffered honour. Shall I stop my fatness, with which gods and
men are honoured*] ^ has, which God and men honour in me ; \
but this is probably an alteration from motives cf reverence.
We expect something corresponding to v. 13 , my wine that rejoices
gods and men; and so the versions generally interpret, though
the same motive which prompted the correction in JH is apparent
in their renderings. || As men anointed themselves on feast days,
and as the head of a guest was anointed as a sign of honour, so
oil was poured or smeared on the sacred stones which stood for
the god, and in which, at least in older times, he was believed to
dwell; cf. Gen. 28 18 35 14 .1F And as oil is in Palestine an impor-
tant article of food, taking the place of butter with us, it is offered
to the gods with their bread.** And come to rule over the trees'^
lit. sway ; the characteristic movement of a tree (Is. 7 2 ), repre-
sented as a gesture of authority ; his subjects must obey his beck
and nod. 10. They next invite the fig to be their king, but he
also declines. 11. Shall I stop my sweetness and my prolific
crop] the fig tree bears at two or even three seasons of the year, ft
and its fruit, fresh or dried, is not only a delicious luxury but one
of the food staples of the country. J J 12. Then they turn to the
vine, only to meet the same refusal. 13. Shall I stop my juice
that gladdens gods and men] exhilarates them. Wine was used in
libations wherever the grape was known. Among the Greeks and
Romans it was poured over the sacrificial flesh ; in Israel, at least
* De re rustica, v. 8 ; other ancient testimonies are collected by Celsius, Hiero-
botanicon, ii. p. 334 ff. On the olive in Palestine, see Anderlind, ZDPV. xi. 1888,
p. 69-77 ; Thomson, Land and Book?-, iii. p. 33 ff.
f Van de Velde, Narrative, i. p. 386 ; Rosen, ZDMG. xiv. p. 638 ; Petermann,
ReisenP, p. 266. J So also most recensions of <& ; see crit. note.
Geiger, Urschrift, p. 327. || Compare the translations of v. 13 .
If The custom prevailed very widely ; see references in Di. on Gen. 28 18 , and
W. R. Smith, cited in the next note.
** See W. R. Smith, Religion of the Semites, p. 214 f. On the various uses of
oil for food see DB. s.v.
ft Pliny, n. A., xvi. 113, 114; Shaw, Travels^, 1757, p. 342; DI&. s.v.
JJ Fig trees at Nabulus, see Rosen, l.s.c,' t Anderlind, I.e. p. 80.
248 JUDGES
in later times, it was poured on the ground by the altar ; * prob-
ably in the primitive practise it was poured out before or at the
foot of the standing stone. The wine which the "god thus par-
takes of with his worshippers has the same effect on him as on
them.
The teaching of this part of the fable is that men whose char-
acter and ability fit them to rule are unwilling to sacrifice their
usefulness and the honour they enjoy in a private station, for the
sake of power. By the repetition of the offer and refusal, the
author generalizes ; no man of standing in the community would
want to be king.f The general assertion may, however, be made
for a particular application, and does not necessarily convey a
judgement upon the kingdom in principle. Whether we find in it
such a judgement will depend on our opinion about the origin of
the fable; see above, p. 245. However that may be, the older
interpreters were doubtless right in seeing in the fable in its
present connexion a contrast between Gideon's refusal (8 22f ) and
Abimelech's jeady acceptance of regal name and power. J
14. Their proffer of the kingdom being rejected by all the better
sort, the trees come down to the common box-thorn, a plant of
very opposite character from those which they had previously
addressed ; bearing no fruit, giving no shade, yielding no timber ;
a useless and noxious cumberer of the ground. 15. Here at
last they found one who was ready to be their king. If you are
anointing me king over you in good faith~] if it be not jest and
mockery, but serious earnest. Come, take refuge in my shadow~\
put yourselves under my protection and confide in me. The
irony of the fable has its climax in the seriousness of this pledge
of protection : the image of the trees of forest and field seeking
shelter in the shadow of the thorn-bush has in it the whole
absurdity of the situation. Men wanted a king to defend them
from their enemies (S 22 *"- i S. 9 16 ) ; of what use was a king who
* Ecclus. 50*2 ; Fl. Jos., antt. iii. 9, 4 234 ; see Di. on Nu. 15" 28^ ; W. R. Smith,
Religion of the Semites, p. 213 f.
t The Midrash gives an allegorical interpretation : the olive represents Othniel ;
the fig, Deborah ; the vine, Gideon. See Yalqut, ii. 65 ; Ra. ad loc. Jos. Kimchi
explained the three trees of Gideon, his son, and grandson (S 23 ).
J See Cler. and Schm. on v.W.
IX. I 3 -I5 249
could not do that ? But if not, fire shall go forth from the box-
thorn and devour the cedars of Lebanon~\ it was doubtless not an
uncommon thing for a fire, starting among thorns, to spread to
field and orchard (Ex. 22 6 ), or forest (Is. p 18 ), so that the lowly
thorn became the destruction of the stateliest trees. The cedars
of Lebanon represent the opposite extreme of creation from the
thorn; see 2 K. 14, Jehoash's insulting answer to Amaziah of
Judah. Where there is no power to help, there may be infinite
possibilities of harm. Those who made the thorn king over them
put themselves in this dilemma : if they were true to him, they
enjoyed his protection, which was a mockery ; if they were false
to him, he would be their ruin.*
8. "oSn "pVn] the inf. abs. at the beginning of the sentence in cases like
this has very little emphasis; cf. Gen. 26 28 43 7 . nuiSa] Qere mSc; similarly
01*70 v. 10 - 12 Qere oSo; cf. Ps. 26 2 i S. 28 8 , Ges. 25 48, 5; K6., i.'p. 163-166;
Praetorius, ZA TW. iii. p. 55. 9. ^^nn] v. 11 - 13 . The punctuation is entirely
anomalous, and has given rise to much discussion; see Stud., and K6., i. p. 240-
242.1 The most probable explanation is that the punctuation intends a Hoph.
with n interrogative, assuming the elision of the n preformative ; shall I be
compelled to give up, &c. (Ol. 89; Sta. 175 a; K6., i. p. 242). What the
author intended is another question. It seems at first sight simplest to take
the verb as Kal with n interrogative Ofi^nn) ; % but S^n is never construed
with ace. (poetical instances where the object is an inf., such as Job 3 17 , are
not in point). I prefer, therefore, to regard it as Hiph. OnS-inn), 'cause to
leave off, stop.' That the Hiph. does not elsewhere occur is of no great
weight. The absence of the interrogative particle is no objection; see the
following note. The idiomatic use of the perfect in these exclamatory ques-
tions is to be noted; cf. Gen. i8 12 i S. 25 11 (>nnpSi), Dr 3 . 19. It seems to
be akin to the use of the perfect in hypotheses contrary to reality. || The
interrogative particle is not usual in such cases. W*], pinguis oliva, Verg.,
georg. ii. 424; Hor., epocL ii. 54 f. ; cf. Rom. II 17 . D^JX) cnn^N vt33> O itfN]
so (gALMNOPV g l j. <gB $ v ^ 8o%d<rov<Tiv TOV 0ebv AvSpes; 31 qua et dii utuntur
et homines ; { with which tfiey honour Y., and in which men luxuriate ;
* Stud.
f Of the Jewish grammarians, De Balmis regards the form as Kal (fol. 91^ end) ;
Abulwalid, as Hiph. (Luma\ p. 325) ; Kimchi, as Hoph. (Michlol, fol. 63^ f., ed.
Lyck).
J Stud., Be., K6., al.; cf. Ges.25 p. 167.
Ol., Sta. ; cf. Ew. This reading is found in the margin of the first two Bom-
berg edd., and in an Erfurt cod. (JHMich.).
|| There is a special reason for the impf. in Jud. n 23 .
250 JUDGES
j$ because by me God and men are honoured* How far these versions had a
different text from |5l is not clear. They have at least interpreted with a
correct perception of what the context requires. For o we must then emend
n (with which) , and should prefer to pronounce the verb as Niph. (i-a^),
though the Pi. with indefinite subject is not impossible. 10. vjiSn] see on
v. 8 . 11. pnc f } cf. the adj. pinn I4 14 - 18 . The primary sense seems to be,
something which one sucks; cf. Syr. methaq (Low, Pflanzennamen, p. 333).
>naun] Ez. 36 30 Dt. 32 13 . 13. a>wn] the juice of the grape, must, Mi. 6 15 ;
frequently named with corn (pi) and fresh oil ("inp) as one of the chief
products of agriculture, e.g. Jer. 3i 12 ; as such it is subject to the tithe
(Dt. I2 17 ), &c. The corresponding Syriac word ]w*5^ is defined in the
native lexicons as 'must, fresh grape juice as it comes from the press'; see
PS. 1635. In the O.T. tpwn is "used not only of sweet must (D^D?), but of
grape juice which has undergone fermentation (p); cf. e.g. Hos. 4 11 ; so here.
The etymology still maintained by Ges. Thes., 633 f., Fleischer, al. (jjuia
inebriat, cerebrum occupai) is at variance with both the form and meaning of
the word. 14. ntoxn] rhammts, <&3L. So in Punic; Dioscorides, i. 119 (ed.
Sprengel, i. p. 114), pd^vos ' 'A.<ppol dradtv (Boch., Cels., Low, Pflanzennamen,
p. 404); Arab., Syr. dial.; see Low, p. 44. The common species in Palestine
is Lycium Europaeum Linn., spread over the whole country (DP. i. p. 451).
16-20. The application. 16. And now\ to come to the
moral. If you have acted in good faith and honour in making
Abimelech king as you have done~\ the words correspond to v. 15
(in good faith), but are used with a different reference, as imme-
diately appears. In v. 15 the question is of their good faith to the
new king ; in v. 16 ' 20 of good faith to Jerubbaal and his family. If
it is thought too improbable a hypothesis that the author invented
an apologue that does not in strict logic tally with the application
he intended to make of it, the alternative is to suppose that he
borrowed and adapted an older fable, the lesson of which was not
quite the same that he wished to inculcate.f This explanation,
however, creates other difficulties ; for v. 15b is obviously not a
natural ending for an independent fable of the purport generally
attributed to v. 8 " 15 ; it is appropriate, and we might almost say
intelligible, only as foreshadowing the ruin which Abimelech
brought upon the Shechemites. Moreover, in the following nar-
rative itself it is the unfaithfulness of the men of Shechem to
* Several older commentators whose exegetical tact was stronger than their
grammar, translate ffi in the same way ; so Vatabl., Drus., Celsius, al.
t See above, p. 245.
IX. i6-i8 251
Abimelech that is the cause of their undoing, however justly
this may be regarded as a retribution for their unfaithfulness to
Jerubbaal. The simplest and most 'natural explanation seems to
be that in pointing his moral the author's logic is not strictly
consequent. And if you have dealt well with Jerubbaal^ the
triple protasis in v. 16 is separated from its apodosis (v. 19b ) by a
parenthetic review of JerubbaaPs deserts and the sins of the
Shechemites (v. 17f> ) ; v. 19a repeats the substance of v. 16 to resume
the interrupted construction. In the nature of the case, v. 17f - are
not organically related to the context, and could be omitted with-
out leaving a gap. I see no sufficient reason, however, for regard-
ing them as an interpolation ; they have a vigour and an individu-
ality of expression which are not usually found in glosses.* If
you have done to him as he deserved^ lit. according to the desert
of his hands; cf. Is. 3". 17. To give emphasis to the last
words, he reminds them of JerubbaaPs services, and of the way
in which they have been requited. In that my father fought for
you] with deepening feeling, my father, instead of Jerubbaal as
before. And hazarded his life~\ lit. cast his life straight away,
as a thing of which he recked not ; cf. 5 18 .f And rescued you~\
it is to be noted that the writer thinks of the people of Shechem
as Israelites, at variance with v. 26 ^. 18. Whereas you have risen
against my father's house and have slain his sons~\ this was their
return for the dangers he had incurred and the deliverance he had
wrought for them. The Shechemites had with full cognizance
furnished Abimelech the means to kill his brothers (v. 24 ), and
shared his guilt in the crime by which they jointly profited (cf. v 2 ).
Seventy men on one stone~\ the words are here somewhat super-
fluous, and may be borrowed from v. 5 . The son of his maid-
servant^ slave- concubine. In 8 31 Abimelech's mother is Gideon's
concubine, apparently a free woman ; see comm. there. The
difference of representation probably existed in the sources.
Because he is your brother} kinsman, fellow-countryman ; v. 2 - s .
* Doom, thinks that v. 161 '-! 911 is all a gloss. Smend, who adopts this opinion,
recognizes that the verses are at least a correct exposition of the author's meaning
(Alttest. Religionsgesch., p. 66 n.).
t The phrase, cast behind one, is commoner (i K. I4 9 &c.). Cler. cites Lucan,
iv. 516 : Project vitam, comites, &c.
252 JUDGES
19. If, I say, you have acted in good faith~\ resuming the protasis
(v. 16 ) after the digression, v. 17f- . Rejoice in Abimelech and may
he rejoice in you~\ I wish you all joy in one another in your new
relation. The words have an ironical ring ; much happiness may
you have in this bramble-king of yours. 20. But if not, fire
shall go forth from Abimelech~\ the figure of the fable, v. 15b .
And fire shall go forth from the freemen of Shechem, &<r.] here
he goes beyond the fable ; not only shall their unworthy king be
fatal to them, but they to him. With this parting curse he left
them ; its fulfilment is declared in v. 56 ^, cf. v. 42 - 49 - 5 - 54 . 21. Jotham
made his escape to Beer, beyond the reach of Abimelech's ven-
geance. The site of Beer is unknown. S. Schmid and Studer are
of the opinion that Beersheba, in the remote south, is meant.
Others think that it is the same as Beeroth (Jos. 9 17 2 S. 4 2 ) , now
el-Bireh, three hours north of Jerusalem.* The name (Well) is
too common to make this identification anything more than a
possibility.
21. n "W3] Euseb. (OS 2 . 23873) identifies Beer with a village of the name
(Bi7pa) 8 m. N. of Eleutheropolis; probably the modern Khirbet el-BIreh,
W. of f Ain Shems (Beth-shemesh) ; so Ke.f Maundrell (1697) and Reland
(Palaestina, p. 617 f.) regarded el-BIreh north of Jerusalem as the Beer of
our text. Eshtori Parchi (fol. 68 b ) identified this BIreh with Beeroth, and
since Robinson {BK 2 -. i. p. 452) this has been the prevailing opinion. % Many,
as has been said above, believe Beer and Beeroth to be the same place, and
put them both at el-BIreh. Beeroth belonged to the Gibeonite confederacy,
and was doubtless at this time a Canaariite town (2 S. 2I 1 , cf. 4 2 ).
22-25. The Shechemites and Abimelech fall out. God sends
a spirit of discord between Abimelech and the people of Shechem,
in just retribution for their common crime. The Shechemites lie
in wait in the mountains and rob passers by. The verses form
the introduction to one of the two accounts of Abimelech's attack
on Shechem (v. 42 - 45 ), and are parallel to v. 26 - 33 . This version may
with considerable confidence be ascribed to E; observe elohim,
* On el-BIreh, see Rob., BR*. i. p. 451-454 ; Tobler, Topographie von Jerusalem,
ii. p. 495-501 ; Guerin, Judee, iii. p. 7-13; SWP. Memoirs, iii. p. 8 f.; DS 2 . s.v.
" Beeroth."
t The distance is, however, considerably greater than Eusebius gives.
J Sandreczki and Ke. dissent, on the ground that el-BIreh is too remote from
Gibeon.
ix. 1^-25 253
v. 23 , and compare the reflections of v. 24 with Jotham's speech, v. 16 - 18 ,
and v. 56 *-. 22. Abimelech ruled over Israel three years} in the
foregoing narrative we have heard only how Abimelech was made
king of Shechem and Beth-millo (v. 6 - 18 - 20 ), In what follows it
appears that he did not reside at Shechem, and he lost his life in
trying to put down the revolt of Thebez. It is evident, therefore,
that his power extended over other cities in Central Palestine ;
that it included Israelites as well as Canaanites appears from v. 55 ;
but the statement that he ruled over Israel is not borne out by the
rest of the chapter, and is strikingly at variance with v. 23 " 25 , which
speaks only of Shechem.* There is therefore good reason to
suspect that this chronological note is not an original part of the
story, but an editorial addition. 23. God sent an evil spirit] a
mischief- making spirit; compare the madness of Saul, i S. i6 14
i8 10 (the evil spirit of God) ip 9 , and the delusion of Ahab's
prophets, i K. 22 19 ' 23 . God is the author of the fatal mistakes
and misdeeds of men, which they commit to their own undoing ;
he sends a spirit of infatuation into them to impel them blindly to
their ruin. This belief corresponds very closely to the Greek idea
of any, even in the personification of this spirit (i K. 22 21 ~ 23 ).f
The men of Shechem were false to Abimelech~\ cf. v. 15-16a .
24. God sent this spirit to foment mischief between them, in
order that, in fitting retribution, these partners in crime might
inflict upon each other the just punishment of their deed ; cf.
v. 561 "-, v. 4 - 18 . Some disorder has been introduced into the text,
apparently in the attempt to render it more explicit, or more
emphatic; see critical note. 25. Put men in ambush on the
hill tops to his damage, and robbed all who passed by them on the
road] the position of Shechem, on two of the main arteries of
trade and travel through Mt. Ephraim, J made this particularly
serious ; cf. Hos. 6 9 . In what way Abimelech was a sufferer by this
above others, we are not told. He may himself have levied toll
on those who passed through his district, in which case his rev-
enues would fall off in the insecurity of the roads ; and doubtless
those who were about his business, or who were bearing tribute to
* Cf. also v.2l. f See Sta., G VI. i. p. 435 ; cf. above on 310, p. 87 f.
J See above, p. 240.
254 JUDGES
him (cf. 3 15 ), would be especially welcome objects of plunder to
the Shechemites. // was told to Abimelech~\ the words have no
connexion with the following story of Gaal's intrigue (v. 26 " 29 ), but
are parallel to v. 30 " 33 , and would naturally be followed by the state-
ment that Abimelech with his soldiers marched against Shechem.
We probably have the continuation of this narrative in v. 42 ^ ; see
there.
22. nfc")] pointed by &, as if derived from tw (like ip>i &c.), cf.
Hos. 8 4 ; in Is. 32 1 nt^ as from -na>. The latter is preferable; see Ko., i.
p. 328, 352; and note above on in) 6 38 . 24. S? awS ami . . . ocn N12 1 ?
T/7DON] the change of subject between the two inff. (that the murder . . . might
come, and that he might put the guilt of their blood on Abimelech) is intolerably
harsh. straightens out the construction by rendering rou eirayayeTv, but
there is no reason to think that they read JoanS. Probably y\vh was intro-
duced by an ancient scribe who missed the government of DDT. The resulting
awkwardness of structure reminds us of 3 2 . hyav m o^atf-Don] objective
genitive, as usual with this noun; the crime committed against them, cf.
Obad. i 10 Hab. 2 8 - 1 ? Gen. i6 5 . 25. OO-IND] ptcp. Pi., 2 Chr. 20^. Sn]
rob, c. ace. pers., cf. Dt. 28 29 ; carry off by force (rapere) Jud. 2i 23 . Sp -op]
i K. Q 8 2 K. 4 9 .
26-41. Gaal incites the people of Shechem to revolt; they
are defeated by Abimelech. Gaal, a new-comer in the place,
persuades the Shechemites to throw off Abimelech's yoke, and
puts himself at their head (v. 26 " 29 ). He is disconcerted by Abime-
lech's sudden appearance before the town, but goes out to battle
against him (v. 30 - 39 ). The Shechemites are badly beaten, and
driven within their walls ; Gaal and his clansmen are thrust out
(v. 40 ^). The narrative has the realism and the humour which
belong to the best Hebrew folk-stories, and in many respects
reminds us of the story of Samson. As the other strand in this
chapter has in general the features of E, we may at least pro-
visionally ascribe this part of the narrative to J.
26. Gaal ben Ebed and his kinsmen] son of a slave is evi-
dently a perversion of the name, which was probably Obed ; see
crit. note. Whether these new-comers were Israelites or Canaan-
ites is not clear; see on v. 28 . And moved into Shechem} so
the words should probably be translated. The expression is an
unusual one, and hardly says what we should have expected in the
context ; but the Hebrew text is supported by all the versions,
ix. 25-28 255
The citizens of Shechem put confidence in hini\ by what arts he
insinuated himself into their confidence we may learn from the
following verses, in which Gaal appears as a shrewd demagogue.
27. They celebrated the completion of the vintage, according
to custom, by a feast at the temple of their god ; see note. Such
an occasion could hardly fail to quicken local patriotism, and
bring to the surface whatever latent dissatisfaction there was with
the rule of their half- Israelite and evidently non-resident king.
They ate and drank, and reviled Abimelech. 28. Gaal took
advantage of this temper to instigate a revolt and offer himself
as a leader. Unfortunately, v. 28 is obscure, and the text perhaps
not intact. In the connexion the following points seem to be
certain : i . Gaal does not foment an insurrection of Israelite
denizens against the rule of the Shechemite Abimelech, but of
the native Shechemites against the half-Israelite Abimelech.
2. Of whatever race Gaal may have been, he identifies himself
with the men of Shechem and speaks as one of them.* 3. He
appeals to their national pride in the people of Hamor father of
Shechem, the old blue blood of Canaan against this usurping half-
breed. In this sense the verse is understood by Rashi, who gives,
upon the whole, the most satisfactory interpretation of jftfl : " Who
is Abimelech, that he should be ruler of Shechem, and who are
the Shechemites, that they should be subject to Abimelech ? Is
not Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal, who was from the Abiezrite
Ophrah ; f and is not Zebul merely his lieutenant ? The master
has no rightful authority in the city, and his lieutenant is of no
account at all. If you are bent on getting yourselves masters,
come and be subject to the men of Hamor, who was anciently
the prince of the land ; why should we be subject to Abimelech? "
The structure of the latter part of the verse is much simplified,
however, if instead of the imperative, Serve the men of Hamor,
we pronounce the verb as a perfect : Were not the son of Jerub-
baal and Zebul his lieutenant (formerly) subjects of the people of
Hamor abi-Shechem ? Why, then, should we (now) be subject to
him ? In the first half of the verse the antithesis in the clauses,
* It is by no means clear that he was an Israelite, as We., Kue., al. think.
f I.e. an Israelitish stranger.
256 JUDGES
Who is Abimelech? and who is Shechem, that we should serve
him ? seems to many scholars to be unsatisfactory ; they think
that we should have a synonymous expression, as in i S. 25 10 ,
" Who is David, and who the son of Jesse? " But in the light of
the following, as I understand it, the antithesis is not only toler-
able but effective. Is Abimelech king in his own right? Is
Shechem naturally his empire, that we should be subject to him?
So far from it, he himself was formerly a subject of the old
Hamorite nobility of Shechem. I see no necessity, therefore,
for any radical change in the text ; see critical note. Hamor
abi-Shechem\ Gen. 33 19 34; the old Canaanite aristocracy.
29. Would that I had the direction of this people ; I would get
rid of Abimelech /] like a consummate demagogue he first arouses
the passions of his hearers, then adroitly puts himself forward as
the man for the crisis. / would say to Abimelech, Enlarge your
army and come out /] I would defy him to maintain his authority
over Shechem by arms. So (& : $% has, he said to Abimelech. In
view of v. 30 *"-, the latter reading cannot be interpreted, he sent this
challenge to Abimelech ; we could only understand the words as
a swaggering apostrophe in his speech to the Shechemites.*
26. nap ?a Spj] <S BN * vt6s IwjSTjX (AVLMO g e A0e5). Ew., G VI. ii. p. 485,
thought Sav (an old Canaanite name) the more probable reading; similarly
Kue., Doom., Sta., Kautzsch, Bu., Kitt.,f supposing that Spai> (Yahweh is
Baal) was offensive to later scribes, and was intentionally altered to nap.
IwjSi/X (for Iw/37/5 53 by a common uncial error) is simply naip; cf. I Chr. n 47
( B ) i Chr. 2 87 (Aal.) r Chr. 26 7 ( Aal -) 2 Chr. 23! (Aal.). So here codd. of N
(iijS^S 30 fli5 56 [SJwjSTjS 63 (dittogr.), and H Obed.J The matter is of some
importance, for if the name really were Spar, we should be certain that Gaal
was an Israelite, independently of the difficult v. 28 . Da&o nap>i] -a nap, pass
through, traverse ; i S. 9* and very often. Dt. 29 11 , which is cited by Be.,
al. in illustration of our verse, is not parallel; nnaa nap is probably to be
explained from rites like those referred to in Jer. 34 18f> . 27. p>W?n] Lev.
I9 24t ; the fruit of trees in the fourth year of their bearing is fWrS o>SiSn enp.
The word was evidently the name of a festive celebration, accompanied proba-
bly by noisy hilarity, and obligatory shouting in honour of the god. See
Sprenger, Leben Mohammad, iii. p. 527; Lagarde, Orientalia, ii. p. 13-20;
, * So Ki., Stud. ; cf. Be. f Cf. also We., TBS. p. xii. f.
J So also Hollenberg, TLZ. 1891, col. 371.
On the reading DiSiSn and the rabbinical interpretation of this passage, see
Geiger, Urschrift, p. 181 ff.; Malbim on Sifra in loc. (a^np 67).
IX. 28-29
257
Mittheilungen, i. p. 227; We., Prol*. iii. p. 114, and esp. Reste arab. Hei-
dentumes, p. 107-109. A similar feast at Shiloh, Jud. 2i 19ff -. 28. On this
verse see Oort, Godgeleerde Bijdragen, 1866, p. 991; Kuenen, Th.T. i.
p. 703 f.; GvL i. p. 299 f.; Wellhausen, TBS. p. xiii.; Comp., Nachtrage,
p. 353 f. n. ; Stade, GVI. i. p. 194 f.; W. R. Smith, Th. T. xx. 1886, p. 195-198;
Kautzsch, ZA TW. x. 1890, p. 299 f.; Kittel, GdH. i. 2. p. 77 f. The versions
agree substantially with |^. <8i has in the second clause Kal rts t<rnv vlbs
Sux e M> which is adopted by Oort, KUQ., Be., al.; also by We. (transposing
son of Jerubbaal and son of Shecheni) .* But, as W. R. Smith rightly urges,
DDtP p does not mean a Shechemite ; " the expression would not be idiomatic
even if the Shechemites as a whole were called D3> \ja instead of D3B> ^j;a."
Sta. and Bu. therefore return in this particular to fH. Further nap was read
by (S3L *na2 SoOXos oi5roO,t beside which @ M has the doublet /careSovXcicraro
TOI>S drdpds E/LI/XW/J. The latter is adopted by We. (nat^), Oort, J W. R.
Smith, Sta., Bu., al. We should then translate : Who is Abimelech and who
Shechem, that we should be subject to him? By all means let the son of
Jerubbaal and Zebul his lieutenant subject the people of Hamor father of
Shechem. But why should we (Israelites) be subject to him? (WRS., Sta.).
Kautzsch would emend "nayi : Is he not the son of Jerubbaal, and Zebul his
lieutenant? Well, let him (Zebul) serve him then, together with the Hamor-
ites; but why should we (Israelites) serve him? Attempts have also been
made to relieve the difficulty by transposition : W. R. Smith thinks that v. 28f -
ought to follow immediately on v. 22 ; against which the objections of Sta.
{GVL i. p. 194 n.) seem conclusive. Bu. thinks that they should stand after
v. 25 . These critical operations seem to me all to start from false exegetical
premises. It is assumed, originally on the ground of an erroneous explanation
of <&'s IwjSTjX = Sjrav, that Gaal was an Israelite, and that he stirred up the
Israelite part of the population to revolt against the rule of the Shechemite
king, Abimelech. Thus W. R. Smith : " The whole verse is a Hebrew declara-
tion of revolt against the king of Shechem (9 6 ), who for three years has by
the aid of his mercenaries tyrannized over Israel (v. 22 ) . So too in v. 29 nrn oyn
is Israel, and Gaal closes with an open challenge to Abimelech to come forth
(evidently from Shechem his capital) to meet the Israelites in the field."
These assumptions conflict not only with the implications of the narrative, but
with its plain words. Gaal gains the confidence of the D3> ^Spa (v. 26 ), i.e. of
the very people who made Abimelech king (v. 6 - 20 ); it is at their vintage
festival, at the temple of their god, that he makes his incendiary speech.
W. R. Smith is constrained, therefore, to sever the verses from their context
and remove them to a different place. If, however, we follow the guidance
of the context, we shall see that Gaal instigates the native Shechemites, with
* So also Oort, Bible for Learners, i. p. 395 ; Kitt.
f They are thereby constrained to take nx as prep., <rvv rots avSpao-iv
t Oort, Kue., al. formerly conjectured nai, Let the Hamorites serve them
\ DDtr ON is a gloss from Gen. 346.
S
258 JUDGES
whose cause he identifies himself, to revolt against the half-Israelite Abime-
lech; * and shall have no occasion for a more radical change in the text than
to pronounce -nrij? instead of rop; cf. I S. 4 9 .f The antithesis in the last half-
verse is not between WPUN and ninn nw; it is between WON and Mi Syai^ p;
This son of Jerubbaal and his lieutenant Zebul were subjects of the Hamor-
ites; why should we, freemen of Shechem, be subjects of his? 29. jn> >D]
Nu. II 29 Jer. 8 28 Dt. 28 67 2 S. ig 1 Is. 27* Dt. 5 26 Job 2^ illustrate different
constructions of this phrase. See also SS. p. 449 f. rrvpxi] that I might get
rid of Abimelech ; voluntative, Dr 3 . 62. "jSnON 1 ? nnxii] 4 Kal tpu>, "VpNi;
cf. j&, whose ambiguous form is understood by a as first person. Doom.,
Reuss, Kitt, Kautzsch, emend accordingly. Cler. would give the vb. an
indefinite subject, some one told Abimelech; but in the context this is highly
improbable. n;n] The origin of this anomalous _ is not clear; Ol. 247
suggests that it may be instead of the _ of the lengthened imv. (obs. the foil.
PINS). This view is adopted by K6. i. p. 534, but as there is no other instance
of this imv. in n"S, the explanation is doubtful. Some codd. and edd. have _;
see JHMich.
30-34. Zebul warns Abimelech that treason is hatching,
Zebul informs Abimelech of GaaPs intrigues, and suggests a plan
by which he and his followers may be drawn into an engagement
in the open field. 30. Zebul, the governor of the city] an official
(sar) set over the place by Abimelech to represent him, not the
burgomaster of the town. $ Wellhausen regards the words of
Gaal in v. 29 , Zebul, his lieutenant, as mere abuse and insult ;
Zebul was not really an officer of Abimelech, but the head of the
Shechemites; he had so far sympathized with the movement
against Abimelech ; Gaal, in order to supplant him, throws sus-
picion on his loyalty to the Shechemite cause ; Zebul avenges him-
self by betraying Gaal to Abimelech. || This ingenious hypothesis
* See above, p. 255.
t Winckler conjectures iniN nap, which he translates : If the Hamorites serve
him, &c.
J There were sarim at Succoth (8 6 ) , but we have no reason to believe that at the
head of the local government of Canaanite or Israelite cities there was a burgo-
master or mayor.
Comp., p. 353 f. n.; followed by Kautzsch, ZA TW. x. p. 299.
|| Only so, We. argues, can we comprehend Abimelech's course after Gaal had
been expelled (v.4i). He did not allow himself to be deceived by Zebul's pretence
of loyalty ; the latter was the real leader of the revolt, and perished in the fall of
the city. So also Kautzsch and Kitt. But if v.*2ff. is not the sequel of v.26- ( but
another account of the fate of Shechem from a different source, this argument
ceases to have any cogency. See further, on v. 41 .
IX. 30-34
259
seems to me to conflict with the language of our verse, and with
the following narrative ; see on v. 36 ^ 41 . Zebul had no force at his
command in Shechem ; it was not garrisoned like a conquered
city ; it is difficult to see how a loyal official could have acted
differently in the circumstances, or what ground there is for imag-
ining that he was implicated in the treason. Whether he was a
Canaanite or an Israelite does not appear. 31. He sent mes-
sengers to Abimelech . . . saying] the word omitted in translation
is anomalous and probably corrupt ; the versions generally render,
secretly, or, deceitfully, perfidiously. It would be more to the pur-
pose to have the name of the place where Abimelech made his
residence' ; cf. v. 41 , at Arumah ; see note. Gaal and his kins-
men are coming to Shechem, and are plotting to take the city from
thee~\ the translation of the last words is based on the context ;
they are rendered by the ancient versions, invest, besiege the city
against thee* which cannot be right. Stir up the city to hostility f
would suit the context, but is unsupported. 32, 33. Zebul
counsels Abimelech to come by night and conceal his forces in
the fields near the city. At sunrise he shall discover himself and
advance to the attack. Gaal and his followers will be drawn out
of the city to give battle in the open field, and Abimelech will
have them in his power. Thou shalt do to him as the occasion
serves~\ i S. io 7 . 34. Abimelech adopts Zebul's plan ; and dis-
poses his men under cover in four divisions ; cf. 7 16 and below, v. 43 .
31. nonna] AFVLMO g ^ 6T i SApuv (nsnn); BN tv
% per dolum ; all connecting it with n>Din, * deceit, fraud,' nnnD, id. So
Ra., Cler., Schm., Rosenm., Be., Cass., Kitt, Reuss. But, I. nn-;n is an
unexampled and really inconceivable type of noun (Jos. Kimchi). 2. If nnin
were a synonym of HDID, the text would not say that Zebul sent secretly to
Abimelech ("inpa), but that he sent deceitfully or fraudulently, i.e. with intent
to deceive him (Stud.). Jos. Kimchi regarded it as the name of a place,
identical with nnnx v. 41 (see Ki., comm. in loc?); so RLbG., Abarb., Tremell.,
Piscator; cf. Reland, p. 585. Some modern scholars think that the same
name, probably Arumah, should be. read in both places; so Stud., Doom.
The construction with 3 would then be explained, he sent messengers to A.,
who was at Arumah (Stud.). ~\hy *vyn nx onx Djm] <5i BN TrepiKddrjvTai,
APVLMO TroXtopKovo-t, 3L oppugnat, & p*vx, J5 obsident ; all taking $| correctly
* This is probably the intention of JH.
f Lth., Cler., Schm., Stud., Ke., Kitt., al. mu.
260 JUDGES
as ptcp. of "m. The construction, however, is irregular; besiege is not "\\*
c. ace., but hy -m. The forms of nix and "nx L n - are much confused in the
punctuation (see SS. p. 621), but it is impossible to make J3nx a transitive
derivative of yy, nor, if we should emend nmx, would the only sense sup-
ported by usage, ' they treat the city in a hostile manner, attack it,' be satis-
factory; 'make hostile, incite to hostility,' is wholly fictitious. Stade (SS.
p. 62i a ) conj. in this sense onxn DJH (Hiph. of "nx IL ), "falls nicht grossere
Verderbnis vorliegt." Possibly the author wrote anx, ' lay snares for, plot to
take'; -p^ would then be, to thy detriment. 33. "?? toro] v. 44 2O 37 (*?K)
Job i 17 ; of a body of men suddenly emerging from a covered position, and
rushing to storm a place or attack an enemy. 34. D^NI nj?:nN] see on 7 16 .
35-38. Abimelech's forces appear on all sides ; Zebul taunts
the braggart. 35. In the morning Gaal goes out to the gate of
the city.* As he stands there, Abimelech and his troops discover
themselves. 36. Gaal descries them and exclaims to Zebul, See,
there is a body of men coming down from the tops of the hills ! ]
Zebul replies, You see the shadow of the hills as men\ his fears
make him imagine enemies where there are none ; an insinuation
of cowardice which is succeeded by downright insult. 37. The
enemy comes into clearer view; Gaal makes out the divisions
advancing from different directions. There is a body coming down
from near the Navel of the Land, and one division is advancing
from the way to the Diviner's Tree"] these localities are unknown :
the former would seem to be a sacred hill ; the latter is a sacred
tree, whose name (meonemm) indicates that it was, or had been,
the seat of a certain species of diviners ; cf. the Moreh Tree,t
also in the vicinity of Shechem (Gen. i2 6 , cf. Jud. 7 1 ), and the
Massebah Tree, above v. 6 . The latter is not identical with the
Meonenim Tree of our verse ; apart from the difference of names,
the Massebah Tree was in all probability close to the town, which
the other, as our verse shows, was not. Whether the Meonenim
Tree here is the same as the Moreh Tree of Gen. 1 2 6 , is uncertain ;
the names are of somewhat similar, but not the same meaning,
and there is no reason why there may not have been three, or a
half dozen, well-known sacred trees in the vicinity of Shechem.
38. Zebul's irony now turns to open taunt. What has become vf
* Not, marched out (Kitt.) ; he did not suspect the presence of the enemy,
t Perhaps an oracle-tree.
:
IX. 35-41 26 1
thy bragging] lit. thy (big) mouth; thy boastful words. When thou
saidst, Who is Abimelech~\ v. 28 . Are not these the men for whom
thou didst express such contempt? March out, now, and fight with
them /] Zebul, by reminding Gaal, doubtless in the presence of
many bystanders in that public place, of his former boasts, goads
him into righting. He had indeed no choice ; if he declined the
challenge, his prestige and influence in Shechem were gone.
39-41. The battle; defeat of the Shechemites. 39. Gaal
put himself at the head of the citizens of Shechem and went forth
to battle.* 40. The Shechemites seem to have made no stand
against Abimelech, who chased them to the very gate of the city,
with heavy losses. He did not, however, storm the place. 41.
Abimelech abode in Arumah~] if this name is to be restored in v. 31
(see comm. there) , he returned to his residence, satisfied with the
chastisement he had inflicted upon the Shechemites for listening
to the seductions of Gaal. Arumah is not otherwise known ; on
the sole ground of the similarity of the names some scholars
identify it with El-'Ormeh, two hours SE. of Shechem.f It has
been conjectured that Arumah is the same as Rumah (2 K. 23^),
but this also is uncertain. \ And Zebul expelled Gaal and his
kinsmen, so that they should not live in Shechem'] \\\..from living.
We can well imagine that in the smart of defeat the feelings of
the Shechemites toward Gaal underwent a sudden revulsion, and
that they were not unwilling to see him made a scapegoat ; per-
haps also thinking that this would suffice to placate Abimelech.
The verse manifestly brings the story to an end. Abimelech
resides at Arumah ; Gaal and his clan are banished from Shechem.
As the original close of the account of Gaal's insurrection (J) it is
perfectly intelligible and appropriate. But it is just the opposite
in its present position. After the withdrawal of Abimelech and
the expulsion of Gaal, the fresh attack on Shechem, the discom-
fiture of its inhabitants by the same stratagem which had been
*
* Not, spetfante Sichimorum populo JL, Be.
t Van de Velde, Narrative, ii. p. 303, 307; Guerin, Samarie, ii. 2 f. ; SWP.
Memoirs, ii. p. 387, 402. For the identification, Raumer, Muhlau, Tristram, al.
J The Ruma of Euseb. (OS' 2 . 28810), m * ne vicinity of Diospolis, cannot be the
place in our text. There was another Ruma in Galilee (Fl. Jos., b.j. iii. 7. 21
$ 233). has in our verse Api//a.
262 JUDGES
employed the day before, and the destruction of the city, in
which his authority had already been re-established, are inex-
plicable.
35. "pyn )]}& nns] v. 44 Jos. S 29 2O 4 and often; the entrance of the gate.
The ~\yv extends the whole depth of the wall, often many feet; nno is the
outer opening. 36. a?] soldiery, esp. foot soldiers; 4 13 . 37. ]HNn -visa]
<5i 6/x0aX6s, 2L umbilicus ; 1&& interpret stronghold. The meaning of the
noun is hardly to be questioned (Mishna, Talm.) ; the sense in which it is
applied here is uncertain. In Ez. 38 12 , the only other place where it occurs in
O.T., it is applied to Judaea as the centre of the earth. Comp. the <5/i0aX6s at
Delphi; umbilicus Siciliae (Cic. contra Verr. iv. 106, c. 48), umbilicus Grae-
ciae (Liv., xxxv. 18; Stud.). So it is understood here by Ki., RJes.; an
elevation in the middle of the district, at the intersection of several roads.
We should have in any case to suppose that it had become a proper name;*
but should hardly compare Mt. 'Ara^piov in Rhodes (Stud.).f See above on
8 18 (p. 228). D^JVD fV?N] Dt. i8 10 - 14 Mi. 5 11 ; cf. pip, owy, Is. 2 6 Jer. 2; 9
2 K. 2i 6 ; the verb, Lev. IQ 26 . See W. R. Smith, Journal of Philology, xiv.
p. 118; We., Reste arab. Heidentumes, p. 148 n.; Sta., GVI. i. p. 505. What
particular kind of divination these D^JiyD practised is not clear. The root is
probably py (We., I.e.}. 38. xios rvx] where, then; Job ly 15 Is. ip 12 . On
the enclitic NIDN, see BDB. s.v. 40. oMn] i6 24 . 41. 2^1] Mm *ai
eirto-Tpe\f/ev A. Kal ti<ddi<rev iv Apei/ia = nnnNa atfM -^D^K 3tfj> This is proba-
bly only a Greek doublet; but it suggests what may have been the original
reading in f|J.
42-45. Capture and destruction of Shechem. The next day,
when the Shechemites came out of the city, Abimelech was in
waiting for them. While two divisions attacked them in front,
Abimelech himself, with the troops under his personal command,
got between them and the city and cut off their retreat. After a
day's fighting, Abimelech carried the place by assault, put the
inhabitants to the sword, destroyed the city, and sowed the ruins
with salt. This is not the continuation of the account in v. 26 ' 40 ,
which has its formal conclusion in v. 41 . We cannot imagine why,
after their disastrous defeat of the day before (v. 39 ^) and the ex-
pulsion of Gaal (v. 41 ), the Shechemites took the field again (v. 42 ),
especially as Abimelech had withdrawn, and there was no enemy
* Navel of the land, appellatively, for highest point (Ges.) , is hardly possible in
the plain prose of this story.
f The Greek name corresponds rather to Tabor.
IX. 42-45
263
in sight.* On the other hand, all becomes plain, if we see in
v. 42 the original sequel of v. 25 : Abimelech learns that bands of
Shechemites are infesting the neighbourhood, robbing and plunder-
ing on the highways, and takes measures to punish them. The
next day, when they set out on such a predatory excursion, he is
informed by his scouts, and lays an ambush for them. They,
not suspecting the proximity of the enemy, fall into the snare and
are cut to pieces. The city, weakened by the absence of a large
part of its defenders, falls. Verses 42 " 45 are therefore to be ascribed
to the same source with v. 23 ' 25 (E). 42. On the following day}
in the present connexion, the day after their defeat and the
expulsion of Gaal ; in the original context (E), the day after Abim-
elech was apprised that they had begun their guerrilla warfare ;
see above. The people went out into the country} on an expedition
like that described in v. 25 . 43. He concealed his forces in three
divisions (y 16 g 34 ), in the neighbourhood of the city. When the
Shechemites came out of the city, and had got to some distance
from it, he rose from his ambush and attacked them. 44. More
particular account of the execution of his stratagem. Abimelech
and the body which was with him\ under his immediate command ;
cum cuneo suo 3L. J^, by mistake, the bodies. Made a dash
and took their stand at the gate~] cutting off the retreat of those
who had gone on the expedition, and preventing a sally from the
town to relieve them. While the other two divisions rushed upon
all who were in the fields and killed them] the stratagem has some
resemblance to that employed at the taking of Ai (Jos. 8).f
45. After a whole day's fighting, Abimelech took the city, put the
inhabitants to the sword, pulled down the city, and sowed the site
with salt. Sowing with salt seems to be a symbol of perpetual
desolation ; nothing should henceforward thrive there ; cf. Dt. 29^
Jer. ly 6 Ps. 10 y 34 . There is no other trace in the O.T. of such
a custom. } If Shechem was really destroyed at this time, it is
not to be supposed that it long lay in ruins ; its position was too
* Fl. Jos. imagines that they went out to work in the vineyards (v. 27 ) ; so Ra.,
Schm., Stud., Be., Ke., Reuss, al. mu. Of the older interpreters, Junius and
Piscator controvert this opinion ; see Schm. f In both accounts, J and E.
J See Thdt., quaest. 18 ; Bochart, Hierozoicon, ii. p. 223 f., ed. Rosenmiiller.
Salt ground is in Hebrew equivalent to desert.
264 JUDGES
advantageous, its vicinity too fertile for that. It was an important
place in the early days of the kingdom (i K. I2 1 ), and was
rebuilt and fortified by Jeroboam (i K. I2 25 ). A stratagem similar
to that employed by Abimelech against Shechem is said to have
been practised by Himilco against Agrigentum, and by Hannibal
against Segesta.*
44. ID? "WN owanrn] <5 M -fj apx*} TJ ^ cuJrou, & cum cuneo suo, as the
sense requires; f <& AVL apx&i- BN oi apxyyol, an attempt to get around the
text which is repeated by Ki., RLbG. Other ingenious exegetical conjectures,
the common feature of which is that the interpreter supplies what, if he were
right, the writer must have said expressly, may be seen in Abarb., Schm., Cler.,
Be., al. Emend, e>>on (JDMich., Reuss, Kautzsch, al.) ; o^jNn (Stud.) would
remove the difficulty, but is on critical grounds not so probable. 45. njnni
nSo] cf. nnSp, nnVn ps Jer. ly 6 Job 39 6 Ps. lo; 34 .
46-49. Destruction of the Tower of Shechem. The people
of the Tower of Shechem, hearing of the fate of the city, take
refuge in the temple of El-berith. Abimelech bums their asylum
over their heads, and they perish in the flames. The verses are
apparently a continuation of the preceding narrative of the de-
struction of Shechem. 46. When the inhabitants of the Tower of
Shechem heard it~\ what Abimelech had done to the city. The
Tower of Shechem (Migdal-Shechem) was not a citadel within
the city, like that at Thebez (v. 51 )., in which the people took
refuge when the city was captured, but an unwalled town in the
neighbourhood of Shechem, though not immediately adjacent to it.
It owed its name to a tower which stood there, } and was the site
of the temple of El-berith. Its inhabitants were Shechemites, who
had joined in the insurrection against Abimelech, and now, with
good reason, feared his vengeance. As in v. 6 - 20 the people of
Beth-millo join with those of Shechem in making Abimelech king,
it has often been thought that the same place is meant here ;
but there is no obvious ground for this, while the difference of
names is decidedly against it. The situation of the Tower of
Shechem is not known ; from v. 4811 it may perhaps be inferred that
* Frontinus, Strategem., iii. 10, 4, 5 (Cass.); see also Polyaenus, v. 10, 4.
f So also Fl. Jos., antt. v. 7, 4 247. J Cf. the tower of Penuel, 88- v.
So, after Serarius and other older scholars, Stud., Be., Ke., Reuss, al. Millo
also is supposed to be the name of some kind of fortification ; see on v. 6 .
IX. 45-49 265
it was, like Shechem itself, in the valley, or on the lower slopes of
one of its sides. They went into the . . . of the temple of
El-beritJi\ the meaning of the word passed over in the translation
is entirely unknown. Some of the ancient versions render, strong-
hold* and many modern scholars think that they find etymologi-
cal support for the interpretation, tower, citadel. In i S. i3 6 ,
however, the only other passage in which the word occurs, it
clearly denotes a hiding-place, not a fort. Others think, therefore,
of an artificial cave, or underground chamber; but this also is
based on a somewhat remote etymology, and does" not altogether
suit the requirements of v. 49 . For El-berith some Greek texts
have Baal-berith, as in v. 4 . It is not certain that the same temple
is meant. The temple of El-berith at the Tower of Shechem was
apparently not immediately adjacent to the city; on the other
hand, it is not very probable that there were two temples in the
same vicinity dedicated to the same divinity. | The difference of
the names signifies little. In early times, they were substantially
equivalent, the el (numen) which was worshipped at a place was
naturally its bdal (the divinity of the place) . It is also possible
that El is here a later substitution for Baal. \ 47. Abimelech
learns that the people of the Tower of Shechem are all gathered in
one place. 48. He leads his men to a hill hard by, to get wood
to set their asylum on fire. Mt. Zalmon] the situation of this
hill is not known. To identify it, on the strength of the name,
with the southern peak of Gerizim, on which stands the tomb of
a Moslem saint, Sheikh Selman el-Farsi, is an absurdity. With
his axe, Abimelech cut branches of trees, put them upon his
shoulder, and bade his men with all speed follow his example.
49. Every man with his load of brush on his shoulder, they return
with Abimelech, pile the wood against the place in which the
* , JL (v.49) ; so Lth., EV., al. mu.
f Temples, that is, houses for the god, can hardly have been very numerous in
those days. At most places of worship there was probably only an altar under
the open sky, with its accessories, the sacred stones and posts, which required no
housing. The temple, in Canaan as in Greece, originally existed only where there
was an idol to keep in it. See E. Meyer, Gesch. d. Alterthums, ii. p. 429 f.
J Cf. Eljada, the son of David, for Baaljada ; cf. above, p. 195.
Mt. Salmon, Ps. 68 14 , is more probably east of the Jordan ; see Wetzstein,
quoted by Guthe, 7,DPV. xii. 1890, p. 230 f.
266 JUDGES
Shechemites had taken refuge, and set it on fire. About a thou-
sand men and women perish in the flames.
46. nna *? n>a nnx SN] nns v. 49bis , plur. 'DNTW i S. I3 6t . The ancient
versions apparently render from the context, stronghold (@ 6xvp(a/j,a* 3L
praesidium). Many modern lexx. and comm. interpret, tower, citadel (Ki.,
RLbG., Cler., Simon., Ges., MV., al.), following Abulwalid, who compares
o ^
Arab. _, wO,t a large, high building, standing apart ( TA.). De Dieu referred
to the Eth. in the sense of upper story or room ; JDMich. in that of temple,
thinking of an open court in the interior of the temple, while Stud, under-
stands the va6s itself. Both these explanations are far-fetched; neither really
gives us what is wanted here (cf. v. 49 ), and neither is conceivable in I S. 13,
where the DTPS are places of concealment (named with caves, holes, cliffs,
pits), as all the versions rightly understand. J Ra. refers to older Jewish inter-
preters who take the word in the sense, underground chambers (voutes) ; he
himself explains it in both places as a stockade (palissades). Modern scholars
have compared the Arab. ^*j ^o ' grave, narrow excavation for the body at
the bottom of the grave.' The word occurs also in the Nabataean inscrip-
tions from Teima, xnns, where it appears to be a grave or sepulchral chamber
excavated in the rock (Doughty, Documents epigraphiques, 83. 4 = Euting,
Nabat'dische Inschriften, 153.4; cf. Noldeke, ib. p. 55). || From this it has
been inferred that the Heb. nn* meant an excavation in the earth or rock,
perhaps made as a place of refuge. But although this would suit the context
in Samuel well enough, it is hardly possible in our passage (cf. v. 49 ), and the
whole etymological construction is very dubious. nna SN no] AM Baa. A
s, p BaaX Bepetfl, L HX Stafl^KTjs, 31 fanum dei sui Berith. 48. nn
* Another, d/cpa ;
o -
f Synonym of ,va Cf. Qor'an, 28 s8 4O 38 (tower reaching to heaven) 2y 44 .
So in Sabaean, rnx, nmx (C/S. Pt. iv. I 4 ; Halevy 3533, in Hommel, Sudarabische
Chrestomathie, p. 96) , and Eth., in which the word means a conspicuous building
(temple, palace), also the upper story or chamber of a house (like Heb. n>S>?,
e.g. Jud. 3 20 - 23 ). In none' of these languages does the signification ' citadel, tower
for defence* seem to be demonstrable. (Of a watch-tower, in Arab. Polyglott,
2 K. 188).
% <S /360pot H antra 2T caverns in the rock & chasms. In Jud. 9 46 also an anony-
mous translator renders avrpov.
In distinction from an excavation at the side (lahd) ; see Ibn Hisham, p. 1019.
Illustrations of these two modes of burial, from Cyprus, see Perrot et Chipiez,
La Grece primitive, p. 649.
|| The Nnnx is distinguished from the XTTU, niches. See also G. Hoffmann,
7.A. 1894, p. 329 ff. S. Rau (De aedibus Hebraeorum, 1764, p. 4, c. JDMich., Sup-
plementa, p. 2151) conjectured that for nirnx Ps. 68 7 , which HS> render grave t
nnnx should be read ; cf. also SS. p. 622.
ix. 50-51 26;
ABLN E/O/UOP M Aep/xwp (Hermon); an old error; Euseb. OS 2 . 29573
niD-npn] Jer. 46 22 Ps. 74. The plur. is difficult. There is no
evidence or probability that the plur. was used of a single axe (Be.; originally
bipennis, Stud.), and the explanation of Schm., al., that Abimelech took a
number of axes to distribute to his followers, is an ingenious but improbable
exegetical makeshift. We expect iD-np I S. I3 20 ; cf. APVLMO &. ron?
D^JJ] r\yv v. 49t , MH. nsiD (Aram., Syr.). It is generally rendered branch
(<gBN |k) ? b u t j n view of D>XJ? it should perhaps be taken as collective, brush;
cf. <J| A al - (fioprlov, Fl. Jos., 0d/ceXXot.* Probably D^y is not frees, but Jlre-
wood ((t 26 }. w&y amio nn] object clause without conjunction, Ges. 25 157 # ;
Roorda, 523. In English also it is possible to say, What you saw I did, &c.;
cf. the brachylogy, 7 17 . vpy nnn] do quickly. In this verbal apposition, the
first verb is of secondary (adverbial) importance in the sentence. 49. roty]
J51 pronounces nbir, his branch. Ki. explains this as contracted for iro'iir, or
as made from a corresponding masc. "ptP.f If the suffix were indispensable in
this distributive phrase, as Be. contends, it would be necessary either to accept
the latter explanation, or to emend iroitr; cf., however, Ex. I2 3 Job 42 11 .
Doom, pronounces noiir, a branch. IPNS nnxn nx arpSp irpx-o] mxn is con-
strued, like its English equivalent, in two ways: set something on fire (tP*o),
or set fire to (a, rarely *?>?) something. The suff. in nniSy cannot refer to roitr,
but to the people.
50-55. Abimelech attacks Thebez. While assaulting its cita-
del he is mortally hurt, and dies by the hand of his armour-bearer.
His followers disperse. 50. Abimelech went to Thebez] from the
connexion we should infer that the attack upon Thebez followed
immediately the destruction of the Tower of Shechem; and
probably, further, that Thebez had previously been subject to him,
and had joined in the revolt set on foot by Shechem. Thebez,
which is mentioned only here and in the reference to this story
2 S. 1 1 21 , is put by Eusebius thirteen miles from Neapolis on the
road to Scythopolis. \ Robinson identified it with the modern
Tubas, a large village in a very beautiful situation. 51. There
was a castle within the city\ lit. a tower of stronghold ; cf. the
figurative use of the phrase, Ps. 6i 3 Prov. i8 10 . All the men and
women, all the inhabitants of the town] Heb. and all the inhab-
itants (freemen) ; \\ commonly explained as an explicative use of
* Cf. Cler., Stud. f A masc. is found in MH. J OS*. 26244.
BE*, ii. p. 317, iii. p. 305. On the place see also Guerin, Samarie, i. 357-359 ;
SWP. Memoirs, ii. p. 229. The place had been identified long before Robinson, by
Eshtori Parchi (fol. 66*> end). \\ See above, on 92.
268 JUDGES
the particle (even) ; see note. And went up on the roof of the
tower~\ no doubt it had a flat earthen roof, with a parapet, from
which they could defend it. 52. Abimelech led the attack on
the tower. He came close up to the door to burn it~\ it was too
strong to be forced. Cf. v. 49 . 53. A certain woman threw an
upper millstone'} the upper, movable stone of a hand mill, a foot
or upwards in diameter and perhaps two inches thick, made of
the hardest kind of stone.* It was a woman's implement and a
woman's weapon, but its weight made it a formidable missile when
hurled from the height of the tower. Smashed his skull~\ so
Pyrrhus of Epirus is said to have been killed at Argos. He had
forced his way into the city, and, in the street fighting which fol-
lowed, his head was broken by a tile thrown by a woman from the
roof of a house.t 54. To perish by the hand of a woman was
an ignominy worse than death ; in all haste he calls on a man to
despatch him. His attendant armour-bearer] all warriors of dis-
tinction had such a squire ; cf. y 11 i S. i4 6ff - i6 21 3I 4 " 6 . Lest men
say of me, A woman killed him'] the older commentators com-
pare the words of the tortured Hercules in the Trachiniae of
Sophocles, 1. 1062 f . :
<J>a<rydvov
and the imitation of the passage in Seneca's Hercules Oetaeus
(1. 1180 ff.), in which the resemblance to our verse is closer:
dirus o nobis pudor | o turpe fatum. femina herculeae necis | auctor
feretur, morior Alcides quibus. } His squire ran him through}
compare the death of Saul, i S. 3i 4 . 55. The men of Israel
saw that Abimelech was dead~\ the soldiers who fought under
Abimelech against Thebez, and therefore presumably against
Shechem, were Israelites. The point, as Wellhausen has noted,
is of prime importance for the understanding of the story. It
confirms the interpretation we have adopted above, that the revolt
of Shechem was a Canaanite movement. They had raised
* Descriptions of these mills, Thomson, Land and Boot?, i. p. 107 f. ; Wilkinson,
Ancient Egypt, i. p. 358 f. (ed. Birch) ; cf. Hoheisel and Goetz in Ugolini, The-
saurus, xxix. The upper stone of such a mill in the Museum of Andover Seminary
weighs about 27 pounds. f Paus., i. 13, 7 ; Pint., Pyrrhus, 34.
t Cf. also Judith, i66- (8-11). Comp., p. 353.
ix. 51-56 269
Abimelech to power because he was one of themselves ; they
tried to throw off his yoke when they found that he was, after all,
his father's son. Whether the Israelites who formed Abimelech's
army were his subjects (v. 22 ), or whether they took his side in the
conflict against the Shechemites, because he was an Israelite, and
Jerubbaal's son, the too brief story does not tell us.
51. ly SIJD] ry in this sense is prob. originally derived from ny = <3Lc
(med. #), 'take refuge' (cf. nyo 6 26 oLiuo) ; but it has become confused
with T> from ny, y; see SS. p. 497 a; JDMich., Stipplementa, p. 53 ff.
vpn >Sya S3>] cf. io 10 20 26 . The examples of this waw explicativum (Evv.
340 b; Ges. 25 154 n. b}, at least in the older writers in the O.T., are most
of them, for one reason or another, dubious. In the present instance it is
possible that the conjunction was inserted by a scribe who understood ^Vj?3
vyn as ( A al - 3L did, ot ijyovfjtevoi TTJS 7r6Xeo>5, instead of citizens. The author
may have written, " All the men and women, all the citizens of the town "
(comprehensive apposition). A more radical conjecture would be that the
last words, which are lacking in <5 B , are an addition by a later hand; it is
likely, however, that the omission in (& B is accidental; cf. N . 53. nnx na>N]
see note on I3 2 . 33"\ nSs] 2 S. n 21 , the upper stone, also called simply 33"),
'the rider,' Dt. 24 6 ; opp. n>nnn nSs Job 4i 16 . The mill is ovn; the two
stones are perh. called nSo because the mill is cleft between them. "prii] a
wholly anomalous form; Ew., Bo., K6., regard the punctuation as an attempt
to discriminate from pni (from pn), comparing o-vi Ex. i6 20 (ocn); but,
if this were really the motive, we should expect more frequent instances of
such discrimination. Moreover, the device in this case would be peculiarly
ill-chosen, since i is properly the vowel of Hiph. ry; it has in fact misled Ki.,
who derives the form from V^- nSAj] skull, 2 K. 9 35 I Chr. io 10 (prob.
textual error); elsewhere only in reckoning per capita (P and Chr.).
54. rnnp] adverbial accus. ; on the position of the word see SS. s.v. npi]
I S. 31* = i Chr. io 4 Nu. 25 8 &c. (MH.); the specific word for 'run through,
transfix.'
56, 57. The moral of the history. The destruction of She-
chem and the death of Abimelech was a divine retribution for
their crime against Jerubbaal's house, the fulfilment of Jotham's
curse (v. 20 ). There is no trace of the characteristic pragmatism
of D ; the verses may with probability be ascribed to E.*
56. God requited the crime of Abimelech, which he committed
against his father in killing his seventy brothers^ lit. made it come
* Budde.
2/0 JUDGES
back on Abimelech, the complement, upon his head (i S. 25), is
expressed only in the following sentence, but psychologically
belongs to both. 57. And all the wickedness of the Shechemites
God requited upon their heads, and the curse of Jotham the son of
Jerubbaal came true to them] was fulfilled; with the verb cf.
i S. 9 6 Dt. i3 2 Is. 5 19 &c.
X. 1-5. The Minor Judges: Tola and Jair.* Tola (v. lf ) and
Jair (v. 3 " 5 ), with Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon (I2 8 - 15 ), form a group of
five judges (with whom Shamgar, 3 31 , is often reckoned as the
sixth), of whose exploits nothing is related. These judges are
introduced in standing formulas entirely different from those
which form the setting of the stories of [Othniel], Ehud, Deborah
and Barak, Gideon, Jephthah, and Samson, and exhibit no trace
of D's distinctive pragmatism. The character of the scheme of
the Minor Judges is best exemplified by the notice of Elon
( 1 2 n ~ 12 ) ,t which contains absolutely nothing else : " And there
judged Israel after him, Elon the Zebulonite; and he judged
Israel ten years. And Elon the Zebulonite died, and was buried
in Aijalon in the land of Zebulun." The notices of Tola and Jair
differ from this pattern only in the opening words, " There arose
after him." Besides the name and origin of the judge, the years
of his rule, and the place of his burial, we have in the case of three
of them (Jair, Ibzan, and Abdon) the number of their sons, sons
and daughters, sons, and grandsons; evidence that they were
persons of rank and consequence. The names of Tola, Jair, and
Elon occur elsewhere in the genealogical systems. Tola is a son
of Issachar (Gen. 46 13 Nu. 26), that is, a clan (Nu. l.c.), and,
as may be inferred from i Chr. 7 lff -, the leading clan, of that tribe ;
Puah, here his father, appears in the lists as his brother, that is,
another clan of Issachar. Elon is a son (clan) of Zebulun (Gen.
46 14 Nu. 26 26 ) ; and the name of his burial place, though differ-
ently pronounced by ilH, is doubtless the same, the chief seat of
* On the so-called " Minor Judges " see Noldeke, Untersuchungen zur Kritik
des A. T., 1869, p. 181-184 ; Wellhausen, Prolegomena*, p. 238, Contp., p. 217 f. 356 ;
Stade, GVI. i. p. 69; Budde, Richt. u. Sam., p. 96-98; Cornill, Einl\ p. 99 f.;
Kittel, GdH. i. 2. p. 9-14. See also Introduction, 7.
f As that of the other judges by Othniel ; above, p. 84, and Introduction, 4.
IX. 56. X 271
the clan. Jair is a son of Manasseh (Nu. 32 41 Dt. 3" i K. 4 13 ) ;
in another place (i Chr. 2 21 ' 23 ), a great grandson of Judah on his
father's side, and of Machir ben Manasseh on his mother's. The
identity of the Jair named in all these places with the judge in
our text is proved by the constant association with the Havoth-
jair (villages of Jair) in Gilead ; see on v. 4 . The names of Ibzan
and Abdon do not occur elsewhere, but the mention of their
numerous posterity has naturally the same significance as in the
case of Jair ; they are extensive clans with numerous branches and
alliances. Their prosperity and dignity are symbolized by the
fact that their sons and grandsons rode upon asses. In the case
of all five of these Minor Judges, therefore, we probably have, not
the names of individuals, but of clans.* The chronological
scheme of the Minor Judges also differs from that of the others.
Elsewhere we find uniformly, first, the duration of the oppression ;
second, the duration of the period of security under the judge ;
there is an interregnum between each judge and the next. In
the case of the Minor Judges, on the contrary, we have only the
number of years each judged Israel, and there is no intimation of
an interval between them ; the formula, And after him, implies,
rather, that the writer meant to represent their rule as consecutive.
The first of these ways of reckoning corresponds to D's whole
construction of the history as a rhythmical succession of apostasy,
with consequent oppression and deliverance, and the chronolog-
ical data appear imbedded in his formulas ; the second does not
accord with this theory. Moreover, the seventy years assigned to
the Minor Judges appear to be independent of the systematic chro-
nology of the book, and to disturb its symmetry. It has been
inferred from this that the Minor Judges were introduced into the
book by a hand later than the Deuteronomic author (D).f The
question is one of considerable difficulty; it can be advan-
tageously discussed only in connexion with the problems of the
chronology and composition of the book in general ; see Intro-
duction, 4, 6, 7.
* This does not exclude the possibility that individuals may have borne these
names (cf. above on 3 12ff -, p. 91) ; but for the author of the notices in the Book of
Judges the individual is clearly lost in the clan.
f So We., Sta., Bu., Co. Against this inference see Kue., HCCft. p. 342; Kitt.
2/2 JUDGES
Of the source from which these notices are derived we can
affirm nothing.
1. Tola. There arose after Abimelech to deliver Israel~\ ac-
cording to Budde's not improbable hypothesis, the same hand
(the last editor) restored ch. 9, which D had omitted,* and intro-
duced the Minor Judges. To deliver Israel was the mission of
the judge ; see on 2 16 3 10 . From what foes, or by what deeds, he
delivered Israel, is not narrated. Tola the son of Puah~\ both
are names of clans of Issachar ; see above, p. 270. Son of Dodo~\
the name Dodo (var., Dodai) occurs twice in the list of David's
heroes, 2 S. 23 i Chr. n 12 27* and 2 % S. 23 24 . It has lately been
found in the form Dudu on the Amarna tablets. f The versions,
with the exception of 3T, take the word as appellative, son of his
( Abimelech 's) uncle (father's brother). A man of Issachar] on
the text see note. He resided at Shamir in Mt. Ephraim\
there was also a Shamir in the Highlands of Judah (Jos. I5 48 ).
The Shamir of our text, the seat of a clan of Issachar, probably
lay in the north-eastern part of the Highlands of Ephraim, not far
from the plain of Jezreel. See on 5 15 (p. 151). The branches of
Issachar which established themselves south of that valley, had
their settlements among those of the great tribe of Joseph, and,
like Benjamin on the south, seem frequently to be included when
it is spoken of. } Shamir has not been identified. Schwarz sug-
gested Sanur, a ruined stronghold on a detached rocky hill about
midway between Nabulus and Genin ; but this seems to be too
far south and west for a settlement of Issachar, and there is no
other argument for the identification than the very dubious one of
similarity of sound. 2. He judged Israel twenty-three years']
* See above, p. 235.
t In the inscription of Mesha king of Moab (1. 12), mn seems to be the name
of a divinity. The Dudu of the Amarna letters (Winckler, Thontafelfund von El
Amarna, No. 38, 1. i, &c.) is apparently a Canaanite official at the Egyptian court.
See also Sayce, Higher Criticism, p. 215.
J This may account, on the other hand, for the fact that Issachar is not named
in places where we should expect it, as in ch. 4 and 6-8.
Das heilige Land, 1852, p. 119. On Sanur see Rob., BK?, ii. p. 312 f. ; Guerin,
Samarie, i. p. 344-350 ; S WP. Memoirs, ii. p. 157 f. ; Bad 3 ., p. 228. Raumer, Van
de Velde, Guerin, al., would identify Sanur with the Bethulia of Judith ; see DB' 2 -.
i. p. 420 f.
X. 1-4 2/3
the same formula is used of each of the Minor Judges, also of
Jephthah (i2 7 ) and Samson (is 20 ), but not of any of the other
heroes of the book. On the chronology, see Introduction, 7.
He died and was buried in Shamir] from this notice, which,
mutatis mutandis, is repeated in the case of the other Minor
Judges, we are probably to infer that the tomb of the epony-
mous ancestor of the clan was in later times shown at Shamir.*
Cf. 2 9 .
1. nNiD p jjSin] the latter name is written in the same way I Chr. 7 1 ;
in Gen. 46 13 Nu. 26' 23 , nip. See Ochla we-Ochla, No. 201, and Norzi on Gen. I.e.
As appellative, j?Sin is the 'crimson worm, cochineal' {Coccus ilicis}\ nxio,
a, plant from which a red dye was obtained {Rubia tinctorum, Linn.; Low,
Pflanzennamen, p. 251); f the coincidence is noteworthy. On animal names
see on 7 25 . nn p] <& vi6s irarpaStXtpov avrov (irarpos deX0ou PVN Is);
similarly $&. % patrui Abimelech. Ki. notes that some codd. of & had
nn 13 (n. pr. ; so Ra.) ; others, TIUX nx "O, i.e. Abimelech's uncle. < M has
Kal av^rrfffev 6 0e6s (cf. 2 16 - 18 ) . . . rbv 0w\a vlbv 4>oua vlbv Ka/ne [Kap7/e]
7raT/>a5A<ou avrov, Kal avrbs KOLT^KSL JC.T.C. Hollenberg (ZA 7"W. i. p. 104 f.)
infers that in |^ and the versions a name, rnp (2 K. 25 23 Jer. 4O 8 ), has fallen
out, and that the original text read : ' Tola the son of Puah, the son of Kareah,
his (Abimelech's) uncle, a man of Issachar.' The conjecture is attractive, but
hardly sound: the suff. in nn naturally refers to Puah, not to Abimelech; and
to explain how a brother of the Manassite Jerubbaal could be of Issachar, we
should have to travel quite outside the text. J The recension of which
furnishes this name omits the words, a man of Issachar, which the scheme
requires. Perhaps Kapie is only a corruption and displacement of Issachar.
-oa>B B"N] the definite, the man of Issachar, is out of place; I should
emend, -WBD v> (cf. HCS) ; cf. i S. 9 1 and see note on 7 14 .
3. Jair. fair the Gileadite~\ see on Havoth-jair, v. 4b . He
judged Israel, 6rv.] see on v. 2 . A. He had thirty sons'} cf.
Ibzan's thirty sons and thirty daughters ( 1 2 9 ) ; Abdon's forty sons
and thirty grandsons (i2 14 ). More explicitly than in the latter
cases, Jair's sons are connected with as many branches or settle-
ments of the clan. Riding on thirty saddle asses'] as Abdon's
descendants rode on seventy saddle asses (i2 14 ) ; cf. also 5 10 . The
* See Sta., GVI. i. p. 449 ff.
rt' t "EpvBpd, Onom. vaticana, OS 2 . 19993; rubrum, Jerome, ib. 6 2 i.
J Cler. Half-brother ; wife's brother ; sister's husband (Hollenb.). See against
Hollenberg, Be 2 , ad loc.
This explanation is, however, by no means free from difficulty.
T
2/4 JUDGES
ass was highly esteemed as a riding beast, and was used by men
and women of rank (Jud. i 14 i S. 25 2 S. ly 23 ip 26 Zech. 9 9 &c.),
as it has always been in the East. 1 * It may be suspected that in
the verse before us the words have been interpolated from i2 14
(Abdon's sons and grandsons) ; the conflation being facilitated, if
not occasioned, by the similarity between the Hebrew word asses
and towns. See critical note. And they had thirty towns ; these
are still called Havoth-jair, and are in the land of Gilead'}
havvoth may have originally denoted, like the Arabic hiwa\ with
which it is commonly connected,! a group of Bedawin tents ; but
with the transition to pastoral life it would naturally be applied to
more permanent settlements. In the O.T. it is used only of these
Havoth-jair. It has been thought that the name Hivvite is of the
same origin. $ The conflicting statements about the number and
situation of the Havoth-jair have been a source of considerable
perplexity to commentators; see a full discussion of the diffi-
culties in Studer. The original account of the conquest of this
district is in Nu. 32 39 - 41f> , a passage which belongs to the oldest
stratum of Hebrew historiography and is akin to Jud. i. In
connexion with the conquest of Gilead by Machir, Jair took the
havvoth of the Amorites in Gilead (cf. v. 39 ), whence they are
called Havoth-jair; while Nobah took Kenath with its depend-
encies and gave it his own name, Nobah. || These fragmentary
old notices are now incorporated in the younger history of the
Mosaic conquest of the lands east of the Jordan : the conquest
of this region by Machir (Manasseh), however, falls apparently in
the period of the Judges, i.e. after the main body of Israel had
established themselves west of the Jordan.^" In entire accord
with Nu. 32 41 is Jud. io 4 , according to which the Havoth-jair,
thirty in number, were in the land of Gilead (cf. also i Chr. 2^) .
Other passages, which put them in Bashan, are the result of later
misunderstanding; so Dt. 3 14 cf. v. 4 (sixty fortified cities), and
* See Bochart, Hierozoicon, i. p. 151 ff., ed. Rosenm. In the modern East, see
DB*. i. p. 267 f. f It is not a Hebrew word. J See note on 36, p. 83 f.
See Bu., Richt. u. Sam., p. 60, 87, who makes these verses a sequel to
Jos. 1714-18, and ascribes them to J in the original context of Jud. I.
|| See above on 8U.
H Originally only Gad and Reuben stopped east of the Jordan.
X. 4-5
275
Jos. I3 30 , both of which belong to the latest redaction of the his-
tory.* In i K. 4 13 the mention of the Havoth-jair is interpolated
from Nu. 32 41 .f The account in i Chr. 2 23 , finally, which makes
Jair, who had twenty-three cities in the land of Gilead which
were subsequently lost to Geshur and Aram, of mixed Judaean
(Hezron) and Manassite (Machir) descent, must reflect post-
exilic relations. The land of Gilead~\ see on 1 1 1 . 5. Jair died,
and was buried at Camori\ cf. v. 2 . Camon was doubtless east of
the Jordan ; % not improbably Kamun, which is named by Poly-
bius in connexion with Pella. The site has not been recovered.
Eusebius erroneously identified it with Kammona, in the Great
Plain six miles northwest of Legio, now Tell Qaimun. ||
4. ony 1 ] -vy is generally a riding ass, Gen. 49" Jud. 10* I2 14 Zech. 9 9 ;
a beast of burden, Is. so 6 - 24 . In Arabic, specifically the wild ass; see
Hommel, Namen der Saugethiere, p. 121-123. D'H' 1 ;? 2 ] the substitution of
this form for the regular plur. of -vy, ony, is generally explained as an inten-
tional play on the word, to connect it more closely with on>y 'asses' (Ki.,
Schm., Stud., al. mu.).^[ Perhaps it originated in an accidental repetition of
the preceding. nm] @ B &rai5Xj. The word is connected by Abulw. with
Arab, hayy, ' tents of a clan, clan, kindred ' (see above, p. 83 f.) ; similarly
Cler. (on Nu. 32 41 ), comparing Arab. hiwa\ 'group of tents, camp.' This is
better than Ges. (TAes. p. 451), direct derivation from mn = rrn, 'place where
men live, habitation,' comparing German names like Aschersleben, &c.
X. 6-16. The moral of the history repeated and enforced.
Preface to a new period of oppression. The religious prag-
matism of the history, with its recurring cycle of apostasy, sub-
jugation, and deliverance, is set forth with all explicitness in the
Introduction, 2 n -3 6 . In the framework of the book, in which the
stories of the judges are set, the leading motives of this ouverture
are generally repeated in a sentence or two of set phrases, but in
one or two cases they are more fully developed (3 7 ~ 10 6 7 ' 10 ), while
in the passage before us they are expanded to almost as great
* Di., NDJ. p. 201 ; Kue., Th. T. xi. p. 479 ff. f Klosterm. It is lacking in .
J Fl. Jos. Polyb., v. 70, 12 ; Reland, Palaestina, p. 679.
|| OS*. 272^. On Tell Qaimun see Rob., BR*. iii. p. 114 f.; Guerin, Samarie,
ii. p. 241 ff. ; SWP. Memoirs, ii. p. 48, 69 f. Eli Smith (1844) and Robinson sug-
gested that Tell Qaimun Kammona Kuamon (Judith 78) is the Jokneam of
the O.T, (Jos. i2 22 &c.), and this identification is in all probability right,
U Cf. TrwAous,
2/6 JUDGES
length as in 2 llff -. We have learned that 2 llff - is not entirely the
work of the author of our Book of Judges (D), but contains the
substance of an older introduction, conceived in S. similar spirit,
which we saw reason to attribute to an elohistic source (E).*
The same phenomena meet us again in io 6 ' 16 : with the charac-
teristic phrases of D is intermingled another strain, which toward
the end predominates ; and the affinity of this element with E is
here even more evident than in the former case. Why this ex-
tended introduction should stand thus in the middle of the book
is not apparent. It may have its explanation in a different order
of the pre-Deuteronomic Book of Judges. Stade surmises that in
E it immediately followed the story of Ehud (s 15 " 30 ), and that its
sequel has not been preserved.f Budde conjectures that it was
E's introduction to the account of the Philistine oppression. J
As it does not appear that E contained a story of Samson, it would
then be supposed, further, that in its original connexion it was
followed by the history of the Philistine aggressions in the time of
Samuel and .Saul.
On io 6 - 16 see Stade, ZATW. I. p. 341-343, GVI. i. p. 70; Budde, Richt.
u. Sam., p. 128 f.; Kuenen, HC&. i. p. 340 f.; Kittel, GdH. i. 2. p. 8. Stade
urges the resemblance of the non-Deuteronomic elements in the passage to
Jos. 24 (E 2 ) . To that source he ascribes v. 6b - 8 (except the Israelites i and the
18 years) 10 *- 13f -* 14f -; even v. llf - appears to have an elohistic basis. Budde's
analysis is very similar. Kue. and Kitt., on the contrary, discover no traces
of E. The former ascribes the passage as a whole to D : the latter attributes
v. 6f - 8b - 10a ( ? ) || to Ri. (redactor of the older Book of Stories of the Judges), the
rest to R d (redactor of the present Book of Judges) ; the suggestions of E in
the latter are due to a peculiar predilection of the last redactor for the style
of E.
6. The verse begins with the standing formulas of D ; cf. 2 11 ' 13
3 7 &c., i S. 7 4 i2 10 . The catalogue of foreign religions, which
includes those of all the neighbouring nations (cf. 2 12 Dt. 6 14 13),
Syria, Phoenicia, Moabites, Ammonites, Philistines, is not improb-
* See above, p. 63 f., 68 ff.
t ZA TW. i. p. 342. That it was not originally the introduction to the story of
Jephthah, he infers from n 4 , and from the fact that the theological pragmatism of
I0 6-16 i s entirely foreign to that story.
I Richt. u. Sam., p. 128. Cf. vj, and observe Judah and Benjamin in v. 9 .
Cf. altogether Jos. 2418-23. || V> belongs to Ri.'s source.
x. 6-io 277
ably a secondary amplification. Forsook Yahweh~\ v. 10 - 13 2 12 - 13
Jos. 24 20 (E). 7. Cf. 2 14 - 20 3 8 4 2 i S. i2\ The Philistines and
the Ammonites'^ the author of these words intended io 6ff - to stand
as an introduction not only to the Ammonite oppression (io lr -i2' 7 ),
but to the Philistine supremacy. Of the latter, however, there is
no further mention in the following context ; it is the Ammonites
who, after crushing Israel east of the Jordan, invade Judah, Ben-
jamin, and Ephraim. The Philistine domination begins with 13*
(Samson), and continues to the time of Samuel (i S. 7, E). In
their present connexion, the words, into the power of the Philistines ,,
are manifestly out of place. They may have been inserted by the
latest editor for the purpose of extending the scope of the intro-
duction to include ch. 13-16. The alternative is to suppose, with
Budde, that in E lo 6 " 16 originally prefaced the account of the
Philistine oppression.* This is perhaps the more probable hypo-
thesis. On the Ammonites cf. 3 13 , and see on n 4 . 8. And they
broke, and crushed the Israelites in that year eighteen years'] from
what follows the subject appears to be the Ammonites only. The
impossible collocation, in that year eighteen years, must be attrib-
uted to editorial interpolation or composition. The eighteen years
probably belong to D's chronology (cf. 6 1 I3 1 ) ; in that year is
more suitable to the verbs at the beginning of the verse, which
suggest a signal catastrophe rather than long-continued subjuga-
tion and oppression, and may, as Kittel thinks, be from the source
from which ch. ii 4ff -is derived. f D's text may then have run:
And he sold them into the power of the Ammonites eighteen years.
The rest of the verse, with v. 9a appears to be an expansion of the
Israelites, v. 8 * ; the oppression was universal, both east and west
of the Jordan. The land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead~\
cf. n 19ff< ; the relation to the latter passage is additional evidence
of the late date of v. 8b . 9. The Ammonites even crossed the
Jordan and invaded Judah, Benjamin, and Ephraim ; see on v. 8b .
Judah is mentioned only in i5 wl iS 12 . Israel was in great straits']
2 15 i S. 30 6 . 10. Cf. 3 9 - 15 4 3 6 6J . We have sinned against thee~\
v. 15 i S. i2 10 f Nu. I4 40 2i 7 Dt. i 41 . The formula of confession is
peculiarly frequent in E (E 2 ). Forsaken Yahweh~\ v. 6 - 13 2 12f \
* See above, p. 276. f Cf. that year, with, after a year (D^D) II 4 .
278 JUDGES
8. ionn nja>a] naturally, the year in which Yahweh gave Israel into their
power. The year of the death of Jair (Ra., RJes. i) is far-fetched. The
difficulty which these words make in connexion with the following eighteen
years has constrained the interpreters to various ungrammatical shifts, ftfl
endeavours to soften the collision by carrying the second number over to the
next half-verse; cf. Schm., Ke., al. M It omit the troublesome words.*
ifhtt -KPN] the Gileadite Amorites. In the writer's view the Israelite settle-
ments east of the Jordan were on territory conquered from the Amorites, not
taken from Moab and Ammon. The same theory is expounded at length in
jjis-27. see there. Gilead here, as often, is the whole region of Israelite
occupation east of the Jordan. 10. ':n u^nSx usry] read imSx mrv. So
7 codd. (De Rossi) < A3 {ft v ; t sporadic correction attesting the sound
feeling that the name is indispensable. .
11-16. Yahweh reproaches the Israelites with their apos-
tasy. They have learned neither wisdom nor gratitude by
their past experience. He will deliver them no more ; they may
appeal to the gods they have chosen. They confess their sin and
put away the foreign gods. Yahweh cannot bear their distress.
Compare 2 lb ' 4 (the angel at Bochim), 6 8 ' 10 (prophet), i S. 7*
I0 ir-i9 I2 6ff. j os 2420-23^ Verses 15 - 16 have the distinctive marks of
E's style ; in the preceding verses the text of E appears to have
been altered and expanded by R, to whom the catalogue of
oppressors, in its present form, must be attributed. 11, 12. The
Hebrew text presents an anacoluthon which can hardly be imitated
in English : Nonne ab ^Egyptiis et ab Amoritis et ab Ammonitis
et a Philistaeis et Sidonii et Amalec et Maon oppresserunt vos,
et clamastis ad me, et liberavi vos e potestate eorum ? The con-
struction is changed in the middle, and v. 11 thus left without its
predicate (liberavi vos) . I Such an anacoluthon is, however, awk-
ward in this simple sentence, and the disorder is perhaps due
to transcriptional error. The versions render : Did not the
Egyptians and the Amorites . . . oppress you, and you cried
unto me, and I delivered you from their power ? See note. The
catalogue of the seven nations, the counterpart of the seven
* It is perhaps not without significance that in n 26 (the 300 years) these 18
years seem not to be reckoned.
t Dominum, which seems to have no Latin attestation, was introduced by the
Clementine editors ; see Vercellone.
I See De Wette, Stud. u. Krit. 1831, p. 305 ; Stud. ; Ges. 25 '167, 2.
Except BN.
X. H-12 2/9
varieties of heathenism in v. 6 ,* corresponds to 2 l4b (he sold them
into the power of their enemies on all sides), as v. 6a P to 2 13 . The
text of E, as is frequently the case with such lists, has been ampli-
fied by a later editor ; originally it must have contained the names
of the peoples whose oppressions had been related in E's Book
of Judges, and probably in the order of his narrative. If it had
been preserved intact, it would have given us a valuable criterion
for the reconstruction of his work. The editor, on the contrary,
has accumulated the names of neighbouring nations without any
discoverable principle of selection or order. We read in it the
names of some which nowhere else appear as oppressors, while
we miss others, notably Moab and Midian, which we should cer-
tainly expect to find. The Amorites'} this is referred by the com-
mentators to Sihon king of Heshbon (Nu. 2i 21ff- ) ;f but how the
invasion and conquest of the Amorites by Israel, which is there
narrated, can be converted into an oppression of Israel by the
Amorites, \ and put in conjunction with the tyranny of the
Egyptians, they do not explain. The name is omitted by $b.
The Ammonites'} the only Ammonite oppression recorded in the
book is that in the following chapter, from which they were deliv-
ered by Jephthah ; we should not expect to find it referred to in
this introduction as a thing of the past. In 3 13 the Ammonites
are named as allies of Moab under Eglon, but since Moab itself
is not named in our catalogue the supposition that the writer was
here thinking of Eglon's time is excluded. The omission of
Moab was felt by the versions to be unaccountable, and the name
is introduced by ( after the Ammonites, by % instead of the
Amorites. The Philistines} in immediate connexion with the
Ammonites, as in v. 7 . The period of Philistine supremacy began
near the end of the time of the judges (Samson), and lasted till
the days of David. The commentators are compelled to refer here
to Shamgar (3 31 ); see there. 12. The Sidonians~\ Phoenicians;
see on 3 3 (p. 79, 81). There is no record in the O.T. of an
invasion or subjugation of Israel by the Phoenicians. || That by
Phoenicians the author meant the northern Canaanites (Jabin,
ch. 4), or that the Phoenicians may have held a kind of hegemony
* Rashi. f So, e.g., Be., Ke. J Note the verb. $ Except BN.
|| In Am. i a they are slave-dealers, not captors ; cf. 2 Mace. 8 11 - &.
280 JUDGES
among the northern Canaanites, in virtue of which they supported
them in their wars with Israel,* are hypotheses which admit of no
refutation, because they have no foundation. Mor*e probably the
introduction of the Sidonians here is due to the mention of them
in v. 6b ; cf. i K. 1 1 33 . Amalefc] the Amalekites are named in 3 13
as allies of Eglon, in 6 3>33 as joining Midian in its annual raids.f
Others refer to Ex. if ff \ Maon] the Maonites first appear in
Chronicles as enemies of Jehoshaphat of Judah (2 Chr. 20 1 ), and
of Uzziah (2 Chr. 26 7 ); they are mentioned also in the time of
Hezekiah (i Chr. 4 41 ). Their seats were south of the Dead Sea;
in all probability the name is preserved in Ma'an, \ on the old
caravan road from Damascus to Arabia, four hours east of Petra.
The occurrence of the name in this list of early oppressors of
Israel is hard to explain. Of the ancient versions 3 alone agrees
wfth 3^ ; some recensions of ^ have Midian ; others, with H,
Canaan; & has Ammon here. That Midian should be omitted
from the list altogether after the story of Gideon (ch. 6-8) is
quite as strange as that Maon should be included, and very many
critics adopt the emendation suggested by (fi, Midian.^ The
emendation is so self-evident that it is suspicious. It is possible,
after all, that the editor, who, as the whole catalogue proves, was
little concerned about historical accuracy, may have written the
name of an Arab people of his own times, the Minaeans. || The
omission of Midian is not more strange than that of Moab. See
note. And you cried unto me, and I delivered you from their
power} cf. i S. i2 10 and the places cited above on v. 10 . 13. In
spite of all this they have forgotten him (v. 10 2 12 - 13 ) and served
other gods (Dt. 7* n 16 Jos. 24- 16 i S. 8 8 ) . Therefore I will not.
deliver you any more~\ cf. 2 21 . 14. Let them cry to the gods
they have chosen ; they may deliver them in their time of dis-
tress; cf. Jer. 2 Dt. 32 37f - 2 K. 3 13 . 15. We have sinned~\ see
* Be., referring to Jud. i87- 28.
t The mention of Amalek in both places appears to be due to the redaction.
J Le Strange, Palestine under the Moslems, p. 39, 508 f. ; Burckhardt, Syria,
p. 436 f. ; Doughty, Arabia Deserta, i. p. 32 ff. In i K. n" Then., Sta., al. would
read Maon for Midian ; an unnecessary change, see above, p. 179.
So Be., Doom. ; cf. Stud.
|| See Glaser, Skizze der Gesch. u. Geogr. Arabiens, ii. p. 450-452 ; Sayce, Higher
Criticism, p. 39-46.
X. I2-I8 28l
on v. 10 . Verses 1S>16 seem to be entirely derived from E. Do
thou unto us all that seems good to thee ; only rescue us this day]
punish us thyself in any way that thou seest fit, but save us now
from our enemies ; cf. 2 S. 24 : " Let me fall by the hand of Yah-
weh, for his compassion is great ; but by the hand of man let me
not fall " ; 2 Mace. io 4 . With the phrase, whatever is good in thy
sight, cf. i S. 3 18 2 S. 1 5 26 , and in different applications, Jud. ip 24
i S. i 23 1 1 10 14 40 2 S. io 12 . 16. So they put away the foreign gods
from among them] Jos. 24 20 - 23 i S. f Gen. 35 2 - 4 cf. Dt. 3i 16 .
Foreign gods is the phrase of E, for which the Deuteronomic
expression is, other gods. He could bear the misery of Israel no
longer] his pity for his people (Hos. ii 8 ) and his indignation
against their enemies overcome him ; he can no longer stand
aloof and see the heathen oppress Israel. On the Hebrew phrase
see note. 17, 18. In the original connexion of E, v. 16 must have
been immediately followed by the raising up of the deliverer
(cf. n lff -). Verses 17f> are an editorial introduction to the story of
Jephthah, the material of which is all drawn from ch. n, as S 33 " 35
is derived from ch. 9.* 17. The Ammonites gathered for war
and encamped in Gilead ; the Israelites were assembled at Mizpah ;
cf. 7 1 1 S. 4 1 29 1 &c. The two armies confronted one another, but
the Israelites had no leader. This representation does not agree
with n 29 , from which it appears that Jephthah had to raise the
clans himself; the latter verse is, however, probably from the
hand of an editor; cf. also n 4 . 18. The people, the chiefs of
Gilead'} the words are explained as a restrictive apposition,! but
the technical name does not render the expression any less awk-
ward. Perhaps the original text has been glossed. They anx-
iously inquire where they shall find a champion and leader. The
man who leads them to victory shall be made chief of all Gilead ;
cf. ii 8 - 9 - 11 -.
11. 'Ji 0*0x013 N^n] to explain the anacoluthon it is supposed that the
author began intending to say, nans Tij^in . . . nnxDD N^n (Ges. 25 167, 2).
But neither yann nor Sxn, ' deliver, rescue ' from an enemy or oppressor, is in
Judges construed thus with p; they always take "VD (yjpin 2 16 - 18 6 14 (IOD) 8 22
io 12 I3 5 ; SI-SH 6 9 S 34 9 17 ). There is no discernible reason why the author
* Mizpah (v. 17 ) is derived from ii 11 in its present form ; hence io 17f - is later than
the great interpolation, n 1 ^- t Be., al.
282 JUDGES
should not have written, f n onxo T>D ornN ^npienn xSn, or >nj?a>in ons^o TO vhn
'Ji T>DI D3HN. P| with its supposed anacoluthon is thus suspicious on gram-
matical grounds. APVLMO g c * 5^^ make the nouns in v.U as well as in v. 12
subjects of the vb. ISP*?, and the text should probably be emended accordingly.
12. pym] Madia/* ABLM tf Xavaav Fvo al - g S, Canaan 2, (thinking doubt-
less of 4 2 &c.). fpj3 is a not impossible corruption of p>?D in old Hebr. or
transitional alphabets. 14. o^> lytpv] 'SsS jwin Jos. io 6 2 S. lo 11 Jer. II 12
Ez. 34 22 ; in a different idiom, Jud. 7 2 , see note there. 16. WBJ -wpm] lit.
Aw J0#/ ?wz.y shortened ; his patience was exhausted. We speak of a short
temper, impatient and hasty. In Hebrew the phrase is used for complete
discouragement, when endurance itself is exhausted, Ex. 6 9 Nu. 21* Job 2i 4 ;
but also of a man who is tired out by importunity, Jud. i6 16 . The application
of these words to God was a stumbling-block to some of the Jewish interpre-
ters; but cf. Mi. 2 7 Zech. II 8 . Soy] rare in old prose, Gen. 4i 51 (E) Nu. 23 21
Dt. 26 7 .
XI. 1-XII. 7. Jephthah delivers Gilead from the Ammon-
ites. Jephthah the Gileadite has been driven from his home to
the adjacent Syrian district of Tob, where, with a band of wild
fellows, he leads the life of a freebooter (n 1 " 3 ). When the Am-
monites make war on Gilead, the elders persuade him to come
and take command against the enemy, promising to make him the
head chief of all Gilead. He returns with them, and is made chief
by the people (v. 4 " 11 ). He sends messengers to the king of
Ammon, contesting his claim to the lands between the Jabbok and
the Arnon : Israel conquered this territory from the Amorites and
has held it undisputed for three hundred years. The Ammonites
refusing to recognize Israel's title, hostilities commence (v. 12 " 29 ).
Jephthah vows that if Yahweh gives him victory, he will sacrifice
the first who comes out of his house to meet him on his return
(v. 301 -). jj e subdues the Ammonites, taking from them twenty
cities (v. 32f- ) . Returning in triumph to Mizpah, his only daughter
comes out to meet him, heading the chorus of women. The
father's heart is rent, but he can not take back his word ; after a
respite of two months, he performs his vow. The fate of Jeph-
thah's daughter is commemorated by the women of Israel in an
annual four days' festival (v. 34 ' 40 ).
The Ephraimites are jealous because they were not called out
for the war, and cross the Jordan to avenge the slight, but are
with ft?.
XI. i-XII. 7
283
beaten by Jephthah. In their flight many are cut off" by the
Gileadites at the fords of the Jordan, being betrayed by their
pronunciation (I2 1 " 6 ). After judging Israel for six years, Jephthah
dies and is buried in Gilead (v. 7 ) .
The long diplomatic communication, defending Israel's title to
Gilead (n 12 ' 28 ), is manifestly foreign to the original story.* The
historical argument is derived chiefly, and in part verbally, from
Nu. 20, 21 (see comm. below) ; and, though purporting to be an
answer to the claim of the Ammonites (v. 13 ), in reality deals
exclusively with Israel's relation to the Moabites (v. 17- 18 ) .f Even
in the appeal to the king (v. 24 ), the name of Chemosh, the national
god of Moab, stands, instead of Milcom, the god of Ammon ;
and the conduct of the present king is contrasted with that of
Balak king of Moab, who waged no war with Israel. The cities
named in v. 26 are well known Moabite cities. } There is general
agreement among critics that n 12 - 28 is a late interpolation, the
motive of which is to establish the title of Israel to its possessions
between the Arnon and the Jabbok. The insertion of this long
speech has done some injury to the margins of the original narra-
tive. Verses * 31 are violently severed from v. lla , of which they are
the original sequel ; v. llb seems to belong after v. 31 ; v. 29 is further a
very awkward redactional doublet to v. 32 , necessitated by the intru-
sion of v. 12 - 28 before v. 30 *"-. See comm. on the verses. At the begin-
ning of ch. n, the editor seems to have endeavoured with indiffer-
ent success to make out something more definite about the hero's
origin, taking the hint from v. 7 . Chapter I2 1 ' 6 is regarded by Well-
hausen as a later appendix to the story. The difficulties in the
connexion of these verses with ch. 1 1 are, however, exaggerated \
the story does not bear the marks of a late fabrication ; and there
seems to be no sufficient reason why it may not be from the same
hand with n 4 - 11 - 3 - 40 . See more fully below, and cf. on 8 1 ' 3 .
* See Stud. ; Noldeke, Untersuchungen, p. 195 n. ; We., Comp., p. 228 ; Bu.,
Richt. u. Sam., p. 125 ; al.
f Even in v. 1 ^ where alone they are named, the Ammonites come only in the
second place.
J Nu. 2124-26 treats the whole kingdom of Sihon, from the Jabbok to the Arnon,
as having been originally Moabite.
The occasion of the interpolation may have been the intrusion of the Ammon-
ites into the old territory of Israel at the beginning of the 6th century, cf. Jer. 49!.
284 JUDGES
Wellhausen and Stade find in the story of Jephthah no histori-
cal elements at all. Jephthah himself is a shadowy figure, whose
origin and end are equally obscure ; of his great Victory over the
Ammonites, we are told nothing definite. The whole point lies in
the sacrifice of his daughter, which serves to explain the Gileadite
women's festival.* Stade infers from n 1 that Jephthah was the
heros eponymus of a despised Gileadite clan, or one not of full
blood. Goldziher treats Jephthah and his offering as mythical. f
The objections to the historical character of the hero and of the
main features of the story do not seem to be sufficiently well
founded. That the circumstances of his victories over the Am-
monites were not remembered, or are not more fully narrated
here, does not prove that nothing of the sort happened; the
mythical features which may be recognized in the annual cele-
bration of the women of Gilead may have attached themselves
to an historical event such as is here related. {
1-3. Jephthah's antecedents. The bastard son of Gilead,
he is driven from home by his brothers, and with a band of free
companions lives the life of a marauder in the district of Tob.
The facts in this introduction are drawn from the story, which
must have begun by telling who Jephthah was, and probably how
he came to be in Tob (cf. v. 5 ). The genealogical notice which
makes him a son of Gilead (v. lb ) is clearly not original ; with it
naturally falls the story of his expulsion by the legitimate sons of
Gilead (v. 2 ) . From v. 7 we should rather infer that he had been
banished by the authorities, the elders of Gilead. A not unnatural
misunderstanding of the latter verse may have given rise to v. lb> 2 .
1. Jephthah the Gileadite was a great warrior] 6 12 i S. 9 1 .
He was the son of a harlot~\ cf. Abimelech, 8 31 9 18 . The trait may
very well belong to the original story. || The following words, on
the contrary, and Gilead begot Jephthah, appear to be a misinter-
pretation of the patrial adjective, the Gileadite, in the sense and
form of the later genealogical systems ; Gilead is the name of a
* We., Comp., p. 228 f. ; Sta., G VI. i. p. 68.
t Der Mythos bei den Hebraern, p. 113 ff. = Mythology among the Hebrews, 1877,
p. 96 ff., 104. J Cf. Kue., Bu., Kitt. Cf. Bu., p. 125 f.
|| Bu., l.c. p. 125, is of the opinion that this also is secondary.
XI. i-
28 5
region or of its population (5 17 ), not of a man. Having made this
beginning, the editor understands Jephthah's words to the elders of
Gilead in v. 7 , You have hated me and driven me out of my father's
house, and his brethren (clansmen) v. 3 , literally, and combining it
with v. la (Jephthah a bastard), interprets the whole situation in
v. 2 : the legitimate sons drove out their illegitimate half-brother.*
2. Besides Jephthah, Gilead had sons by his lawful wife. When
they grew up, they drove Jephthah away. Thou shalt have no
inheritance in our father's house, for thou art the son of another
woman} if v. lbi 2 were an integral part of the old story, and therefore
to be interpreted historically, we might, with Stade, regard Jeph-
thah as the name of a Gileadite clan which did not stand on an
equal footing with the others of its kin. But as the name nowhere
occurs in this character,! and nothing in the subsequent story
suggests anything of the kind, the solution adopted above seems
preferable. 3. Jephthah fled from his brethren] cf. v. 7 ; expelled
from his father's house. The district of Tob~\ v. 5 . The men of
Tob appear in 2 S. io 6 - 8 among the Syrian allies of the Ammonites
in their war with David, in immediate connexion with Maachah ;
the same district is perhaps meant in i Mace. 5 13 2 Mace. i2 17 .
We have no other clue to the situation of Tob ; it was apparently
not very remote from Gilead, probably to the NE. There col-
lected to Jephthah worthless fellows, and went out (on forays) with
him~\ lit. were raked together. The outlawed man naturally took
to the life of a freebooter on the outskirts of the settled land.
So David did when compelled to flee from Saul (i S. 22 lf> 23 1 " 5 25
2 ^7ff. fcc.). His companions were of the same class; wild and
reckless fellows, 9*. Such a life was not esteemed dishonourable. \
1. nnfli] probably a decurtate theophoric name; cf. n>nns, 9Winfl\ riWK
njir] I6 1 Jos. 2 1 and often, cf. tPjS^fl n^x 19*; see note on 4*. As in the case
of Rahab, early Jewish interpreters try to soften the word; see below on v. 2 .
"6ri] the Hiph. is common in P and Chr., also Dt. 4 25 28 41 (Di., Gen., p. 106;
Dr., Introd., p. 127; Giesebrecht, ZATW. i. p. 235 f.); older writers use
* So substantially, Bu.
f Cf. Jos. is 48 , a town in the Lowlands of Judah ; Jiphthah-el in Zebulun,
Jos. 191*.
% Cf. of the Greeks, Thuc., i. 5 ; Germans, Caes., b.g. vi. 23, Latrocinia nullam
habent infamiam, quae extra fines cujusque civitatis fiunt. The sentiments of the
Arabs on this subject are well known.
286 JUDGES
the Kal both in the sense 'beget' and 'bear.' The clause attaches very
awkwardly to the preceding : (R makes a better connexion, T/ fy^vrjffev r$
Ta\aa8 ( BN ), or Kal ereKev ry T. (APVLMO). b ut we should hardly take this
for the original reading (Gies.). Srun xS] Nu. iS 20 (j) Jos. IQ 9 (-pro)
Nu. 32 19 (nx). mnx n'i'x] I Chr. 2 26 . The word does not mean peregrina
(JHMich., cl. Dt. 29 27 Jer. 22 26 ), still less, of another tribe (rabbinical inter-
pretation in Ki.) ; nor does it necessarily connote inferiority. 3. auo }nx]
in 2 S. I0 6 - 8 the versions take into BMN as a proper name; cf. Klosterm. (king
of Maachah) .* In Jer. Shebiith, vi. I, fol. 36 the region of Tob to which Jeph-
thah fled is said to have been xp-'DiD; Neubauer (Geog. du Talmud, p. 239)
identifies this with the Hippos of Josephus (vita, 65 349), in the Decapolis.f
S. Merrill adopts this combination; but it rests, so far as the Talmud is
concerned, on a very insecure basis. (See also Miihlau in Ri. HWB., s.v.)
4-11. When war breaks out with the Ammonites, the sheikhs
of Gilead go after Jephthah, and beg him to take command in
the war. He expresses his surprise that in their straits they should
seek the aid of the man whom they have driven into exile. They
promise that he shall retain his power and be head of all the
inhabitants of Gilead. Upon these terms he returns with them
and is proclaimed commander and chief. 4. This verse seems
superfluous beside v. 5a , and is omitted by some Greek manu-
scripts ; Studer questions its genuineness. Of the two, however,
it is perhaps more likely that v. 5a was inserted by the editor.
After a time] perhaps we should interpret, after a year; cf. that
year, io 8 . They overran the Israelites unresisted the first year,
but the next season, when they again invaded the country, the
elders summoned Jephthah. The Ammonites} a people closely
akin to the Moabites, to whom they seem to have stood in a
relation somewhat similar to that of Edom to Israel. They lay
to the northeast of Moab, and east of the Israelite settlements,
on the border of the desert. Their principal city was Rabbah of
the Ammonites ('Amman), on the upper Jabbok. In the fertile
region adjacent to this city they probably early settled down to
agriculture, but the great body of the tribe seems to have always
remained at least semi-nomadic. That they periodically harried
their Israelite neighbours and lifted their cattle, is only what the
* In the parallel i Chr. igie the name is omitted.
fOn the site of Hippos see Schumacher, ZDPV. ix. 1886, p. 324 f. 349 f.;
Clerrnont-Ganneau, PEF. Qu. St. t 1887, p. 36-38.
XL 4-9
287
Bedawin along the margin of the Syrian desert have always done.
Not seldom their invasions had a more serious character. An
Ammonite attack on Jabesh-gilead was the occasion which made
Saul king ( i S. i i lff -) ; David waged an embittered war against them
(2 S. 10-12). 5. See above on v. 4 . The elders of Gilead]
v s. 9. 10. 11 cf 8 i6. the heads of the families and clans; with a
modern word, the sheikhs. Gilead is often used for the whole
territory occupied by Israel east of the Jordan, as Canaan for
their possessions on the west of the river. This territory, whose
natural boundaries are the Yarmuk on the north and Wady Mogib
(Arnon) .on the south, is divided by the Zerqa (Jabbok) into
two parts, the northern of which is now called Gebel 'Aglun, the
southern, the Belqa. It is the latter which is the scene of our
story.* 6. Come with us and be our commander} an extraor-
dinary authority, a kind of dictatorship, is meant ; see note.
7. Jephthah expresses his surprise that, after the way they had
treated him, they should come to him for help in their straits.
Are not you the men that hated me, and expelled me from my
father's house ?~\ not only from the house, but from the family ;
making him a tribeless man, without rights or protection. In
such a state of society, expulsion from the clan is far more than
banishment; it makes a man an outcast and an outlaw. The
justice or injustice of his banishment is not mooted ; t they have,
in any case, no reason to expect help from him. 8. Therefore
we have now returned to thee~\ the particle refers, not to the last
words of Jephthah (because we are in straits), but to his first
question : Because we did banish thee, we have now sought thee
out to bring thee back. So go with us and fight with the
Ammonites, and thou shalt be our chief, even of all the inhab-
itants of Gilead] io 18 . Such a sentence may also be conceived
as conditional : If thou wilt go ... thou shalt be, &c. ; but it is a
mistake to regard this as a form of the Hebrew conditional sen-
tence. 9. He repeats their proposition, that there may be no
misunderstanding. If you take me back to fight with the Ammon-
* On Gilead, see Burckhardt, Syria, p. 347-372 ; Tristram, Land of Israel,
ch. 22, 23; Merrill, East of the Jordan, 1881; Conder, Heth and Moab, 1883;
SEP. Memoirs, i. 1889 ; G. A. Smith, Hist. Geogr., p. 517-590 ; DB*. s,v.
t Cler.
288 JUDGES
t'/es, and Yahweh gives them over before me, I shall be your chief]
it is unnecessary to give the words an interrogatory inflection.
10. Yahweh shall be a witness between us~\ shall -hear and take
note of the words which have passed between us; cf. Gen. 3i 49 ,
Yahweh shall keep watch between us, when we are out of each
other's sight. That we will do just as thou sayest~\ lit. if we do
not do; the usual form of affirmative oath or asseveration.
11. Jephthah goes with them, and the people acclaim him chief
and dictator ; cf. Q 6 . So Saul is acclaimed king by all the people
*t Gilgal (i S. ii 15 ); Rehoboam goes to Shechem to be made
king by all Israel (i K. I2 1 ); Jeroboam is made king there by
the northern tribes (i K. I2 20 ); cf. also i K. i 9 * (Adonijah),
v. 33 ^ (Solomon). It has been generally inferred from v, llb , in con-
nexion with io 17 , that Jephthah was acclaimed at Mizpah. This is
in itself highly probable ; the Gileadites would naturally assemble
for the purpose at their principal holy-place (cf. 9 6 i S. n 15
1 K. i 9 - 33 I2 1 &c.). But io 17 is part of the editor's introduction,
and n llb is misplaced; it originally stood in close connexion with
v. 30 ^, from which it has been separated by the interpolation of v. 12 " 29 ,
and closer examination shows that its proper place is after v. 31 ,
not before v. 30 ; see below. Jephthah uttered all his words before
Yahweh at Mizpah~\ at the holy place, before the stele, altar, or
idol, in which the deity was believed to dwell, or which symbolized
his presence ; cf. i S. i 9 (<g) M - 19 f lo 19 - 25 n 15 is 33 2 S. 5" 2i 9 6 5 - 14
2 K. 19". In the present context the words can only mean, he
repeated before Yahweh what he had said to the elders of Gilead
when they came to solicit his aid (v. 9 ).* The only object in such
a repetition would be to bind them by a religious sanction to keep
their promise; but in that case he must have made them solemnly
repeat their pledge (v. 8 - 10 ), his words would not hold them; and,
furthermore, the promise of the elders had already been fulfilled
by the people (v. lla ). On the other hand, the statement is perti-
nent, if indeed it is not indispensable, in the account of Jeph-
thah's vow, v. 30 *'- cf. v. 35 - 36 ; see further on v. 31 . Mizpah is not
Mizpah in Benjamin (Jos. i8 26 Jud. 20 21 i S. 7 ro 17 Neh. 3 7
* Stud. It is hardly permissible to stretch the words to cover all that had passed
between him and the elders (Ra.).
XL 9-1 1 289
&c.),* but Mizpah in Gilead (v. 34 cf. v. 29 Hos. s 1 ). The site has
not been recovered ; in our story we might think of Gebel Osha',
an hour north of es-Salt, from whose summit the view takes in a
large part of Palestine.!
4. The verse is lacking in ( BN : it is found in all other recensions of (&
and in all the other versions. J The omission may be due to homceoteleuton;
or, less likely, to the same feeling of the redundancy of the verse which has
led Jerome to condense in translation. D>D'D] after a time ; I4 8 I5 1 Jos. 23 1
D^i DID^D, after a long time; or, after a year; see below v. 40 . On the
Ammonites see Stade, GVI. i. p. 120; Ri. HWB., DB 2 ., s.v. 5. ijfa ^pr]
cf. Nu. 22 4 (Midian) 22 7 (Moab) I S. 4 3 (Israel) &c. Elders of a city, Jud. S 16
1 S. n 3 ; cf. -ppn ypi freq. in Dt. 6. pxp] v. 11 ; synonym of IPJO Mi. 3 1 - 9 ;
joined with itstr and hwn Prov. 6 7 ; commander of troops Jos. io 24 ; dictator
Is. 3 6 - 7 ; cf. also Is. I 10 22 3 Da. n 18 . 8. jaS] there is no occasion for depart-
ing from the ordinary meaning of the particle. In Jer. 5 2 , sometimes adduced
for the sense ' nevertheless, notwithstanding,' the St. Petersburg codex reads
J3N; the other exx. cited in Noldius do not support the meaning alleged.
roSm] perf. in an urgent entreaty; Dr 3 . 119 5; followed by two other
consec. perff. 9. The protasis with a ptcp., 9 15 cf. 6 36 and note there;
Friedrich, Conditionals'dtze, p. 16. The apodosis begins, not with jnji (Dr 3 .
137 a) : 'if you are going to bring me back . . . Yahweh will deliver them
up,' but with rpnx -OJN. 11. Mizpah. From Jos. I3 26 , HCXDH nnn Ramath-
mizpeh, it is frequently inferred that Mizpah of Gilead is the same with
Ramoth-gilead (i K. 4 13 ), which was the seat of an ancient sanctuary (Jos. 2O 8
Dt. 4 43 ), and a strong place of great importance in the Syrian wars (i K. 22 3tf '
2 K. 8 28 9 lff -). According to Euseb. (OS' 2 . 28791), Ramoth was a village 15 m.
W. of Philadelphia ('Amman), perhaps the modern es-Salt. But Ramah and
Mizpah (Mizpeh) are both common names, and the Ramoth of the Kings
must have been much further north. The form noxD[n] Jos. n 8 I3 26 , cstr.
Jud. n29bis j s. 22 3 . What may be the reason of this variation in pronuncia-
tion is not clear. The fern. cstr. does not occur, but we have the locative
nnosnn.
12-28. The title of Israel in Gilead. Jephthah demands
the reason of the Ammonite invasion ; the king replies that he
makes war to recover the territory between the Jabbok and the
Arnon, which Israel, when it came up from Egypt, took from
Ammon, and concludes with a demand for its surrender (v. 12f ')
* Reland. Grove, al., transport the Mizpah of Jud. 20, 21 to Gilead ; see there,
t See Burckhardt, Syria, p. 353 f. ; Bad^., p. 180. J ffi^ al. omit v>.
We should naturally look for the Mizpah of Gen. 31^ on the Aramaean
frontier, in northern Gilead.
U
290 JUDGES
Jephthah denies the claim of the Ammonites to this region : Israel
took no land from Moab or Ammon ; on the contrary, it scrupu-
lously respected the rights of Edom and Moab ; when denied a
passage through those countries, it made a long circuit to the
east, avoiding them altogether, and never crossed the Arnon, the
border of Moab (v. 14 - 18 ) . But when Sihon, the Amorite king of
Heshbon, refused them transit, they invaded and conquered his
kingdom, which extended from the Jabbok to the Arnon, and
from the eastern desert to the Jordan. What Chemosh has given
to his people they possess by right ; Israel has the same title to
the lands which Yahweh has given them by conquest (v. 19 ~ 24 ).
The claim now set up is a new one :* Balak, who was king of
Moab when Israel occupied this region, did not assert his title
to it by going to war with them ; for three hundred years Israel
has dwelt unmolested in Heshbon and the other cities which
Ammon now claims. The wrong is wholly on the side of the
invader. Yahweh shall decide between them (v. 25 - 28 ) . The
representations of Jephthah's ambassadors are unheeded, the
spirit of Yahweh (battle fury) comes upon him, and he passes
over to fight with the Ammonites (v. 29 ). On the interpolation,
see above, p. 283.
12. Jephthah demands of the king what right the Ammonites
have to invade the territory of Israel. What have I to do with
thee\ 2 K. 3 13 &c. ; what is there between us to justify this war ?
The question is asked only to give occasion to the following histor-
ical disquisition. / is really Israel, as in v. 27 , not Jephthah.
13. The king answers that Israel had taken possession of lands
belonging to Ammon. From the Arnon to the Jabbok, and to
the Jordan] the territory in dispute was bounded by the Arnon
on the south and the Jabbok on the north, and extended westward
to the Jordan. The eastern limit was the Syrian desert (v. 22 ).
The Arnon, now Wady Mogib, flows from the east into the Dead
Sea, about midway between its northern and southern ends. The
valley of the Mogib is a deep ravine with precipitous walls.*
The Jabbok, now Nahr ez-Zerqa (Blue River), is the principal
* See Burckhardt, Syria, p. 372-375 ; Seetzen, Reisen, ii. p. 347 ; Tristram, Land
of Moab, p. 140-143.
XI. 12-17 291
eastern affluent of the Jordan, into which it falls about two-fifths
of the way from the Dead Sea to the Sea of Galilee. It also flows
through a deep ravine, which divides the high lands into two
regions of very different character, the Belqa and Gebel 'Aglun.
The sources of the stream are near 'Amman (Rabbah of the Am-
monites), whence it flows, first in an easterly, then in a north-
westerly course, then almost due west till it emerges from the
mountains. S0 now restore them peaceably\ the plural pronoun
(fern.) must be understood of the cities in this region ; cf. v. 33 .*
14, 15. Jephthah's answer is a general denial : Israel did not
take territory from either Moab or Ammon ; cf. Dt. 2- 19 . Thus
far, the controversy has been with Ammon only ; now Moab is
introduced by the side of Ammon ; what follows has reference
exclusively to Israel's relations to Moab, and the argument has no
bearing at all on the point which is supposed to be in dispute ;
see above, p. 283. As a matter of fact, the cities north of the
Arnon were Moabite, as we know both from the Moabite inscrip-
tion of King Mesha and from the prophets (Is. 15 16 Jer. 48
&c.).f The only Ammonite city named in the O.T. is Rabbah
(Philadelphia, f Amman). The Ammonites profited by the disas-
ters of Israel, and occupied a considerable part of the old territory
of Gad (Jer.49 1 Ez. 2$- cf. i Mace. 5 6ff -). 16. Israel went in
the desert as far as the Red Sea, and came to Kadesh~\ the first
words are generally thought to refer to the crossing of the Red
Sea (Ex. i3 18 14), but apart from the strangeness both of the
expression itself and of the juxtaposition with the following, the
mention of the fact has no relevancy in this connexion. It is
rather, perhaps, a not altogether distinct reminiscence of Nu.
I4 2511 (E), connected with 2O 14ff - (E). KadesK\ now generally
identified with 'Ain Qudeis. J 17. Israel sent messengers to the
king of Edom~\ from Kadesh. The verse is plainly dependent,
even in expression, upon Nu. 2O 14 * 21 (E). In Dt. i 2 4 ' 8 no mention
is made of these negotiations with Edom. He (Israel) sent to
the king of Moab also, but he would not consent^ no account of
* Be. (cf. Nu. ai 25 ) ; not, the lands of Moab and Ammon (Stud.).
f Cf. also Jud. 3*2ff. ; above, p. 90 f.
J Rowlands, in Williams, Holy Cityi i. p. 467 f. ; Trumbull, Kadesh Barnea,
p. 237 ff.
292 JUDGES
this embassy is now found in the Pentateuch, and as there is no
apparent reason why an editor should have omitted it, if it existed
in his sources, it may fairly be doubted whether the* author of our
passage had any authority for the statement. He might naturally
reason that, if Israel proposed to pass around the southern end of
the Dead Sea, the consent of Moab was as necessary as that of
Edom. So Israel remained at Kadesh~\ Nu. 2o 1 Dt. i 46 . 18. The
Israelites made a long circuit around Edom and Moab, going
south along the western frontier of Edom to the head of the Gulf
of 'Aqabah (Red Sea), and then through the desert to the east of
Edom and Moab (Nu. 2O 22 2i 4 ) ; * cf. the somewhat different repre-
sentation in Dt. 2. They came up on the east of the land of Moab,
and encamped beyond the Arnon] Nu. 21"- 13 . They did not enter
the territory of Moab ; for the Arnon is the boundary of Moab~\
Nu. 2 1 13 22 36 . It is not necessary to suppose that the author
means the eastern boundary ; | he may have represented the
Israelites as keeping beyond the limit of settlement on the east of
Moab till they crossed the wadies which ran into the Arnon from
the east, and then turning westward along the northern side of the
Arnon; this is apparently the representation of Nu. 2i 13 .
12. y?i <h no] cf. further 2 S. i6 10 ip 23 Jos. 22 2 * 2 K. 9 18 &c. The idiom
occurs not only in Hellenistic Greek, but in the classics; see Valckenaer on
Hdt, v. 33, Eurip., Hippol. 224, cited by Stud.; Ges. Thes., p. 769. So also
in Syr. and Arab, (concomitant object; Caspari, 402). 13. pnN] not the
&Mu(rttt1ltc v. 15 ) which belonged jointly to Moab and Ammon (Stud.), but
the cities. % <VMO ^ earn. 16. SOM . . . y?M . . . omVjn] Y?M apodosis to the
temporal protasis (Dr 3 . 127 /3) ; not to be included in the protasis (Kitt.), mak-
ing the apodosis begin with nSa"i. pD D> -ip] possibly the words have been
misplaced. In v. 18 (n^ina i^i) they would be much more pertinent. V)
na] I9 1 "; synon. of pna> *k v. a , cf. Is. i 19 or\yw\ un ON. The verb is found
almost exclusively with the negation (the exceptions are Is. I.e., and Job 39
in a rhetorical question equivalent to negation); 'refuse assent or consent;
decline, refuse.' The meanings 'be desirous, be willing' frequently attributed
to the verb are fictitious. 18. B>D&> mron] 2O 43 Dt. 4 47 Is. 4I 26 &c. (prevail-
* The description of the route in Nu. 21 is made up of heterogeneous elements.
f In which case the name Arnon must be applied (as it very well may have
been) to the long southeastern branch of the Mogib, the Seil es-Sa'ideh, the head
of which is near Katraneh on the Hagg road. See DEP. i. p. 247 n.
tStud. gathers from the word that the king of the Ammonites had accused
Israel of occupying territory which belonged to Moab, as well as that of Ammon.
XL 17-22 293
ing in later books); B>Dts>n IWD Nu. 2I 11 Jos. I 15 I3 6 2 K. lo 88 &c. The
omission of the article is probably explained by the fact that the phrase is a
unit in sense, like sunrise, sunset, &c., and construed like words designating
direction (pox, &c.), which do not admit the article. The next step is to drop
the genitive, Am. 8 12 &c. pjix -oy:]] Nu. 2i 13 "nyc, on the other side of the
Arnon; that is, from Moab. Not south of the Arnon (Di. on Nu. /..), or east
of its upper course, but north of it, having crossed its head wadies in the
desert, east of the Moabite settlements, Nu. I.e.; cf. Dt. 2 2 *.
19. Israel asks of Sihon permission to cross his country, through
which they must needs pass to reach the Jordan and invade
Canaan. King of the Amorites~\ of the new Amorite kingdom
which had been established north of the Arnon, in lands wrested
from Moab (Nu. 2I 26 ' 30 ).* Heshbon\ one of the chief cities of
Moab (Is. i5 4 Jer. 48 2 &c.) ; for a time in the possession of Israel
(cf. v. 26 ). Its ruins, which still bear the old name, Hesban, lie
about sixteen miles east of the mouth of the Jordan. | Let me
pass through thy country] Nu. 2i 22 Dt. 2 s7 . To my place~\ cf. Nu.
ro 29 . 20. But Sihon reftised Israel passage through his territory]
so the text is to be emended on the authority of (S A aL ; J^ has,
Sihon did not trust Israel to pass, but the use and construction of
the verb trust are anomalous ; see note. Sihon collected all his
forces and encamped at Jahaz] Nu. 2i 23 Dt. 2 32 . Jahaz is a
Moabite city, named in conjunction with Heshbon and Elealeh. \
It was shown in Eusebius' time between Medeba and Debus.
21. Yahweh gave the Amorites into the power of the Israelites,
who conquered them and occupied all their territory; Nu. 2i 24
Dt. 2 33 - 37 . 22. The boundaries of this territory more exactly
defined; it was precisely the district now claimed by Ammon
(v. 13 ) ; cf. Nu. 2 1 24 - 26 Dt. 2 3Gf -. In both the latter passages it is
carefully explained that Israel took no territory from the Am-
* Whether this representation is historical or not, is a question into which we
need not enter here; see E. Meyer, ZATW. i. p. 128 ff . ; Sta., GVI. i. p. 117 f.;
on the other side, Di., NDJ. p. 133 ; Kitt., GdH. i. i. p. 207 ff.
t On Heshbon see Reland, Palaestina, p. 719 f. ; Le Strange, p. 456 ; Burckhardt,
Syria, 365 ; Tristram, Land of Israel*, p. 528 f. ; SEP. Memoirs, i. p. 104 ff. ; DB*.
i. p. 1348. J See Mesha's inscription, 1. 19, Is. 15* Jer. 48 21 - 34.
OS 2 . 26494. ATJ/SOUS is probably Dibon. Reland {Palaestina, p. 825) conj.
Eo-jSoCs (OS*. 25327), Heshbon, which appears intrinsically more probable. The
scene of the battle seems to have been not far from Heshbon. Jahaz has not been
identified ; for a long list of guesses, see DIP. s.v.
294 JUDGES
monites, and in both the Jabbok is the boundary between their
conquests and the possessions of Ammon. This seems to mean
that the upper course of the Jabbok, whose general direction is
north,* formed the eastern frontier of the Israelite territory in this
quarter, along which they bordered on Ammon. In Jud. u 13 - 22 ,
however, the Jabbok is clearly the northern boundary of the
region in dispute, which extends eastward to the desert (v. 22 ),
leaving no place at all for Ammon.
\
23, 24. The divine right of conquest. So now, Yahweh, the
god of Israel, dispossessed the Amorites before his people Israel, and
wilt thou possess them~\ their (sc. the Amorites') territory. Question
of indignant surprise ; cf. on v. 6 . 24, Shouldst thou not possess
the territory of those whom Chemosh thy god dispossesses, \ and we
possess the territory of all whom Yahweh our god dispossesses ?~\
the translation is as literal as possible, preserving, at some sacrifice
of English idiom, the recurring verb. The conquests of a people
are the conquests of its god, who bestows upon them the territory
of the conquered ; they hold it by a divine right which should
be respected by others who hold their own territories by the
like title. Chemosh is the national god of Moab (i K. n 33
cf. ii 7 2 K. 23"), and Moab is the people of Chemosh (Nu. 2I 29
Jer. 4S 46 ), just as Yahweh is the god of Israel, and Israel the
people of Yahweh. So in the inscription of Mesha, king of Moab,
we read that the king of Israel oppressed Moab a long time,
" because Chemosh was angry with his land " (1. 5f.) ; he erects a
sanctuary to Chemosh in gratitude for deliverance (1. 3).! The
reality and power of the national god of Moab were no more
doubted by the old Israelites than those of Yahweh himself. A
conspicuous illustration of this is 2 K. f', where a signal disaster
of the Israelite arms before the capital of Moab is attributed to
the fury of Chemosh, excited by the sacrifice of the king's son.
The national god of the Ammonites, on the contrary, was Milcom
* First NE., to Qalat ez-Zerqa, then NW. to its junction with Wady Gerash,
where it finally turns to the west ; see also on v. 13 .
f On the text, see note.
J Cf. also 1. 8 f., 12 f., 14, 19, 17 f.
See Baudissin, Studien zur semit. Religionsgeschichte, i. p. 55 ff. ; Smend,
Alttest. Religionsgesch., p. in f. On Chemosh, see Baethgen, Beitrage, p. 13-15.
XL 23-25 295
(i K. n as cf. ii 5 2 K. 23 13 ; also Jer. 49 1 - 3 ).* From the fact that
Chemosh is named here instead of Milcom, older commentators
inferred that Chemosh was worshipped by the Ammonites as well
as by Moab.f In itself there is no difficulty in admitting this ;
we know that both Chemosh and Milcom were worshipped in
Israel for centuries ; but it is inconceivable that the conquests of
Ammon should be attributed to the national god of the sister
people, as .it would be that the conquests of Israel should be
ascribed to any god but Yahweh. Others are inclined to assume
that Milcom may also have been called Chemosh ;J or that
Chemosh is a slip of the pen on the part of the author ; or a
scribe's blunder. || But the whole preceding and following con-
text has to do with Moab only, and the name of Chemosh is not
an accident to be explained by itself ; the error runs through the
whole learned argument.
20. op Vx-us" nx prnD pnxn xV)] pro tuto non habebat Sihhon, Israelem
transire, Ges. Thes.; cf. Ew. 336 b. The construction is anomalous (Job I5 22 ,
JETJ >JD y\v pnxi xS, is not parallel), and the comparison of the accus. with
inf. is misleading. AVLMO g j nas Ka i $ K ^A^ere S^wj/ rbv Itrpar/X 8ie\0etV,
which probably represents 'Ji firpo fxnvi; cf. Nu. 2O 21 hxw nx |hj onx IXDII
V72J3 nby; ^[ JXD> was corrupted to px% which necessitated the introduction of
the negative, giving the text of |^, followed by BN C&. nsn-a urn] in
Is. 15* Jer. 4S 34 , Mesha, 1. 19, the name is prp. The locative a, Nu. 2i 23 Dt. 2 32 ,
seems to be mistaken for fern, ending, as in Jer. 48 21 Jos. I3 18 I Chr. 6 68 ;
Sta. 342 d. ** 24. MI a>iDD ^2'nv ta'X nx] the double accusative would com-
pel us to take the verb in a different sense (cause thee to possess, 2 Chr. 2O 11 ),
thus destroying the symmetry of the sentence. The final 3 has arisen by
dittography from the following.
25, 26. The right of adverse possession. The king of Moab
at the time of the conquest did not try to recover this territory ;
for three hundred years Israel has been in unchallenged possession
of it. 25. Now, art thou any better than Balak son of Zippor,
king of Moab ? Did he have any contention with Israel, or did
he ever gd to war with them?~\ the story of E (Nu. 22 2ff> ), on
which the author is probably here as in the foregoing dependent,
, * Mispronounced in Jfl. f Cler., Schm. ; against this explanation, Stud.
J Be. Baethgen. || Sayce. If Cf. also Nu. 21^ pj xS, Dt. 28 rox xV.
** Hitz. (Jcs., p. 187 f.) and Kneucker (BL. s. v.) think that there were two cities,
Jahaz and Jahazah.
296 JUDGES
gives the answer : Balak did not contest with Israel the possession
of the lands north of the Arnon. Is the present king of Ammon,
then, a greater man than Balak, that he would vindicate his claim
to this territory? The question is not whether he has a better
claim than Balak, from one of whose recent predecessors the
country had been taken by the Amorites,* but whether he thinks
himself superior to Balak, able to do what Balak did not dare,
namely, to try to take this territory from Israel ; cf. i S. p 2 Am. 6 2
Nah. 3 8 . 26. Why had they not recovered these cities in the
three hundred years during which Israel had inhabited them
unmolested? In Heshbon and its dependencies^ Nu. 2I 25 ; the
towns and villages which belonged to it (i 27 &c.). Aroer\ is not
named in Nu. 21 ; Dt. 2 m 3 12 Jos. i2 2 2 K. lo 33 locate it on the
banks of the Arnon, the southernmost city of Israel east of the
Jordan; cf. Mesha, 1. 26, Jer. 48. Eusebius gives a good
description of its situation.f The ruins, still bearing the name
'Ara'ir, lie on the edge of the precipitous north bank of Wady
Mogib, where the Roman road crosses the gorge. J And in all
the towns which are adjacent to the Arnon~\ along its northern
side ; the southern border of Israel. Instead of these places in
the extreme south, ( has : in Heshbon and its dependencies, and
in Jaazer and its dependencies, and in all the cities along the
Jordan. Jaazer (Nu. 2i 32 2 S. 24 s &c.) was eight or ten miles
west of Philadelphia ('Amman), || and is described as a frontier
town of Ammon (Nu. 2i 24 (g). The reading of ( in our verse is
obviously original ; Aroer and the Arnon in J^ were suggested by
v. 18 (cf. Nu. 2i 13ff> ), and represent the tendency of late editors
and scribes to enlarge the borders of Israel at the expense of all
its neighbours. For three hundred years'} the addition of the
numbers given in the preceding chapters for the duration of the
several " oppressions " and the rule of the successive judges gives
the sum of three hundred and nineteen years, or, if the eighteen
years of the Ammonite oppression (io 8 ) be omitted, three hun-
* Lth., Pise. f OS*. 21239.
1 See Reland, Palaestina, p. 582 f. ; Burckhardt, Syria., p. 372 ; Tristram, Land
of Moab, p. 144 f.
See crit. note.
|| OS 2 . 26493, cf. 21225.
XL 25-27 397
dred and one years.* The coincidence is so close as to suggest
that the computation was made upon the basis of the present
chronology of the book. If this be the case, the figures must
have been inserted by the last editor, or a still later hand.f The
connexion of v. 26 with the preceding would be much more
intimate if the number were omitted : Did Balak make any
opposition when Israel settled in Heshbon . . . Why didst thou
(Moab) not reclaim them at that time. 27. Israel has in no
way offended against Ammon; the latter is altogether in the
wrong in the present invasion. / have committed no fault~\ the
/ is Israel, not Jephthah ; see above on v. 12 . Let Yahweh, who
is arbiter to-day, decide between Israelites and Ammonites~\ the
order of the words seems to favour this construction, J rather than
that which connects to-day with the principal verb, Let Yahweh the
judge decide to-day. Compare in general, i S. 24 llf<15 Gen. 3i 53
i6 5 . ||
25. npiN 3'ita aiton] the words are regarded by many as standing in the same
relation to each other as the following onSj ohSj ox an a'nn, the first aito being
inf. absol., the second, participle.^]" So Schm.; Roorda, 565; Ew. 3120;
SS. There is no similar case (Roorda); and we should perhaps have to
suppose that the bold and unusual construction was suggested by the analogy
of the following clauses. Others take both words as adjectives, the reiteration
being emphatic, art thou so much better (Ges. 25 133, I n.; Green, 296, 3 a).
The analogy of the following clauses may be recognized also in this explana-
tion. It is not to be assumed that the writer was conscious of the grammatical
difference which we make between adj., ptcp., and inf. abs.; for him ai2 was
It is possible that the repetition of aiia is due to a scribe,
rather than to the author. an a^n] sn is a controversy about rights; cf. I2 2 .
onSj ohSj DX] the inf. abs. formed from the perf. stem, Sta. 626^; used
* Cushan-rishathaim (s 8 ),8; Othniel (3 n ),4o; Eglon (3^), 18; Ehud (380),
80; Jabin (48), 20; Deborah (58!), 40; Midianites (61), 7; Gideon (828), 40;
Abimelech (9^), 3; Tola (io 2 ), 23; Jair (io 8 ), 22 = 301; Ammonites (io 8 ), 18;
total, 319. The years of Joshua and the survivors of the generation of the con-
quest (2 7 ) are not taken into the account.
t The alternative is to suppose that 300 is a round number, the coincidence of
which with the sum of the years in the present chronology is purely accidental,
a very improbable hypothesis. J fL2T, Stud., Be.
ffi (accents) &, Schm., Ke., Kitt., al. ; cf. Cler.
|| On Yahweh as judge, see Smend, Alttest. Religionsgeschichte, p. 99 ff., esp.
p. 103 f. 1 Cf. i6 2 6.
298 JUDGES
with the perf. on account of the assonance; Bo. 985, i; 988, 2 t>.-
26. i)jny f ] elsewhere njnp (Mesha, 1. 26, Nu. 2 s6 and uniformly in the Penta-
teuch), or lynj? (eg. Jos. I3 25 ); see Frensdorff, Massoret.'Wprterb., p. 314;
Norzi, ad loc. The name seems to be an internal plural. On the etymology,
see Lagarde, Semitica, i. p. 30. pjiN n 1 " hy~] more commonly T* hy, Ex. 2 5
Nu. I3 29 Jer. 46 6 Dan. io 4 (streams, cf. Dt. 2 37 ), Jos. I5 46 Ez. 48 1 (?*, cities);
adjacent to. Not, fo//fc dfc.y 0/V/fo Arnon (Kitt.) , which contradicts the whole
theory of the author, and is without support in usage; cf. Nu. 34 3 . @ AM t tv
Ecre/Swv . . . KO.I tv lafyp Kai tv rots Qvyarpdcriv cuJrTjs Kal tv ird<rais rats
ir6\e<riv rats irap& r^v 'lopSAvijv. Other recensions have tv Aporjp or tv yy
Aporjp ( B ) ; L omits the clause altogether. Juxta Jordanem also 2L ynm
onSxn S] @ BN Sia T oik eppfou) a^roiJs.* The sing. /<<? has been used
throughout, and is intrinsically preferable here; we should therefore probably
pronounce onSxn (Stud.); the masc. suffix for the fern, is not infrequent;
here, if necessary, it might be explained as ad sensum for the people of the
cities. NTin ny::] at that time ; 3 29 4 4 I2 6 14* 2i 14 - 24 , and frequently. There
is no instance in the O.T. in which the phrase approaches 'the sense, during
all that time. This gives considerable support to the hypothesis advanced
above on other grounds, that three hundred years is an interpolation.
27. Q^n flB>n rnm t3QC] the accents indicate that avn is to be taken with the
principal verb (against Be.).
28, 29. The king of Ammon pays no heed to Jephthah's repre-
sentations. The spirit of Yahweh comes upon the champion,
and he leads against the foe. In v. 29 the redactor endeavours to
recover the thread of the narrative, which is broken by the long
interpolation, v. 12 - 28 . 29. The spirit of Yahweh~\ see on 3, and
cf. i4 6 - 19 i S. ii 6 . He went over to Gilead and Manasseh, and
went over to Mizpeh of Gilead ; f and from Mizpeh of Gilead he
went over to the Ammonites} it is not possible to form any satis-
factory notion of these movements or of their object. In v. 11
Jephthah was already in Gilead, and probably at Mizpah, where
he apparently still is in v. 30 ^ ; his setting out against the Ammon-
ites is related in due course in v. 32 . In itself it is conceivable
enough that these journeys to and fro in Gilead and Manasseh
were for the purpose of raising the tribes for the war, \ though we
should expect some indication of the fact (cf. 6 s5 f* &c.) ; but
this cannot be the intention of the author of the chapter, accord-
ing to whom the Israelites were already assembled (v. lla cf. io 17 ).
* The other recensions of (5 have eppvo-avro ( M eet' XO.VTO) .
f On the form Mizpeh see on v. 11 , p. 289. % Be.
XL 28-33
299
In short, v. 29 is a somewhat unskilful attempt to fasten the new
cloth, v. 12 ' 28 , into the old garment.
30, 31. Jephthah's vow. These verses should stand immedi-
ately after v. lla ; having been acclaimed chieftain by the people,
Jephthah vows that if Yahweh will give him victory over the
Ammonites, he will offer him a human sacrifice, v. 30 ' 31 ; these fate-
ful words were uttered before Yahweh at Mizpah, v. llb cf. v. 35 ' 36 .
He then puts himself at the head of the people and marches
against the Ammonites, v. 32 . The order has been deranged by
the introduction of v. 12 " 29 , and perhaps still further by the acci-
dental consequences of the interpolation; see above on v. 11 .
30. Jephthah made a vow to Yahweh'] cf. Gen. 28 20 ' 22 i S. i 11
2 S. i5 7f '. 31. Whoever it may be that comes out of the door of
my house to meet me, when I return successful from the Ammon-
ites shall be Yahweh 's, and I will offer him up as a burnt offer-
ing] the original sequel of this verse is v. llb : And Jephthah spoke
all his words before Yahweh at Mizpah. Quemlibet in hoc loco
cogitaverit Jephte secundum cogitationem humanam, non videtur
unicam filiam cogitasse ; alioquin non diceret, cum illam cerneret
occurrisse, Heu me, filia mea, impedisti me; in offendiculum
facta es in oculis meis. . . . Sed quern potuit cogitare primitus
occurrentem, qui filios alios non habebat? An conjugem cogita-
verit ? * That a human victim is intended is, in fact, as plain as
words can make it ; the language is inapplicable to an animal, and
a vow to offer the first sheep or goat that he comes across not
to mention the possibility of an unclean animal is trivial to
absurdity. It is not, therefore, a rash vow to sacrifice whatever
first meets him,t for which he is punished, \ but a deliberate one.
See further on v. 39 , and note at the end of the chapter.
32, 33. The war ; defeat and subjugation of the Ammonites.
Jephthah went over to the Ammonites to fight with them~\ he
took the aggressive, and, as appears both from the language here
and from the next verse, invaded their territory. 33. He bent
them from Aroer till you come to Minnith, twenty cities, and as
* Aug., quaest. 49.
f Fl. JOS., antt. V. 7, IO $ 263, i
iepotipyr;<Tfii'. J Thdt.
. . . trav o TI teal itputrov avrta
Fl. Jos.
300 JUDGES
far as Abel-keramim~\ the direction and extent of this victorious
advance cannot now be made out. Aroer cannot be the city of
this name on the Arnon (v. 26 ),* but "Aroer which is in front of
Kabbah" (Kabbah of Ammon), Jos. is 25 ;! tnat * s > as * s S en ~
erally understood^ east of that city. Minnith is connected by
Eusebius with a village called in his day Maanith, four miles
from Heshbon on the road to Philadelphia ; \ for Abel-keramim
(Vineyard-meadow) he suggests a village Abel six miles from
Philadelphia, in what direction is not indicated. The situation
of Maanith does not suit the requirement of our text ; we should
look for Minnith in Ammonite territory beyond Aroer, not in the
immediate vicinity of Heshbon. The other identifications pro-
posed are not verifiable. Twenty towns\ summary account of
Jephthah's conquests ; cf. Jos. lo 401 "-. But for these words, which
stand moreover in a somewhat suspicious place, we should take
the verse as a description of the battle. The Ammonites were
subjugated'} see on 3 30 ; cf. S 28 i S. ; 13 .
29. npSjn DN naj?>i] nay with ace. 'go over, pass, to a place,' i8 13 cf. I2 1
Am. 5 5 6 2 Is. 236 &c. (SS.). ' Pass through, traverse,' a region is 'a nay, I S. 9*
and often. pny ija nay] an anomalous expression. Like other verbs of
motion, when the goal is personal, nay is construed with Sx (Vy), v. 32 I2 8 &c.
See Ges. 25 118, 2. The instances where the ace. is found (poet, and late;
cf. i S. I3 20 ), only make it more probable that in our verse we have the language
of a comparatively late redactor. 31. NX? nrx Npin] the cognate subject
appears to emphasize the indefiniteness (universality) of the promise, Who-
ever it may be. 'Vo n&opS xxi is used only of persons; vra \nSno would not
be said of domestic animals. n^y irpmSym mrpS rvm] the last words explain
the first, which by themselves might be understood in the sense of I S. I 11 .
Moses Kimchi interpreted the second clause as an alternative, Shall be qonse-
crated to Yahweh (if unfit for sacrifice), or (if suitable) I will offer it as a
burnt offering. See below, note on v. 40 . 33. The Ammonite Aroer is
named only here and in Jos. I3 25 , nan -03 hy ntrx nyny ny. The phrase -00 Sy
in topographical notices generally means 'east of (see on i6 8 ). In 2 S. 24 5
Aroer on the Arnon is meant; see We., TBS. p. 217, 221 ; Dr., TBS. p. 285 f.;
Di., NDJ. p. 514; so also Nu. 32 s4 (against DB 2 . i. p. 248). Nu. 2I 2611 <&,
they toot all his [Sihon's] country, awb Apoijp ?o>$ Apvwv, is probably, like
* Stud.
f In this verse (P) it is allotted to Gad, which gets " half the country of the
Ammonites, as far as Aroer," &c. It was therefore an Ammonite town.
J OS 2 . 28044 ; Cf. Fl. JOS. I.C., Maviaflij. Kci/ai) a^ire\6(j)opo<: A/3eA, OS' 2 . 2255.
XI. 33-35 301
wo in 3^, an error for pa->D. n^a] in Ez. 2; 17 , wheat of Minnith, the text is
corrupt; see Co. Buckingham's Menjah, 6 or 7 m. NE. of Hesban on the
road to 'Amman, with which Kneucker {BL. s.v.) and others would identify
Minnith, seems not to exist; see Tristram, Land of Moab, p. 155; SEP.
Memoirs, and Map. Minyeh (Conder, Heth and Moab, p. 252) is much too
far south. D'Dia SUN] Euseb. notes two other Abels, one 12 m. E. of Gadara
(modern Abil), the other between Damascus and Paneas. Tristram {Land
of Moab, p. 154 f.), supposing the battle to have been fought at the Moabite
Aroer, on the Arnon, would recognize our Abel-keramim in the Kurm Dhiban,
a mile or two east of Dhiban.
34-40. Jephthah's return; his meeting with his daughter;
the fulfilment of his vow. Jephthah returns in triumph.
Among the women who celebrate the victory with choral dances
his only daughter comes joyfully to meet him. The father is in
despair, but he must keep his fatal vow. The maiden receives
her doom in a heroic spirit ; she is ready to die, since Yahweh has
avenged her father of his foes ; she only asks two months' respite
to mourn her maidenhood. When they are over she returns, and
Jephthah fulfils his vow. In her memory the women keep a four-
days' festival every year. 34. Jephthah came to his home at
Mizpah} from Mizpah he set out to the war, v. llb>32 . That he
had a home there, we learn first from this verse ; from v. 3 ~ lla we
should not have suspected it. The two representations are not
necessarily irreconcilable. There was his daughter, coming out
to meet him} the author depicts the scene with great vividness ;
cf. 4 22 5 25ff> . With tambourines and choral dances'} as the women
met David, i S. i8 6f - (cf. 2i n 29*), or as Miriam celebrated the
overthrow of Egypt at the Red Sea, Ex, 1$**-. She was abso-
lutely an only child; besides this one he had neither son nor
daughter} expressions are accumulated to emphasize the total
bereavement which thus confronted him. 35. He rent his
garments'} a gesture of violent grief or mourning, Gen. yf*
2 S. i3 19 - 31 Job i 20 and often. Oh, my daughter, thou hast ruined
me~\ lit. felled me, as by a deadly blow; 2 S. 22 40 cf. Jud. 5^ r .
Thou art become the author of my calamity} with tragic emphasis,
Thou > The translation of the English version, Thou art one
of them that trouble me, is, at least for ..the modern reader, both
feeble and misleading ; the verb is one of the strongest in the
language.: cf. Gen. 34 30 Jos. 6 18 f 5 i S. I4 29 i K. i8 17 - 18 . - Inas-
302 JUDGES
much as I have spoken a solemn word to Yahweh, and cannot go
back~\ lit. have opened my mouth wide, uttered a great and dread-
ful vow; cf. Job 35 16 Ps. 66 13f- . With the last words compare
Am. i 3 &c. 36. She feels her doom in her father's passionate,
though vague words, and answers with tragic heroism, So - let it
be ! Since it appears in v. 37 that she is fully aware of her fate,
although it has not been named, Budde conceives that, by
accident or design, part of the dialogue has been omitted between
v. 35 and v. 36 ; the daughter must have asked the meaning of her
father's enigmatic speech, v. 35 , and he must have given the explicit
answer.* To me it seems, on the contrary, much more in accord
with the native art of the story-teller that he lets the situation and
a woman's quick presentiment suffice, without this prosaic expla-
nation. My father] all the pathos of the situation is in the
word. With a woman's tenderness and a woman's courage, she
strengthens him for what is before them both : Thou hast uttered
thy vow to Yahweh ; do to me what thou hast vowed. Lit. as it
hath proceeded from thy mouth ; Nu. 3O 2 . The spoken word is
conceived as a real thing; cf. Is. 55 lof> . Since Yahweh hath
wrought for thee vengeance of thine enemies'] for such a victory
she is content to die. 37. She asks only a brief respite. Spare
me two months'] cf. i S. n 3 . That I may go down upon the
mountains and weep because of my maidenhood~\ mourn that my
young life is cut off in its flower. 38. Jephthah grants her
request, and sends her away for two months, which she spends
with her companions in mourning, among the mountains.
39. When the time was up, she returned to her father. And he
did to her what he had vowed to do~] v. 31b . The reserve of the
writer, who draws the veil over the last act of the tragedy, has
been abused by the rationalistic interpreters who choose to
imagine that he did something altogether different from what
he had vowed ; see note below. She not having known a man]
circumstantial clause ; she died a virgin, Gen. 24 16 &c. To con-
nect and translate, He did to her what he had vowed, and she did
not know a man, that is, remained unmarried for the rest of her
life,t is ungrammatical ; \ if the writer had meant this he must
* Richt. u. Sam., p. 126. f DKi., Cler., K6., al. mu. J Be., Bu.
XI. 35-40
303
have written the last clause differently. On the history of inter-
pretation see note below, p. 304 f. 40. It became the custom
for the Israelite women to observe annually a four days' mourning
for Jephthah's daughter. To lament^ this interpretation, which
is that of the ancient versions,* suits the construction and context
better than, commemorate, celebrate, which most modern commen-
tators adopt.
' 34. inNip 1 ? rwx*ina rum] cf. I S. 9 14 Ex. 4" Gen. 24 15 - 45 &c. run of unex-
pected coincidence; see on 4 22 . niVnD^i o^cro] *jn is a tambourine, used as
an accompaniment of women's choral dances, Ex. I5 20 i S. i8 6 (cf. Ps. 6S 26
150*), and on other festal occasions, Is. 5 12 24 8 &c. See Niebuhr, Reisebe-
schreibung, i. p. i8of.; Lane, Modern Egyptians 5 , p. 366; DB. s.v. "Tim-
brel." On the dances see Spencer, De legibus ritualibus, U iv. c. 4; Leyrer,
PR&. xv. p. 206-208; D&. i. p. 703-705; Wetzstein, Zeitschr. f. Ethnologic,
1873, p. 285 ff.; cf. Dditz8ch t /ifcA!#4 P- lyoff. HTTP NTI pi)] ac tantum
ilia unigeniia fuit. Cf. Job I 15 , HsS UN pi rikftBin. nai p -ugD iS px] the
masc. sufif. is perhaps to be explained as attraction to the following p, and is
more probably from the hand of a scribe than of the author. (gAVLMO n-xV
CLVTTJS. The Massora notes six passages in which UDD is read where HJDD would
be expected (p*V3D) ; see Norzi ad loc., and Frensdorff, Massoret. Worterb.,
p. 255. 35. unyon jron] Hiph. is here causative to Kal in the sense, 'sink
down, collapse ' (the knees giving way) under a blow or wound, 5 27 2 K. 9 24 ;
hence, strike down, prostrate, lay low, not bring low, i.e. humble (EV.). The
identity of the consonants with those of the following "oj?, in which we may
recognize an intentional paronomasia, has led to considerable confusion in the
versions. nrijn n^n] not, one of those who, but, as, in the character of, one
who brings disaster on me; cf. Ps. n8 7 54 Ex. 18*, Ges. 25 p. 366; Roorda, ii.
p. 204 f. It may be questioned whether the punctuation, which makes the
ptcp. plural, is correct; cf. Ex. i8 4 with Ps. u8 7 . >fl >n^c] Ez. 2 8 Nu. I6 30
Dt. ii 6 Gen. 4 11 . 37. 'Va p nmn] Dt. 9 14 , 'S nsnn 2 K. 4 27 i S. n 3 .
>mjn] corrected by the Qere to THjn as in v. 38 . The Kethib would be pro-
nounced Tviy-s cf. T^in Cant, i 9 &c. (n>pn); Sta. 192 #. 38. niann ^Jir]
cf. a-'a'-in t^yy v. 39 . 39. t^ix nj?n> xS N^ni] the pronoun shows that this is
not the consequence of the preceding : He did to her as he had vowed, and
(consequently) she did not know a .man,^ for which we should have simply ttSi
ttx nj?T>, but an additional circumstance. 'Jt pn Tim] should be joined to the
following verse. The false division may be due to an interpretation such as
that appended in some copies of SL 40. no'D" 1 D^D] from year to year ;
2i 19 i S. i 3 2 19 Ex. I3 10 , cf. above on ii 4 . nun 1 ?] 6 dprjveiv; similarly all
the ancient versions, Ra., al. D. Kimchi, in conformity with his theory
of solitary confinement, interpreted, to talk with, and console her ; similarly
* So also Lth., AV., al.
t Cler., al. ; recently, K6.
304 JUDGES
RLbG., Abarb., Drus., Cler., al. Tanch. explained, after Arab., celebrate,
praise (see note above on 5 11 ); so Stud., Be., Ke., Cass., Oettli, RV., al. mu.
The construction with S is not favourable to this, and there- is also a phonetic
difficulty in the equation. It is better to abide by the exegetical tradition,
supported by the construction and the indications of the context, than to
follow the guidance of a very dubious etymology.
JephthaWs vow. On the history of interpretation see especially Reinke,
Beitr'dge zur Rrkl'drung des Alien Testamentes, i. p. 419 ff.; Kohler, Bibl.
Geschichte, ii. I. p. ioof.; the older literature also in Pfeiffer, Dubia vexata,
cent. ii. locus 60; Exercitationes biblicae, exerc. 7; Dresde, Votunt Jephtae,
1767; cf. a Lapide ad loc. The older Jewish and Christian interpreters,
without exception, understood the words in their plain and natural sense;
Jephthah fulfilled his vow by offering his daughter as a burnt- offering. See
for the former, PI. Jos., antt.v. 7, 10 263-266; Taanith, 4 a ; & in loc.;
Beresh. rab. 60, and parallels; Yalqut, ii. 68; Ra. So of the Fathers,
Orig., Chrysost, Greg. Naz., Thdt, Procop., Ambros., August., Hieron.,
Epiph., Ephrem Syr., al.;* followed by Beda, Hugo Victor, Th. Aquinas,
and the scholastic exegesis generally; see a Lap., ad loc. The notion that
she was not offered in sacrifice, but shut up in a house by herself, where she
lived and died unmarried, appears first, so far as I am aware, in the Kimchis
(end of 1 2th cent. A.D.). D. Kimchi's explanation was adopted by RLbG.,
Abarb., Sol. ben Melech; a Lyra, Arias, Vatabl., Jun., Drus., Cler., de Dieu,
al. mu., many of whom suppose that she was dedicated to the service of the
sanctuary in menial offices, and prohibited to marry; see esp. Cler. The sound
exegetical sense of Luther rejected these rationalistic subterfuges; in the
marginal note on ii 39 he writes: Man will, er habe sie nicht geopfert, aber
der Text steht klar da (Be.). The literal interpretation is maintained by the
Jesuit commentator Serarius, as well as by Seb. Schmid, Pfeiffer, al.; while
L. Cappel modified it by the hypothesis that the necessary implication of the
vow was, that if the first living thing which met him on his return was not
sacrificable, it should be put to death as D^n, and that this was the fate of his
daughter.! The interpretation which resolves the sacrifice into a " spiritual
burnt offering" has found expositors in modern times in Hengstenberg,
Reinke, Auberlen, Cass., Kohler, Konig {Hauptprobleme, p. 74 f.), al.; see Be.
ad loc. On the other side are Vatke, Stud., Ew., Hitz., Oehler, Diestel,
H. Schultz, Reuss, Nold., Kue., We., Sta., Baudissin, Kitt, WRSmith, al.
A parallel from classical legend is the story of Idomeneus told by Servius on
Aeneid, xi. 264 : \ Idomeneus rex Cretensium fuit ; qui, cum tempestate labo-
raret, vovit se sacrificaturum Neptuno de re, quae ei primo occurrisset, si
reversus fuisset; sed casu cum ei filius primus occurrisset, quem cum, ut alii
* The texts of the Fathers are collected and commented on by Reinke, op. cit.
f De voto Jephtae, 1683 ; reprinted in Crit. sacri, on Jud. II 39 .
% Repeated with slight variations on Aen. t iii. 121.
XII. 1-7
305
dicunt, immolasset, ut alii, immolare voluisset, ob crudelitatem regno a civibus
pulsus est. The story of Iphigeneia suggests itself to every one.* The annual
lamentation of the women of Gilead for Jephthah's daughter appears to
belong to a class of ceremonies, the original significance of which, often
disguised by the myth, is mourning for the death of a god,f and in many of
which evidence of primitive connexion with human sacrifices survives. In
the last respect the parallel with Iphigeneia is instructive; for Iphigeneia was
originally a name of Artemis Tauropolos, at whose festival at Brauron, and
afterwards at Athens, a human sacrifice was enacted, even to the point of
causing the blood to spirt from the victim's throat under the sacrificial knife. J
At Laodicea on the Phoenician coast, the annual sacrifice of a stag was
regarded as a substitute for the more ancient sacrifice of a maiden. The
native goddess to whom the offering was made is identified by Pausanias
(iii. 1 6, 8), doubtless on this account, with the Bfauronian Artemis. There
seems no good reason why we should not include the mourning for Jephthah's
daughter in this class. As in the case of Iphigeneia, the original significance
of the myth has been ejntirely lost in its translation into heroic legend. The
presence of this primitive mythical element in the story of Jephthah's daughter
does not strictly exclude the possibility that Jephthah himself and his victory
over the Ammonites, and even the sacrifice of his daughter, may be historical.
The latter, indeed, would give the simplest explanation of the way in which
the myth was translated into legend.
XII. 1-7. Jephthah is assailed by the Ephraimites ; he
defeats them in battle and cuts off their retreat. The
Ephraimites cross the Jordan, threatening dire vengeance upon
Jephthah because they were not called to join in the war against
the Ammonites (v. 1 ). Jephthah replies that the Gileadites in
their contest with Ammon had sought the aid of Ephraim in
vain ; seeing that there was no help to be got from them, they had
hazarded unsupported an invasion of Ammon; why should the
Ephraimites now attack them? (v/*). He assembles his tribes-
men arid defeats Ephraim. The fugitives are intercepted in their
flight at the fords of the Jordan, and, being betrayed by a peculi-
arity of their speech, are slaughtered on the spot (v. 4 - 6 ) . Jephthah,
* Especially in that form of the legend in which Artemis demands Iphigeneia
as a victim in fulfilment of her father's vow, made in the year of her birth, to sac-
rifice the fairest thing ihat the year should bring forth (Eurip., Iphig. Taur. 18 ff.) .
t Or for the abduction of the deity (Kore).
+ Eurip. , Iphig. Taur. 1449 ff., esp. 1458-1461 ; see Robert-Preller, Griechische
Mythologies, p. 312 f. ; Stoll, in Roscher, ii. p. 304 ,
Porphyry, de abstin., ii. 56; see W. R. Smith, Religion of the Semites, p. 447 f.
X
306 JUDGES
after judging Israel six years, dies and is buried somewhere in
Gilead.
Wellhausen regards I2 1 ' 6 as secondary:* it comes too late,
since in n 34 Jephthah is already at home, and according to n 39 at
least two months have elapsed ; the answer, 1 2 2 , affirming that the
help of Ephraim had been sought and refused, does not accord
with ch. 1 1 ; the whole conduct of the Ephraimites, who had no
business on that side of the Jordan, and were not, as in 8 1 ' 3 ,
inflated by victory, is here without motive. The story is a mere
copy of 8 1 ' 3 , " originating with some one who did not comprehend
Gideon's conciliatory course, and wanted to give the arrogant
tribe a slap." That Jephthah had returned and dismissed his
forces is assumed by 1 2 4 also. The two months ( 1 1 39 ) make no
real difficulty : even if the Ephraimite invasion fell in that period,
the writer would finish the story of Jephthah's vow before relating
it. The resemblance to 8 1 ' 3 is obvious ; but it is not evident that
1 2 1 ' 6 is a mere copy of 8 1 ' 3 , with a variation animated by dislike of
Ephraim.f . The genuineness and historical character of the
verses are rightly defended by Kuenen, Budde, Cornill, and
Kittel. The shibboleth scene is too original to be attributed to a
"tendency" fiction, especially as it has nothing to do with the
supposed tendency. The exaggerated number of the slain is of
itself no reason for rejecting the whole story.
1. The Ephraimites were called out and crossed to Zaphon\
Zaphon lay in the Jordan valley, on the eastern bank of the river,
near Succoth (Jos. I3 27 ) ; according to a passage in the Jerusalem
Talmud, it was the later 'Amatho, Amathus, the modern Amateh,
a little north of the Zerqa (Jabbok), at the mouth of Wady er-
Rugeib ; see on 8 5 . \ Others, passed northward, which is unin-
telligible. Without calling us to go with thee~\ 8 1 . We will burn
thy house over thee~\ i K. i6 18 cf. Jud. p 49 14 i5 6 . 2. / and my
people were engaged in a contest, and the Ammonites oppressed us
* Comp., p. 229 ; so also Sta., G VI. i. p. 68.
t Kitt., GdH. i. 2. p. 72 n., on the contrary, thinks 81-3 an imitation of I2 1 - 6 ; see
above, p. 216.
% So Stud., Ew., Ke., Cass., al. On Amathus see Euseb., OS 2 . 21975; Reland,
Palaestina, p. 308, 559 f. ; Burckhardt, Syria, p. 346.
So the ancient versions ; older commentators ; Be., al. mu.
XIL i-4 307
sorely] so ( ; in 3^ the second verb has been accidentally dropped ;
see crit. note. / called upon you, but you did not deliver me from
them} Jephthah speaks, not in his own name, but in that of his
people, Gilead, to which the pronouns refer; cf. n 12 - 27 . No such
request is narrated in ch. n, but the narrative there certainly
does not exclude it. An unsuccessful attempt to get help from
their stronger neighbours across the Jordan may very well be sup-
posed to have preceded the mission of the elders of Gilead to
recall Jephthah, with which the story of Jephthah begins. There
was no occasion for mentioning such an attempt in that connexion.
3. And when I saw that thou wouldst not deliver, I took my
life in my hand~\ i S. 19* 28 21 ; cf. Jud. Q 17 . 4. So Jephthah
collected all the men of Gilead'} they had returned to their
homes after the defeat of the Ammonites ; the threatening move
of Ephraim, therefore, did not follow at once upon Jephthah's
victory. It is otherwise in 8 1 , where the whole situation is different.
And the men of Gilead beat Ephraim} the rest of the verse
is wholly unintelligible. The current interpretation is fairly rep-
resented by RV. : " Because they (the Ephraimites) said, Ye are
fugitives of Ephraim, ye Gileadites, in the midst of Ephraim, and
in the midst of Manasseh." * They were not a tribe, but a crew of
runagate Ephraimites ; they had no tribal lands of their own, but
lived by sufferance in the territories of Ephraim and Manasseh.
This insult so exasperated the Gileadites that they followed up
their victory with signal vindictiveness.| Neither the language
nor the facts, however, allow this interpretation. The word
rendered fugitive does not mean runagate, but survivor, one who
escapes from a disastrous battle or the like peril, as in v. 5 ; nor
had the extraction or the situation of Jephthah's countrymen any
resemblance to that with which they are supposed to be taunted.
The origin of the corruption was the accidental repetition of a
clause from v. 5 . J
1. njiflx "Dpi] ace. of place to which, after "ny; cf. 1 1 29 . Cf. p^BX Gen. 46 16 ,
pax Nu. 26 15 , son (clan) of Gad. (APVLMO g j \.^Q rmax as a proper name
(Se^etva, &c.). @ BN 'AS0 ete fioppav. 2. >nn an N] party to a contro-
versy, quarrel; whether the one assailed (Jer. I5 10 ) or the assailant (Is. 41"
* So, virtually, IL, al. mu.
f So, e,g., Ew., G VI. ii. p. 455; Be., Ke., Cass., Oettli ; cf. Ki. J We.
308 JUDGES
Job 3i 35 ). IXD pny iJ2i] might perhaps be explained as concomitant object.
(gAPVLMNO g j Ka l O i V ' i0 l A-ftfj-wv Iraireltfovv fj&.cr<f>65pa = 1ND ""JUV pcj? >J31; the
verb might easily be omitted by a scribe after pay. So Semler, Doom., Bu.
DDHN pyiNi] p>? c. acc., 'call one,' Neh. 9 28 ; the construction is however
so unusual that it is probably better, with < (except B ), to read D3>Sltj or to
pronounce P>*TNI (Hiph.), / tried to call you out. 3. nD^tPXi] Ven 1 ., Norzi,
Baer; cf. JHMich. The form HDIPW in the received text (Ven 2 .) is probably
a mere blunder. 4. Ml arm anss *phto VICN ^~\ in g the second half-verse is
asterisked, as a hexaplar addition to the LXX,* and the entire half-verse is
lacking in 586475. The other codd. of the same recension ( M , codd. 54 59 8 * 106
108128134) om jt f r om nnx 13 to the end of the verse. The words who IIDN o
onoN were copied out of place from v. 5 ; DDN was necessarily added to con>
plete the structure of the clause. The origin of the rest of v. 4b is not so
obvious: the asyndeton npjn -pro onuK "pna suggests that the latter is a
correction of the unintelligible, in the midst of Ephraim.
5. The Gileadites seize the fords of the Jordan to cut off the
flight of the routed foe ; $ 28 f 4 . And when the fugitives of
Ephraim would say, Let me cross~\ those who escaped from the
field of battle tried singly to slip across the fords, but found
them occupied by the enemy. To their challenge, Art thou an
Ephraimite? they answered, No; but fell unsuspectingly into
the trap which the Gileadites set for them. -^-6. Then say shib-
boleth, and he said sibbdleth~\ the meaning of the word (* ear
of grain,' Gen. 4i 5ff> &c. ; or, perhaps more probably, 'flood* in
a stream, Ps. 6g 3 Is. 27 12 f) is of no moment; any other word
beginning with sh would have served as well. } So in the Sicilian
Vespers, March 31, 1282, the French were made to betray them-
selves by their pronunciation of ceci e ciceri ; those who pro-
nounced c as in French (sesi e siseri) were hewed down on the
spot. When the revolt against the French in Flanders broke
out, May 25, 1302, the gates were seized, and no one allowed to
pass who could not utter the to a French tongue unpronounce-
able scilt ende friend? || And did not pronounce it exactly
right~\ \\t.fix. He did not succeed in getting it right. Others
explain, did not take heed, pay attention, comparing the idiom) '* fix
* In the only copy of S which is known, the asterisk is wrongly placed before
Ephraim i; the necessary correction is made by Roerdam and Lagarde. Probably
it originally stood after the Ephraim 2 ; cf. cod.54 &c. f Ra., Ki., al.
J Ki. supposes that they actually used other words ; this is but a typical
instance. Be. ]| Cass.
XII. 5-7 309
the mind' on something. Those whose tongues thus bewrayed
them were cut down at the fords. There fell of Ephraim at that
time forty-two thousand men~\ cf. 3 29 . In the battle and the flight ;
the numbers are doubtless much exaggerated, cf. 8 10 .
6. The LXX understood rhzv to be a password or countersign (fffothnui, see
Schleusner, s.v.} ; this interpretation is most fully expressed in M , Kal e\eyov
vav TOV
K.r.t. ; see Thdt., who is guided by the Syriac to the correct explanation. <g B
'A, al. translate ffrdxvs. The Greek had no way of reproducing the distinction
of sounds represented by e> and D, the former of which appeared to Roman (and
doubtless to Greek) ears peculiarly barbarous; see Jerome, de nominibus hebr.
(iii. 15, ed. Vallarsi; OS 2 . io 6 ). What the peculiarity of the Ephraimites'
pronunciation was, we can of course not know; * still less should we make
this verse the basis of extensive inferences about Hebrew dialects. ]iy N 1 ?!
p la-iS] js referred by many recent comm. to the idiom' 1 ? o 1 ? j-on 2 Chr. I2 14
198 30 i9 Ezra 7 10 , with ellipsis of zh (Stud., Ges. Thes., al.), but the phrase
itself does not seem to be old, and the alleged examples, of the ellipsis (i S. 23 22
i Chr. 28 2 2 .Chr. 29 36 ) may be better explained in other ways. The impf.,
which must be taken as frequentative, is singular in the series of narrative
tenses. Perhaps we should emend h'y N 1 ?; in that case we should render p
ftius, i.e. as the Gileadites pronounced it to them. tontr] of human beings,
i K. i8 40 2 K. io 7 - 14 Jer. 4i 7 &c.; often of human sacrifices, Ez. 23 3 ? Is. 57 5 .
7. And Jephthah judged Israel six years, and he died and was
buried^ the formula is the same with which the notice of each of
the Minor Judges is brought to a close; io 2 - 5 i2 10 - 12t15 , cf. also
I5 20 . Considerable weight has been laid upon this fact in some
theories of the chronological system and composition of the
book ; see Introduction, 4, y.f In the notice of Jephthah's
burial place there is evidently some corruption of the text, f^
reads, in the cities of Gilead (in one of the cities of Gilead, \ is
quite impossible) ; (> and 31 render, in his city, Gilead, or, in his
city in Gilead; &, in a city of Gilead. Studer conj., in Mizpah of
Gilead (n 29 ), Jephthah's city (n 34 ).
7. V?J njn -ap-0] < lv Ty ir6\ci a^rou FaXaaS ( B tv rr6Xet a^rou tv
FaXaaS) 3L in cimtate sua Galaad. Cf. 8 27 nis^3 nij;3. Gilead, however,
is not a city, but a country. Stud. conj. nj?^ noxoa n 29 ; this may perh. find
* See J. Marquart, ZATW. viii. 1888, p. 151-155.
t See Nold., Untersuchungen, p. 190 ff., who reckons his 6 years with the Minor
Judges ; Kue., HCCfi. i. 18, n. 7 ; Bu., Richt. u. Sam., p. 135 ; Kitt., GdH. i. 2.
p. 12 f. J Ki., Drus., EV., al. mu.
310 JUDGES
some support in M fv Trj 7r6Xei atrov tv Se^e (al. Se$) FaXaaS * (repre-
senting a Hebrew text in which the D of nsxD was already lost, not mutilation
in Greek of Macro^a) . Perhaps the original text had only \yyz in his city ;
the name iyh) might easily be derived from njfan (cf. v. 15 ), or nsxD from n 29 ;
cf. also I S. 28 3 . A literal translation of $?, in the cities of Gilead, has given
rise to the Midrash that Jephthah died by inches, by the sloughing off of his
limbs (as in elephantiasis, Arab, gudatn), which were buried where they fell;
Bereshith ral>., 60.
8-15. The Minor Judges; Ibzan, Elon, Abdon. See intro-
duction tO I0 1 ' 5 .
8-10. Ibzan. 8. And there judged Israel after him\ cf. io 3 ,
"There arose after him and judged Israel." Through this verse
the following series of Minor Judges is annexed to the story of
Jephthah, as in lo 1 the former series to that of Abimelech. This
is doubtless the work of the late editor who inserted the Minor
Judges in the book; see Introduction, 6. Ibzan of Bethlehem]
probably not Bethlehem in Judah,f but Bethlehem in Zebulun
(Jos. i9 15 ), npw Beit Lahm, about seven miles WNW. of Naza-
reth, and a somewhat less distance west of Saffurieh. J The other
judges of this group, as well as all those whose stories are told in
the preceding chapters, belong to Israel ; apart from the story of
Othniel, Judah first appears incidentally in the 'story of Samson.
The name Ibzan occurs nowhere else. 9. He had thirty sons,
and he sent out thirty daughters] married them into other families.
And brought in from outside thirty daughters (as wives) for
his sons"} this is most naturally interpreted, as in the case of Jair
(lo 3 * 5 ), of a clan with numerous branches and offshoots and many
connexions with other clans. He judged Israel for seven years']
IO 2 ; Cf. I2 7 I5 20 .
11, 12. Elon. The standing form in which the notices of the
Minor Judges are cast appears here in its simplest terms ; it con-
tains nothing besides the name of the judge, his origin, burial
place, and the length of his rule. See above, p. 2 70. Elon the
* Fl. JOS., V. 7, 12 270, 0<x7TTeTai e> 777 aurov warpi'Si SejSerj (Lat. Sebcthi}.
f Jewish tradition; Baba bathra, 91*; Yalqut on Jud. 3 (ii. 42) ; Ra. (Ibzan is
the same as Boaz) .
t Seetzen, Reisen, ii. p. 139 ; Rob., BK*. iii. p. 113 ; Guerin, Galilee, i. p. 393 f. ;
SWP. Memoirs, i. p. 270.
XII. 8-14 3 11
Zebulonite died, and was buried at Elon, in the land of Zebulun}
Elon is a son of Zebulun, Gen. 46", i.e. a Zebulonite clan, Nu. 26 26 .
The distinction made in fE between the name of the hero and
that of his burial place (seat of the clan) is artificial; cf. <>.*
The place is otherwise unknown.
13-15. Abdon. The last of the Minor Judges is Abdon ben
Hillel, of Pirathon in Ephraim. Pirathon was the home of one
of David's heroes, Benaiah the Pirathonite; 2 S. 23 30 i Chr. n 31
2y 14 ; the name occurs also i Mace. 9 50 , Fl. Jos. xiii. i, 3 15, in
a list of places fortified by Bacchides. It is generally identified
with Fer'ata, six miles WSW. of Nabulus (Shechem),t which
Conder and others take for Ophrah ; see on 6 11 . According to
v. 15 , Pirathon was in the land of Ephraim, in the hill-country of
the Amalekites. This is frequently combined with 5" (Ephraim,
whose root is in Amalek), and the presence of the name in this
part of Mt. Ephraim explained by supposing, either that the
region was an older seat of the Amalekites, from which they had
been expelled by the growing power of the Canaanites, or that in
the early part of the period of the judges Amalekites from the
south had intruded into this part of the highlands, and occupied
it long enough to fasten their name upon it, but had been driven
out again before the time of Saul, j Text and context in 5" are,
however, much too obscure to shed any light upon this verse.
The name Abdon is found in the genealogical tables of the
Chronicles, in Benjamin, i Chr. S 23 , 8 30 =9 36 . If Pirathon be
Fer'ata, this coincidence must be regarded as accidental. || But
Fer'ata seems to be too far north for the Pharathon of i Mace, and
Josephus; and perhaps we should rather be guided by Chr. to
look for Pirathon in Benjamin. Ewald conjectured that for
Bedan, i S. i2 n , Abdon should be restored;^" but the more
probable correction is Barak** 14. He had forty sons and
* See Noldeke, Untersuchungen, p. 184.
f Eshtori Parchi, fol. 67* ; Rob., BFP. iii. p. 134 ; Guerin, Samarie, ii. p. 179 f.
J See Ew., GVf. i. p. 359; Noldeke, Amalekiter, p. 12; BL. i. p. 112. Nold.
inclines to the latter hypothesis.
It is also the name of a town in Asher, Jos. 2i 30 i Chr. 6 74 ; read so also in
Jos. I9 28 . || Nold. If C,Vl. ii. p. 514; Nold., Untersuchungen , p. 184.
** &, Then., We., Dr., Klost., al.
312 JUDGES
thirty grandsons, who rode on seventy saddle asses'] an evidence
of wealth and rank; cf. 5 io 4 2 S. i6 2 13^; see on io 4 . The
numerous posterity is to be interpreted as in the case of Ibzari
and Jair ; cf. also 8 30 .
8. txaN] compare yax, a town in Issachar, Jos. I9 20 ; the tradition of the
name is however insecure; see <&. 10. T'^N] so also in v. 12 ; with both >
and i (same consonants as in'fpMtt). So MSS. and edd., and so (H already
read ('AiXw/A, &c.).* Baer emends twice f?x on the authority of Massora
finalist? 2 ; but on this Massora see Frensdorff, Massoretisches Worterbuch,
265, n. 6. 12. T'^N] cf. pW and pS>N side by side, Jos. 19 42 - 43 (in Dan;
see on Jud. I 36 ). In the present case there is good reason to believe that the
names of the judge and of the town were originally pronounced, as they are
written, alike; prob. Elon, Gen. 46 14 (Nold., Untersuchungen, 184).
XIII. -XVI. The adventures of Samson.
LITERATURE.! A. v. Doorninck, " De Simsonsagen. Kritische studien over
Richteren 14-16," Th. T. xxviii. 1894, p. 14-32.
1. Samson's birth, ch. 13. The Messenger of Yahweh appears
to the wife of Manoah and promises her a son. During her
pregnancy she shall observe a strict regimen, for her son shall be
a devotee from birth (i3 1-7 ). At Manoah's prayer, the Messenger
reappears and repeats his injunctions (v. 8 ' 14 ). He ascends to
heaven in the flames of the sacrifice (v. 15 - 23 ) . The child is born,
grows up, and begins to be possessed by the spirit of Yahweh
(v.**)-
2. Samson's marriage to the Timnathite, and what came of it;
ch. 14, 15. Samson resolves to marry the daughter of a Philistine
of Timnath (I4 1 " 4 ). On one of his visits to Timnath he encoun-
ters a lion in the way, and kills him with his bare hands. Some
time after, passing that way, he finds the carcass occupied by a
swarm of bees, and takes the honey (v. 5 - 9 ). At his wedding he
propounds a riddle suggested by this adventure (v. 10 ' 14 ) ; by the
aid of his wife the answer is discovered (v. 15 - 18 ). In a rage he
pays the forfeit, and rushes away without consummating the mar-
riage (v. 19 - 20 ). When his anger has cooled off he returns, to. find
* Cf. 1L Ahialon.
f For the older literature, see Reuss, GA T. 106. On the mythical interpreta-
tion see below, note at the end of ch. 16.
xm.-xvi. 313
that his bride has been given to another (is 1 " 3 ). He avenges
himself by letting loose foxes with fire brands tied to their tails
among the grain fields of Timnath. The Philistines burn the
woman and her father as the authors of the mischief (v. 4 ' 6 ).
Samson retaliates, and takes refuge in a rocky fastness of Judah.
The men of Judah deliver him bound to the Philistines, but he
breaks the ropes and, with an ass's jaw-bone, slays a thousand
Philistines (v. 7 ' 17 ). The spring in Lehi (v. 18 - 20 ).
3. Samson carries off the gates of Gaza; I6 1 ' 3 . Samson visits
a harlot at Gaza. The Philistines lie in wait for him, but in the
middle of the night he arises, pulls up the posts of one of the city
gates, and, putting gate, posts, and bar on his head, carries them
off to a hill near Hebron.
4. Samson and Delilah; I6 4 " 31 . Samson loves a woman of
Sorek, named Delilah. She is bribed by the Philistines to find out
the secret of his marvellous strength (v. 4 *"-). Thrice he deceives
her ; but at. last, weary of her importunity, he tells her the truth
(v. 8 - 1 - 7 ). The Philistines secure and blind him, and put him to
grinding at a hand-mill in prison (v. 18 ' 22 ). At a great feast pf.
Dagon he is brought into the temple to gratify the multitude.
With a return of his old strength, he overthrows the principal
pillars which support the roof, and brings the whole temple down
in ruins, perishing with the Philistines (v. 23 ' 31 ) .
The adventures of Samson differ markedly from the exploits of
the judges in the preceding chapters of the book. Ehud, Deborah
and Barak, Gideon, and Jephthah were leaders, who, at the head
of their tribesmen, "turned to flight the armies of the aliens," and
delivered their countrymen. Samson is a solitary hero, endowed
with 'prodigious strength, who in his own quarrel, single-handed,
makes havoc among the Philistines, but in no way appears as the
champion or deliverer of Israel. It is easy to see why he should
have been a favourite figure of Israelite folk- story, the drastic
humour of which is strongly impressed upon the narrative of his
adventures; but not so easy to see what place he has in the
religious pragmatism of the Deuteronomic Book of Judges, or,
indeed, in what sense he can be called a judge at all. Even the
external connexion with the book is of the slightest character ;
3 I4 JUDGES
the familiar formulas with which the histories of the judges are
introduced and concluded are here at their lowest terms (I3 1 i$ w
i6 31b ). In the narrative itself no trace of D's hancl is detected.*
The three principal stories, ch. 13, 14 f., 16, are connected by
more than one link, and probably belonged to a cycle of folk-tales
long before they assumed a literary form. Ch. 14 presupposes
ch. 13, and the catastrophe in ch. 16 turns upon the loss of his
sacred locks ; cf. esp. i6 17 with i3 5 The stories of the cycle need
not all be of equal age ; it is not improbable, for instance, that the
tale of his birth in ch. 13 is of later origin than the rest ; f but, as
we have them, they are in substance and form so similar that we
must attribute them to the same writer. J In ch. 13 and 14 a
later hand has made some additions and alterations, by which, in
ch. 14 particularly, the narrative is somewhat confused, nor is the
text in other parts quite intact ; but there is no evidence that
the redactor had more than one original source. In if 7 - 18f , where
this might be suspected, the doublet may with greater probability
be referred to the folk-story itself. ||
Bohme demonstrated that the language and style of ch. 13 have
a strong resemblance to J in the Hexateuch ; ^[ and to this source
the whole group of stories of Samson is with considerable prob-
ability ascribed by Budde.** The reasons for thinking that this is
the case lie not so much in particular expressions, as in the tone
and spirit of the whole narration.tt Whether from J or not, the
chapters undoubtedly belong to the oldest stratum of the book.
The tales themselves, which are, of course, much older than the
* From the position of the closing formula, is 20 , Budde and Cornill surmise
that D omitted ch. 16, which was afterwards restored by another hand, just as was
done in the case of Abimelech, ch. 9. See above, p. 234 f.
f Bu., Richt. u. Sam., p. 131 ; cf. We., Prol*., p. 256 = History of Israel, 1885,
p. 245 ; Doom., TA. T. 1894, p. 17. J We., Kue., Bu.
On the text, see Doom. ; Sta., ZA TW. iv. 1884, p. 250 ff. ; Bu. ; Doom., TAT.
1894, p. 14 ff.
|| So also Bu. On the attempts to analyze the story see Bu., p. 132 f.
f ZA TW. v. 1885, p. 261 ff.
** Richt. u. Sam., p. 132 f. Against this opinion see Kue., HCO*. i. p. 355 f. ;
Kitt., Stud. u. Krit., 1892, p. 57 f.; GdH. i. 2. p. 16 f.; see above on 6"ff-, p. 183 n.
and Introduction, 6.
ft Bruston thinks that in ch. 13 the narrative of the first Jehovist has been
worked into that of the second Elohist, to whom all the rest of 13-16 belong.
(Bu., p. 134 n.)
xiii. i-2
book, are almost the only specimens of their kind that have been
preserved ; and they give us a glimpse of a side of old Israelite
life and character which is rarely represented in the Old Testa-
ment. The scrapes into which Samson's weakness for women
brought him, the way in which he turned the tables on those who
thought they had got the best of him, the hard knocks he dealt
the uncircumcised, and the practical jokes he played on them,
must have made these stories great favourites with a story-loving
race, such as all the Semites are ; and the rude humour which
plays through them all, no less than the entire absence of moral,
proves them genuine tales of the people. What basis of fact the
stories may have, is not easy to tell. The name of the hero and
various traits of the story seem to invite a mythical explanation,
and many attempts have been made to resolve the whole into a
solar myth. Other parts of the story, however, are refractory, and
can only be translated as myth by the most ingenious arbitrariness.
On this question see note at the end of ch. 16.
XIII. Samson's birth. 1. The usual introduction by the
Deuteronomic author ; see on 3 12 . 2. There was a certain man
of Zorah, of the clan of the Danites, whose name was Manoah~\
from Zorah and Eshtaol, which is almost always named with it,
came the Danites who, migrating to the north, established them-
selves at the sources of the Jordan (Laish-Dan), iS 2 - 8 - 11 . In Jos.
i9 41 it is assigned to Dan (on its border), but in i^ 33 to Judah;
it was fortified by Rehoboam (2 Chr. n 10 ). It is the modern
village of Sur'ah, on the northern side of Wady es-Surar, opposite
f Ain Shems (Beth-shemesh) on the southern ; see on i 35 .* The
clan of the Danites'} i8 1L19 , cf. if, the clan of Judah. On the
original settlements of Dan, see on i 34 - 35 ; and on the history of
the tribe, and the relation between the story of Samson and that
of the migration of the Danites (ch. 18), see on iS 1 . Manoah,
only in this and the following chapter. The more picturesque
details with which Josephus embellishes his story are supplied by
* Euseb. ( OS 2 . 29329) locates it ten miles from Eleutheropolis on the road to
Nicopolis. It was recognized by Eshtori Parchi (fol. 6g a ) ; Rob., BR 2 . iii. p. 153,
cf. ii. p. 12, 17 ; Guerin, Judee, ii. p. 15-17; S WP. Memoirs, iii. p. 158 ; Bad 3 ., p. 163 ;
see map of the territory of Dan, DS 2 . i. p. 701, and cf. above, p. 53 f.
316 JUDGES
his imagination.* His wife was barren and had not borne
children} cf. Gen. n 30 . So the mother of Samuel (i S. i 2 ), and
of John the Baptist (Luke i 7 ) ; in the patriarchal story, Sarah,
Rebekah, Rachel. The child of a long unfruitful marriage is
in a peculiar sense the gift of God, and his birth portends some
greater purpose of God for him.
2. Zorah was resettled by the Golah after the return from the exile, Neh.
II 29 ; the Manoahites of Zorah (observe the preservation of the name) traced
their origin, in part through Shobal, in part through Salma, to Calebite clans;
i Chr. 2 52 - 54 .t in* tt"N >rpi] i S. i 1 2 S. i8 10 Jud. 9 53 ; see We., TBS.
p, 26, 34; Pr., TBS. p. i; and especially Roorda, 480 n., who rightly
discriminates the case before us from others with which it, is frequently
confounded. ijnn nnDtyn] iS 2 - 11 - 19 (by the side of tOJtr iS 1 - 19 ; see there);
cf. rrwp nnfltPD if (in Jos. 7 17 mw 'D is error for tout?), ^ ira nnctyD
Zech. I2 18 . nriD^O is properly the clan, a number of which make the tribe;
it is itself composed of a number of families (nx no), i S. io 2 * Jos. 7 14 .
3-7. The Messenger of Yahweh announces Samson's Ibirth.
The Messenger of Yahweh appears to Manoah's wife and
announces the birth of a son. During pregnancy she shall abstain
from wine and things unclean ; for the child is to be a devotee
from the womb, no razor shall ever touch his head. He shall be
the first to deliver Israel from the Philistines (v. 3 " 5 ). She relates
the occurrence and the words of the Messenger to her husband
(v. 6f ), The whole scene strikingly resembles in conception and
expression the visit of the Messenger of Yahweh to Gideon (6 llff> ),
and is naturally attributed to the same author. J The story has
been slightly retouched in places by a later hand, but not so much
changed as ch. i4 v
3. The Messenger of Yahweh} see on 2 1 (P. Behold, thou art
barren and hast not .borne} v. 2 . The following words, and thou
shalt conceive and bear a son, by their awkward anticipation of
v. 5a , and by the different grammatical structure, betray themselves,
as an interpolation. || 4. Be careful, and do not drink wine and
* Antt. v. 8, 1-3 275 ff.
t We., Cornp., p. 231 ; cf. also Be. ad loc. We. remarks the occurrence of
Manahath ben Shobal in the Edomite lists also, Gen. 3623.
J Stud., Bohme, Bu,, al.
On the text see Bohme, ZATW. v. 1885, p. 261 ff.; cf. Bu., RUM. u. Sam.,
P- 130- || Be., Bohme.
XIII. 2-6 3 1 /
intoxicating drink'] Heb. shekar : Sicera \_shekar} Hebraeo ser-
mone omnis potio nuncupatur, quae inebriare potest ; sive ilia quae
frumento conficitur ; sive pomorum succo ; aut quum favi deco-
quuntur in dulcem et barbaram potionem, aut palmarum fructus
exprimuntur in liquorem, coctisque frugibus, aqua pinguior cola-
tiir.* When named with wine, as it often is, it includes all other
varieties of intoxicating drink ; v. 7 ' 14 1 S. i 15 Luke i 15 ; cf. the laws
Lev. io 9 (priests), Nu. 6 3 (Nazirites). See DB 2 . i. p. 812. And
not to eat anything unclean} v. 7 - 14 . The flesh of tabooed animal
kinds, carrion, and the like, is probably meant. The consecrated
child must be kept in utero from defilement. The rules for the
Nazirite, Nu. 6 lff> , contain no special prescription on this head,
which was covered by the general law (Dt. 14 Lev. n). The
Jewish doctors, observing this, make unclean here equivalent to
prohibited to the Nazirite ; that is, the other products of the vine,
Nu. 6 3f> .t Bohme thinks that these words (and the correspond-
ing clauses in v. 7 ' 14 ) are the addition of a later hand, which exag-
gerates the strictness; of the regimen. As this is, however, not
suggested by the law in Nu. 6, nor by any other example, their
genuineness may with good reason be maintained. 5. Thou art
with child, and wilt bear a son] G^. i6 n (J) cf. Is. y 14 . The
present is taken by many as an immediate future, thou art about
to conceive, \ but this is unnecessary, and, in view of Gen. i6 u ,
-tessv probable. A razor shall not be used on his head} i6 lr
I j & i 11 Nu. 6 5 (different expressions). For the boy shall be a
devotee from the womb'} v. 7 i6 17 cf. i.S. i 11 . He will be the first
to deliver} begin to deliver; the verb is used as in io 18 : Who is
the man who will be first to fight with the Ammonites. The words
have been taken to imply that Samson should only begin, but -not
complete, the work of deliverance, and Wellhausen would recog-
nize an allusion to Saul; || but it is doubtful whether the writer
put so much reflexion into the word begin; cf. i$* I6 22 . 6. A
'man: of God came to me] v. 8 i S. 2 27 9 6 - 78 &c. The Messenger
appeared as a man ; his words showed that he was an inspired
man; in later phrase, a prophet. His appearance was like that
* Jerome, ep.ad Nepotianum, c. li (C^.-ed. Vallarsi, i. 264). It includes, there-
fore, beer, cider, mead, date wine, &c. f Ra., al. t So A al. %, EV., and many.
Ki. 2, Schm., Drus., Rosenm., al. || Comp.,^. 231.
3l8 JUDGES
of the Messenger of God, very awftil~\ inspiring awe and rever-
ence, not terror ; see Gen. 28 17 Ex. 34 10 &c. 7. She repeats to
Manoah the words of the Messenger. From the womb to the
day of his death~\ this is implied, though not expressed, in v. 5 .
3. p m 1 ?*"! nnni] <J| BN only Kal o-v\\^pl/ri vl6v. This is a fragment of a
different translation from v. 5 - 7 (tv yao-rpl ex^ts); the probable inference is
that the LXX did not originally contain the words. 4. -Oc] see the passages
from the Talm. and Midrash cited by Ki. Lex. s.v.; also Levy, NHWb. s.v.
NDto] of prohibited animal kinds, Dt. I4 8 - 10 - 19 Lev. 1 1 4 - 5 - 7 &c., of carrion
(nna, nSaj), Lev. 22 8 cf. Ex. 22 30 . 5. p rnSii mn -jjn >:>] v. 7 Gen. 16".
The pronunciation seems to be a compromise between ptcp. and perf., and is
perhaps meant to hint to the reader that the ptcp. (which would be more
usual after njn) is to be understood in a future sense (perf. consec.) ; cf. .
So Ki., K6. i. p. 404-406. The author prob. intended a perf. *?>? nSjp N 1 ? mini
itrjo] i6 17 I S. i ut ; cf. Nu. 6 5 VP&O Vy -op N 1 ? ~\j?n. The etymology of n^n
(masc., n. b. !), which occurs only in the stories of Samson and Samuel, is
obscure. n>n-> DinSs T>TJ] v. 7 i6 17 ; a religious devotee. In ordinary cases the
obligation of the nazir was assumed only for a certain period, which was
terminated by a sacrifice of his hair at the sanctuary, Nu. 6 18 . In the light of
similar practices in other religions, we may with great probability infer that
this sacrifice was the original content of the vow. From the moment that it
was assumed, the locks were consecrated and inviolable.* They were not
merely the outward sign of the wearer's devotion, but, being themselves
sacred, they consecrated him, and thus brought him under certain incidental
prohibitions (taboos). That he must with peculiar pains guard against pollu-
tion by contact with death, is intelligible without further explanation. The
Hebrew nazir had also to abstain from wine and intoxicating drinks, and
from every product of the vine (cf. Jud. I3 14 Am. 2 llf - Nu. 6 3f -); compare the
abstinence imposed on priests during their service, Ez. 44 21 Lev. io 9 . In the
case of Samson and Samuel the obligation was imposed for life by the mother's
consecration of the unborn child, but this is signalized as something extraor-
dinary, rather than the oldest form of the Nazirate (Ew., al.).f Such absti-
nences have nothing to do with morality. The commentators who have to
prove Samson a blameless judge are much embarrassed by the Philistine
women. Ki. (on v. 5 ) imagines that he must have converted them. TM
* Cf. Ez. 44 20 . On similar consecration of the hair see Spencer, De legg. ritual.,
iii. diss. \.c.6\ Goldziher, " Le sacrifice de la chevelure chez les Arabes," RHR.
xiv. 1886, p. 49-52, cf. x. p. 351 ff.
f On the Nazirate and similar vows see W. R. Smith, Religion of the Semites,
p. 306 ff. (esp. 314 f.), 463 f.; cf. Kinship and Marriage, p. 152 ff.; Wellhausen,
Rests arabischen Heidentumes, p. 118, 166 f. ; Stade, GVI. i. p. 479, 388 f.; Smend,
Alttest. Religionsgesch., p. 152 ff. ; Nowack, Hebr, Archaologie, ii. p. 133 ff. For the
older literature see DB\ s.v.
XIII. 7-H 319
would be best represented by a compound word if we had one like
Gottgeweihter. ft03n p] from the womb on, i.e. from his birth; v. 7 to the day
of his death. 'Ji jwinS Vrn xim] cf. 2 K. io 32 Jud. I3 25 i6 19 - 22 . 6. O'TiSxn EX]
the particular one who came; idiomatic use of the article, Ges. 25 126, 4; see
above on y 13 S 25 . DTiSxn ixSa] v. 9 ; but nvr> "]xSa v. 3 - 13 - 15 - 1G - lr - ^ 21 ; cf. 6 20 .
In v. 6 we might find a motive for the variation (cf. 2 S. I4 20 ) ; but this expla-
nation would not extend to v. 9 . More probably the substitution is accidental,
due to the influence of the adjacent oviSxn BX.
8-23. The second visit of the Messenger. The Messenger
returns at Manoah's request ; the woman calls her husband, and
to him the Messenger repeats his former prescriptions (v. 8 - 14 ).
Manoah invites him to stay and eat with them, but he declines,
nor will he disclose his name (v. 15 - 18 ). Manoah offers a kid upon
the rock ; as the flame rises, the Messenger ascends in it to the
sky (v. 19 " 21 ) . Manoah fears death, for they have seen a god, but
his wife reassures him ; if Yahweh had meant to destroy them, he
would not have accepted their sacrifice nor shown them such
a portent (v. 22f> ). 8. Manoah prays that the Messenger may
come again and show them what they shall do about the
boy that is to be born, how they shall treat him. Manoah be-
sought Yahweh~] the somewhat unusual verb occurs in the Hex-
ateuch only in J. 9. And God hearkened to the words of
ManoaJ{\ God twice (as in v. 6 ) , instead of Yahweh as constantly
in what follows*; perhaps occasioned in all cases by the preceding,
man of God. There is no reason to suspect that the variation
has any critical significance ; see note on v. 6 . 10. The woman
calls her husband. The man who came to me the other day has
appeared to me~] lit. on the day (on which he came). The Hebrew
phrase is unusual ; the versions generally render, on that day ; see
note. 11. Manoah follows her to the field, and accosts the
stranger, asking whether it was he who before spoke to his wife.
12. Now, if what thou sayest comes true, how shall the boy be
brought up, and what shall he do~\ what is the rule or regimen
prescribed for him, and what shall his calling be ; or, perhaps, his
mode of life? 13, 14. The Messenger does not answer Manoah's
question further than to repeat his injunctions ; the mother shall
do exactly as she has been told ; she shall not eat any product of
the vine, drink wine or intoxicating drink, or eat anything unclean.
32O JUDGES
Bohme leaves to the author only the words, wine and intoxicating
drink she shall not drink; the rest he regards as editorial amplifi-
cation. In regard to the last clause (tabooed foods), see above
on v. 4 . The other products of the vine are explicitly forbidden,
Nu. 6 3f< ; they are not mentioned above in v. 4 or v. 7 . The extension
of the prohibition to everything that comes from the vine is no
evidence of later date ; the taboo doubtless from the beginning
included the vine itself, as did that observed by the Rechabites,*
or that imposed upon the Roman Flamen Dialis, who was not
allowed even to walk under a trellised vine.f Nor is it conclusive
against the genuineness of the words that they do not occur in
v. 4< 7 . It is not the author's manner to repeat himself with such
notarial exactness ; cf. the last clause of v. 7 with v. 4 . 15. Let me
press thee to stay, and prepare before thee a kid~\ pregnant expres-
sion, prepare and set before thee. Compare Gen. i8 5ff -, and espe-
cially the story of Gideon, 6 17ff - 16. If thou press me, I will not
eat of thy meat; and if thou wilt make a burnt offering, offer it to
Yahweh~\ the Messenger keeps up the character of a man of God
(v. 6 ). In the story of Gideon the Messenger lets him bring the
food, and then converts it into an offering. In the patriarchal
story, Gen. 18, Yahweh eats the meal which Abraham prepares.
Compared with this, the behaviour of the Messenger of Yahweh in
the stories of Gideon and Manoah seems to represent a more
advanced stage of theological reflexion. We must, however,
bear in mind that in Israel, as elsewhere, the intercourse of God
with men was believed to have been more intimate and natural in
the remote past; and need not, therefore, infer that Gen. 18 is
older than Jud. 6 13. For Manoah did not know that he was
the Messenger of Yahweh~\ cf. Mark 9 5f- . This cannot be the rea-
son for the Messenger's reply, \ but for Manoah's invitation y. 155 .
The words would then naturally stand before v. 16a , || and Bohme
accordingly transposes v. 16a and v. 16b : Let us detain thee and pre-
pare before thee a kid ; for Manoah did not know, &c. And the
Messenger of Yahweh said to Manoah, &c. The words are, how-
ler. 3 5 6f -.
t Plut., Quaest. Rom., 112; Aulus Gellius, x. 15, 13. For the explanation of this
prohibition see W. R. Smith, Religion of the Semite s t p. 465 f. ; Frazer, Golden
Bough, i. p. 183 ff. t Schm. Ki, || Cf. Cler.,
XIII. i 4 -i8 321
ever, even more apposite as an explanation of Manoah's request
to know the name of his visitor, v. 17 : What is thy name, that when
thy word comes true we may honour thee ; for Manoah did not
know that he was the Messenger of Yahweh. And the Messenger
of Yahweh replied, &c. In any case the clause is misplaced, and
this dislocation suggests that it is a comment, perhaps originally a
marginal gloss, rather than part of the original narrative.*
17. What is thy name, that when thy word comes true we may
honour thee} cf. v. 12 and i S. 9 : The man is held in honour; every-
thing that he says surely comes true. Manoah would know the
name of the man of God (as he supposes him to be), that he may
in the event render his due of grateful honour. 18, Why doest
thou inquire about my name, seeing it is ineffable} cf. Gen. 32 s29 .
The name is incomprehensible; beyond your capacity to hear
and understand; cf. Ps. I39 6 , Knowledge is beyond my capacity;
it is high above my reach. Not that the name itself is mysterious
or miraculous. Bb'hme regards the last clause as a gloss ; but in a
gloss we should doubtless have a more commonplace phraseology.
8. mm Sx nun in?M] in the Hexateuch this verb occurs only in J (Gen.
25 21 &c.); cf. 2 S. 2i 14 24 25 . "WIN ^] see note on 6 18 . UT^] advise
us; give us a tor a to go by. iWri] ptcp. Pual; generally explained as
rejection of D preformative (Ges. 25 52 end) ; more properly an alternative
form of the ptcp. without #/; cf. Arab, qatul and maqtul (Ol. 250 c\ Sta.
617 b\ Lagarde, Bildung der Nomina, p. 63 f.). See in general, K6. i.
p. 433 f. The indication of u by i to avoid ambiguity; cf. Jud. i8 29 Job 5 7 .
9. noy J>N na>ix rvum mtpa nairv >m] two circumstantial clauses, she being
in the field, and her husband not with her. 10. pirn ntPNn innni] the first
verb is a modifier of the second; the collocation may also be asyndetic; cf. 9 48
&c. oia] if the text is sound, we may compare the idiomatic uses of DVD
and Dvna, We., TBS. p. 36 n. 12. inan *ai finy] cf. i S. 9 6 . For inan
(plur.) very many codd. and edd. of fE (De Rossi) with 6H& have the
sing. *pa*i ; in v. 17 this correction is made in the margin of iH. The discord
in number between the verb and its subject is not impossible in Hebrew,
see Ges. 25 145, 7; but it is more probable that the plural is to be attrib-
uted to a scribe; see further on v. 17 . On the massoretic authority for the
plur. see Norzi. 14. pn jsj] only Nu. 6*. 15. ^nix NJ mxpj] the word
* Stud, ingeniously justifies the position of the clause by assuming an inten-
tional ambiguity in Manoah's invitation: We will set before thee a kid, or, we will
offer in thy presence a kid ; and finds a reference to this alternative sense in the
disjunctive reply of the Messenger.
322 JUDGES
generally implies forcible restraint, and here elegantly expresses the urgency
of the invitation to stay. 'Ji "pfl 1 ? ntpyji] na>j?, dress and cook an animal,
6 19 i S. 25 18 Gen. i8 7 - 8 &c. Possibly, as Stud, thinks, there is an inten-
tional ambiguity in the phrase here, as in nruD 6 18 , the writer meaning to
hint at the sacrificial sense. 16. innVa hsx N 1 ?] Prov. 9 5 . More usual would
be partitive p. The comment of Thdt. on the response of the Messenger is :
TpofpTjs, <pij<riv, otf dtofMi' dv<rtav ot> S^xo^ai. TOVTO fj.tv y&p 6eov, {Keivo 8
rijs dvdpUTrifris 0i5(rcw5 tdiov. tyh 8 ovre &$ AvOpUTros XPVfa Tpo<t>TJs, cure TTJV
6dav dp-n-dfa n^v. 17. "pa> >D] as the question is really about a person,
who he is, the personal interrogative ID is used ad sensuni ; elsewhere *pE> HD
Gen. 32 28 , IDB> no Ex. 3 13 , grammatically "regular; see Ew. 325 a. TISI]
Qere (with 315) "pan sing., which many codd. and edd. have in the text;
see De Rossi. The same correction is made in I K. 8 26 i8 36 22 13 Jer. I5 16
Ps. 119147.161 E Z ra io 12 ; Of Ala we-Ochla^o. 131. 18. wSfl Nini] regularly
formed adj. from NSs; pronounce piVi : the margin directs that it be read
with suppression of N, pell. Cf. the fern. n>N*?s Ps. I39 6 , unnecessarily altered
by the Qere. N^D is what surpasses human power or comprehension, and
therefore excites wonder and admiration, Is. 29 U 9 5 25! Ex. I5 11 Pss.; see
note on nxVflj 6 13 . & renders here, uhsp Nint, which is of importance for
the interpretation of anaon QV in the Talmud, &c.
19. Manoah took the kid and the cereal oblation, and offered it
up on the rock to Yahweh~\ the cereal oblation (minhah) is probably
added here and in v. 23 by a later hand, for the sake of liturgical
correctness.* Cf. Gideon's cakes (masstrtk) t 6 19 ~ 21 . The rock~\
6 20 (different word), 21 . The article probably indicates that it was
a rock customarily used for the purpose, a natural monolithic
altar ; in v. 20 it is twice called the altar ; see there. The rest of
the verse presents serious difficulties. The words, while Manoah
and his wife were looking on, which recur in v. 20 and are beyond
doubt original there, have probably been introduced in v. 19 by an
accident of transcription.! The two words which remain defy
every attempt to construe them grammatically. By a very slight
emendation we obtain, he offered it up on the rock to Yahweh,
who worketh wonderfully ; \ cf. Ex. 15" Ps. 77". The words
would then refer, not to the portent which is described in v. 20 , but
to the predicted birth of a son. Such a special ascription to the
"wonder-working Yahweh," by which the sacrifice bore the title of
the occasion, would be in entire accord with ancient religion. The
words have none of the marks of a gloss ; the expression is far too
* Bohme. t Be. J A.al. |L.
XIII. 19-21 323
characteristic and too difficult.* 20. As the flame ascended from
the altar to the sky\ the scene so closely resembles that in the
story of Gideon (6 21 ) that there was a strong temptation to sup-
plement the one narrative from the other, f as is done in all detail
by Josephus here. J Kimchi, for example, represents the fire as
coming out of the rock and devouring the offering. Some
modern critics have suspected that something of this purport
originally stood in the place of the corrupt v. 19b . || But the stories,
similar as they are, are nowhere exactly alike ; they are variations
of the same theme, such as popular story-tellers delight in, not a
pedantic repetition of it. In ch. 6 Gideon brings out food to his
visitor, who bids him lay it on the rock, and then himself converts
it into a burnt offering : here the Messenger declines the offered
food, but suggests a sacrifice, which Manoah accordingly prepares
and offers on the rock (the technical word implies not merely the
placing of the victim on the rock, but the burning it) ; there is
really no room in the story for a parallel to the bringing of the fire
out of the rock in ch. 6. We have no reason, therefore, to think
that the text is here abridged. The altar~\ twice in the verse.
Studer finds in the substitution of the altar for the rock (v. 19 )
confirmation of the suspicion which, on other grounds, he enter-
tains of the whole verse ; Bohme supposes that the altar was intro-
duced by a later hand in the interest of liturgical correctness, and
would restore in both instances, the rock. The possibility that the
text has been thus altered is to be admitted (cf. i S. i4 33f - 35 ); but
the necessity of Bohme's emendation is not obvious. The kid
was offered as a burnt offering on the rock, which therefore,
whether usually or on this occasion only, served as an altar.^Jf Why
the author may not in the sequel have spoken of it under the
latter name, I do not see. Indeed, one might perhaps discover
in the very identification evidence of a primitive time. The Mes-
senger ofYahweh ascended in the flame of the altar} cf. the colour-
less interpolation in 6 21 , end. 21. And the Messenger of Yahweh
* Against Be., Bohme.
t We have seen reason to think that 6 2111 is an interpolation of this kind from
I3 20 .
% Antt. v. 8, 3 \ 283 f. It is to be noted that Josephus does not narrate Gideon's
sacrifice at all. So also Schm., al. || Stud., Be. H Be.
324 JUDGES
did not appear again to Manoah and his wife~\ not, was no longer
visible to them. Then Manoah knew~\ when he saw him ascend
in the altar flame ; cf. 6 s2 , Gideon saw that he was the Messenger
of Yahweh when he brought the fire out of the rock. Bohme
regards the first sentence of this verse as an editorial addition ;
v. 21b should follow immediately upon v. 205 . There is, however, no
manifest motive for the interpolation, while the author may have
thought it worth while to say that the Messenger, who had visited
them twice, did not return again. Probably, if we had been
writing the story, we should have put this sentence after v. 23 ; but
the author preferred to finish what he had to say about the Mes-
senger at this point. The old Hebrew writers did not always have
the same notions about good style that are entertained by modern
critics. 22. Manoah is greatly alarmed. We shall surely die,
for we have seen a god~\ 6 22 ; see comm. there. The word, a god,
conveys too much to us, but we have no other to translate it by.
The Hebrew elohim is used for any superhuman being ; cf. i S.
28 13 , where the witch of Endor at the sight of Samuel's ghost
exclaims, " I see a god (elohim) rising from the earth." 23. His
wife reassures him. If it had been Yahweh 's pleasure to kill us,
he would not have taken a burnt offering from us~] the words and
a meal offering are, as in v. 19 , probably of later insertion. By what
signs the acceptance of a sacrifice was recognized, we do not
know. And would not have showed us all these things, and
would not now have announced to us such a thing] the first clause
refers to the appearance of the Messenger and his wonderful
departure ; the second to the promise of a son and the injunctions
connected with it. The order may be explained by the fact that
the most striking sight, the ascent of the Messenger in flame,
connected itself with the sacrifice. Bohme attributes both clauses
to editorial expansion. This appears to me possible as regards
the first (he would not have showed us all these things) ; but I
see no reason to doubt the genuineness of the last clause.
19. -nxn Sj?] 6 21 ; cf. ySon 6 20 and note there. nitpj? 1 ? "?BD-I] cannot by
any ingenuity be construed.* The conj. pwyh toVoD torn (Maur.) gives us,
as Stud, rightly observes, a second circumstantial clause, which will not fit into
* Ewald's, und es regt sick wunderbar, is wholly inadmissible.
XIII. 2i-2 5 325
the context. ^APVLMNO e g T y Kvpiy T< Oavfj.a<TTa TTOIOVVTI, I Domino mira-
bilia facienti, followed by H Domino, qui facit mirabilia. The Greek
translators therefore read, nvyyh x^pon mmS, which gives a satisfactory struc-
ture and sense. B (alone) Kal av-fjve^Kfv . . . T< Kvply, Kal diex<*>purev Troiijffai,
which represents the text of f^, and agrees literally with &, which here and else-
where renders x^Son by EHB, Pael and Aphel. We may with some plausibility
conj. that 8iex^P tffev is the translation of Aquila. $% is an attempt to construe
the words with the following clause, after the words D^xi intyxi rmm were
accidentally transferred to this place from the next verse. With the construc-
tion tvarjh xiSsn cf. Is. 29 14 xSsi xSsn run ppn nx xiVanS t]m> ^jjn p 1 ?, 2 Chr. 26 15
irjjnS x-'Von >o, Joel 2 26 (God) x-^fln 1 ? anoj? na>it?. It is a " direct causative
Hiphil " (Konig's term), and may take an accusative (nxy Is. 28 29 , non Ps. 3i 22 ,
H2D Dt. 28 59 &c.), or a gerund in definition. 20. nninn Syo] interpreting
as Fl. Jos. and many others, from the rock. 21. Mi *|D> xVi] the interpreta-
tion, was no more seen by them, i.e. disappeared from their sight (Ki. 2),
is against the usage of this idiomatic phrase, which expresses not continuity,
but repetition; cf. Ex. lo 28 i S. I5 35 ; Gen. 8 12 Jud. 8 28 2 K. 6 s8 &c.
ninnV] i S. 3 21 ; cf. njp Prov. i6 16 , nn Gen. 48",* &c. See K6., i. p. 534 f.
23. npS xS ... yon -iV] cf. 8 19 and note there. 'Ji w*-\r\ xSi] (Off *al O^K Av
taej' 'T]/j.a$, cf. v. 8 xai ^wTicrdrw i^/ias (|^ U^*l)|J presumably reading
and translating (as in the other places cited) by pseudo-etymological
connection with nix. The reading is tempting; we might conjecture that the
corruption which made uxnn of it led to the further amplification of the verse
by the addition of what now seemed lacking, a mention of the words spoken
to them. np] now, just now. Kadhs [6] Kaip6s AB^ : lacking in (gPVMNO
I it; sub ast. $. The word is difficult, because it seems to oppose the hearing,
as recent, to the seeing and the sacrifice. We might conj. nnj; 13 (cf. 2I 22 ), but
should then have to regard this as the original beginning of the apodosis of
iS, and all that intervenes from npS xS as an editorial interpolation.
24, 25. Samson's birth and childhood. She gave him the name
Samson} no etymology or explanation of the name is suggested,
nor is there any hint of its significance elsewhere in the story.
It is derived from shemesh, ' sun,' and if we remember that Beth-
shemesh, just across the valley from Manoah's home, was sacred
to the sun-god, such a name will hardly appear unnatural among
these Danites. On the form of the name see note, and on the
mythical interpretation, see note at the end of ch. 16. 25. The
spirit of Yahweh first stirred him up at Mahaneh Dan (Dan's
Camp) between Zorah and Eshtaol~\ as the text now stands, we
* Perhaps in the two last examples we should pronounce as inf. abs. (Sta.).
f Except BN. j Cf. also 4 Reg. 12* i 7 27- 28,
326 JUDGES
must suppose that there he first had one of those fits of demonic
rage which were so terrible to his enemies. The occasion and
results of this outbreak are not related. The verse cannot be the
introduction to ch. 14 ; we should rather have to regard it as
originally the introduction to a lost story of Samson's first exploit.
The topographical notices, however, excite suspicion. The home,
or at least the family burial-place, of Manoah was between Zorah
and Eshtaol (i6 31 ); Dan's Camp, on the other hand, was at
Kirjath-jearim in Judah, on the western side of that town (i8 12 ).
The latter statement, which there is no reason to question, is indi-
rectly confirmed by the name itself: whatever its origin, /Camp
of Dan' is a much more natural name for a place in Judah
than for one in the midst of the Danite settlements about Zorah.
This consideration weighs against the hypothesis, for which there
is no support, that there were two Camps of Dan, one at Kirjath-
jearim, and one between Zorah and Eshtaol.* It is possible that
neither of the conflicting topographical notices in our verse is
original, and that the author wrote simply, The boy grew up, and
Yahweh blessed him ; and the spirit of Yahweh began to stir him
up, disquiet him. Upon this, ch. 14 might very well follow; cf.
i4 4 . On Zorah see above, on v. 2 ; on Eshtaol, see on i6 31 .
24. f)tPDa>] PI. Jos., t<rxvpbv 5* &TTOffiriiJ.alvL T& 6vofj.a, deriving it from JDE>
(see on 3 29 ) ; similarly E. Meier, f Others explain it as an intensive formation
from ODB> (ptPDtP for DB>DE>), * devastator,' or (giving a fictitious " primary " sense
to the root) ' mighty '; so Be 1 ., Diestel, Ke., Kohler, al. Ew. (G VI. ii. p. 559)
thought it possible to connect the name with VDV 'serve,' 'the servant' sc. of
God, i.e. the Nazirite. These are all efforts of misdirected ingenuity to evade
the palpable derivation from tPDi? 'sun'; J cf. ivnv Ezra 4 8ff -, im> Jericho,
from rrv 'moon,' and the Palmyrene n. pr. TTV (Baethgen, Beitrdge, p. 162),
&c. 1DJ7B 1 ? mm nn Snm] oyo Kal f ; Niph., Gen. 4i 8 Dan. 2 3 Ps. 77 5t Hithp.
Dan. 2 1 *; cf. Djte. The sense in all these passages is, ' disquiet, perturb '; the
primary meaning is uncertain.
XIV., XV. Samson's marriage and its consequences. The
story is of one fabric throughout, and is probably derived from J,
* Be. See also Schick, ZDPV. x. p. 137, with Guthe's note,
t Poet. National-Literatur d. Hebr., p. 105 ; Roskoff, al. Against this view see
Noldeke, ZDMG. xv. p. 806 f. % OS*. 18448 3303, Nold., Cass., We., MV., al. mu.
See above, p. 312 f.
XIII. 25-XIV. 3
327,
but a good many additions and changes have been made by later
editors or scribes, which disturb the simple and natural progress
of the narrative. One of the most misleading of these alterations
is that which lets Manoah and his wife accompany Samson to
Timnath (i4 6 - 6b ), with the insertion of the words, to marry her, in
v. 8a ; the journeyings to and fro thus become an insoluble puzzle.
Confusion has also been introduced by (or in) the dates in v. 14b - ^
and toward the close of ch. 14 an accidental corruption of the
text has made the sequel unintelligible.*
XIV. 1-4. Samson announces his purpose to marry a Philis-
tine woman of Timnath. Samson went down to Timnath'] from
his father's home at Zorah (i3 2 ). Timnath f is in Jos. iQ 43 allotted
to Dan ; in Jos. i5 10 it is set down as a frontier town of Judah.
According to Jud. i 34 , the Danites had been thrust back from this
region by the Amorites. In the Philistine invasion, Timnath fell
into their possession, j Early in the history of the kingdom, no
doubt, it was incorporated in Judah ; but, according to 2 Chr. 28 18 ,
was reconquered by the Philistines in the time of Ahaz (736-
728 B.C.). It still bears the name Tibneh, and lies about an hour
west of e Ain Shems (Beth-shemesh, Har-heres, i 35 ), and somewhat
farther southwest of Sur f ah (Zorah) . 2. On his return he asks
his father to get her for his wife. The negotiations for a bride
were the business of the bridegroom's father; cf. Gen. 34 4ff -
3. His parents object to his marrying a Philistine ; he should take
a wife of his own people. Samson, however, persists. His father
and his mother] the last words are probably an addition to the orig-
inal text (conformation to v. 2 ) ; the verb in Heb. is in the singu-
lar ; observe also my people, and the sing, in Samson's reply, Get
(thou) her for me; it is naturally the father who answers. Are
there" no women among his own kinsmen or of his own race, that
he must ne*eds go take a Philistine wife? Cf. Gen. 24 3f - 26 34f - 28 lf - 8f -.
The uncircumcised Philistines'] uncircumcised is an opprobri-
ous word which is applied almost exclusively to the Philistines
*See Stade, ZATW. iv. 1884, p. 250 ff.; Budde, Richt. u. Sam., p. 130 f.;
Doorninck, " De Simsonsagen," Th. T. xxviii. 1894, p. 14-32.
f Not to be confounded with Timnath-heres, 2 9 . J See above, p. 80 f.
Rob., B1&. ii. p. 17 ; Guerin, Judee, ii. p. 30 f. ; SWP. Memoirs, ii. p. 417.
328 JUDGES
among the neighbours of Israel ; cf. 15 i S. i4 6 if 26 - 36 31* 2 S. i 20 ;
see Jer. g 25 - **. Circumcision seems to have been generally prac-
tised by the other peoples of Palestine.* On the "Philistines, see
on 3 3 . For she suits me] vJ ; lit. is right in my eyes. 4. In
this seeming perversity there was a divine purpose of which his
parents were not aware; cf. Gen. 24 50 . For he (Yahweh) was
seeking an opportunity of the Philistines'} an opportunity for
Samson to do them a mischief; cf. 2 K. 5 7 , which suggests that
the rare word may have the by-sense, ' opportunity, occasion for a
fight.' The second half- verse is superfluous here, and is very
probably an editorial addition derived from i5 u ;f observe the
generalization, over Israel (cf. J3 1 ). Doorninck regards the whole
verse as a gloss, introduced by some one who felt the need of
some such explanation of the marriage of an inspired man and
judge of Israel with a heathen woman. The words seem to me,
however, to be perfectly natural in the context, and not to involve
any such reflexion. The refusal of Samson's father to get the
woman for him as a wife in the usual way, explains how he came
to contract an exogamous marriage. This was the origin of a
succession of complications, in each of which Samson has an
injury to requite, so that the mischief which he does the Philis-
tines is always legitimate retaliation (cf. esp. i5 3 ) ; he always has
a just occasion. And it is in entire accord with the religious
character of the folk-story that this is ascribed to the purpose of
Yahweh.
1. nrupna] v. 2 ; cf. nnjon >D-O v. 5 , Jos. ig 43 . The name of the place was
doubtless ruon, with the Canaanite fern, ending which we find in numerous
names of places. \ In Hebrew it appeared to be construct, and there was
therefore a special tendency to replace it by the accus. nrunn. 3. V? IDNM
1D0 va] observe the sg. verb (cf. v>). The constr. is possible; but the
discord in number is more prob. due to the interpolation of iax. ... nuaa
V^ai] among; cf. mjan v. 1 - 2 ; a good illustration of the way in which 3 comes
to its so-called partitive sense (i3 16 ), and of the difference between it and p
partitive, a representing the part in the unity of the whole, p as separated
from it. -pnN] i6 31 9 L 3 - 18 , thy kinsmen. ivy Saai] tv iravri ry Aa <rov
<S; conformation to preceding. 4. nwh] the vb. (Pi.) Ex. 2i 13t (Pu.)
* The Shechemites, Gen. 34, are an exception.
t Bu., supposing, further, that the father's refusal has been omitted by the editor.
The latter also seems to me probable ; see on vA J Sta., p. 183.
XIV. 3-4 329
Ps. 9i 10 Prov. I2 21t (Hithp.) 2 K. 5 7 (c. c. "? pers.y. The primary sense
is prob. ' its time, the right time, came,' &c. (cf. Arab.). Hence njxn ' oppor-
tunity, occasion.' The pronunciation of the noun is anomalous; cf. nnnn 9 31 ;
see Ol. 213 a; Sta. 262. The same word appears to have been read by
the Greek translators in Prov. iS 1 (7rpo0c(reis f^ret); see Cappel, Crit. sacr.,
ii. p. 604 f., ed. Vogel and Scharfenberg.
It is not explicitly said that Manoah adhered to his position and
declined to abet his son in his perverse course, but it is distinctly
enough implied in v. 4 *, and to be inferred with certainty from v. 5 " 7 ,
where Samson takes the business into his own hands, as well as
from the nature of the marriage which he contracts. It is evi-
dent there that he has no intention of taking his bride to his
father's home, as he proposes in v. L 3 ; it is understood that she is
to remain in her father's house.* That is, Manoah having refused
to receive this Philistine daughter-in-law, Samson makes a sadiqa
marriage in Timnath, with which, as a matter of course, his parents
have nothing whatever to do.
This state of the case is partly obscured in the text before us
through the insertion by a later hand of the words, and his father
and mother, in v. 5a , with the corresponding addition of v. 6b , and of
his father in v. 10a , by which it is made to appear that Manoah
yielded and undertook the customary negotiations for an ordinary
marriage. The motive of this change was doubtless the difficulty
which men in subsequent times found in conceiving that the hero,
in open disregard of parental authority, contracted such a marriage
among the Philistines. But, as is fortunately often the case, the
editor did not carry through his alterations with sufficient thor-
oughness, and the resulting inconsistency and confusion betrays his
hand. Thus v. 7 is left untouched, while his father, as the subject
of v. 10a , manifestly comes too late. And, apart from this, the fact
that the comrades of the bridegroom (v. 11 ) are not Samson's kins-
men and friends from Zorah, but Philistine youths, is incontrover-
tible evidence that the marriage was not sanctioned by his family, f
The removal of these interpolations leaves a text which is free
from all difficulty, a plain and straightforward narrative. Manoah
having refused his aid and consent, Samson goes by himself to
* This is not merely a consequence of the quarrel ; see esp. v. 18 15*.
t This restoration of the text follows Doom, and Sta.
330 JUDGES
Timnath to arrange for his marriage (v. 5 ) . As he is approaching
the town, a lion encounters him ; the fury comes on, and he kills
it with his bare hands (v. 6 ) . He goes on, and has a satisfactory
interview with the woman (v. 7 ) . After some time spent in Tim-
nath he returns to Zorah ; * on his way he finds the honey in the
carcase of the lion and takes some to his father and mother,
without telling them where he got it (v. 8f> ). He goes down again
to Timnath for his wedding, and makes a feast according to cus-
tom, taking thirty young Philistines as comrades (v. 10f -). During
the festivities he propounds his riddle, with a wager that they
cannot answer it before the seven days of the feast are over
(v. 12 " 14tt ) . They are unable to solve it, and appeal with threats to
his bride to beguile him of his secret (v. 14b> 15 ) ; she finally exhausts
his patience, and he tells her (v. 16f> ). On the last day, before he
enters the bride chamber, they triumphantly declare the answer
and claim the forfeit (v. 18 ). In a rage, he rushes off, kills thirty
Ashkelonites, and pays the wager ; f then, without seeing his wife
again, he returns to his father's house. To repair this disgrace,
she is married out of hand to his best man (v. 19 - 20 ) .
The story is admirably told ; and the text, with the exception
of the intentional changes which have been discussed, in excellent
preservation.
5. Samson went down to Timnath'] the chief reasons for omit-
ting the words, and his father and his mother, have already been
given ; observe also that when the lion comes roaring to meet
him, his parents are not with him (v. 5b ) , and that in v. 7 there is
no further mention of his father, precisely at the point where we
should expect it if he had accompanied his son. And he came
to the vineyards'] J^, they came y \ necessitated by the introduction
of his father and his mother in the preceding sentence. A full
grown young lion came roaring towards him] to explain the
singular pronoun the commentators are constrained to suppose
that Samson, in his eagerness, had outstripped his slower parents,-
or that he had taken a by-path through the vineyards, while they
* The words, to marry her, are a particularly ill-placed gloss,
t This also is probably a later addition ; see on v. 19 .
J Cf. B, an d see crit. note. Ki.
xiv. 5-7 33i
followed the main road and heard nothing of his adventure.*
6. The spirit of Yahweh rushed upon him] with overmastering
power ; an access of divine rage in which he was irresistible ;
cf. v. 19 15", i S. io 6 - 10 n 6 i8 10 (Saul) i6 13 (David) ; with other
verbs Jud. 3 10 6 s * i^ 25 . On the spirit of Yahweh see on 3*; it is
here conceived of as a physical force, t He tore it asunder as
a man tears a kid~\ the verb occurs in Lev. i 17 , in an old ritual,
of the tearing of a fowl. The tearing of a kid may perhaps also
be a reference to some ceremonial act ; the point of comparison
is not so much the ease with which it was done, as the way in
which it was done; he tore the lion limb from limb with his bare
hands. J Compare the similar stories of David (i S. ly 34 " 36 ) and
Benaiah (28. 23 20 ). So the Greek athlete Polydamas is said to
have killed a large and powerful lion in Olympus, without any
weapon, imitating thus the famous exploit of Hercules. In many
representations of the combat of Hercules with the Nemean lion,
the hero is strangling the beast with his bare hands. || He did not
tell his father and mo ther\ the words are an interpolation derived
from v. 16 (cf. v. 9 ), and fit into the story very ill.^f 7. He went
down and spoke to the woman, and she suited Samson] lit. was
right in his eyes (v. 3 ). It was Samson who went down and spoke
to the woman, not his father,** who appears very much belated
on this errand in v. 10 ; see comm. there. Bertheau explains :
After the parents had arranged the marriage (v. 5f- ), and, with
Samson, had returned to Zorah, he used to go down and talk
to the maiden, and on more intimate acquaintance she pleased
him well (v. 7 ).ft This is perhaps as good an illustration as could
be given of- the absurdities into which the interpolations lead the
* Schm., Stud., Be., al. mu. ; cf. vA
t Doom. ( Th. 7\ 1894, p. 16 f.) regards this clause, together with v. 19a and I5 14btt ,
as foreign to the original text.
J As a matter of fact, to dismember a living animal in this way, even a kid, is
not very easy ; for which reason Cler. supposes that a boiled kid is meant.
Pausanias, vi. 5, 5.
See Baumeister, Denkmaler des klass. Alterthums, i. p. 655 ; Furtwangler in
Rdscher's Lexikon, 2195 flf.
II See above, p. 329.
** harmonizes : they went down and spoke to the -woman. Speak for the woman
would be '3 12T (i S. 2589).
ft All just like a properly conducted German courtship !
332 JUDGES
interpreter. 8. And he went back after a while'} from Timnath
to his father's house at Zorah. So the context imperatively
requires. In v. 7 he visits Timnath and arranges the preliminaries
of his marriage j having done so, in the interval before his wedding,
he returns to his home ; by the way he finds the honey in the
carcase of the lion he had slain as he went down to Timnath ;
goes along eating it on his way to his parents' home (v. 8f- ). The
order of events is plain and natural. . This order is completely
deranged by the addition in our text of the words, to marry her.
We have to suppose that after his visit to Timnath (v. 7 ), Samson
went home, leaving his parents at Timnath, where they are (v. 9 )
when after a while he himself returns thither (v. 8 ). But in v. 10
his father comes down, and we have therefore to assume that, after
Samson's return to Timnath, Manoah went to Zorah and returned
again. This succession of purposeless journeyings to and fro is
not intimated in any way in the narrative itself; it is simply a
complicated and improbable hypothesis necessitated by the words,
to marry her, in v. 8 ; and the clumsiness of the hypothesis is the
strongest evidence that these words do not belong to the original
story,* And he turned aside to see the remains of the lion} which
lay off the pathway, in the vineyards (v. 5 ) . There was a swarm
of bees in the carcase, and honey} we are to imagine the body
dried up, the skin and shrivelled flesh adhering to the ribs, the
belly hollow, f In a hot and dry climate this change would not
take a great while ; } a longer time would be necessary for bees to
take possession of the mummied carcase, and deposit honey.
The story, however, does not represent Samson's discovery as an
every-day occurrence : it is part of a wonderful history, and to be
judged not by the prosaic probabilities of fact, but by the veri-
similitude of the marvellous. Bochart adduces from Herodotus
the story of the bees that made a hive of the scull of Onesilus,
which the people of Amathus had fastened up over the city gate.
It is not unlikely that the story of the bees in the carcase of the
lion is further to be connected with the wide-spread belief of the
ancients in the spontaneous generation of these insects in decaying
* Doom., Sta. f Not merely the osseous skeleton ; 5>, Cler., al.
J Oedmann, Sammlungen aus d. Naturkunde, u. s. w., vi. p. 135 f.
\ Hdt., v. 114; Bochart, Hierozoicon, iii. p. 358, ed. Rosenm,
xiv. 8-9 333
bodies of animals, familiar to us through Vergil.* 9. He scraped
it out into his palms, and went along eating it. And he came to his
father and his mother] at his home ; see on v. 8 . He did not tell
them-] v. 16b .
5. fWDP TV\] omit IDNI raw for the reasons set forth above.f i&o>i]
read Nan with < BN nal fj\6<-v. @ALM Ka i tt K \i Vv et ' s d/wreXtDi/a J ( = 1D>1 v. 8 )
is perhaps an early attempt to explain how his parents, who according to v. a
accompanied him to Timnath, knew nothing of his adventure. ( PVO {J-K\I-
vo.v. nmx *VBD] cf. Ez. ig 3 - 6 . The "POD is a full-grown young lion, in the
wantonness of his superabounding strength. See Bochart, Hierozoicon, ii.
p. 3 ff.; Tristram, Natural Hist, of the Bible*, p. 115 ff. WWlpS JNB>] the
specific word for the roaring of the lion. The construction is pregnant; cf.
i S. 16* 2i 2 Jud. 15" 19 s . 6. njn pora injme"i] Lev. i 17 N 1 ? vjuaa inx PDBM
Sna>; trop. i S. 248 (onaia). The procedure directed in Lev. i 17 is described
as a rending of the victim by hand, without actual severance of the parts; see
Ra. ad loc. ; Sifra, Wayyikra, Parasha 7 ( 9) with the comm. ; Zebachim,
6^a. b 66 a . 'jn Tun nSi] interpolation; see above. 8. nnnp 1 ? D^D aeV]
Bochart, following RLbG., interprets, after a year (ii 40 ), cf. Selden, Uxor
Hebr.y ii. c. 8; but this is here in the highest degree improbable. nSco]
from SDJ, as irrd^a. from Trlirreiv, cadaver a cadendo (Ges. Thes?) nnN] on
the anomalous form see Ol. 216 d.\ || cf. mns (n) v. 5 . 9. vea SK imiM]
mi, in this sense not elsewhere in O.T., is freq. in MH.; scrape, e.g. the thin
sheets of bread from the sides of the oven (nun), or honeycomb from the sides
of the hive (miia) ; Levy, NHWb. iv. p. 427 f. For the latter, cf. M. Shebiith,
x. 7; Baba bathra, 66 a ; Baba mezia, 64 a (see Ra. on the last passage); cf.
also the nom. instrum. mnc, Taanith, 25% &c. This specific sense is abun-
dantly established. That it does not occur again in O.T. is not strange; it is
precisely these household words of the old Hebrew which are not found in it
unless by fortunate exception.^ There is no reason to suspect the text (SS.).
The etymologizing interpretations, ' break, break out ' (Mich. Suppl., Ges.
Thes., al.), " sich bemachtigen des Honigs " (Be. al.), are worthless. vea VN]
in pregnant constr., 'into his hands'; naturally, with a stick or something of
the kind. The considerable variations of <5 are apparently derived from a
Hebrew copy in which vaa had become corrupted to vo. Sbsi pVn i^i] ^n
with two inff. abss., Jos. 6 9 - 13 i S. 6 12 2 S. 3 1G 2 K. 2 11 &c. ^i 2] prob.
through the influence of the preceding verbs; *o>i would be more natural.
* Georg., iv. 299 ff. Many other authors are quoted by Bochart, iii. 353 f., among
them Philo, de sacrificantibus, Opp. ed. Mangey, ii. p. 255. Other lit. is cited by
Rosenm. in his notes on Bochart, and Stud. Merx, " Der Honig im Cadaver des
Lowen," Prof. Kirchenzeitiwg, 1887, 17. col. 389-392, I have not seen.
f Doom., Sta. J M a/oiTeAwvas. Doom., Sta.
|| For other explanations see the authors cited by Buhl, Ges. HWb. s.v.
II Abulw., Ki. Lex., al, refer to this sense Jer. s 31 ; so Buhl.
334 JUDGES
10-18. The wedding ; Samson's riddle. 10. He went down
to the woman and made a feast there\ * J^ and the versions : His
father went down to the woman (/), and Samson made a feast.
This introduction of the father here has a peculiarly absurd effect ;
especially after the other gloss, to marry her (v. 8 ) ; see on v. 5 and
v. 8 , For so bridegrooms used to do~\ on such occasions. The
note is manifestly added because the custom of the narrator's
time was different. The difference lies not in the length of the
festivities,! but in the fact that it was given by the bridegroom at
the home of the bride's parents, instead of his own, which was
altogether exceptional. On wedding customs see note on v. 20 .
11. And he took thirty comrades, and they .were with him\ these
comrades were Philistines (v. 18 ), and took the place of the kins-
men and friends of the bridegroom, who in an ordinary marriage
would have attended him to the bride's home, and thence con-
ducted the couple in festive procession to his house. So the story
originally ran, as we see especially from v. 15b , where it is clear that
they were invited guests, not special constables. Through misun-
derstanding, or possibly to remove offence, this has been so
changed that the Philistines themselves select these comrades;
and a motive for this unusual course is discovered in their appre-
hension that Samson might be up to some mischief. Thus has
arisen the present text, which runs in JH : And when they saw
him, they took thirty comrades; saw what a dangerous-looking
fellow he was. Many Greek manuscripts, representing a slightly
different pronunciation of the Hebrew word, since they feared
him; see crit. note. 12. As everywhere in the world, the
wedding festivities were enlivened by various pleasantries and
plays of wit. \ Samson gives out a riddle, with a wager that the
guests cannot answer it before the week is out. If you can tell
me what it is, during the seven days of the feast, and find it out,
/ will give you, &c.~\ the words, and find it out (yourselves),
which are lacking in several recensions of <, are a gloss taken
from v 18 , as the inappropriate position of the words in f^ also
* Or, And Samson went down (Sta., Doom.). .
tStud.
J On riddles at feasts, see Bochart, Hierozoicon, iii. p. 382 f. t ed. Rosenm.
The seven days, cf. Gen, 29^ Tob. nl9; Wellhausen, GgN. 1893, p. 442.
xiv. io-i 4 335
shows.* The author of the gloss desired an express proviso
against such unfair means as the Philistines took to learn the
secret. Thirty fine linen wrappers and thirty gala dresses'] one
for each of the comrades. The linen wrappers (Is. 3 23 Prov. 3i 24t )
were not undergarments,! but rectangular pieces of fine, thin,
and therefore costly, linen stuff, which might be worn as an outer
garment over the other dress, or as a night-wrapper upon the
naked body ; J see note. Gala dresses'] apparel which was worn
on festival or ceremonial occasions, instead of the every-day
raiment (v. 13 - 19 Gen. 45- 2 K. 5 6 ). 13. If they are unable to
guess the riddle, they shall pay the same wager. They accept the
conditions : Propound Ay riddle, and let us hear it ! 14. Out
of the eater came something to eat, and out of the strong came
something sweet~\ the adjectives in the second member are
descriptive epithets, respectively, of the substantives in the first,
which they replace in poetic parallelism. It is unnecessary,
therefore, to try to make out a perfect antithesis between the
adjectives independently ; there is in reality but one antithesis,
not two. They could not tell the riddle~\ it was, in truth, a very bad
riddle, and quite insoluble without a knowledge of the accidental
circumstance which suggested it. The following dates are evi-
dently not in order. According to % they could not make out
the riddle for three days, and on the seventh day appealed to
Samson's bride to learn the answer for them. || ( ^[ and & have
in v. 15 , the fourth day, instead of the seventh, which agrees better
with v. 14 .** It does not appear, however, why they should give up
in the middle of the week. It is more probable that the error
lies in the other number, and that in v. 14 we should restore, for
six days.\\ The story would then run naturally : They cudgel
their brains in vain for six days ; on the seventh and last day, in
despair of the solution, they try Samson's wife. Their vehemence
in v. 15 is better motived if the time is rapidly drawing to a close
than if they addressed themselves to her several days sooner. A
* Sta., Doom. t Lth., Cler., Schroeder, Ges., MV., SS., al.
J Talmud, Abulw., Tanch., Ki., al. Bochart, al.
|| Ra., Ki., a Lyra, Vatabl., al. understand the seventh day of the week (Sab-
bath) , which was the fourth day of the feast. H <S L agrees with |^. ** So Be.
ft The Hebrew words for three and six differ only in one consonant.
336 JUDGES
new difficulty meets us, however, in v. 17 , where we read that the
woman wept upon him the whole seven days that they had the
feast ; and on the seventh day, tired of her incessant badgering,
he gave in, and told her the answer. If the companions first
appealed to her on the seventh day (v. 15 J^), or even on the
fourth day (*<&), her weeping seems to begin prematurely on
the first day.* Some commentators explain that she had teased
him for the first six days merely out of her own curiosity, and
that on the seventh her importunity was redoubled by the threats
of her countrymen.f If this had been the meaning of the writer,
the order of the narrative or the construction of v. 16a would in all
probability have been different; as it is, nothing of the kind is
intimated in the text. The dates in v. 14 - 15 are therefore, even
after their internal contradiction is removed by the emendation
six, irreconcilable with those in v. 17 ; one or the other must be
interpolated. The words in v. 17 do not read like a gloss, and the
removal of them leaves a rather awkward sentence ; the omission
of the numbers in v. 14 and v. 15 , on the contrary, makes no break,
and Stade rightly rejects them. According to the original story,
then, the Philistines gave up the riddle right away, thinking it an
easier and surer way to win the wager, to learn the answer from
Samson himself through their countrywoman. For six days he is
obdurate to her persuasions and tears, but at last can bear it no
longer and discloses the secret. The interpolation in v. 14- 15 may
have been due to the feeling that the Philistines would not give up
so easily. 15. The Philistines set Samson's bride to discover
his secret. Beguile thy husband^ i6 5 . And make him tell us
the riddle~\ make him betray himself through thee to us. Lest we
burn thee, &c.~\ i5 6 , cf. 12* i K. i6 18 . Did you invite us hither
to impoverish us 'f\ see crit. note.
10. The original text read: 'Ji nnt^D DB> JPJPI ne>xn Sx |WDB> TVI. 11. TIM
mix oniN-o] when they saw him, sc. the Timnathite wedding guests (cunt ergo
cives loci illius vidissent eum, 1L) ; the subject is, however, not at hand in the
context. With | agree <5 B H&, while APVMNO e g have tv T$ 0o0er0cu
eu}roi>s (sub obel. g) afobv = DPfcora; J cf. Fl. Jos., diet, 5tos TTJS tVxi/os TOU
The editor who introduced these words probably wrote onnoa;
* Rashi's explanation is, that she wept the remainder of seven days, viz., from
the fourth on. f Schm., Ke., Be. j Cf. also L.
xiv. i 4 -i8 337
* which is hardly a natural expression in this connexion, is meant to
be more explicit. inpn] the text is to be emended, not by supplying the sub-
ject DTiB'Sfl (Doom 2 .), but by reading npM, He (Samson) took, &c. 12. why?
D>jno] the fno was a fine stuff, of domestic manufacture (Prov. 3i 24 ), an article
of luxury (Is. 3 23 ). The Talmud mentions various uses to which it was put;
as a curtain (M. Yoma, iii. 4, Jer. Sofa, fol. 24), wrapper (Menach., 37 b ),
shroud (Jer. Kilaim, ix. fol. 32 b ). M. Kilaim, xxiv. 13, enumerates three vari-
eties; see Levy, NHWb. iii. p. 480. All these uses suppose that it was a sheet
of considerable size. So it is interpreted by Abulw., Tanch., Ki., Saad. on
Is. 3 23 , JDMich., al. See Schroeder, De vestitu mulierum, p. 339-361;
Hartmann, Hebraerin, ii. p. 346 f. 14, 15. The original text and the first
form of the gloss seem to have been : or a THI : D^D> ntt>a>) n-pnn ronS by x*?i
jn jww rupx 1 ? nDx>i (^aa>n. jy> nx >ns] beguile, 2. S. 3 25 i K. 22 20 - 2L 22
&c. -uiT^'r] inf. Kal (Ki., K6. i. p. 412). The usual inf. is nen. Perhaps
the inf. Eh* 1 was used for distinction in the sense ' reduce to poverty,' cf. Niph.
cnu ' be reduced to poverty.' Contamination of signification through confusion
with Eh ' poor ' may be suspected. Some copies have wvSn (JDMich., cf.
Ki. Comm., and Lex. s.v.) ; others, to exclude this, wrj?n (see Norzi).f x*?n]
the alternative, or not, is xS nx, not_ xSn, and would, even if correctly expressed,
be out of place here. Read o^n hither, J which is found in some Hebr.
manuscripts and is supported by {JT. See Bruns, in Eichhorn's Repertorium,
xiii. p. 70; De Rossi, Baer.
16. She teases him day by day to tell her the riddle. Sam-
son's wife annoyed him by weeping] was burdensome to him;
Nu. 1 1 13 cf. Gen. 45 15 . Thou only hatest me, and dost not love me
at all'} his professions of love are belied by his conduct, which
proves the opposite. Co-ordination of affirmative and negative
for emphasis. He replies to her reproaches that he has not even
told his own parents ; that he does not disclose the riddle to her
is therefore no proof of lack of love or confidence. 17. She
gave him no rest from her tears and importunities all the seven
days that they kept the feast (v. 12 ), until on the last day he gave
in, and told her. Because she besieged him] i6 16 ; pressed him
harder and harder. She at once communicated the secret to her
countrymen. 18. The Timnathites waited till the last moment,
to heighten their triumph and his discomfiture. On the seventh
day, before he went into the bride-chamber] at night. So Stade
* Be. would read onK'va, cf. 2 S. 3 11 .
f Baer has _ in his text, _ in the apparatus
t Stud., Sta., al. $ See on v.Uf-.
338 JUDGES
with much probability conjectures ; cf. 15 1 .* The text, generally
interpreted, before the sun set^ is unintelligible. See on v. 19b and
crit. note. He sees how he has been duped. 9 If you had not
plowed with my heifer, you would not have found , out my riddle\
used illegitimate means. The rhyme of the original cannot well
be imitated in English. 19. In a fury, which is not merely anger
at the deception that has been practised on him, but an access of
the possession to which he is subject (\^ i4 6 ), he rushes away
from the feast and his bride. To Ashkelon~\ the city of Ashkelon
was on the seacoast between Gaza and Ashdod ; \ a two days'
journey from Timnath across the whole breadth of Philistia. So
remote a place, and a large fortified city besides, hardly agrees
with the general impression we receive from the context, that
Samson rushed off from the feast in a rage, surprised some
neighbouring Philistine village and slew the inhabitants, returned
to Timnath with the spoil, paid his^ wager, and was away to his
father's home before the fit was over. Now, there is a Khirbet
'Asqalun little more than an hour south of Timnath, and if the
half-verse were genuine, we should be strongly inclined to think
that in the original story this, and not Askelon on the coast, was
the scene of Samson's exploit. We need not, in such a narrative,
nicely weigh the probabilities of his finding among the spoil
precisely the articles he had wagered. || Stade has given good
reason, however, for regarding the entire half-verse as an addition
to the narrative, made by an editor who thought it unworthy of
Samson to run away without paying the wager which he had lost,
even though the Philistines had won unfairly. In the original
story, v/ 9b followed immediately upon v. 18 : Samson, in a passion,
returned to his father's house. That v. 19a is secondary is evident
from the fact that the slaughter of the Philistines at Ashkelon has
no consequences in the story, in which everything else is so closely
knit in the nexus of cause and effect.^ These considerations,
* ZA TW. iv. 1884, p. 253 f. ; the conjecture is accepted by Bu., Kautzsch,
Doorn2. f (El,:. J See DBV. s.v. SWP. Memoirs, iii. p. 107.
|| The explanation which would evade this difficulty by supposing that Samson
made the raid on Ashkelon to reimburse himself for the expense he had been at in
buying all these clothes (Be.) is more ingenious than plausible.
IF ZATW. iv. 1884, p. 254 f.; cf. Doom. TA.T., 1894, p. 15 f.
xiv. i8-2o 339
especially the last, seem to me decisive. He was angry, and
went up to his father's house~\ angry at the way in which he had
been treated by his companions, and especially at the perfidy of
his wife, which he resents by deserting her. Stade infers from
v. 18 , before he entered the bride-chamber, that the marriage had not
been consummated.* They held back, as has been said, to the
last moment, and just as he was on the point of entering the
chamber, they give their answer : What is sweeter than honey,
and what is fiercer than a lion ? Instantly seeing through the
plot and upbraiding them for it, he rushes out of the house, and
away to Zorah. In thus mocking her he inflicted on her the keen-
est disgrace, and made her and her family a laughing-stock. To
repair this disgrace, her father at once gave her into the arms of
the TrapdvvfjLffxx;, and the interrupted wedding was completed.
20. To his comrade who had been his best man] to the one of the
thirty "comrades" who had borne the part of the <i'A.os TOV
wp,<f>iov (John 3 29 ) .
16. ijnNjtP p"i] all you do is hate me; see notes on 3 2 ii 34 . TJN *|Si]
exclamatory question of surprise and reproach, cf. 9 1 1 23 . 17. p^n] usually
with h pers. ; lit. ' make it strait for some one,' reduce him to straits, extremi-
ties. Of invasion and siege, Dt. 2S 53 - 57 Is. 29 2 - 7 Jer. ip 9 . With ace., Job 32 18
(of inner constraint). 18. no-inn w oiaa] HE before the sun set A fol-
lowed by substantially all the comm. The form nonn is explained as locative
accus.; the significance of the case is supposed to be forgotten (cf. nrunn v. 5 ).
But D^n 'sun' is a rare word (Job 9 7 Is. I9 18 , see on Jud. I 35 ), which we
should not expect to find in old prose instead of tiDB% and the assumption
that the locative is used as a nominative is no less improbable. The case of
nrunn v. 5 is entirely different (see there), and the instances in late poetry
where the ending a is due to the striving after more sonorous forms, or
blundering archaism, do not make the occurrence of the form here any easier
to explain. Stade's emendation, n-nnn (I5 1 ), is one of those comparatively
rare conjectures which are self-evident when once they have been hit upon.
"nSjpa Dnann N 1 ?! 1 ?] et fj.rj KareSa/zdo-are TTJV SdfM\lv fj-ov, J probably for the
sake of the paronomasia. 20. iS n;n Ti'X injnnS] the verb (only here) is
apparently denominative from jn. On marriage and wedding customs see
WRSmith, Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia, 1885; Wellhausen, Die
* Does Fl. JOS. intimate this by his rbi> fie yd^ov exeti/oj/ TrapatTeirai ? (Cler.
on 15!) . f B (alone) before the sun rose ; cf. 8 13 .
+ (SJB () jjpoTpcaaare ey TTJ 6aju.aA.ei /xov.
Hardly intended in an obscene sense like ttnn MH. (RLbG 2).
340 JUDGES
Ehe bei den Arabern, GgN, 1893, P- 431-481 ; Stubbe, Die Ehe im Alien
Testament, 1886; Nowack, Hebr. Archaologie, \. p. 155 ff. Marriage customs
in the modern East, Russell, Aleppo 1 , 1794, i. p. 281 ff.; Lane, Modern Egypt-
ians^, p. 155 ff.; Wetzstein, Zeitschrift fiir Ethnologic, v. 1873, p. 287-294.
The marriage of Samson is the only instance in the O.T. in which the bride
remains in her father's house, and the husband lives with her or visits her
there; but such unions were probably not uncommon in early Israel.
XV. 1-8. Samson burns the Philistines' grain fields.
When Samson's anger cools, he goes down to Timnath to visit
his wife, but finds that she has been given to another. To revenge
himself, he turns loose three hundred foxes with firebrands tied to
their tails, and sets fire to the grain in the fields. Enraged at their
loss, the Philistines burn the woman and her father, who had been
the occasion of the mischief. Samson retaliates, and takes refuge in
a rocky fastness in Judah. 1. After a while, in the time of wheat
harvest} the season is noted, to prepare for the story of the destruc-
tion of the grain fields, v. 4f -. Samson went to visit his wife with a
kid~\ as a present to her, a kind of morning gift. This is another
indication of the nature of the marriage ; it is not impossible that
such a gift was expected at every visit of the husband.* A kid
seems to have been a customary present in such circumstances ;
cf. Gen. 38 17 - ^ (Judah and Tamar) . When he proposes to enter
the inner part of the house to see his wife, her father interposes.
2.7 thought you must certainly hate her, so I gave her to thy
comrade] the best man at the wedding, I4 20 . He has a younger
and fairer daughter whom he offers him in her stead, but Samson
declines. 3. Samson said to them~\ cf. v. 7 . It is not necessary
to suppose that in either case the words were spoken in their
hearing ; the threat was addressed to them. / am without fault
toward the Philistines, if I do them an injury} he cannot be
blamed for retaliating upon them for the wrong that he has suf-
fered ; they have given him just occasion (i4 4 ). 4. The ingen-
ious form which his revenge takes is one of those strokes of rude
wit in which folk-stories delight. Three hundred foxes'} many
* In old Arabia such a gift would be called sadaq, the present a man makes
to his female friend (sadiqa) ; see W. R. Smith, Kinship and Marriage, p. 76 ;
Wellhausen, " Die Ehe bei den Arabern," Nachrichten der kgl. Geselhchaft der
Wissensch. zu Gottingen, 1893, p. 431-481, esp. p. 465 ff.
XV. i-s 341
interpreters, reflecting that the solitary habits of the fox would
make it very difficult to catch such a number, and that Samson's
great strength would be of no avail in such an undertaking, sup-
pose that the author meant jackals, which roam in packs, and could
easily, it is said, be caught by the hundred.* That the Hebrew
name may have included jackals as well as foxes is quite possible ;
the Arabs are said in some places to confound the jackal with the
fox,f and in the modern Egyptian dialect the classical name of
the fox is given exclusively to the jackal. % The decision of the
question is of importance only to those who take the story as a
veracious account of an actual occurrence. They should consider,
however, whether the author would thank them for their attempts
to make Samson's wonderful performance easy. Having caught
his foxes, Samson turned them tail to tail, and put a torch, that is,
a stick of wood wrapped with some absorbent material and satu-
rated with oil, between each pair of tails. 5. He set the
torches on fire, and turned the foxes loose into the Philistines'
standing grain. And burned both the shocks and the standing
grain"] Ex. 22 6 . The following words, and the vineyards [and]
olive orchards, are probably an addition by a later hand, exagger-
ating the mischief. A remarkable parallel to this story is found
in a Roman ceremony described by Ovid, in which, at the Cere-
alia in April, foxes with lighted torches tied to their tails were
turned loose in the Circus. || Older scholars, who noted the
resemblance, explained it by supposing that the Romans had
borrowed the custom from the Phoenicians, among whom it kept
* Bochart, Cler., Rosenmuller, Ke., Cass., Tristram (DB*. i. 1086 f.), RV.8-, al.
mu. In Ps. 63*! jackals seem to be meant.
t Niebuhr, Beschreibung von Arabien, p. 166. The jackal is not found in the
desert ; Doughty, Arabia Deserta, ii. p. 145.
J See Lane, Arab-Engl. Lexicon, p. 338*. Hommel, Saugethiere, p. 310 f., seems
to be mistaken in his very positive assertion.
See 716.
|| Fasti, iv. 68 1 ff. Ovid gives a rationalistic explanation, according to which the
custom commemorated the burning of the grain-fields at Carseoli by a boy who, for
sport, had tied a wisp of burning hay to a fox's tail. See Preller, Romische Mytholo-
gi&, ii. p. 43 f., where the cognate ceremonies of the Robigalia are also discussed ; cf.
also Suidas, s.v. Neoipia (Bochart, p. 202 f.). Analogous customs among the Arabs,
see Wellhausen, JReste qrab. Heidentumes, p. 157 f. ; Goldziher, Muhammedanische
Sfudien, i. p. 34 f.
342 JUDGES
alive the memory of Samson's foxes.* Some modern writers
give to both the same mythical interpretation.! 6. The fire
spread far and wide through the fields of the Philistines. They
seek for the perpetrator of this enormous mischief, and, having
found out, revenge themselves on those who were the cause of it.
They went up\ from other parts of the land ; it was not the work
of the neighbours in Timnath alone. And burnt her and her
father's house with fire~\ savage retaliation for what they had suf-
fered by fire. The reading of <SS&, and her father's house, is to be
preferred to f^, her father ; cf. i4 15 . 7. Samson said to them]
see on v. 3 . If this is the way you do, I will surely be avenged of
you, and after that I will leave off~\ let you alone. On the con-
struction, see note. 8. He smote them, hip and thigh, with a
great slaughter] lit. leg on (over, over and above) thigh ; appar-
ently a proverbial expression for complete overthrow, the exact
meaning of which we do not understand. He went down and
stayed in the fissure of the cliff Etam} cf. Is. 2 21 5 f. The rock
or cliff of Etam was in Judah (v. 9ff -), \ probably near the town of
the same name which appears in the list of places fortified by
Rehoboam between Bethlehem and Tekoa (2 Chr. n 6 ) ; see also
the list of towns in Judah which in (g is appended to Jos. i5 39 .
About half an hour south of Bethlehem, near the village of Artas,
is an 'Am 'Atan, || which is doubtless the Etam of Chronicles and
Josephus, and with which the Etam of our story is identified by
Stanley and others.^!" Schick locates the scene of Jud. 14 in the
vicinity of 'Artuf, and makes an ingenious attempt to identify Lehi
(Khirbet es-Siyyagh), and the cliff Etam ('Araq Isma'in).** The
situation is entirely suitable, lying much nearer Timnath and Zorah
* Serarius, Bochart. The obvious objections to this hypothesis are urged by
Cler.
f See esp. Steinthal, Zeitschr. fur Volkerpsychologie, ii. p. 134. See note at the
end of ch. 16.
+ In i Chr. 48 we find a Judahite clan, Etam.
According to Fl. Jos., Solomon's gardens were there (antt. viii. 7, 3 186;
two schoeni from Jerusalem).
|| Rob., BI&, i. 477; Guerin, Judee, iii. p. 117 f., 303; Bad^., p. 134 f.; esp.
Schick, ZDPV. i. p. 152! See also Neubauer, Geogr. du Talmud, p. 132.
IT Stanley, Jewish Church, i. p. 371 ; Kneucker, BL. s.v. ; Guerin, l.c. \ Birch,
PEF. Qu. St. 1881, p. 323!; BeV, Grove-Wilson, DB*. s.v.; al.
** ZDPV. x. 1887, p. 131 ff., esp. 143 ff., 152 ff. (map, after p. 194).
XV. 6-8 343
than c Ain 'Atan ; the rock is an almost vertical cliff, with a large
cave, very difficult and even dangerous of access.
3. o^ntyVflD oyon TPJM] 'c p npj, Nu. 32 22 cf. 2 S. 3 28 (oyn), b 
