The beginning of it (i.-xii.) is parallel with Num. xxii.-xxxii., and xiii.-xxiv. with the book of Joshua; then follows an account of an embassy, and the magic of the Persian king, Shaubeck, and of Joshua's war with him. After a short abstract of the Mosaic Law, the book concludes with Joshua's last admonition to the people, (Josh. xxiv.)

Hottinger" thus speaks of it:-"In the division of the land, the district containing the loftiest mountain fell to Joshua the son of Nun the king, and his associate Caleb, the leader of all the tribes. He held it in common with him, [Caleb.] And when each one went to his own place, he distributed the Levites, each one into that place which was assigned to him exclusively in the distribution of the whole land,... ... so that they might oversee the affairs of men, which relate to prayers, judgments, the rendering and giving of tithes, and the offering of sacrifices. To each of the tribes he appointed chief judges, who should relate all events to the pontiff, and should inform him of all that happened in their districts. Then Joshua erected a fortress on the mountain, on the left side of the blessed mount. . . . . . . Moreover he erected a temple on the top of the blessed mount; and in it a sanctuary to the Lord, which, except himself, none but the priests and the Levites ever saw. . . . . . . On that day (Josh. x.) God showed them miracles against their enemies; so that, if any one wished to withdraw and save himself by flight, fire fell upon and consumed him. Also a certain phantom descended among them, so that the very horses charged them, and chased them to death, as long as they heard the voices of the sons of Israel. The hours of the day were prolonged for them, as God

promised, so that, in this day alone, they gained as much as would suffice for the space of an entire year." Another recension of this history is found in the Samaritan chronicle of Abul Phetach."

CHAPTER III.

THE BOOK OF JUDGES.'

§ 172.

CONTENTS OF THE BOOK.

AFTER some introductory notices, (chap. i.,) and a denunciatory oracle, (ii. 1-5,) the book of Judges, properly so called, begins, (ii. 6—xvi. 31,) and contains the history of the anarchy and apostasy which ensued after the death of Joshua, and of the subjugation of the people which was occasioned thereby, and was connected with the divine displeasure.

See Schnurrer, in Eichhorn's Rep. vol. ix. p. 54. See a summary of its contents in Actis, Eruditt.; Lips. an. 1691, p. 167; and an essay by Schnurrer, in Paulus, N. Rep. vol. i. p. 117, sqq. Reland, Diss. ii. p. 314; 1706. Hottinger, Exercit. Antimorin. p. 105, sqq. Smeg. Or. p. 437. Hist. Or. p. 40, 120. Disp. Lib. V. T. supposititiis, No. 1. Exeg. Handbuch A. T. vol.

iii. p. 18, sqq.

Bonfrerii, Serrarii, Jo. Clerici, Maurer, Comment. Jo. Drusii Annotatt. in Loca diff. Josh., Judg., et Sam. Rosenmüller, Schol. above cited.

Victorin. Strigeli Scholia in L. Judg.; Lips. 1586.

Seb. Schmidt, Comment. in Libr. Judg. above cited.

Exeget. Handb. des A. T. 2 and 3 pt.

Ziegler, Bemerkk. über d. B. d. Richt. im Geiste des Heldenalters, in his Theol. Abhandl. vol. i. p. 275, sqq. Studer, B. Richter; 1835.

Coleridge, Miscellaneous Dissertations arising from Judg. xvii. and xviii.; Lond. 1768, 8vo.

Paulus, Blicke in d. B. der Richt., theol. ex. Conservat. vol. ii. p. 180, sqq. Geddes, Holy Bible, &c. vol. ii. Palfrey, l. c. vol. ii.

As often as the Israelites turned from this anarchy and apostasy, they were delivered by heroes divinely inspired, who, so long as they lived and governed, preserved the people from apostasy and subjection; but, after their death, the old game began anew. The author has very clearly set forth this alternation of crime and punishment, of repentance and restoration to favor, according to a plan laid down in ii. 6-23, which he has only interrupted by episodes, and by the history of Samson, but which has, probably, been kept at the expense of historical completeness.*

Chap. i. contains notices of the conquest of the land after Joshua's death. A supplement (chap. xvii.-xxi.) contains two narratives, introduced as proofs of the anarchy and licentiousness which prevailed before the regal government was established in Israel. To judge from xx. 27, 28, the history in xix. xxi. belongs in the time shortly after Joshua. But the statement it contains is designed to explain the existence of idolatry at Beth-el, where there was a private and illegal sanctuary without the ark of the covenant. Now, the existence of such a sanctuary supposes that a long time had passed since Joshua.

$173.

CHARACTER OF THE NARRATIVE.

Although distinguished by miraculous and mythological features, the narrative not only bears the marks of a

5, 1 Sam. vii. 15, sq.) Archäol. § 27, sqq.

pi, i. e. rulers, in war or peace, and in a peculiar sense judges, (iv. De Wette, Archäol. § 28. See Gesenius, in verb. Jahn, 1. c. §33. Eichhorn, § 456. Since the judges are from several tribes, and follow one another almost in geographical order, Studer conjectures that the present is not the original plan. See § 174, below. See Josephus, Ant. v. 2, 3, and Carpzov, l. c. p. 189.

genuine, inartificial, popular legend, but, in part, of a true, historical tradition, and gives a lively picture of the condition and morals of the people at that time. The difference between the spirit of this book and that of the book of Joshua is very evident.

There is but one passage which contains, obviously, an etymological and symbolical myth, (ii. 1—5,) where a place is named Bochim, [weeping,] because the people wept. Chapters vi. and vii. are highly mythological. The passage xvii.-xxi. is entirely free from mythology. No narratives in the Old Testament are more beautiful and true to nature than the story of Gideon's achievements, in chap. viii.; of the adventures of Abimelech, chap. ix.; of Jephthah, chap. xi.; and the narratives in xvii.-xxi."

[It seems not to have been the design of the compiler of this book to furnish a regular and continuous history of the times from Joshua to Jephthah. He only selects those periods and instances which are suitable to his purpose, and serve to show that suffering follows sin, and obedience to the law of Jehovah always secures tranquillity and national happiness. He passes over

On a correct view of the legends relating to Samson, see Dieterich, Zur Gesch. Simsons, pt. 3, 1778, 1789. Justi, on Samson's strength, in Eichhorn, Rep. vol. vii. p. 78, sqq. Verm. Abhandlungen, vol. i. p. 164, sqq. Herder, Spirit of Hebrew Poetry, vol. ii. Paulus, 1. c. 199, sqq. [Dr. Palfrey (1. c. vol. ii. p. 194, sq.) says, the "character of Samson is but a wild compound of the buffoon, the profligate, and the bravo. With a sort of childish cunning, and such physical faculties as a fantastic invention has ascribed to the ogre, he is without a common measure of capacity to provide for his own protection," &c. It is amusing to read in Horne, l. c. (iv. 37,) "The Vulpinaria, or feast of the foxes, celebrated by the Romans in the month of April, (the time of the Jewish harvest, in which they let loose foxes with torches fastened to their tails,) was derived from the story of Samson, which was conveyed into Italy by the Phoenicians; and to mention no more, in the history of Samson and Delilah, we find the original of Nisus and his daughters, who cut off their fatal hairs upon which the victory depended."]

he says,

...

long periods in the briefest manner. Thus, in x. 1, "After Abimelech there arose ...... Tola; he judged Israel twenty-and-three years, and died;" iii. 30, "And the land had rest fourscore years;" viii. 28, "and the country was in quietness forty years in the days of Gideon." For this reason, it is difficult to determine the chronology of the book."

Portions of the book are pragmatic; for example, "The anger of Jehovah was hot against Israel," (ii. 14, 15, 16, 18, 20-23.) The deliverers of the nation are

b

[See, also, x. 3, xii. 7—15, xv. 20, xvi. 31.]

[The following table is taken from De Wette's Archæology, § 27:

From Joshua till the time when the new race fell into idolatry, (Judg. i. ii. Josephus, Ant. vi. 5, 4,)

Servitude under Cushan-rishathaim, (iii. 8,)

Deliverance by Othniel, and 40 years' rest, (iii. 11,).
Servitude under the Moabites, (iii. 14,)

Deliverance by Ehud, and 80 years' rest, (iii. 30,).

Shamgar, (no date,) (iii. 31,)

18 years.

8

66

40

66

18

66

80

66

Decline of the Jews after Gideon's death, (viii. 33-35,). . X.
Abimelech's reign, (ix. 22,) .

Jephthah, (xii. 7,)

In all, (without the 40 doubtful years, marked in numerals,) ·

But if the temple of Solomon was built 480 years after the departure from Ægypt, as it is said, 1 Kings vi. 1, the above chronology must be wrong. Rosenmüller makes 410 years.]