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ing subject, and has the advantage not only of being not adverse to, but of obtaining support from, the present text. It will be observed, that Tyre is not mentioned here, as in Josh. xix., but that Sidon is; and, further, that Achzib and Accho, towns on the coast to the south of Tyre, are mentioned among those whose inhabitants the Asherites could not drive out. Our impression is that Sidon, and its proper and ancient territory, were not included in the lot of Asher; but that Tyre was. We conceive that the Sidonians, having found an advantageous situation for a commercial port, southward of their own territory, had extended their frontier so as to include this spot, and had there recently founded Tyre. So now, under this view, the present text would mean that the Asherites had neglected to drive "the inhabitants of Sidon," that is, those who were formerly inhabitants of Sidon, from Tyre and the usurped district, and had not obliged them to retire within their old territory. Otherwise, under the same view, the expression "inhabitants of Sidon" may well be understood to denote the Sidonians generally; "Sidon" being understood as the name of the country as well as of the town. In the Old Testament there is no particular name for this district except that of the principal town-just as we find in Ps. lxxx. 7, where the words, "the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre," are obviously used generally for the Philistines and Phoenicians. Tyre was then the principal town, as Sidon was at the present date, and as such gave name to the whole Phoenician territory. Therefore, the text would express, that the Sidonians had not been expelled-but it does not say from what place, that being well understood: for the boundary of Asher having, in Josh. xix., been defined as extending to Sidon, and as including Tyre, "the daughter of Sidon," the present expression would obviously mean that the Sidonians ought to have been expelled from Tyre. If the text had said “the inhabitants of Tyre and Sidon," this explanation would not be admissible; but the singular omission of Tyre here affords a strong ground for the view we have taken. We regret that we cannot here show in detail the applicability of this view to the solution of all the difficulties which attend the subject. But the reader who feels interested in the matter, and refers to the previous notes, will perceive these applications; and will, we trust, find his considerations better assisted by this view than by any which has yet been offered.

CHAPTER II.

1 An angel rebuketh the people at Bochim. 6 The wickedness of the new generation after Joshua. 14 God's anger and pity towards them. 20 The Canaanites are left to prove Israel.

AND an 'angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you.

2 And 'ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land: 'ye shall throw down their altars: but ye have not obeyed my voice: why have ye done this?

3 Wherefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a 'snare unto you.

4 And it came to pass, when the angel of the LORD spake these words unto all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voice, and wept.

5 And they called the name of that place "Bochim: and they sacrificed there unto the LORD.

6¶And when Joshua had let the people go, the children of Israel went every man unto his inheritance to possess the land.

7 And the people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that 'outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the LORD, that he did for Israel.

8 And Joshua the son of Nun, the ser

1 Or, messenger.

2 Deut. 7.2. 3 Deut. 12. 3. 7 Heb. prolonged days after Joshua,

vant of the LORD, died, being an hundred and ten years old.

9 And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the mount of Ephraim, on the north side of the hill Gaash.

10 And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel.

11 ¶ And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim:

12 And they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the LORD to anger.

13 And they forsook the LORD, and served Baal and Ashtaroth.

14 ¶ And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and he sold them into the hands of their enemics round about, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies.

15 Whithersoever they went out, the hand of the LORD was against them for evil, as the LORD had said, and 'as the LORD had sworn unto them: and they were greatly distressed.

16 Nevertheless the LORD raised up judges, which "delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them.

Exod. 23. 33, and 34. 12.
Deut, 28. 10 Heb. saved.

4 Josh. 23. 13. Psal. 44. 12. Isa. 50, 1.

9 Lev. 26,

That is, weepers.

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Verse 1. "From Gilgal to Bochim."—From this we may infer that the angel had made his appearance at Gilgal before he came to Bochim. The latter place is thought to have been at or near Shiloh, or, as some think, Bethel.

10. "All that generation.”—That is, doubtless, the generation which had grown up in the wilderness, and had witnessed a part of the works of the Lord there. They had also crossed the divided Jordan, had beheld the wonders through which the Lord had enabled them to overcome "nations greater and mightier than themselves," and who, in the last days of Joshua, had solemnly renewed the covenant with Jehovah.

The chapter before us claims the most attentive consideration of those who would thoroughly understand the condition of the Israelites during the several centuries which elapsed from the death of Joshua to the establishment of a regal government. It is a masterly summary of the leading principles of conduct which the subsequent circumstances illustrate. The succeeding brief collection of leading facts would not be well understood without the general and connecting statement contained in this chapter.

11. "Served Baalim.”—The word Baalim (lords) being plural, the meaning is, that they served not one particular deity, but the various gods of the country, as is expressly said in verse 12. Jahn's section, on 'The Theocracy from Joshua to Samuel,' in his History of the Hebrew Commonwealth,' forms so valuable, though short, a commentary on this chapter, that we shall not deny ourselves the satisfaction of quoting its substance in our notes. Referring to the apostacy of the Israelites, he observes: "The last admonitions of Joshua, and the renewal of the covenant with Jehovah, failed to produce all the effect intended. That generation, indeed, never suffered idolatry to become predominant, but still they were very negligent in regard to the expulsion of the Canaanites. Only a few tribes made war on their hereditary foes, and even they were soon weary of the contest. They spared their dangerous and corrupting neighbours, and, contrary to an express statute, were satisfied with making them tributary. They even became connected with them by unlawful marriages; and then it was no longer easy for them to exterminate or banish the near relatives of their own families. Thus the Hebrews rendered the execution of the law more difficult, if not impossible, and wove for themselves the net in which they were afterwards entangled." Their Canaanitish relatives invited them to their festivals, at which the most gross and corrupting rites of idolatry were freely exercised. These debaucheries were consecrated by the religious customs of all nations; and however painful it may be to refer to them, the truth of Hebrew history will not allow us to overlook them, in estimating the causes which operated in seducing the Israelites from their allegiance to Jehovah. The enticements of their pagan relatives and neighbours, and the impurities which their religion sanctioned, but which the law of Jehovah counted abominable, too soon brought His subjects to submit themselves to deities so tolerant of sin, and so highly honoured by the people with whom they associated. "At first, probably," says Jahn, "a representation of Jehovah was set up, but this was soon transformed to an idol, or was invoked as an idol by others, of which there is a remarkable example in the time soon after Joshua. (Judges xvii. and xviii.) Idolatrous images were afterwards set up with the image, and the Hebrews imagined that they should be the more prosperous if they rendered religious homage to the ancient gods of the land. The propensity to idolatry, which was predominant in all the rest of the world, thus spread itself like a plague. From time to time idolatry was openly professed; and this national treachery to their king Jehovah, always brought with it national misfortunes."

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14. "He delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them.”—Idolatry was probably not openly tolerated till the generation which had sworn anew to the covenant had become extinct. But, after that, the rulers were unable, or unwilling, any longer to prevent the worship of pagan deities. Then the Hebrews," to continue our quotations from Jahn, "rendered effeminate by this voluptuous religion, and forsaken by their king Jehovah, were no longer able to contend with their foes, and were forced to bow their necks under a foreign yoke. In this humiliating and painful subjection to a conquering people, they called to mind their deliverance from Egypt, the ancient kindnesses of Jehovah, the promises and threatenings of the Lord; they forsook their idols, who could afford them no assistance, returned to the sacred tabernacle, and then found a deliverer who freed them from the yoke of bondage. The reformation was generally of no longer duration than the life of the deliverer. As soon as that generation was extinct, idolatry again

crept in by the same way. Then followed subjection and oppression under the yoke of a neighbouring people, till a second reformation prepared them for a new deliverance. Between these extremes of prosperity and adversity, as the consequences of their fidelity or treachery to their king, Jehovah, the Hebrew nation was continually fluctuating till the time of Samuel. Such were the arrangements of Providence, that as soon as idolatry gained the ascendency, some one of the neighbouring people grew powerful, acquired the preponderance, and subjected the Hebrews. Jehovah always permitted their oppressions to become sufficiently severe to arouse them from their slumbers, to remind them of the sanctions of the law, and to turn them again to their God and king. Then a hero arose, who inspired the people with courage, defeated their foes, abolished idolatry, and re-established the authority of Jehovah. As the Hebrews, in the course of time, became continually more obstinate in their idolatry, so each subsequent oppression of the nation was always greater and more severe than the preceding. So difficult was it, as mankind were then situated, to preserve a knowledge of the true God in the world; though so repeatedly and expressly revealed, and in so high a degree made evident to the senses." This and the preceding extracts, from the same author, excellently discriminate the spirit of the period, the history of which now engages our attention. Milton, alluding to the same facts, after noticing the idols to whose worship the Hebrews were addicted, says―

"For those the race of Israel oft forsook

Their Living-Strength, and unfrequented left
His righteous altar, bowing lowly down

To bestial gods; for which their heads as low
Bow'd down in battle, sunk before the spear
Of despicable foes."

16. "Judges."-See the introductory note to this book. It is important to the right understanding of the very interesting period before us to have a distinct idea of the nature of the office held by the Hebrew judges. It will have been observed that the Hebrew constitution made no provision for a permanent and general governor of the nation. It is true that such rulers did exist, as Moses, Joshua, and the judges; but their office was not a permanent institution, but arose from circumstances, and from the necessity of the times, each ruler being, as occasion required, appointed by God, or elected by the people. We must not regard this irregularity as a defect in the Hebrew system of government; for, framed as it was, it was very possible for the state to subsist in happiness and strength without a general ruler. In the first place, God himself was the chief magistrate, and had established an agency, through which his will might be at all times ascertained. Under him there was his visible minister, the high-priest, who was empowered to attend to the general affairs of the nation, where there was no military or civil ruler specially appointed for the purpose. We are also to remember that every tribe had its own chief or prince, whose office was permanent, and who, with the subordinate heads of families, wielded the patriarchal powers, which, in ordinary circumstances, were amply sufficient to keep the affairs of his tribe in proper order. In this state of affairs the mild authority of the high-priest ought to have been sufficient for the purposes of general government. But this was not the case; the apostacy and rebellion of the Hebrews, and the punishment with which such sins were visited, gave occasion to the appointment of extraordinary functionaries, which the organization of the state did not in itself require. These were the judges. They arose, from time to time, as they were wanted; and were sometimes called by God himself to their high work, and were sometimes elected by the people. The judge was commonly a person, who, having been instrumental in delivering the people from their oppression, usually continued to administer the general government during the remainder of his life. Some, however, seem to have been appointed to govern in time of peace. Deborah ruled in Israel before the war with Jabin; Samuel certainly was not introduced to the government by his military exploits; and of Jair, Ibzan, Ebon, and Abdon, it is at least uncertain that they held any military command. The oppressions which this book records were not always equally felt over all Israel; and hence the authority of the deliverer sometimes only extended over the tribes he had delivered, or over those which chose to acknowledge his authority, or concurred in his appointment. Thus Jephthah did not exercise his authority on the west of the Jordan; nor did that of Barak extend to the east of that river. Some of the judges appear to have ruled, contemporarily, over different tribes: and this is one of the circumstances which perplexes the chronology of the period.

The judges, as we have seen, did not transmit their dignity to their descendants, neither did they appoint successors. The authority of the judges was very considerable; and was in fact limited only by the law. They exercised most of the rights of sovereignty, but they could not enact laws or impose taxes on the people; they made peace and war, and in their judicial character they decided causes without appeal: yet all this power seems rather to have been the result of character and influence, than of any authority recognized as inherent in the office. No salary or income attached to it, unless it might be a larger share in the spoils of war, and such presents as might, according to Oriental custom, be offered to the judge as testimonials of respect. These high functionaries have no external marks of distinction; they were surrounded by no circumstances of pomp or cereinony; they had no courtiers, guards, train, or equipage. They were in general men of moderate desires; and were content to deserve well of their country, without caring to aggrandize their own power, or to be enriched by the public wealth. Some of them manifest errors of conduct, which the sacred writer does not extenuate or conceal; but ancient or modern history does not exhibit a succession of public men so distinguished for disinterested patriotism and zeal, and so free from the public crimes which, in common histories, so frequently flow from resentments and the lust of wealth or power. "Their exalted patriotism, like everything else in the theocratical state of the Hebrews, was partly of a religious character; and these regents always conducted themselves as the officers of God; in all their enterprises they relied upon Him, and their only care was that their countrymen should acknowledge the authority of Jehovah, their invisible king....They were not merely deliverers of the state from a foreign yoke, but destroyers of idolatry, foes of pagan vices, promoters of the knowledge of God, of religion, and of morality, restorers of theocracy in the minds of the Hebrews, and powerful instruments of Divine Providence in the promotion of the great design of preserving the Hebrew constitution, and, by that means, of rescuing the true religion from destruction." (Jahn's Heb. Commonwealth'-sect. 'Office of the Judges; see also his 'Archæologia;' Michaelis, art. 53; Lewis's Origines Hebrææ;' and Horne's Introduction,' vol. iii. 84.)

CHAPTER III.

1 The nations which were left to prove Israel. 6 By communion with them they commit idolatry. 8 Othniel delivereth them from Chushan-rishathaim. 12 Ehud from Eglon. 31 Shamgar from the Philistines.

Now these are the nations which the LORD left, to prove Israel by them, even as many of Israel as had not known all the wars of Čanaan ;

2 Only that the generations of the children of Israel might know, to teach them war, at the least such as before knew nothing thereof;

3 Namely, five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites that dwelt in mount Lebanon, from mount Baal-hermon unto the entering in of Hamath.

4 And they were to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would hearken unto the commandments of the LORD, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.

5 And the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, Hittites, and Amorites, and Perizzites, and Hivites, and Jebusites:

6 And they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons, and served their gods.

7 And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and forgat the LORD their God, and served Baalim and the groves.

8 Therefore the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Chushan-rishathaim king of 'Mesopotamia: and the children of Israel served Chushan-rishathaim eight years.

9 And when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised up a 'deliverer to the children of Israel, who delivered them, even Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother.

10 And the Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he judged Israel, and went out to war: and the LORD delivered Chushan-rishathaim king of 'Mesopotamia into his hand; and his hand prevailed against Chushan-rishathaim.

11 And the land had rest forty years. And Othniel the son of Kenaz died.

12 ¶ And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD: and the

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LORD strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the LORD.

13 And he gathered unto him the children of Ammon and Amalek, and went and smote Israel, and possessed the city of palm trees.

14 So the children of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.

15 But when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised them up a deliverer, Ehud the son of Gera, 'a Benjamite, a man lefthanded: and by him the children of Israel sent a present unto Eglon the king of Moab.

16 But Ehud made him a dagger which had two edges, of a cubit length; and he did gird it under his raiment upon his right thigh.

17 And he brought the present unto Eg lon king of Moab: and Eglon was a very fat man.

18 And when he had made an end to offer the present, he sent away the people that bare the present.

19 But he himself turned again from the quarries that were by Gilgal, and said, I have a secret errand unto thee, O king: who said, Keep silence. And all that stood by him went out from him.

20 And Ehud came unto him; and he was sitting in a summer parlour, which he had for himself alone. And Ehud said, I have a message from God unto thee. And 'he arose out of his seat.

21 And Ehud put forth his left hand, and took the dagger from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly:

22 And the haft also went in after the blade; and the fat closed upon the blade, so that he could not draw the dagger out of his belly; and 'the dirt came out.

23 Then Ehud went forth through the porch, and shut the doors of the parlour upon him, and locked them.

24 When he was gone out, his servants came; and when they saw that, behold, the doors of the parlour were locked, they said, Surely he covereth his feet in his summer chamber.

25 And they tarried till they were ashamed: and, behold, he opened not the doors of the parlour; therefore they took a key, and opened them: and, behold, their lord was fallen down dead on the earth.

4 Heb. Aram. 5 Or, the son of Jemini.

6 Heb. shut of his right hand. 9 Or, it came out at the fundament. 10 Or, doth his easement.

26 And Ehud escaped while they tarried, | of Jordan toward Moab, and suffered not a and passed beyond the quarries, and escaped man to pass over. unto Seirath.

27 And it came to pass, when he was come, that he blew a trumpet in the mountain of Ephraim, and the children of Israel went down with him from the mount, and he before them.

28 And he said unto them, Follow after me: for the LORD hath delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand. And they went down after him, and took the fords

29 And they slew of Moab at that time about ten thousand men, all "lusty, and all men of valour; and there escaped not a man.

30 So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest fourscore years.

31 And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath, which slew of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox goad: and he also delivered Israel.

11 Heb. fat.

Verse 7. "Served Baalim and the groves.”—Groves were consecrated to the worship of Pagan divinities, but were not themselves objects of worship. The common interpretation is, that the expression denotes, by metonymy, an idol worshipped in a grove, or a sylvan goddess. But, as Baal and Ashtaroth are usually coupled together as objects of worship, the one being the sun and the other the moon, and as the word translated "groves" differs little from what is usually the proper name of Ashtaroth, it is fair to conclude that the word here (WN, asharoth) is the same as the usual name of Ashtaroth (y), wrongly spelt, or else another name, slightly modified, of the same goddess. 8. "Chushan-rishathaim, king of Mesopotamia."-This king must have been something of a great conqueror, as we cannot but suppose that he had subdued the other nations west of the Euphrates before he reached the Hebrews. "Served."―This servitude, as applied to the state of subjection to which the Hebrews were oftentimes reduced, must be understood with some variation of meaning according to circumstances; but generally it signifies the obligation to pay tribute and make presents to the conqueror. That they were obliged to render personal or military service does not appear from the Scriptures; but that they were sometimes subject to the most severe and cruel treatment will appear in the sequel. It is very probable that their subjection to this distant king was more favourable than that to the immediately neighbouring nations, and even to nations dwelling in the same land with themselves, to which they were afterwards reduced.

12. "Eglon the king of Moab.”—The Moabites, by a long peace, would seem to have recovered the strength which they had lost in their wars with the Amorites. Probably they and their kindred tribe the Amorites used, as the pretence for their aggressions, the reasons which we find in Judg. xi. 13-15; namely, that they were entitled to the country which formerly belonged to them, but which had been taken from them by the Amorites, and which the Hebrews, having recovered from the latter, retained as their own possession. As to the Amalekites, the deep and rooted enmity between them and the Hebrews, sufficiently accounts for the aid which Eglon received from them in his undertaking.

13. "The city of palm trees.”—That is, Jericho. Eglon would seem, in virtue of his new conquests, to have established the royal residence on the west of the river at Jericho. As this was in the tribe of Benjamin, that tribe doubtless felt more strongly than those more remote, the severity of the Moabitish oppression. Hence we are not surprised to find the next deliverer belonging to that tribe.

15. "Lefthanded."-The Septuagint and Vulgate versions sanction the opinion entertained by many that Ehud was an ambidexter, one who could use both hands alike. The original indeed seems to sanction the other opinion that Ehud was really left-handed, that is, that he had a better use of his left hand than of his right. It is TON “bound in his right hand;" which seems to imply a deficiency of power in the right hand, compensated by unusual power in the left; and this is the explanation of Josephus. One thing is certain, that the tribe of the Benjamites was remarkable for men who enjoyed a singular facility in the use of their left hand, whatever might be the condition of their right. Thus in chap. xx. 16, we read of 700 left-handed Benjamites, every one of whom could sling a stone at a hair's breadth, and not miss. The expression for "left-handed" is exactly the same there as that which here characterises the left-handedness of Ehud; and that this singular endowment or acquirement was not mere lefthandedness, we seem to learn from 1 Chron. xii. 2, where the sacred historian, speaking of the men of that tribe who resorted to David at Ziklag, says: "They were armed with bows, and could use both the right hand and the left in hurling stones and shooting arrows out of a bow." Notwithstanding, therefore, the rather strong inference from the Hebrew words rendered "left-handed," it is highly probable that the "left-handed" Ehud, and the 700 "left-handed” Benjamites were ambidexterous, like the men of the same tribe in the above-cited text. We may, nevertheless, suppose that some of the Benjamites were particularly skilled in the left hand, to the neglect of the right, and that others were trained to use both hands with equal effect. It is curious to find this tribe, in particular, distinguished in this manner. "Benjamin" means "son of the right hand," and one might also suspect that some fancy in connection with their name had led the tribe to give particular attention to cultivate the power of their hands. The reason why the left-handedness of Ehud is here noticed, is evidently to account for his being able to good purpose to carry on his right thigh, under his garment, the weapon usually worn on the left. No one would suspect that he had any weapon unless they saw it girded upon his left thigh; and very probably he disposed his dress so as to expose his left side more than the other, which would at the same time preclude the suspicion that he had arms, and enable him the more effectually to conceal the weapon he actually carried. See further in the note to 1 Chron. xx. 16.

18. "When he had made an end to offer the present, he sent away the people that bare the present."-This present was perhaps the annual tribute, or at least an occasional offering, such as it is usual in the East for tributaries and subordinate governors to send to their lord. Such offerings the pride of Oriental despotism determines to be tribute, even when they are strictly presents from a foreign and independent power. The English ambassadors to Persia and China had great trouble to make it distinctly understood that the presents of which they were the bearers, were not to be regarded in the light of tribute, but as tokens of consideration from a friendly power. This point was, with much trouble and debate, gained in Persia; but it was never unequivocally conceded in China, where our ambassadors were

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