THE BOOK OF JOSHUA.

CHAPTER V. VERSE II.

And they did eat of the old corn of the land on the morrow after the passover, unleavened cakes, and parched corn in the selfsame day.

UNLEAVENED CAKES] Hebrew, matzoth, 'unfermented cakes.'

The phrase 'selfsame day' seems to indicate the eagerness with which the people, sick of the manna, desired to eat the fruits of this long-promised land. It is added, ‘And the manna ceased'; teaching us that miracles of feeding are not works of supererogation, but disappear when the ordinary supplies of Providence are available. For the right use of these natural supplies men are as responsible as for the miraculous gifts, and for their abuse (by changing them) as sinful as the discontented Jews who loathed 'the bread from heaven.'

CHAPTER IX. VERSE 4.

They did work wilily, and went and made as if they had been ambassadors, and took old sacks upon their asses, and wine bottles, old, and rent, and bound up.

AND WINE BOTTLES] Hebrew, va-nodoth yayin, and bottles of wine'; Lxx., askous oinou, ‘skin bottles of wine'; V., utres vinarios, ‘wine-bags.'

CHAPTER IX. VERSE 13.

And these bottles of wine, which we filled, were new; and, behold, they be rent: and these our garments and our shoes are become old by reason of the very long journey.

AND THESE BOTTLES OF WINE] Hebrew, vě-alleh nodoth hay-yayin, and these bottles of the wine'; the LXX., kai outoi oi askoi tou oinou, and these skin bottles of the wine'; the V., utres vini, bags of wine.'

CHAPTER XV. VERSE II.

And the border went out unto the side of Ekron northward and the border was drawn to Shicron, and passed along to mount Baalah, and went out unto Jabneel; and the goings out of the border were at the sea.

SHICRON] Hebrew, Shikron, ‘drinking' or 'drunkenness.' Shicron was a town on the northern border of Judah. The reason of its name can only be conjectured. It may have had some relation to the abundance of shakar, 'sweet drink,' obtained from neighbouring palm trees, or from the indulgence of the people in shakar, when not always safe to be drunk [see Note on John iv. 5], or, possibly, some famous drinker may have founded the city, whose name became a memorial of his intemperance.

CHAPTER XXIV. VERSE 13.

And I have given you a land for which ye did not labour, and cities which ye built not, and ye dwell in them; of the vineyards and oliveyards which ye planted not do ye eat.

The Hebrew, kerahmim vě-zaithim, signifies vineyards and olive trees'. The LXX. has ampelōnas kai elaiōnas ; the V., vineas et olivetas.

THE BOOK OF JUDGES.

CHAPTER IV. VERSE 19.

And he said unto her, Give me, I pray thee, a little water to drink; for I am thirsty. And she opened a bottle of milk, and gave him. drink, and covered him.

CHAPTER V. VERSE 25.

He asked water, and she gave him milk; she brought forth butter in a lordly dish.

MILK] Hebrew, khahlahv, ‘milk'; the Lxx., gala; the V., lac. BUTTER] Hebrew, khemah, 'butter-milk'; the LXX., bouturon; the V., butyrum. It was the kind of milk best suited to assuage the warrior's thirst. Some critics read 'cream,' or milk from which the cream was not separated. Some think that both a fluid and a more solid form of milk were given to Sisera. Butter was not used by the ancients, nor is it used by the Orientals of the present day except medicinally. Utterly unsupported is the notion that Jael gave Sisera camel's milk which had fermented, in order that he might be thrown into an intoxicated stupor. J. D. Michaelis, who had referred to Niebuhr as a witness for the intoxicating property of camel's milk, is contradicted by Rosenmüller, who observes, "Dicit potius Niebuhrius lac camelinum Arabibus, salubre et refrigerans haberi" (Niebuhr rather says that the milk of the Arabs' camel is healthy and refreshing). It is not always that an erring Michaelis has a critical Rosenmüller on his track. It is not certain, or even probable, that Jael resolved upon Sisera's death till he had fallen asleep. His request for no beverage but water, 'for I am thirsty,' is an example by which modern soldiers might profit. "Some think," says Dr Gill, "he did not ask for wine because he knew the Kenites did not drink any, and so of course kept none in their tents; but though this was the custom of the Rechabites, who were the same with the Kenites (Jer. xxxv. 8), yet it is very probable the custom had not obtained among them, since it was enjoined by Jonadab their father, who lived in the time of Jehu (2 Kings x. 15): She opened a bottle of milk, and gave him to drink,' which she did rather out of courtesy, being a better liquor, or with design to throw him into a sleep, which milk inclines to, making heavy, as all the Jewish commentators observe; though Josephus has no authority to say, as he does, that the milk she gave him was bad and corrupt." Dr Gill is too hard on Josephus, who states that the milk (gala) was diephthoros eedee, which Rosenmüller considers to mean 'acid already,' but not therefore bad to drink.

CHAPTER VI. VERSE 19.

And Gideon went in, and made ready a kid, and unleavened cakes of an ephah of flour: the flesh he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out unto him under the oak, and presented it.

UNLEAVENED CAKES] Hebrew, matzoth, unfermented cakes.' [The same word occurs in verse 20, and twice in verse 21, and is correctly translated in each case 'unleavened cakes,' and not 'unleavened bread,' as in most other places of the A. V.]

CHAPTER VII. VERSE 25.

And they took two princes of the Midianites, Oreb and Zeeb; and they slew Oreb upon the rock Oreb, and Zeeb they slew at the winepress of Zeeb, and pursued Midian, and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon on the other side Jordan.

AT THE WINEPRESS OF ZEEB] Hebrew, vě-yeqev Zeab, 'in (or at) the winepress of Zeeb.' He may have taken refuge inside the press, hoping to be concealed till the pursuit was relinquished.

CHAPTER VIII. VERSE 2.

And he said unto them, What have I done now in comparison of you? Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abi-ezer?

THE GLEANING OF THE GRAPES OF EPHRAIM] Hebrew, olloth Ephraim, 'the gleanings of Ephraim.' The words 'of the grapes' in the A. V. are not in the Hebrew, but the sense is the same.

THE VINTAGE OF ABI-EZER] Hebrew, batzir Abiezer. Batzir, 'vintage,' from bahtzar, to cut away'; hence the cutting off of grapes when ripe = the vintage.

The country of Ephraim was so prolific in grapes, that gleaning them after the regular grape-gathering was more profitable than to pluck the vineyards possessed by the descendants of Abi-ezer. This fact passed into a proverb to illustrate the superiority of some men's small actions over the greatest actions of others.

CHAPTER IX. VERSES 12, 13.

12 Then said the trees unto the vine, Come thou, and reign over 13 And the vine said unto them, Should I leave my wine, which cheereth God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees?

us.

V. 12. UNTO THE VINE] Hebrew, bag-gaphen, 'to the vine.'

V. 13. AND THE VINE SAID UNTO THEM] Hebrew, vat-tomer lahhem haggephen, said to them the vine.'

SHOULD I LEAVE MY WINE, WHICH CHEERETH GOD AND MAN] Hebrew, hekhadalti eth-tiroshi hamsammāakh elohim va-anahshim, 'should I leave my

tirosh (fruit), which gladdens gods and men?' The LXX. has mee apoleipsasa ton oinon mou ton euphrainonta theon kai anthropous, 'should I not be forsaking my wine, which rejoices God and men?' The Aldine and Complutensian editions of the LXX. read, ton oinon [the Compl. ed., by a singular clerical error, has oikon, 'house'] mou teen euphrosuneen, tou theou kai tōn anthropōn, my wine the joy of God and of men.' Codex A has apheisa ton oinon mou teen euphrosuneen tōn para tou theou kai tōn anthropōn, ‘leaving my wine the joy of those with God and men.' The V. has numquid possum desereri vinum meum quod lætificat Deum et homines, 'how can I forsake my wine, which delights God and men?' The Syriac and Arabic versions translate tiroshi, 'my fruit.' Jonathan has 'How should I forsake my wine (khamri), from which the princes make their libations before the Lord, and in which they take delight?'

GOD AND MAN] The Hebrew elohim and anahshim are both in the plural, and it has been thought that as Jotham related the parable to idolaters he intended by elohim the gods they worshipped. Others have suggested that by elohim and anahshim a contrast is designed between men of rank and the common people, so that the clause would then read, 'which cheers the high and low.'

In this parable, the most ancient on record, the vine is represented as refusing to become king over the other trees; and, as in the case of the olive and the fig tree, the refusal is based on the impropriety of renouncing its own natural produce and function for the sake of mere supremacy and honour.

The vine speaks

Better be useful than ambitious, is the moral of this apologue. of what appertains to itself—its tirosh,—just as the olive had spoken of its 'fatness,' and the fig tree of its 'sweetness.' From a Temperance point of view it is immaterial whether by tirosh be understood the solid fruit of the vine, or the delicious juice contained in the ripening clusters, the 'imprisoned wine' (ho oinos pepedeemenos), as Anacreon styles it. For reasons already assigned, 'vine-fruit' is the best English equivalent. The vulgar opinion that an intoxicating liquor is spoken of because it is said to 'cheer God and man' does violence to the passage. God can only be pleased by the fruit of the vine as the work of His power and the gift of His goodness; and man is cheered, first by the sight, and afterwards by the use of it as a part of his daily food. The supposition that nothing can 'cheer' except it be of an intoxicating quality is not more sensual than it is absurd. The very word employed in this passage, samāakh, translated 'to cheer,' occurs as a noun in Psa. iv. 7—“Thou hast put gladness (simkhah) into my heart more than in the time when their corn (deghanam) and their wine (tirosham) increased." This verse at once refutes the alcoholic gloss, and throws light upon the parable itself. The increase of corn and tirosh cheers the husbandman, but the favour of God gives greater cheer to the humble and trustful soul.

CHAPTER IX. VERSE 27.

And they went out into the fields, and gathered their vineyards, and trode the grapes, and made merry, and went into the house of their god, and did eat and drink, and cursed Abimelech.

AND GATHERED THEIR VINEYARDS] Hebrew, vay-yivtzeru eth-karmaihem, 'and cut off (stripped) their vineyards,' i. e. cut off the fruit from the vines.