Judges

Introduction to the book

PREFACE.

THE BOOK OF JUDGES.

This Book is called Judges, because it contains the history of what passed under the government of the judges, who ruled Israel before they had kings.

The writer of it, according to the more general opinion, was the prophet Samuel. Ch. --- Some are of opinion, that the judges might have each left records of their respective administration, (M.) which might be put in order by Samuel.

The author of this book seems to have lived under the reign of Saul, before David had expelled the Jebusites. C. xviii. 31. D. --- The captivity, which is mentioned v. 30, must be understood of that when the ark of God, as well as the idol Micha, and may of the people were taken by the Philistines. Huet. ---

Many passages of the Psalms, &c. are taken from this book, which shew its antiquity. Ps. lxvii. 8. 2 K. xi. 21. The divine Providence is here displayed in a very striking manner. D. --- The theocracy still subsisted and God generally chose these judges to be his ministers, and to deliver the people, on their repentance, from some dreadful calamity. H. ---

They exercised a supreme power, yet without bearing the insignia of regal authority, or imposing taxes, or making any alteration in the established laws.

The Suffetes, who were Carthaginian magistrates, seem to have taken their name from these Ssuptim. D. --- When God did not raise up judges, in an extraordinary manner, a kind of ananchy prevailed. H. --- Each of the tribes regarded only their own affairs, and the republic was dissolved. Grotius. ---

Prosperous and unfortunate days succeeded each other, in proportion as the people gave themselves up to repentance or to dissolution. Sicut se habebant peccata populi & misericordia Dei, alternaverunt prospera & adversa bellorum.

S. Aug. C. D. xviii. 23. S. Jerom (ep. ad Eust. & ad Paulin.) exhorts us to penetrate the spiritual sense of the historical books, and he regards "the judges as so many figures" of the apostles, who established the church of Christ. Though some of them had been noted for their misconduct, they were reclaimed by the grace of God. Then all the judges, every one by name, whose heart was not corrupted, who turned not away from the Lord, that their memory might be blessed, &c. Eccli. xlvi. 13. 14. W. --- S. Paul mentions four of them, though the conduct of Jephte and of Samson might have been regarded as more exceptionable than that of Othoniel, who is said to have been filled with the spirit of the Lord. C. iii. 10.

Serarius doubts not but they are all in heaven. Salien (A. 2640,) supposes that the transactions recorded in the five last chapters, took place before this 40th year from the death of Josue, which was the last of Othoniel. With respect to the chronology of these times, there are many opinions.

Houbigant endeavours to shew that the system of Usher is inadmissible, as well as that of Petau.

Marsham maintains that many of the captivities, and of the Judges, related only to some tribes, so that the different years which are specified, must be referred to the same period of time. Thus while Jephte ruled over those on the east side of the Jordan, and fought against the Ammonites, other judges endeavoured to repel the armies of the Philistines on the west. See 3 K. vi. 1.

Judg.

xi. 16. By this expedient, he finds no difficulty in shewing that 480 years elapsed from the departure out of Egypt till the building of the temple, and that the Israelites had occupied the country of the Ammonites during the space of 300 years. H. --- Houbigant seems to adopt this system in some respects, and he thinks that errors have crept into some of the numbers, so that Aod procured a peace of only 20 instead of 80 years, &c. He observes that the name of judge here designates, 1. A warrior, like Samson; 2. a person who passes sentence according to the law, which was the office of Heli; 3. one divinely commissioned to exercise the sovereign authority, as Samuel did, even after Saul had been elected king. Proleg. Chronol. Others have compared the power of these judges with that of the Roman Dictators, or the Archontes of Athens. Serarius. ---

They were properly God's lieutenants. Their revenue seems to have been very precarious, and their exterior deportment modest and unassuming. They were guided by the declarations of the high priests, when arrayed with the Urim and Thummim; and their business was to promote the observance of the true religion, and to defend the people of God. This book concludes with the history of Samson, describing the transactions of 317 years, (C.) according to the calculation of Usher, which has met with the approbation of many of the learned, and is therefore chiefly inserted in this edition, as it was in that which was published in 1791, at Dublin, by the care of the Rev. B. Mac Mahon, who seems to have made some alterations. It is not indeed free from many serious difficulties. But we have not leisure to examine them at present. See C. iii. 11.

30. We shall only subjoin the chronological table of Houbigant, which is not very common, that the reader may perceive where they are chiefly at variance.

Moses governed 40 years, Josue 20, the Ancients 20, king of Mesopotamia 8, Othoniel 40, Moabites 18, Aod 20, Samgar 0, the Chanaanites 20, Debora and Barac 40, Madianites 7, Gedeon 40, Abimelech 3, Thola 23, Ammonites 0, Jair 22, Jephte 6, Abesan 7, Ahialon 10, Abdon 8, Philistines 0, Samson 20, and with Heli 20, Heli and Samuel 25, Samuel and Saul 20, David 40, Solomon 3. In the 4th year of his reign the temple was begun, 480 years after the liberation from Egypt. Those to whom no years are assigned, lived at the same time with others whose years enter into the calculation.

Thus Samgar gained a victory over the Philistines, while the Chanaanites held the Israelites in subjection. C. iii. 31. For other particulars we must refer to the author. Chron. sacra. H.

Judges 1:1

Ver. 1. After. Heb. "And after," as if this consultation had taken place immediately after the decease of their late victorious general, who had not pointed out his successor. But it is probable that the ancients who governed in their respective tribes, (C.) were only roused to this act of vigour some time after, on seeing the preparations of the Chanaanites, particularly of Adonibezec, whose power became very alarming. H. --- Indeed it is wonderful how he had escaped the vigilance of Josue, if he had been king during the lifetime (C.) of that enterprising leader. It is therefore more likely that he took advantage of the lethargy of the Israelites after his death, and rose to a degree of eminence, which made the people of God consult the high priest, how they were to resist his efforts, (H.) who was to be their generalissimo, (C.) or which of the tribes was to make head against him. M. --- God only gave answer to the last question, and it does not appear that all Israel was engaged in this war.

After the defeat of the king, the different tribes might easily have subdued the enemies who held possession of part of their territory, if they had been vigorous.

Judges 1:2

Ver. 2. Said, by the mouth of Phinees, (Josephus v. 2,) who had succeeded Eleazar in the pontificate. The latter survived Josue some time, so that this must have happened some time later. Le Clerc offers violence to the text, when he asserts that the war against Adonibezec took place under the government of Josue. --- Juda. Some suppose that this is the name of the leader: but most people conclude from the sequel, that it designated the tribe. C. --- This first judge was of this tribe, but not all of them. The manner of consulting the Lord was by the high priest praying before the tabernacle. Ex. xxix. W.

Judges 1:3

Ver. 3. Brother. They had the same mother, Lia, and were intermixed in the same country. The two tribes unite both for the public and their own private advantage. The king whom they attacked first, did not dwell in the territory of Juda, as the others did, whom they defeated in this chapter.

Judges 1:4

Ver. 4. Pherezite. This name denotes "a countryman," as the former does "a merchant." None of the children of Chanaan were of this appellation. Gen. x.

15. The people of the country assembled therefore at Bezec, where Saul called a rendezvous when he was going to attack Jabes, and which seems to have been near the Jordan, 17 miles from Sichem. Eus. S. Jer. --- It signifies

"lightning." A place of this name lies to the west of Bethlehem. M.

Judges 1:5

Ver. 5. Adonibezec, "Lord of Bezec." The cruelty of this tyrant, and the oppression which he probably made some of the Israelites suffer, roused their attention, and they treated him as he had treated others. He had perhaps recourse to such a cruel expedient, to disable his enemies from ever entering the lists against him afterwards, as the Athenians, who cut off the fingers of the inhabitants of Egina, that these islanders might not dispute with them the empire of the sea. Cic.

Offic. 3. Some have thus maimed themselves that they might be exempted from going to war, a practice not unusual among the Romans; and the Italian word poltron, signifies one whose fingers are cut off, as it was supposed, out of cowardice. David ordered the hands and the feet of the murderers of Isboseth to be cut off, and this sort of punishment is common in the eastern countries. Eight hundred Greeks who had been treated in this manner by the Persians, presented themselves to Alexander, at Persepolis, to implore his protection. Curt. &c.

Judges 1:7

Ver. 7. Table, at different times. H. --- These were probably princes of some cities of Chanaan, who had been conquered by the tyrant. He obliged them to feed, like dogs, of what he threw down from his splendid table. Thus Sesostris made the kings whom he had overcome, drag his chariot. Sapor forced the Emperor Valerian to serve as a footstool, when he got on horseback.

Tamberlane fed Bajazet in a cage, like a wild beast. Jovius, &c. C. --- Me. So true is that Wisdom (xi. 17,) by what things a man sinneth, by the same also he is tormented. M.

Judges 1:8

Ver. 8. Jerusalem. This city was divided into two; one part was called Jebus, the other Salem; the one was in the tribe of Juda, the other in the tribe of Benjamin. After it was taken and burnt by the men of Juda, it was quickly rebuilt again by the Jebusites, as we may gather from v. 21, and continued in their possession till it was taken by king David. Ch. --- Fire. They treated it with such severity, because it seems to have revolted, (Serarius) though the text of Josue (x. 25,) only says that the king was slain. But (C. xv. 63. and here) v. 21. it is said, that the children of Juda and of Benjamin dwelt along with the Jebusites.

Judges 1:9

Ver. 9. Plains, towards the west, which were very fruitful. They did not expel all the inhabitants from this part, as they had done from the mountains, which lay on the south of the promised land, v. 19. C.

Judges 1:10

Ver. 10. Hebron. This expedition against Hebron, &c. is the same as is related Jos. xv. 24. It is here repeated, to give the reader at once a short sketch of all the achievements of the tribe of Juda against the Chanaanites. Ch. --- Josue had taken Hebron before; (Jos. x. 37,) and Caleb retakes it.

C.

Judges 1:11

Ver. 11. The city of letters. Perhaps so called, from some famous school or library kept there.

Ch. --- The explanation, that is, &c. is added by the Vulg. H. --- Madrid, in Arabic, means "the mother of sciences." M.

Judges 1:13

Ver. 13. Brother, or near relation, but much younger. See Jos. xv. 17. C.

Judges 1:16

Ver. 16. The Cinite. Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, was called Cinæus, or the Cinite: and his children, who came along with the children of Israel, settled themselves among them in the land of Chanaan, embracing their worship and religion. From these the Rechabites sprang, of whom see Jerem. xxxv. --- The city of palms. Jericho, so called from the abundance of palm-trees, (Ch).

or rather Engaddi, which is sometimes called Hazazon-Thamar, on that account. It lies nearer to the Dead Sea. Jericho was not rebuilt till the reign of Achab. See Jos. vi. 26. --- Arad was one of the most southern towns of Juda, near the country of the Amalecites. Saul ordered the descendants of Jethro to depart from among them. 1 K. xv. 6. The Israelites had defeated the king of Arad long before. Num. xxi. 1. C. --- With him. Heb. "the people" of Israel, (M.) or of Arad. C.

Judges 1:17

Ver. 17. Sephaath, near Maresa, where Asa defeated the king of Arabia. 2 Par.

xiv. 9. It was also called Sephata, and afterwards Horma. C. --- Sept. "they anathematized it, and utterly destroyed it, and they called the city Exolethreusis, "utter ruin." H. --- Whether they had engaged themselves by vow to do so, or they treated the city in this manner in thanksgiving for the victory, is uncertain. M.

Judges 1:18

Ver. 18. Gaza, &c. These were three of the principal cities of the Philistines, famous both in sacred and profane history. They were taken at this time by the Israelites; but as they took no care to put garrisons in them, the Philistines soon recovered them again, (Ch). or perhaps the villages and territory were only seized by Juda; the cities being too well defended. Josue had not attacked them. Jos. xii. 3. Josephus says that only Ascalon and Azotus, in the plain, fell into the hands of the Israelites; and the Roman Sept. reads with a negation, (C.) which is inserted by Grabe in his edition as an interpolation, or as a peculiarity of the Alex. MSS. "and Juda did (not) possess Gaza with its dependencies, and Ascalon...and Accaron...and Azotus, with its fields around."

H. --- The situation of Gaza, Ascalon and Accaron in the plain, would seem to secure them from being captured, v. 19. S. Aug. and Procopius admit the negation. But the original and all the versions reject it, so that the children of Juda must have had possession of these cities at least for a short time. C. See C. xv. and xvi. 1 K. vi. 17. M.

Judges 1:19

Ver. 19. Was not able, &c. Through a cowardly fear of their chariots armed with hooks and scythes, and for want of confidence in God. Ch. --- Heb. does not sy expressly that Juda could not: quia non ad expellendum, &c. He had not the courage or the will. With God's assistance, what had he to fear? Were these Philistines with their chariots, more terrible than the giants in their fortresses?

--- Scythes. Heb. receb barzel, "chariots of iron." C. --- The Rom. and Alex.

Sept. have "Rechab was opposed to them." H. --- The edit. of Basil adds, "and they had chariots of iron," as S. Aug. (q. 5,) reads. A double translation is thus given. C. --- These chariots were calculated to cut down all that came in contact with them. Curt. iv. W.

Judges 1:20

Ver. 20. Enac, mentioned v. 10. Sept. add, that "he took the three cities...and destroyed, " &c.

See Jos. xv. 14. H.

Judges 1:21

Ver. 21. Day, before the reign of David. See Jos. xv. 63. The Jebusites occupied the citadel, &c.

C.

Judges 1:22

Ver. 22. Of Joseph, on the west side of the Jordan, attacked Bethel, which it does not appear that Josue molested. H. --- Instead of house, some Heb. MSS.

and the Arab. and Sept. read, "the sons," which seems to be the better reading.

Kennicott.

Judges 1:23

Ver. 23. Besieging. Heb. "sent to descry," or they came upon it like spies.

Judges 1:24

Ver. 24. Mercy. The city belonged of right to them, so that they might use this means, as they were not bound to enquire by what motives the man was actuated thus to betray his country. He might be convinced, like Rahab, that God had granted it to the Israelites, and these might justly requite his good dispositions and suffer him to depart in peace. Bonf. Grot. C.

Judges 1:26

Ver. 26. Hetthim. The Hethite lived towards the south of Chanaan. The man probably retired into the stony Arabia, where we find the city of Lusa or Elysa.

Ptolemy v. 16. --- He gave it this name in memory of his native city, (C.) which was called Luza, or "of nuts." M.

Judges 1:27

Ver. 27. Bethsan, &c. See Jos. xvii. 11. --- Began. Heb. "would dwell." H. ---The Israelites sinfully acquiesced, partly through slothfulness and the dislike of war, and partly that they might receive tribute from the Chanaanites. M.

Judges 1:28

Ver. 28. Them. We shall see the punishment of their prevarication during the greatest part of this book. C.

Judges 1:31

Ver. 31. Accho. Heb. haco. The Greeks not knowing the derivation of this word, supposed that the city was so called from ake, "a remedy," as they pretend that Hercules was cured in this place.

It was also called Ptolemais, after the king of Egypt. The little river Belus, and the famous bed of sand so proper for making glass, were in the neighbourhood. Plin. v. 19. --- Ahalab. The situation is unknown, unless it be Aleppo. They say it is the famous city of Berea. C.

Judges 1:35

Ver. 35. He dwelt. That is, the Amorrhite. Ch. --- Heb. "But the Amorrhites would dwell in Mount Hares, in Aialon, and in Salebim." Some copies of the Sept.

seem to give the meaning of these proper names, though inaccurately. H. ---

Solomon had one of his twelve officers at Salebim, in the tribe of Dan. 3 K. iv.

9.

Judges 1:36

Ver. 36. Rock, Petra, the capital of Arabia, which Josephus (iii. 2,) assigns to Amalec. The Amorrhites dwelt in many parts of the land of promise, (C.) particularly in the higher places about the Dead Sea. H.