Judges 1:1--21:25
After <0310> [Now.]
asked <07592> [asked.]
Simeon ............................ Simeon <08095> [Simeon.]
went <01980> [I likewise.]
Lord <03068> [Lord.]
Bezek <0966> [Bezek.]
Eusebius and Jerome mention two villages of this name, near each other, about seventeen miles from Shechem, towards Scythopolis.
thumbs ... big toes <0931> [their thumbs. Heb. the thumbs of their hands and of their feet.]
This was not an unusual act of cruelty in ancient times towards enemies.--’lian informs us, that in after ages "the Athenians, at the instigation of Cleon, son of Cleoenetus, made a decree that all the inhabitants of the island of ’gina should have the thumb cut off from the right hand, so that they might ever after be disabled from holding a spear, yet might handle an oar." It was a custom among those Romans who did not like a military life, to cut off their thumbs, that they might be incapable of serving in the army; and for the same reason, parents sometimes cut off the thumbs of their children.
lick up <03950> [gathered. or, gleaned. as I have.]
Later <0310> [afterward.]
lowlands <08219> [valley. or, low country.]
Kiriath Arba <07153> [Kirjath-arba.]
Sheshai <08344> [Sheshai.]
Debir Debir <01688> [Debir.]
Caleb <03612> [And Caleb.]
The whole of this account is found in Jos 15:13-19, and seems to be inserted here by way of recapitulation.
give <05414> [to him.]
In ancient times fathers assumed an absolute right over their children, especially in disposing of them in marriage; and it was customary for a king or great man to promise his daughter in marriage to him who should take a city, etc.
came <0935> [And it came.]
got down <06795> [and she lighted.]
{Watitznach,} "she hastily or suddenly alighted," as if she had forgotten something, or was about to return.
special present <01293> [a blessing.]
land .... Negev <0776 05045> [a south land.]
Which was probably dry, or very ill watered.
give ......... given ........ give ... springs ... water .... gave ........ springs <05414 01543 04325 03051> [give me also springs of water.]
Let me have some fields with brooks, or wells already digged.
Kenite <07017> [the Kenite.]
Moses <04872> [Moses.]
City ... Date <05892 08558> [city of palm.]
Negev <05045> [which.]
<03212> [they went.]
Judah <03063> [And Judah.]
Zephath <06857> [Zephath.]
[Zephathah. Hormah.]
Judah <03063> [Also Judah.]
There is the following remarkable variation here in the Septuagint: [Kai ouk ekl‚ronom‚sen Ioudas t‚n Gazan, oude ta horia aut‚s; oude t‚n Askal¢na, oude ta horia aut‚s; kai t‚n Akkar¢n, oude ta horia aut‚s; t‚n Az¢ton, oude ta perisporia aut‚s.] "But Judah did not possess Gaza, nor the coasts thereof; nor Askelon, nor the coasts thereof; nor Ekron, nor the coasts thereof; nor Ashdod, nor the coasts thereof." Procopius and Augustine read the same; and Josephus (Ant. 1. v. c. 2) says that the Israelites only took Askelon and Ashdod, but not Gaza or Ekron; and from ch. 3:3, and the whole succeeding history, it appears that these cities were not in the possession of the Israelites, but of the Philistines.
Gaza <05804> [Gaza.]
[See on]
Lord <03068> [the Lord.]
conquered ......... conquer <03423> [he drave, etc. or he possessed the mountain. but could.]
Not because the iron chariots were too strong for Omnipotence, or because he refused to help them; but because their courage and faith failed when they saw them.
chariots <07393> [chariots.]
<05414> [they gave.]
three Anakites <01121 07969> [the three sons.]
<01004> [the house.]
Lord <03068> [the Lord.]
spied out <08446> [sent.]
Luz <03870> [Luz.]
reward <06213> [we will.]
put <05221> [they smote.]
country <0776> [the land.]
Manasseh <04519> [Manasseh.]
Taanach <08590> [Taanach.]
Canaanites <03669> [the Canaanites.]
Kitron <07003> [Kitron.]
The Talmudists say Kitron is "tzippor," that is, Sepphoris, or Dioc‘sarea, a celebrated city of Galilee, now the village Safoury, situated in the plain of Esdraelon, twenty miles (north-west) from Tiberias, according to Benjamin of Tudela.
Nahalol <05096> [Nahalol.]
Asher <0836> [Asher.]
Acco <05910> [Accho.]
Accho, the Ptolemais of the Greeks and Romans, and called Saint John of Acre by the Crusaders, is situated on the Mediterranean, in a fine plain, at the north angle of a bay to which it gives name, and which extends in a semicircle of three leagues as far as Carmel, and nine leagues from Tyre.
Sidon <06721> [Zidon.]
Another celebrated city of Phoenicia, now SaidÅ , situated in a fine country on the Mediterranean, 400 stadia from Berytus, and 200 (north) from Tyre, according to Strabo, one day's journey from Paneas, according to Josephus, and sixty-six miles from Damascus, according to Abulfeda.
Aczib <0392> [Achzib.]
Or, Ecdippa, now Zib, nine miles north, from Accho.
Naphtali <05321> [Naphtali.]
people living ......... live ..... residing ....... living <03427> [he dwelt.]
forced to do hard labor <04522> [became.]
Aijalon <0357> [Aijalon.]
Shaalbim <08169> [Shaalbim.]
strong <03513> [prevailed. Heb. was heavy.]
<04608> [from the going. or, Maaleh-akrabbim.]
messenger <04397> [And an angel. or messenger.]
Bokim <01066> [Bochim.]
up ........... up <05927> [I made.]
led <0935> [have brought.]
never <05769> [I will never.]
make <03772> [And ye shall.]
disobeyed <08085> [but ye have.]
do <06213> [why have.]
warned <0559> [I also said.]
gods <0430> [their gods.]
people <05971> [the people.]
Bokim <01066> [Bochim. that is, Weepers.]
sacrifices <02076> [they sacrificed.]
Joshua <03091> [Joshua.]
people <05971> [the people.]
outlived <0748> [outlived. Heb. prolonged days after.]
Joshua <03091> [Joshua.]
Timnath <08556> [Timnath-heres.]
This was his own inheritance; and Eusebius says it was celebrated in his time for the tomb of Joshua.
[Timnath-serah]
passed away <0622> [A.M. cir. 2590. B.C. cir. 1414. An. Ex. Is. cir. 77. gathered.]
experienced ... Lord's <03045 03068> [knew not.]
did evil <06213 07451> [did evil.]
worshiping ... Baals <05647 01168> [and served Baalim.]
{B„ƒlim,} or lords, seems to have been the common appellation of the Syrian gods; whence we have Baal-peor, Baal-zebub, etc.
abandoned <05800> [forsook.]
God ................ other gods ... gods <0312 0430> [other gods.]
worshiped <07812> [bowed.]
worshiped <05647> [served.]
furious <0639> [the anger.]
handed <05414> [he delivered.]
them over ........ turned ... over <04376 03027> [sold them.]
could ... withstand <03201 05750> [could not.]
harm <07451> [against.]
warned <01696> [had said.]
solemnly <07650> [had sworn.]
greatly <03966> [greatly.]
Lord <03068> [A.M. 2591-2909. B.C. 1413-1095. the Lord.]
leaders <08199> [judges.]
The {shophetim} were not judges in the usual sense of the term; but were heads or chiefs of the Israelites, raised up on extraordinary occasions, who directed and ruled the nation with sovereign power, administered justice, made peace or war, and led the armies over whom they presided. Officers with the same power, and nearly the same name, were established in New Tyre, after the termination of the regal state; and the Carthaginian Suffetes, the Athenian Archons, and the Roman Dictators, appear to have been nearly the same.
delivered <03467> [delivered. Heb. saved.]
obey <08085> [they would.]
prostituted <02181> [whoring.]
quickly <04118> [quickly.]
ancestors <01> [which their.]
Lord ........ Lord ................... Lord <03068> [then the Lord.]
felt sorry <05162> [it repented.]
cried out in agony <05009> [their groanings.]
leader <08199> [when the.]
more wickedly <07843> [corrupted. or, were corrupt. more.]
down .......... practices <05307 04611> [ceased not from. Heb. let nothing fall of. stubborn.]
furious <0639> [the anger.]
<05674> [transgressed.]
test <05254> [through.]
test <05254> [prove.]
permitted <03240> [left. or, suffered.]
nations <01471> [A.M. 2561. B.C. 1443. An. Ex. Is. 48. the nations.]
test <05254> [prove.]
experienced <03045> [as had not.]
experienced <03045> [might know.]
teach <03925> [to teach.]
Their fathers fought by a divine power. God taught their hands to war and their fingers to fight, that they might be the instruments of destruction to the wicked nations on whom the curse rested; but now that they had forfeited His favour, they must learn what it is to fight like other men.
five lords <05633 02568> [five lords.]
Canaanites <03669> [Canaanites.]
Sidonians <06722> [Sidonians.]
Mount .... Mount <02022> [in mount.]
test <05254> [to prove.]
lived <03427> [dwelt.]
Canaanites <03669> [Canaanites.]
did evil <06213 07451> [did evil.]
Asherahs <0842> [the groves.]
furious <02734> [A.M. 2591. B.C. 1413. An. Ex. Is. 78. was hot.]
turned ... over <04376> [he sold.]
Cushan-Rishathaim ...... Cushan-Rishathaim's <03573> [Chushan-rishathaim.]
Aram-Naharaim <0763> [Mesopotamia. Heb. Aram-naharaim.]
{Aram-naharayim,} "Syria of the two rivers," or Mesopotamia, "between the rivers," is a famous province situated between the Tigris and Euphrates. It is called by Arabian geographers, {Maverannaher,} "the country beyond the river;" and is now called Diarbek.
cried <02199> [A.M. 2599. B.C. 1405. An. Ex. Is. 86. cried.]
raised <06965> [raised up.]
deliverer ...... rescued <03467> [deliverer. Heb. saviour. Othniel.]
spirit <07307> [the Spirit.]
led <08199> [came. Heb. was. Mesopotamia. Heb. Aram.]
land <0776> [the land.]
Othniel <06274> [Othniel.]
did evil ................... done evil <06213 07451> [A.M. 2662. B.C. 1342. An. Ex. Is. 148. did evil.]
Lord's .... Lord ................. Lord's <03068> [and the Lord.]
King <04428> [the king.]
Ammonites <05983> [Ammon.]
City <05892> [the city.]
subject <05647> [served.]
cried out ...... Lord he <02199 03068> [A.M. 2679. B.C. 1325. An. Ex. Is. 166. cried unto.]
Benjaminite <01145> [a Benjamite. or, the son of Jemini. left-handed. Heb. shut of his right hand.]
This Hebrew phrase intimates that, either through disease or disuse, he made little or no use of the right hand, but of his left only, and so was the less fit for war, because he would most likely wield a dagger awkwardly: yet God chose this left-handed man to be the minister of his retributive justice. It was God's right hand that gained Israel the victory, Ps 44:3; not the right hand of the instruments he employed.
sent .......... tribute payment <07971 04503> [sent a present.]
two edges <06366 08147> [two edges.]
right <03225> [upon.]
very fat <01277 03966> [a very fat.]
carved images <06456> [quarries. or graven images.]
secret <05643> [a secret.]
attendants <05975> [And all that.]
well-ventilated upper room <05944 04747> [a summer parlour. Heb. a parlour of cooling.]
The {ƒleeyah,} or upper chamber, seems to have been of the same description as the {ol‰ah} of the Arabs, but properly ventilated, described by Dr. Shaw, who says, that to most of their houses there is a smaller one annexed, which sometimes rises one story higher than the house; at other times, it consists of one or two rooms only, and a terrace; while others that are built, as they frequently are, over the porch or gateway, have, if we except the ground floor, which they want, all the conveniences that belong to the house itself. There is a door of communication from them into the gallery of the house; besides another, which opens immediately from a private staircase, down into the porch or street, without giving the least disturbance to the house. In these back houses strangers are usually lodged and entertained; and to them likewise the men are wont to retire from the noise and hurry of their families, to be more at leisure for mediation or diversions.
message <01697> [I have.]
rose up <06965> [he arose.]
drove ..... belly <08628 0990> [thrust it.]
<03318 06574> [the dirt came out. or, it came out at the fundament.]
relieving <05526> [covereth, etc. or, doeth his easement.]
carved images <06456> [the quarries.]
blew <08628> [he blew.]
hill country .......... hill country <02022> [mountain.]
them <07291> [Follow.]
Lord <03068> [the Lord.]
fords <04569> [the fords.]
strong capable <08082> [lusty. Heb. fat.]
land <0776> [And the land.]
Shamgar <08044> [Shamgar.]
oxgoad <04451 01241> [an ox goad.]
This implement, Mr. Maundrell informs us, in Palestine and Syria is of an extraordinary size. He measured several, and "found them about eight feet long; and at the bigger end about six inches in circumference. They were armed at the lesser end with a sharp prickle for driving the oxen; and at the other end with a small paddle of iron, strong and massive, for cleansing the plough from the clay. In the hand of a powerful man such an instrument must be more dangerous and fatal than a sword."
delivered <03467> [also.]
Israel <03478> [Israel.]
"So part is called Israel."
"It seems to concern only the country next to the Philistines."
did evil <06213 07451> [A.M. 2699. B.C. 1305. An. Ex. Is. 186. did evil.]
turned ... over <04376> [sold.]
"It seems to concern only north Israel."
Hazor <02674> [Hazor.]
Sisera <05516> [Sisera.]
Harosheth Haggoyim <02800> [Harosheth.]
cried out <06817> [cried.]
chariots <07393> [chariots.]
cruelly <02394> [mightily.]
[A.M. 2719. B.C. 1285. An. Ex. Is. 206.]
Palm Tree <08560> [the palm.]
Ramah <07414> [between.]
come up <05927> [came up.]
Barak <01301> [Barak.]
Kedesh <06943> [Kedesh-naphtali.]
Lord <03068> [Hath.]
Tabor <08396> [Tabor.]
ten thousand <0505 06235> [ten thousand.]
I ... bring <04900 05414> [And I.]
Kishon <07028> [Kishon.]
<05414> [deliver.]
<0657> [notwithstanding.]
turn Sisera over <05516 04376> [sell Sisera.]
<03027> [into.]
Zebulun <02074> [Zebulun.]
followed <07272> [at his.]
Heber <02268> [Heber.]
Hobab <02246> [Hobab.]
Zaanannim <06815> [Zaanaim.]
[Zaanannim. Kedesh.]
Mount Tabor <08396 02022> [mount Tabor.]
ordered <02199> [gathered. Heb. gathered by cry, or proclamation. nine.]
chariotry .... chariots ... iron-rimmed <07393 01270> [chariots of iron.]
Probably chariots armed with iron scythes, projecting from the axle on each side, by which the infantry might be easily cut down or thrown into confusion. The ancient Britons are said to have had such chariots.
action <06965> [Up.]
day <03117> [for this.]
This is exactly the purpose for which the Septuagint states, ver. 8, that Barak wished Deborah to accompany him: "Because I know not the day in which God will send his angel to give me prosperity."
Lord .......... Lord <03068> [is not.]
Mount <02022> [mount.]
Mount Tabor, called by the Arabs Djebel Tour, is almost entirely insulated, and rises up in the plain of Esdraelon, about six miles from Nazareth, in a conical form, somewhat like a sugar-loaf. Josephus states its height to be thirty stadia, with a plain of 26 stadia in circumference on its top, on which was formerly a city, which was used as a military post. It is described as an exceedingly beautiful mountain, having a rich soil, producing excellent herbage, and adorned with groves and clumps of trees.
chased <07291> [pursued.]
one <0259> [there.]
one survived <07604 0259> [a man left. Heb. unto one.]
ran <05127> [fled.]
Jael <03278> [Jael.]
peace <07965> [peace.]
Jael <03278> [Jael.]
blanket <08063> [mantle. or, rug, or blanket.]
little <04592> [Give me.]
there <03426> [Is there.]
tent peg .................. tent peg <03489> [a nail.]
One of the spikes of the tent. See Note on Ex 35:18.
<07760> [and took. Heb. and put. smote.]
died <04191> [he died.]
show <07200> [and I will.]
<03212> [prospered, etc. Heb. going, went and was hard against.]
Deborah ....... sang <01683 07891> [Sang Deborah.]
This verse briefly recites the subject of this inspired song, which consists of eight stanzas: The first opens with a devout thanksgiving. The second describes the magnificent scenes at Mount Sinai, etc. The third states the apostasy and consequent punishment of the Israelites. The fourth contrasts their present happy state. The fifth censures the recreant tribes of Reuben, Gad, etc. The sixth records the defeat of the confederate kings of Canaan. The seventh contains a panegyric on Jael. And the eight describes the fond anticipations and disappointment of the mother of Sisera.
<06544> [for the avenging.]
people <05971> [when.]
kings <04428> [O ye kings.]
[I, even I.]
Lord <03068> [Lord.]
earth <0776> [the earth.]
poured ..... poured <05197> [dropped.]
mountains <02022> [mountains.]
trembled <05140> [melted. Heb. flowed. that Sinai.]
Shamgar <08044> [Shamgar.]
Jael <03278> [Jael.]
caravans .......... roads <0734> [the highways.]
travelers .... go <01980> [travellers. Heb. walkers of paths. by-ways. Heb. crooked ways.]
Warriors <06520> [the villages.]
motherly <0517> [a mother.]
God ... new <02319 0430> [new gods.]
shield <04043> [was there.]
leaders <05068> [offered.]
pay attention <07878> [Speak. or, Meditate.]
ride on <07392> [ride.]
sit <03427> [ye that sit.]
sound <06963> [the noise.]
watering places <04857> [in the places.]
Dr. Shaw mentions a beautiful rill of water in Barbary, which runs into a large bason, called {shrub we krub,} "drink and be off," because of the danger of meeting with robbers and assassins in this place, who fall upon those who come to drink.
victorious deeds ... victorious deeds <06666> [righteous acts. Heb. righteousnesses.]
warriors <06520> [villages.]
went down <03381> [go down.]
Wake up wake up Deborah Wake up wake up <05782 01683> [awake, Deborah.]
prisoners <07628> [lead.]
survivors <08300> [he made.]
Lord's <03068> [the Lord.]
Ephraim <0669> [of Ephraim.]
Amalek <06002> [Amalek.]
follow <0310> [after.]
Makir <04353> [Machir.]
march carrying .... staff <07626 04900> [handle the pen. Heb. draw with the pen.]
leaders <08269> [the princes.]
Barak <01301> [Barak.]
command <07272> [foot. Heb. his feet.]
{Beraglaiv,} rather, "with his footmen:" so LXX. Alex. [pkzous autou,] and Luther, {mit feinem Fubvolt.}
<06390> [For the. or, In the divisions, etc.]
searching <02711> [thoughts. Heb. impressions.]
sheepfolds <04942> [sheepfolds.]
<06390> [For. or, In.]
intense <01419> [great.]
Gilead <01568> [Gilead.]
Asher <0836> [Asher.]
seacoast <02348 03220> [sea shore. or, sea-port. breaches. or, creeks.]
Zebulun <02074> [Zebulun.]
concerned <02778> [jeoparded. Heb. exposed to reproach. their lives.]
battlefields <04791> [in the high.]
Kings ...... kings <04428> [kings.]
Taanach <08590> [Taanach.]
took <03947> [they took.]
fought ......... fought <03898> [fought.]
stars <03556> [the stars.]
paths <04546> [courses. Heb. paths.]
Kishon ........... Kishon <07028> [Kishon.]
necks <05315> [O my soul.]
hooves <06119> [horsehoofs.]
Anciently, horses were not shod; nor are they at the present day in some parts of the East. The flight was so rapid that the hoofs of their horses were splintered and broken by the roughness of the roads; in consequence of which they became lame, and could not carry off their riders.
galloped madly <01726> [pransings. or, tramplings, or, plungings. mighty ones.]
Or, as Dr. Waterland renders, "mighty horses," or "strong steeds," as Dr. Kennicott, i.e., their war-horses, which gives great energy to the text, and renders it perfectly intelligible.
Call judgment down on Meroz ........ sure ... call judgment down on <0779 04789> [Curse ye.]
Meroz <04789> [Meroz.]
This city of Meroz seems to have been, at this time, a place of considerable importance, since something great was expected from it; but probably, after the angel of the Lord had pronounced this curse, it dwindled and like the fig-tree which Christ cursed, withered away; so that we never read of it after this in Scripture.
messenger <04397> [the angel.]
come <0935> [they came.]
help ....... help <05833> [to the help.]
asked <07592> [asked.]
curds <02529> [butter.]
{Chemah,} may signify buttermilk, which is made by the Arabs by agitating the milk in a leathern bag; and is highly esteemed because of its refreshing and cooling qualities.
hammered <01986> [with the. Heb. She hammered. she smote off.]
Or rather, "she smote his head, then she struck through and pierced his temples:" which is more consonant to the original, and to fact, as it does not appear that she smote off his head.
feet ............ feet <07272> [At. Heb. Between. where.]
violently murdered <07703> [dead. Heb. destroyed.]
lattice <0822> [through.]
chariot <07393> [Why is.]
<0561> [answer. Heb. her words.]
gathering <04672> [Have they not sped.]
each man <01397 07218> [every man. Heb. the head of a man. of divers.]
enemies <0341> [So let.]
love <0157> [them that.]
rising sun <08121> [the sun.]
land <0776> [And the land.]
The victory here celebrated in this song, was of such happy consequence to Israel, that for the principal part of one age, they enjoyed the peace to which it had been the means of opening the way. The land had rest forty years, that is, so long it was from this victory to the raising up of Gideon. And well would it have been for the Israelites, if while the tribes had rest, they had taken advantage of the cessation from war, and had walked in the fear of the Lord.
did evil <06213 07451> [did evil.]
so <05414> [delivered.]
When God judges, he will overcome; and sinners shall be made either to bend or break before him. See the ensuing history.
Midian <04080> [Midian.]
<03027> [the hand.]
overwhelmed <05810> [prevailed. Heb. was strong. dens.]
Dr. Shaw says, that a great way on each side Joppa, on the sea coast, there is a range of mountains and precipices; and in these high situations are generally found the dens, holes, or caves, which are so frequently mentioned in Scripture; and which were formerly the lonesome retreats of the distressed Israelites.
Israelites <03478> [when Israel.]
Amalekites <06002> [Amalekites.]
people <01121> [children.]
devoured <07843> [destroyed.]
<0935> [till thou come.]
The Midianites dwelt beyond the eastern borders of the land of Canaan, east of the Dead Sea, and Gaza was on the Mediterranean, on the west: so that these invaders ravaged the whole breadth of the land.
sheep <07716> [sheep. or, goat.]
tents <0168> [tents.]
locusts <01767 0697> [as grasshoppers.]
camels <01581> [their camels.]
devour <07843> [to destroy.]
weakened <01809> [impoverished.]
cried out <02199> [cried.]
<0376> [A.M. 2759. B.C. 1245. An. Ex. Is. 246. a prophet. Heb. a man, a prophet. Thus saith.]
drove <01644> [drave them.]
Lord <03068> [I am the.]
God .... worship ... gods <03372 0430> [fear not.]
disobeyed <08085> [ye have.]
messenger <04397> [an angel.]
Abiezrite <033> [Abi-ezrite.]
Gideon <01439> [Gideon.]
[Gedeon. hide it . Heb. cause it to flee.]
messenger <04397> [the angel.]
Lord's ......... Lord <03068> [The Lord.]
Lord is ......................... Lord ........... Lord <03426 03068> [if the Lord.]
overtaken <04672> [why then.]
ancestors <01> [our fathers.]
abandoned .... handed ... over <05203 05414> [forsaken us.]
Lord <03068> [the Lord.]
strength <03212 03581> [Go in.]
how <04100> [wherewith.]
clan .... weakest <01800 0504> [my family is poor. Heb. my thousand is the meanest.]
youngest <06810> [the least.]
pleased <04672> [If now.]
give <06213> [shew.]
<03318> [bring.]
gift <04503> [present. or, meat offering.]
prepared <06213> [and made.]
Dr. Shaw observes, "Besides a bowl of milk, and a basket of figs, raisins, or dates, which upon our arrival were presented to us, to stay our appetite, the master of the tent fetched us from his flock, according to the number of our company, a kid or a goat, a lamb or a sheep; half of which was immediately seethed by his wife, and served up with {cucasoe;} the rest was made {kab-ab,} i.e., cut to pieces and roasted, which we reserved for our breakfast or dinner next day." May we not suppose, says Mr. Harmer, that Gideon presented some slight refreshment to the supposed prophet, according to the present Arab mode, and desired him to stay till he could provide something more substantial; that he immediately killed a kid, seethed a part of it, and when ready brought the stewed meat in a pot, with unleavened cakes of bread, which he had baked; and the other part, the {kab-ab,} in a basket for him to carry with him, for some after repast in his journey?
goat <05795> [a kid. Heb. a kid of the goats. unleavened cakes.]
this <03240 01975> [lay them.]
pour out .... Gideon <08210> [pour out.]
flared up <05927> [rose up.]
realized ................ seen <07200> [perceived.]
have <03651> [because.]
safe ..... afraid <07965 03372> [Peace be.]
built <01129> [built.]
<03073> [Jehovah-shalom. that is, The Lord send peace.]
Ophrah <06084> [Ophrah.]
Take ...... father's .................. father's <01 03947> [Take thy father's.]
second <08145> [even. or, and. throw.]
father's .................. father's <01> [thy father.]
cut down <03772> [cut down.]
build <01129> [build.]
stronghold <04581> [rock. Heb. strong place. the ordered place. or, an orderly manner.]
did ........................ do ...... so ... waited <06213> [and did.]
did ........................ do ...... so ... waited ... nighttime <06213 03915> [he did it.]
Bring out <03318> [Bring.]
battles .......................... battles <07378> [Will ye plead.]
The words are very emphatic: "Will ye plead in earnest ({tereevoon}) for Baal? Will ye really save ({tosheeoon}) him? If he be God, ({Elohim,}) let him contend for himself, seeing his altar is thrown down."
die <04191> [let him be.]
god <0430> [if he be.]
Jerub-Baal <03378> [Jerubbaal. that is, Let Baal plead.]
[Jerubbesheth: that is, Let the shameful thing plead.]
Midianites <04080> [Then all.]
people <01121> [children.]
crossed <05674> [went over.]
Valley <06010> [the valley.]
spirit <07307> [the Spirit.]
control ... Gideon <03847 01439> [came upon. Heb. clothed.]
blew <08628> [blew.]
Abiezrites <044> [Abi-ezer.]
summoning <02199> [was gathered. Heb. was called.]
messengers ............... messengers <04397> [messengers.]
really <03426> [If thou wilt.]
putting <03322> [Behold.]
dry <02721> [only.]
bowl <05602> [a bowl.]
angry <0639> [Let not thine.]
dry <02721> [dry.]
Jerub-Baal <03378> [Jerubbaal.]
It appears that Jerubbaal had now become the surname of Gideon. He is mentioned by Sanchoniathon, quoted by Eusebius, who lived in the reign of Ithobal, king of Tyre, and consequently a little after the time of Gideon, by the name of Jerombalus, a priest of Jeuo or Jao.
got up <07925> [rose up.]
Moreh <04176> [Moreh.]
many <07227> [too many.]
Israel <03478> [Israel.]
over <03027> [Mine own.]
fear <03373> [Whosoever.]
Mount Gilead <01568 02022> [mount Gilead.]
Gideon was certainly not at mount Gilead, east of Jordan at this time; but rather near mount Gilboa, west of Jordan. Calmet thinks there must either have been two Gileads, which does not appear from Scripture to have been the case, or that the Hebrew text is corrupt, and that for Gilead we should read Gilboa. This reading, though adopted by Houbigant, is not confirmed by an MS. or version. Dr. Hales endeavours to reconcile the whole, by the supposition that in Gideon's army there were many eastern Manassites from mount Gilead, near the Midianites; and therefore proposes to read, "Whosoever from mount Gilead is fearful and afraid, let him return (home) and depart early."
Twenty-two <06242> [twenty.]
men <05971> [people.]
ranks <06884> [I will.]
lap ....... laps <03952> [lappeth.]
The original word {yalok,} is precisely the sound which the dog makes in lapping. It appears that it is not unusual for the Arabs to drink water out of the palms of their hands; and, from this account, we learn that the Israelites did so occasionally. Dr. A. Clarke, in his edition of Harmer, has presented us with the following curious MS. note from Dr. Russell. "When they take water with the palms of their hands, they naturally place themselves on their hams, to be nearer the water; but when they drink from a pitcher or gourd, fresh filled, they do not sit down on purpose to drink, but drink standing, and very often put the sleeve of their shirt over the mouth of the vessel, by way of strainer, lest small leeches might have been taken up with the water. For the same reason they often prefer taking the water with the palm of the hand to lapping it from the surface." From the letters of Busbequius we learn, that the Eastern people are not in the habit of drinking standing. The 300 men, who satisfied their thirst in the most expeditious manner, by this sufficiently indicated their spirit, and alacrity to follow Gideon in his dangerous enterprise; while the rest shewed their love of ease, self-indulgence, effeminacy, and want of courage.
trumpets <07782> [trumpets.]
valley <06010> [in the valley.]
night <03915> [the same.]
Get <06965> [Arise.]
handing <05414> [I have delivered.]
listen <08085> [thou shalt.]
brave <03027> [thine hands.]
sentries were guarding <02571> [armed men. or, ranks by five.]
Midianites <04080> [the Midianites.]
locusts <0697> [grasshoppers.]
cake <06742> [lo, a cake.]
other <07453> [his fellow.]
handing <03027> [into his hand.]
interpretation ... praised <07667 07812> [interpretation thereof. Heb. breaking thereof.]
praised <07812> [worshipped.]
Get up <06965> [Arise.]
three ..... three units <07218 07969> [three companies.]
This small number of men, thus divided, would be able to encompass the whole camp of the Midianites. Concealing the lamps in the pitchers, they would pass unobserved to their appointed stations; then, in the dead of the night, when most of the enemy were fast asleep, all at once breaking their pitchers one against another, with as much noise as they could, and blowing the trumpets and shouting; they would occasion an exceedingly great alarm. The obedience of faith alone could have induced such an expedient, which no doubt God directed Gideon to employ.--Scott.
trumpets <07782> [a trumpet. Heb. trumpets in the hand of all of them. empty.]
torches <03940> [lamps. or, fire-brands, or torches.]
When ......... blow our trumpets .... blow <08628 07782> [blow ye.]
Lord <03068> [the sword.]
The word {cherev,} "sword," necessarily implied, and rightly supplied by our venerable translators from ver. 20, is found in this place, in the Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic, and in eight MSS.; and evidently appears to be genuine.
beginning <07218> [in the beginning.]
blew <08628> [they blew.]
broke <05310> [brake.]
blew ..................... right <08628> [blew.]
How astonishing and overwhelming must the effect be, in a dark night, of the sudden glare of 300 torches, darting their splendour in the same instant on the half-awakened eyes of the terrified Midianites; accompanied with the clangor of 300 trumpets, alternately mingled with the thundering shout of {cherav yehovah oolegidon,} "The sword of Jehovah and of Gideon!"
broke <07665> [brake.]
stood <05975> [stood.]
camp .... army <04264> [all the host.]
blew <08628> [blew.]
Lord <03068> [the Lord.]
Zererah <06888> [in. or, toward. Zererath.]
Probably the same as Zartanah.
border <08193> [border. Heb. lip. Abelmeholah.]
Situated, according to Eusebius 16 miles south from Scythopolis, or Bethshan.
Tabbath <02888> [Tabbath.]
Probably the town of [O‚b‚d,] mentioned by Eusebius, 13 miles from Neapolis, or Shechem, towards Scythopolis.
sent <07971> [sent.]
Take control .... fords of the streams ................... took control .... fords <03920 04325> [take before.]
Beth Barah ...................... Beth Barah <01012> [Beth-barah.]
Probably the same as Betha-bara, beyond Jordan, and at the ford where the Hebrews passed under the direction of Joshua.
two ... generals <08147 08269> [two princes.]
rock <06697> [rock.]
Oreb ...... Oreb ...... Oreb .................. Oreb <06159> [Oreb.]
Eusebius and Jerome speak of a small place called Araba, three miles west from Scythopolis, which is supposed by some to have had its name from Oreb.
brought <0935> [and brought.]
Among ancient nations, the head of the conquered chief was usually brought to the conqueror. Thus Pompey's head was brought to C‘sar, Cicero's head to Mark Anthony, and the heads of Ahab's children to Jehu. These barbarities are seldom practised now, except among the Mahommedans, or the savages of Africa and America; and for the credit of human nature, it is to be wished that such atrocities had never been committed.
side <05676> [on the other side.]
The words {maiaiver lyyarden,} may denote at the passage of Jordan, or from beyond Jordan. Gideon does not appear to have yet passed the Jordan.
Ephraimites <0376> [the men.]
Why <04100> [Why, etc. Heb. What thing is this thou hast done unto us? sharply. Heb. strongly.]
accomplished <06213> [What.]
leftover grapes <05955> [Is not the.]
That is, the Ephraimites have performed more important services than Gideon and his men had achieved.
Abiezer's <044> [Abiezer.]
God <0430> [God.]
<07307> [Then.]
<07307> [anger. Heb. spirit.]
exhausted <05889> [faint.]
Succoth <05523> [Succoth.]
loaves <03603> [loaves.]
thresh <01758> [tear. Heb. thresh.]
return <07725> [I come.]
tear <05422> [I will break.]
Karkor <07174> [Karkor.]
If this were the name of a place, it is no where else mentioned. Some contend that {karkor} signifies rest; and the Vulgate renders it {requiescebant,} "rested". This seems the most likely; for it is said (ver. 11) that Gideon "smote the host: for the host was secure."
peoples <01121> [children.]
peoples ... hundred <03967 05307> [fell an hundred, etc. or, an hundred and twenty thousand, every one drawing a sword]
Nobah <05025> [Nobah.]
Nobah took its name from an Israelite who conquered it; and is said by Eusebius to have been, in his time, a forsaken place eight miles south from Heshbon. Jogbehah was probably near it.
surprised <0983> [secure.]
captured <03920> [took.]
surprised <02729> [discomfited. Heb. terrified.]
pass <04608> [before.]
The words {milm„ƒleh haichaires} should, most probably be rendered "from the ascent of Chares;" which is the reading of the LXX. Syriac, Arabic, and Houbigant.
captured <03920> [caught.]
wrote down <03789> [described. Heb. writ.]
insulted <02778> [upbraid.]
leaders <02205> [the elders.]
thorns <06975> [thorns.]
threshed <03045> [taught. Heb. made to know.]
Instead of {wyyodÆ’,} Houbigant, Le Clerc, and others read {wyyadosh,} "and he tore or threshed;" and this is not only agreeable to what Gideon threatened (ver. 7), but is supported by the LXX. Vulgate, Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic. The Hebrew text might easily have been corrupted simply by the change of [ShÅ’yn,] {shin,} into ['Ayin,] {ayin,} letters very similar to each other.
Tabor <08396> [Tabor.]
like ... Each one <03644 0259> [As thou art.]
looked like <08389> [resembled. Heb. according to the form of, etc.]
Gideon ..... strike ........... So <06965 06293> [Rise thou.]
It was disgraceful to fall by the hands of a child; and death by the blows of such a person must be much more lingering and tormenting. Some have employed children to dispatch captives.
killed <02026> [slew.]
crescent-shaped ornaments <07720> [ornaments. or, ornaments like the moon.]
Rule ...... son .... grandson <04910 01121> [Rule thou.]
rule ........ rule ....... rule <04910> [I will.]
Lord <03068> [the Lord.]
Each .... give ... an <05414 0376> [give me.]
Ishmaelites <03459> [because.]
seventeen hundred <0505> [a thousand.]
Taking the shekel at half an ounce, the sum of the gold ear-rings was 73 lbs. 4oz. and worth about Å“3,300 sterling.
jewelry <05188> [collars. or, sweet jewels. purple.]
necklaces <06060> [chains.]
ephod <0646> [an ephod.]
Ophrah <06084> [Ophrah.]
prostituted <02181> [a whoring.]
snare <04170> [a snare.]
Midian <04080> [was Midian.]
forty years <0705 08141> [forty years.]
Jerub-Baal <03378> [Jerubbaal.]
home <01004> [in his own house.]
seventy <07657> [threescore.]
fathered <03409 03318> [of his body begotten. Heb. going out of his thigh. many wives.]
concubine <06370> [concubine.]
<07760> [called. Heb. set. Abimelech.]
Ophrah <06084> [Ophrah.]
Gideon <01439> [as soon.]
prostituted <02181> [went.]
Baal-Berith <01170> [Baal-berith.]
Literally, "the lord of the covenant."
remain <02142> [remembered.]
treat .................. done <06213> [shewed.]
Jerub-Baal <03378> [Jerubbaal.]
Rather, Jerubbaal Gideon; as we say, Simon Peter; or call a person by his Christian and surname. Gideon was a mighty man of valour, a true patriot, evidently disinterested and void of ambition. He loved his country, and hazarded his life for it; but refused the kingdom, when offered to him and his heirs. The act of making the ephod was totally wrong; yet, probably it was done with no reprehensible design.
Abimelech <040> [Abimelech.]
Shechem <07927> [Shechem.]
said <01696> [communed.]
want <02896> [Whether, etc. Heb. What is good? whether, etc. threescore.]
blood <06106> [your bone.]
spoke <01696> [spake.]
Abimelech <0310> [to follow. Heb. after. our brother.]
temple <01004> [house.]
lawless <07386> [vain, etc.]
{Anashim raikim oophochozim,} "worthless and dissolute men;" persons who were living on the public, and had nothing to lose. Such was the foundation of his Babel government. By a cunning management of such unprincipled men most revolutions are brought about.
Ophrah <06084> [at Ophrah.]
murdered <02026> [slew.]
Beth <01004> [the house.]
Millo <04407> [Millo.]
Probably the name of a person of note in Shechem.
oak <0436> [plain. or, oak.]
Mount Gerizim <01630 02022> [mount Gerizim.]
Listen ........... listen <08085> [Hearken.]
trees <06086> [The trees.]
This is the most ancient fable or apologue extant; and is extremely beautiful, apposite, and intelligible.
olive tree <02132> [olive tree.]
The {zayith,} or olive tree, in the Linnean system, is a genus of the {diandra monogynia} class of plants. It is of a moderate height, and grows best in sunny places. Its trunk is knotty; bark smooth, of an ash colour: wood solid and yellowish; leaves oblong, almost like those of the willow, of a dark green colour on the upper side, and whitish below. In June it puts forth white flowers, growing in bunches, each of one piece, widening towards the top, and dividing into four parts. After this succeeds the fruit, which is oblong and plump; first green, then pale, and when quite ripe, black. Within it is enclosed a hard stone, filled with oblong seeds. It was the most useful of all trees in the forest; as the bramble was the meanest and most worthless.
king <04427> [Reign.]
honor <03513> [wherewith.]
gods <0430> [God.]
{Elohim,} rather gods; the parable being adapted to the idolatrous Shechemites.
sway ..... trees <05128 06086> [to be promoted over the trees. Heb. up and down for other trees.]
makes <08055> [cheereth.]
thornbush <0329> [bramble. or, thistle.]
branches <06738> [shadow.]
fire <0784> [let fire.]
cedars <0730> [the cedars.]
repaid <01576> [according.]
fought <03898> [fought.]
risked ... life <05315 07993> [adventured his life. Heb. cast his life.]
attacked <06965> [are risen.]
Abimelech <040> [Abimelech.]
happiness ....... happiness <08055> [rejoice.]
fire blaze from ............. fire ... blaze from <03318 0784> [let fire come out.]
Beer <0876> [Beer.]
Probably the Beer mentioned by Mr. Maundrell, three hours and a half, or about ten miles, north of Jerusalem, towards Shechem. It is situated toward the south, on an easy declivity; and has a fountain of excellent water at the bottom of the hill, from which it has taken its name. Close to the well are the mouldering walls of a ruined {khan;} and on the summit of the hill two large arches still remain of a ruined convent. Dr. Richardson says, that it seems to have been once a place of considerable consequence.
God <0430> [A.M. 2771. B.C. 1233. An. Ex. Is. 258. God.]
That is, God permitted the evil spirit of jealousy, treachery, and discord, to break out between Abimelech and the Shechemites.
disloyal <0898> [dealt.]
violent <02555> [That the.]
murdered .................. helped ... murder <02026 02388> [aided him in the killing of. Heb. strengthened his hands to kill.]
Sooner or later, God will make inquisition for blood, and will return it on the heads of those that shed it. Accessaries will be reckoned with, as well as principals, in that and other sins. The Shechemites, who countenanced Abimelech's pretensions, aided and abetted him in his bloody project, and avowed the fact by making him king after he had done it, must fall with him, fall by him, and fall first. Those that combine together to do wickedly, are justly dashed in pieces one against another. Blood cannot be a lasting cement to any interest.
brothers <0251> [brethren.]
celebrated <01974> [merry. or, songs.]
temple <01004> [the house.]
ate <0398> [did eat.]
cursed <07043> [cursed.]
Abimelech <040> [Who is Abimelech.]
Hamor <02544> [Hamor.]
men <05971> [would to God.]
The very words and conduct of a sly, hypocritical demagogue.
challenged <0559> [And he said.]
Rather, "and I would say to Abimelech," as the LXX. renders; for as Dr. Wall observes, this was probably not said in the presence of Abimelech; but at an intemperate feast, in his absence, when he boasted he would challenge him.
Muster ... army ..... for battle <07235 06635> [Increase thine army.]
furious <02734> [kindled. or, hot.]
Arumah <08649> [privily. Heb. craftily, or, to Tormah. they fortify.]
Under pretence of repairing the walls and towers, they were actually putting the place in a state of defence, intending to seize on the government as soon as they found Abimelech coming against them.
night <03915> [by night.]
can <03027 04672> [as thou shalt find. Heb. as thine hand shall find.]
Gaal <01603> [Gaal.]
Of this person we know no more than is here recorded. He was probably one of the descendants of the Canaanites, who hoped, from the state of the public mind and their disaffection to Abimelech, to cause a revolution, and thus to restore the ancient government as it was under Hamor, the father of Shechem. Josephus says he was a man of authority, who sojourned with them, with his armed men and kinsmen; and that the Shechemites desired that he would allow them a guard during the vintage.
men <05971> [the people.]
saw .......................... seeing ... shadows <06738 07200> [seest the shadow.]
Doubdan states, that in some parts of the Holy Land there are many detached rocks scattered up and down, some growing out of the ground, and others fragments broken off from rocky precipices, the shadow of which, it appears, Josephus thought might be most naturally imagined to look like troops of men at a distance, rather than that of the mountains; for he represents Zebul as saying to Gaal, that he mistook the shadow of the rocks for men.
center <02872> [middle. Heb. navel. Meonenim. or, the regarders of the times.]
ran from <06440 05127> [he fled before.]
Arumah <0725> [Arumah.]
This place appears from the next verse to have been near Shechem; and is perhaps the same as Ruma, a village of Galilee, mentioned by Josephus, Bell. 1. iii. c. 9.
Zebul <02083> [Zebul.]
blocked ........... attacked <06584> [rushed forward.]
captured <03920> [he took.]
leveled <05422> [beat.]
spread <02232> [sowed.]
Salt in small quantities renders land extremely fertile; but too much of it destroys vegetation. Every place, says Pliny, in which salt is found is barren, and produces nothing. Hence the sowing of a place with salt was a custom in different nations to express permanent desolation. Sigonius observes, that when Milan was taken, A.D. 1162, the walls were razed, and it was sown with salt. And Brantome informs us, that it was an ancient custom in France, to sow the house of a man with salt, who had been declared a traitor to his king. Charles IX., king of France, the most base and perfidious of human beings, caused the house of Admiral Coligni (whom he and the Duke of Guise caused to be murdered, with thousands more of Protestants, on the eve of St. Bartholomew, 1572,) to be sown with salt!
stronghold <06877> [an hold.]
Zalmon <06756> [Zalmon.]
seen <07200> [What ye.]
do ........ do <06213> [me do. Heb. I have done.]
put ...... stronghold ...... it <07760 06877> [put them.]
Thebez <08405> [Thebez.]
According to Eusebius, thirteen miles from Shechem, towards Scythopolis.
woman <0802> [woman.]
shattered <07533> [and all to.]
An antiquated expression, meaning "full intention" to complete an object. "All to," observes Dr. Johnson, "is a particle of mere enforcement." The original is {wattaritz eth gulgalto,} which is simply as the LXX. render [kai eklase to kranion autou,] "and she brake his skull." Plutarch relates, that Pyrrhus was killed at the siege of Thebes, by a piece of a tile, which a woman threw upon his head.
Draw ... sword <08025 02719> [Draw thy.]
young man ....................... young man <05288> [And his young man.]
It was a disgrace to be killed by a woman.
God repaid <07725 0430> [God rendered.]
Both the fratricide Abimelech and the unprincipled men of Shechem had the iniquity visited upon them of which they had been guilty. Man's judgment may be avoided; but there is no escape from that of God. How many houses have been sown with salt in France, by the just judgment of God, for the massacre of the Protestants on the eve of St. Bartholomew! See Note on ver. 45.
spoken <0935> [upon them.]
rose <06965> [A.M. 2772. B.C. 1232. An. Ex. Is. 259. arose.]
deliver <03467> [defend. or, deliver. Heb. save. Shamir.]
Gileadite <01569> [A.M. 2795. B.C. 1209. An. Ex. Is. 282. a Gileadite.]
rode <07392> [rode.]
called <07121> [called.]
Havvoth Jair <02334> [Havoth-jair. or, the villages of Jair.]
did evil <06213 07451> [A.M. 2817. B.C. 1187. An. Ex. Is. 304. did evil.]
Baals <01168> [A.M. 2799. B.C. 1205. An. Ex. Is. 286. Baalim.]
gods .... Sidon <06721 0430> [the gods of Zidon.]
gods .......... Philistines <06430 0430> [the gods of the Philistines.]
furious <02734> [was hot.]
turned <04376> [he sold.]
year <08141> [that year.]
oppressed <07533> [oppressed. Heb. crushed.]
crossed <05674> [passed.]
suffered <03334> [distressed.]
cried <02199> [cried.]
Egypt <04714> [Did not I.]
Egypt <04714> [Egyptians.]
Amorites <0567> [Amorites.]
Israelites ............ Ammonites <01121> [children.]
Philistines <06430> [Philistines.]
Sidonians <06722> [Zidonians.]
Amalek <06002> [Amalekites.]
Midian <04584> [the Maonites.]
The LXX. have "the Midianites," which Dr. Wall thinks the true reading. But the Maonites might be a tribe of Arabs, inhabitants of Maon. (Jos 15:55. 1Sa 23:24, 25; 25:2,) which assisted Moab.
sinned <02398> [We have sinned.]
do ...... see <06213 05869> [do thou.]
see <05869> [seemeth, etc. Heb. is good in thine eyes. deliver.]
threw away <05493> [they put.]
foreign gods <0430 05236> [strange gods. Heb. gods of strangers. his soul.]
<07114> [grieved. Heb. shortened.]
Not that there is any grief in God; he has infinite joy and happiness in himself, which cannot be broken in upon by either the sins or the miseries of his creatures. Not that there is any change in God; for he is of one mind, and who can turn him? But his goodness is his glory; by it he proclaims his name, and magnifies it; and as he is pleased to put himself into the relation of a father to his people, so he is pleased to represent his goodness to them by the compassion of a father to his children; for as he is the Father of lights, so is he the Father of mercies.
assembled <06817> [gathered together. Heb. cried together. Mizpeh.]
one <0376> [What man.]
leader <07218> [he shall be.]
Jephthah <03316> [Jephthah.]
[called Jephthae. a mighty.]
mother <0802> [an harlot. Heb. a woman, an harlot.]
Probably {zonah} should be rendered as in Jos 2:1, a hostess, or inn-keeper: so Targum of Jonathan, {wehoo bar ittetha pundekeetha,} "and he was the son of a woman, a tavern-keeper." She was very probably a Canaanite, as she is called, ver. 2, a strange woman, {ishah achereth,} "a woman of another race;" and on this account his brethren drove him from the family, as not having a full right to the inheritance.
<01644> [thrust out.]
another <0312> [a strange.]
half-brothers <06440 0251> [from his brethren. Heb. from the face of. Tob.]
Probably the same as Ish-Tob; and appears to have been a part of Syria, near Zobah, Rehob, and Maachah, east of Jordan, and in the most northern part of the portion of Manasseh. If so, it could not be far from Gilead, the country of Jephthah. This country is called Tobie or Tubin, 1 Mac 5:13; and the Jews who inhabited this district Tubieni, 2 Mac 12:17. 2 Sa 10:6.
Lawless men <07386 0582> [vain men.]
time <03117> [A.M. 2817. B.C. 1187. An. Ex. Is. 304. in process of time.]
Heb. after days.
attacked <03898> [made war.]
<03947> [to fetch.]
hated <08130> [Did not ye hate.]
leaders <02205> [the elders.]
we pledge <07725> [we turn.]
back <07725> [If ye bring.]
Lord <03068> [The Lord.]
grievance ... have <08085> [be witness. be the hearer.]
do <06213> [if we do.]
leader <07218> [head.]
repeated <01696> [uttered.]
Jephthah ................ Jephthah repeated <01696 03316> [Jephthah uttered.]
That is, upon his elevation, he immediately retired to his devotion, and in prayer spread the whole matter before God, both his choice to the office, and his execution of the office, as one that had his eye ever toward the Lord, and would do nothing without him; that leaned not to his own understanding or courage, but depended on the Almighty God, and his favour. This is an ensample worthy of universal imitation; in All Our Ways, whether great or apparently subordinate, let us acknowledge God and seek his direction. So shall we make our way prosperous, and obtain that peace which passeth all understanding. Jephthah opened his campaign with prayer.
before <06440> [before.]
Mizpah <04709> [Mizpeh.]
This Mizpeh was east of Jordan in the mountains of Gilead (Ge 31:49); and hence called Mizpeh of Gilead (ver. 29), to distinguish it from another place of the same name, west of Jordan, in the tribe of Judah.
sent messengers <07971 04397> [sent messengers.]
In this Jephthah acted in accordance with the law of Moses; and hence the justice of his cause would appear more forcibly to the people.
come against <0935> [What hast.]
Israel <03478> [Because Israel.]
Arnon <0769> [from Arnon.]
That is, all the land which had belonged to the Amorites and Moabites.
Jabbok <02999> [Jabbok.]
king <03254 04428> [again unto.]
Israel .... steal <03478 03947> [Israel took.]
Israel <03478> [But when.]
The whole of these messages shew, Jephthah had well studied the book of Moses. His arguments also are very clear and cogent, and his demands reasonable; for he only required that the Ammonites should cease to harass a people who had neither injured them, nor intended to do so.
<03212> [walked.]
left ................ came <05927 0935> [came.]
sent messengers ......................... sent <07971 04397> [sent messengers.]
king ............... king .............. king <04428> [the king.]
stayed <03427> [abode.]
<03212> [went.]
bypassed <05437> [compassed.]
traveled east .................... go <0935 04217> [came by.]
camped <02583> [pitched.]
[Lord God.]
[they smote.]
[so Israel.]
took <03423> [And they.]
desert <04057> [from the wilderness.]
From Arabia Deserta on the east, to Jordan on the west.
Jephthah shews that the Israelites did not take the land of the Moabites or Ammonites, but that of the Amorites, which they had conquered from Sihon their king; and although the Amorites had taken the lands in question from the Ammonites, yet the title by which Israel held them was good, because they took them, not from the Ammonites, but from the Amorites.
take ........... take ............ driven <03423> [Wilt not thou possess.]
This is simply an {argumentum ad hominem;} in which Jephthah argues on this principles recognized by the king of Ammon. As if he had said, "You suppose that the land which you possess was given you by your god Chemosh; and therefore will not relinquish what you believe you hold by a divine right. Now we know that Jehovah, our God, has given us the land of the Israelites; and therefore we will not give it up."
Chemosh <03645> [Chemosh.]
Lord <03068> [whomsoever.]
Balak <01111> [Balak.]
Heshbon <02809> [Heshbon.]
Aroer <06177> [Aroer.]
three hundred <07969 03967> [three hundred.]
May ..... Judge judge <08199> [the Judge.]
May ..... Judge judge <08199> [be judge.]
spirit <07307> [the spirit.]
Jephthah <03316> [Jephthah.]
"Jephthah seems to have been judge only of north-east Israel."
passed through ...... went ... Mizpah ....... approached <04708 05674> [over Mizpeh.]
then ....... come through <03318> [whatsoever, etc. Heb. that which cometh forth, which shall come forth. shall surely.]
up <05927> [and I will. or, or I will, etc.]
{Weh„ƒleetheehoo “lah,} rather, as Dr. Randolph and others contend, "and I will offer Him (or to Him, i.e., Jehovah) a burnt offering;" for {hoo} may with much more propriety be referred to the person to whom the sacrifice was to be made, than to the thing to be sacrificed. Unless understood in this way, or as the marginal reading, it must have been the vow of a heathen or a madman. If a dog, or other uncleaned animal had met him, he could not have made it a burnt offering; or if his neighbour's wife, sons, etc., his vow gave him no right over them.
Lord <03068> [the Lord.]
Aroer <06177> [Aroer.]
Minnith <04511> [Minnith.]
Situated, according to Eusebius, four miles from Heshbon, towards Philadelphia or Rabbath.
Abel <058> [the plain. or, Abel.]
Mizpah <04709> [Mizpeh.]
daughter .......................... daughter <01323> [his daughter.]
son <01121> [beside her. or, he had not of his own either son or daughter. Heb. of himself. neither.]
ripped ... clothes <0899 07167> [rent his clothes.]
made an oath <06475> [have opened.]
cannot <03201> [I cannot.]
After <0310> [forasmuch.]
walk <03381 03212> [go up and down. Heb. go and go down. bewail.]
did ....... vowed <06213 05088> [did with.]
That Jephthah did not sacrifice his daughter, but consecrated her to the service of God in the tabernacle, in a state of celibacy, will we imagine be evident from the following consideration:--1. Human sacrifices were ever an abomination to Jehovah, of which Jephthah could not be ignorant; and consequently he would neither have made such a vow, nor carried it into execution. 2. We are expressly told (ver. 29) that Jephthah was under the influence of the Spirit of God, which would effectually prevent him from embruing his hands in the blood of his own child. 3. He had it in his power to redeem his daughter, (Le 27:4;) and surely his only child must have been of more value than thirty shekles. 4. Besides, who was to perform the horrid rite? Not Jephthah himself, who was no priest, and in whom it would have been most unnatural and inhuman; and the priests would certainly have dissuaded him from it. 5. The sacred historian informs us, that she bewailed her virginity, that she knew no man, and that the Israelitish women went yearly to comfort or lament with her.
vowed <05088> [to his vow.]
custom <02706> [custom. or, ordinance.]
Every year ............. days <03117> [yearly. Heb. from year to year. lament. or, to talk with.]
Every year ............ four days <0702 03117> [four days.]
assembled <06817> [gathered. Heb. were called. Wherefore.]
burn .... down <08313> [we will burn.]
people <05971> [I and my.]
<07760> [put.]
up <05927> [wherefore.]
<0582> [and the men.]
refugees <06412> [fugitives.]
said .... Say Shibboleth .... said <0559 07641> [Say now.]
Shibboleth <07641> [Shibboleth. which signifieth a stream, or flood.]
{Shibboleth} also means an ear of corn, (Job 24:24,) and {sibboleth} signifies a burden, (Ex 6:6;) and a heavy burden they were obliged to bear who could not pronounce this test letter. It is well known that several nations cannot pronounce certain letters. The sound of th cannot be pronounced by the Persians, no more than by some of our Continental neighbours; though it is a common sound among the Arabians. To this day, many of the German Jews cannot articulate [t] th, for which they substitute ss; thus for {baith,} a house, they say {baiss.}
fell dead <05307> [there fell.]
forty-two <0705> [forty.]
{Arb„im ooshenayim aleph,} "forty and two thousand." Here the [w,] and, may mean simple addition; and this number may denote 2,040 and not 42,000. At the last census of the Israelites (Nu 26:37) the whole tribe of Ephraim only amounted to 32,500, compared with which this last number appears far too great.
Ibzan <078> [Ibzan. A.M. 2823. B.C. 1181. An. Ex. Is. 310.]
"He seems to have been only a civil judge to do justice in North-east Israel."
Bethlehem <01035> [Beth-lehem.]
[A.M. 2830. B.C. 1174. An. Ex. Is. 317.]
"A civil judge in North-east Israel."
Aijalon <0357> [Aijalon.]
[A.M. 2840. B.C. 1164. An. Ex. Is. 327.]
"A civil judge also in North-east Israel."
sons .... grandsons <01121> [nephews. Heb. sons' sons. rode.]
Pirathonite <06553> [A.M. 2848. B.C. 1156. An. Ex.Is. 335. Pirathonite.]
hill country <02022> [in the mount.]
did <06213> [did. Heb. added to commit, etc.]
sight <05869> [in the sight.]
so <05414> [delivered.]
"This seems a partial captivity."
handed <03027> [into the.]
Zorah <06881> [Zorah.]
infertile <06135> [barren.]
messenger <04397> [the angel.]
conceive <02029> [but thou.]
drink wine <08354 03196> [drink not.]
eat ......... unclean <0398 02931> [eat not.]
[no rasor.]
begin <02490> [begin.]
husband ... man <0376> [A man.]
looked like <04758> [countenance was.]
awesome <03372> [terrible.]
ask <07592> [but I asked, etc.]
The Vulgate renders this cause very differently, the negative Not being omitted: {Quem c—m interrogƒssim quis esset, et unde venisset, et quo nomine vocaretur, noluit mihi dicere; sed hoc respondit, etc; "Whom when I asked who he was, and whence he came, and by what name he was called, would not tell me: but this he said," etc. The negative is also wanting in the Septuagint, as it is in the Complutensian Polyglott; [kai erouton auton pothen estin, kai to onoma auton, ouk apengeilen moi.] "And I asked him whence he was, and his name, but he did not tell me." This is also the reading of the Codex Alexandrinus; but the Septuagint in the London Polyglott, the Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic, read the negative particle with the Hebrew text: I asked Not his name, etc.
name <08034> [his name.]
teach ...... raise <03384 06213> [teach us.]
answered <08085> [hearkened.]
husband ..... man ...... other <0376> [Behold.]
day <03117> [the other day.]
{Byyom,} rather, "in this day," or "to-day," for the word other is not in the original, and it is probably that the angel appeared in the morning and evening of the same day.
child <04941 05288> [How shall we order the child. Heb. what shall be the manner of the child?]
<04639> [how shall we do unto him. or, what shall he do? Heb. what shall be his work?]
drink <08354> [neither.]
commanded <06680> [all that I.]
awhile <06113> [let us.]
prepare <06213> [until.]
Manoah, not knowing the quality of his guest, wished to do this as act of hospitality.
[for thee. Heb. before thee.]
eat <0398> [I will not.]
As I am a spiritual being, I subsist not by earthly food; and cannot partake of your bounty.
If ........... if <0518> [and if, etc.]
Rather, "but if thou wilt offer," etc.
[unto thee.]
ask <07592> [Why askest.]
cannot comprehend <06383> [secret. or, wonderful.]
It was because his name was secret that Manoah wished to know it. But the angel does not say it was secret, but {hoo pailee,} "it is wonderful;" the very character given to the Messiah: "His name shall be called {pailai,} Wonderful," Isa 9:6.
took <03947> [took.]
did ... amazing <06381 06213> [did wondrously.]
He acted according to His Name: He, being wonderful, performed wonders; probably causing fire to arise out of the rock and consume the sacrifice, and then ascended in the flame.
flame ................ it <03851> [when the flame.]
fell <05307> [fell on.]
realized <03045> [knew.]
We .... die <04191> [We shall.]
seen <07200> [we have.]
wife <0802> [his wife.]
accepted ......... from ... He <03947> [he would not.]
shown <07200> [he have shewed.]
Samson <08123> [A.M. 2849. B.C. 1155. An. Ex. Is. 336. Samson.]
child <05288> [the child.]
spirit <07307> [the Spirit.]
Mahaneh Dan <01835 04264> [the camp of Dan. Heb. Mahaneh-dan, as ch. 18:12. between.]
Timnah <08553> [Timnath.]
[aw.]
get ..... wife <03947 0802> [get her.]
relatives <0251> [thy brethren.]
uncircumcised <06189> [uncircumcised.]
right <03474> [she pleaseth me well. Heb. she is right in mine eyes.]
Lord's <03068> [it was of the Lord.]
That is, God permitted it, that it might be a means of bringing about the deliverance of Israel. Such marriages were forbidden to the Israelites, to keep them separate from the idolatrous nations.
ruling <04910> [had dominion.]
attacking <07125> [against him. Heb. in meeting him.]
spirit <07307> [the Spirit.]
empowered ............... easily <08156> [rent him.]
Now it is not intimated that he did this by his own natural strength; but by the supernatural strength communicated by the Spirit of the Lord coming mightily upon him; which strength was not at his own command, but was, by the will of God, attached to his hair and nazarate.
tell <05046> [he told.]
marry ..... aside <03947 05493> [to take her.]
swarm <05712> [a swarm.]
It is probable, that the flesh had been entirely consumed off the bones, which had become dry; and the body having been throw into some private place, (for Samson turned aside to visit it,) a swarm of bees had formed their combs in the cavity of the dry ribs, or region of the thorax; nor was it a more improper place than a hollow rock.
hosted ... party ...... customary ..... do <06213 04960> [made there.]
thirty <07970> [thirty.]
riddle <02420> [a riddle.]
seven <07651> [the seven.]
linen robes <05466> [sheets. or, shirts.]
This will receive illustration from Mr. Jackson's description of the Moorish dress:--"It resembles that of the ancient patriarchs, as represented in paintings; (but the paintings are taken from Asiatic models:) that of the men consists of a red cap and turban, a ({kumja}) shirt, which hangs outside of the drawers, and comes below the knee; a ({caftan}) coat, which buttons close before, and down to the bottom with large open sleeves; over which, when they go out of doors, they throw carelessly, and sometimes elegantly, a {hayk,} or garment of white cotton, silk, or wool, five or six yards long, and five feet wide. The Arabs often dispense with the {caftan,} and even with the shirt, wearing nothing but the {hayk.}"
sets <02487> [change.]
eats <0398> [Out of the eater.]
could <03201> [they could.]
fourth day <03117 07637> [on the seventh day.]
The LXX. reads "on the fourth day;" with which the Syriac and Arabic agree. This, as Dr. Wall observes, is certainly right; for it appears from ver. 17, that she wept the remainder of the seven days; for which there could have been no time, if they did not threaten her till the seventh.
Trick <06601> [Entice.]
burn up <08313> [lest we burn.]
make ... poor <03423> [take that we have. Heb. possess us, or, impoverish us.]
hate <08130> [Thou dost.]
told .............. told ............ tell <05046> [I have not.]
[the seven, or, the rest of the seven days. she lay.]
told ............ told <05046> [and she told.]
spirit <07307> [the Spirit.]
clothes <02488> [spoil. or, apparel.]
best man <04828> [given to.]
<07462> [his friend.]
young <01423> [a kid.]
have sex ............... enter <0935> [I will go.]
said .... thought <0559> [I verily.]
gave <05414> [I gave.]
[take her. Heb. let her be thine.]
time .... justified <06471 05352> [Now shall, etc. or, Now shall I be blameless from the]
Philistines, though, etc.
captured three <07969 03920> [caught three.]
Dr. Kennicott and others contend, that for {shÂÆ’lim,} "foxes," we should read {shâ€Æ’lim,} "handfuls," or sheaves of corn. But, 1. The word {lachad,} rendered caught, never signifies simply to get or take but always to catch, seize, or take by assault or stratagem. 2. Though the proposed alteration is sanctioned by seven MSS., yet all the versions are on the other side. 3. Admitting this alteration, it will be difficult to prove that the word {shâ€Æ’l} means either a sheaf or a handful of corn in the ear, and straw. It occurs but thrice in Scriptures (1 Ki 20:10. Isa 40:12. Eze 13:9): where it evidently means as much as can be contained in the hollow of the hand; but when handfuls of grain in the shock, or sheaves are intended, very different words are used. See Ru 2.15, 16, etc. 4. It is not hinted that Samson collected them alone, or in one day; he might have employed many hands and several days in the work. 5. The word {shÂÆ’l} properly denotes the jackal, which travellers describe as an animal in size between the wolf and fox, gregarious, as many as 200 having been seen together, and the most numerous of any in eastern countries; so that Samson might have caught many of them together in nets.
torches ............... torch <03940> [firebrands. or, torches.]
set <07971> [he let them go.]
burned <08313> [and burnt.]
<0518> [Though.]
Lehi <03896> [Lehi.]
went down <03381> [went. Heb. went down. the rock Etam.]
Probably near the town Etam, mentioned in 1 Ch 4:32.
Philistines <06430> [Philistines.]
take ... prisoner <0631 05414> [to bind thee.]
kill <06293> [fall.]
Philistines <06430> [the Philistines.]
spirit <07307> [the Spirit.]
ropes <05688> [the cords.]
melted away <04549> [loosed. Heb. were melted.]
solid jawbone <03895 02961> [new jaw-bone. Heb. moist. slew.]
thousand <0505> [a thousand.]
Some would render the words {aileph ish,} "a chief;" but it is {alluph,} and not {aileph,} which signifies a chief; besides which, the Hebrew idiom would, even in that case, require it to be {ish alluph,} "a man, a chief," and not {alluph ish,} "a chief, a man." Add to which, that every version renders it "a thousand men."
jawbone ............. jawbone <03895> [with the jaw-bone.]
There is here a fine paronomasia upon the word {chamor,} "an ass," which also signifies "a heap;" {bilchee hachamor, chamor chamorathayim,} "With the jaw-bone of an ass, a heap upon two heaps."
<02565> [heaps upon heaps. Heb. an heap, two heaps.]
Ramath <07437> [Ramath-lehi. that is, the lifting up of the jaw-bone, or, the casting away of the jaw-bone.]
very <03966> [he was sore.]
given <05414> [Thou hast given.]
die <04191> [shall.]
fall <05307> [and fall.]
Philistines <06189> [the uncircumcised.]
Lehi <03895> [the jaw. or, Lehi.]
This reading is certainly preferable: it was in the place called Lehi where a spring was supernaturally opened.
flowed out <03318> [there came.]
strength <07307> [his spirit.]
En Hakkore <05875> [En-hakkore.]
Samson gave this expressive name to the miraculously springing water, to be as a memorial of the goodness of God to him. En-hakkore, the well of him that cried, which kept him in remembrance both of his own distress which caused him to cry, and the favour of Jehovah to him in answer to his cry. Many a spring of comfort God opens to his people, which may fitly be called by the name En-hakkore: and this instance of Samson's relief should encourage us to trust in God, for when he pleases he can open rivers in high places.
Samson at first gave the name of Ramath-lehi (the lifting up of the jaw-bone) which denoted him great and triumphant: but now he gives it another name, En-hakkore, which denotes him wanting and dependent. .# Ge 16:13, 22:14 28:19 30:30 Ex 17:15 Ps 34:6 120:1
"He seems to have judged South-west Israel during twenty years of their servitude of the Philistines."
Gaza <05804> [Gaza.]
Gaza, a city of great antiquity, was situated between Raphia and Askelon, twenty-two miles north of the former, and sixteen south of of the latter, according to the Antonine Itinerary; three miles from the sea, according to Arrian, and thirty-four from Ashdod or Azotus, according to Diodorus Siculus. It was a place of great strength and importance; and successively belonged to the Philistines, Hebrews, Chaldeans, and Persians; which latter defended it for two months against Alexander the great, who finally took and destroyed it. It was afterwards rebuilt, and alternately possessed by the Egyptians, Syrians, and Jews. The present town, which the Arabs call Razza, is situated on an eminence, and is rendered picturesque by the number of fine minarets which rise majestically above the buildings, with beautiful date trees interspersed. It contains upwards of 2,000 inhabitants.
her <0802> [an harlot. Heb. a woman an harlot. and went]
surrounded <05437> [compassed.]
[quite. Heb. silent. kill him.]
grabbed <0270> [took.]
bar ..... put <01280 07760> [bar and all. Heb. with the bar.]
love <0157> [he loved.]
Valley <05158> [in the valley. or, by the brook.]
rulers <05633> [the lords.]
Trick <06601> [Entice.]
humiliate <06031> [afflict. or, humble. we will.]
tie ... up <0631> [If they bind.]
fresh bowstrings <03892 03499> [green withs. or, new cords. Heb. moist. another. Heb. one.]
tied ... up <0631> [bound him.]
put close <07306> [toucheth. Heb. smelleth.]
tell ....... subdued <05046 0631> [now tell me.]
tie <0631> [If they bind me.]
used <04399> [that never, etc. Heb. wherewith work hath not been done.]
fabric <04545> [with the web.]
It is evident that this verse ends abruptly, and does not contain a full sense. Houbigant has particularly noticed this, and corrected the text from the Septuagint: which adds after these words, [kai enkrouses to passalo eis ton toichou, kai esomai hos eis ton anthropon asthenes kai egeneto en to koimasthai auton kai elabe Dalida tas hepta seiras tes kephales autou, kai hyphanen en to diasmati, k.t.l.] "and shall fasten them with the pin in the wall, I shall become weak like other men: and so it was, that when he slept, Dalida took the seven locks of his head, and wove them with the web," etc. This is absolutely necessary to complete the sense; else Delilah would appear to do something she was not ordered to do, and to omit what she was commanded. Dr. Kennicott very judiciously observes, that the omission, for such it appears to be, begins and ends with the same word; and that the same word occurring in different places, is a very common cause of omission in Hebrew manuscripts.
<05265> [went away.]
said .... How .... say <0349 0559> [How canst.]
secret <03820> [when thine.]
nagged <06693> [she pressed.]
<07114> [vexed. Heb. shortened.]
secret <03820> [all his heart.]
cut <05927> [There hath.]
Come up ................. went up ..... bringing <05927> [Come up.]
Come up ................. went up ..... bringing ... silver <03701 05927> [brought money.]
sleep <03462> [she made.]
do <03318> [I will go.]
Lord <03068> [the Lord.]
gouged out <05365> [and put out. Heb. and bored out.]
bound .... bronze <0631 05178> [bound him.]
grinder <02912> [grind.]
hair <08181> [the hair.]
had ... shaved off <0834 01548> [after he was shaven. or, as when he was shaven.]
Dagon <01712> [Dagon.]
celebrate <08057> [to rejoice.]
praised <01984> [praised.]
killed ... many <02491 07235> [which slew many of us. Heb. and who multiplied our slain.]
celebrating <03820> [their hearts.]
<06440> [them. Heb. before them. sport.]
roof <01406> [and there.]
"Samson, therefore," says Dr. Shaw, "must have been in a court or area below; and consequently the temple will be of the same kind with the ancient, [temene,] or sacred enclosures, which were only surrounded either in part, or on all sides, with some plain or cloistered buildings. Several palaces, {doutwanas,} (as the courts of justice are called in those countries) are built in this fashion. On their public festivals and rejoicings, the roofs of these cloisters are crowded with spectators. I have often seen numbers of people diverted in this manner on the roof of the dey's palace at Algiers; which, like many others, has an advanced cloister, over against the gate of the palace, like a long pent-house, supported by one or two contiguous pillars in front, or centre."
roof <01406> [the roof.]
called <07121> [called.]
remember ... Strengthen <02142 02388> [remember me.]
swift <0259> [that I may.]
leaned <05564> [on which it was borne up. or, he leaned on them.]
die ...................... killed ....... death ..... killed <04191> [me. Heb. my soul. die.]
temple <01004> [and the house.]
die ...................... killed ....... death ..... killed <04191> [So the dead.]
brothers <0251> [his brethren.]
Zorah <06881> [between Zorah.]
led <08199> [And he judged.]
man <0376> [A.M. 2585. B.C. 1419. An. Ex. Is. 72. there was.]
It is extremely difficult to fix the chronology of this and the following transactions. Some think them to be here in their natural order; others that they happened in the time of Joshua, or immediately after the ancients who outlived him. All that can be said with certainly is, that they happened when there was no king in Israel; that is, about the time of the judges, or in some time of the anarchy. (ver. 6.)
hill country <02022> [mount.]
curse <0422> [about, etc.]
Houbigant renders this, "and for which you put me to my oath."
curse <0422> [cursedst.]
mother ............ stolen ................... stole ............. mother <03947 0517> [I took it.]
reward <01288> [Blessed.]
solemnly dedicate <06942> [I had wholly.]
carved image <06459> [a graven image.]
hundred <03967> [two hundred.]
shrine <0430 01004> [an house of gods. or, as baith Elohim may also signify, "a house of God."]
ephod <0646> [ephod.]
personal idols <08655> [teraphim.]
hired <04390> [consecrated. Heb. filled the hand.]
sons <01121> [his sons.]
king <04428> [no king.]
right <03477> [right.]
Bethlehem <01035> [Beth-lehem-judah.]
tribe <04940> [of the family.]
That is, of the tribe of Judah by his mother; and of that of Levi by his father.
<03212> [departed.]
made <06213> [as he journeyed. Heb. in making his way.]
adviser <01> [a father.]
give <05414> [I will give.]
clothes <0899 06187> [a suit of apparel. or, a double suit, etc. Heb. an order of garments.]
<04390> [consecrated.]
priest <03548> [his priest.]
king <04428> [no king.]
The word {mailech,} which generally means a king, is sometimes taken for a supreme ruler, governor, or judge (see Ge 36:31. De 33:5;) and it is probable it should be so understood here, and in the parallel passages.
tribe .......................... tribes <07626> [the tribe.]
days ......... days ................... yet <03117> [for unto.]
Danites ........... men <0582 01121> [men. Heb. sons. Zorah.]
spy out <07270> [to spy.]
hill country <02022> [mount.]
recognized <05234> [they knew.]
They knew by his dialect or mode of pronunciation, that he was not an Ephraimite: see the parallel texts.
[and what hast.]
hired ....... priest <07936 03548> [hired me.]
Seek <07592> [Ask counsel.]
divine <0430> [of God.]
confidence <07965 03212> [Go in peace.]
with <05227> [before.]
Lord <03068> [the Lord.]
As the Levite uses the word Jehovah, and as the Danites succeeded according to the oracle delivered by him, some learned men are of opinion, that the worship established by Micah was not of an idolatrous kind.
Laish <03919> [Laish.]
[called Leshem. how they.]
conqueror <03423> [magistrate. Heb. possessor, or, heir of restraint.]
dealings <01697> [and had no.]
In the most correct copies of the LXX. this clause stands thus; [kai logos ouk en autois meta Syrias;] "and they had no transactions with Syria;" evidently reading instead of ['ƒdƒm <\\See definition 0120\\>] {adam,} man, ['Arƒm <\\See definition 0758\\>] {aram,} Syria; words so nearly similar that the only difference between them is in the [Rˆysh,] {raish,} and [Dƒleth,] daleth, which in both MSS. and printed books is sometimes indiscernible. Laish was situated on the frontiers of Syria.
Zorah ... Eshtaol <0847 06881> [Zorah and Eshtaol.]
Come on <06965> [Arise.]
lethargic <02814> [are ye still.]
hesitate <06101> [be not.]
unsuspecting <0982> [secure.]
God ... handing ... over <0430 05414> [God hath.]
lacks <04270> [where there.]
armed <02296> [appointed. Heb. girded.]
Kiriath Jearim .................. Kiriath Jearim <07157> [Kirjath-jearim.]
A city of Judah, on the confines of Benjamin; distant nine miles from ’lia or Jerusalem, in going towards Diospolis or Lydda, according to Eusebius.
Camp of Dan <04265> [Mahaneh-dan.]
Ephraimite hill country <0669 02022> [mount Ephraim.]
<06030> [Then.]
houses <01004> [in these.]
realize ................... Decide <03045> [now therefore.]
asked <07592> [saluted him. Heb. asked him of peace.]
six hundred <03967 08337> [six hundred.]
five men ........................................... men <0582 0376 02568> [five men.]
<06459> [the graven.]
Put ... hand <07760 03027> [lay thine.]
This was the token of silence. These men were evidently very ignorant; and absurdly concluded that they should, by taking Micah's gods, secure the presence and favour of the God of Israel, in their expedition and settlement. They perhaps supposed the piety of their motives, and the goodness of their end, would justify the means. But it was a base robbery of Micah, aggravated by the Levite's ingratitude, and their menaces.
adviser <01> [a father.]
happy <03820> [heart.]
joined <0935> [went.]
He was glad of his preferment among the Danites; and went into the crowd, that he might not be discovered by Micah or his family.
walked <07760> [and put.]
These men were so confident of success, that they removed their whole families, household goods, cattle, and all.
possessions <03520> [the carriage.]
{Kevoodah,} from {kavad,} to be heavy, denotes the luggage or baggage.
out ................. together <02199> [What aileth.]
out ................. together <02199> [comest. Heb. art gathered together.]
said .............................. say <0559> [what have.]
angry <04751> [angry. Heb. bitter of soul.]
Laish <03919> [Laish.]
struck <05221> [they smote.]
burned <08313> [burnt.]
rescue <05337> [And there.]
far ... Sidon <07350 06721> [far from.]
Probably the people of Laish were originally a colony of the Zidonians; who being an opulent people, and in possession of a strong city, lived in a state of security, not being afraid of their neighbours. In this the Leshemites imitated them, though they appear not to have had the same reason for their confidence; and though they might naturally expect help from their countrymen, yet as they lived at a considerable distance from Sidon, the Danites saw they could strike the blow before the news of the invasion could reach that city.
Beth Rehob <01050> [Beth-rehob.]
[Rehob.]
Dan <01835> [Dan.]
sons <03205> [who was.]
Laish, or Dan, was situated at the northern extremity of the land of Canaan, in a beautiful and fertile plain, at the foot of mount Lebanon, on the springs of Jordan, and, according to Eusebius, four miles from C‘sarea Philippi, or Paneas, now Banias, (with which some have confounded it,) towards Tyre. Burckhardt says, that the source of the river El Dhan, or Jordan, is at an hour's distance from Banias, which agrees with Eusebius.
worshiped <06965> [set up.]
God had graciously performed his promise, in putting these Danites in possession of that which fell to their lot, obliging them thereby to be faithful to him who had been so to them; they inherited the labour of the people, that they might observe his statues. Ps 105:44, 45. But the first thing they do after they are settled is to break his laws, by setting up the graven image, attributing their success to that idol, which, if God had not been infinitely patient, would have been their ruin. Thus a prosperous idolater goes on to offend, imputing this his power unto his God. Instead of Manasseh, some would read Moses; as it is found in some MSS., in the Vulgate and in the concessions of the most intelligent Jews. But Bp. Patrick takes this to be an idle conceit of the Rabbins, and supposes this Jonathan to be of some other family of the Levites. Yet Kimchi acknowledges, that the Jews, deeply concerned for the honour of their lawgiver, to whom they thought it would be a great dishonour to have a grandson who was an idolater, suspended the letter, [N–wn,] {noon,} over the word [M“sheh <\\See definition 04872\\>"] <\\See definition 04873\\> Moses, thus [Menashsheh <\\See definition 04519\\>,] as it is found in the Hebrew Bibles; which, by means of the points, they have changed into Manasseh.
time <03117> [until.]
exile <0776> [the land.]
Houbigant contends, that, instead of {ha„retz,} "the land," we should read {ha„ron,} "the ark;" for the [Vƒv,] {wav,} and [N–wn, {noon final,} might easily be mistaken for [Tsƒdˆy,] {tzadday final;} which is the only difference between the two words. This conjecture is the more likely, as the next verse tells us, that Micah's graven image continued at Dan "all the time that the house of God was at Shiloh;" which was till the ark was taken by the Philistines.
time <03117> [all the time.]
king <04428> [when there.]
hill country <02022> [mount.]
acquired <0802> [a concubine. Heb. a woman, a concubine, or, a wife, a concubine.]
Bethlehem <01035> [Beth-lehem-judah.]
angry <02181> [played.]
[four whole months. or, a year and four months. Heb. days, four months.]
<03212> [went.]
hoping <01696> [speak.]
convince .... return <03820 07725> [friendly unto her. Heb. to her heart.]
return <07725> [to bring.]
servant <05288> [his servant.]
energy <05582> [Comfort. Heb. Srengthen.]
bite <06595> [with a morsel.]
time <03820> [let thine heart.]
[until afternoon. Heb. till the day declined.]
Merely that they might avoid the heat of the day, which would have been very inconvenient in travelling.
day .......... day <03117> [the day.]
<07503> [draweth, etc. Heb. is weak. the day groweth to an end. Heb. it is the pitching time of the day, Jer 6:4.]
That is, it was near the time in which travellers ordinarily pitched their tents, to take up their lodging for the night. In the latter part of the afternoon, eastern travellers begin to look out for a place for this purpose. So Dr. Shaw observes, "Our constant practice was to rise at break of day, set forward with the sun, and travel to the middle of the afternoon; at which time we began to look out for encampments of Arabs; who, to prevent such parties as ours from living at free charges upon them, take care to pitch in woods, valleys, or places the least conspicuous."
tomorrow <04279> [to morrow.]
home <0168> [home. Heb. to thy tent.]
<05227> [over against. Heb. to over against. Jebus.]
Jebusite <02983> [the Jebusites.]
Gibeah <01390> [Gibeah.]
Gibeah, a city of Benjamin, and the birth-place of Saul, was situated near Rama and Gibeon, according to Josephus, thirty furlongs north from Jerusalem; or, according to Jerome, about two leagues.
Gibeah <01390> [Gibeah.]
one <0376> [no man.]
There was probably no inn, or house of public entertainment in this place; and therefore they could not have a lodging unless furnished by mere hospitality. But these Benjamites seem to have added to their other vices, avarice and inhospitality, like the inhabitants of Akoura in mount Lebanon, mentioned by Burckhardt.
work <04639> [his work.]
<03212> [whither.]
heading <01980> [I am now.]
The LXX. read, [eis ton oikon mou ego poreuomai:] "I am going to my own house;" which is probably the true reading, as we find (ver. 29) that he really went home; yet he might have gone previously to Shiloh, or to "the house of the Lord," because that was also in mount Ephraim.
home .......... home <01004> [the house.]
invited <0622> [receiveth. Heb. gathereth.]
straw ... grain <04554 08401> [straw and provender.]
In those countries principally devoted to pasturage, they made little or no hay: but as they raised corn, they took great care of their straw for cattle, which by their mode of threshing was chopped very small. See note on Ge 24:32.
just fine ..... care ...... But <07965 07535> [Peace be.]
needs <04270> [let all thy wants.]
Here was genuine hospitality: "Keep your bread and wine for yourselves, and your straw and provender for your asses; you may need them before you finish your journey: I will supply all your wants for this night; only do not lodge in the street."
spend ....... square <03885 07339> [lodge not.]
brought <0935> [So he brought.]
washed <07364> [they washed.]
good time <03820> [they were.]
<0582> [the men.]
good-for-nothings <01121 01100> [sons of Belial.]
Send out <03318> [Bring forth.]
man ....................... man <0376> [the man.]
do .... disgraceful thing <06213 05039> [do not this folly.]
daughter <01323> [Behold.]
The rites of hospitality are regarded as sacred and inviolable in the East: and a man who has admitted a stranger under his roof, is bound to protect him even at the expense of his life. On these high notions only, the influence of which an Asiatic mind alone can appreciate, can the present transaction be either excused or palliated.
send ... out ........ do .... whatever you like .... do <03318 06213 05869> [them.]
abuse .... do ......... do <06031 06213> [humble ye.]
disgraceful thing <05039 01697 02063> [so vile a thing. Heb. the matter of this folly.]
raped .... abused <03045 05953> [knew her.]
abused <05953> [and abused.]
master ....... light <0113 0216> [her lord was.]
response <06030> [But none.]
carved ... up <05408 06106> [divided her.]
It is probable, that with the pieces he sent to each tribe a circumstantial account of the barbarity of the men of Gibeah; and that they considered each of the pieces as expressing an execration. That a similar custom prevailed in ancient times is evident from 1 SA 11:7. It had an inhuman appearance, thus to mangle the corpse of this unhappy woman; but it was intended to excite a keener resentment against so horrible a crime, which called for a punishment proportionally severe.
<06106> [with her bones.]
Take careful <07760> [consider.]
Israelites <01121> [Then all.]
together <0259 0376> [as one man.]
Dan <01835> [from Dan.]
land <0776> [with the.]
Lord <03068> [unto the.]
Mizpah <04709> [in Mizpeh.]
It does not appear that the Israelites on this occasion, were summoned by the authority of any one common head, but they came together by the consent and agreement, as it were, of one common heart, fired with a holy zeal for the honour of God and Israel. The place of their meeting was Mizpeh; they gathered together unto the Lord there; for Mizpeh was so very near to Shiloh, that their encampment might very well be supposed to reach from Mizpeh to Shiloh. Shiloh was a small town, and therefore, when there was a general meeting of the people to present themselves before God, they chose Mizpeh for their head quarters, which was the next adjoining city of note; perhaps, because they were not willing to give that trouble to Shiloh, which so great an assembly would occasion; it being the residence of the priests that attended the tabernacle.
sword-wielding <02719 08025> [drew sword.]
Benjaminites ..... Israelites ......... Israelites <01144 01121> [the children of Benjamin.]
<01961> [how was.]
Levite <03881> [the Levite. Heb. the man the Levite. I came.]
leaders <01167> [And the men.]
surrounded <05437> [beset.]
concubine <06370> [and my concubine.]
badly <06031> [forced. Heb. humbled.]
carved <05408> [cut her.]
Israel ........ atrocity ... Israel <03478 05039> [folly in Israel.]
Israelites <01121> [ye are all.]
make .... here <03051 01988> [give here.]
unison ............ one <0259 0376> [as one man.]
one <0376> [We will not.]
lot <01486> [by lot against it.]
sent men <07971 0582> [sent men.]
hand over <05414> [deliver.]
good-for-nothings ...................... Israelite <01100 01121> [children of Belial.]
purge <01197> [put away.]
refused ... listen <014 08085> [would not.]
The conduct of the Israelites was very equitable in this demand; but perhaps the rulers or elders of Gibeah ought previously to have been applied to, to deliver up the criminals to justice. However, the refusal of the Benjamites, and their protection of those who had committed this horrible wickedness, because they were of their own tribe, prove them to have been deeply corrupted, and (all their advantages considered) as ripe for divine vengeance as the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah had been. Confiding in their own valour and military skill, they seen to have first prepared for battle in this unequal contest with such superior numbers.
twenty-six <06242> [twenty.]
left-handed <0334> [left-handed.]
{Itter yad yemeeno,} "obstructed in his right hand;" so the Chaldee Targum, {gemid beedaih deyammeena,} contracted or impeded in his right hand." Le Clerc observes, that the 700 men left-handed seem therefore to have been made slingers, because they could not use the right hand, which is employed in managing heavier arms; and they could discharge the stones from the sling in a direction against which their opponents were not upon their guard, and thus do the greater execution.
sling ... stone <068 07049> [sling stones.]
The sling was a very ancient warlike instrument; and, in the hands of those who were skilled in the use of it, produced astonishing effects. The inhabitants of the islands of Baleares, now Majorca and Minorca, were the most celebrated slingers of antiquity. They did not permit their children to break their fast, till they had struck down the bread they had to eat from the top of a pole, or some distant eminence. Vegetius tells us, that slingers could in general hit the mark at 600 feet distance.
four hundred <0702 03967> [four hundred.]
asked <07592> [asked.]
Judah <03063> [Judah.]
got <06965> [rose up.]
Benjaminites <01121> [the children.]
struck down <07843> [destroyed.]
heart <02388> [encouraged.]
wept <01058> [wept.]
Israelites ........ Lord ....... Lord .......... Benjaminites ..... Lord <01121 03068> [And the.]
It seems most evident that the Israelites did not seek the protection of God. When they "went to the house of God," (ver. 18,) it was not to enquire concerning the expediency of the war, nor of its success, but which of the tribes should begin the attack: and here the question is, "Shall I go up again to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother?" Having so much right on their side, they had no doubt of the justice of their cause, and the propriety of their conduct; and having such a superiority of numbers, they had no doubt of success. But God humbled them, and delivered them into the hands of their enemies; and shewed them that the race was not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong.
struck down <07843> [destroyed.]
Israelites <01121> [all the children.]
wept <01058> [wept.]
asked <07592> [enquired.]
ark <0727> [the ark.]
The loss of two battles at length brought this stiff-necked people to enquire of the Lord; for all the company at this time met at Shiloh, and kept a day of fasting and prayer with great earnestness and solemnity. "Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear." .# Isa 59:1
Phinehas <06372> [Phinehas.]
It is evident, from this mention of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, that these transactions must have taken place not long after the death of Joshua.
was serving <05975> [stood.]
more <03254> [Shall I yet.]
Attack <05927> [Go up.]
Israel <03478> [Israel.]
Though God had promised them success, they knew they could expect it only by the use of proper means. Hence they used all prudent precaution, and employed all their military skill.
ambush <0693> [liers.]
unguarded <05423> [drawn.]
army ......... strike down ... enemy <05971 02491 05221> [smite of the people, and kill, as at. Heb. smite of the people wounded as at, etc. the house of God. or, Beth-el.]
Gibeah.
thirty <07970> [thirty.]
retreat <05127> [Let us flee.]
This was done, not only because they had placed an ambuscade behind Gibeah, which was to enter and burn the city as soon as the Benjamites left it; but it would seem, that the slingers, by being within the city and its fortifications, had great advantage over the Israelites by their slings, when they could not come among them with their swords, unless they got them in the plain country.
got up <06965> [rose up.]
took their positions <06186> [put themselves.]
There appear to have been three divisions of the Israelitish army: one at Baal-tamar, (which was situated, says Eusebius, near Gibeah;) a second behind the city in ambush; and a third, who skirmished with the Benjamites before Gibeah.
Ten thousand <06235 0505> [ten thousand.]
realize ... disaster <03045 07451> [knew not.]
25,100 <06242> [twenty.]
Though the numbers of the Israelites were immensely superior to those of Benjamin, though the stratagem was well laid and ingeniously executed, and the battle bravely fought, yet the inspired historian ascribes the victory to the hand of the Lord, as entirely as if he had smitten the Benjamites by a miracle.
[for the man.]
hiding in ambush ..... dash .... They <02363 0693> [the liers in wait hasted.]
made a mad <04900> [drew themselves along. or, made a long sound with the trumpets.]
arranged ... signal <04150> [Now there.]
From this verse to the end of the chapter, we have the details of the same operations which are mentioned, in a general way, in the preceding verses of this chapter.
arranged ... signal <04150> [sign. or, time.]
<05973> [and. Heb. with. flame. Heb. elevation.]
Israelites .......... Israelites ....... men <0376> [And when.]
strike down ..... struck down <02491 05221> [smite and kill. Heb. smite the wounded.]
pillar <05982> [a pillar.]
turned <06437> [looked.]
signal .................... whole <04864 03632> [flame. Heb. whole consumption.]
panicked <0926> [were amazed.]
doorstep <05060> [was come upon them. Heb. touched them.]
battle <04421> [the battle.]
surrounded <03803> [inclosed.]
Nohah <04496> [with ease. or, from Menuchah, etc. over against. Heb. unto over against.]
Rimmon <07417> [Rimmon.]
twenty-five <06242> [twenty.]
Six hundred <03967 08337> [six hundred.]
cliff ... Rimmon <07417 05553> [rock of Rimmon.]
The rock Rimmon was doubtless a strong place; but it is uncertain where situated. It is probable however, that it was near, and took its name from, the village of Remmon, mentioned by Eusebius, fifteen miles north from Jerusalem. It appears that rocks are still resorted to in the East, as places of security; and some of them are even capable of sustaining a siege. De La Roque says, that "The Grand Seignior, wishing to seize the person of the emir (Fakr-eddin, prince of the Druses,) gave orders to the pacha to take him prisoner: he accordingly came in search of him, with a new army, in the district of Chouf, which is part of mount Lebanon, wherein is the village of Gesin, and close to it, the rock which served for a retreat to the emir. It is named in Arabic, Magara Gesin, i.e., the cavern of Gessin, by which name it is famous. The pacha pressed the emir so closely, that this unfortunate prince was obliged to shut himself up in the cleft of a great rock, with a small number of his officers. The pacha besieged him there several months; and was going to blow up the rock by a mine, when the emir capitulated."
put <05221 06310> [smote them.]
find <04672> [came to hand. Heb. was found. they came to. Heb. were found.]
oath <07650> [had sworn.]
<0376> [There.]
daughter <01323> [his daughter.]
<01004> [the house.]
<05375> [lifted.]
Israel ...... Israel ........ Israel <03478> [why is.]
early <07925> [rose early.]
built ... altar <01129 04196> [built there.]
solemn oath <07621 01419> [a great oath.]
regretted ........ Benjamin <05162 01144> [repented them.]
oath <07650> [sworn.]
Jabesh <03003> [Jabesh-gilead.]
This place, as its name imports, was situated in Gilead, east of Jordan. Eusebius and Jerome say it was a great town in their time, standing upon a hill, six miles south from Pella, in the way to Geresa, now Djerash. The Wady Yabes, mentioned by Burckhardt, which empties itself into the Jordan, in the neighbourhood of Bisan or Beth-shan (see 1 Sa 31:11,) and upon which Pella was situated, (celebrated by Pliny, 1. v. c. 18, for its fine waters,) seems to have taken its name from Jabesh. Near this spot, we must therefore look for its site; and the place called Kalaat Rabbad seems to correspond, very nearly, to the spot; though it probably still retains among the Arabs its ancient name.
kill <03212 05221> [Go and smite.]
As they had sworn to destroy those who would not assist in the war (ver. 5,) they determined to destroy the men of Jabesh, and to leave none except the virgins; and to give these to the 600 Benjamites who had escaped to the rock of Rimmon. The whole account is dreadful. The crime of the men of Gibeah was of the deepest dye; the punishment involving both the guilty and innocent, was extended to the most criminal excess, and their mode of remedying the evil they had occasioned was equally abominable.
male .............. male <02145> [every male.]
sexual relations <03045 04904> [hath lain by man. Heb. knoweth the lying with man.]
virgins <01330> [virgins. Heb. women, virgins. Shiloh.]
messengers <01696> [to speak. Heb. and spake and called. the rock Rimmon.]
assured ..... not ... harmed <07965 07121> [call peaceably. or, proclaim peace.]
there were ... enough <04672> [sufficed them not.]
regretted <05162> [repented.]
weakened <06556> [a breach.]
preserved <03425> [an inheritance.]
took an oath <07650> [sworn.]
festival <02282> [a feast.]
annual <03117> [yearly. Heb. from year to year. on the east side. or, toward the sun rising. of the highway. or, on. Lebonah.]
Maundrell supposes, that either Khan Leban, which is situated on the eastern side of a "delicious vale," four leagues south from Shechem, and two leagues north from Bethel, or the village of Leban, which is on the opposite side, occupies the site of the ancient Lebonah. It is eight hours, or about 24 miles, from Jerusalem, according to Dr. Richardson.
<02342> [dance.]
favor .......... get <02603 03947> [Be favourable unto them. or, Gratify us in them.]
each <0376> [each man.]
voluntarily given ... wives <05414 06256> [give unto.]
<03212> [and they went.]
It appears that the Benjamites acted in the most honourable way to the women they had thus violently carried off, and we may rest assured, that they took them to an inheritance more than equal to their own. But this transaction, as well as the indiscriminate massacre of the people of Jabesh-gilead, as Dr. Gray observes, was certainly stamped with injustice and cruelty; and must be condemned on those principles which the Scriptures elsewhere furnish.
rebuilt <01129> [repaired.]
king <04428> [no.]
right <03477> [right.]
CONCLUDING REMARKS ON THE BOOK OF JUDGES. The book of Judges forms an important link in the history of the Israelites. It furnishes us with a lively description of a fluctuating and unsettled nation; a striking picture of the disorders and dangers which prevailed in a republic without magistracy; when "the high-ways were unoccupied, and the travellers walked through by-ways," (ch. 5:6;) when few prophets were appointed to control the people, and "every one did that which was right in his own eyes." (ch. 17:6.) It exhibits the contest of true religion with superstition; and displays the beneficial effects that flow from the former, and the miseries and evil consequences of impiety. It is a most remarkable history of the long-suffering of God towards the Israelites, in which we see the most signal instances of his justice and mercy alternately displayed: the people sinned, and were punished; they repented, and found mercy. These things are written for our warning: none should presume, for God is just; none need despair, for God is merciful. Independently of the internal evidence of the authenticity of this sacred book, the transactions it records are not only cited or alluded to by other inspired writers, but are further confirmed by the traditions current among heathen nations.
