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Verse Commentaries:
BOOK OF JUDGES
by
PAULUS CASSEL, D.D.
professor in berlin.
translated from the german, with additions
by
P.H. STEENSTRA
professor of biblical literature in the protestant episcopal divinity school at cambridge, mass.
THE BOOK OF JUDGES
_______________________
INTRODUCTION
§ 1. Contents and Plan
2. The Biblical books are throughout books of instruction. For this purpose, and this alone, were they written. Their design is to show the relations, first of God, and through God of Israel, to history. In their view, all history, and that of Israel especially, is a continuous fulfillment of the truth and purposes of God. The achievements and the fortunes of all nations are the consequences of their moral relations to God. But the preëminence of Israel consists in this, that the God of nature and of time was first revealed to it, and that in the Law which it received from Him, it has a clear and definite rule by which it can order its relations to God and know the moral grounds of whatever befalls it. Upon the observance of this law, as the evidence and expression of faith in the living God, the freedom, well-being, and peace of Israel repose. This had been made known to the people, before under Joshua’s direction they left the desert and addressed themselves to the conquest of Canaan. If after victory, they shall observe the law, and be mindful of their calling to be a holy People of God, prosperity will follow them; if not, they shall fall into bondage, poverty, and discord (Deu_7:1 ff.). The Book of Judges is a text-book of fulfillment to this prediction. The twenty-one sections of which it consists are organically put together for this purpose. It may, indeed, be said that there are three principal divisions recognizable: first, Judges 1, 2; secondly, Judges 3-16; thirdly, Judges 17-21. But the lessons which these three divisions respectively contain, evince precisely the organic connection in which the whole narrative stands with all its parts, as the necessary fulfillment of what was promised in the law. The first two chapters are a pragmatic introduction to the history of the book as a whole. They explain the possibility of the events about to be related. Not in the history of Joshua could the germs of the subsequent conflicts lie; for Joshua stood in the spirit of the law, and moved in the steps of Moses. It was only in what the tribes did after his death, that their foundation was laid. Accordingly, when Judges 1 relates the prosecution of the conquest by Israel, its main object in so doing is not to tell what was conquered and how, but rather to show that in violation of the Mosaic command the tribes failed to expel the Canaanites. In consequence of this failure, the forewarnings of the law (Deuteronomy 7) went into fulfillment. Peace endured only so long as the elders yet lived who remembered all the great works that were done for Israel at their entrance into Canaan (Jos_24:31). The younger generation soon fell into the snares of temptation, and consequently into spiritual and political servitude. In distress, indeed, they sought after God, and then heroes rose up among them, who were truly their Judges, and who, acting in the spirit of God, regained their liberty. Their deeds are reported in Judges 3-16. But the root of the evil was not thereby removed. Heathenism continued to exist in the bosom of Israel. The occasion of apostasy afforded by the idolatry of the Canaanites was permanent, but the institution of the judgeship was transient. The service of Baal perpetuated itself from generation to generation; but the strength and energy of the Judge expired with the person in whom they dwelt. So also all those judges whom according to the law Israel was to elect for the administration of its local affairs (Deu_16:18 f.), were invested with merely personal, not hereditary, dignity. The permanent evil was not confronted with any equally permanent institution. To this fact Judges 2 already alludes; for it says, Deu_16:19, that “when the Judge was dead, they turned back.”
3. In consequence of this, the Book of Judges is the book of fulfillment from yet another point of view. It teaches that by reason of the fact just alluded to, the hereditary kingly office had to be set up. In Deuteronomy (Jdg_16:18 f.), the institution of Judges in all the gates of Israel is immediately followed by this provision (Deu_17:14 ff.): “When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me, then shalt thou set him king over thee whom the Lord thy God shall choose.” The Book of Judges shows that this result was unavoidable. The government of the Judges, it points out already in Judges 2, has no traditional strength. The authority of the greatest among them ceases when he dies. Each one of the great heroes who are portrayed from Judges 3 onward, affords proof of the want of the hereditary kingly office, albeit in different ways. When Othniel died, no second hero of Judah was forthcoming to restrain Israel from sin. Ehud was a deliverer (Judges 3), but he is not even called a Judge. After him, the work of delivering and judging devolved on a woman, and Barak was willing to fight only if she went with him (Judges 4, 5). Gideon became inspired with courage only through great wonders on the part of God (Judges 6); and however pious and great, he himself occasioned confusion in Israel (Jdg_8:27). Jephthah had no legal descent of any kind. Samson was an incomparable hero; but he fought single-handed, without a people to support him.
The Judges were indeed deliverers; but their authority was not recognized throughout all Israel. The call of Deborah was answered by only two tribes. Gideon’s leadership was at first opposed by Ephraim. Jephthah fell into sanguinary discord with the same tribe. Samson was bound to be delivered up to the Philistines by the terror-stricken tribe of Judah itself.
The judgeship did not even maintain itself within the same tribe. Of the six principal heroes, three belonged to the south,—Othniel, Ehud, Samson,—and three to the north,—Barak, Gideon, Jephthah; none to Ephraim, the tribe of Joshua, and two to Manasseh.
The title of the hero was Shophet, Judge. But judges there were always. In every tribe, the judge was the local magistrate. The hero who rose up to conquer bore no new title. And his authority was merely the authority of the common Shophet territorially extended by virtue of his mighty deeds. But whatever unity he might have formed during his activity, dissolved itself at his death. The tribes then stood again under their separate Shophetim. Permanent organic connection could be secured only through a king. Without this common and permanent centre, the interests of the several tribes diverged, and each section became indifferent to whatever occurred in the others. National interest decayed, and with it, of course, national strength. The narratives of Judges 17-21 form, it is true, a division by themselves, but a division that stands in organic connection with the whole Book. The events there related do not follow after the last judge of whom Judges 16 speaks. They belong to much earlier times, and yet the position assigned them is well considered and instructive. They demonstrate by new and striking illustrations the necessity of the kingly office to strengthen Israel, within and without, over against the existing idolatry, which could maintain itself only by reason of the divisions and want of unity between the tribes of Israel. The events of these last five chapters do not seem to have occurred under the tyranny of any hostile king. So much the more strikingly do they set forth the weakness of the form of government which Israel had at that time,—a weakness which, to be sure, had its ultimate ground in the weakness of the people itself. They show the decay both of religion among the people and of the priesthood. The first two of these chapters (17 and 18) teach us what sins in spiritual matters and what deeds of civil violence were possible in Israel, without causing the whole nation to rise in remonstrance. The last two show the reverse of this, namely, the fanaticism of self-righteousness with which the whole people proceeded against one of the brotherhood of tribes, reducing it even to the verge of extinction. Both kinds of sins were possible only because the hereditary, general, and authoritative kingly office was wanting, which everywhere interposes with the same comprehensiveness of view, because it everywhere governs with the same strength. For that reason the narrator several times adds the remark (Jdg_17:6; Jdg_18:1; Jdg_19:1): “There was no king in Israel.” It is the last sentence he writes: “In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did that which was right in his own eyes.” But the whole Book points to this conclusion. It is the essence of its special teaching. It is that which makes its title doubly significant. The civil authority of the Shophetim would have sufficed, if Israel had been obedient, and had not retained the Canaanites in its borders. As it was not obedient, it needed extraordinary Shophetim to effect its deliverance. But their sporadic activity could not prevail against a permanent evil. This the concentrated strength of the kingly office alone could overcome; just as, according to the gospel, every evil to which the children of men were subject, has been dissolved by the true kingship of the Son of God.
§
The desire for a king appears as early as Gideon’s time. After that hero’s victory, the people come and wish to have him for a king. But Gideon declines, and our author manifestly approves his course. Abimelech’s disgraceful kingship is minutely related; but the parable of Jotham sets in a convincing light the wrongfulness of the manner in which the trees, i.e. the people, seek to make a king. A king so made can be of no service to Israel. It is written (Deu_17:15): “Thou shalt make him king whom the Lord shall choose.” In Samuel’s time, also, the people wish a king, but they do not undertake to choose one themselves. They pray Samuel to select one for them; and it is only at God’s command that Samuel complies.
Samuel, as chronologically he stands between King Saul and the Judges, so as Prophet and Priest he mediates the transition from the judicial to the kingly office. His prophetic exercise of the judicial office first teaches the people how rightly to desire and ask for a king. It is on that account that the Book of Judges closes with the heroic deeds and death of Samson. The age of heroes is past. The age of kings can begin only when a prophet enjoys respect as a judge throughout all Israel, which had never been the case before Samuel. Hence, this prophet’s history forms the introduction to the history of the kingship, since without his consecration no king could exist. This is why the Septuagint and the Vulgate call the Books of Samuel the First and Second of Kings.
The extreme points of time between which the composition of our Book must have taken place, may easily be indicated. It must have been later than the great victory of Samuel over the Philistines, the reformation of Israel, and the return of the ark of the covenant from exile (cf. on Jdg_18:30). One consequence of the reformation was that, notwithstanding Samuel’s protest at first, the people desired a king; for in this promised office they sought security both against their enemies and against themselves and their own unbelief. Another consequence, probably, was the composition of this manual of penitence and instruction.
On the other hand, our Book must have been written before the reign of David. Jerusalem was still called Jebus, and the Jebusites had not yet been expelled (Jdg_1:21; Jdg_19:10). But if 2Sa_5:6 ff. is to have any meaning at all, it must refer to the utter destruction of the Jebusites’ power by David, a conclusion which the whole history confirms. Moreover, if our Book had not been written before the time of David, references to his reign could not be wanting. From Othniel’s time, the tribe of Judah, David’s tribe, falls into the background. The mention of it in the history of Samson, is far from honorable. The relatively copious treatment of affairs in which Benjamin figures, points to the time of King Saul, While the history of Othniel is quite summarily related, that of Ehud is drawn out to the minutest detail. Similarly rich is the flow of tradition in the narrative concerning Gibeah (Judges 19 seq.). Saul says of himself that he is “of the smallest of the tribes” (1Sa_9:21). This history of Gibeah explains the cause of Benjamin’s smallness, and traces it to the savage war made on him by Israel.
§
2. As to the authorship of the Book of Judges, the traditions which ascribe it to Samuel are ancient; but if in such obscure matters one were to risk a conjecture, he would hardly attach himself to these traditions. The Book apparently presupposes the reign of Saul, just as in the Books of Samuel the reign of David is presupposed. To record the deeds and instructions of God, as brought to view in the history of the nation, was certainly a well-considered, and, as the extant sacred writings show, a fearlessly and honestly executed office. If this was the office held by the mazkir at the courts of David, Solomon, and the kings in general (cf. 2Sa_8:16, 1Ki_4:3, etc.), it would be natural to ascribe our Book to a Benjaminite of the court of Saul. This man had before him narratives, extending over a period of 400 years, which must have been written by contemporaries of the events related. Local and material details such as the histories of Ehud, Gideon, Abimelech, Jephthah, Samson, as also those of Micah and the priest at Gibeah, exhibit, can only proceed from narrators who stood personally near the events. Nevertheless, as has already been remarked, an organic recasting of the materials extends through the whole Book, by means of which the doctrine it is designed to teach is brought prominently to view, and the arrangement of the individual narratives determined. To this it is owing that the record of the great deeds achieved by the Judges closes with Samson, although it is not certain that the death of that hero is the latest event of the Book, and also that the narratives concerning Micah and Gibeah stand at the end, although, as the author himself does not conceal, the events occurred much earlier (cf. Jdg_18:12; Jdg_13:25; also, Jdg_20:28). The lesson conveyed in the introduction of the Book, especially in Judges 2, that sin and apostasy are the cause of servitude, and that apostasy in turn is the consequence of the people’s disobedience in not expelling the Canaanites, is brought out in similar turns of thought and expression throughout the work (cf. Jdg_2:11; Jdg_4:1; Jdg_6:1; Jdg_10:6; Jdg_13:1; Jdg_2:14; Jdg_3:8; Jdg_10:7; Jdg_2:17; Jdg_8:33; Jdg_10:13 ff.). The objection that Judges 17-21 do not contain such expressions, testifies only to the clearness and order which everywhere pervade the simple narrative. Until the story reaches the age of Samson, these expressions occur because they indicate the moral links in the historical connection. But Judges 17-21 are placed outside of this connection. They present occurrences out of times in which the formulæ, “the sons of Israel continued to do evil”. (cf. Jdg_4:1, etc.), or, “they did evil” (cf. Jdg_2:11, etc.), were not properly applicable, since they were times of “rest” to the land, in consequence of the victories of one great Judge or another (cf. Jdg_3:11, etc.). Accordingly, these chapters find the ground of the evils they set forth not in the want of a Shophet but of a king. Their unity with the Book as a whole, appears clearly on a comparison of them, as to style and diction, with the introduction, Judges 1-3; as again similar philological characteristics testify to the unity of Judges 1-3 with Judges 4-16 (cf. Keil, Lehrb. der hist. krit. Einleit., § 47, notes 4 and 5).
3. Notwithstanding this, it is plain that the different narratives of the Book exhibit a difference of coloring among themselves. This could not be otherwise. From the earliest times down to the Middle Ages, it has ever been the manner of the chronicler to tell his story, for the most part, in the very words of his sources. Precisely the Christian historiography of pious men in mediæval times abounds with proofs and instructive illustrations of this fact. To this practice the numerous hapax legomena of our Book, found nowhere else, are due (cf. Jdg_1:15; Jdg_3:22; Jdg_4:4-19; Jdg_5:10; Jdg_5:28; Jdg_7:3; Jdg_14:9-18; Jdg_15:8; Jdg_18:7, etc.); while in many places traces of abridgment by the author might be pointed out (cf. Jdg_4:15, 16:13 ff., 20). The communication of invaluable contemporary documents like the Song of Deborah and the Parable of Jotham not only confirms this explanation, but also makes it probable that in other parts of his work too the author made use of popular and heroic songs, although the fact that his prose account of the victory of Deborah and Barak is manifestly independent of the Song of Deborah shows that this conjecture is to be applied with great caution.
The author was acquainted with the contents of the Book of Joshua and of the entire Pentateuch. His first chapter becomes intelligible only when viewed in connection with the Book of Joshua. In the 13th chapter of that Book, the Lord says to Joshua that while he is old much land remains still to be possessed. The territories yet to be conquered are indicated, and orders are given for the division of the whole land among the tribes. With this account Judges 1 of our Book connects itself. It shows what conquests remained to be made, from what necessary exertions the people still shrank, and where contracts of toleration were still made with the heathen inhabitants. The enumeration of places, especially in Jdg_1:27-36, presupposes familiarity with chaps, 13–19 of Joshua so necessarily, that without it it would be altogether unintelligible. Only those places are named which were not fully subdued consequently, the knowledge of what formed the entire territory allotted to each tribe is presupposed. But this knowledge could only be obtained from the above-mentioned chapters in Joshua, since the territorial possessions of the respective tribes had nowhere else been defined.
In fact, the Book of Judges as a whole sets forth the fulfillment of what was contained in the Pentateuch and Joshua: its author must therefore have been acquainted with the contents of both. Chapter 2 is largely made up of sentences found in the last four books of Moses [cf. Hengst. Pentateuch, Ryland’s ed., ii. 24 f.]. The history of the exodus is evidently known to the author in the very words of the Biblical narrative (cf. Jdg_2:12; Jdg_6:13). The song of Deborah speaks in like manner of the journey through the desert and of Sinai. The narrative of the discord in Shechem (Jdg_9:28), reminds one of the story of Dinah (Genesis 34); and the deed in Gibeah is related in phraseology similar to that used in the history of Lot (Genesis 19). We must here glance at a misunderstanding emphatically maintained by Bertheau in several passages of his Commentary. The Book of Judges, he asserts, contains references to matters that occurred under Solomon, and therefore its author must have lived after this king. In support of this, he refers to 1Ki_4:7-19 compared with Jdg_1:27-28; but the reference proves nothing. The passage in Kings relates, to be sure, that Solomon appointed twelve officers over all the realm, whose duty it was to provide for the royal household. Of course, the districts mentioned Jdg_1:27 fell under the charge of some one of these officers. But in Jdg_1:28, it is stated that Manasseh did not drive out the Canaanites of these districts, but let them remain on condition of paying tribute, and in that we are to find a reference to Solomon!! As if Solomon had not appointed these officers over the whole kingdom! or as if their appointment had any reference to the Canaanites or to “tribute,” neither of which are so much as named in connection with it! A measure necessary in every regal government for the existence of the state, we are to identify, forsooth, with a measure of subjugation against enemies in a district! The very passage in 1Ki_9:15-22, which Bertheau connects with 1Ki_4:7-19, should have shown him the true nature of the appointment of these officers. For these verses, while they state that Solomon made serfs of the still remaining heathen, expressly add that he did not make servants of any Israelites. But this action of Solomon toward heathen is not the subject of discourse at 1Ki_4:7-19, where officers are appointed over all Israel; and as little in Jdg_1:28, which speaks of the time when Israel grew strong (which it certainly had been long before Solomon’s day), and imposed tribute upon the Canaanites. This is the very thing for which Manasseh is blamed, that when it grew strong, instead of expelling the heathen inhabitants, it made them tributary, thus sowing the seeds of future sin. The whole passage, if it referred to Solomon, would be senseless. And why, if the author thought of Solomon, did he not name him?
Yet more singular is another conjecture put forth by Studer and Bertheau. Jdg_1:29 states that Ephraim did not drive the Canaanites out of Gezer, but that they continued to dwell there. Now, we read in 1Ki_9:16 ff., that an Egyptian Pharaoh conquered Gezer, and slew the Canaanites, after which Solomon rebuilt the city. To this conquest, now, we are to suppose the author of Judges alludes in Jdg_1:29! But the author manifestly knows only this, that the Canaanite still dwelt in Gezer! Had he alluded to the conquest of Gezer and its rebuilding, he must have told of the destruction of the Canaanite; for at the time of Solomon’s rebuilding, the Canaanite was no longer there! Of such grounds as these for bringing down the date at which our book was written, Bertheau has four more (p. 29): 1. His interpretation of Jdg_18:30, which he thinks may refer either to the Assyrian or Babylonian conquest, on which see the commentary below. 2. The expression “until this day” (Jdg_1:21; Jdg_1:26; Jdg_6:24; Jdg_10:4, etc.), implies a long lapse of time between the occurrence and the author. But even fifty years would suffice, and the author had a period of four centuries under review. 3. The author was acquainted with regal government in Israel (Jdg_17:6; Jdg_18:1, etc.). Undoubtedly, because he lived under Saul, and therefore also, 4. Shiloh had ceased to be the seat of the priesthood. But how all this can be made to prove the composition of the Book of Judges in the Assyrian period, it is hard to say. Bertheau (after others) speaks of a cycle of twelve judges; but to justify this, either Barak or Abimelech must be omitted. The Jews counted fourteen. The number seven can only be got by force for the Book contains eight extended biographical sketches, to which Othniel is to be added All such play on numbers, which if the author had intended or found, he would have unquestionably set forth clearly and boldly, can at best neither prove nor disprove anything.
4. But it is precisely the traces by which the author’s use of earlier narratives is indicated, that testify to his freedom and originality. They show a natural and living appropriation of sacred history and its teaching, not a slavish and mechanical borrowing. The language of our Book, too, contains expressions not found in the Pentateuch and in Joshua (cf. on Jdg_2:14; Jdg_2:18; Jdg_20:26, and Keil, l. c.). The manner in which earlier history records occurrences analogous to those which our author has to relate, is recalled with freedom, without servile imitation. Compare, e. g. the account of the appearance of the angel to Gideon and the kindling of his present, with that of the visit of the angels to Abraham (Genesis 18) and the kindling of his sacrifice (Gen_15:17); .the story of Jephthah’s vow with Abraham’s offering up of Isaac (Genesis 22).
Very significant is the clearly discriminating use of the divine names Jehovah and Elohim, the former of which constantly designates the absolute God who has revealed himself to Israel, while the latter expresses the general conception of Deity, as recognized also by heathenism. The nations of Canaan were not without Elohim on whom to call. But Baal and Ashtaroth were false Elohim. Israel had the true Deity, the only Elohim ( äָàֶìäִֹéí ): the living Jehovah. This God of Israel the heathen, and with them the apostate Israelites themselves, did indeed consider and speak of as an Elohim; but he was no nature-deity, but the God of Israel’s history, Jehovah, the Deliverer from Egypt, the mighty wonder-worker, the Creator of all men. The use of the names Jehovah and Elohim is indicative of the difference between Israel and the nations in their relations to the true God and in their views of the universe. It implies not different documents but different spiritual conditions; and the profound subtilty of the narrative is shown nowhere more strikingly than in the alternation of these names. When the heathen Adonibezek speaks, in Judges 1, he uses Elohim. Ehud, when he addresses King Eglon, says Elohim; but when he speaks to Israel, Jehovah (cf. Jdg_3:20; Jdg_3:28). Micah’s private chapel is merely called a house of Elohim (Jdg_17:5), although he himself pretends to serve Jehovah. To sinning Ephraim Gideon speaks only of Elohim, just as this name only occurs in the history of Abimelech. The name used corresponds with the spirit of those by whom or in whose ears it is spoken. In Micah’s idolatrous temple, in the Shechem of Abimelech’s time, and in Ephraim’s pride, the fear of the true God of Israel does not manifest itself.
Occasionally, Jehovah and ha-Elohim ( äָàֱìäִֹéí ), the God, sc. of Israel, are used interchangeably; but yet not altogether as equivalents. Even the heathen Midianites may speak of the God of Israel as ha-Elohim (Jdg_7:14), but not as Jehovah. The latter is only put into the mouths of such as worship the Holy One in full faith. Very instructive in this respect is the alternation of the divine names in the accounts of the angelophanies to Gideon and the parents of Samson. The angels appear in human form, but their exalted nature shines through the lowlier appearance. On this account, an angel (Jdg_13:6), as also a prophet, may be called an Ish ha-Elohim, a godlike man; but no one is ever called Ish Jehovah, a Jehovah-like man. That description can be applied to neither angel nor man. The divine appearance in the human form under which the angel comes, can only be described by the term Elohim, or, in so far as its source in the God of Israel is to be specially indicated, by ha-Elohim. True, the expression “Angel of Jehovah” may be used as well as “Angel of ha-Elohim;” but still, in Jdg_6:20-21, these expressions seem to be distinguished from each other in such a way, that the latter designates the angel simply in his appearance (Jdg_6:20), the former as the possessor of supernatural powers (Jdg_6:21). When Gideon once more hesitates, and desires to assure himself whether he be really the chosen deliverer, and therefore longs to have the reality of the angelic appearance already enjoyed confirmed, he addresses himself to ha-Elohim (Jdg_6:36; Jdg_6:39). It may indeed appear strange that in connection with the answer in Jdg_6:40 simply Elohim is used; but the explanation is that the meaning being plain, the article is omitted as unnecessary.
5. These discriminations between the divine names are not to be ascribed to our author in any such sense as if the earlier times which he describes, and the sources which came down to him out of them, had not yet possessed any clear perception of them. All tradition, in whatever form he used it, narrative and song, was pervaded with the same consciousness as that which lives in Biblical books and doctrines, from which indeed it had derived them. The Song of Deborah, the documentary character and genuineness of which are undoubted, celebrates with prophetic power the Jehovah of the generations of Israel. The document which Jephthah sends to the king of Ammon shows a living knowledge of the contents and language of the Books of Moses, although it treats both with great freedom. If Gideon did not live in the consciousness of the authoritative God, who revealed himself in the law, and led Israel through the desert into Canaan, he could not say, while refusing an offered crown, “Jehovah shall rule over you” (Jdg_8:23). When Jephthah makes a vow, he makes it not after the model of any heathen usage, but in the language, form, and spirit of the Israelitish vow, as regulated by Moses. The story of Samson becomes intelligible only by the light of the Nazaritic institute of the Pentateuch. (Numbers 6). The priestly body comes to view in the service with Urim (Jdg_1:2; Jdg_20:18). Respect for the priesthood shows itself plainly, albeit in a perversion of it, in the conduct of Micah (Jdg_17:13). The officiating Levite is known by his priestly dress, furnished with the prescribed bells (Jdg_18:3). It is undoubtedly true that the circumstances of the Levites, as they come to view here and there, as also the story in Judges 19, indicate a wretched condition of the order; but decay implies vigor, just as caricature implies truth. The false ephod points to the true; the idol altar of Gideon’s father, to that which his son erects in the place of it. The Book of Judges treats of great international conflicts. But these wars are waged by the nations of Canaan not only against the strange people, but against that people’s God. No conflict had ever arisen, but for Israel’s Jehovah, from whom his people derived their national existence and character,—and, indeed, it was only the living Jehovah, who would not suffer himself to be represented by dead images, that could produce this deep and lasting antagonism. Without him, Israel could not have maintained itself in a struggle of four hundred years, to be finally victorious, and to find itself in possession of solid foundations for future civil and religious life.
Of course, the Book of Judges does not aim at giving a history of the general culture of the age, after the manner of modern times. That it says so little of the priestly institutions and the law, proves only that it presupposes them as known. It is certain, at least, that the discourses of the prophetic messengers (chaps, 2 and 10), like the whole Book, explain the several apostasies of the nation out of the decay of their religious and spiritual life.
To infer from the abnormities that come to view, as the idolatry in Ophra, the sin of Abimelech, the discord between the tribes under Jephthah, the abomination in Gibeah, and the wretched condition of the Levites, that the law, in all the fullness of its instructions, was not yet known or published, would be a singular procedure. As if during the times succeeding Clovis there had been no churches, no bishops, no Christian people, in Gaul, notwithstanding the horrible deeds of the kings and their helpers! Or as if in our own day and land, in which the Christian Church and Christian doctrine are unquestionably prevalent, the presence and existence of these might nevertheless be denied, because of the abominations of apostasy which come to light, as to morals, in police-reports, and as to doctrine in the myriad books of modern idolatry! It is the nature of Biblical historiography to disclose the truth, without regard to men and without flattery. It does not, in modern fashion, glorify in breathless declamations the dutiful deeds of the “faithful”; it mentions them in few words. But it brings the disgrace and punishment of sin into the foreground, in order to warn against transgression and induce repentance. That it has become common, especially since the rationalistic period, to represent the age of the Judges as wild and barbarous, only shows that men are prone to overlook the vices and bloodshed peculiar to their own day. Our Book covers a space of four hundred years. Now, as the periods of servitude are characterized as times of apostasy, while those of independence are represented as times of order, it is not unimportant to observe that apostasy prevailed during but one third of the time described.
§
Israel served Chushan
2. In Jdg_10:7 the historian states that God, by reason of Israel’s renewed apostasy, delivered them into the hands of the Philistines and Ammonites. The statement gives the impression that this domination of these nations over Israel was contemporaneous, but exerted over different parts of the land. The narrative then proceeds to speak first of the tyranny of Ammon, which lasted eighteen years, and then of that of the Philistines, which continued forty years. From the first of these oppressors, Jephthah delivered the eastern tribes; against the other, Samson began the war of liberation.
It certainly seems as if the author of our Book wished to convey the lesson that, as time went on, the condition of kingless Israel became continually worse. At first, hostile attacks had come from one side only; a great victory was then won, and “the land rested.” After Gideon, this expression no longer occurs. Moreover, it is never said of subsequent heroes that “they judged;” and the duration of their official activity no longer reaches to forty years. These facts are not to be neglected in our chronological survey.
The combination of the chronological data of the Book of Judges with those found elsewhere, and especially with the well-known statement in 1Ki_6:1, according to which four hundred and eighty years intervened between the exodus from Egypt and the building of the temple, is still attended with difficulty. Doubtless, the difficulty is itself a most striking proof of the antiquity, originality, and independence of our Book. Had it been composed at a late period, by the same hand that wrote the Books of Kings, would not its author have attempted to get rid of these remarkable difficulties? But the fidelity of the Old Testament tradition never shows itself more clearly than in cases in which, according to modern notions, it had been so easy for an editor to remove all occasion for resorting to hypotheses. For without these, it is at this day impossible to produce agreement. We know that agreement must exist,—for, surely, ancient authors were not incapable of arithmetical addition!—but coercive, scientific proof of it, we do not possess. The opinions of even the oldest Jewish chronologists were divergent. In support of our hypothesis we adduce the passage 1Sa_12:11, where it is said that “Jehovah sent Jerubbaal, and Bedan, and Jephthah, and Samuel,” and delivered Israel from their enemies round about. Now, Bedan is, without doubt, to be understood of Samson, the hero out of Dan. The passage, therefore, presents the peculiarity that it places Samson before Jephthah. Keil insists that the Ammonitish and Philistine oppressions occurred, not successively, but simultaneously. It is undoubtedly correct to say, that we are not first to sum up the numbers relating to the occurrences set forth in Judges 9, 12 thus:—
Ammon
The combination of the chronological data of our Book with those of Samuel and especially the important one in 1Ki_6:1, is further facilitated by the fact that in 1Sa_12:11, Eli is not named between Jephthah and Samuel. The inference from this omission is, that the forty years during which he ruled, are not to be separately taken into account. He was high-priest during the occurrence of the events in the North and South. The following additional conjectures may therefore be regarded as probable: The war spoken of in 1Sa_4:1, commenced by Israel against the Philistines, may be held to indicate the new vigor which the victories of Samson and the terrible catastrophe at Gaza had infused into the people. About thirty years had probably elapsed since the death of Samson. Then follow twenty years of penitence on the part of Israel (1Sa_7:2), dated from the exile of the ark and its restoration to Kirjath-jearim, that great event with which the Book of Judges is also acquainted. If next, according to ancient tradition, we add forty years for the time of Samuel and Saul, and forty for the reign of David, we arrive at the number four hundred and eighty in a manner sufficiently satisfactory and historically probable, as shown by the following tables:—
Samuel before the victory (1Sa_7:10)
20
Therefore, From Exodus to Chushan
67
40
Chushan to Gideon
213
40
Abimelech to Abdon
97
3
Samuel to Solomon
103
103
480
years.3. In conclusion, we remark that in the historical sketch of the Apostle Paul, Act_13:18-20, where he says, Act_13:18, “and God nourished ( ἐôñïöïöüñçóåí ) them forty years in the wilderness;” Act_13:19, “and destroying seven nations in the land of Canaan, he divided their land to them by lot;” Act_13:20, “and after that he gave them Judges for about four hundred and eighty years, until Samuel the prophet,” the reading four hundred and eighty can scarcely be the original one. The apostle evidently had his eye on our canonical books: in Act_13:17-18, on the Books of Moses; in Act_13:19, on the Book of Joshua; in Act_13:20, on the Book of Judges; for this is followed by references to the Books of Samuel. As he was undoubtedly acquainted with the number four hundred and eighty in Kings, he could not assign four hundred and fifty years to the period from Joshua to Samuel, with which moreover no ancient tradition coincided. The conjectural reading, three hundred and fifty, appears therefore to be preferable; and it is certainly not a matter of indifference that, adding the numbers one after another as was done by Jewish tradition in general, three hundred and fifty years would actually represent the period from Chushan to the end of the Philistine domination. True, it would show that Paul also read only forty years in connection with Ehud. The objection that Paul also assigns a definite period of forty years for the reign of Saul, for which the Old Testament gives no authority, is destitute of force. For the Book of Samuel gives no information at all concerning the length of this king’s reign, and the Apostle followed the view, entertained also by Josephus (Ant. vi. 14, 9), according to which the reign of Saul, during and after the lifetime of Samuel, lasted forty years. It was sought in this way to explain 1Sa_13:1.
[Note by the translator. Keil and Bachmann, both of whom have repeatedly investigated the chronology of the Book of Judges, have come to conclusions somewhat different from those of our author. As their schemes essentially agree, it will be sufficient to indicate that of Bachmann, the latest published and the least accessible to the English reader. It may be found in his commentary, Das Buch der Richter, vol. i. pp. 53–74. Its turning points so far as they differ from our author’s, may be briefly stated as follows: (1.) It adheres in every instance to the numbers given; hence, the period from Chushan to Gideon inclusive (cf. the table above), becomes two hundred and fifty-three years. (2.) It makes the forty years Philistine servitude come to an end with the victory near Mizpeh. (3.) While it makes the Ammonitish and Philistine servitudes synchronistic in the main, as required by Jdg_10:7, it supposes the beginning of the Philistine to fall from three to five years later than that of the Ammonitish oppression. If they began simultaneously, it would follow that a new Judge, Abdon, was somewhere recognized after Samuel had already assembled all the house of Israel, and had shown himself the Judge and deliverer of all Israel (cf. 1Sa_7:3; 1Sa_7:5-6), which is not likely. Abdon, however, having once been recognized as Judge, before the victory under Samuel, might continue to be regarded as such until his death. It is only necessary, therefore, to bring down the beginning of the Philistine servitude far enough to allow of this previous recognition. (4.) It includes the twenty years of Samson in the “days of the Philistines,” according to Jdg_15:20. It supposes Samson to begin his work as a young man of eighteen or nineteen years of age (cf. Jdg_14:4 ff.), and thus allows his birth to fall after the beginning of the Philistine servitude, as demanded by Jdg_13:5. (5.) As to Eli, since his pontificate ended twenty years before the victory of Mizpeh, its beginning must antedate the commencement of the Philistine oppression by twenty, and the Ammonitish by from fifteen to seventeen years. And, in fact, the earlier years of Eli’s pontificate afford no traces of hostile oppression. The people journey to the great festivals regularly and securely (1Sa_1:3; 1Sa_1:7; 1Sa_1:21; 1Sa_1:24; 1Sa_2:19); and even the sins of the sons of Eli, by which the people also are led astray (1Sa_2:17; 1Sa_2:24), are such as bespeak a time of careless security and prosperity. The following table exhibits the results thus obtained, for the time beginning with the Ammonitish and ending with the Philistine oppression. The figures at the left denote years after the death of Jair:—
1
From the Exodus to Chushan