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the oppression of the midianites. jephthah, the judge of the vow
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Renewed apostasy and punishment. Awakening and repentance.
Jdg_10:6-16
[2 Jdg_10:9.—Literally: “and it became exceedingly strait to Israel,” cf. Jdg_2:15. On the use of the fem. gender ( åַúֵּöֶø , from éָöַø ) in impersonal constructions, see Green, Gram., 243, 3.—Tr.]
[3 Jdg_10:11.—For Dr. Cassel’s rendering of this verse, see the comments on it. The sentence is anacoluthic in the original; the construction being changed at the beginning of the next verse.—Tr.]
Jdg_10:7-10. And He delivered them into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the sons of Ammon. As far as their sufferings and conflicts with the western nations are concerned, these are related subsequently under the history of Samson. The chastisement which they experience by means of Ammon, leads the way. This falls especially upon the people east of the Jordan, the neighbors of Ammon; and the enervating and weakening effects of sin and unbelief become clearly manifest in the fact that one of the most valiant of the Israelitish tribes, Gilead, the home, as it were, of heroes, is not able successfully to oppose the enemy. Israel is pressed, plagued, plundered; “as in the first year, so through eighteen years” (for áַּùָּׂðָä read ëַּùָּׁðָä ). The inflictions to which they were obliged to submit one year, the spoliation of their harvests, the plundering of their villages, the imposition of tribute, are repeated year after year, eighteen times. The manifest weakness of Israel, the dismemberment of the nation, so that one tribe finds no help from any other (Jdg_12:2), emboldens the oppressor. Ammon passes over the Jordan, and attacks Israel in the heart of its most powerful tribes, without meeting resistance. But how came Israel into such a condition of disruption? Whence this inability to unite its forces against the overbearing enemy? This question has already been answered in Jdg_10:6. The people has forsaken the one God, and worships many idol gods. Falling away from the national faith, it has fallen into the disintegration of egoism. The tribes are divided by their special idols, their respective evil consciences, and by local selfishness. Only one thing is common to all,—despondency and powerlessness; for the ideal spirit of the theocratic people, the source of union and courage, is wanting. Hence, after long distress, they all share in a common feeling of repentance. They come now to the tabernacle, long neglected—for while attending at near and local idol temples, they have forgotten to visit the House of God—and say: we have sinned.
Jdg_10:11-12. And Jehovah said to the sons of Israel, Not from Mizraim (Egypt), and from the Amorite, from the sons of Ammon, and from the Philistines! It is the Priest who answers the people, in the name of God, through Urim and Thummim, as in Jdg_1:1. It has been observed that in Jdg_10:6 seven different national idols are enumerated as having been served by Israel, and that in Jdg_10:11-12 seven nations are named, out of whose hand Israel had been delivered. The number seven is symbolical of consummation and completion. All false gods, whom Israel has foolishly served, are included with those that are named in Jdg_10:6, from the northeast and southeast, the northwest and southwest. Such, undoubtedly, is likewise the sense of Jdg_10:11-12. To Israel’s prayer for deliverance from Amnion in the land of the Amorite, and from the Philistines, God replies, reproachfully: that Israel bears itself as if it had sinned for the first time, and asked deliverance in consideration of its repentance. But, says God, from of old I have liberated you from all the nations that surround you,—from Egypt first, and from every nation that troubled you—east, west, north, and south,—in turn. The voice of God speaks not in the style of narrative, but in the tone of impassioned discourse. Under general descriptions, it comprehends, with rhetorical vigor, special occurrences. It introduces the Ammonites, Philistines, and Amorites, immediately after Egypt, because these nations are now in question. Have I not already, since your exodus from Egypt, given you peace, even from these very Philistines (Exo_13:17), Ammonites (Num_21:24), and Amorites (Num_21:21 ff )? Thereupon, the discourse passes over into another construction; for from the ancient part it turns now to events of more recent times. In those early times, when Moses led you, you saw no oppression, but only victory. Later, when Zidonians, Amalekites, and Maonites oppressed you, I helped you at your cry. All three names indicate only in a general way, the quarters from which the more recent attacks had come. Since Joshua’s death, Israel had experienced only one attack from the north and northeast, all others had come from the east and southwest. That from the north, was the act of Jabin, king of Canaan. It is true, that in the narrative of Barak’s victory, the name Zidonians does not occur; but Zidon is in emphatic language the representative, the mother as she is called, of Phœnicia, i. e. Canaan. In a like general sense do Amalek and Maon here stand for those eastern tribes from whose predatory incursions Israel had suffered; for Amalek, the earliest and most implacable enemy of Israel, assisted both Midian and Moab in their attacks. Thus also, the mention of Maon becomes intelligible. Modern expositors (even Keil) consider the Septuagint reading ÌáäéÜì (Midian) to be the correct one. We cannot adopt this view; for this reason, if no other, that difficult readings are to be preferred to plain ones. Maon is the name of the southeastern wilderness, familiar to us from David’s history. The name has evidently been preserved in the Maon of Arabia Petræa (cf. Ritter, xiv. 1005). Amalek and Maon represent the Bedouin tribes, who from this quarter attacked Israel. Every point from which Israel could be assailed has thus been included; for the first three nations, Philistines, Ammonites, and Amorites, range from the southwest to the northeast, just as the other three, Zidonians, Amalekites, and Maonites, reach from the northwest to the southeast.
Jdg_10:13-16. Go, and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen. From all nations, says the voice of God, have I liberated you. It has been demonstrated to you that I am your true Deliverer, and that all the tribes round about you are your enemies, especially when they perceive that you have forsaken Me. Every part of your land teaches this lesson; and yet you apostatize always anew. I have chosen you without any merit on your part, to be a great nation, and you have left Me; go, therefore, in this your time of need, and get you help from the idol gods whom you have chosen in my place. This answer cuts the sharper, because the idols to whose service Israel apostatized, were identical with the very nations by whom they were oppressed. For every idol was national or local in its character. God speaks here with a sorrow like that of a human father who addresses an inconsiderate child. Nothing but a sharp goad of reprehension and threatening will drive it to serious and thorough consideration. But though inconsiderate, it nevertheless continues to be a child. The father, though for the present he disown it, cannot in good earnest intend to abandon it altogether. And, in truth, Israel did not miscalculate. When they not only confessed their sins, but even without any visible assistance, imitated Gideon, and in faith removed their idol altars, the anger of their Father was at an end. The phrase åַúִּ÷ְöַ ø ðַôְùׁåֹ , elsewhere employed of men (cf. Num_21:4, where the people find the way of the wilderness too long), is here applied with artless beauty to Israel’s tender Father. “His soul became too short” for the misery of Israel, i. e. the misery of the penitent people endured too long for Him. He could no longer bring himself to cherish anger against them. The love of God is no rigid human consistency: it is eternal freedom. Man’s parental love is its image, albeit an image obscured by sin. The parable of the Prodigal Son, especially, gives us some conception of the wonderful inconsistency of God, by which after chastisement He recalls the penitent sinner to himself. Nothing but the freedom of God’s love—ever right as well as free—secures the world’s existence. Love—as only God loves; love, which loves for God’s sake; love, that pardons the penitent offender seven and seventy times,—is true consistency. Put away the strange gods, and the withered stock will become green again. This Israel experiences anew, and first in Gilead.
This notice, however brief, of the removal of all strange gods, and of Israel’s return to Jehovah, is the necessary, intimately connected, introduction to the narrative of the deeds of Jephthah. It is indispensable to the understanding of his victory and suffering. It explains, moreover, why in the narrative concerning him, only the name Jehovah appears. It teaches us to consider the nature and measure of that life in which God, once lost but found again, reigns and rules.
Not so do men act toward each other; and yet they are called on to walk in the footsteps of Christ. What wonder that men find their kindness ill requited, when God experiences a similar treatment! But how then dare they cherish anger, when besought for reconciliation! If God was moved, how can we remain untouched? And yet grudge-bearing is a characteristic against which even pious Christians bear no grudge. The sinless God forgives, and gives ever anew,—and witnesses of God, men of theological pursuits, cherish ill-will and rancor for years!
“How well, my friend, in God thou livest,
Appears from how thy debtor thou forgivest.”
Starke: Men are very changeable and inconstant, and prone to decline from the right way; neither sufficiently moved by kindness, nor influenced by punishment.—The same: True repentance consists not in words but in deeds.—Lisco: Israel confesses its guilt and ill-desert and gives itself wholly up to God’s will and righteous chastening; yet, full of faith, asks for merciful, albeit unmerited, deliverance.—Gerlach: That the Lord first declares that He will no longer help Israel, afterwards, however, takes compassion on them and makes their cause his own, is a representation which repeats itself frequently in the Old Testament. Each of its opposite elements is true and consistent with the other, as soon as we call to mind that God, notwithstanding his eternity and unchangeableness, lives with and loves his people in time, and under human forms and conditions.
Footnotes:
[Jdg_10:8—Dr. Cassel translates this clause as follows (reading ëַּùָּׁðָä , instead of áַּùָּׁðָç , see the Commentary below): “And they vexed and plagued the sons of Israel, as this year, eighteen years long,” etc. The better way is to repeat the idea of the verbs after “eighteen years,” thus: “And they broke and crushed the sons of Israel in that year; eighteen years did they oppress all the sons of Israel who were beyond the Jordan,” etc. øָòַõ and øָöַõ come from the same root, and are synonyms used to strengthen the idea.—Tr.]
[Jdg_10:9.—Literally: “and it became exceedingly strait to Israel,” cf. Jdg_2:15. On the use of the fem. gender ( åַúֵּöֶø , from éָöַø ) in impersonal constructions, see Green, Gram., 243, 3.—Tr.]
[Jdg_10:11.—For Dr. Cassel’s rendering of this verse, see the comments on it. The sentence is anacoluthic in the original; the construction being changed at the beginning of the next verse.—Tr.]
[On this translation, see note 1 under “Textual and Grammatical.” Dr. Cassel evidently takes ùָׁðָä äָäִéà “this year,” to mean the first year of the oppression. Others (Usher, Bush, etc.) make it the last year both of the oppression and of Jair’s life. But this is altogether unlikely. Hitherto, apostasy and servitude have always followed the death of the Judge. If the present case were an exception, the narrator would certainly have noted it as such. The use of the word “this,” would perhaps be quite plain, if we could have a glance at the sources from which the narrator here draws.—Tr.]