Eglon, king of Moab, enslaves A. M. 2599. B. C. 1405. An. Exod. Isr. r 10 And the Spirit of the LORD against Israel, because they had A. M. 2661. done evil in the sight of the LORD. An. Exod. Isr. 13 And he gathered unto him the LORD delivered Chushan- the children of Ammon and I. Olymp. 629. 11 And the land had rest forty years. Othniel the son of Kenaz died. And 12 t And the children of Israel An. Exod. Isr. did evil again in the sight of the LORD and the LORD strengthened Eglon the king of Moab 148. Anno ante I. Olymp. 567. u which appears to have been a very hazardous exploit. By his natural volour, experience in war, and the peculiar influence of the Divine Spirit, he was well qualified to inspire his countrymen with courage, and to lead them successfully against their oppressors. V 148. Anno ante Olymp. 567. Amalek, and went and smote Israel, and possessed the city of palm trees. 14 So the children of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years." A. M. 2679. B. C. 1325. An. Exod. Is 166. Anno ante 15 But when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised them up a deliverer, Ehud the son of Gera, a Benja- Olymp. 549. mite, a man left-handed and by him the I: Chap. v. 14. w Chap. i. 16.- - Deut. xxviii, 40.——— Ver. 9; Psa. lxxviii. 34. Or, the son of Gemini. Heb. shut of his right hand; chap. xx. 16; 1 Chron. xii. 2. Verse 15. Ehud the son of Gera—a man lefthanded], 11'D',T' ON v's ish itter yad yemino, a man lame in his right hand, and therefore obliged to use Verse 10. His hand prevailed] We are not told of his left. The Septuagint render it avopa auoorEPO what nature this war was, but it was most decisive; dežiov, an ambidexter, a man who could use both hands and the consequence was an undisturbed peace of forty alike. The Vulgate, qui utraque manu pro dextera years, during the whole life of Othniel. By the Spirit utebatur, a man who could use either hand as a right of the Lord coming upon him, the Chaldee, understands hand, or to whom, right and left were equally ready. the spirit of prophecy; others understand the spirit This is not the sense of the original, but it is the sense of fortitude and extraordinary courage, as opposed to in which most interpreters understand it. It is well the spirit of fear or faintness of heart; but as Oth-known that to be an ambidexter was in high repute niel was judge, and had many offices to fufi! besides among the ancients: Hector boasts of it :that of a general, he had need of the Spirit of God, in the proper sense of the word, to enable him to guide and govern this most refraetory and fickle people; and his receiving it for these purposes, shows that the political state of the Jews was still a theocracy. No man attempted to do any thing in that state without the immediate inspiration of God, the pretension to which was always justified by the event. Verse 12. The children of Israel did evil] They forgat the Lord and became idolaters, and God made those very people, whom they had imitated in their idolatrous worship, the means of their chastisement. The Lord strengthened Eglon the king of Moab] The success he had against the Israelites was by the especial appointment and energy of God. He not only abandoned the Israelites, but strengthened the Moabites against them. Eglon is supposed to have been the immediate successor of Balak. Some great men have borne names which, when reduced to their grammatical meaning, appear very ridiculous: the word hay Eglon signifies a little calf! Verse 13. The city of palm trees.]. This the Tar-mended to all soldiers to acquire by study and exergum renders the city of Jericho; but Jericho had been destroyed by Joshua, and certainly was not rebuilt till the reign of Ahab, long after this, 1 Kings xvi. 34. However, as Jericho is expressly called the city of palm trees, Deut. xxxiv. 3, the city in question must have been in the vicinity or plain of Jericho, and the king of Moab had seized it as a frontier town, con 1 cise an equal facility of using both hands. Speaking of Plato, he says: Kai tЯv ev tois todeμμikois dokŋoiv, όπως αμφιδέξιοι γινωνται κατά την μελέτην, ὡς δεον μη την μεν χρησιμον είναι ταιν χεροίν, την δε αχρηστον. -De Repub., lib. ii., cap. 12. "He (Plato) also made a law concerning their warlike exercises, that they should acquire a habit of using both hands alike; as it is not fit that one of the hands should be useful der pretence of having a secret message to Eglon, and and the other useless." In chap. xx. 16 of this book we have an account of seven hundred men of Benjamin, each of whom was 11'D' 7' ON itter yad yemino, lame of his right hand, and yet slinging stones to a hair's breadth without missing these are generally thought to be ambidexters. Sent a present unto Eglon] This is generally understood to be the tribute money which the king of Moab had imposed on the Israelites. Verse 16. A dagger which had two edges, of a cubit length] The word 21 gomed, which we translate cubit, is of very doubtful signification. As the root seems to signify contracted, it probably means an instrument made for the purpose shorter than usual, and something like the Italian stiletto. The Septuagint translate it by onl0aμn, a span, and most of the versions understand it in the same sense. Upon his right thigh.] Because he was left-handed. Ordinarily the sword is on the left side, that it may be readily drawn out by the right hand; but as Ehud was left-handed, to be convenient his sword must be on the right side. Verse 17. Eglon was a very fat man.] The x ish bari of the text is translated by the Septuagint avup actelos opodpa, a very beautiful or polite man, and in the Syriac, a very rude man. It probably means what we call lusty or corpulent. Verse 18. Made an end to offer the present] Presents, tribute, &c., in the eastern countries were offered with very great ceremony and to make the more parade several persons, ordinarily slaves, sumptuously dressed, and in considerable number, were employed to carry what would not be a burden even to Verse 19. He-turned-from the quarries] pésilim. Some of the versions understand this word as meaning idols or graven images, or some spot where the Moabites had a place of idolatrous worship. As pasal signifies to cut, hew, or engrave, it may be applied to the images thus cut, or to the place, or quarry whence they were digged: but it is most likely that idols are meant. Some think that trenches are meant, and that pesilim here may mean the boundaries of the two countries; and when Ehud had got thus far, he sent away the people that were with him, unVOL. II. ( 8 )` so got rid of his attendants, in presence of whom he could not have executed his scheme, nor have secured his escape afterwards. But I do not see the evidence of this mode of interpretation. Others, built Verse 20. He was sitting in a summer parlour] Besides the platforms, says Dr. Shaw, which were upon the ancient houses of the East, and which are found there to this day, it is probable that heretofore, as well as at present, most of the great houses had a smaller one annexed, which seldom consisted of more than one or two rooms and a terrace. as they frequently are above the porch or gateway, have, if we except the ground-floor, all the conveniences belonging to the house, properly so called. There is a door of communication from them into the gallery of the house, kept open or shut at the discretion of the master of the house, besides another door which opens immediately from a privy stairs down into the porch or street, without giving the least disturbance to the house. In these back houses strangers are usually lodged and entertained; hither the men are wont to retire from the hurry and noise of their families, to be more at leisure for meditation or diversions; and they are often used for wardrobes and magazines. These the Arabs call oleah, which exactly answers to the Hebrew word by aliyath found in this place; and without doubt such was the apartment in which Eglon received Ehud, by the privy stairs belonging to which he escaped, after having killed Eglon. The doors of the Eastern buildings are large, and their chambers spacious, eonveniences well adapted to those hotter climates: but in the present passage something more seems to be meant; at least there are now other conveniences in the East to give coolness to particular rooms, which are very common. In Egypt the cooling their rooms is effected by openings at the top, which let in the fresh air. Mons. Maillet informs us that their halls are made very large and lofty, with a dome at the top, which towards the north has several open windows, so constructed as to throw the north wind down into the rooms; and by this means, though the country is excessively hot, they can make the coolness of those apartments so great, as often not to be borne without being wrapped in furs. Eglon's was a chamber.; and some contrivance to mitigate the heat of it was the more necessary, as he appears to have kept his court at Jericho, ver. 13, 28, where the heat Ehud slays Eglon, A. M. 2679. B. C. 1325. 166. JUDGES. 21 And Ehud put forth his left An. Exod. Isr. hand, and took the dagger from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly: Anno ante 22 And the haft also went in after the blade; and the fat closed upon the blade, so that he could not draw the dagger out of his. belly; and the dirt came out. 23 Then Ehud went forth through the porch, and shut the doors of the parlour upon him, and locked them. 24 When he was gone out, his servants came; and when they saw that, behold, the doors of the parlour were locked, they said, Surely he covereth his feet in his summer chamber. 25 And they tarried till they were ashamed: and, behold, he opened not the doors of the parlour; therefore they took a key and opened them and, behold, their lord was fallen down dead on the earth. 26 And Ehud escaped while they tarried, eOr, it came out at the fundament.-- Or, doeth his easement; 1 Sam. xxiv. 3.5 Ch. v. 14; vi. 34; 1 Sam. xiii. 3- Josh. xvii. 15; chap. vii. 24; xvii. 1; xix. 1. Chap. vii. 9, 15; 1 Sam. xvii. 47.- _k Josh. ii. 7 ; chạp. xii. 5. Heb. fat. is so excessive as sometimes to prove fatal. Harmer's Observations. See and smites the Moabites and passed beyond the quarries, A. M. 2679. B. C. 1325. An. Exod. Is. 166. Anno ante I. Olymp. 549. 27 And it came to pass, when he was come, that he blew a trumpet in the mountain of Ephraim, and the children of Israel went down with him from the mount, and he before them. 28 And he said unto them, Follow after me: for the LORD hath delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand. And they went down after him, and took the fords of Jordan toward Moab, and suffered not a man to pass over. 29 And they slew of Moab at that time about ten thousand men, all lusty, and all men of valour; and there escaped not a man. subdued that day under the land had rest 30 So Moab was the hand of Israel. fourscore years. And 31 And after him was," Shamgar the son of Anath, which slew of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox-goad: Pand he also delivered Israel. m Ver. 11. Chap. v. 6, 8; 1 Sam. xiii. 19, 22; it seems to concern only the country next to the Philistines.- o'l Sam. xvii. 47, 50,-Chap. ii. 16.- So part is called Israel; ch. iv. 1, 3, &c.; x. 7, 17; xi. 4, &c.; 1. Sam. iv. 1. here, and is supposed to be compounded of v peresh, dung, and ñ shadah, to shed, and may be very well applied to the latter circumstance; so the Vulgate understood it: Statimque per secreta naturæ alvı stercora proruperunt. Verse 24. He covereth his feet] He has lain down on his sofa in order to sleep; when this was done they dropped their slippers, lifted up their feet, and covered them with their long loose garments. But the versions, in general, seem to understand it as implying a certain natural act. Verse 26. Passed beyond the quarries] Beyond the pesilim, which appear to have been the Moabitish borders, where they had set up those hewn stones as landmarks, or sacred boundary stones. I have a message from God unto thee] Tdebar elohim li aleycha, a word of the gods to me, unto thee. It is very likely that the word elohim is used here to signify idols, or the pesilim mentioned above, ver. 19. Ehud, having gone so far as this place of idolatry, might feign he had there been worshipping, and that the pesilim had inspired him with a message for the king; and this was the reason why the king commanded silence, why every man went out, and why he rose from his seat or throne, that he might receive it with the greater respect. This, being an idolater, he would not have done to any message coming from the God of Israel. I have a message from God unto thee is a popular text: many are fond of preaching Verse 28. Took the fords of Jordan] It is very from it. Now as no man should ever depart from the likely that the Moabites, who were on the western side literal meaning of Scripture in his preaching, we may of Jordan, hearing of the death of Eglon, were panicat once see the absurdity of taking such a text as this; struck, and endeavoured to escape over Jordan at the for such preachers, to be consistent, should carry a two-fords near Jericho, when Ehud blew his trumpet in edged dagger of a cubit length on their right thigh, the mountains of Ephraim, and thus to get into the and be ready to thrust it into the bowels of all those land of the Moabites, which lay on the east of Jordan; they address! This is certainly the literal meaning of the passage, and that it has no other meaning is an incontrovertible truth. Verse 22. The haft also went in after the blade] As the instrument was very short, and Eglon very corpulent, this might readily take place. And the dirt came out] This is variously understood either the contents of the bowels issued through the wound, or he had an evacuation in the natural way through the fright and anguish. The original, b but Ehud and his men, seizing the only pass by which they could make their escape, slew ten thousand of them in their attempt to cross at those fords. What is called here the fords was doubtless the place where the Israelites had passed Jordan when they (under Joshua) took-possession of the promised land. Verse 29. All lusty, and all men of valour] Picked, chosen troops, which Eglon kept among the Israelites to reduce and overawe them. Verse 30. The land had rest fourscore years.] This parshedonah, occurs only is usually reckoned from the deliverance under Othniel, ( 8* ) 114 Observations on the slaying CHAP. III. that being a term from which they dated every transaction, as in other cases they dated from the exodus, from the building of Solomon's temple, &c.; and as other nations did from particular events: the ROMANS, from the building of the city; the MOHAMMEDANS, from the Hijreh, or flight of Mohammed to Medina; the CHRISTIANS, from the birth of Christ, &c., &e. But see the preface, and the different chronological schemes there mentioned. - Verse 31. And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath] Dr. Hales supposes that " Shamgar's administration in the West included Ehud's administration of eighty years in the East; and that, as this administration might have been of some continuance, so this Philistine servitude, which is not noticed elsewhere, might have been of some duration; as may be incidentally collected from Deborah's thanksgiving, chap. v. 6." Slew-six hundred men with an ox-goad] pan malmad habbakar, the instructer of the oxen. This instrument is differently understood by the versions: the Vulgate has vomere, with the coulter or plough- | share, a dreadful weapon in the hand of a man endued with so much strength; the Septuagint has aporporod Fav Bowv, with the ploughshare of the oxen; the Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic, understand it of the goad, as does our translation. of Eglon by Ehud. Thought-drowning Bacchus: to the ground they cast, All cast, their leafy wands; while, ruthless, he Spared not to smite them with his murderous goad." The meaning of this fable is: Lycurgus, king of Thrace, finding his subjects addicted to drunkenness, proscribed the cultivation of the vine in his dominions, and instituted agriculture in its stead; thus Ovota, the thyrsi, were expelled, ßovñλnyɩ, by the ox-goad. The account, however, shows that Shamgar was not the only person who used the ox-goad as an offensive weapon. If we translate Вourλng a cart-whip, the parallel is lost. 2. It appears that Shamgar was merely a labouring man; that the Philistines were making an inroad on the Israelites when the latter were cultivating their fields; that Shamgar and his neighbours successfully resisted them; that they armed themselves with their more portable agricultural instruments; and that Shamgar, either with a ploughshare or an ox-goad, slew six hundred of those marauders. 3. The case of Ehud killing Eglon is a very serious one; and, how far he was justified in this action is with all a question of importance, and with not a few a question of difficulty. "Is it right to slay a tyrant ?" I, without hesitation, answer, No individual has a right to slay any man, except it be in his own defence, when a person attacks him in order to take away his life. "But may not any of his oppressed subjects put an end to the life of a tyrant ?" No. The state alone can judge whether a king is ruling contrary to the laws and constitution of that state; and if that state have provided laws for the punishment of a ruler who is endeavouring to destroy or subvert that constitution, then let him be dealt with according to those laws. But no individual or number of individuals in that state has any right to dispose of the life of the ruler but according to law. To take his life in any other way is no less than murder. It is true God, the au 1. THAT the ox-goad, still used in Palestine, is a sufficiently destructive weapon if used by a strong and skilful hand, is evident enough from the description which Mr. Maundrell gives of this implement, having seen many of them both in Palestine and Syria: "It was observable," says he, "that in ploughing they used goads of an extraordinary size; upon measuring of several I 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 spade or paddle of iron, strong and massy, for cleans-thor of life and the judge of all men, may commission ing the plough from the clay that encumbers it in working." See his Journey from Aleppo, &c, 7th edit., pp. 110, 111. In the hands of a strong, skilful man, such an instrument must be more dangerous and more fatal than any sword. one man to take away the life of a tyrant. But the It is worthy of remark that the ox-goad is represented by Homer to have been used prior to this time in the same way. In the address of Diomed to Glaucus, Iliad. lib. vi., ver. 129, Lycurgus is represented as discomfiting Bacchus and the Bacchanals with this weapon. The siege of Troy, according to the best chronologers, happened within the time of the Israel-ceeded, was a murderous act; and if he had no mesitish judges. Ουκ αν έγωγε θεοισιν επουρανίοισι μαχοιμην Σενε κατ' αγαθεον Νυσσηϊον· αἱ δ' άμα πασαι "I fight not with the inhabitants of heaven; sage from God, (and there is no proof that he had,) then he was a most base and hypocritical assassin. The sacred historian says nothing of his motives nor call; he mentions simply the fact, and leaves it without either observation or comment, and every reader is left to draw his own inference. The life of any ruler can only be at the disposal of the constitution, or that system of rules, laws, and regulations, by which the people he rules should be governed; if he rule not according to these, he is, ipso facto, deposed from his government. If he break the constitution, to the great injury or ruin of his subjects, Deborah, a prophetess, JUDGES. judges Israel. then he is to be judged by those laws according to people, as they were called, of England and France, which he must have pledged himself to govern. If a have each, under a pretence of law, beheaded their king be deposed on any other account, it is rebellion. king; and they endeavoured to justify their conduct If his life be taken away by any means but those pro- on the ground that those kings had broken the constivided by the constitution, it is murder. No pretended tution: this being proved, they should have been deor proved tyranny can justify his being taken off in posed. But by what law, either of those nations or of any other way, or on any other account. And what the civilized world, were their lives taken away? Let constitution in the civilized world provides for the it be remembered that the infliction of the punishment death of the supreme magistrate? It is true the good of death, either against or without law, is murder. CHAPTER IV. The Israelites again rebel against God, and they are delivered into the hands of Jabin, king of Canaan, 1, 2. They cry unto God, and he raises up Deborah and Barak to deliver them, 3-10. Some account of Heber the Kenite, 11. Barak attacks Sisera, captain of Jabin's army, at the river Kishon, and gives him a total overthrow, 12-16. Sisera leaves his chariot, and flies away on foot; enters the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber, by whom he is slain, while secreting himself in her apartment, 17–24. a Chap. ii. 19.- b Chapter ii. 14.— 4 And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel at that time. A. M. 2719. An. Exod. Isr. 206. Anno ante 5 h And she dwelt under the I. Olymp. 509. palm tree of Deborah, between Ramah and Beth-el in Mount Ephraim: and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment. 6 And she sent and called i Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedesh-naphtali, and said unto him, Hath not the LORD God of Israel commanded, saying, Go and draw toward Mount Tabor, and take with thee ten thousand - Chap. v. 8; Psa, cvi. 42.- h Gen. xxxv. 8. iHeb. xi. 32.-k Josh. xix. 37. Josh. xi. 1, 10; xix. 36. Chap. i. 19.- NOTES ON CHAP. IV. Verse 2. Jabin king of Canaan] Probably a descendant of the Jabin mentioned Josh. xi. 1, &c., who had gathered together the wrecks of the army of that Jabin defeated by Joshua. Calmet supposes that these Canaanites had the dominion over the tribes of Naphtali, Zebulun, and Issachar; while Deborah judged in Ephraim, and Shamgar in Judah. Verse 3. Nine hundred chariots of iron] Chariots armed with iron scythes, as is generally supposed; they could not have been made all of iron, but they might have been shod with iron, or had iron scythes projecting from the axle on each side, by which infantry might be easily cut down or thrown into confusion. The ancient Britons are said to have had such chariots. Verse 4. Deborah, a prophetess]. One on whom the Spirit of God descended, and who was the instrument of conveying to the Israelites the knowledge of the Divine will, in things sacred and civil. She judged Israel] This is, I believe, the first instance of gynecocrasy, or female government, on record. Deborah seems to have been supreme both in civil and religious affairs; and Lapidoth, her husband, appears to have had no hand in the government. But the original may as well be translated a woman of Lapidoth, as the wife of Lapidoth. Verse 5. The palm tree of Deborah] It is common for the Hindoos to plant trees in the names of themselves and their friends; and some religious mendicants live for a considerable time under trees.-Ward. Verse 6. She sent and called Barak] She appointed him to be general of the armies on this occasion; which shows that she possessed the supreme power in the state. Mount Tabor] "Mount Tabor," says Maundrell, "stands by itself, about two or three furlongs within the plains of Esdraelon. It has a plain area at the top, both fertile and delicious, of an oval figure, extending about one furlong in breadth, and two in length. The prospect from the top is beautiful: on the N. W. is the Mediterranean; and all around you have the spacious plains of Esdraelon and Galilee, which present you with a view of many places famous for the resort and miracles of the Son of God. At the bottom of Tabor, westward, stands Daberah, a small village, supposed to have taken its name from Deborah. Near this valley is the brook Kishon. During the rainy |