Zebah and Zaimunna A. M. 2759. B. C. 1245. An. Exod. Isr. 246. Anno ante I. Olymp. 469. A. M. 2759. B. C. 1245. 246. hands of Zebah and Zalmunna 19 And he said, They were 16 And he took the elders of the city, and thorns of the wilderness, and briers, and with them he taught the men of Succoth. Anno ante I. Olymp. 469. 20 And he said unto Jether his first-born, Up, and slay them. But the youth drew not 17 And he beat down the tower of Pe- his sword: for he feared, because he was yet nuel, and slew the men of the city. 18 Then said he unto Zebah and Zalmunna, What manner of men were they whom ye slew at Tabor? And they answered, As thou art, so were they; each one resembled the children of a king. Ver. 7.-7 Heb. made to know. Ver. 9. 1 Kings xii. 25. Chap. iv 6; Psa. lxxxix. 12. of seventy persons, the chief men of Succoth, who were those who were most concerned in refusing him and his men the refreshment he requested. Verse 16. He taught the men of Succoth.] Instead of y he taught, Houbigant reads he tore; and this is not only agreeable to what Gideon had threatened, ver. 7, but is supported by the Vulgate, Septuagint, Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic. The Hebrew text might have been easily corrupted in this place by the change of shin into y ain, letters very similar to each other. 1 Verse 18. What manner of men were they whom ye slew at Tabor?] We have no antecedent to this question; and are obliged to conjecture one: it seems as if Zebah and Zalmunna had massacred the family of Gideon, while he was absent on this expedition. Gideon had heard some confused account of it, and now questions them concerning the fact. They boldly acknowledge it, and describe the persons whom they slew, by which he found they were his own brethren. This determines him to avenge their death by slaying the Midianitish kings, whom he otherwise was inclined to save. He might have heard that his brethren had been taken prisoners, and might have hoped to have exchanged them for the kings now in his hand; but when he found they had been all slain, he decrees the death of their murderers. There is something in this account similar to that in the 12th Eneis of Virgil:-When Turnus was overthrown, and supplicated for his life, and Æneas was inclined to spare him; he saw the belt of his friend Pallas, whom Turnus had slain, and which he now wore as a trophy: this immediately determined the Trojan to sacrifice the life of Turnus to the manes of his friend. The story is well told :— Stetit acer in armis Eneas, volvens oculos, dextramque repressit. Et jam jamque magis cunctantem flectere sermo Cœperat: infelix humero cum apparuit ingens Balteus, et notis fulserunt cingula bullis Pallantis pueri; victum quem vulnere Turnus Straverat, atque humeris inimicum insigne gerebat. Ille oculis postquam sævi monumenta doloris a youth. «In deep suspense the Trojan seem'd to stand, The same prínciple impels Gideon to slay Zebah and Zalmunna which induced Æneas to kill Turnus: and perhaps the ornaments which he took from their camels' necks, ver, 21, were some of the spoils of his slaughtered brethren. the ancient laws of war, prisoners taken in war might -Verse 20. He said unto Jether his first-born] By be either slain, sold, or kept for slaves. To put a captive enemy to death no executioner was required. Gideon slays Zebah and Zalmunna with his own hand. So Samuel is said to have hewn Agag in pieces, 1 Sam. xv. 33. Benaiah slew Joab, 1 Kings ii. 25. Saul orders his guards to slay the priests who had contributed to the escape of David, 1 Sam. xxii. 17; and David caused one of his attendants to slay the Amalekite who pretended to have slain Saul, 2 Sam. i. 15. Verse 21. Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, Rise thou, and fall upon us] It was disgraceful to fall by the hands of a child; and the death occasioned by the The Israelites offer the A. M. 2759. B. C. 1245. An. Exod. Isr. 246. Anno ante I. Olymp. 469. 22 Then the men of Israel said 25 And they answered, We unto Gideon, Rule thou over us, will willingly give them. And both thou, and thy son, and thy they spread a garment, and did son's son also : for thou hast cast therein every man the eardelivered us from the hand of Midian. rings of his prey. 23 And Gideon said unto them, I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over f the LorD shall rule over you. . 24 And Gideon said unto them, I would desire a request of you, that ye would give me every man the ear-rings of his prey. (For they had golden ear-rings, 8 because they were Ishmaelites.) you : f 1 Sam. viii. 7; x. 19; xii. 12. : Gen. xxr, 13; xxxvii. 25, 2 blows of such a person must be much more lingering and tormenting. Some have even employed children to despatch captives. Civilis, a Roman knight, headed a revolt of the Gauls against Rome, in the year of the city 824. Of him Tacitus says, Hist. lib. iv., c. 61: Ferebatur parvulo filio quosdam captivorum sagittis jaculisque puerilibus figendos obtulisse: "He is said to have given to his little son some prisoners, as butts to be shot at with little darts and arrows." This was for their greater torment and dishonour; and to inure his child to blood! Could any thing like this have been the design of Gideon? The ornaments that were on their camels' necks.] The heads, necks, bodies, and legs of camels, horses, and elephants, are highly ornamented in the eastern countries; and indeed this was common, from the.remotest antiquity, in all countries. Virgil refers to it as a thing long before his time, and thus describes the horses given by King Latinus to the ambassadors of Eneas. En. lib. vii., ver. 274. Hæc effatus equos numero pater eligit omni. Stabant tercentum nitidi in præsepibus altis : Omnibus extemplo Teucris jubet ordine duci Instratos ostro alipedes pictisque tapetis. Aurea pectoribus demissa monilia pendent : Tecti auro fulvum mandunt sub dentibus aurum. "He said, and order'd steeds to mount the band : In lofty stalls three hundred coursers stand; Their shining sides with crimson cover'd o'er; The sprightly steeds embroider'd trappings wore, With golden chains, refulgent to behold: Gold were their bridles, and they champ'd on gold." PITT, Instead of ornaments, the Septuagint translate rovç μnviokovs, the crescents or half-moons; and this is followed by the Syriac and Arabic. The worship of the moon was very ancient; and, with that of the sun, constituted the earliest idolatry of mankind. We learn from ver. 24 that the Ishmaelites, or Arabs, as they are termed by the Targum, Syriac, and Arabic, had golden ear-rings, and probably a crescent in each; for it is well known thatt he Ishmaelites, and the Arabs who descended from them, were addicted very early to the worship of the moon; and so attached were they to this superstition, that although Mohammed destroyed the idolatrous use of the crescent, yet it was univer A. M. 2759. B. C. 1245. An. Exod. Isr. 246. Anno ante I. Olymp. 469. 26 And the weight of the golden ear-rings that he requested was a thousand and seven hundred-shekels of gold; beside ornaments, and h collars, and purple raiment that was on the kings of Midian, and beside the chains that were about their camels' necks. 27. And Gideon i made an ephod thereof, and put it in his city, even in Ophrah and all ,h Or, sweet jewels.- Chap. xvii. 5.- k Chap. vi. 24. sally borne in their, ensigns, and on the tops of their mosques, as well as in various ornaments. Verse 22. Rule thou over us, both thou, and thy son, and thy son's son] That is, Become our king, and let the crown be hereditary in thy family. What a weak, foolish, and inconstant people were these! As yet their government was a theocracy; and now, dazzled with the success of a man who was only an instrument in the hands of God to deliver them from their enemies, they wish to throw off the Divine yoke, and shackle themselves with an unlimited hereditary monarchy! An unlimited monarchy is a curse; a limited monarchy may be a blessing the latter may be an appointment of God; the former never can. Those who cast off their allegiance to their Maker, are guilty of folly and extravagance of every kind. Verse 23. The Lord shall rule over you.] Few with such power at their command would have acted as Gideon. His speech calls them back to their first principles, and should have excited in them both shame and contrition. How different is this speech from that of Oliver Cromwell when the commons offered him the crown of England ! Verse 24. Give me every man the ear-rings of his prey.] The spoils taken from their enemies in this warfare. This is a transaction very like to that of the Israelites and Aaron; when they brought him their golden ear-rings, out of which he made the molten calf, Exod.xxxii. 2, &è. Whether Gideon designed this ephod for an instrument of worship, or merely as a trophy, is not very clear. It is most likely that he had intended to establish a place of worship at Ophrah; and he took this occasion to provide the proper sacerdotal vestments. Verse 26. The weight of the golden ear-rings-was a thousand and seven hundred shekels of gold] Taking the shekel at half an ounce weight, the sum of the gold collected in ear-rings was seventy pounds ten ounces; and worth, as gold now rates, about £3,100 sterling. This computation of the weight of the golden earrings, taken from the slaughtered Ishmaelites, will bring to the reader's mind the slaughter of the Roman knights by the Carthaginians at the battle of Canna, from whose spoils Hannibal sent three bushels of gold rings to the city of Carthage! Verse 27. Gideon made an ephod thereof] That is, Gideon dies, and the A. M. 2759. B. C. 1245. An. Exod. Isr. 246. Anno ante 1. Olymp. 469. CHAP. VIII. Israel went thither a whoring after it which thing became ma snare unto Gideon, and to his house. 28 Thus was Midian subdued before the children of Israel, so that they lifted up their heads no more. "And the country was in quietness forty years in the days of Gideon. 29 And Jerubbaal the son of Joash went and dwelt in his own house. 30. And Gideon had 。 threescore and ten sons of his body begotten: for he had many wives. 31 And his concubine that was in Shechem, she also bare him a son, whose name he called Abimelech. 1 Psa. cvi. 39. Deut. vii. 16.—n Chap. v. 31.- - Ch. Ix. 2, 5.-P Hebrew, going out of his thigh.- - Chapter ix. 1. Heb. set Gen. xxv. 8; Job v. 26. he made an ephod out of this mass of gold; but he could not employ it all in making this one garment, for it is not likely that any man could wear a coat of nearly one hundred pounds weight. It is likely that he made a whole tabernacle service in miniature out of this gold. All Israel went thither a whoring after.it] This form of speech often occurs, and has been often explained. The whole Jewish nation is represented as being united to God as a wife is to her husband. Any act of idolatry is considered as a breach of their covenant with God, as an act of whoredom is the breach of the marriage agreement between man and wife. God calls himself the husband of the Jewish nation; and their idolatries acts of whoredom, adultery, and fornication. All Israel paid idolatrous worship to the ephod or sacerdotal establishment made by Gideon at Ophrah, and this is called going a whoring after it; see on ver. 33. For a description of the ephod, see Exod. xxv. 7; and for the other garments of the priests, see Exod. xxviii. 4, &c. Verse 28. Forty years in the days of Gideon.] The Midianites were so completely humbled that they could make head no more against Israel during the forty years in which the government of Gideon lasted. Verse 31. His concubine] A lawful but secondary wife, whose children could not inherit. Whose name he called Abimelech.] That is, my father is king, or my father hath reigned. This name was doubtless given by the mother, and so it should be understood here; she wished to raise her son to the supreme government, and therefore gave him a name which might serve to stimulate him to seek that which she hoped he should enjoy in his father's right. See the following chapter. 32 And Gideon the son of Joash died in a good old age, and was buried in the sepulchre of Joash his father, in Ophrah 1. Olymp. 429. of the Abi-ezrites. I. 33 And it came to pass, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the children of Israel turned again, and went a whoring after Baalim, w and made Baal-berith their god. 34 And the children of Israel remembered not the LORD their God, who had delivered them out of the hands of all their enemies on every side: 35 Neither showed they kindness to the house of Jerubbaal, namely, Gideon, according to all the goodness which he had showed unto Israel. t Ver. 27; chap. vi. 24.-" "Chap. ii. 19. Chap. ii. 17. Ch. ix. 4, 46. Psa. lxxviii. 11, 42; cvi. 13, 21.- -y Chap. ix. 16, 17, 18; Eccles. ix. 14, 15.. 7; for it is very likely that in most parts of the pagan worship there were many impure rites, so that going a whoring after Baalim may be taken in a literal sense. Baal-berith Literally, the lord of the covenant; the same as Jupiter fæderis, or Mercury, among the Romans; the deity whose business it was to preside over compacts, leagues, treaties, covenants, &c. Some of the versions understand it as if the Israelites had made a covenant or agreement to have Baal for their god; so the VULGATE: Percusseruntque cum Baal fœdus, ut essel eis in deum. Verse 34. Remembered not the Lord their God] They attributed their deliverance to some other cause, and did not give him the glory of their salvation. Verse 35. Neither showed they kindness to the house of Gideon] They were both unthankful and unholy. Though they had the clearest proofs of God's power and goodness before their eyes, yet they forgot him. And although they were under the greatest obligations to Gideon, and were once so sensible of them that they offered to settle the kingdom on him and his family, yet they forgot him also; for, becoming foes to GOD, they could not be friends to Man. Jerubbaal, namely, Gideon.-This is improper; it should be Jerubbaal Gideon, as we say Simon Peter, or call any man by his Christian name and surname. THE ancients, particularly St. Ambrose and Augustine, have endeavoured to find out a parallel between our blessed Lord and Gideon. We have already seen what Origen has made of the whole account, who is followed in the main by the above Latin fathers. As I believe no such parallel was intended by the Spirit of God, I must be excused from going into their details. It is no credit either to Christ or Christianity Sup-to be compared to such persons and their transactions. 1. Of Gideon the most we can say is that which the angel said, he was a mighty man of valour. 2. He was also a true patriot; he loved his country, Verse 32. Gideon-died in a good old age] posed to have been A. M. 2799; B. C. 1205. Verse 33. A whoring after Baalim] This term has probably a different meaning here from what it has ver. and hazarded his life for it; and yet he would not stir till he had the most incontestable proofs that God would, by his supernatural assistance, make him victorious. 3. He was most evidently disinterested, and void of ambition; he refused the kingdom when it was offered to him and to his heirs after him. But, consistently with the belief he had in God, he could not accept it, as this would have been a complete alteration of the Jewish constitution, which acknowledged no ruler but God himself. government in Shechem. been very exemplary; he had many wives, and seventy sons by them, besides one by a concubine, which he kept at Shechem, where he was often obliged to go as judge, for the purpose of administering justice. In short, there is scarcely a trait in his character worthy to be compared with any thing in the conduct of the Redeemer of mankind. 6. Parallels to Christ, and the work of his Spirit in the salvation of men, have been diligently sought in the sacred writings, by both commentators and preachers; and we have had voluminous treatises on 4. His motive in making the ephod is not well un-types and antitypes; and how little has sound doctrine derstood; probably it was done with no reprehensible or true piety derived from them! They have often design. But the act was totally wrong; he had no served to unsettle the former, and have been rather Divine authority to make such an innovation in the re-inimical than favourable to the interests of the latter. ligious worship of his country. The ark was at She- When the Spirit of God says such things are types chem; and there was the proper and only accredited and such things are allegories, it is our duty to bepriest. The act therefore can never be excused, what- lieve and examine; when men produce their types and ever may be said of his motive. metaphors, it may be our duty to doubt, be suspicious 5. His private character does not appear to have and pass on. CHAPTER IX. Abimelech is made king; and, to secure himself in the kingdom, slays his brethren; Jotham, the youngest only escapes, 1-6. Jotham reproves him and the Shechemites by a curious and instructive parable, 7-21. Abimelech having reigned three years, the Shechemites, headed by Gaal the son of Ebed, conspire against him, 22-29. Zebul, governor of the city, apprises Abimelech of the insurrection, who comes with his forces, and discomfits Gaal, 30-40. Abimelech assaults the city, takes, beats it down, and sows it with salt, 41-45. Several of the Shechemites take refuge in the temple of Baal-berith; Abimelech sets fire to it, and destroys in it about one thousand men and women, 46–50. He afterwards besieges and takes Thebez; but while he is assaulting the citadel, a woman threw a piece of millstone upon his head, and killed him. Thus God requited him and the men of Shechem for their wickedness, and their ingratitude to the family of Gideon, 51-57. Chapter viii. 31. b 2 Speak, I pray you, in the ears of all the men of Shechem, Whether is better for you, either that all the sons of Jerubbaal, which are threescore and ten persons, reign over you, bHebrew, What is good? whether, &c. c Chap. viii. 30. NOTES ON CHAP. IX. Verse 1. Abimelech went to Shechem] We have already seen that Abimelech was the son of Gideon, by his concubine at Shechem. His going thither immediately after his father's death was to induce his townsmen to proclaim him governor in the place of his father. Shechem was the residence of his mother, and of all her relatives. Verse 2. Whether is better for you, either that all the sons] This was a powerful argument: Whether will you have seventy tyrants or only one? For, as he had no right to the government, and God alone was king at that time in Israel; so he must support his ? or that one reign over you remember also that I am d your bone and your flesh. A. M. 2799. B. C. 1205. An. Exod. Isr. 286. Anno ante 3 And his mother's brethren I. Olymp. 429. spake of him in the ears of all the men of Shechem all these words and their hearts inclined to follow Abimelech; for they said, He is our fbrother. 4 And they gave him threescore and ten pieces of silver out of the house of BaalGenesis xxix. 14.- e Hebrew, after.- f Genesis xxix. 15. Chap. viii. 33. usurped rule by whatever means were most likely to effect it: a usurped government is generally supported by oppression and the sword. Verse 3. He is our brother.] We shall be raised to places of trust under him, and our city will be the capital of the kingdom. Verse 4. Threescore and ten pieces of silver] Probably shekels; and this was the whole of his exchequer. As he was now usurping the government of God, he begins with a contribution from the idol temple. A work begun under the name and influence of the devil is not likely to end to the glory of God, or to the welfare of man. The parable of Jotham. A. M. 2799. berith, An. Exod. Isr. hired 286. Anno ante I. Olymp. 429. A. M. 2799. 286. Anno ante I. Olymp. 429. wherewith Abimelech | and stood in the top of Mount vain and light persons, Gerizim, and lifted up his voice, An. Exod. Isr. which followed him. and cried, and said unto them, Hearken unto me, ye men of Shechem, that God may hearken unto you. 8 The trees went forth on a time to anoint 5 And he went unto his father's house at Ophrah, and slew his brethren the sons of Jerubbaal, being threescore and ten persons, upon one stone; notwithstanding, yet Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbaal was left; for he hid himself. 6 And all the men of Shechem gathered together, and all the house of Millo, and went and made Abimelech king, by the plain of the pillar that was in Shechem. a n king over them; and they said unto the olive tree, Reign thou over us. 9 But the olive tree said unto them, Should I leave my fatness, wherewith by me they honour God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees? q 10 And the trees said to the fig tree, Come 7 And when they told it to Jotham, he went thou, and reign over us. Chap. xi. 3; 2 Chron. xiii. 7; Prov. xii. 11; Acts, xvii. 5. Chap. vi. 24. 2 Kings xi. 1, 2.- Hebor, by the oak of the pillar; see Josh. xxiv. 26. Hired vain and light persons] D'in op D'IN anashim reykim uphochazim, 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 rascals most revolutions have been brought about. Verse 5. Slew his brethren] His brothers by the father's side, chap. viii. 30. This was a usual way of securing an ill-gotten throne; the person who had no right destroying all those that had right, that he might have no competitors. Yet Jotham-was left] That is, all the seventy were killed except Jotham, if there were not seventy besides Jotham. All the histories of all the nations of the earth are full of cruelties similar to those of Abimelech cousins, uncles, brothers, husbands, and fathers have been murdered by their cousins, nephews, brothers, wives, and children, in order that they might have the undisturbed possession of an ill-gotten throne. Europe, Asia, and Africa, can witness all this. Even now, some of these horribly obtained governments exist. Verse 6. And all the house of Millo] If Millo be the name of a place, it is nowhere else mentioned in the sacred writings. But it is probably the name of a person of note and influence in the city of Shechem -the men of Shechem and the family of Millo. Verse 7. Stood in the top of Mount Gerizim] Gerizim and Ebal were mounts very near to each other; the former lying to the north, the latter to the south, and at the foot of them Shechem. But see some remarks on the extent of the human voice in some hilly countries in the following extract from a late traveller in the East: "The great extent to which the sound of the voice is conveyed may be mentioned. Some persons have thought this a proof of the extreme rarity of the atmosphere. A similar observation is made by Captain Parry in his Voyage of Discovery to the Polar Regions in 1819-20, where he states that in the depth of winter the sound of the men's voices was heard at a much greater distance than usual. This phenomenon is constantly observed on the Neilgherries. I have heard the natives, especially in the morning and evening, m Deut. xi. 29; xxvii. 12; Joshua viii. 33; John iv. 20. See 2 Kings xiv. 9. Chap. viii. 22, 23.—P Psa. civ. 15. Heb. go up and down for other trees, when the air was still, carry on conversation from one hill to another, and that apparently without any extraordinary, effort. They do not shout in the manner that strangers think necessary in order to be heard at so great a distance, but utter every syllable as distinctly as if they were conversing face to face. When listening to them, I have often been reminded of those passages in holy writ where it is recorded that Jotham addressed the ungrateful men of Shechem from Mount Gerizim, that David cried from the top of a hill afar off' to Abner and to the people that lay about their master Saul, and that Abner addressed Joab from the top of a hill."-Letters on the Climate, Inhabitants, Productions, &c., &c., of the Neilgherries, or Blue Mountains of Coimbatoor, South India, by James Hough, of Madras: 1829. That God may hearken unto you.] It appears that Jotham received this message from God, and that he spoke on this occasion by Divine inspiration. Verse 8. The trees went forth on a time] This is the oldest, and without exception the best fable or apologue in the world. See the observations at the end of this chapter." It is not to be supposed that a fable, if well formed, requires much illustration; every part of this, a few expressions excepted, illustrates itself, and tells its own meaning. To anoint a king] Hence it appears that anointing was usual in the installation of kings, long before there was any king in Israel; for there is much evidence that the book of Judges was written before the days of Saul and David. The olive tree] The olive was the most useful of all the trees in the field or forest, as the bramble was the meanest and the most worthless. Verse 9. Wherewith-they honour God and man] I believe the word elohim here should be translated gods, for the parable seems to be accommodated to the idolatrous state of the Shechemites. Thus it was understood by the Vulgate, Arabic, and others. It is true that olive oil was often used in the service. of God; the priests were anointed with it; the lamps in the tabernacle lighted, with it; almost all the offer |