viously enumerated. Comp. also Josh. xix. 22. with I Chron. vi. 62, (77;) and Josh. xix. 7. with I Chron. iv. 32. The exceedingly difficult passage, Josh. iv. 9., concerning the monument of the twelve stones, which are said to have been erected in the very bed of Jordan, is without doubt interpolated.[a]-The Masora unjustly condemns two verses, c. xxi. 36. s., which are not only retained by 384 MSS., and those the best and oldest, by 141 editions, and by all the ancient versions in the London Polyglot, except the Peshito, but are moreover required by the parallel place, I Chron. vi. 63. s. (78. s.), and also by the context. Besides, the omission of these verses would have been easy on account of the similar terminations of the passage immediately preceding, and of the second verse; but the transfer of the passage from I Chron. vi. 63. s. (78. s.) into Joshua, is improbable, inasmuch as the sense of the passage in the latter place is not complete without them. [b]

[a) The author's assertion appears to be too strong. There is no various reading on this passage, and the mere ground of its difficulty is scarcely sufficient to warrant an alteration of the text. The danger of admitting such a method of proceeding is amply illustrated by De Wette, Hasse, and others, who do not scruple to reject as interpolations any passages which do not please them (e. g. c. viii. 30-35. x. 14, 15.), and yet, such is the inconsistency of their criticism, elsewhere adduce them as proofs of the late origin, contradictory character, and mythical tendency, of the book itself! DE WETTE. Einleit. 168, 170, 166. For an explanation of the passage in question see SHUCKFORD, Connexion of Sac. and Prof. Lit. Vol. III. p. 361. s. ed. Lond. 1819. Tr.]

[b) See Jahn's Note on this passage in his Hebrew Bible. Tr.]

CHAPTER III.

OF THE BOOKS OF JUDGES AND RUTH.

§ 32. Contents of the Book of Judges.

THIS book consists of three parts, viz. c. i-xvi; c. xvii. xviii ; and c. xix-xxi. They have no other connexion than that which arises from their containing the history of events which took place in the time of the Judges; and in this respect, the book of Ruth is equally connected with them all. [a]

The author of the first part informs us (c. i.) which of the tribes drove out the Canaanites after the death of Joshua, and which merely made them tributary. He relates (ii. 1-6.) that a divine messenger announced to the latter that in a little time the Canaanites would entice the Hebrews into idolatry and overcome them.This prediction the author illustrates from the history, ii. 7-iii. 6, and beginning with the last public assemblies during the government of Joshua, observes that as long as the Israelites were faithful to GOD their king, they were superior to their enemies, and prospered; but when they spared the Canaanites, and contracted marriages with them, they were led into idolatry by them, and at length were subjugated by other nations. If, however, at any time, oppressed by these calamities, they renounced their idolatry and turned again to GOD, some hero was raised up, who conquered their enemies, and restored them to their liberty. This the author proves by recounting particular histories, c. iii. 7—xvi. 31. [b]

(a) The ancient Jews therefore considered Judges and Ruth as one book. Comp. Part. I. § 28.EUSER. H. E. VI. 25.]

[b) The following is a more extended view of the contents of this part of the book.

I. When the generation which had renewed the covenant with JEHOVAH (Josh. xxiv.) had died, the Hebrews became idolatrous, and were consequently subjected during eight years to the yoke of Cushan-rishathaim, king of Mesopotamia. But upon their conversion to JEHOVAH, they were delivered by Othniel, and had rest forty years, iii. 8—11.

II. Upon the renewal of their idolatry, they fell under the harder yoke of the king of Moab, who, in connexion with the Ammonites and Amalekites, oppressed for eighteen years the tribes on the other side of Jordan, and the southern tribes on this side. Ehud restored them to freedom, and a peace of eighty years followed, iii. 12-30.

III. After this the northern tribes, in consequence of their wickedness, were distressed twenty years by Jabin. Barak was called to deliver them by the prophetess Deborah, (iv. 24.), and the victory was perpetuated in a triumphal poem, c. v. In the time of this servitude, or rather before it, the Philistines were subjected by Shamgar, iii. 3. v. 6. A peace of forty years duration succeeded the victory of Barak, v. 31.

IV. The Israelites were afterwards, on account of their apostacy, oppressed for seven years by the nomade Midianites, Amalekites, and Eastern people, (i. e. Arabians,) who are called (viii. 24.) Ishmaelites. They were freed by Gideon, and forty years of peace succeeded; vi. 1— viii. 33. Here is added the account of the idolatrous Shechemites, who chose Abimelek, a son of Gideon, for their king, with the distresses which they experienced from him; ix. 1-57.

V. Tola, of the tribe of Issachar, who ruled the northern tribes twentythree years, and Jair, who was governor on the other side of Jordan twenty-two years, are merely mentioned, x. 1-5: perhaps because they protected the people rather by suitable preparations than by warlike undertakings.

VI. As the Israelites extended their idolatries, and honoured almost all the gods of thoir neighbours, the tribes on the other side of Jordan were oppressed during eighteen years by the Ammonites, who also attacked the southern tribes on this side, who already had powerful enemies in the Philistines. Their deliverer was Jephtha, who after his success conquered the jealous Ephraimites, with a loss on their side of 40,000 men. He governed six years: x. 6-xii. 7.

VII. Ibzan of Bethlehem, who was governor seven years, appears to have defended the southern tribes against the Philistines; xii. 8—10. VIII. Elon, of the tribe of Zebulon, ruled the northern tribes ten years; xii. 11. s.

IX. Abdon, of Ephraim, exercised authority eight years over the tribes who were situated in the middle of the country; xii. 13-15.

X. The southern tribes were oppressed by the Philistines forty years, which period, however, includes no doubt the times of Ibzan and Samson. The latter frequently routed the Philistines; but his history is only told in part, and proofs of his extraordinary strength introduced, probably with the view of showing the abilities with which GOD had favoured him, but which neither he nor the people suitably improved; xiii. 1— xvi. 31. Tr.]

§ 33. Design of the Book of Judges.

From the preceding account of the contents, it appears that the design of the author was to show, from their history, that the Israelites had been governed by God their king, during all the period of time to which his book relates, according to the conditions specified in the Law, Ex. xxiii. Lev. xxvi. Deut. xxviij-xxxii., and that the calamities which they suffered were to be imputed to their neglect of the Law; for which reason they could not expect any better state, unless they avoided those crimes which had hitherto prevented their enjoying any permanent prosperity. [a]

Hence it is evident that chronologers have altogether mistaken, in supposing that it was the author's intention to relate the whole of the history of this period; for there are long intervals of time concerning which he says nothing, and does not specify the number of years. He relates nothing but what would tend to remind the Israelites of the worship of GOD, and of obedience to his commands.- -Hence it is impossible precisely to fix the date of each particular event. In the time of Paul (Ac. xiii. 20.) they reckoned 450 years from the death of Joshua to the commencement of the reign of Saul, and this agrees with the contents of the book of Judges. For if from 450 we subtract the 40 years of Eli, the 20 years after his death, and the 40 years of Samuel, there will remain 350 years, which number agrees with Judg. xi. 26., where, in the time of Jephthah, 300 years are reckoned from the death of Moses. Comp. Germ. Introd. P. I. § 153. p. 538.

(a) It was therefore not so much his object to relate that their apostacy was the consequence of sparing the Canaanites, and subjection to foreign powers the consequence of apostacy, but rather to state those facts as a warning to his readers, in the same disposition which Samuel shows in his address, I Sam. xii. 14, 20—25.]

§ 34. Age of the Book of Judges.

That the book was not written, as has been thought, during the Babylonish captivity, is proved by the character of the language, which is free from Chaldee and other recent words, and contains, on the contrary, many which are common to the Pentateuch and the book of Joshua, but not to be found in the more modern books.

The limits of this work, however, will not allow me to enumerate them.Nor are there any other signs of a recent origin. The date of the book may be correctly inferred from the silence of the author respecting the capture of Jerusalem by David, which had it taken place before his time, the nature of his subject in c. i. 21. would not have permitted him to pass over in silence.[a] Nor does the occurrence of the name Jerusalem in these passages, indicate an origin posterior to the capture of the city by David: for since in II Sam. v. 6-10. I Chron. xi. 4--9, it is merely said that David called the citadel of Zion the city of David, without any mention of a new designation of the city of the Jebusites, we may conclude that the name Jerusalem, (Dhwin,) is more ancient than that time, and was applied

:

to the place because it was a safe possession or residence, in consequence of its situation on a mountain, and its strong fortifications. The omission of the history, not only of Samuel, but also of Eli, indicates an author, who, living in an age very near that of Eli, considered his history as generally known, because so recent. If the author be placed as low as the first years of David's reign, this observation will not apply, and it will be difficult to account for these omissions. -The object of the writer suits the time when the Israelites made Saul their king in the hope of improving their condition; for the book is composed with the design of showing that a better condition was not to be expected, unless the people themselves became better. And this agrees with what Samuel solemnly declares to the Israelites, I Sam. vii. 2. xii. 14-16, 20, 24. s. The book, therefore, must have been written in the first years of the reign of Saul, and perhaps was composed, as the Talmudists assert, by Samuel himself, with the spirit of whose admonitions it so perfectly accords. [b]