tihvavy of ^the theological ^tminary PRINCETON • NEW JERSEY PRESENTED BY Mr. Hoel Lawrence McQueen 3S IBS .\B5S THE HOLY BIBLE VOLUME II JUDGES-JOB WJtRCHiOJBEBS THE 'WORLD as peopled by tin- DESCENDANTS OF NOAH. 3f G-Te'e^wicT NX^EDra.BTTR&E W^JtiKJolmslCTiXamburlh THE PICTORIAL BIBLE BEING THE ACCORDING TO THE AUTIiOltlSED VERSION ILLUSTRATED WITU STEEL ENGRAVINGS AND MANY HUNDRED WOOD-CUTS REPRESENTING LANDSCAPE SCENES, AND SUBJECTS OK NATURAL HISTORY, COSTCIME AND ANTIQUITIES ORIGINAL NOTES EXPLANATORY OE PASSAGES CONNECTED WITH THE HISTORY, GEOGRAPHY, NATURAL HISTORY, LITERATURE AND ANTIQUITIES OK THE SACRED SCRIPTURES Hv JOHN K IT TO D.D. F.S.A. WITH ADDITIONAL NOTES BASED ON THE DISCOVERIES OF RECENT TliAVELLEllS IN FOUR VOLUMES VOL II LONDON W. AND R. CHAMBERS 47 PATERNOSTER ROW AND HIGH STliEF.T EDINBURGH LIST ( I' TIfK WOOD-CliT ILLIlSTRATfONS 1^ n j: i> I (J 1' 0 I M A L JU J^> L i:. VOLUME IL JUDGKS. (,IIA1>. I'AOr, Shavin- the Head . Hi 07 Initial I,--U,c-i- ... I 3 Persian Mannion . 10 08 ScriljccouMtirip nahilrt(<;ut olf) . 1 G Supporting Pillar.sofFa,,tcrnIiuiidijif, slO K) Ca|.r,iv.M Ijoiiiid ... 1 7 Sling-8 .... 20 77 rirmiolatioii ofCui.liv.'M ..17 Ffryptian Slingor.s 20 77 Ancii-iit \Var-c)i!ii'icit. From an I'lfi'yii- RUTH. lian lia-relii-r ... 1 8 Initial Letter 1 84 All. H Ml I'm nil, ( l.ariot. Froin a J•el■- Egyptian Harvest Scene . 2 87 ^.■|.'.'.l,^l 1!;. -i.-li.-r ..10 Eastern Veil 4 W) Siiiii.iin' lV.il.,.11 1,11 tlu; Ni!(; . :i ]r, Egyptian Sandals . 4 02 Ox-f,''ija(l . . . . I) 15 Ancient Shoes and Sandals 4 o;) .Mount 'iabor . . . 4 18 Grecian and Roman Sandals 4 05 I.ar-rr; l':-y|itiail Sliicl.l . . ', 22 'J'hc Tcfltudo. From tlie Trajan Column 5 2.') FIRST BOOK OF SAMUi L. I'.f^'yiitian and Round Shields. From a Initial Letter 1 08 Sculpture at Thebes . . r, 24 Horn Head-dresses 2 101 lloman Combat. From a Ba.s-re!ief at Sacrificial Hook . 2 101 Pompeii . . . . r, o\ Ancient ICgyptian Scats 4 10.5 Modern Oriental Shields and Spears r, 2(i Medal of Dagon . r, 100 Aneient Persian Shields and Spears. Short-tailed Field-mouse . (! 100 F'rom Seulpture.s at Porsepolis . 0 20 Ethiopian Car drawn by Oxen 0 110 Ifoman Attack with a Spear. From an Indian Car drawn by Oxen (! 111 anti()ue pern . . .0 27 Turkish Arabah drawn by Oxen . 0 111 Ancient F-^'-yjitian Javelin . . 5 28 Runners attending a Chariot. Aiii:ic It White AfiH.es ... . .0 28 Egyptian 8 no FaHtern Lattice . . . r< yi King Anointed. Ancient Egyptian 10 121 i;;ryptian Pitcher-) . . .7 .'i8 Eastern Grindstone la 128 Olive Draneh, with Fruit . . i) tr, Monumental Trojihy irj lil.'i Hand-mill . . . . !) 47 Ancient Helmets . 17 141 Lion of Western A«ia . .It r,7 Mailed Horse and Rider. From Ha Ahkelon . . . .14 r,<.) relief at Tackt-i-Bostan . 17 142 Jackals . . . .1-, (11 Ancient Cuirasses . 17 14.3 (iaza . . . . Hi ni Coat of Ringed Mail-Phrygian . 17 144 Wild I',lc])hants, cajitured by mcanH of Scale Armour— Mounted Daciiiii . 17 1)4 IJccoy Female Flephai.ts,'aiid boun.l Corslets and Helmets of Itom, witli g-rcen withes . .10 i\r, common Soldiers. I'Vorn Tnijai '.^ Hindoo Weavers . . Ifi (10 Column .... 17 145 iv LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAP. PAGE CHAP. PAGE Grecian Warrior in Armour . 17 146 Egyptian Windows 6 273 Warrior and Armoiu'-bearer. Modern Egyptian Temple . 6 273 Egyptian . . .17 147 Egyptian Doors 6 274 Dancing-girls 18 151 Metal Door-pins . 6 274 Escape from a Window 19 153 Door 6 274 Throwing- the JaveUn 20 156 Ground-plan of the King's Palace 7 277 Wild Goats [Capra Sinaitica) 24 164 Obelisks in Front of a Temple 7 278 Kubbeh, or Tomb 25 168 Fountain of the Lions 7 279 Pin-tailed Sand-grouse 27 172 Sycamore Fig-tree 10 287 Lighted Tomb. Modern Oriental 31 180 Interior of Haram 11 290 Shishak, King of Egypt . 11 291 SECOND BOOK OF SAMUEL. Egyptian representation of Judah Captive Lion seizing a Man 11 291 Initial Letter ... 1 181 13 296 Ancient Egyptian Armlets . 1 182 16 303 Indian Arnilets . . .1 182 Coin of Baal, or Melkart 16 305 Persian Armlets . . .1 183 Ancient Figures of Baal . 16 305 Teaching the use of the Bow. From Coin of Baal, or Tyrian Hercules 16 305 a Sculpture at Thebes . . 1 183 Jlount Carmel 18 810 Ancient Egyptian Bows . . 1 184 Knives and Lancets of Egypt Girded Loins 18 312 Body of Archers. Ancient Egyptian 1 184 18 313 Princes with Bow and Quiver. From a Bas-relief at Thebes . . 1 Ancient Persian Bow-case . . 1 Sackcloth .... 3 Bier. From a Bas-relief at Thebes 3 Eastern Divan ... 3 185 185 191 192 193 ' Juniper Tree ' (Spanish Broom) Hopes on Necks . Seal-ring. From Pompeii Babylonian Seals . Tail-piece . 19 20 22 314 318 320 320 324 Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives 5 196 Various diodes of Sittmg . . 7 Domestic and Ornamental Vessels of 203 SECOND BOOK OF KINGS. the Egyptians . . .8 205 Initial Letter 1 325 Oriental Street-door . . 13 215 Silver Coin of Aradus 1 326 Mule . . . .13 216 Royal Bed. Modern Oriental 1 327 Gate of Justice . . .15 221 Pouring Water on the Hands 3 330 Syrian Bear . . .17 227 Oriental Ewer and Basm 3 331 Cairn . . • .18 230 Chamber on the Wall 4 333 Absalom's Tomb . . .18 231 Tables. Modern Oriental 4 333 Eastern Town Gate . . 18 232 Seething Pottage . 4 334 Smging-Men . . .19 236 Coloquintida 4 334 Cucumis Prophetarum 4 335 FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. Great Officer on a Journey 5 337 Initial Letter ... 1 249 Mules laden 5 338 Procession of a Pasha of Egypt and Market at Gate . 7 343 his great Officers of State . 1 251 A King supported 7 343 Oriental State Mule . . 1 252 Loaded Camels . 8 346 Pharaoh's Daughter . . 3 258 Group of Modern Oriental Tower 9 350 Trellised Vine Bower . . 4 262 Female with Pamted Eyes 9 301 Dromedary . . -4 Felling Trees in Lebanon . . 5 263 Painted Eye. Jlodern Oriental 9 351 266 Painted Eye, with Vessel and Pro be. Ancient Modes of bearing Burdens 5 266 Ancient Egyptian 9 351 Egyptian Mode of transporting large Stones .... 5 266 Joktheel. A View of Petra Group of Altars . 14 16 360 366 General View of the Temple at Edfou 6 269 Serpent Worship . 18 372 Ground-plan of the Temple at Edfou C 269 Tirhakah 19 375 Ground-plan of Solomon's Temple 6 270 Watered Garden . . 19 375 Ancient Egyptian Censers . G 272 Observatory at Delhi . 20 379 Ancient Sacerdotal Spoons . 0 272 Tail-piece . 25 VOLUME THE SECOND. V CUAP. PAGE FIRST BOOK OF CHRONICLES. Sarbut-el-Khadem. (Inscribed Stones PAGE in the Sinai Peninsula) 34 518 . TaU-piece .... 393 Group of supposed Jewish Hostag Bs 35 522 Initial Letter . . .1 394 Slieepcotes at Busheer . . 17 421 EZRA. Sawing- Wood. Ancient Eg-yptiau 00 4-26 Initial Letter 1 527 Modern Oriental Saw-j^ers . 20 426 Persian King- enthroned . 1 529 Ancient Eg-yptian Saw . . 20 426 Persi-an King walking 1 529 Darics. From Specimens in Brit. Bins. 29 441 Sculpture of the Captivity 6 539 Submission and Obeisance. Oriental 29 442 Record Chamber . 6 540 Ancient Persian Soldiers . 8 545 SECOND BOOK OF CHRONICLES. Persian Horsemen 8 640 Initial Letter ... 1 443 C;aravan . 8 540 Horseman. From an Eg-yptian Sculpture 1 444 Caravan attacked 8 547 Capitals of Eg^'ptian Columns . 2 447 Arabian Horde coming- to a halt 8 547 Snuffers .... 4 449 Shekel of Silver . 10 552 Pincers .... 4 449 Com of Simon 10 552 PalmjTa. General View of Ruins 8 455 Demi-shekel, Copper 10 552 Palmyi-a. View of a portion of the Quarter-shekel, Copper 10 552 Ruins .... 8 456 Tomb of Ezra 10 553 Hittite, in Civil Dress . . 8 457 Tail-piece . 10 553 Hittite, in War Dress . . 8 457 Amorite .... 8 4.58 NEHEMIAH. Jebusite .... 8 458 Tail-piece . 554 Journey of an Abyssinian Queen . 9 461 Initial Letter 1 555 Algum Trees {Finns dcodara) . 9 462 Ancient Persian Cup-bearers 2 557 Eg-yptian Thrones . . .9 403 Egyptian Lock 3 560 Throne with Steps . . .9 463 Eastern Gate 7 507 Apes. Species of Simiadee, represented Egyptian Wine-press 13 578 in Eg-yptian Monuments . 9 469 Egyptian Wine-presses . 13 ■ 679 Tribute-bearers ... 9 471 Conveying Grapes to the AVme-press 13 580 Ancient Form of Ashtaroth . 16 480 Selling Fish 13 580 Astai-te : one of her Forms at Tyi-e 16 480 Head of Astarte . . .10 480 ESTHER. Astarte in a Car . . .10 480 Initial Letter 1 584 Jewish Physician. Modern Oriental 16 482 Ground-plan of part of the Rums It Sepulchre of the Kings . . 24 493 Persepolis 1 585 Castle near Teheran . . 26 498 Royal Palace at Ispahan . 1 586 Detached Tower or Fort. Ancient Council. From a Sculpture at Nakshi Eg-yptian . . .26 498 Rustam 1 587 Bahsta . . . .26 498 Oriental Palace Gate •2 590 Catapulta . . . .26 498 Eunuch of the Turkish Seraglio 4 594 Head of the Catapulta . . 26 499 King on his Throne. Modern Pe rsia 4 595 Scorpion for discharging- Arrows . 26 499 Royal Levee. JModern Oriental 5 .597 The Aggie-stone . . .28 502 Ceremony of investing a Persian with Fenced City— Babylon in Egypt . 33 509 a Dress of Honour 6 .599 Walls and Towers . . .32 510 Dress of Honour . 6 000 Walls and Towers— Blemphis . 32 510 The King's Horse 6 000 Wall and Towers manned . . 32 510 Crown of Nadir Shah, King of Persia C 001 Fortress with Fosse and Double Wall 32 510 Crown of Futteh Ali Shah, King of Fortress with Double Fosse . 32 511 Persia . 6 001 Fortress attacked : Testudo, &c. . 32 511 Procession of Honour— The Start 6 001 Fortress attacked : Testudo, &c. . 32 511 Procession of Honour— Progress 6 002 Fortress attacked . . . 32 512 Procession of Honour— Return 0 002 Fortress . . . .32 512 Turkish Courier . 8 004 Fortress of Akaba, with the Arrival Chinese Courier . 8 605 of a Caravan of Pilgi-ims . 32 513 Tomb of Mordecai and Esther 10 608 Vi LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS TO VOLUME THE SECOND. CHAP. PAGE JOB. Booth . 27 655 CHAP. PAGE Griffon Vultures . . 28 657 Tail-piece . 613 Head of Griffon Vulture . . 28 657 Initial Letter 1 014 Coral . 28 058 Tomb at Petra 3 621 Gate of the City . 29 659 Interior of a Tomb at Petra 3 621 Fire-worshipper . . 31 603 Treasure Finding- . 3 022 Wine-cart, and Manner of filling the Tiie Dying Lion . 4 624 Amphora. From Pompeii . 32 GOG Lioness and Whelps 4 624 A Girl pouring Wine from I Skin Irish Mud-cabin- . 4 625 Wine-bottle . 32 COG A Dry Valley in Edora 6 629 Crystals of Snow . . 38 673 Web of Geometric Spider . 8 632 Wild Ass . . 39 670 Eagle on Wing 9 034 Rhinoceros Sinus . 39 678 Indian Stocks 13 038 Ostrich . 39 679 Chinese Wooden Collar 13 638 Horse's Head. From the Elgin Group illustrating the use of the Style 19 644 Marbles . . 39 680 Engraved Rocks in the Wady Mokatteb 19 645 Syro-Arabian War-horse . . 39 681 Viper . 20 647 Head of White-headed Eagle . 39 682 Nest of Brown-tailed Moth 27 654 Hippopotamus . 40 683 Pendulous Leaf-nests of Gate pillars 27 655 Asiatic Elephant . . 40 684 Nest of Lilac-leaf Roller . . 27 055 Crocodile . . 41 685 Nest of Osier-leaves 27 655 Egyptian Tumbler 41 686 MAPS AND STEEL PLATE. Map of the Countries mentioned in the Bible. (Facing Title-page.) Map of Canaan, as divided by Josliua among the Twelve Tribes of Israel The Captivity ....;.-, # THE BOOK JUDGES. The Hebrew title of the seventh book of the Scriptures is D^Pfiitr Shophetim, which the Septuagirit renders by KPITAI, and the Vulgate by Judices. Our word Judges is a correct and yet an insufti- cient interpretation of the original. ' Judges,' with us, simply designates those who administer justice ; the Hebrew word SHOrnETiM denotes also the administration of justice, but instead of being con- fined to that function, it comprehends much more. ' Governors,' or ' Rulers,' would be a moie sufficient interpretation of the Hebrew title, because that is the office really denoted, to vvhicii the name of ' Judges ' is given merely because in those times to dispense justice in the last resort, or in cases of high public interest, was a prominent and signal part of the duty of any king, prince, governor, or civil magistrate. In the present book the term designates those occasional leaders and chief magistrates of the Israelites who led out the people in war against their enemies, and after having delivered them from the oppression of the neighbouring nations, exercised each, during peace, the office of chief magistrate and judge in Israel. Nor was it only by the Hebrews that tliis term was applied as a title of distinction to non-regal governors or magistrates. The Carthaginians, who were descended from the Tynans, and spoke the Hebrew language, called their chief magistrates by the same name ; but the Latins, whose language does not possess the sli of the ancient Hebrews and Carthaginians, wrote the word with a sharp s, and adding a Latin termination, denominated them Suffetes. The date and authorship of the book cannot with positive certainty be determined. Some ascribe it to Samuel, some to Hezekiah, some to Ezra ; but the tradition which assigns the anonymous books of Scripture to some eminent historical personage is like that which leads the natives of Syria to ascribe all great anonymous ruins to Solomon. When no internal evidence for determining the question exists, it is much wiser to leave the matter unembarrassed by such vague conjectures. In Israel there were many high servants of God who take no place in history, and many prophets whose names have not descended to us. It has been urged that the book must have been written after the establishment of regal authority among the Hebrews, in consequence of the frequently recurring phrase, in apology for the disorders of the times, ' In those days there was no king in Isiael, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.' But those who produce this argument over- look the fact that this remarkable phrase occurs only in the supplementary chapters (xvii. 6 ; xviii. 1 ; xix. I ; xxi. 2o), wiiich form a perfectly separable portion of the book, composing in fact two appendices, which may have been written, and probably were written, subsequently to the con- tinuous history of which the book is mainly composed. Wliatever weight, therefore, belongs to this argument pertains only to this portion, and may not be extended to the entire book. That the sub- stantial history of the book could not have been written later — however much earlier — than the expul- sion of the Jebusites from Jerusalem, towards the beginning of David's reign (2 Sam. v. 6), is shewn by the fact that the author expressly describes Jerusalem as being, at the time he wrote, in the pos- session of the Jebusites. (ch. i. 21.) So also in 2 Sam. xi. 21, there is a distinct reference to a fact recorded in Judges ix. 53, shewing that the book must have been in existence when the second book of Samuel was produced. Upon the whole, therefore, it would appear that the first portion of .Judges could not have been written later than the reign of Saul, or the seven first years of that of David ; and as the history itself reaches down to the time of Eli, it cannot be taken back earlier than that, so tiiat the resulting probability would confine the range of the history to the governments of Samuel and Saul — most probably in that of Saul, as the change of the form of government by the election of a king, would supply a motive for the composition of the history of the antecedent circumstances, which had occurred since the death of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him, and the knowledge of wliich liad been preserved in unconnected memorials, registers, poems, and traditions. As Samuel is JUDGES. the most conspicuous person of the period to which the composition of the history must thus be as- cribed, the authorship of the book has usually been assigned to him by both Jewish and Christian writers. The supplementary portion comprised in the five last chapters could hardly have been written in the reign of Saul, which did not sufficiently exhibit the advantages of a regulated government to call forth tlie contrasting phrase wliich repeatedly occurs in it. We should, on that ground, be disposed to assign that portion to the latter part of the reign of David, or, still more probably, to that of Solomon. In confirmation of tliis we may point to xviii. 31, from which it appears that the house of God was no longer at Shiloh wlien tliis supplement was written. The notion that Ezra was the writer of the book is founded principally upon the expression which occurs in xviii. 30, ' He and his sons were priests to the tribe until the day of the captivity of the land;' whence it has been hastily conceived that it could not have been written till the time of the Babylonish captivity. But this conjecture has no solid foundation ; for upon comparing Psalm Ixxviii. 60, 61, and 1 Sam. iv. 11, with that passage, it will appear that the ' captivity ' intended by the historian, was a particular captivity of the tribe of Dan, or rather of that part of the tribe settled in the north of Palestine, which seems to have occurred about the time that the ark of God was taken by tlie Philistines. The book of Judges is not to be regarded as a connected history ; but is to be viewed with refer- ence to the manifest object of the author and tiie scope of the work. It is a collection of signal facts which occurred in the history of the chosen people during this period, to shew that so far as they adiiered to tlie Lord they prospered, but were abandoned to great afflictions when they fell away from Him, and were delivered out of their troubles when they repented of their evil doings, and turned witli humbled hearts to Him whom they had forsaken. The facts chosen to illustrate this great argument seem to have been taken from unconnected documents of the kind already indicated, and arranged with very little regard to methodical order, and exhibiting, in fact, much the same form of composition as we find in the gospels. It is for tliis reason that tlie chronology of the book is involved in great and peculiar difficulties. But as this subject is separately noticed at the end of the book, it will not here require particular attention. [Appendix, No. 21.] The authority of the book is demonstrated by the usual description of proof. It was, according to the statement already made, set forth at a time when most of the events related must have been generally known, and when the veracity of the liistorian could be ascertained by a reference to the original documents. Several of its statements are confirmed by the books of Samuel (comp. Judg. iv. 2; vi. 14; xi. with 1 Sam. xii. 9-12; Judg. ix. 53 with 2 Sam. xi. 21). The Psalms not only allude to the book (comp. Ps. Ixxxiii. 11 with Judg. vii. 25) ; but copy directly from it entire verses (comp. Ps. Ixviii. 8, 9 ; xcvii. 5 with Judg. v. 4, 5). The New Testament alludes to it in several places (comp. Matt. ii. 13-23 with Judg. xiii. 5 ; xvi. 17 ; and see also Acts xiii. 20 ; Heb. xi. 32). Josephus and Philo knew the book well, and not only mention it as of Scriptural authority, but use its statements in their works. This external evidence for the authority of the book is corroborated by much internal proof of its authenticity. All the narratives are in such perfect keeping with the circumstances of the age to which they belong, and agree so entirely with the natural order of events, as to render it impossible that the book should be the invention of a later age. Many instances of this are pointed out in the notes. Several of the commentators on Joshua have also written on Judges in the works cited in the intro- duction to that book, namely, Strigelius, Chyrtaeus, Serarius, Drusius, Osiander, and Bonfrere ; and besides these are the following : M. Buceri Commentarius in libnim Judicum, 1554-1563; Schmid, Com?nentarius in librum Judicum, 1684-1691 ; Ziegler, Scholien iiber das Buck der Richter, and Bemerkimgen iiber das Buck der Richter, 1791 ; Schnurrer, R. Tanchum Hierosolymitani ad Uhros V. T. Commentarii Arabici Specimen, una cum Anott. ad aliquot loca libri Judicum, 1791 ; Harenberg, Einleitung in das Buck der Richter; Paulus, Blicke in dns Buch der Richter, 1822; Studer, Das Buch der Richter grammaiisch und historisch erkliirt, 1835. [More recently appeared, Das Buch der Richter und Rut erkliirt von Ernst Bertheau ; Leipzig, 1845. This treatise forms part of a commentary on the whole Bible at present issuing from the German press, entitled, Kurzgefassics exegetisclm Handbuch sum Alten Testament. There has yet appeared no commentary, in this series, on any of the previous books except Genesis: erkliirt von A. Knohel, 1852. We may mention, that the Handbuch belongs to the Rationalistic school of exegesis.] The English language, which is signally deficient in works on separate books of Scripture, has only Bush's Notes on Judges ; New York, 1838. [A. very interesting book on the Life of Samson, by Dr Bruce of Edinburgh, has been recently published in that city.] F.-i.''^ AS^iSa/^%> K * Chap. I.] JUDGES. CHAPTER I. I The acts of Judali and Simeon. 6 Adoni-bezek jiisth/ requited. 8 Jerusalem taken. 10 Hebron taken. 13 Othniel hath Achsah to wife for taking of Dehir. 16 The Kenites dioell in Judah. 17 Hor- mali, Gaza, Askelon, and Ekron taken. 21 The acts of Benjamin. 22 Of the house of Joseph, who take Beth-el. 27 Of Manasseh. 30 Of Zebulun. 31 Of Ashe/. 33 OJ Najjhtali. 34 Of Dan. OW after the death of Joshua t came to pass, ' at the child- 1 en of Israel asked theLoRD, saying, Who shall go up for us against the Canaanites Lord said, Judah shall go up : behold, I have delivered the land nito his hand. 3 And Judah said unto Simeon his brother, Come up with me into my lot, that we may fight against the Canaanites ; and I likewise will go with thee into thy lot. So Simeon went with him. 4 And Judah went up ; and the Lord de- livered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand : and they slew of them in Bezek ten thousand men. 5 And they found Adoni-bezek in Bezek : and they fought against him, and they slew the Canaanites and the Perizzites. 6 But Adoni-bezek fled ; and they pur- sued after him, and caught him, and cut oft" his thumbs and his great toes. 7 And Adoni-bezek said. Threescore and ten kings, having 'their thumbs and their great toes cut off, ""gathered their meat under my table : as I have done, so God hath requited me. And they brought him to Jerusalem, and there he died. 8 H Now the children of Judah had fought against Jerusalem, and had taken it, and smitten it with the edge of the sword, and set the city on fire. 9 ^And afterward the children of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites, that dwelt in the mountain, and in the south, and in the 'valley. [B.C. 142.5. 10 II And Judah went against the Canaan- ites that dwelt in Hebron : (now the name of Hebron before ?mf 'Kirjath-arba :) and they slew Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai. 11 IT And from thence he went against the inhabitants of Debir : and the name of Debir before was Kirjath-sepher : 12 And Caleb said, He that smiteth Kir- jath-sepher, and taketh it, to him will I give Achsah my daughter to wife. 13 And Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, took it: and he gave him Achsah his daugliter to wife. 14 And it came to pass, when she came to him, that she moved him to ask of her father a field : and she lighted from oft' her ass : and Caleb said unto her. What wilt thou ? 15 And she said unto him, Give me a blessing : for tliou hast given me a south land ; give me also springs of water. And Caleb gave her the upper springs and the nether springs. 16 II And the children of the Kenite, Moses' father in law, went up out of the city of palm trees with the children of Judah into the wilderness of Judah, which lieth in the south of Arad ; and they went and dwelt among the people. 1 7 11 And Judah went with Simeon his bro- ther, and they slew the Canaanites that in- habited Zephath, and utterly destroyed it. And the name of the city was called 'Hor- mah. 18 Also Judah took Gaza with the coast thereof, and Askelon with the coast thereof, and Ekron with the coast thereof. 19 And the Lord was with Judah; and 'he drave out tlie inhabitants of the moun- tain ; but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron. 20 "And they gave Hebron unto Caleb, as Moses said : and he expelled thence the three sons of Anak. 21 H And the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites that inhabited Jeru- salem ; but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem unto this day. 22 IT And the house of Joseph, they also went up against Beth-el : and the Lord was with them. 23 And the house of Joseph sent to descry Beth-el. (Now the name of the city before was "'Luz.) Chap. I.] JUDGES. [B.C. 1425. 24 And the spies saw a man come forth out of the city, and they said unto him, Shew us, we pray thee, the entrance into the city, and '°we will shew thee mercy. 25 And when he shewed them the entrance into the city, they smote the city with the edge of the sword ; but they let go the man and all his family. 26 And the man went into the land of the Hittites, and built a city, and called the name thereof Luz : which is the name thereof unto this day. 27 II "Neither did Manasseh drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shean and her towns, nor Taanach and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Dor and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Ibleam and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Megiddo and her towns : but the Canaanites would dwell in that land. 28 And it came to pass, when Israel was strong, that they put the Canaanites to tri- bute, and did not utterly drive them out. 29 H "Neither did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer; but the Canaanites dwelt in Gezer among them. 30 H Neither did Zebulun drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, nor the inhabitants of Nahalol ; but the Canaanites dwelt among them, and became tributaries. 31 If Neither did Asher drive out the in- habitants of Accho, nor the inhabitants of Zidon, nor of Ahlab, nor of Achzib, nor of Ilelbah, nor of Aphik, nor of Rehob : 32 But the Asherites dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land : for they did not drive them out. 33 t Neither did Naphtali drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh, nor the inha- bitants of Beth-anath ; but he dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land : nevertheless the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and of Beth-anath became tributaries unto them. 34 U And the Amorites forced the children of Dan into the mountain : for they would not suffer them to come down to the valley : 35 But the Amorites would dwell in mount Ileres in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim : yet the hand of the house of Joseph '"prevailed, so that they became tributaries. 36 And the coast of the Amorites was from "the going up to Akrabbim, from the rock, and upward. 13 Heb. was hiavtj. i* Or, Maateh-nhrnhhim. Verse R. ' Cut off hia thumbs and his great ^oes.'— The remarkable character of this mutilation, and its uniform infliction by Adoni-bezek himself upon his own captives, lead us to suppose that there was some ulterior object beyond mere gratuitous cruelty. Was it to disable them from acting in future in a warlike capacity ? In the hands of a man without thumbs, few of the weapons of antiquity could be very effective ; and the want of the great toes would be a check upon agility in flight or action. Accord- ingly, we read of many instances of similar mutilation, in ancient history. Thus the Athenians cut off the thumb of the right hands of the inhabitants of the island of jEgina, to preclude them from managing the spear, and from disputing with themselves the empire of the sea. The disabling effect of such a mutilation, in a military point of view, appears also from the practice, among those Romans who disliked a military life, of cutting off their own thumbs, that they might ri-nder themselves incapable of serving in the army. Pareuts were known thus to disable their children for the same reason. This became so common a practice at last, that the senate and the emperors found it necessary to punish the act severely as a crime. Kven at this day, in some of tho.se continental states where the anny is recruited by a compulsory conscription, men are occasionally known to cut off the thumb of the right hand, to prevent their being called to a service they dislike ; and even soldiers in the army do the same, to ensure their discharge. It has therefore been necessary to render such an act a punish- able offence. A trace of this practice exists in the word poltroii, which we and the French have adopted from the Italian, which, while it immediately denotes, as with us, a dastardly soldier who shrinks from his duty, etymologically signifies ' cut-thumb,' being formed from pdllice, ' thumb,' and trdiico, ' cut off, maimed.' As to the loss of the great toes— independently of the inconvenience occasioned in the act of walking or running, the disabling effect to an Oriental is infinitely greater than to a European. The feet and toes are much employed in almost all handicraft operations throughout the East, and in many cases the loss of the great toes would completely disqualify a man from earning his subsistence. Besides the many little active operations which they are tutored to execute, the artisans, as they work with their hands, seated on the ground, hold fast and manage all their work with their feet and toes, in which the great toes have a very prominent duty to perform. 7. ' Threescore and ten kings.' — This extraordinary num- ber of kings will not surprise the attentive reader of Scrip- ture, or of ancient history in general. The sacred history concurs with the profane in shewing that the earliest sove- reignties were of exceedingly confined extent, often con- sisting of no more than a single town, with a small sur- rounding district. In the time of Abraham there were not fewer than five kings in the vale of Sodom ; that is, a king to every city that is mentioned: and in Joshua xii. there is a list of thirty-one kings, whom the hero of that name overthrew in the small country of Canaan ; and now we come to a conqueror who, probably within the bounds of no very extensive territory, had overcome no less than seventy kings. Small states of this sort have existed in the early period of almost every nation, and their history has been everywhere the same. One or more of such states acquired, in the course of tiiiu', such predominance as enabled it to absorb tlir ntli. rs urailuiiUy into its own body ; or else foreign invaders t-oiKinrr. il ilio several states in detail, and formed them int.. ..m- kii.,mlom. This has been the usual process by which large states were orij;iii;ilIy formed, wherever we find them existing. E^pt its. If \sas at first divided into several states. So, in Chma and .1 a[in ii , the several provinces into which we see those nations di- vided, were anciently so many independent sovereignties. It was the same in ancient Greece; and, in reading the Iliad of Homer, the modem reader is astonished at the vast number of kings sent by Greece and its islands to Chap. I.] JUDGES. [B.C. 1425 the Trojan war; which renders it evident that this small region was at least not inferior to Canaan in the number of the little principalities into which it was divided. But we need not go out of our own country for examples. We may conceive the number of kingdoms into which this island was divided, from the fact, mentioned by Caesar, that there were four kings in the single county of Kent. The Silures, the Brigantes, and other small tribes, among whom the country was portioned, had each their own king. The Saxons did things on a large scale, when they divided the country into so few as seven kingdoms. In the time of the Komans, Gaul, Spain, and Germany were, in like man- ner, cut up into a countless number of small states and kingdoms. In more modern times, and even in our own, we see a similar state of things subsisting in Africa, Ame- rica, and part of Asia, where we encounter a great number of sovereigns, or independent states, in a small extent of country ; each canton having its own king. — ' As I have done, so God hath requited me.' — Had no further explanation been given, the act of the Hebrew vic- tors, in cutting off the thumbs and great toes of their royal captive, would have been cited (as other acts not similarly explained have been) as a deed of motiveless and savage barbarity, attesting the innate cruelty of their nature. But when the person thus treated himself lets us know that he regards it as an act of retributive justice, — and when, thus himself mutilated, the bitter remembrance comes before him of the threescore and ten kings who were similarly dealt with by him, and whom, with barbaric pride, he kept to gather their meat under his table, — the case as regards the Israelites is greatly altered. So far from being a barbarity of their own invention, gratuitous and uncalled for, they de- part from their ordinary practice to render it an act of retri- butive justice, and thereby expressed in no equivocal terms their detestation of the manner in which this tyrannical king had been wont to treat the illustrious persons who became captive to him. In speaking about contemporary usages, however, it will be necessary to guard against one dangerous source of mis- conception. Except with reference to the times in which we ourselves live, we are in the habit of practicaUi/ for- getting that contemporary nations are not necessarily in the same state of civilization ; and there are classes of usages, especially such as are connected with war, which, as existing in any one nation, will be much better illus- trated, or rather estimated, by the practices of any other nations in a similar state with respect to civilization, in whatever age existing, than by references to the usages of contemporary or even neighbouring nations. The dimi- nution of the barbarities of war which advancing civiliza- tion produces, is perhaps less the effect of humane feeling than of the interested considerations which civilization evolves. The barbarian has no interest in being merciful, and therefore — unless by a fortunate accident — he has no mercy. His war is one of extermination. His object is to injure or disable the enemy as much as possible, and he knows no way of doing this but by destroying as many as possible of their number. His glory is to accumulate the mortal trophies of those he has slain. He gives no quarter, nor expects to receive any ; and if he does take prisoners, it is only that they may in some future day of triumphant festival "taste with tenfold intensity all ' the bitterness of death.' The reason of this is, that he has no use for their lives ; and the only motive which prevents him from de- stroying them on the spot is — that he may devour them at leisure, or that he may ofler them in sacrifice to his grim idols. Then, as a nation becomes settled, it finds that the labour of a man has such value as to make his life worth pre- serving. The captives are therefore spared to labour as slaves. Under this state of things, however, interest will suggest the advantage of allowing the captive to be ran- somed by his friends, if communications can be opened with them, and if the sum which they can offer exceeds the value which the captor sets upon his services. A savage could not preserve his prisoner wiUiout encumber- ing himself with the charge of his subsistence, and he will only spare his life when there are facilities for making a profit of him by selling him to tliose by whom his services may be needed, or when there is some equivalent prospect of valuable ransom. Under this state of things, captive kings and chiefs are generally exposed to a peculiar treat- ment, by reason of the active and leading part which their position had obliged them to take against their present conquerors. Sometimes we shall find that they are put to death, and that in cold blood, and with circumstances of ignominy, weeks or months after the conflict has been de- cided. Oftener they are subjected to some mutilation, and are obliged to render menial and ignominious services to their conqueror. In a still more improved condition of society, where the disadvantages of an act of warfare are generally less unequal than in the savage or semi-civilized conditions, prisoners are taken on both sides; and as both consider that the presence of their own citizens and soldiers is of more ad- vantage than the services of foreign slaves, an exchange of prisoners is the result. If, under these circumstances, a king or chief person should become a prisoner, he obtains his liberty either for a high ransom, or by exchange against one or more persons of the highest rank, or by the cession of some advantage to the captors. The highest state of civilization possible while war exists, seems to be indicated by the liberation of officers (even of high rank) acting under orders, upon their parole engagement, not again during the war to fight against their captors. The condition of society, as indicated by war, described in this last paragraph, is not to be found in any ancient nation, although parts of it might be occasionally brought out by some concurrence of circumstances. We have entered into this statement because the true question as to the war practices of the Hebrews is nothing more or less than this, — Whether their practices in war did or did not correspond with the progressive developments of their national condition ? not, — Whether in the Jirst stage of their social progression they had the war usages which are found only in the last ? Now, in answer to this question, we have not the least hesitation in declaring our conviction that the practices of the Hebrews, as regards the treatment of prisoners, were not only not worse, but not nearly as bad as those of other nations in the same state of civilization. It would be almost unnecessary to state that in the long period over which the history of the Hebrew people extends, they passed through various states of civilization ; that their social condition was progressive, like that of all other na- tions ; and that, as time passed, many old customs were relinquished, and many new ones came into use. During the time in which the Hebrews were engaged in the conquest of Canaan, and were well settled in that country — that is, down to the time of King David — they were in a condition very similar, as respects war, to ihat which we have firstly described, while the settled nations around them were for the most part in that condition which has been secondly indicated. And yet it will be found that during this period the usages of the Hebrews were far above those of the first condition ; but were in many re- spects equal to, aud in some respects above those of the second condition — and this through the correctives which their religious system applied to the principles of warfare which naturally belonged to their condition. During the period of which we now write, the Hebrews had no interest in preserving the lives of their prisoners. The conquest of the country being incomplete, they were themselves rather pressed at times for room ; and their operations in agriculture and pasturage were of too con- tracted and simple a description to need more hands than every family with its natural dependants afforded. There was no market open to them in which they could sell their prisoners for slaves, had they been so inclined. And as the nations with whom they warred were their near neighbours, they could not employ them with any profit to themselves without affording them the means of escape. In short, it was impossible that they could have kept them without incun-ing the cost of their maintenance, which no ancient Chap. I.] nation ever diil. Under such circumstances no prisoners •were taken. Those who could, escaped ; and those who could not, were slain either on the field of battle or in the pursuit. In fact there were no surrenders or capitulations of bodies of men, no laying down of arms, by which pri- soners are obtained in modern warfare. No prisoners were ever reserved to be tortured and slain in cold blood on some future occasion. It is true that one or two instances of prisoners being put to death after the act of warfare, do occur— such as that of the Midianites (Num. xxxi. 13-17) and of king Agag (1 Sam. xv. 32, 33) : but these were not preserved with the view of their being subsequently de- stroyed ; but they were put to death because they had without authority been spared by the military commanders, although the nation had before the battle devoted them, by a solemn and irrevocable ban, to destruction. In the case of those kings who were taken in the course of the battle, and were put to death on the same da//, at its close, this cannot be called cold blooded. It was a crowning act of triumph and vengeance, while the blood of the victors, maddened by the recent conflict, still boiled in their veins. At the worst, this was the most barbarous practice of the Hebrews in their most barbarous state ; and was of far less atrocity than the acts towards their distinguished prisoners of nations far in advance of the Israelites of these times in general civilization— if indeed there be any true civilization by which the heart is not civilized. Thus the heathen attributed, to some extent, the victories which they achieved to the might and blessing of their gods : therefore, in ac- knowledging the obligation to these gods, prisoners were, by some of them, preserved to be offered to these gods in sacrifice, on some high holiday ; but from this, and from a hundred other barbarities connected with or arising out of this form of acknowledgment, the Hebrews were precluded by the strict prohibition of human sacrifices, as a thing most abhorrent to Jehovah. Yet no nation was more per- severingly taught than the Hebrews that the glory of all their victories was to be ascribed to their Divine King ; and this made the agents of these victories, the generals, judges, and kings, heedful that they might not seem to take too large a share of the glory to themselves, by ostentatious exhibitions of their triumphs. No royal and noble captives were dragged in chains at their chariot wheels ; none were allowed to live on, to be paraded in distant cities to mark the triumph of the conqueror, and afterwards ignominiously slain ; none were ever blinded or mutilated by them, or exposed to mockery and insult ; nor were any ever kept by them to grind in the prison-house, or to gather meat under their tables : not even Solomon in all his glory entertained the vulgar ambition of having dethroned kings among the menials of his house ; and if ' kings' daughters were among the honourable women ' (see Ps. xlv. 9 ; attributed to Solo- mon) of his Egyptian spouse, they were given to her by her father rather than her husband ; and, after all ; they were ' honourable (not degraded) women.' The custom among the Hebrews of slaying the kings of a conquered people upon the field of battle was, after all, of only momentary duration. It had already so far declined in the time of Gideon, tliat he would have spared Zeba and Zalmunna had not they, by putting his brothers to death, rendered the case one of blood-revenge. And although Agag was put to death at a much later period, that was a peculiar case, to which we have already adverted. And after having relinquished this practice, they resorted to none of these intermediate barbarities of which we have spoken. Captive kings came to be treated with consideration and even kind- ness ; and for the most part, when not slain in battle, were continued in the rule of their territories on the condition of paying tribute. The Hebrews also, within as short or a shorter time than any other people, ceased to wage ex- terminative wars. With an enlarged territory and increased means of employment, it became their interest to take and preserve captives for the sake of the services which they might render in the public works and in the fields. There may be exceptions, and examples of gratuitous barbarities ; but what history is there, even modern history, in which such do not occur ? JES. [B.C. 1425. That the Egyptians were, at this period, very far above the Hebrews in all the arts of civil life, it would be very useless to dissemble or dispute. It has therefore occurred to us that we cannot better conclude this note than by shewing that in this comparatively advanced state of that people, when captive labour had become valuable to them, they still retained barbarous war-usages which were not known to the Hebrews in their most barbarous state, much less in that more civilized condition which they afterwards attained. The illustration derivable from this source is the more important, inasmuch as, from their long residence in Egypt, they could hardly be unacquainted with the war- usages of that country, and the difference cannot well be accounted for but by reference to the different circum- stances in which they were placed, and the entirely different principles of their religion and government. An admirable representation of a battle-field is found on the walls of the pronaos of the great temple at Medinet Habou, and is thus described by Dr. Richardson :— ' The south and part of the east wall is covered with a battle- scene, and the cruel punishment of the vanquished, by cutting off their hands and maiming their bodies, which SCMDE COU.M llA (CI'T off). is performed in the presence of the chief, who has seated himself in repose on the back part of his chariot to witness the execution of his horrid sentence. Three heaps of amputated hands are counted over before him, and an equal number of scribes with scrolls in their hands are minuting down the account. As many rows of prisoners stand behind, to undergo a similar mutilation in their turn ; their hands are tied behind their backs, or lashed over their heads, or thrust into eye-shaped manacles ; some of their heads are twisted completely round, some of them are turned back to back, and their arms lashed toge- ther round the elbows ; and thus they are marched np to punishment.' Now we are prepared to admit that Kichard- son has here taken rather too strong a view of the case. We believe with Wilkinson that the heaps of hands, tongues, and other members, counted by the scribes in the presence of the king, are taken from the slain enemies, whose numbers they serve to authenticate. However, the particular manner in which the dead are mutilated for this purpose does not say much for the humanity of idea among the Egyptians. There was no such practice among the Hebrews ; and the not remarkably humane nation (the Turks), which has retained to our own day an analogous practice, does not go further than to cut off the right ears of the slain. The strained and torturing postures, painful to behold, in which the prisoners are bound, seems to us, a-s it does to Richardson, a very unequivocal intimation of the inhuman manner in which the Eyptians treated their captives. Wilkinson allows that, 'To judge from the mode of binding their prisoners, we might suppose tliey treated them with unnecessary harshness, and even cruelty, at the moment of their capture and during their march JUDGES. [B.C. 1425. 1^ with the army' (Ancient Egyptians, i. 396). He also ad- mits that the Egyptian hatred of foreigners might often lead the soldiers to commit acts of brutal severity, but excuses them by reference to the incidental brutalities of the armies of civilized Europe. This excuse is as good for the Hebrews, and even better, as they were a less ' civilized' people. But, in fact, the brutalities of the Egyptians were not incidents but usages. Nations do not perpetuate in marble the memory of incidental barbarities which they deplore ; and that the Egyptians delighted in images of human suffering and of tyrannic power over strangers, is proved by the multiplication of such images in every pos- sible form, — not only in sculpture and painting, but as figured on their official dresses, and wrought in their orna- mental furniture. Scenes of immolation figure on their thrones ; and their more splendid chairs present, as sup- porters of the seat, the gilt or golden images of captives, bound in the most painful postures, with ropes around their necks. To the thinking mind this last circumstance will appear much more conclusive than many facts of much greater intrinsic importance. The return after victory is represented in the continuation of the same historical piece to which the preceding observations refer : — ' The king returning victorious to Egypt, proceeds slowly in his car, conducting in triumph the prisoners he has made, who walk (bound as above) beside and before it, three others being bound to the axle He arrives at Thebes, and presents his captives to Amunre and Maut, the deities of the city, who compliment him, as usual, on the victory he has gained, and the overthrow of the enemy he has " trampled beneath his feet'" {Egypt and Thebes, 67). The victorious king trampling upon the bodies of his conquered foes frequently occurs in such scenes ; and so fond were the Egyptians of the ideas and images connected with this act, that they were wont to have the figure of a slave or captive wrought upon their sandals, that they might thus tread it under feet. Sandals thus figured have been found. In some cases the king or chief alights from his chariot to bind with his own hand the chiefs he has conquered ; and in others he holds himself the end of the rope around their necks whereby they are led, or rather driven, before his chariot in his triumphal march. As a conclusion to the whole of these scenes, tlie hero slays with his club, in the presence of his gods, the prin- cipal captives who have fallen into his hands. That the mode of representation is in some respects symbolical, or rather conventional, must be admitted. For as the artists wanted space or ingenuity to intimate the number slaiu before the gods in any other manner, the captives are re- presented as bound together in one mass, all on their knees, with hands uplifted towards the inexorable hero, who, represented in colossal proportions, stauds over them, grasping in one hand their united hair, while the other wields the uplifted club or battle-axe with which he seems about to demolish them all with one blow. Scenes of this sort are repeated in every possible form. Endeavours have of course been made to explain away the obvious meaning of these groups. Mr. Hamilton thinks Chap. I.] JUD such scenes represent the punishment or destruction of Briareus, an opinion sufficiently refuted by the fact that a ■woman is included in one of the groups of this description : and it is admitted by Wilkinson that they are foreign cap- tives, the names of whose districts and towns can be read off; but he nevertheless thinks they do not represent human sacrifices, but form a religious allegory, purporting to be an acknowledgment of the victory obtained by the assist- ance of the deity to whom the oftering seems to be made. If so, this would be a curious method of expressing such acknowledgment ; and one, too, which would express at least the former existence, in a less civilized state, of the actual custom thus figuratively indicated. See the subject more largely considered in the author's rictorial History oj Palestine, ii. 386-391, from which this note is abridged. 18. •Judah took Gaza . ■ . Ashelon . . . EkTon.'— These towns, however, must soon have been recovered by the Philistines. This is the only place from which we could gather that Judah ever did possess these cities ; and when they are next mentioned, we again find them in the hands of their former owners ; who probably availed themselves of the earliest ' servitudes," with which the Israelites were punished for their apostacy, to retake their lost towns. 19. ' Chariots of iron.'— See the note on Exod. xiv. 7. Most commentators and Biblical antiquaries agree in think- ing that it is not necessary to suppose that these chariots were made of iron, but only that they were armed with it. As, however, such chariots do not occur in Egyptian sculp- tures, and are not mentioned by Homer in his Iliad, in which chariots of war are so often brought under our notice, it admits of a question whether armed chariots of war were at this time known in the west of Asia. If not, we may conclude — not, certainly, that the ' iron chariots ' of the Canaanites were wholly composed of iron, but that they were so braced and strengthened with that metal, that their onset in war was more terrible than if they had been more entirely composed of some lighter material. In that case, ' iron chariots ' was probably a term by which such were distinguished from other and lighter chariots, also employed in war. There is no difficulty in the epithet, if the Canaanites only used iron to emboss or sheath their chariots, in the same way that the Greeks of Homer used brass, tin, silver, and gold ; for it is usual to describe an article as made of that substance with which it is only exteriorly covered or ornamented. Indeed metal appears ES. [B.C. 142.5. to have been profusely employed in the chariots of the Homeric period. Hence, from this burnished splendour, the epithets 'splendid' and 'bright' are continually applied to them. The extent to which metal was employed in the superior sort of chariots will appear by the description which the same poet gives of the chariot in which Juuo and Minerva sped to assist the Greeks : — ' Hebe to the chariot roU'd The brazen wheels, and join'd them to the smooth Steel axle ; twice four spokes divided each. Shot from the centre to the verge. The verge Was gold, by fellies of eternal brass Guarded, a dazzling show ! The shining naves Were silver ; silver cords, and cords of gold. The seat upbore ; two crescents blazed in front. The pole was argent all, to which she bound The golden yoke with its appendant charge, Inserted braces, straps and bands of gold.' Supposing the Canaanites to have had the principal parts of iron, which are here described as of steel, silver, and gold, we may easily obtain a notion of the iron chariots of the text. The general form of the ancient unarmed chariots will be seen from our two wood-cuts, together with that which has already been given under Exod. xiv. The first of the present cuts, like the former one, is from Egyptian sculp- ture, and the vehicle seems, also like that, so small and light, as to be obviously intended merely for the conveyance of the warrior, without being, in itself, from its weight and power, an offensive engine. We observed, in the note to Exod. xiv. 7, that the Egyptian chariots have generally but one rider. The present has three ; one holding the reins, another bearing a spear, and the third a shield. Yet it is still so small as scarcely to afford room for one person, and, with the three, is so crowded, that the warriors appear to be placed in unusual circumstances. In fact, as the tra- vellers who have examined the battle-scene at Thebes, from which it was taken, describe it, this is a chariot of the de- feated party, who, in their flight, crowd in twos and threes into the cars intended only for one person. (See Richard- son's Travels, ii. 23.) In ordinary circumstances, a single person would have the shield in one hand, the spear in the other, and the reins lashed around the body. The chariots described by Homer always carried two persons — the war- rior himself and his charioteer. The office of the latter Ancifnt WAR-CHAmoT.— From an Egj-ptLin Bas-rclicf. Chap. I.] [B.C. 1425. AuciEMT Pj:e6ia.n Ci was one of very considerable importance ; and all the heroes were competent to perform its duties on occasion. Patroclus, who was the dear and intimate friend of Achilles, and from whose death such important conse- quences resulted, was at the same time the charioteer of that impei-ious hero. The second cut is, in our opinion, of much more conse- quence than the other, as affording a more probable re- presentation of the chariots (not Egyptian), mentioned in Scripture, which can now be obtained. It also agrees better with the description of Homer. Indeed it seems to us the most perfect representation of an ancient chariot that now exists. It formed the termination of a line of procession among the bas-reliefs of Persepolis, and is now in the British Museum. It is to be regretted that it is represented as forming part of a walking procession rather than in proper action. We need not give a verbal description of the details which the cut so clearly exhibits; but the reader will not fail to observe its evident superiority for the purposes of a war-chariot to the slight cars of the Egyptians. We have described unarmed chariots as illustrating the present text ; but we do not wish to be understood as reject- ing the notion that the ' iron chariots ' of the Canaanites were armed with offensive projections. It is possible that they were, and we shall perhaps find a future opportunity of noticing such chariots. Meanwhile, the above statement will shew that this supposition is not absolutely necessary to the elucidation of the text. The high antiquity of such chariots as those which have engaged our attention, com- pared with the less certain, though also probably very high, antiquity of armed chariots, gives the former an unques- tionable claim to priority of attention. .31. ' Accho.' — This place was, in times long subsequent, enlarged and improved by the first Ptolemy, after whom it was then called Ptolemais. It has now recovered its ancient name, being called by the Arabs Ahka, and by the Turks Acra or Acre. The apostle Paul touched at and spent a day in this place on his return to Jerusalem, from his travels in Greece and Asia Minor. (See the note on Acts xxi. 1.) — ' Nor the inhabitants of Zidon.' — See the notes on Num. xxxiv. 6 ; and Josh. xix. 24. In the latter of these notes we have explained the opinion of Michaelis, that not included in the lot of Asher, and have given s to the objections which might be made to that opinion. On arriving at the present text, he confesses that in its literal meaning it bears strongly against his theory; and says that it is the only text by which it is not favoured. Hopeless of getting over the difficulty which it offers, he says : — ' To declare my opinion honestly, I conceive the words iVVi ''3C'V, inhabitants of Sidon, to be of doubtful authority and a mere interpolation.' It is not however just for a critic, without being able to adduce ancient manu- scripts or versions in support of his opinion, to propose to omit a particular clause, merely because it happens to stand in the way of a favourite hypothesis. For ourselves, we are disposed'to adopt the local hypothesis of Michaelis, in such a modified form as does, in our opinion, obviate all the difiiculties of this perplexing subject, and has the ad- vantage not only of being not adverse to, but of obtaining support from, the present text. It will be observed, that Tyre is not mentioned here, as in Josh, xix., but that Sidon is ; and, further, that Achzib and Accho, towns on the coast to the south of Tyre, are mentioned among those whose inhabitants the Asierites could not drive out. Our impression is that Sidon, and its proper and ancient ter- ritory, were not included in the lot of Asher; but that Tyre was. We conceive that the Sidonians, having found an advantageous situation for a commercial port, southward of their own territory, had extended their frontier so as to include this spot, and had there recently founded Tyre. So now, under this view, the present text would mean that the Asherites had neglected to drive ' the inhabitants of Sidon,' that is, those who were formerly inhabitants of Sidon, from Tyre and the usurped district, and had not obliged them to retire within their old boundaries. Other- wise, under the same view, the expression * inhabitants of Sidon ' may well be understood to denote the Sidonians generally ; ' Sidon ' being understood as the name of the country as well as of the town. In the Old Testament there is no particular name for this district except that of the principal town — ^just as we find in Ps. Ixxxiii. 7, where the words, ' the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre,' are obviously used generally for the Philistines and Phoe- nicians. Tyre was then the principal town, as Sidon was at the present date, and as such gave name to the whole Phoenician territory. Therefore, the text would express, Ci II.] JUDGES. [B.C. 142.5— ] 406. tliat the Sidwiiari* had Drt Jieen expelled— bot it does not (say from -what place, that taring well undereuxid : for the Ix^ori/lary of Anher having, in Josh, xix., being defined ax eztendinij to .Sidon, and aii imlwliruj Tyre, ' tiie daogfater of Sidon,'— the present exprewiwi would obviotwly mean that the Sidonians ought t/j have been expelled from Tyre. If the text had naid'tbe inhaWtantj) of Tyre and Sidon,' thi» explanation would not be aduiMiUe; bnt the singular of Tyre here, affords a strong ^onnd for the riew we hare taken. We regret that we cann'/t here »liew in detail the applicability of thi» view to tfie dolntion of all the difficnltiei) which attend the gn^ect. Bnt the reader who feels an interest in the matter, and refers to the previous notes, will readily perceive these applications; and be will, we tnwt, find his considerations better assisted toy this view, than by any which has yet been proposed. [App. So. 22.] Cn.M'TKIl JI. 1 An tijujel rtljiih-llt the j>et/jik at liochim. 10 Tlie v-irJirjliiMii of the new ijeruiraiitm "fter Jonhva. 1 4 GoiTh uwjer awl jnty t'/ward lliem. 20 2'lm Cu- I are left to prme I»Tad. And an 'ang(;l of the I»rd came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I rna<-jRu, died, hciruj an hundred and ten years old. 9 And they buried him in the border of his inherit^inec in Tinniath-heres, in the mount of Ephraim, on the north side of the hill Gaasli. 10 IF And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers : and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the I^jRi), nor yet the works which lie had done for Israel. !r. « Di-ul. 7. 2. 3 iMul. 12. 3. « Joit jftotmtie'l 'tttyt after Joihun. « PmI, 44. 12. h Cliap. ^. 12. '• Or, were currapt. 11 And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the L/jrd, and served Baalim : 12 And they for-,ook the Lord God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other grnls, of the goda of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves imto them, and provoked the Lord to anger. \?j And they forsook the Lord, and served Baal and Ashtaroth. 14 If And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of sprjilers that sjjoiled them, and Tie sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they wjuld not any longer stand before their enemies. lb Whithersoever they went out, the hand of the Lord was agaiast them for evil, as the Lord had said, and 'as the Lord had sworn "unto them : and they were greatly distressed. 16 If Nevertheless the Lord raised up judges, which '"delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them. 17 And yet they would not hearken unto their judges, but they went a whoring after other gods, and bowed themselves unto them: they tunied quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in, obeying the ajmmandments of the I>fjRD ; hut they did not so. 18 And when the Lord raised them up judges, then the Lord was with the judge, and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge: for it re- pented the J>fjRD because of their groanings by reason of them that oppressed them and vexed them. 19 And it came to pass, "when the judge was dead, tJuit they returned, and "corrupted tJiermelves more than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them, and to bow down unto them ; "they ceased not from their own doings, nor from their stubborn way. 20 5f And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel ; and he said, Because that this people hath transgressed my covenant which I commanded their fathers, and have not hearkened unto my voice ; !3. 13. » r,«»xl. 23. 33, Mnd 3<. 12. » ThiX U, Krepen. W). I. » I>'V. 2*1. IV'ut. ?H. 10 Heb. iawrf. i» Hel,. tliey let jMliiiig/,M nflktir. Chap. II.] [B.C. 142.5—1406. 211 also will not henceforth drive out any from before them of the nations which Joshua left when he died : 22 That through them I may prove Israel, whether they will keep the way of the Lord to walk therein, as their fathers did keep it, or not. 23 Therefore the Lord "left those nations, without driving them out hastily ; neither de- livered he them into the hand of Joshua. Verse 1. ' From Gihjal to Bochim.' —Yrom this we may iufer, that the angel had made his appearance at Gilgal, tefore he came to Bochim. The latter place is thought to have been at or near Shiloh, or, as some think. Bethel. 10. 'All that generation.' — That is, doubtless, the gene- ration which had grown up in the wilderness, and had wit- nessed a part of the works of the Lord there. They had also crossed the divided Jordan, had beheld the wonders through which the Lord had enabled them to overcome ' nations greater and mightier than themselves,' and who, in the last days of Joshua, had solemnly renewed the cove- nant with Jehovah. The chapter before us claims the most attentive consi- deration of those who would thoroughly understand the condition of the Israelites during the several centuries which elapsed from the death of Joshua to the establishment of a regal government It is a masterly summary of the lead- ing principles of conduct which the subsequent circum- stances illustrate. The succeeding brief collection of lead- ing facts would not be well understood without the general and connecting statement contained in this chapter. 11. 'Served Baalim.' — The word Baalim (lords) being plural, the meaning is, that they served not one particular deity, but the various gods of the country, as is expressly said in v. 12. Jahn's section, on ' The Theocracy from Joshua to Samuel,' in his Histori/ of the Hebrew Common- wealth, forms so valuable, though short, a commentary on this chapter, that we shall not deny ourselves the satisfac- tion of quoting its substance in our notes. Referring to the apostacy of the Israelites, he observes : ' The last admoni- tions of Joshua, and the renewal of the covenant with Jehovah, failed to produce all the effect intended. That feneration, indeed, never suffered idolatry to become pre- ominant, but still they were very negligent in regard to the expulsion of the Canaanites. Only a few tribes made war on their hereditary foes, and even they were soon weary of the contest. They spared their dangerous and corrupt- ing neighbours, and, cimtrary to an express statute, were satisfied with making them tributary. They even became connected with them by unlawful marriages ; and then it was no longer easy for them to exterminate or banish the near relatives of their own families. Thus the Hebrews rendered the execution of the law more difficult, if not im- possible, and wove for themselves the net in which they were afterwards entangled.' Their Canaanitish relatives invited them to their festivals, at which the most gross and corrupting rites of idolatry were freely exercised. These debaucheries were consecrated by the religious customs of all nations; and however painful it may be to refer to them, the truth of Hebrew history will not allow us to overlook them, in estimating the causes which operated in seducing the Israelites from their allegiance to Jkuovah. The enticements of their pagan relatives and neighbours, and the impurities which their religion sanctioned, but which the law of Jehovah counted abominable, too soon brought His subjects to submit themselves to deities so tolerant of sin, and so highly honoured by the people with whom they associated. • At first, probably,' says Jahn, ' a representation of Jehovah was set up, but this was soon transformed to an idol, or was invoked as an idol by others, of which there is a remarkable example in the time soon after Joshua (Judg. xvii., xviii.j. Idolatrous images were afterwards set up with the image, and the Hebrews ima- gined that they should be the more prosperous if they ren- dered religious homage to the ancient gods of the land. The propensity to idolatry, which was predominant in all the rest of the world, thus spread itself like a plague. From time to time idolatry was openly professed ; and this national treachery to their King Jehovah, always brought with it national misfortunes.' [Appendix, No. 2.3.] 14. ' He delivered them into the hands oj spoilers that spoiled them.' — Idolatry was probably not openly tolerated till the generation which had sworn anew to the covenant, had become extinct. I3ut, after that, the rulers were un- able, or unwilling, any longer to prevent the worship of pagan deities. ' Then the Hebrews," to continue our quota- tions from Jahn, ' rendered effeminate by this voluptuous religion, and forsaken by their King Jehovah, were no longer able to contend with their foes, and were forced to bow their necks under a foreign yoke. In this humiliating and painful subjection to a conquering people they called to mind their deliverance from Egypt, the ancient kind- nesses of Jehovah, the promises and threatenings of the Lord ; they forsook their idols, who could afford them no assistance, returned to the sacred tabernacle, and then found a deliverer who freed them from the yoke of bondage. The reformation was generally of no longer duration than the life of the deliverer. As soon as that generation was extinct, idolatry again crept in by the same way. Then followed subjection and oppression under the yoke of a neighbouring people, till a second reformation prepared them for a new deliverance. Between these extremes of prosperity and adversity, as the consequences of their fide- lity or treachery to their king, Jehovah, the Hebrew nation was continually fluctuating till the time of Samuel. Such were the arrangements of Providence, that as soon as ido- latry gained the ascendancy, some one of the neighbouring people grew powerful, acquired the preponderance, and subjected the Hebrews. Jehovah always permitted their oppressions to become sufficiently severe to arouse them from their sluml^ers, to remind them of the sanctions of the law, and to turn them again to their God and king. Then a hero arose, who inspired the people with courage, defeated their foes, abolished idolatry, and re-established the autho- rity of Jehovah. As the Hebrews, in the course of time, became continually more obstinate in their idolatry, so each subsequent oppression of the nation was always greater and more severe than the preceding. So difficult was it, as mankind were then situated, to preserve a knowledge of the true God in the world ; though so repeatedly and ex- pressly revealed, and in so high a degree made evident to the senses.' This and the preceding extracts, from the same author, excellently discriminate the spirit of the pe- riod, the history of which now engages our attention. 16. ' Judijes: — See the introductory note to this book. It is important to the right understanding of the very inte- resting period before us, to have a distinct idea of the nature of the office held by the Hebrew judges. It will have been observed that the Hebrew constitution made no provision for a permanent and general governor of the nation. It is true that such rulers did exist, as Moses, Joshua, and the judges ; but their office was not a permanent institution, but arose from circumstances, and from the necessity of the times, each ruler being, as occasion required, appointed by God, or elected by the people. We must not regard this irregularity as a defect in the Hebrew system of goveni- ment ; for, framed as it was, it became very possible for the state to subsist in happiness and strength without a general ruler. In the first place, God himself was the chief magio- trate, and had established an agency, through which his Chap. III.] JUI will might be at all times ascertained. Under him there was Iiis visible minister, the high-priest, who was empow- ered to attend to the general affairs of the nation, when there was no military or civil ruler specially appointed for the purpose. We are also to remember that every tribe had its own chief or prince, whose office was permanent, and who, with the subordinate heads of families, wielded the patriarchal powers, which, in ordinary circumstances, were amply sufficient to keep the affairs of his tribe in proper order. In this state of affairs, the mild authority of the high-priest ought to have been sufficient for the pur- poses of general government But this was not the case ; the apostacy and rebellion of the Hebrews, and the punish- ment with which such sins were visited, gave occasion to the appointment of extraordinary functionaries, which the organization of the state did not itself require. These were the judges. They arose, from time to time, as they were wanted ; and were sometimes called by God himself to their high work, and were sometimes elected by the people. The judge was commonly a person, who, having been in- strumental in delivering the people from oppression, usually continued to administer the general government during the remainder of his life. Some, however, seem to have been appointed to govern in time of peace. Deborah ruled in Israel before the war with Jabin ; Samuel certainly was not introduced to the government by his military exploits; and of Jair, Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon, it is at least uncer- tain that they held any military command. The oppres- sions which this book records were not always equally felt all over Israel ; and hence the authority of the deliverer sometimes only extended over the tribes he had delivered, or over those which chose to acknowledge his authority, or concurred in his appointment. Thus Jephthah did not exercise his authority on the west of the Jordan ; nor did that of Barak extend to the east of that river. Some of the judges appear to have ruled, contemporarily, over different tribes : and this is one of the circumstances which per- plexes the chronology of the period. The judges, as we have seen, did not transmit their dig- nity to their descendants, neither did they appoint succes- sors. The authority of the judges was very considerable ; ?ES. [B.C. 1406. and was in fact only limited by the Law. They exercised most of the rights of sovereignty, but they could not enact laws or impose taxes upon the people ; they made peace and war, and, in their judicial character, they decided causes without appeal : yet all this power seems rather to have been the result of character and influence, than of any authority recognised as inherent in the office. No salary or income attached to it, unless it might be a larger share in the spoils of war, and such presents as might, according to Oriental custom, be oflfered to the judge, as testimonials of respect. These high functiouaries had no external marks of distinction ; they were surrounded by no circum- stances of pomp or ceremony ; they had no courtiers, guards, train, or equipage. They were in general men of moderate desires ; and were content to deserve well of their country, without caring to aggrandize their own power, or to be enriched by the public wealth. Some of them mani- fest errors of conduct, which the sacred writer does not extenuate or conceal : but ancient or modern history does not exhibit a succession of public men more distinguished for disinterested patriotism and zeal, or more free from the public crimes which, in common histories, so frequently flow from resentments and from the lust of wealth or power. ' Their exalted patriotism, like everything else in the theocratical state of the Hebrews, was partly of a reli- gious character; and these regents always conducted them- selves as the officers of God ; in all their enterprises they relied upon Him, and their only care was that their coun- trymen should acknowledge the authority of Jkhovah, their invisible King They were not merely deliverers of the state from a foreign yoke, but destroyers of idolatry, foes of pagan vices, promoters of the knowledge of God, of religion, and of morality, restorers of theocracy in the minds of the Hebrews, and powerful instruments of Divine Providence in the promotion of the great design of preserv- ing the Hebrew constitution, and, by that means, of res- cuing the true religion from destruction.' Jahn's Heb. Commonwealth — sect. ' Office of the Judges ;' see also his Archaologia ; Kosenmiiller, in Lib. Jud. Prooemiiim; Michaelis, CommentarieSt art. .53 ; Lewis's Origines //e- hraa ; and Home's Introduction, iii. 84. CHAPTER III. 1 T/ie nations which were left to prove Israel. 5 Sy communion with them they commit idolatry. 8 Oth- niel delivereth them from Chushan-rishathaim, 15 Ehud from Eijlon, 31 Shamrjar from the FhiUdines. Now these are the nations which the Lord left, to prove Israel by them, even as many of Israel as had not known all the wars of Canaan ; 2 Only that the generations of the children of Israel might know, to teach them war, at the least such as before knew nothing thereof; 3 Namehj, five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hlvites that dwelt in mount Lebanon, from mount Baal-hermon imto the entering in of Ilamath. 4 And they were to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would hearken unto the commandments of the Lord, which he I Ileb. Aram-nahaTuim. 8 commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses. 5 H And the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, Hittites, and Amo- rites, and Perizzites, and Hivites, and Jebu- sites : 6 And they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons, and served their gods. 7 And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and forgat the Lord their God, and served Baalim and the groves. 8 U Therefore the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Chushan-rishathaim king of 'Meso- potamia : and the children of Israel served Chushan-rishathaim eight years. 9 And when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, the Lord raised up a 'deli- verer to the children of Israel, who delivered them, even Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother. 10 And the Si)irit of the Loud 'came upon Chap. III.] JUDGES. [B.C. 1402—1336. him, and he judged Israel, and went out to war : and the Lord delivered Chushan-risha- tliaim king of 'Mesopotamia into his hand ; and his hand prevailed against Chuslian-risha- tliaim. 11 And the land had rest forty years. And Othniel the son of Kenaz died. 12 K And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord : and the Lord strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the Lord. 13 And he gathered unto him the chil- dren of Ammon and 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. 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- mite, a man "leftlianded : and by him the chil- dren of Israel sent a present unto Eglon the king of Moab. 16 But Ehud made him a dagger which had two edges, of a cubit length ; and he did gird it under his raiment upon his right thigh. 17 And he brought the present unto Eglon king of Moab : and Eglon ivas a very fat man. 18 And when he had made an end to offer the present, he sent away the people that bare the present. 19 But he himself turned again fi-om the ^quarries that ivei-e by Gilgal, and said, I have a secret errand unto thee, O king : who said, Keep silence. And all that stood by him went out from him. 20 And Ehud came unto him ; and he was sitting in a "summer parlour, which he had for himself alone. And Ehud said, I have a message from God imto thee. And he arose out of his seat. 21 And Ehud put forth his left hand, and < Heh. Aram. 5 Or, the si,n ofJemini. « Heb. shut of Ms 9 Or, it came out at tite fundament. lo took the dagger from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly : 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 u-ere 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 teas fallen down dead on the earth. 26 And Ehud escaped while they tarried, and passed beyond the quarries, and escai)ed unto Seirath. 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 ene- mies 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 jjass 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. 30 So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest fourscore years. 31 H And after him was Shamgar the son, of Anath, which slew of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox goad : and he also delivered Israel. hi hand. 7 Or, graven images. ^ Ueh. a pailmir o/c^'ollng. Verse 8. * Chushan'rishathaim., king of Me^opotaviia.^ — This king must have been something "of a great conqueror, as we cannot but suppose that he had subdued the other na- tions west of the Euphrates before he reached the Hebrews. — ' Served.' — This servitude, as applied to the state of subjection to which the Hebrews were oftentimes reduced, must be understood with some variation of meaning ac- cording to circumstances; but generally it signifies the obligation to pay tribute and make presents to the con- q\iLTor. That they were obliged to render personal or military service does not appear from the Scriptures; but that they were sometimes subject to the most severe and cruel treatment will he seen in the sequel. It is very pro- bable that their subjection to this distant king was more favourable than that to the immediately neighbouring nations and even to nations dwelling in the same land with themselves, to which they were afterwards reduced. 12. 'Ei/lon the king of Moab.'— The Moabites, by a long peace, would seem to have recovered the strength which they had lost in their wars with the Amorites. Probably they, and their kindred tribes the Amorites, used, as the pretence for their aggressions, the reasons which we find in Judg. xi. 13-15; namely, that they were entitled to the country which formerly belonged to them, but which had been taken from Ihem by the Amorites, and which the He- brews, having recovered from the latter, retained as their own possession. As to the Amalekites, the deep and rooted enmity between them and the Hebrews, sufficiently ac- Chap. III.] [B.C. 1402—1336. counts for the aid which Eglou received from them iu his ucdertaking. 13. ' The cil;i of palm-trees.'— That is, Jericho. Eglon ■would seem, in'virtue of his new conciuests, to have esta- blished the royal residence on the west of the river, at Jericho. As this was in the tribe of Benjamin, that tribe doubtless felt more strongly than those more remote, the severity of the Moabitish oppression. Hence we are not surprised to find the next deliverer belonging to that tribe. 15. ' Lefthanded.' — The Septuagiut and Vulgate versions sanction the opinion entertained by many that Ehud was an ambidexter, one who could use both hands alike. The original indeed seems to sanction the other opinion that Ehud was really left-handed, that is, that he had a better use of his left hand than of his right. It is 'WD^.T. naX ' bound in his right hand :' which seems to imply a defi- ciency of power in his right hand, compensated by unusual power in the left; and this is the explanation of Josephus. One thing is certain, that the tribe of the Benjamites was remarkable for men who enjoyed a singular facility in the use of their left hand, whatever might be the condition of their right. Thus in ch. xx. 1 6, we read of 700 left-handed Benjamites, every one of whom could sling a stone at a hair's breadth, and not miss. The expression for ' left- handed ' is exactly the same there, as that which here cha- racterises the left-handedness of Ehud ; and that this sin- gular endowment or acquirement was not mere left-handed- ness, we seem to learn from I Chron. xii. 2, where the sacred historian, speaking of the men of that tribe who resorted to David at Ziklag, says : — ' They were armed with bows, and could use both the right hand and the left in hurling stones and shooting arrows out of a bow.' Notwithstand- ing, therefore, the rather strong inference from the Hebrew word rendered ' left-handed,' it is highly probable that the 'left-handed' Ehud, and the "00 'left-handed' Benjamites were ambidexterous, like the men of the same tribe in the above-cited text. We may, nevertheless, suppose that some of the Benjamites were particularly skilled in the left hand, to the neglect of the right, and that others were trained to use both hands with equal effect. It is curious to find this tribe, iu particular, distinguished in this man- ner. ' Benjamin ' means ' son of the right hand,' and one might also suspect that some fancy in connection with their name, had led the tribe to give particular attention to cul- tivating the power of their hands. The reason why the left-handedness of Ehud is here noticed is evidently to ac- count for his being able to good purpose to carry on his right thigh, under his garment, the weapon usually worn on the left. No one would suspect that he had any weapon, unless they saw it girded upon his left thigh ; and very pro- bably he disposed his dress so as to expose his left side more than the other, which would at the same time pre- clude the suspicion that he had arms, and enable him the more effectually to conceal the weapon he actually carried. 18. ' When he had made an end to offer the present, he sent away the people tliat bare the present.' — This present was perhaps the annual tribute, or at least an occasional offering, such as it is usual in the East for tributaries and subordinate governors to send their lord. Such offerings the pride of Oriental despotism determines to be tribute, even when tliey are strictly presents from a foreign and independent power. The English ambassadors to Persia and China had great trouble to make it distinctly under- stood, that the presents of which they were the bearers, were not to be regarded iu the light of tribute, but as tokens of consideration from a friendly power. This point was, with much difficulty and debate, gained in Persia; but it was never unequivocally conceded in China, where our ambassadors were invariably regarded as the bearers of tribute. Israel then being in subjection to Eglon, their •present' was doubtless a customary tribute. It seems to have been introduced with great state, being carried by several persons. It is quite Oriental, to make the utmost parade of such offerings. The king, to magnify his power, and the offerer, to enhance the apparent value of his gift, concur in this desire for a parade — a great number of men, horses, and camels, being employed to convey what a very few, if not one, might carry with ease. The principle of this matter seems to us to be well illustrated by the existing practice in Persia. At the great annual festival of Nurooz, at the vernal equinox, the king sits in state and receives with great solemnity the presents which are at that season sent to him from all parts of his empire. The tributary and dependent chiefs and princes who acknowledge him as paramount lord, then send their tributes and dues in the form of presents ; the governors of provinces thus also send their annual offerings ; and even the ministers of state, and all those invested with high office, are expected to contri- bute their present on the occasion. And all this, although in the first instance it has the appearance of a voluntary offering, is in fact a rigidly exacted tribute, which no one can in safety hope to evade. Oriental ostentation prefers to receive in this form, and with this state and parade, what might be conveniently and certainly obtained in an- other form. Two-fifths if not one half of the revenue of Persia, is received in this manner and on this occasion. These offerings usually consist of the best specimens of the produce and manufactures of the countries from which they come. Even money is often offered, and is sure to be favourably received. Mr. Morier's account of the affair is an instructive illustration of the many passages of Scrip- ture which allude to the custom : — ' The first ceremony was the introduction of the presents from different provinces. That from Prince Hossein Ali Mirza, governor of Shiraz, came first. The master of the ceremonies walked up, having with him the conductor of the present ' (this was Ehud's office on the present occasion), ' and an attendant who, when the name and titles of the donor had been pro- claimed, read aloud from a paper a list of the articles. The present from Prince Hossein Ali Mirza consisted of a veri) long train of trays placed on men's heads, on which were shawls, stuffs of all sorts, pearls, etc. ; then many trays filled with sugar, and sweetmeats; after that many mules laden with fruits, etc. The next present was from Mohammed Ali Khan, Prince of Hamadan, the eldest born of the king's sons. His present accorded with the charac- ter which is assigned him ; it consisted of pistols and spears, a string of one hundred camels, and as many mules. After this came the present from the Prince of Yezd, another of the king's sons, which consisted of shawls and silken stuffs, the manufacture of his own town. Then followed that of the Prince of Mesched: and last of all, and most valuable, was that from Hajee Mohamed Hossein Khan, Ameen-ed- Doulah ' (prime minister). ' It consisted of fifty mules, e.ich covered with a fine Cashmere shawl, and each car- rying a load of one thousand tomauns.' A tomaun is a gold coiu worth about twelve shillings ; and one or two camels would have carried the whole, which fifty were employed to carry for the purpose of parade. 19. ' Tlie quarries that were by Gilgal.' — It does not ap- pear what sort of quarries there might be at Gilgal in the plain of Jericho. The word unquestionably means graven images in other places (see Dent. vii. 25; Jer. viii. 19; li. 52) ; and is so understood by the Septuagiut and Vulgate in the present text. The idols might have been erected at Gilgal by Eglon, and the sight of them there would inspire Ehud with new ardour to execute his purpose. 21. * Tlirust it into his belly.'— The Scripture, as in some parallel cases, mentions this as a historical fact, without either commendatory or reprehensive remark ; and we have certainly no right to infer the approbation which is not expressed. No doubt Ehud's deed was a murder ; and the only excuse for it is to be found in its public object, and in the fact that the notions of the East have always been and are far more lax on this point than are those which Christian civilization has produced among the nations of Europe. No one can read a few pages of Oriental history without being aware of this : and it is by Oriental notions rather than by our own, that such acts as those of Ehud must, to a certain extent, be judged. Indeed there is a certain state of uncivilization existing somewhere in all ages, in which such an act is not regarded as a crime. At the time this act was performed all nations seem to have been in that degree uncivilized ; for no one who has ac- Chap. III.] [B.C. 1402—1330. quainted himself with the sentiments which then and long after prevailed, will apprehend that there anywhere existed a public opinion in any quarter by which the act of Ehud would have been condemned. We need not greatly wonder at this if we recollect that two centuries have scarcely passed since a pamphlet by Colonel Titus {Killing no Murder), written for the purpose of recommending and vindicating such assassinations (witli special reference to Oliver Cromwell), acquired great celebrity, and was re- ceived with much approbation by not a few high born and educated persons in this country. Not so much as forty years ago there were those who could judge that the feeling in which the publication originated, and the senti- ment to which it appealed, would still find a response in /Ais country ; for the pamphlet was then republished under the avowed impression that its arguments were applicable to the encouragement and justification of any attempt which might be made upon the life of Napoleon Buonaparte. 24. ' He covereth his feet in his sumrner chaviber* — It is customary for people in the East to take a nap in the after- noon during the heat of the day ; and the servants of Eglon appear to have supposed that their lord had locked himself up in the summer parlour to enjoy his customary sleep. The ' summer parlour ' seems to have been one of those de- tached or otherwise pleasantly situated apartments which are still usually found in the gardens and mansions of the East, and to which the master retires to enjoy a freer air and more open prospects than any other part of his dwelling commands, and whither he usually withdraws to enjoy his siesta during the heat of the day. It is strictly a private apartment, into which no one enters without a very special invitation ; and accordingly it is here described as an apartment which the king ' had for himself alone.' As such apartments frequently communicate by a private stair with the porch, so that any one can go from it to the 'thout the necessity of passing into or through the interior parts of the mansion, it will be seen that there was nothing to impede the egress of Ehud unless the porters of the outer gate had seen any cause for suspicion. 28. ' Took the fords of Jordan.' — This must have been to prevent the Moabites, who remained in their own coun- try east of the Dead Sea, from passing over the Jordan, to assist their countrymen who had established themselves on the west of that river, as well as to prevent the escape of the latter. The river Jordan has several fordable places, which are of course more numerous in summer than in winter or spring, when the stream is swollen with rains or melted snows. It is now seldom forded except on horse- back ; and the few places otherwise fordable were, as we see, well known to the ancient inhabitants, who on this and other occasions guarded them, to prevent the passage across the river. The points where the river may, in dif- ferent parts of the year, be forded, are still well known to the inhabitants of the land, althougli the communication across the river is now very infrequent. 31. ' Shamgar.'— From the manner in which Shamgar is mentioned here, it does not appear whether he took any part in the administration of affairs; but from the notice which is taken of ' the days of Shamgar,' iu ch. v. 6, it is probable that he did. Dr. Hales thinks that the time of his administration is included in the eighty years, and that his government on the west was in part contemporary with that of Ehud on the east of the Jordan. But in the absence of other positive information, it may be safe to prefer the statement of Josephus, who says that Shamgar succeeded Ehud, but died in the first year of his administration. — * Slew., . .six hundred men with an ox goad.' — We are to suppose that the Philistines made an attempt to sub- due the southern tribes, but were repulsed with the loss of six hundred men by Shamgar, who was probably a husband- man, and other men, who fought the invaders with the ox-goads which they were employing iu their labour. It is not necessary to suppose this the single-handed exploit of Shamgar ; but as, even so, the deed was not equal to some afterwards performed by Samson, this point must be allowed to remain uncertain. The ox-goads, which are i>= Ox-Goad. still used in Syria, are well calculated for offensive weapons on occasion, as will be seen by the following description from Buckingham. On the journey from Soor (Tyre) to Acre he observed the people ploughing the ground for corn : — ' Oxen were yoked in pairs for this purpose, and the plough was small and of simple construction, so that it seemed necessary for two to follow each other in the same furrow, as they invariably did. The 15 Chap. IV.] JUDGES. [B.C. 1316—1206. holding the plough with one hand, by a handle like that of a walking crutch, bore in the other a goad of seven or eight feet in length, armed with a sharp point of iron at one end, and at the other with a plate of the same metal shaped like a caulking-chisel. One attendant only was necessary for each plough, as he who guided it with one hand spurred the oxen with the point of the goad, and cleaned the earth from the ploughshare by its spaded heel with the other.' {Palestine,!. 9\.) Maundrell, who gives nearly the same description, says, ' May we not conjecture that it was with such a goad as one of these that Shamgar made that prodigious slaughter related of him? I am confident that whoever should see one of these instruments would judge it to be a weapon not less fit, perhaps fitter, than a sword for such execution.' lYerses 1 and 2, Appendix, No. 2t.] CHAPTER IV. 4 Deborah and Barak deliver Israel from Jabin and Sisera. 21 Jael hilleth Sisera. And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord, when Ehud was dead. 2 And the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, that reigned in Ra- zor; the captain of whose host ivas Sisera, which dwelt in Harosheth of the Gentiles. 3 And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord : for he had nine hundred chariots of iron ; and twenty years he mightily oppressed the children of Israel. 4 IT And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel at that time. 5 And she dwelt under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Beth-el in mount Ephraim : and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment. G And she sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedesh-naphtali, and said unto him, Hath not the Lord God of Israel commanded, sayinij. Go and draw toward mount Tabor, and take with thee ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun ? 7 And I will draw unto thee to the 'river Kishon Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his multitude ; and I will deliver him into thine hand. 8 And Barak said unto her. If thou wilt go with me, then I will go : but if thou wilt not go with me, then I will not go. 9 And she said, I will surely go with thee : notwithstanding the journey that thou takest shall not be for thine honour ; for the Lord shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. And Deborah arose, and went with Barak to Kcdcsh. 10 H And Barak called Zebulun and Naph- tali to Kedesli ; and he went up witii ten thou- sand men at his feet : and Deborah went up with him. 11 Now Heber the Kenite, which was of the children of "Hobab the father in law of Moses, had severed himself from the Kenites, and pitched his tent unto the plain of Zaa- naim, which is by Kedesh. 12 And they shewed Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam was gone up to mount Tabor. 13 And Sisera ^gathered together all his chariots, even nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people that tvere with him, from Harosheth of the Gentiles unto the river of Kishon. 14 And Deborah said unto Barak, Up ; for this is the day in which the Lord hath delivered Sisera into thine hand : is not the Lord gone out before thee ? So Barak went down from mount Tabor, and ten thousand men after him. 15 And Hhe Lord discomfited Sisera, and all his chariots, and all his host, with the edge of the sword before Barak ; so that Sisera lighted down off his chariot, and fled away on his feet. 16 But Barak pursued after the chariots, and after the host, unto Harosheth of the Gentiles : and all the host of Sisera fell upon the edge of the sword ; and there was not ^a man left. 17 ^ Ilowbeit Sisera fled away on his feet to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Ke- nite : ft)r there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. 18 And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said unto him. Turn in, my lord, turn in to me ; fear not. And when he had turned in unto her into the tent, she covered him with a "mantle. 19 And he said unto her. Give me, I pray thee, a little water to drink ; for I am thirsty. And she opened "a bottle of milk, and gave him drink, and covered him. 20 Again he said unto lier. Stand in the door of the tent, and it shall be, when any man doth come and enquire of thee, and say. Is there any man here? that thou shalt sav, No. 21 Then Jael Heber's wife took a nail of the tent, and "took an hammer in her hand, . 29. 8 Hpb. gathered hy cry, or, proclamation* > Or, rug, or, blanllet. 7 Cluip. 0. 2j. IV.] [B.C. 1316— 129G. and went softly unto liim, and smote the nail into his temples, and fastened it into the ground : for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died. 22 And, behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said unto him. Come, and I will shew thee the man whom thou seekest. And when he came into her tent, behold, Sisera lay dead, and the nail was in his temples. 23 IT So God subdued on that day Jabin the king of Canaan before the children of Israel. 24 And the hand of the children of Israel 'prospered, and prevailed against Jabin the king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan. Verse 2. 'Jabin king of Canaan.' — The northern Ca- naauites had, in the course of time, recovered from the effects of that great overthrow which they sustained in the time of Joshua. A new Jabin, reigning lilie his prede- cessor in Razor, by the lake Merom, rose into great power. His general, Sisera, was an able and successful warrior ; and his powerful military force contained not fewer than 900 of those iron-armed chariots of war which the Israel- ites regarded with so much dread. With such a force he was enabled, for the punishment of their sins, to reduce the northern tribes to subjection, and hold them tributary. Considering the character of the power which now pre- vailed over them, there is reason to conclude that this was the severest of all the oppressions to which Israel had hitherto been subject. The song of Deborah in the next chapter conveys some intimations of their miserable con- dition. The villages and open homesteads, which were continually liable to be pillaged, and the inhabitants in- sulted and wronged by the Canaanites, were deserted throughout the land, and the people found it necessary to congregate in the walled towns. Travelling was unsafe ; in consequence of which the highways were deserted, and those who were obliged to go from one place to another, found it necessary to journey in bye-roads and unfre- quented paths. At the places to which it was necessary to resort for water, they were waylaid and robbed, wounded or slain : and, to crown all, they were disarmed ; among 40,000 in Israel, a shield or spear was not to be found. The details of this picture are exactly such as are offered by the condition of any oppressed or subjugated popula- tion, at this day, in the East. The government itself may be content with its tribute ; but it will be obliged to wink at, because unable to prevent, the far greater grievances, the exactions, robberies, insults, woundings, deaths, to which the people are subjected by the inferior officers of government, by bands of licentious soldiers, and by an adverse and triumphant populace, — all of whom look upon them as their prey and spoil, as things made only to be trampled on. Such oppression the Israelites endured for twenty years. They then remembered that, to them, trouble was the punishment of sin ; and that there was One able and willing to deliver them, if they would but turn themselves unto Him. They did turn, and their de- liverance was certain from that hour. Pictorial Historti of Palestine, ii. 378. 10. ' Ten thousand men at his feet.' — Patrick and others think that this means that the soldiers were all footmen. This is very probable ; but it does not necessarily follow from the expression, which is merely an Oriental mode of reference to the persons who are subject to the control of a particular person. It may be taken from the action of a slave being prostrate at the feet of his master, denoting submission or obedience. We continually meet with the expression in Oriental books. Mr. Roberts says that when the Hindoos speak of the British king, they often allude to the millions that are ' at his feet.' The governors, generals, or judges in the East are said to have the people of such countries, armies, or districts ' at their feet.' Nay, it is common for masters, and people of small possessions, to speak of their domestics as being 'at their feet.' 11.' Pitched his tent,' — This is an interesting indication VOL. II. B that this family retained in a settled country like Palestine the habits of a pastoral people. At the present time, a very large proportion of the existing population of Persia consists of pastoral tribes of foreign (Tartar) origin, who pitch their tents and feed their flocks in the pasture lands and (except by themselves) unappropriated plains of that extensive region. 12. ' Mount Tabor.' — This mountain was on the confines of Zebulun and Naphtali, and stands out in the north-east comer of the plain of Esdraelon. Its name appears among the Greek and Roman writers in tlie shape of Itabi/rion and Atabi/r\on, and it is now known by the name of Jebel Tur. The only other places of Scripture where its name occurs are Josh. xix. 22 ; Judg. viii. 13 ; Ps. Ixxxix. 12; Jer. xlvi. 18; Hos. v. 1. Mount Tabor stands out alone and eminent above the plain, with all its fine proportions from base to summit displayed at one view. It lies about five miles south of Nazareth, and has been generally regarded as the mountain on which our Lord was transfigured ; but this is very uncertain, and its name does not occur in the New Testament. The height of the mountain has been very differently estimated. Some of the old travellers reckoned it to be four miles high ! Others, more moderate, were content with two miles, or even with one mile ; and it has since been, by later accounts, reduced in its altitude. According to the barometrical measurements of Schubert, the height of the summit above the level of the sea is 1905 feet, and 1432 feet above the level of the plain at its base. At the top is an oval plain, of about a quarter of a mile in its greatest length, covered with a bed of fertile soil on the west, and having at its easteru end a mass of ruins, seemingly the vestiges of churches, grottoes, strong walls and fortifica- tions, all decidedly of some antiquity, and a few appearing to be the works of a very remote age. Three of the grottoes are, absurdly enough, pointed out by the local guides as the remains of the three tabernacles which Peter proposed to erect for Jesus, Moses, and Elias. No par- ticular history is assigned to any other of the remains, which seem, however, to have been mostly extensive re- ligious buildings. The whole appears to have been once enclosed within a strong wall, a large portion of which still remains entire on the south side, having its firm foun- dations on the solid rocks ; and this appears to be the most ancient part. Perhaps we might attribute to these a very high antiquity ; for the mountain seems to have been from the earliest times employed as a military post, for which it is admirably adapted. From the summit of this moun- tain there is one of the most extensive and interesting prospects which the country affords. To the south is dis- covered a series of valleys and mountains, extending as far as Jerusalem, fifty miles distant ; to the east, the valley of the Jordan, with the lake of Tiberias, appear as beneath the feet, the lake itself seeming as if enclosed in the crater of a volcano; to the north are the plainsof Galilee, backed by mountains, beyond which is visible, to the north-east, the high snow-capped range of Jebel-eth-Thelj, or ' the Snowy Mountain,' which is one of the designations of Jcbel-esh-Sheikh — the Mount Hermon of Scripture. To the west, the horizon line of the Mediterranean is visible over the range of land near the coast, and portions of its Chap. IV.] [B.C. 1316—1296. C^ bine surface are seen tlirongh the openings left by the downward bends in the outline of the western hills. The mountain itself, as viewed from the south-west, pre- sents a semi-globular appearance ; but from the north-west it bears the aspect of a truncated cone. ' It is,' says Po- cocke, ' one of the finest hills I ever beheld, being a rich soil that produces excellent herbage, and is most beauti- fully adorned with groves and clumps of trees.' These are chiefly, according to Burckhardt, composed of the oak and wild pistachio; but there are also (says Hasselqnist) the caiob-tree, the terebinth, the holly, and the myrtle, not to mention the large variety of other plants and flowers which cover the surface. The verdure is less abundant on the south than on the other sides of the mountain. There are ounces and wild boars in the wooded parts (Burckhardt); and Ilasselquist saw the rock-goat and fallow-deer. Red partridges, also, are in great numbers. William Biddulph, who was there early in the seven- teenth century, gives a much fairer account of the moun- tain than some subsequent travellers. ' We beheld,' he says, 'the prospect of the mountain to be very pleasant, somewhat steeple, but not very high nor very large, but a comely round mountaine, beset with trees and thicke bushes, which at that time of the yeere flourished grecne.' Besides the travellers cited in the course of the note, see Mauiidrell's Jounici/ ; JullifTi-'s Letters from Palestine, i. 40- i;:i ■ AVr ;i'. '7/ , . ^. v "i'~; Game's Letters from tlic /',; ' ; i ■ : l^ildicol Beseorches, i\\. 210- 227 - ' 11. 174-180; Lord Nugent, £un.l. I .. ; ■ ' - ■ "■'. .1. -'"i-t, 20.5. IT). ' Siscni Inil'l'd ''""■" "M 'I'" chariot, and fled atcatj on his feet:— This seems rather strange conduct; but it is evident that the chariots being so hotly pursued, particu- larly perhaps his own chariot, which may Iiave been dis- tinguished by its greater splendour— he saw that his only chance for safety was to escape on foot, when he had an opportunity to do this unnoticed, calculating that l?arak would continue the pursuit of the chariots, as actually happened. ^^ 18. ' Into the tent.' — We must consider these Kenitcs as Arabs, and estimate their proceedings accordingly. Sisera's claim on Jael, in the absence of Heber, was perfectly proper. When a stranger comes to an Arab camp where he has no acquaintance, he proceeds to the first tent, and if the proprietor is himself absent, his wife or daughters are not only authorized, bnt required to perform the duties of hospitality to him. As a character for liberal hospi- tality is au actual distinction to an Arab, no one can with honour repel from the tent a stranger who claims hofspi- tality, nor, in ordinary circumstances, does any one desire to do so : on the contrary, there is rather a disposition to contend who shall enjoy the privilege of granting him entertainment. In the present instance Sisera's application to the tent of the sheikh, whose privilege it was more especially to entertain strangers, was in the common course of things. As belonging to a friendly people, Sisera's claim for protection was as valid as a common claim for hospitality, and could not be refused. Having once pro- mised protection to a person, and admitted him to his tent, tlie Arab is bound not only to conceal his guest, bnt to defend him even with his life, from his pursuers ; and if his tent shoiJd be forced and his guest slain there, it is his duty to become the avenger of his blood. On these sentiments of honour Si.sera seems to have relied ; parti- cularly after Jael had supplied him with refreshments, which, in the highest sense, are regarded as a seal to the covenant of peace and safety : and, in fact, after all this, an Arab would be bound to protect with his own life even his bitterest enemy, to whom he may have inadvertently granted his protection. It is probable that Jael intro- dnced Sisera for safety into the inner or woman's part of the tent. This she might do without impropriety, although it would be the most grievous insult for any man to in- trude there witliont permission. There he was safe, as a pursued man. 19. 'She ....gave him drinh.'—li is very likely th.il Sisera not only desired to have some refreshment, because he really wanted it, but as a seal to the pledge of prolco- Chap. V.] JU] tion which he had received in the words ' Fear not,' which Jael had addressed to him. At least his mind seems to have been satisfied ; for he had then no hesitation to re- cruit his weary frame with sleep. A person who needs protection always feels quite at rest on the subject when he has once obtained meat or drink. This is the case even with a captive enemy, and much more so with a guest, as Sisera was. We have illustrated part of this subject in the note to Num. xviii. 19 ; and we now limit our attention to the single point to which we have ad- verted. The usage was not peculiar to the Orientals. We find it in Homer. Lycaon had been a captive to Achilles, who sent him to Lemnos to be sold : but he escaped from thence, and was again found by Achilles on the field of battle. He thus commences his plea for life : — ' I clasp thy knees, Achilles ! Ah, respect And pity me. Behold ! I am as one Who hath sought refuge even at thy hearth.' A very striking instance of the force of this feeling, as connected with the simple act of receiving drink from a captor, occurs in Bohaeddin's Vita Saladini. ' During a truce between the Crusaders and the Saracens, in the Holy Land, Reginald, lord of Kerak, cruelly pillaged and imprisoned the (pilgrim) caravan returning from Mecca to Egypt ; adding insult to breach of faith — " Let your Mahomet deliver you !" Fired with indignation thereat, Saladin the sultan vowed to despatch him with his own hand, if he could ever make him prisoner. The fatal battle of Hattin, in which the Crusaders were defeated, and their principal commanders taken, gave him that op- portunity. He then ordered the captives into his presence —Guy de Lusignan, the king of Jerusalem, his brother Geofi'ry, and Count Reginald. Saladin presented Guy, who was nearly expiring for thirst, with a delicious cup cooled with snow, out of which the king drank, and then gave it to Reginald. " Observe," said Saladin, " it is thou, king, and not /, who hast given the cup to this man." After which he said to Reginald—" See me now act the part of Moham- med's avenger." He then offered him his life, on condi- tion of his embracing the Mohammedan faith ; and on his refusal, the sultan first struck him with his drawn scimi- tar, which breaking at the hilt, his attendants joined and despatched him." Here we see that Saladin felt and in- tended that the cup which he gave Lusignan should be received as a pledge of protection. So it was probably understood by the king, whose good-natured attempt to include Reginald in the concession, obliged the sultan to call his attention to the fact that the force of the pledge depended on its being received immediately from the person with whom the power to grant protection rested. 20. ' T7iou shall sai/, iVo.' — Sisera seems to have felt quite certain that the pursuers would not dare search the haram, after the woman had denied that any man was there. Indeed, it is almost certain that they would not have done so : for the Hebrews had too long and too re- cently been themselves a nomade people, not to have JES. [B.C. 1296. known that a more heinous and inexpiable insult could not be offered to the neutral Kenite Emir, than to disturb the sanctity of his haram, or even to enter, unpermitted, the outer part of his tent. We very much doubt whether they would have ventured, even if they had been certain that Sisera was there, to have entered to kill him, or take him thence, while under Heber's protection, although they might possibly have tried means of withdrawing him from that protection. 21. ' Aail of the tent.' — This was probably one of the large pins which are driven into the ground, and to which are attached the ropes which, at tlie other extremity, are fastened to the poles of the tent in order to keep them erect. These pins are generally of wood, but sometimes of iron, and are driven into the ground by a mallet, which is apparently the ' hammer ' of the text. It would seem that Jael could find no instrument more suited to the purpose. It is very likely that Jael. when she first invited Sisera to the protection of her husband's tent, had no intention to destroy him. But as he slept, the thought seems to have occurred to her that the greatest enemy of the Israelites now lay helpless before her, and that it was in her power to win great favour from the victors by anticipating the almost certain death which awaited the chief captain of Jabin's host. When we reflect that ' there was peace be- tween Jabin, king of Hazor, and the house of Heber the Kenite,' and that it was in the knowledge that he deserved no wrong at their hands, that Sisera accepted the shelter which Jael offered ; and when, moreover, we consider that the emir, Jael's husband, had no interest in the re- sult, save that of standing well with the victorious party, it will be difficult to find any other motive than that which we have assigned — the desire to win the favour of the victors — for an act so grossly opposed to all those notions of honour among tent-dwellers on which Sisera had relied for his safety. It was a most treacherous and cruel murder, wanting all those extenuations which were appli- cable to the assassination of king Eglon by Ehud. The time is gone by when commentators or historians might venture to justify this deed. Our extended acquaintance with the East enables us to know that those Orientals whose principles would allow them to applaud the act of Ehud, would regard with horror the murder, in his sleep, of a confiding and friendly guest, to whom the sacred shelter of the tent had been offered. That Deborah, as a prophetess, was enabled to foretel the fall of Sisera by a woman's hand, does not convey the Divine sanction of this deed, but only manifests the Divine foreknowledge ; and that the same Deborah, in her triumphant song, blesses Jael for this act, only indicates the feeling, in the first excitement of victory, of one who had far more cause to rejoice at the death of Sisera than Jael had to inflict it. 22. * As Barak pursued Sisera.' — He continued to pur- sue the chariots after the escape of Sisera (v. 16), but, not finding Sisera when he had routed the whole host, appears to have hastened back to seek the fugitive. CHAPTER V. The soiiij of Deborah and Barak. Then sang Deborah and Barak the son of Abuioam on that day, saying, 2 Praise ye the Lord for the avenging of Israel, when the people willingly offered them- selves. 3 Hear, O ye kings ; give ear, O ye princes ; I, even I, will sing unto the Lord ; I will sing praise to the Lord God of Israel. 1 Deut. 33. 2. 2 Dcit. 4. 11. Psal. 97. 5. 3 Heb./M 4 Lord, 'when thou wentest out of Seir, when thou marchedst out of the field of Edora, the earth trembled, and the heavens dropped, the clouds also dropped water. 5 "^The mountains ^melted fi'om before the Lord, even 'that Sinai from before the Lord God of Israel. 6 In the days of ''Shamgar the son of Anath, in the days of "Jael, the highways were unoccupied, and the ^travellers walked through "byways. Chap. V.] JUD 7 The inhahitants of the villages ceased, they ceased in Israel, until that I Deborah arose, that I arose a mother in Israel. 8 They chose new gods ; then teas war in the gates : was there a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel ? 9 My heart is toward the governors of Israel, that offered themselves willingly among the people. Bless ye the Lord. 10 "Speak, ye that ride on white asses, ye that sit in judgment, and walk by the way. 11 They that are delivered from the noise of archers in the places of drawing water, there shall they rehearse the "righteous acts of the Lord, ecen the righteous acts toward the inhabitants of his villages in Israel : then shall the people of the Lord go down to the gates. 12 Awake, awake, Deborah : awake, awake, utter a song : arise, Barak, and lead thy cap- tivity captive, thou son of Abinoam. 13 Then he made him that remaineth have dominion over the nobles among the people : the Lord made me have dominion over the mighty. 14 Out of Ephraim xvas there a root of them against Amalek ; after thee, Benjamin, among thy people ; out of Machir came down go- vernors, and out of Zebulun they that "handle the pen of the writer. 15 And the princes of Issachar ivere with Deborah ; even Issachar, and also Barak : he was sent on "foot into the valley. ''For the divisions of Reuben there were great '^thoughts of heart. 16 "Why abodest thou among the sheep- folds, to hear the bleatings of the flocks ? "For the divisions of Reuben there were great searchings of heart. 17 Gilead abode beyond Jordan : and why did Dan remain in ships ? Asher continued on the sea '"shore, and abode in his "breaches. 18 Zebulun and Napbtali loere a people that '"jeoparded their lives unto the death in the high places of the field. 19 The kings came and fought, then fought » Or, Meditate. ES. [B.C. 1296. the kings of Canaan in Taanach by the waters of Megiddo ; they took no gain of money. 20 They fought from heaven ; the stars in their ' 'courses fought against Sisera. 21 The river of Kishon swept them away, that ancient river, the river Kishon. O my soul, thou hast trodden down strength. 22 Then were the horsehoofs broken by the means of the "pransings, the pransings of their mighty ones. 23 Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the Lord, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof; because they came not to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty. 24 Blessed above women shall Jael the wife of Ileber the Kenite be, blessed shall she be above women in the tent. 25 lie asked water, and she gave him milk ; she brought forth butter in a lordly dish. 26 She put her hand to the nail, and her right hand to the workmen's hammer ; and ^'with the hammer she smote Sisera, she smote off his head, when she had pierced and stricken through his temples. 27 "At her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay down : at her feet he bowed, he fell : where he bowed, there he fell down "dead. 28 The mother of Sisera looked out at a window, and cried through the lattice, Why is his chariot so long in coming ? why tarry the wheels of his chariots ? 29 Her wise ladies answered her, yea, she returned "answer to herself, 30 Have they not sped? have they not divided the prey ; "to every man a damsel or two ; to Sisera a prey of divers colours, a prey of divers colours of needlework, of divers colours of needlework on both sides, meet for the necks of them that take the sjjoil ? 31 So let all thine enemies perish, O Lord : but h't them that love him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might. And the land had rest forty years. llei). Bctwce >0 Ileb. rightemsrtess nfthe LORD. c, I* Hfb. mpressiwis. 'l. ll' Ueb. ptitfts. 23 Meb. destroyed. ph. draw with the fen, I,,. l* Oi 'itplirigSy or, plunginys. ::::£'■ Verse 1. ' Then sang Deborah.' — The fine triumphal ode in tliis cliaptcr is a nol>le specimen of Hebrew poesy ; the more prominent beauties of wliich will not fail to strike the reader even as seen through the disadvantages of a translation, made at a time when the principles of Hebrew poetry were but little understood. It has been ably analyzed and illustrated by Bishop Lowth and others. 20 ' Its design,' says Dr. Hales, ' seems to he two-fold, reli- gious and political : first, to thank God for the recent victory and deliverance of Israel from Canaanitish bondage and oppression ; and next, to celebrate the zeal with which some of the tribes volunteered their services against the common enemy ; and to censure the lukewarmness and apathy of others, who staid at home, and thus betrayed tlie CuAV. v.] JUD public cause ; and by this contrast and exposure to heal those fatal divisions among the tribes so injurious to the common weal.' Much ingenious but somewhat too lax criticism has been produced to shew that this poem must have been in fact composed long after the events to which it relates. Much has been inferred from a supposed resemblance which it bears to Ps. Ixviii., whence it has been supposed that the psalm was the original from which this was imitated. But it is surely quite as reasonable to infer that certain ideas and phrases in this ancient theophania were transferred to the psalm, which is admitted to, have been composed on occasion of the removal of the ark by David. The allega- tion is part of a system which denies to the early books of Scripture the antiquity which they claim, and assigns them to a much later age than the events which they describe. That this ode does however belong to the earlier time, might be shewn by no small amount of internal evidence. Thus it alludes to several historical facts, which are not mentioned in ch. iv., nor anywhere else in Jewish history ; and which are such as a later writer would not have been likely to invent. Such are the mention of Jael in v. 6, a leader apparently contemporary with Shamgar (Judg. iii. 31), who is elsewhere entirely passed over. So too, in ch. iv., only the tribes of Zebulon and Naphtali are spoken of (comp. ;;. 18); but in v. 14, 1,5 of the song, Ephraim, Benjamin, Manasseh, and Issachar, are represented as having been present at the battle. In v. 23 the poetess in- vokes curses on Meroz, of which there is elsewhere no mention. All these are beyond the invention of a later poet ; at least, they give to such a supposition the greatest degree of improbability. So too the mention of the mother of Sisera probably rests upon family circumstances, well known to the Israelites of the day ; while a later poet, in employing an ornament of this kind, would have been far more likely to have introduced the wife or children of the unfortunate chief, lamenting the destruction of a husband and a father.— In the second place, the poem exhibits no allusion whatever to events of a later age, nor any traces of a later language. On the other hand, there are traces of the more ancient views in respect to God, which in later ages were changed, — e. r/., God is represented as dwelling on Mount Sinai ; while afterwards Zion becomes his ha- bitation. The following may be mentioned as among the most important of the works and treatises which have been written in illustration of this Song, to some of which we have ourselves been much indebted : — Schultens, Obss. Phi- lol. Crit. ad Debora et Mosis Cantica, 1745; Liiderwald, Spicileg. Obss. in Deborce Epinicium, 1772'; Schnurrer, Comment. Philol. in Cantic. Dehora, 1775; Weston, yln Attempt to translate and explain the difficult Passages in the Sotig of Deborah, 1788; HoMman, Comment. Philol. Crit. in Carmen Deborce, 1818; Kalkar, De Cantico Deborte, 1834; Robinson, Interpretation of Judges v., in the Ame- rican Biblical Repository for 1831. 2. ' For the avenginy of Israel.' — The original words thus translated have, says Dr. Robinson, ' been a crur inier- pretum in every age.' The Vatican copy of the Septuagint has aTTeKaKvtpQr] aTroKaAv^fia fv 'Itrpo^A, * a revelation has been revealed in Israel'— a version which stands in no possible connection with the context ; while it seems im- possible to discover how the 'Vulgate makes out from the Hebrew words the sense adpericulum^ which it gives thus : qui sponte obtulistis de Israel animas vestras ad periciihiin, ' who of Israel freely exposed your lives to peril.' The verb V^S parah, sometimes means ' to let loose, to free from restraint,' whence the version of Luther and many other continental ti-anslators ; but it occurs in a bad sense when- ever so employed elsewhere (Exod. xxxii. 25 ; Prov. xxix. IS), and neither in a good or bad sense does that interpre- tation suit the context. Our own version, although not very clear, is preferable to any of these, and appears to have been derived from the Syriac, in which the word in question signifies ' to avenge.' Still the sense thus obtained is not produced without a painful and scarcely justifiable , inversion of the whole sentence; and, upon the whole, the I ^ES, [B.C. 1296. version offered by the Alexandrian codex of the Septua- gint, which has the sanction of Theodotion, and has been in modern times produced by Schnurrer, is critically the most correct, as it certainly is the most intelligible of any — 'that the leaders led in Israel.' It has been adopted by Dr. Robinson, who translates the verse thus ; — ' That the leaders led in Israel, That the people willingly offered themselves, Praise ye Jehovah !' He shews how suitable it is to the context by remarking : ' Israel had long been sunk in despondency, and was in- capable of making an effort to throw off its chains. Hence the prophetess begins with a burst of gratitude to God, that the nation had once more roused itself to action. The second clause refers, by common consent, to the people, who spontaneously came forward to the war : what then could be more suitable or natural, than that the first clause should contain a reference to the princes and rulers of the people, who did the same ? 'We see in the case of Barak how unwilling they were to lead the way; and the same fact is asserted in v. 17. That this unwillingness was over- come, both on the part of the rulers and of the people, the prophetess makes the opening subject of her song of praise.' 6. ' In the days of Shamgar in the days of Jael.'— Of Shamgar see the note on iii. 31, In the interval which followed between him and the oppression by Jabin, we may perhaps place Jael, who is here spoken of along with Shamgar, as a judge or deliverer of Israel ; but who is nowhere else mentioned in the Jewish annals. The older interpreters have generally supposed this person to be the same with the wife of Heber, mentioned below. There is, however, no ground whatever for this assumption, except the identity of the names ; and in the multiplicity of in- stances in which different Hebrews bore one and the same appellation, this ceases to be an argument for an identity of persons here. There are besides several considerations against this assumption. The wife of Heber is nowhere spoken of, except as the destroyer of Sisera ; had she been formerly celebrated, there could hardly have failed to be some distinct allusion to it. Further, the phrase in the days of any one, is nowhere employed except in reference to persons who have made an epoch in history by their cha- racter and distinguished standing ; e.g., Gideon, Judg. viii. 28 ; Saul, I Sam. xvii. 12 ; David, 2 Sam. xxi. 2. 7. 'Tlie villages ceased:— What goes before in italics, rather mars than improves the sense. It is easy to under- stand that the inhabitants of the villages and small towns, being peculiarly defenceless and exposed to oppression, in so troubled a state of society, would in time abandon their homes and repair to the fortified towns and the caverns of the mountains, so that at length an occupied village could scarcely be found in the country. Dr. Robinson proposes ' the leaders ceased.' But the reasons advanced for it seem to us of little weight, and the sense of the au- thorized version is not only better supported, but appears much more suitable to the context, — ' A mother in Israel.'— Vehomh here calls herself 'a mother in Israel' in the sense of benefactress ; just as dis- tinguished men are termed ' fathers of their country,' or ' fathers" in general. Job xxix, 10 ; Gen. xlviii. 5. Compare also the use of the phrase father towards a pro- phet (2 Kings vi. 21 ; xiii. 14). 8. ' Was there a shield or spear seen in Israel — We thus see that it was the policy of the northern Canaanites, while the Israelites were in subjection, as it was afterwards of the Philistines (I Sam. xiii. 9), to deprive the people of their arms. Did Shamgar's employment of the ox-goad arise from the want of a better weapon ? This text affords us an opportunity of noticing shields and spears, which are so often mentioned in theBible, accompanied by such pictorial illustrations as will, at one view, bring the whole subject fiiUy before the reader. They exhibit the various forms of these offensive and defensive arms among the same and aniong different ancient people, and also among those modern Oriental nations which are supposed to have preserved the ancient forms of these weapons. From these, and from Chap. V.] the statements which we annex, some ideas of the form of the Hebrew weapons may be collected. We are not to suppose that there was anything peculiar in their shape or substance. There are fewer peculiarities in the arms of most nations than in anything else belonging to them. The act of warfare itself brings them acquainted with the wea- pons of their neighbours, and perhaps of remote nations ; and a people is seldom slow in adopting from a conquered or conquering enemy, improved or varied forms of the arras which they mutually employ. Hence, as we know little or nothing precisely concerning the forms of the Hebrew arms, we may safely consider them as repre- sented by those of the nations with which they were acquainted. Shiklds. — The shield is unquestionably the most ancient and most general piece of defensive armour in the world. When it was first invented we cannot say : but it is men- tioned in the Bible long before helmets or other defensive armour. It is the only defensive armour mentioned in the books of Moses. The Egyptians as usual claim the honour of the invention ; and before it was discovered, men pro- bably endeavoured to break the force of blows by in- vesting—as Diodorus tells us that the first kings of Egypt did — their persons in the skins of lions and bulls. Among the means for this purpose, the superior con- venience and efficacy of such a contrivance as a shield, could not fail soon to occur to the mind : and accordingly, there is hardly any nation in which the shield, in some form or other, is not employed. Savages, who have not the least idea of such defences as the helmet or cuirass, are yet seldom found without the shield. There are three, if not four, sorts of shields mentioned in Scripture ; or, at least, there are four names by which they are distinguished. The largest seems to be that called nay tzinnah, which was twice the size of the ordi- nary shield, as we learn from 1 Kings x. IG, 17; 2 Chrou. ix. IP, where COO shekels of beaten gold were employed in the construction of the one, and 300 shekels of the other. Formidable as this weight of metal for the tzinnah is, it probably does not give an approximating idea of its full weight, and still less of its size, as shields were almost never wholly of metal, but were of wood or skin covered with metal. We may suppose the tzinnah to answer to the larger kind of shields which were used in ancient nations. Concerning these and other ancient arms there are very complete indications in Homer's Iliad. Among his heroes, as well as in other times and nations, these larger shields were chiefly used by persons fighting on foot. Their length was nearly equal to that of a man, as Lahok Eotptun Suiild. • gather from several passages in that old poet : thus, 1 I s of Hector :- 5ES. [B.C. 120G. ' So saying, the hero went, and as he strode, The bull-skin border of his bossy shield Smote on his heels, and on his neck behind.' There are some specimens of such large shields among the paintings of the ancient Egyptians ; and being measured with the figures of the warriors who bear them, they are found to be as high as from the heel to the neck. They do not often occur in the paintings, and are of a different shape from those in common use, being broader in propor- tion to their length, and not being rounded at the summit, but pointed, something like a Gothic arch. The great size of the larger shields is also implied in the intimations which we find of the bodies of the slain being carried on a shield ; as in the famous injunction of the Spartan mother to her son, ' Either bring back this buckler, or be brought back upon it.' This refers also to the sentiment of honour connected with the preservation of the shield. It was natural enough for a man, when escaping, to desire to dis- encumber himself of such a burden aud incumbrance as the larger kinds of shields were ; and therefore the sentiment of honour was brought in, which made it disgraceful to lose the shield under any circumstances. The civilized Greeks and Romans, and the barbarous Germans, equally shared this sentiment. Among the latter, those who left their shields in the enemy's power, were excluded from civil and religious privileges, and often sought a release from ignominy in a voluntary death. The Hebrews participated in this feeling ; and David, in his fine elegiac ode on the death of Saul and Jonathan, does not omit to mention this among the subjects of national regret, ' Ye mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew, neither let there be rain, upou you, nor fields of oflFerings : fur there the shield of the mifjhty is vilehj cast away' ( 2 Sam. i. 21.) The length of these shields seems to shew that they were either oblong or oval ; and that they were hollow, which implies external convexity, we gather from their being described as 'enclosing' or 'encompassing' the body. Homer has such expressions, and so has David (' With favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield,' Ps. v. 12), which seems to prove the analogy in this respect. Tyrtaus, in one of his hymns still extant, is very precise on this point : ' The warrior stands in the contest firm upon both feet: the hollow of the spacious shield covering, below, his sides and thighs, and his breast and his shoulders above.' The manner in which these large heavy shields were used may be collected by a comparison of the dif- ferent passages in Homer. 'They were supported by a leathern thong which crossed the breast. So Agamemnon advises the warriors to 'Brace well their shields,' aud foretels that before the approaching battle is over — ' Every buckler's thong Shall sweat on the toil'd bosom.' And so in the battle itself, Pallas finds Diomede beside his chariot, ' Cooling the wound inflicted by the shaft Of Pandarus ; for it had long endured The chafe and sultry pressure of the belt, That bore his ample shield.' His wound was on the right shoulder; whence we may infer that the belt hung from that shoulder, and crossed the breast to the left side, where it was attached to the shield, which could, of course, be moved at pleasure, behind, or in front. Lighter shields had sometimes a thong fastened to the handle, by which they were hung round the neck, and carried in any convenient' position when not in use, — upon the arm, at the back, or even on the hip. In action, aud indeed often out of action, shields of different sizes were carried and swayed by means of a handle fixed to its inner surface ; or, if large, by two loops or handles, through one of which the arm was pa.'ssej while the hand grasped the other. Among the Egyi)liaiis, the thong by which the shield was hung at the back, mi high that its top rose above the head of the bearer, ]ias>ril over the ri^ht shoulder and under the left arm. The Chap. V.] JUI handle was usually fixed horizontally, but sometimes per- pendicularly, so that the warrior might pass his arm through it, and grasp a spear. In marching it must have been thrown behind, as we see from the instance of the margin of Hector's shield smiting his heels as he walked. In marching immediately to the assault, it was however sometimes turned entirely iu front ; the warrior then ad- vanced, like Mars — ' Behind his broad shield pacing ;' but then the length of the shield obliged the owner to walk with short steps, like Deiphobus: — ' Tripping he came, with shorten'd steps, his feet Shelt'ring behind his buckler.' This also shews its length, and seems at the same time to prove that its weight prevented it, under such circum- stances, from being held at such a distance before the body, as to allow the free action of the feet. The weight of the larger kind of shield rendered it so great an incum- brance to a person otherwise heavily armed, that persons JES. [B.C. 1296. of consideration had an attendant, whose principal business it was to cari7 the shield of his superior. Aud this he did not merely when it was not wanted, but in action he some- times marched before the warrior, to ward off the missiles which were aimed against him. The warrior of course sometimes took it himself, when in close action. David was made Saul's armour-bearer. Jonathan's armour- bearer took a very active part in his master's exploit agaiust the Philistine garrison (1 Sam. xiv.). Goliath had an armour-bearer who carried his great shield before him (1 Sam. xvii. 6, 7, 45). Arrian relates that Alexander had the shield which had been taken from the temple of the Trojan Pallas carried before him in all his wars. The large shields were of great service when a body of men, acting in concert, joined their shields and opposed, as it were, a wall against the assault of the foe. In attacking fortified places the soldiers also joined their shields over their heads, to protect themselves from the missiles which were discharged upon them by the besieged. This was called the testudo, or tortoise, because the soldiers were thus covered from the weapons of their enemies as a tor- The TEarVDO, or Tortoise-shaped Assembl: toise is by its shell. This invention was exhibited in various forms, which ancient authors describe. That it was known to the Jews is clear from its having been in use among the ancient Egyptians, as shewn in the note to Deut. XX. 12 ; and that they also knew it as in use among the Babylonians, appears from Ezek. xxvi. 8, where tl.e king of Babylon is described as lifting up the buckler against the city of Tyre. To render this junction of shields the more compact, the Roman legions had their scutum, with squared sides. It was of an oblong form (Polybius says, generally four feet long by two and a half broad) with a convexity given to its breadth. This shield, though it seems to have been reduced by the Romans to a comparatively moderate size, may be taken as an average representative of the class of large shields, and therefore may be put in the same group with the Hebrew tzinnah. But the square form being intended to assist united action, we are not to expect to find it so prevalent among Ori- entals and barbarians, who trusted less to the effect of combined action than did the Romans ; and to an indivi- dual, a square shield with its sharp angles, is less con- venient than one more or less of a rounded figure. Hence we seldom find shields other than round or oval among the Orientals, either ancient or modern. Those commonly in use among the ancient Egyptians were, however, rounded ! of Shields.— From the Column of Trajan. only at the top; and as the shields of this people were, in all probability, such as the Israelites continued to use for some time after their departure from Egj-pt, they claim particular notice. In their general form they were similar to our common grave-stones, circular at the summit, and squared at the base ; sometimes with a slight increase or swell towards the top, and near the upper part of the outer surface is usually seen, instead of a boss, a circular hollow, the purpose of which it is difBcult to ascertain. In some instances at least this national shield appears to have been concave within. Its size was generally about half the height of a man by double its own breadth. Another Hebrew shield was the [JD magen, which is the first that the Scripture mentions (Gen. xv. l),and seems to have been that which was most commonly in use ; being conveniently portable, and perhaps really more useful than the large one ; for although it did not protect the whole person, it could be turned with facility to ward off a coming blow or missile. This kind of shield is generally mentioned in connection with arrows and swords ; but the tzinnah with spears. It was about half the size of the latter, as we see that Solomon only appropriated three hundred shekels of gold for the manufacture of a magen, but six hundred for a tzinnah. Among the ancients, the lesser shield seems to have been always used by horsemen t Thebes ; contrasting the and persons who fought in chariots, and occasionally by lightly armed footmen. The large sliield was not the only line ill use in the Homeric period. Neptune's advice to the Argives shews this :— ' The best and broadest bucklers of the host, And brightest helmets put we on, and arm'd With largest spears advance. Ye then, who feel your hearts Undaunted, but are arm'd with smaller shields, Them give to tliose who fear, and in exchange Their stronger shields and broader take yourselves.' And agaiu : — ' With many a stroke The bull-hide shields and lighter targes rang.' Perhaps, however, there was not such a contrast of size between the smaller and larger shields mentioned here, as between the tzinimh and mac/eii. The latter is the shield which the present text meutions, and is thought by Gese- nius to be analogous to the Roman clijpeiia. In this opinion we concur, becaitse both seem to have been shields of average form and size. The Roman c!i/petisyras a medium- sized shield, round, oval, or hexangular in figure; and had sometimes a boss in the centre, as had the Hebrew maijen, to which bosses are assigned in Job xv. 26 : — ' The thick bosses of his bucklers.' The central boss, which was a kind of projecting dagger, does not however seem to have been peculiar to any one kind of shield. It rendered the shield at the same time an offensive as well as a defensive weapon, and was of great use in bearing down the enemy in close fight. The shield of Agamemnon had twenty- one bosses, — twenty surrounding bosses, and one in the centre. The Hebrews must have had a considerable variety of shields; for besides these two, which occur most fre- quently, there are others of which we know nothing dis- tinctly ; but may infer that the different terms describe peculiarities of form and size. One of these is the mnb sohairah, which, from the etymology, would seem to have been of a round form, which was and is a very common shape for the smaller kind of shields, and sometimes for the larger, as will appear by our cuts. It may well be r.oman Conibnt with the Spenr taken as the type of the Roman shield called parrna, a small round shield much used by the cavalry and light armed foot, and now very common in the East. Another is the t37ty shelet (which occurs only in the plural), and as it appears, from a comparison of parallel passages, to be sometimes used as synonymous with viagcn, we may infer tliat the former was (.'ssentially the same as the latter, with some small variation of make or ornament. See, for in- stance, Sol. Song, iv. 4, ' Thy neck is like the tower of David, builded for an armoury, whereon there hang a thousand bucklers (magen), all shields ^s/ii((a!, sing, slielel) of mighty men.' The last clause is evidently a repetition of the preceding, sittdrt being used as a verbal change for maounding in rich pastures. The war on the west of 30 the Jordan, remote from their settlements, could not affect deeply their separate interests ; and although there seems to have been at first a general impulse among them to pass over the river to the assistance of their brethren, the pa- triotic intention soon subsided, and they concluded that the peaceful bleatings of their flocks were far preferable to the harsh clangours of war. There is much poetical beauty in the passage relating to Eeuben which cannot be ex- hibited in a translation, and which it would take too much space to indicate. 17. ' Gilead.' — This was the name of a son of Issachar, i;. U, and also the name of the mountainous country east of the Jordan, inhabited by the tribe of Gad and half tribe of Manasseh. It may therefore either mean in this place, either that half tribe of Manasseh (the other half having gone to the battle, v. 11), or the tribe of Gad, or, as we think most probable, both together. It would therefore appear tliat none of the Israelites beyond Jordan took part in this enterprise. — 'breaches: — ' Havens ' would be better ; for although the word primarily denotes rents or fissures, it signifies bays or harbours, as indentations of the shore, when ap- plied to the sea-coast, and this is very accurate ; for the celebrated harbour of Accho or Acre lay in the territory of this tribe, and Achzib and Tyre are mentioned as falling within its borders. Josh. xix. 29. 18.' Zebulun and Naphtali.' — These two tribes are here particularly celebrated. They are the only tribes men- tioned in chap. iv. Jabin and Sisera dwelt in their terri- tories ; and the oppression would therefore naturally fall most heavily on these tribes. We may conclude, therefore, that they were more eager to throw olf the yoke of bond- age ; that they indeed would rise in greater numbers, and exhibit a more determined valour. Hence they are said to have despised their lives even unto death, i. e. to have rushed fearlessly upon danger and death. The Arabian poets use similar expressions. 19. ' The kings came and fought.' — We now come to the description of the battle. From the circumstance that kings are here mentioned, we may with probability infer that other allied kings took the field along with the army of Jabin. — ' The]/ took no gain of money.' — We prefer Robinson's translation, ' They took no spoil of silver.' The enemy liad been accustomed to carry off much booty ; but now they obtained none. 20 ' The stars in their courses fought.' — The stars here stand for 'the host of heaven.' It is the same as if we were to say 'the heavens fought,' etc. Josephus says {Antiq. V. 5, 4) that a tempest of hail, rain, and wind dis- comfited the Canaanites. If this was not a historical fact handed down by tradition, we must at least regard it as the traditional interpretation of the text in the age of Jo- sephus ; and it is a very probable one, agreeing as it does with 19, 15. 21. 'The river Kishon.' — This river, after traversing the plain of Acre, enters the bay of the same name at its south-east corner. It has been usual to trace its source to Mount Tabor; but Dr. Shaw affirms that in travelling along the south-eastern brow of Mount Carmel, he had au opportunity of seeing the sources of the river Kishon, three or four of which lie within less than a furlong of each other, and are called Ras el-Kishon, or the head of the Kishon. These alone, without the lesser contributions near the sea, discharge water enough to form a river half as large as the Isis. During the rainy season all the waters which fall upon the eastern side of Carmel, or upon tlie rising grounds to tlie southward, empty them- selves into it in a number of torrents, at which time it overflows its banks, acquires a wonderful rapidity, and carries all before it. It was doubtless in such a season that the host of Sisera was swept away, in attempting to ford it. But such inundations are only occasional, and of short duration, as is indeed implied in the destruction in its waters of the fugitives, who doubtless expected to pass it safely. The course of the stream, as estimated fiom the sources tlius indicated, is not more than seven miles. Chap. V.] JUD It ruus Tery briskly till withia half a league of the sea; hut when not augmented by rains, it never falls into the sea in a full stream, but insensibly percolates through a bank of sand, which the north winds have thrown up at its mouth, ft was in this state that Shaw himself found it in the month of April, 1722, when it was crossed by him. Notwithstanding Shaw's contradiction, the assertion that the Kishon derives its source from Mount Tabor has been repeated by modern travellers as confidently as by their ancient predecessors. Buckingham's statement, being made with reference to the view from Mount Tabor itself deserves attention. He says that near the foot of the mountain on the south-west are ' the springs of the Ain- esh-Sherrar, which send a perceptible stream through the centre of the plain of Esdraelon, and form the brook Kishon of antiquity.' Further on, the same traveller, on reaching tlie hills which divide the plain of Esdraelon from that of Acre, saw the pass through which the river makes its way from one plain to the other {Travels in Pa- lestine, i. 1C8, 177). We have had opportunities of seeing much of streams similarly constituted ; and it does not seem to us difficult to reconcile the seemingly conflicting statements with reference to the Kishon. On further in- quiry, and more extensive comparison of observations made at different times of the year, it will probably be found that the remoter source of the river is really in Mount Tabor ; but that the supply from this source is cut off in early summer, when it ceases to be maintained by rains or contributory torrents ; whereas the copious supply from the nearer springs at Kas el-Kishon, with other springs lower down, keep it up from that point, as a per- ennial stream, even during the drought of summer. Thus during one part of the year the source of the river may appear to be in Mount Tabor, while during another part the source of the diminished stream is at Kas el- Kishon. In this view of the case we should expect that travellers crossing the plain iu or shortly after the season of rain, would have encountered the temporary stream from Mount Tabor before the point where it meets the perennial streams from Carmel. The fact is, however, that the route has been little travelled in that season ; but the required evidence is by no means wanting. Mariti (ii. 12) mentions the case of the English dragoman who was drowned, and his horse with him, in the attempt to cross such a stream in February, 1761. During the battle of Mount Tabor, between the French and Arabs, April 16, 1799, many of the latter were drowned in their at- tempt" to cross a stream coming from Deburieh, which tlicn inundated the plain (Burckhardt, Si/ria, p. 339). Monro, who crossed the river early iu April (in its lower or perennial part), in order to ascend Mount Carmel, de- scribes it as traversing the plain of Esdraelon : which he could not have done if he had not seen a stream flowing in that direction uniting with the river below Mount Carmel. The river, where he crossed it, in a boat, was then thirty yards wide. Afterwards, iu crossing an arm of it, in the plain from Solam to Nazareth, he incidentally furnishes ground for his former view by stating that he crossed ' a considerable brook, and afterwards some others, which flow into a small lake on the northern side of the plain, and eventually contribute to swell the Kishon' {Ramble, i. 55, 281). Dr. Robinson says that this account corre- sponds with channels that he observed {Bibl. Researches, iii. 230). Prokesch also, in April, 182y, when travelling directly from Ramleh to Nazareth, ent'^red the plain of Esdraelon at or near Lejjun, where he came upon the Kishon, flowing in a deep bed through marshy ground ; and after wandering about for some time to find his way through the morass, he was at last set right by an Arab, who pointed out the proper ford {Reise ins H. Land, p. 129). The Scriptural account of the overthrow of Sisera's host manifestly shews that the stream crossed the plain, and must have been of considerable size. The above argu- ments, to shew that it did so, and still does so, notwith- standing Dr. Shaw's account, were, iu substance, given several years ago in the Pictorial History of Palestine, i. 191 ; and the writer has had the satisfaction of seeing ES. [B.C. 1296. his view since confirmed by Dr. Robinson, who adds that ' not improbably, in ancient times, when the country was perhaps more wooded, there may have been permamnt streams throughout the whole plain.' 23. ' Curse ye Meroz,' etc. — The prophetess here turns abruptly to curse the inhabitants of Meroz. Of the history or site of this city no trace exists. We may suppose it to have lain on the borders of Issachar and Naphtali ; and that its inhabitants having an opportunity^ of destroying the flying Canaanites neglected to improve it. 25. ' Butter: — This was probably curdled milk, as butter would be out of place here, and the parallelism as well as the context requires something liquid. Sour or thick milk is a favourite beverage among the Arabs, and Josephus is probably right in affirming that it was what Jael brought for the refreshment of Sisera. It is said to be very refi'eshing-, but we are unable to speak from our own experience, never having been able to conquer our repug- nance to it sufficiently to test its qualities. 28. ' The mother of Sisera.' — By a prosopopeia no less abrupt than beautiful, the mother of Sisera is now intro- duced as looking through her lattice in anxious expectation of the return of her lingering son. 'The first sentences,' says Bishop Lowth, ' exhibit a striking picture of maternal solicitude, and of a mind suspended and agitated between hope and fear. Immediately, impatient of delay, she an- ticipates the consolations of her friends ; and, her mind being somewhat elevated, she boasts with all the levity of a fond female, — " Vast in her hopes and giddy with success." Let us here observe how well adapted every sentiment, every word, is to the character of the speaker. She makes no account of the slaughter of the enemy, of the valour and conduct of the conqueror, of the multitude of the captives, but " Burns with a female thirst of prey and spoils." Nothing is omitted which is calculated to attract and en- gage the passions of a vain and trifling woman ; slaves, gold, and rich apparel. Nor is she satisfied with the bare enumeration of them — she repeats, she amplifies, she heightens every circumstance ; she seems to have the very plunder in her immediate possession ; she pauses and con- templates every particular. To add to the beauty of this passage, there is also an uncommon neatness in the versi- fication ; great force, accuracy, and perspicuity in the dic- tion ; and the utmost elegance in the repetitions, which, notwithstanding their apparent redundancy, are conducted with the most perfect brevity. In the end, the fatal disap- pointment of female hope and credulity, tacitly insinuated by the unexpected apostrophe, — " So let thine enemies perish, 0 Jehovah ! " is expressed more forcibly by this very silence of the per- son who was just speaking, than it could possibly have been by all the powers of language.' — ' Throuyh the lattice.'— The original word 35y'■^J eshnab occurs only here and in Prov. vii. 6. It comes from Chap. VI.] JUDGES. [B.C. 1256- 1249. a root signifying ' to be cool,' hence a lattice or blind of open wood-work to admit the coo! air, while they exclude the view from without. The windows of all female apart- ments are in the East to this day furnished with the same kind of lattices, which are usually provided with small frames opening upon hinges. — ' Whi/ is his chariut so long in coming f— This is the meaning ; but the literal rendering is still more expressive : ' Why is his chariot ashamed to come?' 30. ' l^reg of needlework.' — The original word flDpT rikmah is from a root, which, both in Hebrew and Arabic, signifies ' to diversify,' ' to variegate,' particularly in colour, and is not necessarily applied to needlework, though it does not exclude it. See the note on Gen. xxxvii. 3. CHAPTER VI. Tlie Israelites for their sin are oppressed hj Midian. 8 A prophet rebitketh them. 1 1 An angel sendeth Gideon for their deliverance. 17 Gideon s prese7it is consumed with fire. 24 Gideon deslroyeth Baal's altar, and offereth a sacrifice vpon the altar JehovaJi-shalom. 28 Joash defmdeth his son, and calleth him Jerubbaal. 33 Gii deon's signs. I. s army. 3(j Gi- And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord : and the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years. 2 And the hand of Midian 'prevailed against Israel : and because of the Midianites the children of Israel made them the dens which arc in the mountains, and caves, and strong holds. 3 And so it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites came up, and the Amale- kites, and the children of the east, even they came up against them ; 4 And they encamped against them, and destroyed the inci'case of the earth, till thou come unto Gaza, and left no sustenance for Israel, neither ''sheep, nor ox, nor ass. 5 For they came up with their cattle and their tents, and they came as grasshoppers for multitude ; for both they and their camels were without number : and they entered into the land to destroy it. 6 And Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites ; and the children of Israel cried unto the Lord. 7 H And it came to pass, when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord because of the Midianites, 8 That the Lord sent ^a prophet unto the children of Israel, which said unto them. Thus saith the Loud God of Israel, I brought you up from I'gypt, and brought you forth out of the house of bondage ; 1) And I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all that oppressed you, and drave them out from be- fore you, and gave you their land ; 10 And I said unto you, I am the Loud your God ; 'fear not the gods of the Amoritcs, in whose land ye dwell : but ye have not obeyed my voice. 11 H And there came an angel of the Lord, and sat under an oak which irtis in Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash the Abi- czrite : and his son 'Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress, ^to hide it from the Midian- ites. 12 And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him, and said unto him. The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour. 13 And Gideon said unto him. Oh my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us ? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying. Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt ? but now the Lord hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites. 14 And the Lord looked upon him, and said. Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites : have not I sent thee ? 15 And he said unto him, O my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, 'my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house. 16 And the Lord said unto him. Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man. 17 And he said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, then shew me a sign that thou talkest with me. 18 Depart not hence, I pray thee, until I come unto thee, and bring forth my 'present, and set it before thee. And he said, I will tarry until thou come again. 19 And Gideon went in, and made ready 'a kid, and unleavened cakes of an ephah of flour : the flesh he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out unto him under the oak, and presented it. 20 And the angel of God said unto him. Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and lay them upon this rock, and pour out the broth. And he did so. 21 Then the angel of the Lord put forth the end of the staff that ims in his hand, and Chap. VI.] JUD touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes ; and there rose up fire out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes. Then the angel of the Lord departed out of his sight. 22 And when Gideon perceived that he was an angel of the Lord, Gideon said, Alas, O Lord God ! '"for because I have seen an angel of the Lord face to face. 23 And the Lord said unto him. Peace be unto thee ; fear not : thou shalt not die. 24 Then Gideon built an altar there unto the Lord, and called it "Jehovali-shalom : unto this day it is yet in Oplirah of the Abi- ezrites. 25 IT And it came to pass the same night, that the Lord said unto him, Take thy father's young bullock, "even the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the grove that is by it : 26 And build an altar unto the Lord thy God upon the top of this '^rock, '"in the or- dered place, and take the second bullock, and ofier a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the grove which thou shalt cut down. 27 Then Gideon took ten men of his ser- vants, and did as the Lord had said unto him : and so it was, because he feared his father's houshold, and the men of the city, that he could not do it by day, that he did /* by night. 28 1[ And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was cast down, and the grove was cut down that icas by it, and the second bullock was offered upon the altar that was built. 29 And they said one to another. Who hath done this thing ? And when they en- quired and asked, they said, Gideon the son of Joash hath done this thing. 30 Then the men of the city said unto Joash, Bring out thy son, that he may die : because he hath cast down the altar of Baal, ES. [B.C. 1256— 1249. and because he hath cut down tiie grove that teas by it. 31 And Joash said unto all that stood against him. Will ye plead for Baal? will ye save him ? he that will plead for him, let him be put to death whilst it is ijet morning : if he be a god, let him plead for himself, because one hath cast do\^■n his altar. 32 Therefore on that day he called him Jerubbaal, saying. Let Baal plead against- him, because he hath thrown down his altar. 33 H Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the children of the east were gathered together, and went over, and pitched in the valley of Jezreel. 34 But the Spirit of the Lord "came upon Gideon, and he '"blew a trumpet; and Abi- ezer "was gathered after him. 35 And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh ; who also was gathered after him : and he sent messengers unto Asher, and unto Zebulun, and unto Naphtali ; and they came up to meet them. 30 IT And Gideon said unto God, If thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said, 37 Behold, I will put a fleece of wool in the floor ; and if the dew be on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the earth beside, then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by mine hand as thou hast said. 38 And it was so : for he rose up early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and wringed the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water. 39 And Gideon said unto God, '"Let not thine anger be hot against me, and I will speak but this once : let me prove, I pray thee, but this once with the fleece ; let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew. 40 And God did so that night : for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground. Verse 2. ' Made them dens' — That is, prepared or fitted up as residences the deus and eaves of the mountains. They did not make them de novo \a the sense of cutting out, ex- cavating, or constructing them, for it is said they were already in the mountains ; but they so worked upon them as to adapt them for dwelling-places and strongholds against their enemies. — ' Caves.' — See the note on Gen. xix. SO. Let us add a very appropriate incident here, as related by William of Tyre. When Baldwin I. presented himself with some troops before Askelon, the citizens were afraid to come out to give him battle. Ou this, finding it would be of no advantage to remain there, he ranged about the plains be- tween the mountains and the sea, and found villages whose inhabitants having left their houses had retired with their wives and children, their flocks and herds, into subter- raneous caves. This also illustrates ch. v. 7. 3. ' When Israel had sown.' — It will be recollected that the Midianites were chiefly wandering herdsmen— that is, just such a people as the Bedouin Arabs are at the present day. The oppression to which the Israelites were at this time subject, was, therefore, of a very different nature from those which they had previously experienced ; and from the minute and expressive details which are given, we dis- 315 Chap. VI.] JUDGES. [B.C. 125G— 1249. cover, without difficulty, that tlicy bad never before ex- perienced anythiug so grievous. Under this view let us illustrate these details by the present conduct of the Be- douins towards cultivators. 4. ' Encamped against them, and destroiied the increase of the earth .... and left no snstenajice fur Israel' — It may be stated as a maxim, that whenever the nomade is master of the cultivator, the impoverishment and ultimate ruin of the latter are inevitable. The Bedouin Arabs come up from their deserts in the spring, and perhaps remain through the summer in the territories of those cultivators who are so unfortunate as to lie at their mercy. If there is not an established understanding between the nomades and the cultivators, as to the proportion which the latter are to pay for exemption, the Bedouins encamp and pas- ture their cattle in the cultivated grounds, after securing snch corn and other vegetable products as they may happen to require for their own use during the remainder of the year. Thus the 'increase of the earth is destroyed,' and ' no sustenance ' remains to reward the cultivator for the labour and patience he has spent on its production. — ' Neither sheep, nor ox, nor ass.' — The Bedouins, when thus oppressing the cultivator, seize all the cattle that are brought abroad, and add them to their own flocks and herds ; and as it is impossible and useless to keep them continually in confinement, the inhabitants soon become deprived of all their cattle, like the Israelites. Even their persons are not safe ; as the Bedouins will not scruple to rob of his clothes and property any person whom they can find beyond the protection which the walls of the towns and villages aiford, — if they do not kill him, or detain him as a prisoner till his friends have been induced to pay heavily for his ransom. We do not know whether the Midianites entered the towns. It is possible that they did not, as tlieir visits were annual, and they do not appear to have taken or occupied any towns. This aggravation was not necessary to reduce the people to ruin, and oblige them to relinquish their paternal fields and pleasant homes, to retire to ' the dens which are in the mountains.' Then doubtless the Midianites could enter the towns, and destroy and plunder at pleasure such property as the fugitives had left behind. It is possible that the Israelites returned to their homes for the season after the invaders had with- drawn for the year. The nomades usually come towards the end of April or beginning of May, and remain till September. In the period of their absence, some useful products might be raised, to eke out a subsistence during the period of their stay, and perhaps part of the barley harvest might in a favourable season be got in and carried off to the mountains before the Midianites arrived. This miserable state of things could not long be borne ; and accordingly we find that the period in which the Israelites were subject to this urgent oppression of the Midianites was shorter than that in which any other of their oppres- sors tyrannized over them. In Western Asia, those cultivators who are subject to such annual incursions generally make a compromise with the invaders, agreeing to pay them a heavy tribute, on the condition that the harvests shall not be touched, or the cattle driven off. Even powerful communities, which might be able to cope with the Bedouins, often enter into a compromise of this sort, to prevent the necessity for continual warfare and watchfulness. With these, the arrangement is a matter of convenience ; but miserable is the condition of those with whom it is a matter of neces- sity, and to whom it is the only alteniative on which they can secure a scanty subsistence from their own fields. The tribute, usually paid in produce, is generally very heavy ; U'sides which the chiefs expect extraordinary presents, and what is received in one year as a present, is certain to be exacted in the next year as a right. Thus the pressure accumulates till it can no longer be borne ; cultivation is then relinquished, and whole settlements are abandoned by tlieir inhabitants, who disperse themselves into other villages or towns, or form a new settlement where they hope to be more at ease. This does not perhaps often happen ; but individual families arc continually changing one village for another, in the hope of that relief which they can nowhere find. In the Hauran, for instance, as described by Kurckhardt, very few individuals die in the villages in which they were born. ' This continued wan- dering,' says that traveller, ' is one of the principal reasons why no village in the Hauran has either orchards, or fruit trees, or gardens for the growth of vegetables. " Shall we sow for strangers ? " was the answer of a Fellah, to whom I once spoke on the subject, and who by the word "strangers" meant both the succeeding inhabitants and the Arabs who visit the Hauran in the spring and sum- mer.' Even in the pashalic of Bagdad, the government of which is enabled in ordinary circumstances to keep the Arabian tribes of his territory in some degree of order, no persons dare undertake the cultivation of the soil at any considerable distance from the city, except the Seids, who claim to be descended from Mohammed, and the supposed sanctity of whose character renders them comparatively secure from depredation. Yet even they are often obliged to erect a fort on their grounds, in which a strong guard is stationed at the time of hai-vest. These details will help to shew the distressing situation of cultivators when exposed to the oppression of pastoral tribes. 5. ' Grass/toppers.' — Rather, • locusts' — a most expres- sive comparison. 1 1. ' Gideon threshed wheat hij the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites' — This is a most expressive illustra- tion of the preceding remarks. Gideon was obliged to thresh his wheat in a small quantity, and in an imusual place, to conceal it from the Midianites. This shews that the oppression of the Hebrews from the Midianites was in the severest form, seeing that they could not retain any part of their own produce except by stealth. The small- ness of the quantity is shewn by the manner in which it is threshed, which was not with cattle, as usual with large quantities, but by means of the flail, which was seldom employed but in threshing small quantities. And then the threshing was near the winepress, that is, in ground appropriated to another purpose. The flail also falling on corn placed on the dead ground, not on a boarded floor as with us, made but little noise, whereas the bellowing of the oxen might, in the other case, have led to detection. It will be observed that this threshing-ground was in the open air, else Gideon could not have expected dew to fall on the ground, or on the fleece which he spread out there (to. 37-40). [.\i.ebxuix, No. 25.] 15. ' My faviily is poor.' — Literally, ' my thousand is the meanest' or ' poorest' — From Exod. xviii. 25, it appears that the Israelites were divided into tens, fifties, hundreds, and thousands— a division recognised in M icah v. 2 : ' Thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah,' etc. These ' thousands ' embraced, of course, numerous families, and the assertion of Gideon seems to be, that the thousand to which his belonged had become not only much diminished in numbers, but also impoverished in resources, so that they could do but little towards withstanding an enemy. — ' And I am the least in my father's house.' — From which it would seem that he was either the youngest, or in his own apprehension the least competent for the task proposed to him. It would represent himself as wanting in the ability, rank, and influence which could alone be expected to induce his countrymen to join his standard against the Midianites. 19. ' The flesh he put in a bu.<>ket, and he put the broth in a pot.' — Tlie circumstances of this entertainment are, to a considerable extent, illustrated by the notes to Gen. xviii. The broth is the most peculiar circumstance of this hastily prepared meal. It leaves us to infer, either that Gideon boiled or stewed the kid, and served up the meat and soup separately, or else that he stewed one part of the kid, and roasted or broiled the other. Both metliods are consonant to Oriental usages; and perhaps the latter is the best hypothesis, as the animal thus divided might he the more speedily dressed. In this case, the roasted part was pro- bably prepared in the most usual way of providing a hasty dish,— that is, by cutting the meat into small pieces, Chap. VII.] JUDGES. [B.C. 1240. several of which are strung upon a skewer, like larks, and so roasted, or rather broiled : as several of these skewers of meat can be dressed together, a meal may in this way be very soon prepared. This dish is called kaboob, and is very common in Western Asia. When meat is thus dressed iu two ways, the stew is generally intended for immediate use, and the kaboob for a future meal, or for the traveller to carry with him for his refreshment on the way. As Gideon brought the meat, as distinguished from the ' broth,' in a basket, it was probably intended by him that the stranger should take it away with him iu that basket for his future use. This was a proper mark of careful hospitality and attention. The basket was probably a small hand-basket made of palm-leaves or rushes. 25. ' 77(6 second bullock.' — Commentators are perplexed about the description of this bullock as the ' second.' We would hazard a conjecture, that as the Midianites'took away all the cattle of the Hebrews that they could lay hands on, Gideon's father had very few cattle, the second of which, in point of age, he is directed to offer as the fittest for sacrifice. It is singular that one of seven years old should be selected, three years being the usual age. Was it with reference to the seven years which the op- pression of the Midianites had lasted? or, was it that this bullock, although seven years old, was the youngest above three years of age, and therefore the most proper for sacrifice? This alone would imply how slender the herd of Joash had become. Perhaps he had but two bullocks above three years of age, this being the second of the two. — ' The grove.' — The word translated 'grove' here and elsewhere is HTJ'X asherah, and the rendering is after the Septuagint. It has, however, been much doubted whether this be the real signification of the word ; and the best Hebrew scholars of this and the last age have rejected the interpretation. The reasons against it are of great weight. It is urged that the word almost always occurs with other words denoting idols and statues of idols ; that the verbs which are employed to denote the making of an Asherah are incompatible with the idea of a grove, being such as to build, to shape, to erect ; that the words used to denote its destruction are such as breaking to pieces, subverting ; that the image of Asherah is described in 2 Kings xxi. 7, as being placed in the temple ; and that Asherah is coupled with Baal in the same way that Ashtoreth is in Judg. ii. 13; X. 6 ; 1 Kings xviii. 19; 2 Kings xxiii. 4, and par- ticularly in Judg. ii. 13: iii. 7, where the plural form of both words may be regarded as of itself denoting images of this goddess. The signification ' grove ' is indeed utterly incongruous with 2 Kings xvii. lu, where we read of 'setting up groves under every green tree.' Moreover, even the Septuagint, which may be regarded as the source of this strange interpretation, renders the word by 'Astarte' in 2 Chron. xv. 10 (as the Vulgate has done in Judg. iii. 7), and conversely renders 'Ashtoreth' by 'groves' iu 1 Sam. vii. 3. On the strength of these arguments most modern Biblical critics conceive that Asherah is but a name for Ashtoreth, and that it more especially denotes the relation of that goddess to the planet Venus : for although the pri- mary relation of Baal and Ashtoreth was to the sun and moon, they came in the course of time to be connected in the religious conceptions of the Syro- Arabians with the planets Jupiter and Venus as the two stars of good fortune. 31. ' Will ye plead for Saalr etc. — The meaning of Gideon's father is certainly not very clearly produced iu this translation of his speech. What he means to say, according to the original, and the best versions, is to the eifect. Is it for you to become the avengers of [or to con- tend for] Baal ? If he be, as you say, a god, he must be well able to avenge [or contend for] himself, and his in- sulter, even should ye spare him, will be found dead by break of day. If, therefore, he be a god, let him avenge himself upon [or contend with] the man who hath cast down his altar. 32. ' JerubbaaV — The name is derived from the burden of his father's speech, ' Let Baal avenge,' or, as some in- terpret, ' Let Baal contend.' 3S. 'A bowl full of water.'— See the note on Gen. xxvii. 2S, which will partly explain what seems to us extraor- dinary in this abundant dew. It will be observed, that we are to look for the miracle in its having fallen at one time upon the fleece, without any on the floor, and that, another time, the fleece remained dry while the ground was wet with dew. The quantity also may have been more than usually abundant ; but less so than would seem to us in regions where dews fall lightly. We remember, while travelling in North-western Asia, to have found all the baggage, which had been left in the open air, so wet, when we came forth from the tent in the morning, that it seemed to have been exposed to heavy rain, and we could witli difficulty believe that no rain had fallen. So also, when sleeping in the open air, the sheep-skin cloak which served for a covering has been found in the moming scarcely less wet than if it had been immersed in water. [Verse 25, Appendix, No. 2G.] CHAPTER VII. 7 Gideon's army oflivo and thirty thousand is brought tu three hundred. 13 He is encouraged by the dream and interpretation of the barley cake. 1 G His stra- tagem of trumpets and lamps in pitchers. 25 T!ie Ephraimites take Oreb and Zeeb. Then Jerubbaal, who is Gideon, and all the people that were with him, rose up early, and pitched beside the well of Harod : so that the host of the Midianites were on the north side of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley. 2 And the Lord said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying. Mine own hand hath saved me. 3 Now therefore go to, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, 'Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from mount Gilead. And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand ; and there remained ten thousand. 4 And the Lord said unto Gideon, The people arc yet too many ; bring them down unto the water, and I will try them for thee there : and it shall be, that of whom I say unto thee. This shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee ; and of whomsoever I say unto thee. This shall not go with thee, the same shall not go. 5 So he brought down the people unto the water : and the Lord said unto Gideon, Every one that lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by him- self ; likewise every one that boweth down upon his knees to drink. VII.] JUDGES. [B.C. 1240. 6 And tlie number of them that hipped, puttimj then- hand to their mouth, were three hundred men : but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water. 7 And the Lokd said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine iiand : and let all the other people go every man unto his place. 8 So the people took victuals in their hand, and their trumpets : and he sent all tlte rest of Israel every man unto his tent, and retained those three hundred men: and the host of Midian was beneath him in the valley. 9 1 And it came to pass the same night, that the Lord said unto him. Arise, get thee down unto the host; fori have delivered it into thine hand. 10 But if thou fear to go down, go thou with Phurah thy servant down to the host : 1 1 And thou shalt hear what they say ; and afterward shall thine hands be strength- ened to go down unto the host. Then went he down with Phurah his servant unto the outside of the ^armed men that were in the host. 12 And the Midianites and the Amalekites and 'all the children of the east lay along in the valley like grasshoppers for multitude ; and their camels were without number, as the sand by the sea side for multitude. Yd And when Gideon was come, behold, there was a man that told a dream unto his fellow, and said, Behold, I dreamed a dream, and, lo, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the host of Midian, and came unto a tent, and smote it that it fell, and overturned it, that the tent lay along. 14 And his fellow answered and said. This is nothing else save the sword of Gideon the son of Joasli, a man of Israel : for into his hand hath God delivered Midian, and all the host. 1.5 And it was so, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream, and -"the interpre- tation thereof, that he worshipped, and re- turned into the host of Israel, and said. Arise ; for the Lord hath delivered into your hand the host of Midian. 16 H And he divided the three hundred men i/ito three companies, and he put 'a trumpet in every man's hand, with empty pitchers, and "lamps within the pitchers. 1 7 And he said unto them. Look on me, and do likewise : and, behold, when I come to the outside of the camp, it shall he that, as I do, so shall ye do. 18 When I blow with a trunijict, I and all that are with me, then blow ye the trumpets also on every side of all the camp, and say.. The sicord of the Lord, and of Gideon. 19 t So Gideon, and the hundred men that u-ere with him, came unto the outside of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch ; and they had but newly set the watch : and they blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers that iccre in their hands. 20 And the three companies blew the trum- pets, and brake the pitchers, and held the lamps in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow withal: and they cried, The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon. 21 And they stood every man in his place round about the camp : and all the host ran, and cried, and fled. 22 And the three hundred blew the trum- pets, and 'the Loud set every man's sword against his fellow, even throughout all the host: and the host fled to Bethshittah "in Zererath, and to the "border of Abel-meholah, unto Tabbath. 23 And the men of Israel gathered them- selves together out of Naphtali, and out of Asher, and out of all Manasseh, and pursued after the Midianites. 24 H And Gideon sent messengers through- out all mount Ephraim, saying, Come down against the Midianites, and take before them the waters unto Ik'th-barah and Jordan. Then all the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together, and took the waters imto Beth-barah and Jordan. 25 And they took "two princes of the Mi- dianites, Oreb and Zeeb ; and they slew Oreb upon the rock Oreb, and Zeeb they slew at the winepress of Zeeb, and pursued Midian, and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon on the other side Jordan. hinp thereof. * Ht'li. trumpets tri tfif hands o/all of them. Verse 1. ' Vte wrll ,///«,«/.■— This well or fi>mitain was situated not far from Gilboa, on tlie borders of Ma- nnsseh. It is probably the same wliicli is mentioned in 1 Sam. xxix. 1. As tlie word Harod means ' fear,' or 'trembling,' it is likely that it obtained its name either from the pamc which here seized the Midianites, or, still more probably, from the fear which induced many of those who had joined Gideon's standard to turn bacK from that place, as related in v. ."?, where indeed the very word occurs. [See 2 Sam. xxiii 25, where Harodites are spoken of. ) Chap. VII.] JUI 6. ' Lapped, putting their hand to their mouth . . . . bowed down upon their knees to drink water.' — These two modes of action have been differently understood, and the first in particular has been the subject of various inter- pretations. The dog drinks by shaping the end of his long thin tongue into the form of a spoon, which it rapidly intro- duces into, and withdraws from, the water, throwing each time a spoonful of the fluid into its mouth. The tongue of man is not adapted to this use ; and it is physically ira- possilile for a man, therefore, to lap, literally, as a dog laps. The true explanation, probably, is, that these men, instead of kneeling down to take a long draught, or suc- cessive draughts, from the water, employed their hand as the dog employs its tongue — that is, forming it into a hollow spoon, and dipping water with it from the stream. We have often seen it done, and the comparison to the hipping of a dog spontaneously occurred to our mind. Practice gives a peculiar tact in this mode of drinking ; and the interchange of the hand between the water and the mouth is so rapidly managed as to be comparable to that of the dog's tongue in similar circumstances. Besides, the water is not usually sucked out of the hand into the mouth, but, by a peculiar knack, is jerked into the mouth, before the hand is brought close to it, so that the hand is approaching with a fresh supply almost before the pre- ceding has been swallowed : this is another resemblance to the action of a dog's tongue. When travelling with small caravans, we have had opportunities of seeing both processes. On coming to water, a person who wishes to drink cannot stop the whole party to wait for him ; and therefore, if on foot, any delay would oblige him to un- usual exertion in order to overtake his party. Therefore he drinks in the manner we have described ; and has sa- tisfied his thirst in much less time than one who, having more leisure, or being disposed to more deliberate enjoy- ment, looks out for a place where he may kneel or lie down to bring his mouth in contact with the water, and imbibe long and slow draughts of the pleasant fluid. This consumes so much time, that few but those who are mounted indulge in it, as they can ride on before and satisfy themselves by the time their party comes up, or, if they linger behind after it has passed on, can easily over- take it again. This last was the course usually adopted by the writer and other Europeans, who were unprovided with drinking vessels, and to whom the difference of time was of no importance ; as they were not practised in that facile and cleanly use of the hand in drinking which was so easy to the natives, and which scarcely interrupted their progress. This explanation may help to shew how the distinction operated, and why those who ' lapped, putting their hand to their mouth,' were considered to evince an alacrity and readiness for action which peculiarly fitted them for the service on which Gideon was engaged. 10. ' Go thou with Phnrah thy servant down to the host.' — The ideas of the Hebrews concerning the character of a spy were very different from those which prevail in mo- dern Europe. The oflice was usually undertaken either by the commander-in-chief himself, or by some other per- son of high consideration. Joshua and Caleb were among those sent as spies into Canaan; and now Gideon is in- structed to undertake the same office. It was much the same among the Greeks : indeed there are some lines in the tenth book of the Iliad which seem rather a striking illustration of this passage. In a night consultation among the Grecian kings and chiefs, about the operations of the following day, Nestor inquired whether there was no chief whom the prospect of the glorious recompense of ' Extensive as the heav'ns, and fair reward,' would not induce to undertake the perilous duty of pn ceediug as a spy to the Trojan camp ? The task w; accepted by Diomede in these words : ' I, Nestor, feel such courage; and myself Will enter Ilium's host, encamp'd so nigh ; But shall adventure with a livelier hope. }ES. [B.C. 12-49. And be embolden'd much, some valiant friend Advent'ring with me ; for a friend may spy Advantage ere myself, and may advise Its happiest uses overseen by me. He ceased, and willing to partake his toils Aro.se no few.' Among these were some of the most distinguished princes in the host, as both the Ajaxes, Menelaus, and Ulysses. From the various candidates for the distinction, Aga- memnon advised Diomede to select whichever he consi- dered the most deserving and best able to assist him, without respect to pedigree or power. He accordingly chose Ulysses ; and the two proceeded together on their glorious enterprise. The sequel is minutely related. After gaining some infotmation by the way from a counter-spy, whom they afterwards slew, they proceeded to the place where the Thracian allies of the Trojans lay encamped. ' They, wearied, slept profound ; beside them lay, In triple order regular arranged. Their radiant armour, and their steeds in pairs.' Among the sleepers, the two illustrious spies committed ter- rible havoc, and returned safely, and with rich spoil and important intelligence, to their own camp. Every one will also recollect the popularly-known in- stance, in our own history, of king Alfred, who did not think it beneath liis character to act as a spy, and who, under the disguise of a harper, went to the camp of the Danes, and remained there several days, caressed and un- suspected, making observations and collecting information which tended much to the success of his subsequent en- terprises. 12. ' Like iirasshoppers.' — Kather, ' like locusts,' which is here far more significant. — ' And their camels.' — This alone indicates the nomade or semi-nomade character of the Midianites. See the note on Num. xxxi. 2. That the Midianites abounded in camels at a comparatively late period, appears from Isa. Ix. 6 ; and indeed we generally hear something about camels whenever we meet with this people in Scripture. 13. M cake of barley bread tumbled into the host of Midian, and came unto a tent . . . and overturned it.' — To understand this, it is necessary to recollect that Gi- deon's force was in the hill of Moreh, and that the Mi- dianites were below in the valley. The barley-cake which the man saw in his dream, doubtless seemed to roll down the hill into the valley, overturning the tent with which it came in contact. 'This naturally enough connected it with Gideon, nor less so the apparent inadequacy of the cause to produce this result. If it had been a great stone, it would have been no wonder that the tent had been over- turned by it ; but that it should be overturned by a barley- cake seemed as little likely, in human probability, as that Gideon with his little band should overthrow the vast host of Midian. That it was not only a cake, but a barley-cake, seems a circumstance designed to shew more strongly the insignificance of the cause. And that it was so understood, seems to imply that wheat bread had already become the substantial food of the people, barley having become limited in its use as the food of cattle, and of the poorest classes of the community. It is generally stated, by old writers, that the use of barley was known before that of wheat; but it gradually sunk in importance when wheat came into extensive use ; so that ideas of poverty and de- gradation became associated with cakes of barley. Among the Bomans, cohorts and individual soldiers who miscon- ducted themselves were, among other punishments, allowed only barley bread for food, instead of wheat ; whence, among them also, bread of barley was associated with ideas of dishonour and insignificance. 16. ' Pitchers.' — Made of earthenware, so as to be easily broken. They were probably of the forms in use among the ancient Egyptians, as represented in the annexed en- graving, some of which were very well suited to the pur- pose for which they were on this occasion employtd, namely, for containing the lights until the proper time came for disclosing them. Chap. VII.] JUDGES. [B.C. 1249. — ' Lamps ' — Instead of lamps furnished -H-itli wicks and fed with oil, we are prohahlj to understand tordus or flambeaux, which ihc urigiual mil i-quallj i>.g..ifj, u.»Jc of tow and grease, or of resinous billets of wood, which would afford a flame much stronger and better suited to the open air when exposed. 20. ' Blew the trumpels, and brake the pitchers, and held the tamps in their left hands .... and Ihei/ cried, The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon.' — As the Midianites could not imagine that every man had a trumpet and a light, the noise of so many trumpets, the blaze of so many lights, with the crash of the broken pitchers from different quarters, must have conveyed to their minds the most ex- aggerated ideas of the numbers of the assailants by whom tliey seemed to be beset. Gideon's army would have been great indeed, if, as the Midianites must have supposed, the number of the fighting men had been in proportion to that of the trumpeters. This measure offers altogether one of the most curious stratagems to be met with in the history of military operations, and was well calculated to confuse, and excite a panic in an encampment of undisciplined nomades, whose confusion was probably increased by the alarm and fright of their numerous cattle. The Lord gave effect to this stratagem ; so that the host of Midian was discomfited without the Hebrews striking a blow. Their position was vi'ry singular, standing about the camp blowing till 11 iniiiip Is and holding their torches, as if to cncouiu ' ■ li lit to the fighting men whom the Midiiinr , ; ' i have entered their camp— while they n iL\ : • ' li-lu ^ulficient to enable their enemies to slay each otlu-r, but not enough to enable them to distin- guish that those whom they slew were not enemies, but friends. The war-cry was taken from the interpretation of the dream, ' The sword of Gideon,' to which Gideon, with his usual modesty, prefixed the name of the Lord — ' The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon.' 24. ' Take before them the waters.'— The fords of the Jordan to prevent the escape of the enemy across the river. This had been done before in the case of the Moabites ; and was the usual practice when the enemy belonged to the country east of the river. 2j. ' lirotiijhl the heads I, 1 , ,| t- i I' the superlative. The present ro\,i! ! l\ .1 r I I II 1 1. 1' quoted as an instance. It w.ii i I ■ MM by picking a nation, to ohi.iih ,i ii:,. 1 M 1 ..: I ,. II ;i ,1! :i|ipeared, when the late king of I'lrsia was .seen silting on his throne, with his numerous sons standing around him. 19. ' Ml/ brethren, even the sons of my mother.' — In coun- tries where polygamy is tolerated, the ties of brotherhood are, as might be expected, much more close and tender between those who arc born of the same mother than those who are connected only as children of the same father. Of this we have liad and shall have ample evidence in the sacred history. This explains why ' son of my mother ' was among the Hebrews, as now among the Arabs and othei-s, a far more endearing expi-ession than that of ' my brother," in the general sense. 20. ' He said unto Jether his firstborn. Up, and slay them.' — The Hebrews had no executioner. VVhen a man was guilty of homicide, the execution devolved on the next of kin, by riEht of blood-revenge : in other cases cri- minals were stoned by the people, the witnesses setting the Uhap. VIII.] JUDGES. [B.C. 1249—1209. example : aud when a king or chief ordered a persen to he put to death, the oiSce was performed hy the person to whom the command was given. And this was generally a person whose consideration in life bore some proportion to that of the person to be slain. Thus Solomon gave the commission to kill Joab, the commander-in-chief, to Beuaiah, a person of so much distinction as to be himself immediately promoted to the command which the death of Joab left vacant. In fact, the office even of a regular executioner is not by any means dishonourable in the East. The post of chief executioner is in most Oriental courts one of honour and distinction. When thus there was no regular executioner, it came to be considered a sort of honour to put a distinguished person to death ; and, on the other hand, the death itself was honourable in proportion to the rank of the person by whom the blow was inflicted. It was the greatest dishonour to perish by the hands of a woman or a slave. We see this feeling distinctly in the present narrative, where the two princes much prefer to die by Gideou's own hand than by that of a youth who had olitained no personal distinction. As to the hero's com- missioning his son to perform this office, it was perhaps partly to honour that son with the distinction of having slain two chief enemies of Israel; as well as because the rules of blood-revenge made it necessary that the execution of those who had slain their own brethren should cither be performed by himself, or by a member of his own family. It seems very probable, from all that transpires, that Oreb and Zecb had put the brethren of Gideon to death after they had takeu them captive, in the same way that they were themselves now slain. Verse 19, however, contains an in- teresting indication that there were exceptions to the general practice ; else Gideon would hardly have expected that the Midianites might have spared their brethren, or have said that, had they done so, he would have spared them. 22. ' Rule thou over us, loth thou, and thij son, and th'j son's son also.' — That is, they wanted him to be their king : and here it is that the Hebrews first indicate their desire to esta- blish an hereditary kingdom, forgetting the peculiar cha- racter of their government, and the high distinction which they enjoyed in having Jehovah for their sovereign. But the pious hero himself was mindful of it, replying in the true spirit of theocracy, ' I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you : the Lord shall rule over you.' All his sons were not, however, of his mind, and did not forget this offer — as we shall see in the next chapter. 24. ' Thei/ had golden earrings, because they were Ishmacl- iles.' — The Midianites were not properly Ishmaelites, being descended from another son of Abraham ; but having the same manner of life, and being much mixed with them, they might well be called so. The terms 'Ishmaelites' and ' Midianites ' are used indifferently, even so early as the time of Jacob (Gen. xxxvii. 25, 28). Probably all the kindred tribes which followed the same mode of life, and were much mixed with the Arabians, were called Ishmael- ites in the general sense. It is also probable that large numbers of real Ishmaelites acted with the Midianites on the present occasion, and some would restrict the present text to these. The present text might indeed be translated :^ ' Those slain, who were Ishmaelites, wore golden pendants.' The cut and note under Ex. xxxii. 2, shew that foreigners are represented in the sculptures as adorned with ear-rings. So in those of Persepolis, the Persians themselves are not represented with rings, but there is one group represented with large circular rings. From the difference of dress they are evidently not Persians, and, as the camel is asso- ciated with this group only, we may conclude them to be Arabians, and as such furnished with ear-rings. The Arabians certainly used them in the time of Mohammed ; but they are not now commonly worn by men. Perhaps the reason may be, that Mohammed prohibited rings of gold ; I -which gradually made them careless whether they had any. Mohammed, indeed, forbade all but silver ornaments to both sexes ; but in the end allowed women to wear gold or silver. This accounts for the fact that the modern Arabs do not exhibit such costly ornaments as the ancient Ishmael- ites. It seems, from what Mohammed says, that the men were, in his time, accustomed to wear some sorts of orna- ment which women only now display. One of his prohi- bitions affords a striking illustration of the present enume- ration of the Midiauite ornaments. ' Whosoever likes to put into the nose or ear of his friend a ring of hell-fire, tell hira to put on a gold ring ; and he who wishes to put on the neck of hisjrieud a chain of hell-fire, tell him to put on a chain of gold; and he who wishes to put on rings to his friend's «)n's(s of hell-fire, tell him to yut on golden ones; wherefore be it on to you to make your ornaments of silver.' ( Mischat- ul-Masabih, i. 355.) This rigid and repeated law made considerable alteration in the ancient ornaments of men. The smaller ones appear to have been generally given up, as a small quantity of silver is not of much value ; but the larger and more massive ornaments, being valuable even in silver, were retained. 26. ' A thousaiid and seven hundred shekels of gold.'— This quantity of gold would at the present time be worth 3113/. — ' Ornaments.'— The word is the same as that applied to the ' ornaments' of the camels (v. 21), and they seem to have been of the same form and material. ' Collars.' — This has been variously understood. The Targum thinks they were ' crowns ;' some make them to have been golden smelling-bottles, not to mention other renderings. The original word (nia'D^) literally means ' drops,' and is with considerable probability thought to denote ' ear-pendants,' called ' drops ' from the form which they bore. Some think that these ear-pendants were of pearls. ' Purple.-— See the note on Exod. xxxv. 35. The pre- sent is the first indication of purple as a royal colour. ' Chains .... about their camels' necAs.' Also y. 21, ' Ornaments .... on their camels' necks' — The Jewish com- mentators aud others think that they were in the form of a crescent, and were worn in honour of the moon (see Isa.ni. 18), which was a great object of worship among the Arabian tribes. We believe, indeed, that the semi-religious use of this figure by Mohammedans, the Arabs among the rest, is merely a relic of aucient idolatrous usage, the object of which Mohammed had the address to change. What- ever these ' ornaments ' were, they were doubtless of gold, like the chains afterwards mentioned. The ancient nations were fond of ornamenting their more spirited ridmg animals, whether camels or horses, with gold. At present in Persia a golden bridle, and a golden chain to hang over the horse's nose, form part of the furniture of the horse, which, with a dress of honour, kings and princes send as a present of state to ambassadors and other persons of high distinction. In Turkey and Egypt, also, chains of gold are used, on state occasions, by persons of high official station, in their horse furniture, connecting the bridle with the breastplate of the animal. 27. ' Gideon made an ephod; etc.— He had, when called to his high mission, been instructed to build an altar at the same place as this, which perhaps induced him to think himself authorized to have a sacerdotal establishment there, where sacrifices might be regularly performed; for this seems to be the meaning of the text, although some think that the ephod was merely a trophy commemorative of Israel's deliverance : if so, it was a very strange one. If the former be the right conjecture, the worship performed there was doubtless in honour of the true God, but was still improper and unauthorized. Even in his life-time it must have had the effect of withdrawing the attention of the people east of Jordan from the tabernacle of Shiloh, and so far tended to facilitate the step into positive idolatry which the people took after the death of Gideon. The probability that a sacerdotal establishment was formed is the more strong when we recollect that others were formed by Micah in Mount Ephraim (ch. xvii. 5-13), and by the Danites at Laish (ch. xviii. 29-31). [See note at ch. xviii. in Appendix.] 32. ' Gideon died.'— G\Aeon seems to have been a man eminently qualified for the high and difficult station to which he was called. Firm even to sternness, where the exhibition of the stronger qualities seemed necessary, and in war ' a mighty man of valour,' we are called upon in Chap. IX.] JUDGES. [B.C. 1209—1206. his case, more frequently than in any other wliich has occurred, to admire his truly courteous and self-retreating character, and that nice and difficult tact— difficult if not spontaneously itaturul—ia the management of men, which is a rarer and finer species of judgment, and by which he was intuitively taught to say the properest word, and do the properest deed, at the most proper time. This is the true secret of his ultimate popularity and influence, which much exceeded that enjoyed by any judge before him. 33. ' Baal-herith.' — This idol is named only here and in ix. 4, 46. The name means Covenant Lord, and with reference to this signification Bajil-berith has been com- pared to the Zeus "OpKios of the Greeks and the Deus I'idius of the Latins. Bochart and Creuzer suppose the name to mean ' God of Berytus ;' but there is no evidence that Berith does mean Berytus, which seems rather to be denoted by the name Berotbah in Kzek. xlvii. 16. CHAPTER IX. 1 Ahimelech htj conspliaaj with the ShechcmUes, and mxnier of his hrnlhren, is made king. 7 Jntham In/ a parable nimltdh lliem. and foirlelleth timr ruiii. •20 (! lioeii destroyed by tli( ■ ' !ih.' — M. Henry, in his I iiL'ly alleges tjiat no i I iliis time. He admits .:j I'l, Imt thinks they had -iut out when the king his father died, he was now trying liow he should be able to do without them. The uncle and predecessor of this lad's father secured the throne to the nephew whom he loved by Abimeiech's process. ' He had,' he used to say, ' raised a royal palace, and cemented it with blood, that the boy Baba Khan (the name he always gave his nephew) mirfit sleep within its walls in peace.' — ' 'flireescoTe and ten persons.' — Besides these seventy sons, Gideon had doubtless a proportionate number of daughters. Such enormous families arc not unexampled in tlic East. The kinp; mentioned in the preceding note, I'liii.li AH Shih, ihe nephew of the blood-spiller and r.ili.r oi iIm 1 o\ \\ lin expected to be blinded, had a much Lir-. I i;iiiiil\ ilijii iliis. He also, like Gideon, 'had many \M\is' jiha)'. Mil. :;ii). To have many, is a piece of state in Oriental kings and rulers : but it is not always attended with such numerous families. Solomon, who in this respect was exceeded by no Oriental monarch, is not known to have had more than one son. 6. 'All Ihe house of Millo.'— The word Nl^D millo means ' a mound ' or ' rampart,' so called (from the verb N7O mala, ' to fill ') as being filled in with stones and earth ; hence it also denotes a fortress or castle, which is doubtless the sense here, so that the term must be taken to denote the fortress or citadel of Shechem. Accordingly, Gesenius renders the clause: 'AH the men of Shechem, and all that dwelt in the castle.' The same terra is even- tually applied to a part of the citadel of Jerusalem, pro- bably the rampart or entrenchment. — ' Bi/ the plain.' — The marginal 'oak' is right In like manner English councils were formerly held under wide spreading oaks. Thus Augustine, the first Arch- bishop of Canterbury, met the British bishops umler an oak Chap. IX.] JUDGES. I^B.C. 1209—1206. in Worcestershire, which was therefore called, as Bede tells us, Augustine's Oak. Aud Harkshire has its name, as it were Bare-oak-shire, from a large dead oak, in the forest of Windsor, where they continued to hold provincial councils near its trunk, as had been done more anciently under its extensive and flourishing branches. (Hody's Enylish Councils.) 7. ' Stood in the top of mount Gerizim, and lifted up his voice.' — In some places the precipices of Gerizim seem to overhang the town, so that Jotbam's voice floating over the valley from one of the summits of Gerizim might easily be heard by a quiet audience eagerly listening in the plain below. See the note on 1 Sam. xxvi. 13. 8. ' TJie trees went forth on a time to anoint a hing over them,' etc. — Here we have the most ancient apologtie ex- tant ; and yet one so complete and beautiful as to shew that this pleasing form of conveying instruction had long before been known and practised. The Greeks claimed to be the inventors of the apologue ; but this ancient parable of Jotham would alone suffice to throw their claim to the ground, as its antiquity ascends far higher than the times to which their accounts would refer the origin of instructive fable. Indeed, modern researches, guided by a more intimate acquaintance with Oriental literature than Europe ever before possessed, tend to shew, that not only was the apologue of Oriental origin, but that the main stock of European fable may be traced to the East. There such little fictions continue to instruct those who would not listen to, or perhaps woulil not understand, abstract rea- sonings or direct address. It is probable that such a mode of instruction is about the most ancient of any. It is easy to trace its origin to the period when languages were poor in terms for the expression of ideas, and for discriminating the shades of sentiment and thought, which therefore obliged men to reason from natural objects. And this custom, being once introduced, was retained, even when languages became more copious in abstract terms ; because it was found that only in this veiled form could wholesome truths gain admittance to the ear of power, on the one hand, or be rendered acceptable or intelligible to the un- reasoning multitude, on the other. Hence it has happened in the East — and not in the East only — that the sternest purposes of power have been averted, and lessons of justice and mercy inculcated, by a timely and pointed fable, where open remonstrance or rebuke would not have failed to give such ofience, or to provoke such indignation, as would have ruined the incautious reprover. Instauces are also recorded, in which even excited multitudes have hem soothed, and have consented to receive, through a well framed fable, lessons of moderation and prudence, which able reasoners and eloquent deelaimers might have en- deavoured vainly to instil. A short fable is also more easily remembered, and the ' moral ' along with it, than tlie moral alone expressed in abstract terms ; and hence it is that the apologue has so often been chosen as the vehicle through which to transmit wholesome general truths and important precepts for moral guidance, or for the inculca- tion of doctrines. Fables thus variously intended, are all exemplified in the Sacred Scriptures. There we have them as employed to reprove kings, to admonish multitudes, and to instruct disciples. Our Lord himself did not dis- dain to employ them. They are all perfect of their kind ; nearly all of them are very short; and in most instances, as in that now before us, the application is made by the speaker. We may regard them as specimens of a mode of instruction aud admonishment which must obviously have been common among the Hebrews. With respect to the present fable, we only need cite the following remarks of Dr. Hales : ' For their ingratitude to the house of Gideon, the Shechemites were indignantly upbraided by Jotham, in the oldest and most beautiful apologue of antiquity extant — the trees choosing a hing. With the mild and unassuming dispositions of his pious aud honourable brethren, declining, like their father, we may suppose, the crown, when offered to them perhaps successively, under the imagery of the olive-tree, the fig- tree, and the vine, he pointedly contrasts the upstart am- bition and arrogance of the wicked and turbulent Abime- lech, represented by the bramble ; inviting his new and nobler subjects, the cedars of Lebanon, to put their trust in his pigmy shadow, which they did not want, and which lie was unable to afford them ; but threatening them im- periously, on their refusal, to send forth a fire from himself to devour those cedars : whereas, the fire of the bramble was short and momentary even to a proverb, Ps. Iviii. 9 ; Eccl. vii. C 9. ' Olive tree ' (n?l zailh, Olea Europo'a).— The olive seems to have been originally a native of Asia, whence it was transplanted into Egypt and Barbary and the south of Europe. The wood is hard-grained and heavy, and not liable to be assailed by insects. Its colour is yellowish, veined, and of an agreeable odour, while its texture ren- ders it susceptible of a fine polish. The appearance of the olive-tree is not unlike that of our willows, as the leaves are lance-shaped, or narrow, and hoary. The fruit, when ripe, is like a damson to the eye, with a soft oleagi- nous pulp, and a hard nut in the centre. Cultivation has produced several varieties of olive, which differ in their fatness and savour. The olive was consecrated to Minerva by the Athenians, who regarded the culture aud protection of the olive tree as a religious duty. In some parts of France, the inhabitants eat the berries of the olive with their bread, and find them an agreeable and wholesome condiment. The olive in general requires a little prepara- tion in brine or hot water, to dissipate the bitter principle which it contains, though a variety, which is very uncom- mon in France, is so sweet that it may be eaten at once. It is probable that the olives of Judaea, when in its pros- perity, were of this character, and formed to the inhabitants a pleasant accompaniment to the more substantial articles of their (' " " ' "" daily food. The oil of the olive is pre-( long vegetable oils, and has not only always had an ex- tensive use in culinary purpt^ses, but formed the menstruum or vehicle for the most celebrated perfumes. 1.3. ' 3fi/ wine, which cheereth God and man.'— Wme is here expressed as cheering God, because it was used in the sacrifices and offerings made to him. In the same way we must explain verse 9, where God is said to be honoured by olive-oil,— it being used in sacrifices, and for other purposes connected with his service. Chap. IX.] [B.C. 1209—1206. 14. 'Bramble' (IDX Atad; Sept. ^ciwi-os ; Vulg. Jiliam- n»s).— This was probably a species of buckthorn, perhaps the Zizi/phiis vulgaris, which is a native of Syria and Palestine, whence it migrated into Europe in the reign of Augustus Caesar. Many of the buckthorn family are re- markable for the length and abundance of their spines, which are the transformed stipulje. The fruit of the cue before us is an edible drupe, a pulpy mass with a two- seeded nut in the centre. Its comparative fruitfulness gave it a specious claim to be counted the king of trees, while the singularly combustible nature of its wood sug- gested the idea of that ' fire ' which was to come forth and consume the disaffected. 21. ' Beer.' — The word Beer, whether alone or in com- pound names, denotes a well. The Beer of the present text is not named in any other place : it was in the tribe of Judah. Eusebius places it eight Roman miles north of Eleutheropolis. This is probably an error, as he also stjates that it becomes visible at the seventh Roman mile on the road from Nicopolis to Jerusalem, which canuot be true of a town situated as he indicates ; but is trae of a place still bearing the corresponding name el-Bireh, which, since Maundrell's time, has been identified with Beer. Eusebius probably wrote ' Eleutheropolis ' for ' Je- rusalem ;' for the place in question is nearly at the expressed distance, northward, from the latter city. Bireh is mentioned, uuder the name of Bira, by Brocard, in whose time it was held by the Templars. By the Cru- saders and the later ecclesiastics it was erroneously con- founded with the ancient Michmash. Bireh is situated on the ridge, running from east to west, which bounds the northern prospect as beheld from Jerusalem and its vicinity, and may be seen from a great distance north and south. It is now a large village, with a population of 700 Moslems. The houses are low, and many of them half under ground. Many large stones and various substruc- tions evince the antiquity of the site ; and there are re- mains of a fine old church of the time of the Crusades. 22. * Abimelech . . . reigned . , . oyer Israel.' — It is pro- bable that his authority did not at first extend much be- yond the city of Shechem, which had made him king; but by gradual encroachments he seems to have extended his authority over the neighbouring towns and territories, compelling them to acknowledge his power, as we find him in v. 50 warring against Thebez, in the tribe of Ephraim, as a rebellious city, that seems to have refused submission to him. 23. ' God sent an evil spirit,' etc. — As the circumstances which follow are somewhat complicated and obscure, the following connected statement of this portion of the history from our Pictorial History of Palestine will spare the need of many separate annotations : — Abimelech reigned three years in Shechem, during which he so disgusted the men by whom he had been raised to that bad eminence on which he stood, that they expelled him from their city. In return, he, with the aid of the desperate fellows who remained with him, did his utmost to distress the inhabitants, so that at the season of vintage they were afraid to go out into their vineyards to collect their fruits. Hearing of these transactions, one Gaal went over to Shechem with his armed followers and kinsmen, to see how they might be turned to his advantage. We know not precisely who this person was, or whence he came; but there are circumstances in the original nar- rative which would suggest that he was a Canaanite, de- scended from the former rulers of Shechem, and that his people also were a remnant of the original Shcchemites. He came so opportunely, that the people very gladly ac- cepted his protection during the vintage. In the feasts which followed the joyful labours of that season, Gaal, who seems to have been a cowardly, boasting fellow, spoke contemptuously of Abimelech, and talked largely of what he I'l.iiia ;iii«l wiuild lUi. if aiuliorily were vested in hini. 'I'liis «:ls U..m\ «itli uiu.l, iiMi-nation by Zebul, one of tljr piiiiri|.;il iiiiiL^i-lrat.s ..f ilir eity, who lost no time in sccrrtly sc iidini; tu ;ip|irisi' Alniii.lech how mat- ters stood, and ailvisid Iiim to shew himself suddenly be- 'IC fore the place, when he would undertake to induce Gaal to march out against him. Accordingly, one morning, when Zebul and other principal persons were with Gaal at the gate of the city, armed men were seen descending the hills. Zebul amused Gaal till they came nearer, and then, by reminding him of his recent boastings, compelled him to draw out his men to repel the advance of Abime- lech. They met, and no sooner did Gaal see a few of his men fall, than, with the rest, he fled hastily into the town. Zebul availed himself of this palpable exhibition of im- potence, if not cowardice, to induce the people of Shechem to expel Gaal and his troop from the city. Abimelech, who was staying at Arumah, a place not far off, was in- formed of this the next morning, as well as that the inha- bitants, although no longer guarded by Gaal, went out daily to the labours of the field. He therefore laid am- bushes in the neighbourhood; and when the men were come forth to their work in the vineyards, two of the am- bushed parties rose to destroy them, while a third hastened to the gates to prevent their return to the town. The city itself was then taken, and Abimelech caused all the buildings to be destroyed, and the ground to be strewn with salt, as a symbol of the desolation to which his in- tention consigned it. The fortress, however, still re- mained, and a thousand men were iu it. But they, fancy- ing that it was not tenable, withdrew to the stronghold, which had the advantage of standing in a more elevated and commanding position. On perceiving this, Abimelech cut down the bough of a tree with his battle-axe, and bore it upon his shoulder, directing all his men to do the same. The wood was deposited against the entrance and walls of the fortress, and, when kindled, made a tremendous fire, in which the building and the thousand men it contained iu it were destroyed. 45. ' Beat down the city, and sowed it with salt.' — Virgil is sometimes quoted in illustration of this practice : — ' Salt earth and bitter are not fit to sow. Nor will be turn'd or mended with the plough.' It is no doubt true, as he says, that a naturally salt and bitter soil is not productive : but merely strewing fertile laud with salt is not calculated to make it unproductive. Besides, there would have been no meaning in strewing with salt a demolished city, with the view of rendering it unproductive, because a town is not intended for culture, but for building. As, however, lands have been rendered utterly sterile by saline admixture or incrustation, salt might well be taken to symbolize the desolation to which the city was doomed. Or else, as salt was used iu the confirmation of covenants, this act may possibly have beeu part of a ceremony by which the city was doomed to be rebuilt no more, so far as the interdiction of the destroyer could have effect. This ceremony was not peculiar to the Jews. When Hadrian levelled Jerusalem with the ground, he caused salt to be strewed on the site it had occupied : and when, at a period much more modern (1 102), the em- peror Frederic Barbarossa destroyed Milan, he not only ploughed it up (another Hebrew practice), but strewed it with salt, in memory of which, a street of the present city is called Contrado della Sala. Sigonius, De liegn. Ilal. 1. 13, 14. 48. ' Afount Zalmon.'— The name means ' shady,' and from what follows it would appear to have derived it from being well clad with wood. It is perhaps another name for Ebal or Gerizim, or possibly a collective name for both, as there are no other high mountains in the neighbourhood of Shechem. 50. ' Thebez.' — This place was in the region of Shechem, and Eusebius and Jerome describe it as thirteen Roman miles distant from the latter towards Scythopolis or Beth- shean. In this quarter there still exists a village of the name of Tubas, which may perhaps represent this ancient site. 51. 'A strong tower within the city.'— This was doubt- less a sort of citadel, such as exists m most considerable towns of Western Asia, and which serves the people as a last retreat when the town is taken by an enemy, and Chap. X.] where the people in authority shut themselves up ou oc- casions of popular tumult. In some parts we have seen such towers in the open country, where the neighbournig peasantry may deposit their more valuable property, or themselves take refuge when the approach of an enemy or of a plundering tribe is expected. 53. ' A piece of a m(7/sione.'— Literally ' the rider, as the upper millstone from its riding or revolving upon the lower. The Eastern hand-mill consists of two Hat round stones, about two feet in diameter, which they rub one on the other by means of an upright pin infixed as a handle near the edge of the upper stone. In the operation of JUDGES. [B.C. 1206— nei. grinding, the corn falls down on the under stone through a hole in the middle of the upper, wliicli by its circular motion spreads it on the under stone, where it is bruised and reduced to fiour ; this flour working out of the rim of tlie millstones lights on a board set on purpose to receive it. If, as is usual, a woman were working such a mill on the roof of the tower, she would naturally be prompted, in defence of herself and people, to run to the battlements with the rider millstone ; which, let fall on the head of Abimelech, would inevitably fracture his scull. — ' And all to brake his scull.' — According to the pre- sent use of language this would seem rather to express intention than the result of action; but it does express the latter, as the past tense (brake) of the verb ' to break ' indi- cates. 'All to,' in many of our old writers, means 'altogether' or 'entirely,' and is so used here. So the meaning is, ' and entirely brake his scull.' Without nderstanding this. jies of our version hav changed it, to indicate intention, by substituting 'break' for 'brake.' The death of Pyrrhus at Argos, as told liy Plutarch, resembles, in many of its circumstances, this account of the death of Gideon's unworthy son. The women in the East are often very active in throwing all sorts of missiles, such as bricks, tiles, and stones, from the walls of besieged places. 54. ' That men say not of me, A wojnan slew him.' — It was, in ancient times, accounted in the highest degree dis- honourable for a warrior to die by the hands of a woman ; and certainly, military men would not, even now, count it in any respect an honourable death. Burder quotes, in illustration of this, Seneca the tragedian, who thus deplores the death of Hercules : — ' O turpe fatum ! foemina Ilerculere necis Auctor fertur.' — Here. CEta:us,v. 1177. ' O dishonourable fate ! a woman is reported to have caused the death of Hercules.' Abimelech's device, to avoid this dishonourable fate, availed hiin Utile; for nearly three centuries afterwards we find his death ascribed to the woman who threw the piece of miUstone from the wall. 2 Sam. xi. 21. CHAPTER X. I Tola jmlc/eth Israel in Shamir. 3 Jair, whose thirty sons had thirty cities. 7 Tlie Philistines and Ammonites oppress Israel. 10 In their misery God sendeth them to their fahe gods. 15 Upon their repentance he pilieth them. And after Abimelech there arose to 'defend^ Israel Tola the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar ; and he dwelt in Shamir in mount Ephraini. 2 And he judged Israel twenty and three years, and died, and was buried in Shamir. ?> U And after him arose Jair, a Gileadite, and judged Israel twenty and two years. 4 And he had thirty sons that rode on thirty ass colts, and they had thirty cities, wliich are called "Havoth-jair unto this day, which arc in the land of Gilead. 5 And Jair died, and was buried in Ca- mon. 6 U And 'the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim, and 'Ashtaroth, and the gods of Syria, and the gods of Zidon, and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the children of Am- mon, and the gods of the Philistines, and forsook the Lord, and served not him. 7 And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the ' Or, tk'.iver. 2 Ik-b. mre. 3 Or. !l,e t'lllngrs ,,/Jidr. hands of the Philistines, and into the hands of the children of Amnion. 8 And that year they vexed and ''oppressed the children of Israel eighteen years, all the children of Israel that ivere on the other side Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead. 9 Moreover the children of Ammon passed over Jordan to fight also against Judah, and against Benjamin, and against the house of Ephraim ; so that Israel was sore distressed. 10 H And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, saying. We have sinned against thee, both because we have forsaken our God, and also served Baalim. 11 And the Lord said unto the children of Israel, Did not / deliver i/oii from the Egyptians, and from the Amorites, from the children of Ammon, and from the Philistines ? 12 The Zidonians also, and the Amalek- ites, and the Maonites, did oppress you ; and ye cried to me, and I delivered you out of their hand. 13 'Yet ye have forsaken me, and served other gods : wherefore I will deliver you no more. 14 Go and cry xuito the gnds which ye have chosen ; let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation. Chap. XI.:| [B.C. 1161—114.3. 15 IT And the' children of Israel .said unto the Lord, ^\'e have sinned : do thou unto us whatsoever "seeraeth good unto thee ; deliver us only, we pray thee, this day. 16 And they put away the 'strange gods from among them, and served the Lord : and his soul '"was grieved for the misery of Israel. 17 If Then the children of Amnion were "gathered together, and encamped in Gilead. And the children of Israel assemhled them- selves together, and encamped in Mizpeh. 18 And the people and princes of Gilead said one to another, \\'hat man is he that will begin to fight against the children of Amnion ? ho shall "be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead. eh. irtis s/iorttned. 1 1 llch. crivd tii^cthiT, IS Cllnp. 11.8. Vei-se 4. • T/iat rode on th irti/ ass colts, and the Uvh. be tlu- hear 43 Ammon made war acrainst Israel, the elders of Gilead went to fetch Jephthah out of the land of Tob : 6 And they said unto Jephthah, Come, and be our captain, that we may tight with the children of Ammon. 7 And Jephthah said unto the children of Gilead, Did not ye hate inc, and expel me out of my father's house ? and why are ye come unto me now when ye are in distress ? 8 And the elders of Gilead said unto Jephthah, Therefore we turn again to thee now, that thou mayest go with us, and fight against the children of Ammon, and be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead. y And Jephthah said unto the elders of Gilead, If ye bring me home again to light against the children of Amnion, and the Lord deliver them before me, shall I be your head ? 10 And the elders of Gilead said unto Jephthah, The Loud ''Ik' witness between us, if we do not so according to thy words. t. s \Uh. fmmllic /ace. i lUh. after dni/s. Chap. XL] JUDGES. [B.C. 1161—114.3. 11 Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and captain over them : and Jephthah uttered all his words before the Lord in Mizpeh. 12 If And Jephthah sent messengers unto the king of the children of Ammon, saying, What hast thou to do with me, that thou art come against me to fight in my land ? 13 And the king of the children of Am- mon answered unto the messengers of Jeph- thah, "Because Israel took away my land, when they came up out of Egypt, from Arnon even unto Jahbok, and unto Jordan : now therefore restore those lands again peace- ably. 14 And Jephthah sent messengers again unto the king of the children of Amnion : 15 And said unto him. Thus saith Jeph- thah, 'Israel took not away the land of Moab, nor the land of the children of Am- raon : 16 But when Israel came up from Egypt, and walked through the wilderness unto the Red sea, and came to Kadesh ; 17 Then "Israel sent messengers imto the king of Edom, saying. Let me, I pray thee, pass through thy land : but the king of Edom would not hearken thereto. And in like manner they sent unto the king of Moab : but he would not consent : and Israel abode in Kadesh. 18 Then they went along through the wilderness, and compassed the land of Edom, and the land of Moab, and came by the east side of the land of Moab, and pitched on the other side of Arnon, "but came not within the border of Moab : for Arnon was the border of Moab. 19 And '"Israel sent messengers vmto Sihon king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon ; and Israel said unto him. Let us pass, we pray thee, through thy land into my place. 20 But Sihon trusted not Israel to pass through his coast : but Sihon gathered all his people together, and pitched in Jahaz, and fought against Israel. 21 And the Lord God of Israel delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they smote them : so Israel pos- sessed all the land of the Amorites, the in- habitants of that country. 22 And they possessed "all the coasts of the Amorites, from Arnon even unto Jabbok, and from the wilderness even unto Jordan. 23 So now the Lord God of Israel hath dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel, and shouldest thou possess it ? 24 Wilt not thou possess that which Che- mosh thy god giveth thee to possess ? So whomsoever the Lord our God shall drive out from before us, them will we possess. 25 '"'And now art thou any thing better than Balak the son of Zippor king of Moab ? did he ever strive against Israel, or did he ever fight against them, 26 ^Vhile Israel dwelt in Heshbon and her towns, and in Aroer and her towns, and in all the cities that be along by the coasts of Arnon, three hundred years ? why there- fore did ye not recover them within that time ? 27 A\1ierefore I have not sinned against thee, but thou doest me wrong to war against me : the Lord the Judge be judge this day between the children of Israel and the chil- dren of Amnion. 28 Ilowbeit the king of the children of Ammon hearkened not unto the words of Jephthah which he sent him. 29 1[ Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah, and he passed over Gilead, and Manasseh, and passed over Mizpeh of Gilead, and from Mizpeh of Gilead he passed over unto the children of Ammon. 30 And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the Lord, and said. If thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands, 31 Then it shall be, that "whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the Lord's, "and I will ofl'er it up for a burnt offering. 32 If So Jephthah passed over unto the children of Ammon to fight against them : and the Lord delivered them into his hands. 33 And he smote them from Aroer, even till thou come to Minnith, even twenty cities, and unto '■'the plain of the vineyards, with a very great slaughter. Thus the children of Ammon were subdued before the childien of Israel. 34 If And Jephthah came to Mizpeh unto his house, and, behold, his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances : and she was his only child ; '" "beside her he had neither son nor daugiiter. 35 And it came to pass, when he saw her, Num. 2\. 13, andt-'2. 36. 10 Deut. 9. 2fl. n nciit. 2. ■!«. (unct/t Jhrllt, which sUalt come furih. '^ Or, or I wilt itff'cr it, &c f either sonvrdmightur. 17 lleh. of himself. 4'.) Chap. XL] [B.C. 1161—1143. that he rent his clothes, and said, Alas, my daughter ! thou hast brought me very low, and thou art one of them that trouble me : for I have opened my mouth unto the Lord, and I cannot go back. 36 And she said unto him. My father, if thou hast opened thy mouth unto the Lord, do to me according to that which hath pro- ceeded out of thy mouth ; forasmuch as the Lord halli taken vengeance for thee of thine enemies, even of the children of Ammon. 37 And she said unto her father, Let this thing be done for me : let me alone two months, that I may '°go up and down upon the mountains, and bewail my virginity, I and my fellows. 38 And he said, Go. And he sent her a way /or two months: and she went with her companions, and bewailed her virginity upon the mountains. 39 And it came to pass at the end of two months, that she returned unto her father, who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed : and she knew no man. And it was a "custom in Israel, 40 That the daughters of Israel went "yearly "to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in a year. ' Ue\). from year to year. 21 Ot, to talk wil/t. Verse 3. ' Tltere were gathered vain men to Jephthah, and went out with him.' — The meaning of this obviously is that Jephthah, being without any inheritance or family con- nections to afford him a subsistence, and being expelled from his native place, became an adventurer ; and his character having brought around him a number of brave but idle men, perhaps, similarly circumstanced, he, for his own and their support, as well as to establish the repu- tation he had previously acquired, made predatory incur- sions into the neighbouring countries. This is meant by ' going out with him.' Probably they went out particu- larly iuto the land of the Ammonites, to retaliate the in- cursions which the latter made into Israel ; and this would naturally lead the people to look to Jephthah, when they wanted a military leader. The mode of life here indi- cated is precisely that followed by David, when his repu- tation brought around him men of similar character to these followers of Jephthah. This kind of predatory life is very far indeed from being considered dishonourable in the East. On the contrary, the fame thus acquired is thought as fair as any that can be obtained through any class of military operations. An Arab or a Tartar desires no higher or brighter fame than that which he may thus acquire : and to make that fame unsullied, it is only neces- sary that his expedition should not be against his own nation or his own tribe. The associations formed by the Arabs and Tartars for such purposes are seldom of longer duration than the particular expedition ; and we therefore think that the most striking illustration of the state of things here and elsewhere indicated, may be derived from the account which Tacitus gives of the manners of the ancient Germans. When a warrior had acquired reputa- tion for courage and conduct, young men became emulous of placing themselves under so distinguished a leader, and resorted to him, forming a retinue of bold volunteers who felt bound to do their chief lionour by their exploits to defend him with their lives, and not to survive him if slain. This band gave distinction and power to the chief himself ; and rendered him often so formidable, that nei{.'lih(mriiig tribes and nations cultivated his favour by eniliassiis ami presents, and obstinate and cruel wars were often terniiiiated by his interposition. All the retinue lived at the expense of their leader, who provided a plain but plentiful table for them; and also from time to time made them valuable presents. This involved great ex- pense ; to support which he kept his troop almost continu- ally enf;nf;id in invasions and plundering expeditions aiiiiiiiK tin- Mi-iglibouring nations — or, in short, in the same kind (if niilit;iiy freebooting which Jephthah and David pr.ictised— and through which alone they could keep up the state of a general, and maintain a character for libe- rality to their band. They, like the Orientals, did not account the act of pillaging base, while carried on beyond the limits of their own tribe or nation : on the contrary. they considered it a laudable and glorious emplpyment for their youth, which procured them reputation, and pre- served them from indolence and inaction. Some similar feelings may be discovered in the border 'forays' which were carried on on the frontiers of England and Scotland, even at times when the two nations were at peace. Another source which contributed to enable these old German cap- tains to support their retinue, was found in the voluntary contributions of the people of the district which was pro- tected by their valour. These contributions consisted chiefly of corn and cattle ; and were of the greatest ser- vice in assisting them to furnish their troops with pro- visions. The Hebrew leaders of the same class expected the same assistance ; as we see by the instance of David, who sent some of his men to Carmel to ask the rich Nabal to send him provisions, grounding the demand on the safety and protection which the shepherds had enjoyed while his troop had been in the neighbourhood. These details may assist us in understanding the position which Jephthah occupied before he was called to lead the army against the Ammonites, and which David filled while the persecutions of Saul made him a wanderer. 13. ' Because Israel took awatj my land.' — See the note on Deut. ii. 19. 15. ' Thus saith Jephthah.' — Jephthab's reply gives a fair and clear recital of the whole transaction which had placed these lands in the possession of the Israelites, and he refuses to surrender them on the following grounds: — 1. He denied that the Ammonites had any existing title to the lands, for they had been driven out of these lands by the Amorites before the Hebrews appeared ; and that they (the Hebrews), in overcoming and driving out the Amor- ites without any assistance from or friendly understand- ing with the Ammonites, became entitled to the territory which the conquered people occupied. 2. That the title of the Israelites was confirmed by a prescription of above three hundred years, during which none of Ammon or of Moab had even reclaimed these lands: and, 3. As an argnmentum ad Jiomincm, he alleged that the God of Isi-ael was as well entitled to grant his people the lands which they held as was their own god Cheniosh, accord- ing to their opinion, to grant to the Ammonites the lands which they now occupied. This admirable and well rea- soned statement concluded with an appeal to Heaven to decide the justice of the cause by the event of the battle which was now inevitable. 1 7. ' In like manner they sent unto the king of Moab.'— Of this deputation to Moab, no account is given anywhere else; but the Jewish commentators observe that it is clearly intimated by Moses himself, in Deut. ii. 29, ' As the children of Esau who dwelt in Seir, and the Moabites which dwelt in Ar, did unto me;" which they, with reason, interpret to mean that, as the children of Esau would not, wheu applied to, sufler the Israelites to pass through their Chap. XL] JUDGES. [B.C. IIGI— 114.3. land, so neither would the iMoabites when the same request was made to them. 30. ' Jepldhah vowed a vom.' — It was usual among most ancient nations, at the commencement of a war or battle, to vow to some particular god that, if the undertaking were successful, large sacrifices should burn upon his altar, or temples be erected in his honour. We have instances of this as well in the histories of Greece and Rome, as in those of Oriental nations. Concerning the vow now before us many volumes have been written ; the point of interest being to determine whether Jephthah really did sacrifice his daughter, or only devoted her to perpetual celibacy, as consecrated to Jehovah. We have anxiously considered this question ; and feel so much difficulty in arriving at a decided opinion, that we shall express none, except on one or two points which may be considered as established be- yond dispute. For the rest, we sliall give what we con- ceive to be the strongest arguments on both sides of the question, leaving the reader to form his own conclusions as to their comparative value. We may as well state - here, however, that the balance of authority, Jewish and Christian, seems considerably to incline in favour of the common impression, which is, that Jephthah really did offer his daughter as a sacrifice to Jehovah. We must not, however, take the balance of authority for more than it is worth ; and need not hamper the question, by giving undue preponderance to that conclusion which it seems rather to 31. ' Whatsoecer Cometh forth of the doors of mu house to meet me .... shall surelij he the Lord^s, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.' — By comparing this read- ing with tiiat in the margin, it will be seen that two very different versions are given, through a very slight verbal variation. The sense depends upon whether, at the com- mencement of the last clause, we shall render the prefix 1 as ' and ' conjunctive, or ' or ' disjunctive. We may do either ; but ' and' is the most usual sense, perhaps because, in writing, the conjunctive ' and' is more frequently re- quired than the disjunctive ' or.' In most cases, the con- text enables us to determine which is to be understood ; but the present is one of the few instances in which the context does not discriminate the particle, but the particle determines the meaning of the text. In this dilemma our translation puts ' and' in the text, and ' or' in the margin. The reader will easily perceive the resulting difference in the meaning. If we take the and, it sanctions the opinion that Jephthah did sacrifice his daughter ; because then his vow only imports, that whatever came forth to meet him should be the Lord's, by being offered up in sacrifice to Him, and does not imply any alternative. Whereas the or does imply an alternative, and says, in effect, that what- ever came forth to meet him should be sacrificed as a burnt offering, if fit for sacrifice ; but, if not, should be conse- crated to God. Now there is no question that the latter form of the vow contained nothing contrary to the law ; but that the former was most decidedly opposed to it. Jephthah could not but be aware of the probability that he might be met by a human being, or by some animal declared by the law to be unclean and unfit for sacrifice. A vow which involved such a contingency could not be lawful; particularly as human sacrifices are again and again interdicted with the strongest expressions of abhorrence and reprobation. But, on the other hand, it is alleged, that there was nothing to prevent human beings from being consecrated to God and the service of his tabernacle. Samuel was thus de- voted before his birth ; and in the division of the spoils in the first Midianitish war, we are told that the lord's tri- bute from the whole number of captive virgins was ' thirty- two persons.' These facts are said to explain the species of devotement which it was lawful to make. Jephthah's vow was therefore lawful, if we read the prefixed 1 as ' or,' but unlawful if we must read it as ' and.' There is then an interpretation under which the vow of Jephthah was lawful, and did not involve the necessity or proba- bility of human sacrifice. Such being the case, it is con- tended by those who advocate the milder view of the that this is the interpretation which we ought to adopt ; Jephthah being, from his devout and judicious conduct at the commencement of the war, apparently in- capable of an intention so grossly repugnant to the law of God as that which the other explanation supposes. With- out committing ourselves to a final opinion, we must con- fess that we concur with those who do not see the validity of this argument. It may be granted that the hero acted with the most devout intentions, without its being neces- sary to concede that he was so well instructed in the law of God as to be incapable of making an unlawful vow. Who was Jephthah ? — a man who before his expulsion seems to have led a bold, daring life, which obtained him the reputation of ' a mighty man of valour,' and which reputation enabled him, after he became a fugitive, to col- lect a troop of ' vain men,' which he formed into a band of freebooters, and became their captain. Moreover, he was bred up beyond Jordan, where the connection with the tabernacle and its observances was very loosely, if at all, maintained ; where the ephod of Gideon had been a snare to that hero, to his house, and to the people ; and where, after his death, the people had turned aside and made Baal-berith their god. Under these circumstances, it is not too much to suppose that the law had become very imperfectly known in general, and least of all to a man leading the kind of life which the brave Gileadite had led. It is highly probable that the people, during their idolatry, had offered human sacrifices, in imitation of their heathen neighbours who certainly did so; and Jephthah's mind being familiarized to the notion that such sacrifices were acceptable to the gods, mingled with a mis- understood recollection (facte being better retained than precepts) of Abraham's intended sacrifice of Isaac by divine command — there is nothing very violent in the notion that he may have contemplated the possibility of such a sacri- fice in pronouncing his vow. One thing seems certain, that whatever he intended, he could not be unaware that some human being might, quite as probably as an animal, be the first to come to meet him on his return home. In- deed, ' coming to meet him,' seems to imply an act which could scarcely be expected from any but a human being. That this human being would be his daughter was within the limits of possibility ; but we see from the result, that it was his secret hope that she might be spared. He did not, however, make her an exception, because the preva- lent notion was, that the offering, whether for sacrifice or living consecration, was the more acceptable in the same proportion that it was cherished and dear. We have stated these considerations to shew that the unlawfulness of the vow, under the common interpretation, cannot be, all the circumstances considered, admitted as a reason of such weight as to enable us to deny positively that Jephthah made such a vow. It does however enable us to deny, most decidedly, that such an oflering could be made upon God's altar, or by the high-priest, or by any regular and faithful member of the priesthood. It seems indeed almost superfluous to say that a human sacrifice could not take place at the Loid's proper altar, or be offered by his proper priest ; but perhaps it may not be superfluous to shew from the text, that if Jephthah did offer his daughter, it could not be at the tabernacle. It will be remembered that the tabernacle was at Shiloh, in the tribe of Ephraim. Now at the beginning of the next chapter, and immediately after the conclusion of the war with the Ammonites, we find Jephthah, who, from all we know, had never till then, or even then, been west of the Jordan, engaged in a bitter war with the Epiiraimites, which renders it in the highest degree improbable that he should, in the very heat of the quarrel, have gone into the heart of that tribe to offer such a sacrifice, even had it been lawful. That such a sacrifice was not offered at Shiloh, where only sacrifices to the Lord could legally be offered, does not however of itself prove that no such sacrifice was ofiered. If this unhappy chief was so igno- rant of the law as to think such a sacrifice acceptable to God, he may well have been guilty of the other fault, then actually a common one, of making his offering beyond XII.: JUDGES. [B.C. 1143—1112. the Jordan, where he was himself master— particularly as it would seem (see ch. viii. 27) that Gideon himself had given his sanction to this practice, and formed an esta- blishment for the purpose. In the course of the preceding observations we have included the paints we consider in- disputable, namely, that if such a sacrifice were made, it was contrary to the law of God — that it did not take place at the only lawful altar— and that it could not have had the sanction of the high-priest. [Appendix, No. 27.] 34. ' S/ie was his onli/ child.'— This circumstance is mentioned to point out a cause, besides paternal atiection, for the poignancy of his distress. It has been observed how intensely anxious the- Hebrews were for posterity, andas Jephthah I'liiilil ..uls Imi,,. i;,r 4. -r ndanU through his daughter, tli- i i ' , ' ■ 'l"'te natural, even under the mil I ' i ' '' ""■ .37. ' And bewuU ,:,'., . • ; - 1 in i~ ilmught astrong circumstance by those who mlie tlie milder view of Jeph- thah's rash vow. If she was to die, that might be ex- pected to have been mentioned as the circumstance to be bewailed ; but the text itself rather refers the regret to the loss of that hope of becoming ' a mother in Israel,' which every Hebrew woman cherished with the force of a passion. This may nevertheless be referred to her death ; since to die without having borne children, no less than to live without them, was the most lamentable fate which could befal a woman ; and on this circumstance she might the rather be supposed to dwell if really doomed to be sacrificed ; because she may have thought it unbecoming to allow herself to lament that which was to be an acknow- ledgment of Israel's deliverance ; but not at all so to be- wail the involved extinction of that hope, which, to the daughters of Israel, was dearer than life itself. 39. ' Who did with her according to his vow. ' — It is not said what he did ; and that she is not said to have been sacrificed, is considered good negative evidence that she was not. Neither view, however, can obtain much sup- port from this clause. It refers us back to the vow itself, the principal considerations connected with which we have already stated. — ' And slie knew no man.'—Jt Jephthah's daughter were sacrificed, it is alleged by those who think that she was not, that this remark would be frivolous. If she were, however, we do not see any puerility in directing our at- tention to what would doubtless have been considered as a most painful circumstance, namely, that the onli/ child of Jephthah had died without issue. 40. ' The daughters of Israel went yearhj to lame/it the daughter nf Jeplkhah. '—Uuch of the sense of the whole narrative' may be resolved into the interpretation of the word ni3n^ Ze(aHno(//, here translated 'to lament.' It is therefore rendered dififerently, according to the different opinions which are entertained. Those who think that she was sacrificed, are satisfied with our version; whereas others refer to that in the margin, ' to talk with ' — meaning that the daughters of Israel went yearly to condole with and entertain her. We can only say, without reference to any particular theory, that the word means, in the general sense, ' to praise or celebrate,' and would therefore denote that the daughters of Israel kept a four days' anniversary to commemorate this transaction, whatever were its result. In a secondary sense, certainly, the word does mean to rehearse or relate ; but this results from the former inter- pretation, recital of the deed celebrated being part of the act of celebration. To make this sense, which denotes recital, to mean conversation, as in the margin, seems rather forced. Recollecting the custom all over the East, for people to go once a year to lament over the graves of their deceased friends, this text seems rather to favour the idea that the daughter of Jephthah really died. We have thus gone over the subject, having no other anxiety than to shew, that if such sacrifice were really consummated, it was most decidedly against the law of God, and could not have been at his altar, or by his priest Further than this, the subject is perplexed with difficulties. Several writers think that the story of the sacrifice, or intended sacrifice, of Iphigenia, was taken from that which we have been considering. There is certainly a remark- able analogy of name ; Iphigenia being little different from Jephthigenia, or ' Jephthah's daughter.' Iphigenia was to have been sacrificed to propitiate Diana, by her father's direction. This determination being opposed, the damsel herself decided the matter, by declaring her readiness to die for the welfare of Greece. But at the moment of sacrifice she was saved by Diana, who substi- tuted a hind in her room, and transported her to Tauris, where she became a priestess of the goddess. This looks like a combination of the present narrative with the result of Abraham's intended sacrifice of Isaac. This, however, is only one out of several versions of Iphigenia's story. The one given by Cicero is more strikingly analogous : ' Aga- memnon had vowed to sacrifice to Diana the most beau- tiful object which should be born that year in his kingdom. Accordingly he sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia, because, in that year, nothing had been bom which exceeded her in beauty— a vow which he should rather not have per- formed than commit so cruel an action ' (^Offices, 1. iii. c. 2.5). A story still more strikingly illustrative is given by Servius in his note on the Aineid, iii. 121, in which he explains the reason why ' Fierce IdomenetLs, from Crete was fled, Expell'd and exiled.' He was king of Crete; and being, on his return from Troy, overtaken by a storm, he vowed that, if he should be saved, he would offer in sacrifice to the gods the first object that should meet him on his arrival. Most unhap- pily he was first met by his own son, and, according to some accounts, he did with him according to his vow ; but others state, that a plague arose, which, being construed to denote the displeasure of the gods, the citizens not only prevented the sacrifice, but expelled Idomeneus from his kingdom. CHAPTER XII. 1 Tlie Ephraimlfes, qwurclUiui vilh Jrplilhnh, and discerned hy SUbbolclh. iiir slnln l>ii tJie (lilrndites. 7 Jephthah dieth. h lh-„„. n-h„ }„ul Ihiitij sons and thirty daughters, II nml I'.hm. I :i and Ahdon, who had forty sons and tliii ty ui:phcics,judijc Israel. And the men of Epliraim 'gathered them- selves together, and went northward, and said unto Jephthah, Wherefore passedst thou over to tight against the children of Ammon, and didst not call us to go with thee? we will burn thine house upon thee with fire. 2 And Jephthah said unto them, I and my people were at great strife with the chil- dren of Ammon ; and when I called you, ye delivered me not out of their hands. 3 And when I saw that ye delivered me not, I put my life in my hands, and passed over against the children of Ammon, and the Lord delivered them into my hand : where- Chap. XII.] [B.C. 114.3—1112. fore then are ye come up unto me this day, to fight against me ? 4 Then Jephthah gathered together all the men of Gilead, and fought with Ephraim : and the men of Gilead smote Ephraim, be- cause tliey said, Ye Gileadites are fugitives of Epln-aim among the Ephraimites, and among the Manassites. 5 And the Gileadites took the passages of Jordan before the Ephraimites : and it was so, that when those Ephraimites which were escaped said, Let me go over; that the men of Gilead said unto him. Art thou an Ephraimite ? If he said. Nay ; 6 Then said they unto him. Say now Shibboleth : and he said Sibboleth : for he could not frame to pronounce it right. Then they took him, and slew him at the passages of Jordan : and there fell at that time of the Ephraimites forty and two thousand. 7 If And Jephthah judged Israel six years. Tiien died Jephthah the Gileadite, and was buried in one of the cities of Gilead. 8 H And after him Ibzan of Beth-lehem judged Israel. 9 And he had thirty sons, and thirty daughters, icltom he sent abroad, and took in thirty daughters from abroad for his sons. And he judged Israel seven years. 10 Then died Ibzan, and was buried at Beth-lehem. 11 If And after him Elon, a Zebulonite, judged Israel ; and he judged Israel ten years. 12 And Elon the Zebulonite died, and was buried in Aijalou in the country of Zebulun. 13 If And after him Abdon the son of Hillel, a Pirathonite, judged Israel. 14 And he had forty sons and tliirty ^nephews, that rode on threescore and ten ass colts : and he judged Israel eight years. 15 And Abdon the son of "Hillel the Pirathonite died, and was buried in Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, in the mount of the Amalekites. Verse 1. * We unR burn thine house upon thee,' — Here is a second proof of the haughty and turbulent disposition of the Ephraimites. Comparing this with their complaints to Joshua, their hostile attitude towards Gideon, and their present insulting language to Jephthah, we cannot fail to discover a disposition to lord it over the other tribes, and an affectation of superior authority and pre-emiuence, to which they were certainly not yet entitled. There were, however, many circumstances to excite in them this dis- position,— such as the distinction assigned them in the blessing of Jacob — the fact that Joshua, the chief con- queror of the land, had been an Ephraimite — and the pri- vilege which they enjoyed of having the tabernacle within their borders. The firm but temperate answer of Jeph- thah, though less soft than that of Gideon on a similar occasion, contrasts well with the personalities and threats of this self-sufficient tribe. 3. ' I put mi/ life in m;/ hands.' — A strong Orientalism, implying * I risked my life in a seemingly desperate un- dertaking.' Mr. Roberts, who cites several proverbial applications of this phrase among the Hindoos, thinks that the idea is taken from a man carrying something very precious in his hands, under circumstances of great danger. 6. * Me could not frame to pronounce it right.' — Upon this text a very curious dissertation might be written, from which our limits compel us to abstain. It is, how- ever, certain that the difference is not less in the ear than in the tongue ; or, in other words, when the Ephraimites were required to pronounce ' Shibboleth,' they heard it as ' Sibboleth,' and believed that in pronouncing the latter word they gave the precise sound which they had heard. Of various illustrations of this point we have collected, it may suffice to direct attention to the very different way in which an Englishman, a German, and a Frenchman, will write down what they conceive to be the sound of the same foreign word. Indeed, different persons of the same nation will do so ; and to one who is conversant with travels in, and histories of, eastern countries, it is often impossible to recognise the same name under the very different forms in which its vocal sound is represented. The following will serve in the way of illustration. Carver in his Travels in North America relates that the notes of a certain Ameri- can bird sound to the people of the colonies, Whipper- will ; but to an Indian ear, Muck-a-wiss. The words, in- deed, are not alike ; but in this manner they strike the ear, or rather the imagination of both ; and the circumstance is a proof that the mere sounds, if they are not rendered certain by the rules of orthography, might convey differ- ent ideas to different people. The Hev. C. B. Elliot in bis Travels (ii. 134), after mentioning that the ancient Perga- mus is now called Bergamo, adds, * So at least it would be written according to the orthography of our language ; but here P is pronounced as B, and B is sounded like V. A learned native requested me to write for him in Turkish characters some English word beginning with a B, as black ; which being done, he made me repeat it two or three times ; and then changed the B which I had written into a P, saying, 'This (plack) is black.' The present text indicates that a difference of dialects had already arisen in different parts of the country, and by which the inhabitants of one part were distinguishable from those of another. In later times, we find Peter easily distinguished in Pilate's hall as a Galilean, by his dialect. (Mark xiv. 70.) There is nothing extraordinary in this. England herself offers a considerable variety of dialects and modes of pronunciation ; and so does every otiier country. There is scarcely any so small as to be exempt. In Greece, an Athenian spoke Greek as differently from a Dorian as perhaps a northern man speaks English from a native of the southern counties. In the East itself, the Arabic of Cairo, Aleppo, and Bagdad is so different, that one who has made himself master of the language in any one of those cities, cannot, without great difficulty, undei-stand, or be understood, in the others. Even in the small island of Malta (where an Arabian dialect is spoken), the inha- bitants of the several villages speak tlie same language with so much difference as to render the market, to which they resort in common, a sort of Babel. While that island was independent, there was a knight (mentioned by De Boisgelin) who gained great credit by being able to tell, by means of this difference, from what villages the country Chap. XIII.] [B.C. 1161. people in the market came. The word choseu by the Gik'aditi'S means a stream, which bcin^ the name of the object immediately before them, would seem to be na- turally suggested, and was well calculated to put the Kphrairaites off their guard. We scarcely need remark, that sh is of peculiarly ditBcul% if not impossible, pronun- ciation to persons whose organs have not, in childhood, been tutored to it. It is entirely wanting in many lan- guages ; and when persons to whom such languages are native, attempt to learn a language in which it exists, they find it not the least arduous part of their task to master and use properly this most difficult sound. This was the case of the Ephraimites, who ' could not frame to pronounce it right.' 7. • Was hurUd in [one o/"] the cities of Gilead.'— There is a curious Habhinical comment on this, as read without the clause enclosed in brackets (which is not in the original), which we introduce partly as a specimen of the perverted ingenuity which the Jewish doctors have applied to the interpretation of Scripture, and partly as shewing the strength of their conviction that Jephthah really did offer his daughter in sacrifice. From Rashi's comments on these words, it appears that the ancient rabliins maintained that the hero, as a punishment for putting his daughter to death, was visited by a disease which loosened the joints of the different limbs and members of his body, and caused them to fall off one after another, from time to time,- as he was passing to and fro over the country : and that they were buried separately, whenever they happened to drop, so that when he died it could be said, from this general distribution of his mcmbei-s, that he ' was buried in the cities of (iilead.' The phrase is doubtless idiomatic, the plural being put for the singular, as in Gen. xix. 29 ; Jonah i. 5. 14. 'Nephews' — Kather 'grandsons,' that is, 'sons" sous,' as in the margin. CHAPTER XIII. 1 Israel is in iJie hand of the Philistines. 2 An angel ap]ieareth to Manoah's wife. 8 The angel r and his mother, to Tininath, and came to the vineyards ofTimnath: and, behold, a young lion roared "against him. G And the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid, and he had nothing in his hand : but he told not his father or his mother what he had done. 7 And he went down, and talked with the woman ; and she pleased Samson well. 8 1 And after a time he returned to take her, and he turned aside to see the carcase of the lion : and, behold, there ivas a swarm of bees and honey in the carcase of the lion. 9 And he took thereof in his hands, and went on eating, and came to his father and mother, and he gave them, and they did eat : but he told not them that he had taken the honey out of the carcase of the lion. 10 If So his father went down unto the woman : and Samson made there a feast ; for so used the young men to do. 11 And it came to pass, when they saw him, that they brought thirty companions to be with him. 12 H And Samson said unto them, I will now put forth a riddle unto you : if ye can certainly declare it me within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty 'sheets and thirty change of gar- ments : 1-3 But if ye cannot declare it me, then shall ye give me thirty sheets and thirty change of garments. And they said unto liim, Put forth thy riddle, that we may hear it. 2 Ileb. in meeting hin.. » Or, shirli. ♦ Ueb. tu po: 14 And he said unto them. Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness. And they could not in three days expound the riddle. 15 And it came to pass on the seventh day, that they said unto Samson's wife, Entice thy husl)and, that he may declare unto us the riddle, lest we burn thee and thy father's house with fire : have ye called us 'to take that we have ? is it not so ? 16 And Samson's wife wept before him, and said. Thou dost but hate me, and lovest me not : thou hast put forth a riddle unto the children of my people, and hast not told it me. And he said unto her, Behold, I have not told it my father nor my mother, and shall I tell if thee ? 17 And she wept before him 'the seven days, while their feast lasted : and it came to pass on the seventh day, that he told her, because she lay sore upon him : and she told the riddle to the children of her people. 18 And the men of the city said unto him on the seventh day before the sun went down, What is sweeter than honey ? and what is .stronger than a lion ? And he said unto them, If ye had not plowed with my heifer, ye had not found out my riddle. 19 H And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon, and slew thirty men of them, and took their "spoil, and gave change of garments unto them which expounded the riddle. And his anger was kindled, and he went up to his father's house. 20 But Samson's wife was (/iven to his companion, whom he had used as his friend. Verse 1. ' Timnath.' — This place was very ancient, it havins been mentioned in the time of Jacob. Judah had bis she.'p shorn in or n.-ar Timnath (Gen. xxxviii. 12), his visit to wliii-li iiuolvrd the only stain npon his cbaracler witli wirn-li «(■ :ir.- ac.|u;unt,d.' The town was at first in tlif lot (if'.Iu'lili. and iilu-rwards in that of Dan; but we do iiol know that eitlier tribe ever acquired possession of it I Josh. XV. .'J7; xix. 43>. It is mentioned under the names of Tininah, Timnath, and Timnatha; and is usually stated to have been twelve miles from Eshtacl and six from Adullam, and it may perhaps be represented by the deserted site called Tibnah. which is about an hour's journey from Surah, which has hecu indicated as the Zorah to which Samson belonged. 5. ' A young lion roared against him.' — It is evident from this and other passages of Scripture, that lions formerly existed in Juds^a. Some places, indeed, took their names from the lion, as Lcbaoth and Beth-lebaoth (Josh. xv. 32; xix. G). We do not know that lions are now to be met with in that country ; but this is not surprising, as numc- iiight be cited of the disappearance of wild in the course of time, from countries where tliey 50 were once well known. TTiis is particularly the case with respect to those animals which, like the lion, are no where foinul ill li-"' i,:i;ii)i. rs. Lions have not, however, disap- pciii. ! I , In w ■ III \sia. They are still found in Meso- poijii 1 > a— or, rather, on both sides of the riviis I I 1 I I lirnti'S. That they existed anciently in S>nai;isili V ■ :ill in tin eastern parts of that country), as well as in M - attested by several ancient niachus, wlioi Iriniiij Hi ~\,i;i. had killed a very large lion, single-hamlcii. but not until the animal had torn his shoulder to the bone. The historian mentions this in- cidentally in relating how Alexander the Great, while hunting, was assailed by a large lion, which he slew. This was thought a great feat even for Alexander, although he was armed with a hunting-spear : — what then shall we say of Samson, who overcame a lion when unprovided with any kind of weapon? It will be observed that 'young lion' does not here mean a whelp, for which the Hebrew has quite a diflerent word — but a young lion arrived at its full strength and size, when it is far more fierce than at a later period of its life. Chap. XIV.] "fd^Y Lion op "Westers Asia. 8. ' After a time he returned to take her.' — She had doubt- less been betrothed to him in the first instance, and the ' time ' mentioned, refers to the interval, which it was con- sidered necessary should elapse between the betrothal and actual marriage : that is to say, it was usual for the be- trothed bride to remain for a time in the house of her parents, after which the bridegroom came to fetch her home, and take her fully as his wife. The length of the in- terval depended upon circumstances. As the youngpenple were often affianced by their parents when mere children, a long interval then elapsed before the completion of the marriage ; but when they were already marriageable, the time was shorter, as might be previi usly agreed upon be- tween the respective parties. Even in such a case, however, the time was seldom less than about ten months or a year, ■which therefore may be taken to denote the period expressed by ' a time,' in the present text. The Jews still keep up this custom ; the parties being, at the least, betrothed six or twelve months before marriage. After the betrothal, the parties were considered man and wife ; and hence a be- trothed woman guilty of any criminal intercourse with another was regarded as an adulteress; and if, from any cause, the husband should be unwilling to complete the engagement, the woman was regularly divorced, like a wife. In process of time the stringency of this law was abated ; and now the betrothal is not as formerly by a ring, but by a written engagement, the infringement of which involves no higher penalty than a pecuniary fine. Yet still, in this time, the man and woman appear to have had little if any communication with each other; but it is diffi- cult to determine exactly the terms on which they socially stood towards each other. Some think that they had no opportunities of even talking together ; while others allow that the betrothal entitled the bridegroom to visit the bride at her father's, but without any intimate communication. The latter is the practice among the modern Jews, who retain so much of their ancient oriental ideas, as to consider it improper for a young man or woman even to walk toge- ther in public, without being betrothed ; and among whom, therefore, the betrothal merely admits to a restricted court- ship. In point of fact, we apprehend that the betrothal was considered necessary to enable a young man to pay to a woman even that limited degree of particular attention which eastern manners allowed. See Lewis's Origines HebmtB ; Jahn's Archaolotfia ; Isaac's Ceremonies, etc., of the Jews ; and Herschel's Sketch of the Jews. ^ES. [B.C. 1141. — ' Viere was a stcarm cfbees and hmiey in the carcase of the lion.'— The preceding note explains in part the present text. It is evident that several months bad elapsed be- tween tlie first and second visit to Timnath, and in that time the carcase of the lion must have been reduced to a clean skeleton ; which might form a very suitable receptacle for the bees which abounded in that region. This would be particularly the case, if it remained covered with some portions of the dried skin, or if it was in a secluded place among bushes or high grass, as seems to be implied in the fact of Samson's ' turning aside' to look for it, and in its not having been previously discovered by others, who, we may he sure, would have anticipated him in taking the honey. Much less time than the probable interval would amply have sufficed to have rendered the carcase of the lion a perfectly clean habitation for the bees. A day or two for birds and insects, and a night or two for beasts of prey, would, in that country, have cleared the skeleton of every particle of flesh ; and, in a few days more, the heat of the sun would absorb all the moisture from the bones and from any portion of the hide which may have been left remaining. There is, therefore, nothing in this fact repug- nant to the naturally cleanly habits of bees, and their alleged repugnance to impure smells. Herodotus relates an anecdote somewhat in conformity with this view. He says that the Amathusians revenged themselves ou Onesilus, by whom they had been besieged, by cutting off his head, which they carried to their city, and hung up over one of its gates. When it became hollow, a swarm of bees settled in it, and filled it with honeycomb {Terpsichore, 114). Virgil's fourth Georgic, which is devoted to the subject of bees, concludes with the account of an invention by which the race of bees might be replenished or renewed, when diminished or lost. He speaks of it as an art practised in Egypt ; and through the absurd distortions of the story, it is not difficult to perceive that it originated in accounts of bees swarming in the carcases of animals. The process, in brief, is to kill a steer two years old, by first stopping his nostrils, and then knocking him ou the head, so that ' His bowels, bruised within, Betray no wound in the unbroken skin.' The body is then left in a proper situation ; and when the operator repairs thither nine mornings after : — ' Behold a prodigy 1 for from within The broken bowels and the bloated skin, A buzzing sound of bees his ears alarms : Straight issuing through the sides assembling swarms. Dark as a cloud they make a wheeling flight. Then on a neighb'ring tree descending, light.' Drydf.n. in. ' .Samson made there a feast.'— This feast used to last seveu days, as we see by y. 12 (see also the note on Gen. xxix. 27 : several other marriage customs are noticed in that chapter, and in chaps, xxiv. and xxxiv.); after which the bride was brought home to, or fetched home by, her husband. We must understand probably, in conformity with existing usages in the East, that Samson made his feast at the house of some acquaintance, or in one hired for the occa- sion, as his own home was distant ; while, at the same time, the woman entertained her female friends and rela- tives at her father's house. The difl'erent sexes never feasted together on such or any other occasions, and the bride and bridegroom did not even give their respective entertainments in the same house, unless under very pecu- liar circumstances. In reading this narrative, we must not forget that Samson was a stranger at Timnath. 11. ' Tliirt'j companions' — We difi'er from those who think it was a regular custom for the bride's friends to pro- vide the bridegroom with a number of companions or bridesmen. We are continually liable to mistake in taking peculiar cases as indications of general usage. It seems more probable that Samson being a stranger in the place, the bride's friends undertook to provide him with a suit- able number of guests or companions to give proper im- portance to his wedding. Chap. XIV.] JUDGES. CB.C. 1141. 12. 'Twill now put forth a riddle unto you.'—U was a very ancient cnstom among different nations — as the Phos- nicians, the Kgyptians, the Greeks, and others — to relieve their entertainments, by proposing difficult and obscnre questions, to the solution of which a reward was annexed, usually equivalent to the forfeiture which inability in- curred. This was a favourite amusement and exercise of ingenuity among most people in tliose times, when the very limited extent of knowledge and general information, aflbrded few topics of interesting conversation or discussion. Devices of this sort were particularly necessary for amuse- ment and pastime in a festival of seven days duration, like the present. We need not remind the reader that the tales of ancient and modern times, Oriental and European, abound in instances in which the interest of the story turns upon some great advantage or exemption from calamity depending upon the successful interpretation of a riddle. TUis was also, and is still in the East, a favourite, but cer- tainly a very mistaken, method of testing the abilities of a person of reputed wisdom or learning. Thus the queen of Sheba came ' to prove Solomon with hard questions ' (1 Kings X. 1). The Arabs, Persians, and Turks have ancient and modern books, of great reputation among themselves, containing riddles, or rules by which riddles may be interpreted or manufactured. — ' T/ie seven daijs of the feast.' — There are several points in the account of this wedding to suggest that mar- riages were among the Jews occasions of profuse expense and display. It is so even now, and even in Palestine itself, although any parade of wealth is there dangerous to them. Burckliardt, in the interesting account which he gives of the Jews of Tiberias, says, ' At their weddings they make a very dangerous display of their wealth. On these occasions they traverse the city in pompous proces- sion, carrying before the bride the plate of almost the whole community ; and they feast in the house of the bride- groom for seven successive days and iiiyhts. The wed- ding feast of a man who has about fifty pounds a year, and no Jew can live with his family on less, often costs more than sixty pounds.' Travels in Sj/ria^ p. 3'27. 13. ' 'JTiirtij sheets and thirty change of garments' — Instead of 'sheets' the marginal reading of 'shirts' is unquestion- ably to be preferred. That is to say, he oflered thirty dresses, which probably consisted only of a shirt and upper garment. Indeed, as it is probable that only one gar- ment, of woollen, was worn at this time by the common people, the shirt may be taken to denote that the dresses were such as persons of consideration usually wore. See the note on Deut. xxix. a. U. 'Out of the eater came forth meat,' etc.—' Meat' having now acquired a more restricted sense than that in which it is here employed, 'food' would be better; or to render the antithesis more exactly similar to the original, even ' eatables ' might be employed. There is no difficulty in this first member of the riddle, the antithesis being clear enough under any of these readings. But it is less ob- vious in the second member — ' out of the strong came forth sweetness :' for the antithesis of ' sweetness' is not ' strength' but ' sourness' or ' bitterness ;' and if the clause had read ' out of the sour or bitter came forth sweetness,' the nppn^iti.iii wniilil liMve been perfect. Indeed, there can be litil.- .Imii! 1 il.it ! Ills is the signification, rightly under- stood. I i I h wn that the Hebrew word for ' bittri : uidfor' strong,' and ' sharp ' for both. Sij, 111 ilic Ai.a.ijc, ' Mirra, ' strength,' and Marir, ' strong, robust,' come from the root Marra, ' to be bitter.' Thus too in the Latin, Acer, ' sharp,' applied to a man, de- notes one who is valiant, who eagerly engages his enemy ; and this very term is applied by Ovid as an epithet for lions- genua acre leonum, 'the sharp (a fierce) kind of lion.' The true antitiiesis of the riddle may therefore be thus stated : ' Food came from the eater : and sweetness from the sharp '— tliat is, eager, fierce, or violent. The Syriac and Arabic versions both render tlie original by ' bitter:' and some copies of the Septuagint have dirh Triiipov * from the bitter,' instead of dnh ttrxupov. Jo- sephus gives the enigma in tliis form; that wiiich de- 58 vours all things produces pleasant food, although in itself altogether unpleasant ; which seems to shew that even he was somewhat embarrassed with the last clause, although to the contemporaries of Samson the terms in which the riddle is expressed were no doubt abundantly significant and distinctly antithetic. See KosenmtiUer's ik.holia in locum. 18. ' If ye had not plowed with my heifer, ye had not found out my riddle.' — We do not understand this to mean more than what we already know, namely, that the Philis- tines could not have obtained the solution of Samson's riddle, but with the assistance of his wife. 19. ' Ashketon,' otherwise called Askelon or Ascalou, was, as we have before seen, the chief and denominating city of one of the five principalities of the Philistines. It was taken, with the others, by Judah (ch. i. 18), but that tribe did not long retain it. It was situated on the Medi- terranean coast, between Gaza on the south and Ashdod on the north. It is distant about twelve miles from the former town, and, as well as can be ascertained, about twice that distance w.s.w. from Timnath. Why Samson went so far it is not easy to determine, unless it were that his aggression might be committed in another, and perhaps more adverse principality than that iu which the previous transactions had taken place. In the time of Herodotus the place was famous for a temple, which, he says, was the most ancient of those consecrated to the Heavenly Venus, and which had been plundered by the Scythians, B.C. 630. This Heavenly Venus was no doubt the same as ' Astarte, — the 'Ashtaroth,' and the 'queen of heaven' {i.e., the moon) of the Bible. After passing through the hands of the powers which were successively dominant in this region, Ashkelou became the seat of a bishopric in the early ages of Christianity ; and, in the time of the Crusades, the degree of importance which it still retained, and the strength of its position, caused its possession to be warmly contested between the Christians and Saracens; and it was the last of the maritime towns which were taken by the former (a.h. 548, a.d. 1 1 53). In the history of the Cru- sades it is chiefly famous for a battle fought in its plains in 1099, when Godfrey of Bouillon defeated the Saracens; and another in 1192, when the sultan Saladinwas defeated, with great slaughter of his army, by our Richard the First. Its fortifications were at length totally destroyed by the sultan Bibars in a.d. 1270, and the port filled up with stones. This doubtless sealed the ruin of the place. Since the expulsion of the Christians, it has ceased to be a place of any Importance. Sandys, early in the seventeenth cen- tury, describes it then as ' a place of no note ; more than that the Turke doth keepe there a garrison.' Fifty years afterwards Von Troilo found it still partially inhabited ; but its desolation has long been complete, and it is now an entirely deserted ruin — 'a scene of desolation,' says Jollifie, ' the most extensive and complete I ever witnessed, except at Nicopolis' — verifying the divine predictions de- livered when Askelon was in its glory, ' Ashkelon shall not be inhabited ' (Zech. ix. 5) ; and, ' Ashkelon shall be a desolation.' . . . . ' And the sea-coast shall be dwellings and cottages for shepherds, and folds for flocks ' (Zeph. ii. 4, 6) ; and this is the literal truth at present with respect to the Philistine coast in general, and iu particular of Ash- kelon and its vicinity. See Richardson, ii. 204. Askelon was accounted the most impregnable town on the Philistine coast. It is seated on a hill, which presents an abrupt, wave-beaten face to the sea, but slopes gently ■ ndward, where a ridge of rock winds round the town iu ruined, maintain in some few places the original elevation, which was considerable. They are of great thickness, and flanked with towers at different distances. It is remarkable that the ground falls within the walls, as it does on the out- side ; the town was therefore situated in a hollow, so that no part of its buildings could be seen from without the walls. The interior is full of ruins of domestic habita- tions, of Christian churches in the Gothic style, with some Chap. XV.] [B.C. 1140. filffi traces of more ancient remains. Of the latter, the prin cipal ruin is situated ahout the centre of the town, and ap- pears to have been a temple ; in which a few columns of grey granite, and one of red, with an unusually large pro- portion of felspar, and some small portion of the walls, are all that now remains. It is possible that this structure may have been the successor of that old temple for which the place was anciently famous. Askelon was the native place of Herod the Great, who considerably improved it, and built tliere a celebrated palace, some traces of which might still possibly be discovered. Askelon was never of much importance as a sea- port, the coast being sandy and diffi- cult of access. There is no bay or shelter for shipping ; but a small harbour, at a short distance to the northward, serves now. as it probably did formerly, to receive the small craft that trade along the coast. 20. ' His companion, whom he had used as his friend.' — This friend was probably what is called in the New Testa- ment ' the friend of the bridegroom.' This person (called the paranymph) was a trusted friend, who was charged with a peculiarly delicate and confidential "" He de- moted himself, for a time, almost entirely to the affairs of the bridegroom, befoie the day of marriage, he was usually the medium of communication between the bride- groom and the bride ; during the marnage festivity, he was in constant attendance, doing his best to promote the hilarity of the entertainment, and rejoicing in the happi- ness of his friend. Nor did his duties terminate with the completion of the marriage, but he was considered the patron and confidential friend of both parties, and was usually called in to compose any differences which might arise between them. Samson's friend must, as his para- nymph, have had peculiar facilities in forming an acquaint- ance with the woman, and of gaining her favourable notice ; and the treachery of one whom he had so largely trusted, must have been peculiarly distressing to Samson. Milton, also, entertains the view tliat the paranymph is here intended — ' The Timnan bride Had not so soon prefcrrd Thy paranymph, worthless to thee compared.' Samson Ayonistes. CHAPTER XV. 1 Samson is denied his wife. 3 He burneth the Philistines' corn with foxes andfirehramk. 6 His wife and her father are burnt by the Philistines. 7 Samson smiteth theni hip and thigh. 9 He is bound by the men of Jiidah, and delivered to tlie Philistines. 14 He killeth them with a jaw- hone. 1 8 God maheth the fountain En-hakkor for him in Lehi. But it came to pass within a while after, in the time of wheat harvest, that Samson visited his wife witli a kid ; and he said, I will go in to my wife into the chamber. But her father would not suffer him to go in. 2 And her father said, I verily thought that thou hadst utterly hated her ; tlierefore I gave her to thy companion : is not her younger sister fairer than she ? 'take her, I pray thee, instead of her. 3 If And Samson said concerning them, *Now shall I be more blameless than the Phi- listines, though I do them a displeasure. 4 And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took "firebrands, and Or, Now s/iall I be btamelesifmm the Philistines though, &c. Chap. XV.] JUl turned tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the midst between two tails. 5 And when he had set the brands on fire, he let them go into the standing corn of the Philistines, and burnt up both the shocks, and also the standing corn, with the vineyards and olives. 6 Then the Philistines said. Who hath done this ? And they answered, Samson, the son in law of the Timnite, because he had taken his wife, and given her to his com- panion. And the Philistines came up and burnt her and her father with firo. 7 IF And Samson said unto them. Though ye have done this, yet will I be avenged of you, and after that I will cease. 8 And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter: and he went down and dwelt in the top of the rock Etam. 9 H Then the Philistines went up, and pitched in Judah, and spread themselves in Lehi. 10 And the men of Judah said. Why are ye come up against us ? And they answered. To bind Samson are we come up, to do to him as he hath done to us. 11 Then three thousand men of Judah 'went to the top of the rock Etam, and said to Samson, Knowest thou not that the Philis- tines are rulers over us ? what is this that thou hast done unto us? And he said unto them, As they did unto me, so have I done unto them. 12 And they said unto him. We are come down to bind thee, that we may deliver thee into the hand of the Philistines. And Samson 3ES. [B.C. 1140. said unto them. Swear unto me, that ye will not fall upon me yourselves. 13 And they spake unto him, saying. No ; but we will bind thee fast, and deliver thee into their hand : but sxirely we will not kill thee. And they bound him with two new cords, and brought him up from the rock. 14 H And when he came unto Lehi, the Philistines shouted against him : and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and the cords that tcere upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands loosed from off his hands. 15 And he found a *ncw jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and slew a thousand men therewith. IG And Samson said. With the jawbone of an ass, 'heaps upon heaps, with the jaw of an ass have I slain a thousand men. 17 And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking, that he cast away the jawbone out of his hand, and called that place 'Ramath-lehi. 18 If And he was sore athirst, and called on the Lord, and said. Thou hast given this great deliverance into the hand of thy servant : and now shall I die for thirst, and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised ? 19 But God clave an hollow place that u-as in "the jaw, and there came water there- out ; and when he had drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived : wherefore he called the name thereof '"En-hakkore, which is in Lehi unto this day. 20 And he judged Israel in the dajs of the Piiilistines twenty years. \ing away o/t/ie jawbone. Verse 4. ' Foxes.'— The b^lfCf shtial, of the Hebrew, reudered ' fox ' in our version, is now generally agreed to be, in most cases, the jaclcal {canis aureus). This animal is well enough represented as something between the wolf and the fox, whence some naturalists are disposed to de- scribe it as ' the wolf-fox.' It is about the size of the former animal. The upper part of the body is of a dirty yellow : a darker mark runs upon the back and sides ; and the under parts ^re white. The jackals associate together like the wolves, and form large packs, sometimes, in Pa- lestine, of about two or three hundred ; differing, in this respect, from the fox, which is not gregarious. In such packs, they prowl at night in search of prey, which chiefly consists of carrion, to obtain which they approach to the towus and villages, and sometimes enter and prowl about the streets, when they can gain admittance. In some towns, large numbers remain concealed during the day, in holes and corners, which they leave at night to scour the streets in search of food. It is often necessary to secure the graves of the recently dead with great care, to prevent the corpse from being disinterred and devoured by these animals. The bowlings of these packs of jackals are frightful, and give great alarm to travellers ; hence they are also called in Hebrew DVX ai/im, ' howlers,' impro- perly rendered 'wild beasts of the islands,' in Isa. xiii. 22; xxxiv. 14; Jer. 1. 39. They do not molest man, un- less when they can do so with great advantage, as when he lies asleep, or disabled by wounds or sickness. The jackals, like the foxes, live in holes which they form in the ground : they are particularly fond of establishing themselves in ruined towns, not only because they there find numerous secure retreats, ready made, or completed with ease, but because the same facilities attract to such places other animals, on some of which they prey. From this circumstance, the prophets, in descril)ing the future desolation of a city, say it shall become the habitation of jackals; a prediction verified by the actual condition of the towns to which their prophecies apply. Thus, the ruins of Askelon, which we noticed in the last chapter, afford habit;ition to great numbers of these animals. But a species of fox is also of frequent occurrence in Palestine ; and it appears that the Hebrews included both it and the jackal under the name of shual, although the latter was sometimes specially distinguished as the 'ai/im.' It must therefore, in most cases, be left to the bearing of the context to determiue, when the jackal and when the fox are Chap. XV.] [B.C. 1140. respectively denoted by the name (shiial) common to both. That the jackal is the animal indicated in the text now before us, we may infer from the number of the animals taken by Samson, which must have been easier with crea- tures which sometimes prowl in large packs, than with a solitary and very wily animal like the fox, which is with great difficulty taken alive. This consideration obviates the cavils which have been made to the largeness of the number ; and we are also to consider that the text does not oblige us to suppose that the three hundred were caught all at once, or even all by Samson himself. In the Bible, a person is continually described as doing what he had directed to be done ; and, no doubt, such a person as Samson could easily procure whatever assistance he re- quired. — ' Tail to tail.'— That the ancients had an idea of such conflagrations being produced by animals, and par- ticularly by foxes, is very evident. It is alluded to more than once, proverbially, by the Greek poets, as a thing well known. Thus, Lycophron makes Cassandra repre- sent Ulysses as a cunning and mischievous man — the ' man for many wiles renowned' of Homer — and styles him, very properly, \a;uiroupos, a fox with a firebrand at his tail, for wherever he went mischief followed him And, what is still more to the purpose, the Romans, who, at their feast in honour of Ceres, the patron goddess of grain, offered in sacrifice animals injurious to corn-fields, introduced into the circus, on this occasion, foxes, with firebrands so fas- tened to them as to burn them, in retaliation, as Ovid seems to explain it, of the injuries done to the corn by foxes so furnished. Richardson, in his Dissertation on the Eastern Nations, speaking of the great Festival of Fire, celebrated by the ancient Persians on the shortest night of the year, says : ' Among other ceremonies common on this occasion, there was one, wliich, whether it originated in superstition or caprice, seems to have been singularly cruel. The kings and great men used to set fire to large bunches of dry combustibles, fastened around wild beasts and birds, which being let loose, the air and earth appeared one great illumination ; and as these terrified creatures naturally fled to the woods for shelter, it is easy to con- ceive that conflagrations, which would often happen, must have been peculiarly destructive.' There is, however, considerable difficulty in understand- ing how this feat of Samson's was effected. Commentators, following the reading of the Septuagint, have, with common consent, adopted the interpretation, that two foxes were tied together by their tails with a firebrand between them. Now this does not appear to have been the practice of the Romans in their festival of Ceres, nor can it be clearly traced in any other instance. We may preferably under- stand the text to mean that each fox had a separate brand ; and most naturally so ; for it may be questioned whether two united would run in the same direction. They would assuredly pull counter to each other, and ultimately fight most fiercely ; whereas there can be no doubt that every canine would run, with fire attached to its tail, not from choice but necessity, through standing corn, if the field lay in the direction of the animal's burrow : for foxes and jackals, when chased, run direct to their holes, and sportsmen well know the necessity of stopping up those of the fox while the animal is abroad, or there is no chance of a chase. We may therefore consider, that by the word rendered 'tail to tail' is meant that the end or tail of the firebrand was attached to the tail of the animal. Finally, as the operation of tying three hundred brands to as many fierce and irascible animals couIJ not be effected in one day by a single man, nor produce the result intended if done in one place, it seems more probable that the name of Samson, as the chief director of the act, is employed to represent the whole party who effected his intentions in different places at the same time, and thereby insured that general conflagra- tion of the harvest which was the signal of open resistance to the long-endured oppression of the Philistines. [See Kitto's Daily Bible lllus., Moses and the Judges, 3d ed.] 6. ' Burnt her and her father with >>e.'— The threat which had before frightened Samson's bride into treachery to her husband, is now executed in consequence of the re- sults which that treachery produced. This is remarkable. The act was no doubt a tumultuary proceeding of the per- sons whose produce had been injured or destroyed by the fire which Samson kindled. It is not easy to say what was the precise motive of this act. What Samson says in the next verse, ' Though ye have done this,' etc., seems to sanction the opinion that they intended, by this deed, to propitiate Samson, and prevent further aggression ; but that the hero did not, for all this, think that he had suf- ficiently availed himself of the occasion for avenging the cause of oppressed Israel (see chap. xiv. 4) which the con- duct of the Philistines towards himself hid given. We 61 Chap. XVI.] JUDGES. [B.C. 1120. are to recollect that Samson was, from his birth, the ap- pointed avenger of Israel ; and that, finding that his peo- ple were become coutented slaves— more fearful of offend- ing the Philistines than of asserting their independence — he was obliged to act individually, in transient and desul- tory attacks, which, in order not to commit his nation against their own will, he wished to be considered as acts of large revenge and retaliation for his own personal wrongs. Hence it is that the retaliatory measures of the Philistines are never directed against the nation, but against Samson personally, which shews that they consi- dered him as acting on his own account; whereas, in fact, he was merely taking occasion from his private wrongs to avenge the wrongs of his people, for which purpose, as he knew well, he had been raised up, and gifted with the ex- traordinary personal prowess which he possessed. 8. ' In the top of the rock £(am.'— Rather in a cleft of the rock Etam. Clefts of the rock difficult of access, easily defended, and well suited for temporary retreats, are of frequent occurrence in Palestine. De la Roque, in his Voi/at/e en Si/rie, relates a fact curiously illustrative of this incident. The Grand Seignor, wishing to seize the person of the emir, gave orders to the pacha to take him prisoner. He accordingly came in search of him with a new army, in the district of Chouf, which is a part of Mount Lebanon, wherein is the village of Gesin, and close to it the rock which served for retreat to the emir. It is named in Arabic Magara Gesin, the cavern of Gesin, by which name it is famous. The pacha pressed the emir so closely, that this unfortunate prince was obliged to shut himself up in the cleft of a yreat rock, with a small number of his officers. TTie pacha besieged him here several months, and was going to blow up the rock by a mine, when the emir capitulated. — ' The rock Etam.' — We know nothing abont the po- sition of this rocky hill, farther than we may gather from the context. Josephus says it was in the tribe of Judah, that is, within its western frontier ; and this statement is confirmed by what follows in the text, as well as by the fact that Rehoboam, king of Judah. fortified Etam, a town which was no doubt on or near this rock. The summits and hollows of rocks have, since Samson's time, in all ages, furnished retreats to the heroes of the country. We shall find other instances in the sacred history. 17. ' Jiamathlehi.' — The words should be translated rather than given as a proper name ; and ' the lull of the jawbone ' is preferable to the interpretation which is given as a marginal reading. 19. ' God clone an hollow place that was in the jaw, and there came water thereout' — Lehi, the name which Samson gave to the place, is 'jawbone' in Hebrew. 'From a fondness for multiplying miracles, it would seem,' says Dr. Hales, ' several of the ancient versions, followed by the English translation, understand Lehi here to denote the jawbone of the ass, rather than the place so called ; at variance with the sequel. The marginal reading, Lehi, is correct.' All modern commentators concur in this. In- deed, the propriety of this correction is evident from the context ; for if we have ' jawbone ' here, we ought to retain it in the concluding clause of this verse ; and instead of saying, ' which is in Lehi unto this day,' say, ' which is in the jawbone unto this day.' CHAPTER XVI. 1 Samson at Gaza escapet/i, and carrieth auay the gates of the city. 4 Delilah, corrupted by the Phi- listines, enticeth Samson. 6 Thrice she is deceived. 15 At last she overconieth him. 21 Tlte Philistines take him, and put out his eyes. 22 His strength renewing, he pvlleth down the house upon the Phi- listines, and ditlh. Then went Samson to Gaza, and saw there 'an harlot, and went in unto her. 2 And it wa.'s told tlie Gazites, saying, Samson is come hitlier. And they compassed Idrn in, and hiid wait for him all night in the gate of the city, and were 'quiet all the night, saying. In the morning, when it is day, we shall kill him. 3 And Samson lay till midnight, and arose at midnight, and took the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and went away with them, 'har and all, and put tlum upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of an hill that is before Hebron. 4 H And it came to pass afterward, that he loved a woman 'in the valley of Sorek, whose name icas Delilali. 5 And the lords of the Piiilistines came up unto her, and said unto her. Entice him, and see wherein his great strength lietlt, and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to 'afflict him : and we will give thee every one of us eleven hundred jneccs of silver. 6 And Delilah said to Samson, Tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth, and wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee. 7 And Samson said unto her, If they bind me with seven ° 'green withs that were never dried, then shall I he weak, and be as "another man. 8 Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven green withs which had not been dried, and she bound him with them. 9 Now tlicre were men lying in wait, abid- ing with her in the chamber. And she said unto him. The Piiilistines he upon thee, Sam- son. And he brake the withs, as a thread of tow is broken when it 'toucheth the fire. So his strength was not known. 10 And Delilah said unto Samson, Behold, thou hast mocked me, and told me lies : now tell me, I pray thee, wherewith thou mightest be bound. 11 And he said unto her. If they bind me fast with new ropes "that never were occu- pied, then shall 1 be weak, and be as another man. 12 Delilah therefore took new ropes, and bound him therewith, and said unto him. The Philistines he upon thee, Samson. And there Chap. XVI.] JUD icere liers in wait abiding in the chamber. And he brake them from oft" his arms lilce a thread. 13 And Delilah said unto Samson, Hitherto thou hast moeked me, and told me lies : tell me wherewith thou mightest be bound. And he said unto her, If thou weavest the seven locks of my head with the web. 14 And she fastened it with the pin, and said unto him, The Philistines he upon thee, Samson. And he awaked out of his sleep, and went away with the pin of the beam, and with the web. 15 H And she said unto him. How canst thou say, I love thee, wlien thine heart is not with me ? thou hast mocked me these three times, and hast not told me wherein thy great strength lieth. 16 And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was "vexed unto death ; 17 That he told her all his heart, and said unto her. There hath not come a razor upon mine head : for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother's womb : if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man. 18 And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, Come up this once, for he hath shewed me all his heart. Then the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and brought money in their hand. 19 And she made him sleep upon her knees ; and she calletl for a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head ; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him. 20 And she said. The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the Lord was departed from him. 21 H But the Philistines took him, and "put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass ; and he did grind in the prison house. 22 Howbeit the hair of his head began to grow again ""after he was shaven. i\ lleh. shrn-tened. ii lleh. bored out. 1' Or, (is JES. [B.C. 1120. 23 H Then the lords of the Philistines ga- thered them together for to offer a great sacrifice unto Dagon their god, and to rejoice : for they said. Our god hath delivered Samson our enemy into our hand. 2-4 And when the people saw him, they praised their god : for they said, Our god hath delivered into our hands our enemy, and the destroyer of our country, "which slew many of us. 25 And it came to pass, when their hearts were merry, that they said. Call for Samson, that he may make us sport. And they called for Samson out of the prison house ; and he made 'Hhem sport : and they set him between the pillars. 26 H And Samson said unto the lad that held him by the hand. Suffer me that I may feel the pillars whereupon the house standcth, that I may lean upon them. 27 Now the house was full of men and women ; and all the lords of the Philistines were there ; and tliere were upon the roof about three thousand men and women, that beheld while Samson made sport. 28 And Samson called unto the Lord, and said, 0 Lord God, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes. 29 And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood, and "on which it was borne up, of the one with his right hand, and of the other with his left. 30 And Samson said, Let "me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might ; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that icej-e there- iu. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than thet/ which he slew in his life. 31 Then his brethren and all the house of his father came down, and took him, and brought him up, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the buryingplace of Manoah his father. And he judged Israel twenty years. Verse 1. ' Gaza.' — This town was the capital of the most southern of the Philistine principalities, and is situated about thirteen miles w.s.w. of Ascaloii, forty-five miles s.w. hy w. from Jerusalem, and between two and three miles from the sea. It is always mentioned as an im- portant place in the Old Testament. Alexander the Great, after destroying Tyre, laid siege to Gaza, which was at that time occupied by a Persian garrison, and took it after a siege of two months. Alexander was often repulsed, and twice wounded during the siege ; and after the town was taken he avenged himself by the most savage treat- ment of the brave governor, Betis. He did not destroy the town ; but having killed a part of the old inhabitants and sold the rest, he re-peopled it with a new colony, and made Chap. XVI.] [B.C. 1120. V^^;:^' it one of his garrisons. It was afterwards (b.c. 98) de- stroyed by Alexander Jannaeus, the king of the Jews. It lay desolate about forty years, and was rebuilt by Gabinus, the lioman president of Syria. Augustus gave it to Herod the Great, after whose death it was re-annexed to Syria. It was afterwards, according to Josephus, again destroyed by the Jews, with several other towns, to avenge a mas- sacre of their countrymen at Ca?sarea. This explains the expression of St. Luke, who, in mentioning Gaza, observes that it was then a ' desert ' (Acts viii. 2G). It must, how- ever, soon have been rebuilt or repaired, as it existed in the time of Hadrian, who granted it some important privi- leges; these were enlarged by Constantine, who gave it the name of Constantia, in honour of his son, and granted it the rank and privileges of a city. This seems to have led to the statement that Gaza was rebuilt by Constantine ; but we cannot find good authority for more than we have stated. Jerome says, that the town existing in his time was nearer to the sea than the old town. Under so many changes, besides others of inferior mo- ment which we have not specified, it is not to be expected that much, if anything, of its more ancient remains should now be found. It seems to have undergone a gradual de- clension in importance, although its share in the commerce between Egypt and Syria still maintains it as a small town in a condition of comparatively decent prosperity. Baumgartcn, who was at Gaza early in the sixteenth century, describes it as a large place, containing more in- habitants than jLTiis:iIi-Tn ; but ncit foitifud. II.', as well as other old trav.llirs t.Us ns ;jr;iv,lv, lliat tin- remains of the temple wlii.li S.nns.n, |,i,ll.a (ln»n«.-r,' Mill sliinvn, consisting only ol':i li-w j.illars wlii.li wore Kipt standing in memory of the event. 'I'o him, and to all subsequent travellers, was shewn, at about a mile from the town, the hill to wliioh Samson carried the gates of Gaza during the night. Hut the text says that he carried them to ' the hill wliich is before Hebron;' and Hebron is about twenty miles from Gaza.— Sandys, who was in this neighbour- hood about a century later, gives a rather full account of the place, wliich is particularly valuable, as the remains of ancient Gaza must have been in a more perfect con- dition 2.30 years ago than at present. The following is the substance of his account. ' It stands upon a hill surrounded with valleys ; and those again well-nigh environed with hills, most of them planted with all sorts of delicate fruits. The buildings mean, both of forms and matter ; the best but low, of rough stone, arched within, and flat on the top, including a quadraligle: the walls surmounting their roofs, wrought through with potsherds to catch and strike down the refreshing winds, having spouts of the same, in colour, shape, and sight, resembling great ordnance. Others covered with mats and hurdles, some built of mud ; amongst all, not any comely or convenient. Yet there are some reliqiies left, and some impressions, that testify a better condition; for divers simple roofs are supported with goodly pillars of Parian marble, some plain, some curiously carved. A number broken in pieces do serve for thresholds, jambs of doors, and sides of windows. On tlie north-east corner, and summit of the hill, are the ruir.s of huge arches, sunk low in the earth, and other foundations of a stately building. Fnun whence the last Sanziack conveyed marble pillars of an incredible big- ness; enforced to saw them asunder ere they could be removed : which he employed in adorning a certain mosque below in the valley.'. . . .' On the west side of the cily, out of sight and yet within hearing, is the sea, seven fur- longs off' (recent travellers make it more); 'where they have a decayed and unsafe port, of small avail at this day to the inhabitants. In the valley, on the east side of the city, are many straggling buildings.' After mentioning the hill to which Samson is said to have carried the gates of the town, as higher than the otliers in this vicinity, and as having at the top a mosque surrounded with the graves of Mohammedans, he continues : — ' in the plain between that and the town there stand two high pillars of marble, their tops much worn by the weather : the cause of their erecting unknown, but of great antiquity. South of that, and by the way of ./Egypt, there is a mighty cistern, filled only by the fall of rain, and descended into by large stairs of stone : where they wash their clothes, and water their cattle.' Most of this account is still applicable, except Chap. XVI.] JUDGES. [B.C. 1120. that some of the ancient remains of columns, etc., have now disappeared. The substructions and columns of the ruin in the centre of the town, scattered pillars of grey granite, and fragments of old marble columns and statues appearing in the buildings of the town, are all that is now noticed. The hill on which Gaza stands is about two miles in circumference at the base, and appears to have been wholly enclosed within the ancient fortifications. The town, being surrounded by and interspersed with gardens and plantatious of olive and date trees, has a pic- turesque appearance, to which its numerous minarets, raising their elegant forms, not a little contribute ; and as the buildings are mostly of stone, and the streets mode- rately broad, the interior disappoints expectation rather less than that of most other towns of Syria ; and both the town and the people upon the whole seem comfortable, and in every kind of accommodation far superior to the Egyptians. The suburbs, however, are composed of miserable mud huts ; but all travellers concur with Sandys in admiring the richness and variety of the vege- table productions, both wild and cultivated, of the environs. The population of Gaza has been usually much under- stated. It is really equal, if not superior, to that of Jeru- salem, if correctly estimated by Dr. Robinson at fifteen or sixteen thousand. They have manufactures of cotton and soap ; but derive their principal support from the com- merce between Egypt and Syria, which must all pass this way. They also tralfie with Suez for Indian goods brought from Jidda ; and they send a caravan with supplies of pro- visions (which they sell on very advantageous terms) to the pilgrims on their way to Mecca. The Arabs also make it the mart for the sale of their plunder : and all these sources of prosperity render Gaza a very thriving place for the country in which it is found. See further in Wittman's Travels in Turkey ; Richardson's Travels along the Mediterranean ; Irby and Mangles' Travels in Egypt, etc. ; and JoUiffe's Letters from Palestine ; Robinson's Researches ; Narrative of the Scottish Deputation. 5. ' We will give thee every one of' us eleven hundred pieces of silver.' — These pieces of silver were probably shekels ; and the shekel being worth about half-a-crown. the total 5500 pieces of silver from the five lords of the Philistines would amount to 687/. lus.- — a vast bribe for the time and country. 7. ' Seven green withs.' — This is an interesting indica- tion that the ropes in use among the Hebrews were of crude vegetable tendrils, pliable rods, fibres, or leaves. As the word translated ' withs ' (^n1 jeter) is a general word for a rope or cord, we should not have known this, were it not that the epithet ' green ' is here employed. ' Withs ' is too restricted a term. 'Green ropes,' as distinguished from ' dry ropes,' is the proper meaning, the peculiarity being in the greenness, not in the material. It may imply any kind of crude vegetable commonly used for ropes, without restricting it to withs, or tough and pliable rods twisted into a rope. It is true that such ropes are used in the East, and, while they remain green, are stronger than any other ; and, so far, the probability is that such are here particularly intended. In India, the legs of wild ele- phants and buffaloes newly caught are commonly bound with ropes of this sort. Josephus says that the ropes which bound Samson were made with the tendrils of the vine. At the present time ropes in the East are rarely made of hemp or flax. Except some that are made with hair or leather, they are generally formed with the tough fibres of trees (particularly the palm-tree) and roots, with grasses, and with reeds and rushes. These are in general tolerably strong; but in no degree comparable to our hempen ropes. They are very light in comparison, and, wanting compactness, those required for given purposes are always incomparably thicker than such as are em- ployed for similar uses by ourselves. In most cases they are also rough and coarse to the eye. The praise which travellers bestow on ropes of this sort, must not be under- stood as putting them in comparison with our own ; but perhaps in comparison with the bands of hay which our VOL. II. E peasants twist, and with reference to the simple and crude materials of which they are composed. U. 'New ropes,' as distinguished from the former. These seem to be new dried ropes of the usual description, and (as the Hebrew word seems to imply) of the thickest and strongest sort. 13. ' If thou weavest the seven locks of my head with the uteb.' A little attention will shew that a line has been here dropped from the text, by some transcriber, since, as it stands, Delilah does something which Samson does not express, and omits something which he specifies. The omitted clause is found in the Septuagint, by the help of which the whole passage may be tlius rendered :— ' If thou interweave the seven locks of my head with that web, and fasten them to the pin, I shall become weak and be as another 'man. So while he was asleep she interwove with the web the seven locks of his head, a.nA she fastened them to the pin, and said unto him,' etc. We do not intend in this Chap. XVI.] JUDGES. [B.C. 11 place to enter into the peculiarities of Oriental weaving : but it may help, to the better understanding of this trans- action, to remark that, firstly, the looms of Palestine were extremely simple, probably not unlike those that are still used in many parts of Asia and Africa ; secondly, that they were worked by women ; thirdly, that the web was nar- row ; fourthly, that the woof was driven into the warp, not by a reed, but by a wooden spatula ; fifthly, that the end of the web was fastened to a pin or stake, fixed pro- bably in the wall, or driven into the ground ; sixthly, that Samson was probably sleeping, with his head in Delilah's lap, when she wove his hair into the web. The annexed engraving of Hindoo weaving will illustrate some of the details, and will in particular render it clear how easy it was for Delilah to weave in the long hair of Samson while his head lay on her lap. Comp. v. 19. 19. ' She made him sleep upon her knees.' — Probably in a relative position, such as is still often seen in the Kast, where one person sitting cross-legged on a mat or carpet which covers the floor (which is the usual sitting posture), another extended at length or reclining, rests his head on the lap of the former, as on a pillow. — ' She called for a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head.'— That a man should be able not only to cut, but to shave off the hair on which, during all Samson's life, razor had never before come, implies either that Samson slept very soundly, or that the man was very dexterous in his craft. In fact, the Oriental barbers do their work with so much ease as to render the shaving of the head (the head is usually shaven in the Kast) rather gratifying than unpleasant. The most deli- cate sleeper would scarcely be awakened by it ; and even those who are awake are scarcely sensible of the operation which they are undergoing. 21. ' Bound him with fetters of brass,' or rather, proba- bly, of copper. This seems another proof that, although iron was at this time pretty well known, it had not yet come into general use. If it had, we should expect to find Samson bound with fetters of that metal rather than of brass, which is not thought of for such a purpose in countries where iron is common. The emphasis is here on brass, not as distinguished from any other metal, but to shew that his fetters were of metal, and that he was, not like the common race of offenders, bound with ropes or thongs of leather. — ' He did grind in the prison house.' — Of course, with millstones worked by the hands, this being still the usual method of grinding corn in the East. This is an employ- ment which usually devolves on women ; and to assign it therefore to such a man as Samson, was doubtless with a view to reduce him to the lowest state of degradation and dishonour. To grind com for others, was, even for a woman, a proverbial term expressing a degraded and oppressed condition ; and how much more for Samson, who seems to have been made the general grinder for the ' prison-house ! ' To him, the great pang of his condition must have been to feel that all this misery and degradation had been tho obvious result of his own weak and dissolute conduct, which had rendered all but entirely abortive the high promise of his birth. It was probably more through this than anything else, that he did not deliver Israel ; but, as the angel had foretold, only began to deliver. Much as we may blame the backwardness of the Hebrews to enter into the great struggle to which Samson would have led them, it must not be forgotten that the hero's private character does not seem to have been calculated to inspire them with confidence. Had his obedience to the Divine Chap. XVI.] [B.C. 1120. SHA\aNO THE Hf.AD. law been greater, and his discretion more apparent, the history of Samsou would probably have been very different. 22. ' The hair oj'his head began to grow again after he was shaven.' — Reading this in connection with verse 17, the force of the allusion is clear. The letting tlie hair grow was a prominent circumstance in the condition of a Nazarite ; and the extraordinary strength of Samson was not a matter of thews and sinews, but was vested in him as an extraordinary gift from God, on condition of his re- maining in the state of Nazariteship. The loss of his hair did not in itself deprive him of strength ; but the loss of his hair involved the loss of his strength, because it took him out of the condition of a Nazarite, with which it had pleased God to connect the extraordinary physical powers with which he was invested. So now, if we find Samson again strong after the renewed growth of his hair, we are bound to believe that it was not because his hair grew ; but that the hero, in his debased condition, was moved to repentance for his past misconduct ; and that, renewing his vow of Nazariteship, including the consecration of his hair, God saw proper to accept his vow, and in token of that acceptance re-invested him, as his hair grew, with the powers with which he had before so wilfully trifled. The history of every nation boasts of some hero, whose exploits, being far beyond the ordinary range of human power, bear more or less resemblance to those of Samson. Such was the Hercules of classical antiquity, the Rama of India, the Rustam of Persia, and the Antar of Arabia, — not to mention others ; and many writers have undertaken to shew, that the histories of those femous personages are based on traditions concerning the doings of the Hebrew champion. We indicate this opinion without feeling it necessary to register its results, or to trace the analogies which it offers. 27. ' There were upon the roofahout three thousand men and women.' — It seems that the house or temple itself was full of the principal people ; and that about three thousand, apparently of the lower orders, had established themselves on the roof. Against this statement there have been two cavils. One is, how 3000 persons could stand on the roof of a building ; and how persons thus placed could ' behold while Samson made sport below.' Both may be answered in one statement. In the first place, it is evident that the temple or place of public entertainment (for it is not cer- tain that it was the temple to which Samson was con- ducted) consisted of an inclosure, quadrangular or oblong, surrounded with walls and buildings, the principal build- ing (the house properly so called) occupying that side of the inclosure opposite to the entrance. The other sides may be composed of dead walls, or cloisters, or offices, and therefore may or may not have a roof; but the part we have indicated is always the main building, whether in a modern oriental palace, house, mosque, or other structure. This also was the arrangement of many ancient temples of Egypt, and even of Greece and Rome. If we suppose, as every probability warrauts, that the present house was of this construction, we have only to suppose that Samson exhibited his feats of strength (which were probably the ' sports' in question) in the open court or area, while the spectators were crowded in the interior of the building, which, being very open in front, aflbrded a full view of the area to every person seated within, and upon the roof above. This is in fact the usual process at the present day, when fights, wrestlings, and other feats are performed before a great personage, and a large body of persons. As to the number on the roof, we are not sure whether the objection which, merely from want of knowledge, has been taken, applies to the presumed in- adequacy of a roof to support the weight of so many GT Chap. XVI.] JUDGES. [B.C. 1120. persons, or to the poasibility of its being sufiBciently ex- tensive to accommodate so large a multitude. It is, how- ever. Duly necessary to refer to the note on Deut. xxii. 8, and to observe, that oriental roofs, being intended for accommodation, and not merely, as with us, designed as a defence of the interior from the weather, are formed with nmch greater strength and durability in proportion to their size, than any which our buildings exhibit. They are either constructed with a number of small domes, the external hollows between which are filled up to give a fiat surface ; or else the roofing, altogether flat, is laid on strong horizontal beams supported on walls and pillars. In all our experience we never heard of a roof, in good condition, conceniing which any apprehension was enter- tained that it could be broken down by any weight which might be placed upon it. As to the extent of roof required for three thousand persons, there was of course as much room on the roof as iu the interior ; and considering the large scale of many ancient temples and theatres, interior accommodation for three thousand persons, with room for as many more on the fiat roof, is indeed a large, but by no means an enormous, estimate. Who that recollects the old temples of Egypt, with their vast flat roofs, of immense blocks and slabs of stone, on which the modern Fellahs establish their villages, will question tliut a temple-roof might afford room for even a greater 1:11.1!. 1 . : |. imhis, and be strong enough to bear their wi. 11 ! 1 « Inn we consider the origin of the Phili-;i 1 n ir vicinity to the Egyptians, it is no unllk. :;, -n;, liim th.a tlie roofs of their public buildings, and indeed the build- ings themselves, were on the same large scale and general principles of arrangement as those of their great neigh- bours. In the Egyptian temples, as in the buildings to which we have referred, there was an interior open area, with the main building opposite the gate which leads to it ; and if Samson had ' made sport' iu the area of such a structure as an Egyptian temple, thousands of spectators might, under ordinary circumstances, have stood in perfect security on the roof of the main building and of the cloisters which usually extend along the other three sides of the quadrangle. 29. ' The two middle pillars upon which the house stood.' — To this it has been objected, how could a roof capable of accommodating three thousand persons, be sup- ported on two pillars ? In the first place, we do not see that it is said there were no more than two. Indeed the expression ' two middle pillars' implies that there were others not in the middle ; and if need be, we may trans- late : ' The two midmost of the pillars on which the house stood." We have explained, that the main building, very- open in front, does in most oriental buildings, public or private, occupy one side of an inclosed quadrangle. To illustrate our further ideas, we give a wood-cut of an oriental residence of a superior description. It is only intended to bear on the general principle of arrangement ; as we, of course, do not suppose that the ' house' of the text bore any detailed resemblance to it. It will be seen that the large central hall {divan) being quite open in front, the weight of the roof there rests on ttco pillars (there might be more) which would rest upon the front wall if there had been any. These pillars support in the centre a heavy beam, the ends of which lodge on the side walls ; and on it, of course, falls a very considerable part of the weight of the roof, whether it be fiat or low, or composed of small domes, one series of which would rest their edges on this beam. Now, if these central pillars were withdrawn, the cross beam would probably not, in ordinary circumstances, break ; but its tmrelieved weight and that of the part of the roof (always very heavy) sup- ported by it, would either break down the side, walls on which the whole weight would tlien rest ; or else the beam would be forced out, when of course the immediately in- ferior parts of the roof would fall in ; and this, connected as the different parts of the roof are with each other and with the walls, would in all probability involve the fall of the whole roof, which, from its great weight, would ren- der the simultaneous breaking down of tiie walls also a very natural result. If this might happen under ordinary f'HAP. XVII.] JUDGES. [B.C. 1406. circumstances, liow much more, when the roof bore the weight of three thousand people, who were doubtless crowded in front, the better to witness the performances of Samson in the open area ? We should thai consider the fall of the roof, and with it of the walls, an inevitable consequence of the destruction of the pillars. The fall indeed of the front parts alone would have been sufficient for the purposes of destruction ; for while the people on the roof would be thronged in front to see the spectacle, those greater personages below would also be towards the front of the building, not only for the same nason, but because, if the structure was really a temple, the interior apartment — the adytum, the sanctuary — could not have been a place of concourse, that being (as in the Hebrew tabernacle and temple, and in most heathen temples) sacred to the priests. We add another cut which will assist the reader in apprehending the views expressed in this note by generally illustrating the extent in which ' pillars ' contribute to the support of Eastern buildings. . At4^_ p-aS' 0^' '^ /it^tf^ CHAPTER XVII. 1 Of the money ihot Micah first stole, then restoreil. his mutiier maketh imaffes, 5 wid he ornaments Jbr them. 7 He hireth a Leiite to be his priest. And there was a man of mount Ephraim, whose name was Micah. 2 And he said unto his mother, The eleven hundred shekels of silver that were taken from thee, about which thou cursedst, and spakest of also in mine ears, behold, the silver is with me ; I took it. And his mother said, Blessed be thou of the Lord, my son. 3 And when he had restored the eleven hundred shchcls of silver to his mother, his mother said, I had wholly dedicated the silver unto the Lord from my hand for my son, to make a graven image and a molten image : now therefore I wiM restore it unto thee. 4 Yet he restored the money unto his mother ; and his mother took two Imndred shekels of silver, and gave them to the founder, who made thereof a graven image and a molten image : and they were in the house of Micah. 5 IT And the man Micah had an house of gods, and made an 'ephod, and "teraphim, and ""consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest. 6 "In those days there teas no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes. 7 1[ And there was a young man out of Beth-lehem-judah of the family of Judah, who u-as a Levite, and he sojourned there. 8 And the man departed out of the city from Beth-lehem-judah to sojourn where he could find a place : and he came to mount Ephraim to the house of Micah, "as he jour- neved. Chap. XVIII.] [B.C. 1408. 9 And Micah said unto him. Whence comest thou ? And he said unto him, I am a Levite of Beth-lehera-judah, and I go to sojourn where I may find a place. 10 And Micah said unto him, Dwell with me, and be unto me a father and a priest, and I will give thee ten shekels of silver by the year, and ° 'a suit of apparel, and thy victuals. So the Levite went in. 11 And the Levite was content to dwell witli the man ; and the young man was unto him as one of his sons. 12 And Micah consecrated the Levite; and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah. 13 Then said Micah, Now know I that the Lord will do me good, seeing I have a Levite to mtj priest. ? Heb. an order <•/ gariiienU. Here begins what may properly be considered as an appendix to the boolt of Judges, and which includes the five remaining chapters, the events recorded in which happened long before the time of Samson, and probably in the interval of anarchy which ensued upon, or began not long after, the death of Joshua and of the elders who out- lived him. In chronological order, the proper place for these chapters would probably be between ch. ii. and iii. This appendix consists of two main histories ; one explain- ing the origin of idolatry (or at least of improper worship) in the tribe of Dan, and detailing the foundation of the settlements which the Danites established near the sources of the Jordan. This history, comprehended in the present and following chapter, exhibiting the measures to which the Danites resorted in consequence of their confined terri- tory, is obviously connected with ch. i. 34, where the cause of their insufiicient inheritance is stated: 'The Amorites forced the children of Dan into the mountain ; for they would not suffer them to come down to the valley.' The sad history which occupies the remainder of the appendix (ch. xix.-xxi.) is expressly said to have occurred while Phinehas, the grandson of Aaron (xx. ■>»), was high-priest ; and must therefore be assigned to about the same period. Verse 3. ' Iliad whotl;/ dedicated the siher viUo the Lord.' — This chapter strikingly illustrates the mistalien ideas which had arisen, and which, by insensible degrees, led to downright idolatry, Micah and his mother clearly intended to honour the true God by their proceedings ; which were nevertheless such as the law declared to be punishable with death. What they designed seems to have been to set up a little religious establishment in imitation of that at Sliiloh, probably with an imitation of the ark, of the images of the clierubim, and of the priestly dress, and ultimately com- pleting the establishment by obtaining a Levite to officiate as priest. And all the while they thought that they were doing God service. But perhaps there was an under spe- culation of gain : for the proprietor of the establishment would certainly have got into thriving circumstances, if the want of a correct understanding of the law, together with the desire to save the trouble and (in disturbed times) the apparent danger of travelling to Shiloh, had induced the people to bring any portion of their stated offerings to Micah's chapel. That they might the more readily be in- duced to do so, is probably the reason why Micah, after having tried with his own son as priest, was anxious to obtain for his establishment the sort of credit which the presence of an officiating Levite would appear to give. We need not add that the Levite hlid no more right to officiate as a priest than Micah's own son. It will be remembered how awfully the attempt of Korah had formerly been punished. a. ' An hov.ienf gods.'— 'A house o( God,' or 'ahousefor his god,' would be more probably correct. The word usually translated ' God ' (D^n^tj! elohim) is always plural ; and as Micah evidently intended his establishment in honour of Jehovah, however mistakenly or interestedly, it might be more proper to render the word here in the sin- gular, as it always is rendered when our translators under- stood it to refer to the true God. 7. ' Of the famih) of Jiidah.' — A man of the tribe of Judah could not be a Levite ; and these words have there- fore probably crept into the text by some mistake, unless we suppose that it is merely intended to denote that the Levi- tical city to which he belonged, and in which he had lived (Bethlehem), was in the lot of Judah. CHAPTER XVIII. 1 llie Dtmiles send five men to seek out an inheritance. 3 At the house of Micah they consult with Jonathan, and are encouraged in their way. 7 They search Laish, and bring back news of good hope. 11 Six hundred men are sent to surprise it. 1 4 In the way they rob Micah of his priest and his consecrated things. 27 T/tey win Laish, and call it Dan. 30 I'hey set vp idolatry, wherein Jonathan inherited the priesthood. In 'those days there ims no king in Israel : and in those days the tril)e of the Danites sought them an inheritance to dwell in ; for unto that day all their inheritance had not fallen unto them among the tribes of Israel. 2 And the children of Dan sent of their family five men from their coasts, 'men of 1 aiap. IT. f., mA 21. 2i. valour, from Zorah, and from Eshtaol, to spy out the land, and to search it ; and they said unto them. Go, search the land : who when they came to mount Ephraim, to the house of Micah, they lodged there. 3 When they iccre by the house of Micah, they knew the voice of the young man the Levite : and they turned in thither, and said unto him. Who brought thee hither? and what makest thou in this place ? and what hast tlK)U here ? 4 And he said unto them. Thus and thus dealetli Micah with me, and hath hired me, and I am his priest. 5 And they said unto him. Ask counsel, we pray thee, of God, that we may know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous. Chap. XVIII.] [B.C. 1406. 6 And the priest said unto tlieui, Go in peace : before the Lord ^'.s- your way wherein ye go. 7 If Then the five men departed, and came to Laish, and saw the people that ivcre therein, how they dwelt careless, after the manner of the Zidonians, quiet and secure ; and there icas no "magistrate in the land, that might put them to shame in amj thing ; and they icere far from the Zidonians, and had no business with any man. 8 And they came unto their brethren to Zorali and Eslitaol : and their brethren said unto them, "What say ye ? 9 And they said. Arise, that we may go up against them : for we have seen the land, and, behold, it /s very good : and are ye still ? be not slothful to go, and to enter to possess the land. 10 ^^^len ye go, ye shall come unto a people secure, and to a large land : for God hath given it into your hands ; a place where there is no want of any thing that is in the earth. 1 1 IT And there went fi-om tlience of the family of the Danites, out of Zorah and out of Eshtaol, six hundred men 'appointed with weapons of war. 12 And they went up, and pitched in Kir- jath-jearim, in Judah : wherefore they called that place Mahaneh-dan unto this day : be- hold, it is behind Kirjath-jearim. 13 And they passed thence unto mount Ephraim, and came unto the house of Micah. 14 If Then answered the five men that went to spy out the country of Laish, and said imto their brethren. Do ye know that there is in these houses an ephod, and teraphim, and a graven image, and a molten image ? now therefore consider what ye have to do. 15 And they turned thitherward, and came to the house of the young man the Levite, even unto the house of Micah, and 'saluted him. IG And the six hundred men appointed with their weapons of war, which loere of the children of Dan, stood by the entering of the gate. 17 And the five men that went to spy out the land went up, and came in thither, and took the graven image, and the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image : and the priest stood in the entering of the gate with the six hundred men that were appointed with of war. 18 And these went into Micah's house, and fetched the carved image, the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image. Then said the priest unto them. What do ye ? ly And they said unto him. Hold thy peace, lay thine hand upon thy mouth, and go with us, and be to us a father and a priest : is it better for thee to be a priest unto the house of one man, or that thou be a priest unto a tribe and a family in Israel ? 20 And the priest's heart was glad, and he took the ephod, and the teraphim, and the graven image, and went in the midst of the people. 21 So they turned and departed, and put the little ones and the cattle and the carriage before them. 22 If And when they were a good way from the house of Micah, the men that were in the houses near to Micah's house were gathered together, and overtook the children of Dan. 23 And they cried unto the children of Dan. And they turned their faces, and said uato Micah, What aileth thee, 'that thou comest with such a company ? 24 And he said. Ye have taken away my gods which I made, and the priest, and ye are gone away : and what have I more ? and what is this that ye say unto me, What aileth thee? 25 And the children of Dan said unto him, Let not thy voice be heard among us, lest 'angry fellows run upon thee, and thou lose thy life, with the lives of thy houshold. 26 And the children of Dan went their way : and when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back unto his house. 27 If And they took the things ^Yach'^Wcah had made, and the priest which he had, and came unto Laish, unto a people that tccre at quiet and secure : and they smote them with the edge of the sword, and burnt the city with fire. 28 And there was no deliverer, because it was far from Zidon, and they had no business with any man ; and it was in the valley that lieth by Beth-rehob. And they built a city, and dwelt therein. 29 And they called the name of the 'city Dan, after the name of Dan their father, who was born unto Israel : howbeit the name of the city teas Laish at the first. 30 1 And the children of Dan set up the ► Heb. possessor^ or, fieir of restraint. * Heb. girrled. r neb. bitter u/so« i Heb. ashed him of peace. « Heb. that thou art 8 Josh. 13. 47. 71 gathered together. Chap. XIX.] JU: graven imnge : and Jonathan, the son of Gershoin, the son of Manasseh, he and his sons were yncats to tlie tribe of Dan until the day of tiie captivity of the land. ]fES. [B.C. 1406. 31 And they set them up Micah's graven image, which he made, all the time tliat tlie house of God was in Shiloh. Verse 19. ' fries* unto a tiile.' — All this transaction obviously means that the Dauites wished to have, and had, a religious cstablishmeut independent of that at Shiloh: and to this course they were probably the more induced by considering the distance of the colony they were about to establish from the present seat of the taber- nacle, to which the law required them to resoit with their otTeiings three times every year. On the unlawfulness of such innovations, and the evils they were calculated to produce, we have already remarked in the notes to chaps, viii. and xvii. [.\ppendix, No. 2S.] 28. ' Tlicre was no deliverer, because it was far from Zidon.' — As the people of this place lived after the manner of the Sidonians, and were so circumstanced as to have a claim on their assistance, it is highly probable they formed a colony from Sidon, and were connected with or de- pendent on that state. 30. ' Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son if Manas- seh,'— Tliere is but the difterence of one small letter be- tween the name of Manasseh (nl'OD), as here, and that of Moses (HB'b) ; and it is now generally agreed that this Jonathan was really the son of Moses's son Gershom, the Jews having interpolated the 3 in order to hide tliis dis- grace upon the family of their great lawgiver and prophet. The singular name of Gershom, and the date of the trans- action, concur in establishing this view. Accordingly, the Vulgate and some copies of the Septuagint have the name of ' Moses' instead of ' Manasseh.' Indeed, the in- terpolation has been very timidly executed. The letter j was originally placed above the line of the other letters (as it now appears in the printed Hebrew Bibles), as if rather to suggest than to make an alteration ; but in process of time the letter sunk down into the body of the word. The Hebrew writers themselves admit this ; and say that the intention was to veil this disgrace on the house of Moses, by suggesting a fiyxirative descent of Jonathan from Ma- nasseh, the idolatrous king of Judah, who lived about 800 years after the date of the present transactions. It seems almost certain that this Jonathan, the grandson of Moses, was the same who had been Micah's priest: and how touchingly does it speak for the magnanimous disin- terestedness of that truly great man, that not only did he twice decline the offer of the aggrandizement of his own family, when the Lord proposed to make of him ' a great nation,' rejecting the Israelites for their rebellions :— but that, neglecting all opportunities of enriching his de- scendants, he left his sons undistinguished from common Levites by rank or patrimony, and so poor, that one of his grandsons was glad to accept a situation which afforded only his victuals, with a suit of clothes and a salary of less than twenty-five shillings by the year ! CHAPTER XIX. 1 A Lerite (jning to Beth-lehem to fetch home his wife, l(i An iild man entertaineth him at Gibeah. 22 The (jiliiii/hi/es abuse his concubine to death. 29 He iliiidiJh her into twche pieces, to send them to the twdvc tribes. And it came to pass in those days, ' when there icas no king in Israel, that there was a certain Levite sojourning on the side of mount Ephraim, who took to him 'a concubine out of Bethleliem-judah. 2 And his concubine ])laycd the whore against him, and went away from him unto her father's house to Beth-lehem-judah, and was there " *four whole months. 3 And her husband arose, and went after her, to speak ''friendly unto her, and to bring her again, liaving his servant with him, and a couple of asses : and she brought him into her father's house : and when the father of the damsel saw him, he rejoiced to meet him. 4 And his father in law, the damsel's father, retained him ; and he abode with him three days : so they did eat and drink, and lodged there. 5 And it came to pass on the fourth day, when they arose early in the moniing, that he rose up to depart: and the damsel's father said unto his son in law, ''Comfort thine heart with a morsel of bread, and afterward go your way. 6 And they sat down, and did eat and drink both of them together : for the damsel's father had said unto the man. Be content, I pray thee, and tarry all night, and let thine heart be merry. 7 And when the man rose up to depart, his father in law urged him : therefore he lodged there again. 8 And he arose early in the morning on the fifth day to depart : and the damsel's father said. Comfort thine heart, I pray thet;. And they tarried 'until afternoon, and they did eat both of them. 9 And when the man rose up to depart, he, and his concubine, and his servant, his father in law, the damsel's father, said unto him, Behold, now the day "draweth toward evening, I pray you tarry all night : behold, 'the day groweth to an end, lodge here, that thine heart may be merry ; and to morrow get you early on your way, that thou mayest go "home. , or, n wifie a concubin * Heb. i>tre»ijtlien. jf the day. 1 Heb. liV; I/K iaii declmtd'. Hcb. «i l*j( Uiil. Chap. XIX.] JUDGES. [B.C. HOG. 10 But the man would not tarry that night, but he rose up and departed, and came "over against Jehus, which is Jerusalem ; and the>-e were with him two asses saddled, his con- cubine also icas with him. 11 And when they were liy Jehus, the day was far spent ; and the servant said unto his master. Come, I pray thee, and let us turn in into this city of the Jebusites, and lodge in it. 12 And his master saicl unto him. We will not turn aside hither into the city of a stranger, that is not of the children of Israel ; we will pass over to Gibeah. 13 And he said unto his servant. Come, and let us draw near to one of these jilaces to lodge all night, in Gibeah, or in Ramah. 14 And they passed on and went their way ; and the sun went down upon them when thej) tcere by Gibeah, which bdongeth to Ben- jamin. 1 5 And they turned aside thitlier, to go in and to lodge in Gibeah : and when he went in, he sat him down in a street of the city : for there was no man that took them into his house to lodging. 16 H And, behold, there came an old man from his work out of the field at even, which teas also of mount Ephraim ; and he sojourned in Gibeah: but the men of the place loere Benjamites. 17 And when he had lifted up his eyes, he saw a wayftiring man in the street of the city : and the old man said. Whither goest thou ? and whence comest thou ? 18 And he said unto him, We are passing from Beth-lehera-judah toward the side of mount Ephraim ; from thence am I : and I went to Beth-lehem-judah, but I am now going to the house of the Lord ; and there is no man that "receivetli me to house. 19 Yet there is both straw and provender for our asses ; and there is bread and wine also for me and for thy handmaid, and for the young man which is with thy servants : there IS no want of any thing. 20 And the old man said, Peace be with thee ; howsoever let all thy wants lie upon me ; only lodge not in the street. 21 So he brought him into his house, and gave proNender unto the asses : and they washed their feet, and did eat and drink. 22 ^ Now as they were making tln'ir hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, certain sons of Belial, beset the house round about, and beat at the door, and spake to the master of the house, the old man, saying, Bring forth the man that came into thine house, that we may know him. 2.3 And 'Hhe man, the master of the house, went out unto them, and said unto them. Nay, my brethren, nai/, I pray you, do not so wick- edly ; seeing that this man is come into mine house, do not this folly. 24 Behold, here is my daughter a maiden, and his concubine ; them I will bring out now, and humble ye them, and do with them what seemeth good unto you : but uuto this man do not "so vile a thing. 25 But the men w6uld not hearken to him : so the man took his conculnne, and brought her forth unto them ; and they knew her, and abused her all the night until the morning : and when the day began to spring, they let her go. 2G Then came the woman in tlie dawning of the day, and fell down at the door of the man's house where her lord was, till it was light. 27 And her lord rose uj) in the morning, and opened the doors of the house, and went out to go his way : and, behold, the woman his concubine was fallen down at the door of the house, and her hands we7-e upon the threshold. 28 And he said unto her. Up, and let us be going. But none answered. Then the man took her vp upon an ass, and the man rose up, and gat him unto his place. 21) 1[ And when he was come into his house, he took a knife, and laid hold on his concubine, and divided her, together with her bQues, into twelve pieces, and sent her into all the coasts of Israel. 30 And it was so, that all that saw it said, There was no such deed done nor seen from the day that the children of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt unto this day : con- sider of it, take advice, and speak i/our minds. 13 Gen. 19. 6. >« Ueb. the matter oftliisMly. Verse 1. ' ^ concubine.' — We have explained in the note to Gen. xvi. 3, that the original word means, not what we should understand by the word ' concubine,' but a legal and proper wife, with inferior rights and privileges — a ' secondary wife," ' a concubine-wife.' The effect of the narrative is much impaired by the use of a word so liable to misconstruction as that of ' concubine.' The woman whose sad history this chapter contains was evidently a free woman before marriage, and not a slave married to her master ; and her condition was, therefore, in so much supe- rior to that of Hagar, the handmaid-wife of Abraham, and of Bilhah and Zilpah, the handmaid-wives of Jacob. Jo- 73 XIX.] sephus calls tlie woman, without reserve, the Levite's wife. See also the notes to Gen. xxi. 10; xxv. 6. 2. ' Played the whore.' — The whole narrative is adverse to this statement. If she had done this, her husband would have been more likely to have followed her to get her ca- pitally punished, than to undertake a journey ' to speak friendly to her' — 'to speak to her heart," as the original expresses — to rekindle her tenderness, and entreat her to return to the home she had left cheerless. And if he had been so lost to oriental feeling, most assuredly the father himself, or the woman's brothers, if she had any, would not have received her ; but rather would have proved impla- cable avengers of the dishonour which her conduct had brought upon them. It is the general feeling in the East that, in such cases, the wrong falls more heavily on the woman's own family than on the husband ; and, under this feeling, the Arabs, for instance, often send the adulteress home, where she receives her death from the hands of her father or her brothers, if the crime is proved to their satis- faction. On the other hand, a wife, not an adulteress, is sure of refuge and protection at her father's : neither can her husband compel her to return ; but he often prevails upon her to do so by ' speaking to her heart,' and by ofter- ing her propitiatory presents of trinkets and fine clothes. But if she will not be persuaded, all he can do is to oblige her to remain single by withholding a divorce ; neither has she then any claim to the dowry which she would receive if dismissed by her husband. That the Levite's concubine was of this last class is evinced not only by such probabili- ties, but by the testimony of the Chaldee Paraphrase, the Septuagint, and Josephus ; which merely say that she ' dis- liked ' or * despised her husband — or, simply, that she separated herself from him — or, as Josephus more parti- cularly explains, that such continual bickerings arose, that the woman was disgusted, and went home to her father. 8. * TJiey tarried vntil afternoon.' — The verses 5-9, in- clusive, may perhaps be the better understood from the following statement. The Orientals have generally two meals a-day, one from ten to twelve in the morning, and the other (which is the principal) about seven in the evening. As they commonly rise as soon as it is light, and there is a long interval to breakfast, they usually take some small matter that cannot be called a meal, such as a crust of bread and a cup of coflfee. What we understand here is, that the hospitable father-in-law persuaded the Levite to delay his journey, both on the fourth and fifth days, till after the late break- fast, at which he engaged him so long, that the lateness of the hour for commencing a journey furnished him with an argument to induce the Levite to stay another day. ' Until afternoon,' in this verse, explains what is meant by ' the day groweth to an end ' in the ninth verse. This does not mean that it was late in the evening, but that it was, as the marginal reading has it, 'the pitching-time of the day," that is, the time, about the middle of the afternoon, when travellers who (unless they journey by night) start at day- break begin to think of pitching their tents for their rest and refreshment till the following morning. This was a late hour to begin a day's journey ; but not so late but that a person bent on proceeding might hope to make consider- able progress before sunset. Indeed, it is usual for persons beginning a journey to depart in tHe afternoon, and, after proceeding a short distance, remain in camp or otherwise till the next morning, when the journey may be said to commence regularly, the first day being merely a start. ?ES. [B.C. 1406. 13. ' In Gibeah or in Ramah.' — Gibeah was over five miles north by east from Jerusalem, and Ramah four and a half miles north of the same city. 1 5. ' There was no man that took them into his house to lodging.' — It seems that, up to this time, no caravanserais or inns, in which travellers now obtain lodging in the East, existed. We have not yet, certainly, found any dis- tinct trace of their existence. Strangers, therefore, relied entirely for accommodation upon the hospitality of the people to whose towns they came ; as is still the case in many Oriental towns, particularly in those where no cara- vanserai has been erected, or other place set apart for their reception. Under these circumstances, such an inhos- pitable reception as that which the Levite experienced rarely or never occurs, and can only be explained by a reference to the peculiarly vile character of the people oi Gibeah, which rendered them insensible to that honour and distinction which a character for hospitality never fails to procure, and which is in many places so eagerly sought, that when a stranger enters a town the inhabitants almost come to blows in the sharpness of the contest for having him as a guest. 19. * T/tcre is both straw and provender for our asses ' — (See the note on Gen. xxiv. 25) ; ' and there is bread and wine also for me,' etc. He had provisions for his party and cattle, only wanting lodging for the night. People still carry provisions with them in a journey even through a peopled country. No one calculates on obtaining, unless in very great towns, more than house-room, with the chance of being able to buy bread and fruit. It is not certain that even bread can be procured, and, not to leave the matter entirely to chance, the traveller usually takes from one great town to another so much bread as will serve him intermediately. If he desires better fare than he is likely thus to obtain, lie takes with him cooking uten- sils, rice, vegetables, preserved meat, butter, etc., and at the resting-place for the day has a warm meal prepared by a servant or himself, from his own stores and with his own utensils. We have known a single traveller accompanied by a mule, exclusively laden with his bedding, provisions, and cooking vessels. It is within the writer's own expe- rience, that, in a journey of more than a fortnight through a comparatively well-peopled part of Western Asia, it was not possible more than twice (in two great towns) to obtain other food than bread and fruit, and often this not without much difficulty, and sometimes not at all. 20. ' Lodge not in the street.' — Unless they had bedding, which travellers often carry with them, this would not have been convenient : and it would be thought disgraceful to the character of a town to allow a stranger, accompanied by his wife, to do so even then. But in other respects, lodging in the streets of a town is a less singular circum- stance in the East than it would seem to us in England. When the Bedouin Arabs visit a town, they usually prefer sleeping in the street to spending the night in a house. So also, when a person walks through the streets of Malta in the nights of summer, he finds the foot-pavement ob- structed by beds, occupied by married couples and single people. These belong to shopkeepers and others who rent the ground floors, and who, having no right to take their beds to the roof, bring them out into the street to enjoy the luxury of sleeping in the cool open air. 29. ' Divided her . . . into twelve pieces.' — See the note on 1 XI. 7. Chap. XX.] CHAPTER XX. I The Ltvite in a general assembly declareth his wrong. 8 The decree of the assemblt/. 12 The Benjamites, being cited, make head against the Israelites. 18 T/ie Israelites in two battles lose forty thousand. 26 T/iey destroy by a stratagem all the Benjamites, except six hundred. Then all the children of" Israel went out, and the congregation was gathered together as one man, from Dan even to Beersheba, with the land of Gilead, unto the Lord in Mizpeh. 2 And the chief of all the people, even of all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand footmen that drew sword. 3 (Now the children of Benjamin heard that the children of Israel were gone up to Mizpeh.) Then said the children of Israel, Tell us, how was this wickedness ? 4 And 'the Levite, the husband of the woman that was slain, answered and said, I came into Gibeah that helongeth to Benjamin, I and my concubine, to lodge. 5 And the men of Gibeah rose against me, and beset the house round about upon me by night, and thought to have slain me : and my concubine have they ''forced, that she is dead. 6 And I took my concubine, and cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout all the country of the inheritance of Israel : for they have committed lewdness and folly in Israel. 7 Behold, ye are all children of Israel ; give here your advice and counsel. 8 H And all the people arose as one man, saying, We will not any of us go to his tent, neither will we any of us turn into his house. 9 But now this shall be the thing which we will do to Gibeah ; tee will go up by lot against it ; 10 And we will take ten men of an hun- dred throughout all the tribes of Israel, and an hundred of a thousand, and a thousand out of ten thousand, to fetch victual for the people, that they may do, when they come to Gibeah of Benjamin, according to all the folly that they have wrought in Israel. 11 So all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, "knit together as one man, 12 U And the tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin, saying. What wickedness is this that is done among you? 13 Now therefore deliver us the men, the children ot Belial, which are in Gibeah, that we may put them to death, and put away evil tES. [B.C. 1406. from Israel. But the children of Benjamin would not hearken to the voice of their bre- thren the children of Israel : 14 But the children of Benjamin gathered themselves together out of the cities unto Gibeah, to go out to battle against the chil- dren of Israel. 15 And the children of Benjamin were numbered at that time out of the cities twenty and sis thousand men that drew sword, be- side the inhabitants of Gibeah, which were numbered seven hundred chosen men. 16 Among all this people there icere seven hundred chosen men iefthanded ; every one could sling stones at an hair breadth, and not miss. 17 And the men of Israel, beside Ben- jamin, were numbered four hundred thousand men that drew sword : all these were men of war. 18 H And the children of Israel arose, and went up to the house of God, and asked counsel of God, and said. Which of us shall go up first to the battle against the children of Benjamin? And the Lord said, Judah shall go up first. 19 And the children of Israel rose up in the morning, and encamped against Gibeah. 20 And the men of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin ; and the men of Israel put themselves in array to fight against them at Gibeah. 21 And the children of Benjamin came forth out of Gibeah, and destroyed down to the ground of the Israelites that day twenty and two thousand men. 22 IT And the people the men of Israel en- couraged themselves, and set their battle again in array in the place where they put themselves in array the first day. 23 (And the children of Israel went up and wept before the Lord rmtil even, and asked counsel of the Lord, saying, Shall I go up again to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother ? And the Lord said. Go up against him.) 24 And the children of Israel came near against the children of Benjamin the second day. 25 And Benjamin went forth against them out of Gibeah the second day, and destroyed down to the ground of the children of Israel again eighteen thousand men ; all these drew the sword. 26 H Then all the children of Israel, and all the people, went up, and came unto the Chap. XX.] JUE house of God, and wept, and sat there before the Loud, and fasted that day until even, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord. 27 And the children of Israel enquired of the Lord, (for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days, 28 And Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, stood before it in those days,) saying. Shall I yet again go out to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother, or shall I cease ? And the Lord said, Go up ; for to morrow I will deliver them into thine hand. 29 *\\ And Israel set liers in wait round about Gibeah. 30 And the children of Israel went up against the children of Benjamin on the third day, and put themselves in array against Gibeah, as at other times. 31 And the children of Benjamin went out against the people, and were drawn away from the city ; and they began Ho smite of the people, and kill, as at other times, in the highways, of which one goeth up to "the house of God, and the other to Gibeah in the field, about thirty men of Israel. 32 And the children of Benjamin said, They are smitten down before us, as at the first. But the children of Israel said. Let us flee, and draw them from the city unto the highways. 33 And all the men of Israel rose up out of their place, and put themselves in array at Baal-tamar : and the liers in wait of Israel came forth out of their places, even out of the meadows of Gibeah. 34 And there came against Gibeah ten thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and the battle was sore : but they knew not that evil was near them. 35 And the Lord smote Benjamin before Israel : and the children of Israel destroyed of the Benjamites that day twenty and five thousand and an hundred men : all these drew the sword. 36 So the children of Benjamin saw that they were smitten : for the men of Israel gave place to the Benjamites, because they trusted unto the Hers in wait which they had set beside Gibeah. xES. [B.C. HOB. 37 And the liers in wait hasted, and rushed upon Gibeah ; and the liers in wait 'drew tliemselves along, and smote all the city with the edge of the sword. 38 Now there was an appointed "sign be- tween the men of Israel 'and the liers in wait, that they should make a great "flame with smoke rise up out of the city. 39 And when the men of Israel retired in the battle, Benjamin began "to smite aml\i]\\ of the men of Israel about thirty persons : for they said, Surely they arc smitten down before us, as ill the first battle. 40 But when the flame began to arise up out of the city with a pillar of smoke, the Benjamites looked behind them, and, behold, "the flame of the city ascended up to heaven. 41 And when the men of Israel turned again, the men of Benjamin were amazed : for they saw that evil ''was come upon them. 42 Therefore they turned their backs be- fore the men of Israel unto the way of the wilderness ; but the battle overtook them ; and them which came out of the cities they destroyed in the midst of them. 43 Thus they inclosed the Benjamites round about, and chased them, and trode them down "with ease ''over against Gibeah toward the sunrising. 44 And there fell of Benjamin eighteen thousand men ; all these tcere men of valour. 45 And they turned and fled toward the wilderness unto the rock of Rimmon : and they gleaned of them in the highways five thousand men, and pursued hard after them unto Gidora, and slew two thousand men of them. 46 So that all which fell that day of Ben- jamin were twenty and five thousand men that drew the sword ; all these were men of valour. 47 '"But six hundred men turned and fled to the wilderness unto the rock Rimmon, and abode in the rock Rimmon four months. 48 And the men of Israel turned again upon the children of Benjamin, and smote them with the edge of the sword, as well the men of every city, as the beast, and all that ''came to hand : also they set on fire all the cities that '"they came to. Ili-b. (0 jmfle of the pmple wi llel.. wM. 10 Hcb. , ^* Or, from Mcnuc/iah, &c. i Or, BM-el. 1 Oi nite Ute wounded. Ml. 1" Cliap. 21. long sound with the trumpets. 8 Or, time, the wliole consumption. >^ Ueh. touched them. t7 Heb. was found. ih Heb. teere found. Chap. XX.] JUDGES. CB.C. 1406. Verse 1. ' Tlie coiiyreijalion was gathered together.' — This chapter contains some interesting information as to the manner in which the Israelites commenced and conducted a war. But as it was a war against one of their own tribes, we must judge, by a comparison with other instances, how far the usages here indicated may be laid down as general practices. In such a case as this, we may expect to find all the more equitable and faTourable preliminaries of the ancient Hebrew warfare more exactly and carefully ob- served than under ordinary circumstances. We see that the first report of the wrong committed in Israel excited a strong sensation, and produced a general rising of the armed men. There was no divided feeling, as on common occasions. The northern tribes concurred witli those of the south; nor were even the tribes beyond Jordan back- ward in responding to the general feeling. Nevertheless, they did not act hastily. They met at the general place of assembly, and there formally investigated the circum- stances of the horrid affair which had so justly provoked their indignation. And even then, instead of at once marching against Gibeah, they sent a deputation to the tribe of Benjamin, complaining of the wickedness which had been committed, and urging the just demand, that the offenders should be given up to justice. When the infa- tuated Benjamites refused this reasonable request, and by so doing adopted the cause of the criminals, then, and not till then, the Israelites prepared for actual conflict. All this is in exact conformity with what jurists call ' the law of nature and nations,' and which now continues to be ob- served among every civilized people. It is interesting to learn that the general principles of this law were recog- nized at so early a period, even though it should not appear that it was considered necessary to proceed in conformity with it under all circumstances. 10. ' Tofeteh victual for the people.'— The men served at their own expense, finding themselves arms, victuals, and whatever else they wanted : and for this reason, as well as on account of the great numbers that came forward on some occasions, the armies could not keep the field longer than a few days, within which most of the military expeditions recorded in Scripture terminate. When the war was in the enemy's country, the soldiers might live upon what their foraging parties obtained from the enemy ; but otherwise, each man probably took with him a few days' provision, such as travellers usually carry. Under these circumstances, we scarcely thiuk, with some writers, that the present arrangement intimates any general usage, but rather that it was an expedient to meet an unusual emergency. The peculiarities are, that it was a general rising of the men bearing arms, and not a partial levy, for which provision could be more easily obtained than for so vast an army : then, the troops had precluded themselves by oath from returning liome till the affair was brought to a conclusion — however much time that might take ; — and this oath, by the by, sufficiently indicates the prevalence of the opposite practice ; and, lastly, the war was in their own country, and where consequently the men were obliged to live strictly upon their own resources. From all this it seems to us probable that the forty thousand men selected for the service dispersed themselves over the country, bringing to the soldiers from their own towns and villages, and from their own families, such supplies of food as they required. 16. ' J£veri/ one could sling stones at an hair breadth, and not miss.' — "This is the first mention of tlie sling; but we find it noticed by Job, whose time is generally thought to have been much anterior to that of the present history (Job xli. 28). The bow and arrow are mentioned so early as the time of Esau, and there is every reason, in the ab- sence of positive information, to conclude that the sling was of still earlier origin. Stones were unquestionably the first missiles used ; and a device for giving increased force to a stone is likely to have been earlier invented than one for increasing the impetusof a dart — for this is the essential character of an arrow. A sling is also a much less com- plicated instrument than a bow, and this is a circumstance which has weight in fixing the priority of invention. It must be confessed, however, that the sling is not near so generally diffused an instrument as the bow ; probably be- cause the latter, from its superior effect, has gradually superseded the more primitive weapon. The ancients ge- nerally assign the invention to the Phoenician neighbours of the Jews ; and this is so far of importance as to show that the Greeks and Romans derived the instrimient from the East. But the weapon was known in the most re- mote times by the Egyptians, although it does not appear to have been very popular among them. The Jewish sling was probably similar to theirs, which Sir J. G. Wilkinson Chap. XXL] JUDGES. [^B.C. 1406. describes as a thong of leather, or of string plaited, broad in the middle, and having a loop at one end, by which it was fixed upon and firmly held with the hand ; the other f-xtremity terminated in a lash, which escaped from the fingers as the stone was thrown ; and when used the slinger whirled it three or four times over his head, to steady it and to increase the impetus. The Egyptian slingers em- ployed round stones for this purpose, which they carried in a small bag, hanging from a small belt over the shoulder. The Greeks and Trojans, according to the descriptions of their warfare left by Homer, often pelted each other heartily with stones, but appear not to have made much use of the sling. It existed among them, however, but would seem to have been used rather by the common soldiers than by tlje heroes ; which is probably the reason why it is not brought much under our notice iu the Iliad. It appears that the centre of their slings was wadded with fine wool, v/hich, yielding to the pressure of the stone, afforded it a secure lodgment till the moment of dismission. There are various indications of the attention which the Hebrews gave to the use of the sling. From the history of David, it seems to have been a usual weapon among the shepherds, as they watched their flocks (1 Sam. xvii. 40) ; and the effective use to which that famous shepherd ap- plied it, in his combat with Goliath, may be taken as an evidence of their skill. It is very probable that the hus- bandmen protected their grounds from wild animals with the sling, as well as the shepherds did their flocks from beasts of prey. The Roman husbandmen did so, as still do those of modern Egypt. Of all the Hebrews, the Ben- jamites seem to haVe had a peculiarly distinguished repu- tation as slingers. The present verse is not the only passage by which this is demonstrated. The fact here recorded concerning the accuracy of their aim, indicates that they must have undergone a long and careful training to the 21. ' The children of Benjamin . . . destroyed . . . of the Israelites that day Iwenlif and two thousand men.' — On common military principles there is nothing to occasion surprise in the defeat of an army of 400,000 men by one of about 27,000. It has been the great mistake of Orientals generally, in all ages, to calculate their prospects of success rather by the numbers than by the efficiency of the men they can bring into action ; and the abundant experience which Oriental history affords, of the frequently disastrous consequences of assembling such vast and unwieldy bodies, has not yet operated in correcting this kind of infatuation, which is not, indeed, peculiar to the Orientals. The diffi- culty of obtaining subsistence for such vast bodies ; the consequent necessity of entering into immediate action, in order to bring the affair to a conclusion, without waiting for those opportunities and advantages which are of so much importance to a successful result; — the difficulty of making such vast numbers act in concert against the enemy, or for mutual support ; the tumultuary character of their operations, under the imperfect organization of Oriental armies ; and the facility with which a panic spreads among large masses : — all these, and more, are circumstances which concur not to illustrate the probability, but to ex- plain the historical fact, that enormous masses of men have so often been defeated by comparatively small, but compact and vigorous, bodies, animated by one spirit, quick to per- ceive, and alert to seize the advantages which cannot fail to offer ; and, as being more easily directed and controlled, more capable of concerted action, and not equally obliged, by the difficulty of keeping their army on foot, to hurry into conflict, and thus forego the advantages which might "le Lord had been idertaking (and it is well to remember that he was not, as it helps us better to understand the result), he would probably have directed, as in the case of Gideon, that this vast host should be re- duced to a small body of resolute men ; but as he was not consulted, except partially and apparently as an after- thought, they seem in the first instance to have been left to their own ill-advised plans, and no divine power was interposed to prevent the very natural result of a conflict of 400,000 against 27,000 'men of valour' («. 44). 33. ' Baal-tamar.' — Tlimor means a palm-tree ; and the place perhaps had its name from a grove of palm-trees in which Baal was worshipped. We know nothing of the place beyond what the context shows, that it was near (Jibeah. Jerome mentions a village as existing, in his time, in this neighbourhood, under the name of Bethamari ; and this looks like a variation or corruption of the same name. 34. ' Ten thousand chosen men.' — These ten thousand seem to form a third body, distinct from the ambuscade and from the army engaged with the Benjamites at Baal- tamar. 35. ' 77ie Lord smote Benjamin.' — In this verse the sacred writer relates the event of the battle in general terms. In the sequel he resumes the narrative, giving the particulars of the battle and the consequences of victory more in detail. 45. ' The rock of Bimmon.' — The escaped Benjamites probably remained in a cave or eaves of this rock, or rocky mountain. Of the mountain itself we know nothing distinctly ; but some have thought it was the same as the ' exceeding high mountain ' which was the scene of Christ's temptation, and concerning which see the note to Matt. iv. 8. CHAPTER XXI. 1 Tlie people bewail the desolation of Benjamin. 8 By the destruction of Jabesh-gitead they provide llurm four hundred wives. 16 They advise them to sur- prise the virijins that danced at Shiloh. Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpeh, saying, There shall not .any of us give his daughter unto Benjamin to wife. 2 And the people came to the house of God, and abode there till even before God, and lifted up their voices, and wept sore ; 3 And said, O Lord God of Israel, why is this come to pass in Israel, that there should be to day one tribe lacking in Israel ? 4 And it came to ])ass on the morrow, that the people rose early, and built there an altar, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. 5 And the children of Israel said. Who is tlicre among all the tribes of Israel that came not up with the congregation unto the Loud ? For they had made a great oath concerning him that came not up to the Lord to Mizpeh, saying, He shall surely be put to death. 6 And the children of Israel repented thcni for Benjamin their brother, and said, There is one tribe cut off from Israel this day. 7 How sIimII we do for wives for them that remain, seeing we liave sworn by the Lord Chap. XXL] JUE that we will not give them of our diiughters to wives ? 8 IT And they said, What one is there of the tribes of Israel that came not up to Miz- peh to the Lord ? And, behold, there came none to the camp from Jabesh-gilead to the assembly. 9 For the people were numbered, and, be- hold, there icere none of the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead there. 10 And the congregation sent thither twelve thousand men of the valiantest, and commanded them, saying, Go and smite the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead with the edge of the sword, with the women and the chil- dren. 11 And this is the thing that ye shall do, 'Ye shall utterly destroy every male, and every woman that *hath lain by man. 12 And they found among the inhabit- ants of Jabesh-gilead four hundred 'young virgins, that had known no man by lying with any male : and they brought them unto the camp to Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan. 13 And the whole congregation sent some 'to speak to the children of Benjamin that vere in the rock Rimmon, and to ^call peace- ably unto them. 14 And Benjamin came again at that time ; and they gave them wives which they had saved alive of the women of Jabesh-gilead : and yet so they sufficed them not. 15 And the people repented them for Ben- jamin, because that the Loud had made a breach in the tribes of Israel. 16 If Then the elders of the congregation said. How shall we do for wives for them that remain, seeing the women are destroyed out of Benjamin ? 17 And they said. There must he an in- fES. [B.C. 1406. heritance for them that be escaped of Ben- jamin, that a tribe be not destroyed out of Israel. 18 ITowbeit we may not give them wives of our daughters : for the children of Israel have sworn, saying. Cursed be he that giveth a wife to Benjamin. 19 Then they said. Behold, there is a feast of the Lord in Shiloh "yearly in a place which is on the north side of Beth-el, ^on the east side °of the highway that goeth up from Beth-el to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah. 20 Therefore they commanded the children of Benjamin, saying, Go and lie in wait in the vineyards ; 21 And see, and, behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in dances, then come ye out of the vineyards, and catch you every man his wife of the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin. 22 And it shall be, when their fathers or their brethren come unto us to complain, that we will say unto them, 'Be favourable imto them for our sakes : because we reserved not to each man his wife in the war : for ye did not give unto them at this time, that ye should be guilty. 23 And the children of Benjamin did so, and took them wives, according to their number, of them that danced, whom they caught : and they went and returned unto their inheritance, and repaired the cities, and dwelt in them. 24 And the children of Israel departed thence at that time, every man to his tribe and to his family, and they went out fi-om thence every man to his inheritance. 2.") 'Tn those days there u-as no king in Israel : every man did that which teas right in his own eyes. vomen virgins. * IXeh. and spake nnd caHed. ^ Or, pn^ciaim peace. 9 OT,'Oiati/y us in them. 1" C:liap. 17. 6, and lb, I, and I'J. 1. Verse 2. ' To the house of Go 20 1 40 Interregnum 40 14. Eli . . . T.} - 1 182 20* 1137 20t 40 20 40J 1157 Samuel called as a prophet VII. Servitude or Anarchy 20 1142 20 1117 20i 15. Samuel . . 12 1122 20 1097 12 12 21 1116 Samuel and Saul . -} 40 {20 .. 40 18 Saul .... 1110 1077 20 40 40 1095 David 40 1070 40 1057 40 40 40 401 43 1055 Solomon to Found, of the Ter nple . 3 1030 3 1017 3 3 3 31 1014 Exode to Found, of Temple . 621 1027 579 1014 5914 592 612 600 478^ 1012 * Samson and Eli are supposed to have been judges simultaneously during 20 years of this period. t Besides the 20 years under the sixth servitude. 81 Chap. XXI.] forty years for the inarch in the Desert, eighty-four years for the reigns of Saul, David, aud Solomon, until the foun- dation of the Temple, the amount would be 574 years. For the time when Joshua acted as an independent chief- tain, eighteen years may be counted, which, added to 574, would make up the above number of 592 years. It must, however, be observed, that the number of 460 years repre- sents only the sum-total of all chronologically specified facts of our book down to the death of Eli, and does not include the intervals of time in which the years are not given. The statement of Josephus, above refeiTed to, rests only on his own individual computation, and is contrary to another statement of the same author. It only remains to arrange the different systems of the JES. CB.C. 1406. chronology of this period so as to exhibit them in one view to the eye of the reader. It has been deemed right, for the better apprehension of the differences, to make the table embrace the whole period from the Exode to the foundation of Solomon's Temple. The authorities whose views are embodied in this table are, Josephus, Antiq. v. 1-10 ; Theophilus, Bishop of Antioch (330 a.d.), Epist. ad Autolycum, iii. ; Eusebius (330 A.D.), Priep. Evangelica, X. 4; Dsher (165 a.d.), Chronologia Sacra, p. 71; Jack- son (175 A.D.), Chronological Antiquities, p. 145; Hales (1811 A.D.), Analysis of Chronology ; Kussell (1827 a.d.). Connection of Sacred and Profane History. [See on the Chronology of Judges, Appendix, No. 21.] THE BOOK RUTH. The book of Euth, like the four last chapters of Judges, is properly an appendix to that book, being a narrative of circumstances that occurred ' in tlie days when the Judges ruled.' The ancient Hebrew canon accordingly makes it part of the book of Judges, but the modern Jews make it one of the five Megilloth, or volumes, which consist of the Song of Solomon, Euth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther; and of which Ruth is sometimes placed the first in order, sometimes the second, and some- times the last. We know, from i. 1, that the circumstances which this beautiful narrative records occurred in the time of the Judges ; but opinions differ exceedingly as to the precise date. The facts, that Euth was the mother of Obed, the father of Jesse, David's father; and that Jesse was an old man w hen David was still but a youtii, afford the only data on which an estimate may be formed. Josephus places the events in the time of Eli ; but this is unquestionably too late. Others carry it so far back as the time when Israel was subject to tlie Moabites under Eglon, or when Ehud or Shamgar ruled. This is the opinion of several Jewish doctors, and also of Lightfoot, who places the history between the third and fourth chapters of Judges. Otlier writers have placed it at almost every intermediate period between the time of biie Moabitish servitude and that of Eli. The prevailing opinion of the Jews themselves is, that the date should be placed in tlie time of Ibzan, who succeeded Jeplithali, or was perhaps contemporary with liim on the other side of the Jordan. They indeed think that Boaz himself was the same as Ibzan ; for which we know no other reason than that they were both Betli- lemites, coupled with the desire to make the ancestor of David a person of unusual distinction. We apprehend that the opinion which now most prevails is tliat of Archbishop Usher, which takes the mean between the extreme opinions, and places tliese events in the time of Gideon. This idea is also supposed to be corroborated by the fact that the only scarcity noticed in the book of Judges, to which tliat mentioned in this book can be referred, is the one caused by the oppression of the Midianites, from which Gideon was instrumental in delivering his people. About the authorship of the book tliere are also different opinions ; but the most general is that which attributes it to Samuel. That it could not have been brought into its present form earlier than his time, appears from the genealogy with which the book concludes, and whicli traces the lineal posterity of Boaz and Ruth down to David ; and tliat tlie book was composed at a period con- siderably later than the circumstances it relates, is clear from iv. 7, which explains a custom referred to as having been 'the manner in former time' m Israel concerning redeeming and concerning changing. The expression moreover in i. 1,'when the Judges ruled,' marking tlie period of the occurrence of the events, must doubtless be regarded as indicating that in the days of the writer kings had already begun to reign. Tlie canonical authority of tlie book of Ruth has never been questioned ; and is, in all essential points, abundantly confirmed by the fact that the name of Euth the Moabitess is inserted by Matthew in his genealogy of our Saviour. The scope or object of the book has been differently understood by different writers. There are some who suppose it composed chiefly in honour of David, by exliibiting the piety and faithfulness of his ancestors; and this opinion seems to us as probable as any which has been suggested. Bertholdt and other neological writers are disposed to treat the narrative as a pure fiction or parable, intended to inculcate a man's duty of marrying his kinswoman. Higher ground is taken by Umbreit, who advances tlie opinion that it was written with the specific moral design of showing how even a stranger, and that one of the hated Moabitish stock, might, by placing her reliance on the God of Israel, become by that faith so ennobled, as to be deemed worthy of becoming a mother of the great King David. The most recent writer on tlie subject, Professor Bush, considers that llie ol)ject is Chap. I.] RUTH. [B.C. 1322—1312. spiritual aiui typical, being iutended to pre-intimate, by the recorded adoption of a Gentile woman into the family from wliicli Christ was to derive his origi?i, the final reception of the Gentile nations into the true Church, as fellow-heirs of the salvation of the Gospel. The most valuable part of the literature of this book is embraced in the general introductions and commentaries, to which the following may be added, not to speak of the numerous tales and poems whicli have been founded upon it, or written to illustrate it :— Fuller, Commentary on the Booh of Ruth, 1654; Carpzov, Collegium Rabbinico-Biblicum in Libellum Ruth, 1763; l&w&on, Lectures on the Book of Ruth, 1802; Riegler, Das Buck Ruth, mil Ehileitung, etc., 1812; Engelberth, I)as Buch Ruth, mit eiii hrit. Einleilung, etc. ; Urabreit, Ueber Geist und Zweck des Buches Ruth, 1834. [See Introduction to Judges, at the end.] CHAPTER I. 1 Elimelech driven by famine into Moab, dieth there. 4 Mahlon and Cltilion, having married wives of Moab, die also. 6 Naomi returning homeward, 8 dissuadeth her two daughters in law from going with her. 14 Orpah leaveth her, but ituth loith great constancy accompanieth her. 1 9 They two come to Ueth-lehem, n-here they are gladly received. OW it came : to pass in the ' \ days when the I ' judges 'ruled, .,' that there was f a famine in the . land. And a ' certain man of ^- Beth - lehem - . judah went to sojourn in the (nnutry of ' i ill, he, and ip. Li- wife, and his two sons. 2 And the Elimelech, and the and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Beth-lehem-judah. And they came into the country of Moab, and 'continued there. 3 And Elimelech Naomi's husband died ; an'. 14), that it would not have been correct in ordinary circumstances ; but in the case of Ruth, this act was merely a process, doubtless conformable to general usage, by which she reminded Boaz of the relative position in which they stood to each other, and claimed from him the performance of that duty which devolved upon him as the kinsman of her deceased husband. The act described in the text is more precisely defined in the marginal note. Boaz probably slept upon a rug, sheep-skin, or thick quilt, and was covered with another, or by his cloak. Euth went and lay cross-wise at his feet, lifting up and drawing over her the extremity of the co- vering. Servants in the East often sleep in this manner, as to position. They frequently sleep in the same apart- ment or tent with their master, and when they do so, in- variably lie at his feet, in the position described ; and if, on a journey or otherwise, when the weather is cold, the servant has not sufficient covering of his own, usage allows him to avail himself of the covering at the foot of his master's bed. The writer has himself known servants take this liberty during a journey, as a matter of course. By this act Ruth declared herself subject to the direction and control of Boaz ; and partly assumed a right to that protection the confirmation of which she claimed afterwards as a favour. 7. ' Boaz .... leent to lie doimt at the end of the heap of corn.' — While encamped in the neighbourhood of Hebron, Dr. Robinson makes the following interesting entry in his Journal (May 24) : — ' The fine grassy slope on which we were encamped, besides the cemetery on Jhe north, was occupied on the south by threshing-floors, where the va- rious processes of threshing, or rather treading out the grain, were continually going on. The wheat harvest, here in the mountains, had not yet arrived ; but they were threshing barley, 'Adas or lentiles, and also vetches, called by the Arabs Kersenna, which are raised chiefly had three animals, some four, and once I saw two young cattle and a donkey driven round together. In several of the floors they were now winnowing the grain, by tossing it up against the wind with a fork. Here we needed no guard around our tent. The owners of the crops came every night and slept upon their threshing-floors ; and this we found to be universal in all the regions of Gaza. We were in the midst of scenes precisely like those of the book of Ruth, where Boaz winnowed barley in his thresh- ing-floor, and laid himself down at night to guard the heap of corn.' 9. ' Spread therefore thy skirt over thine handmaid : for thon art a near kinsman.'— She had already placed herself under his covering, and we may understand that this re- quest refers merely to his making this his own act, rather than as describing two actions, particularly as it is pro- bable that she lay with no other covering than his mantle. The idea which this act involves is before alluded to in the former chapter, where Boaz himself, after praising the de- votedness and truth of Ruth's conduct, says : ' A full re- ward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel, under whose u-ings thou art come to trust.' More definitely, Ruth, by desiring Boaz to spread his skirt over her, declares herself entitled to that protection which a wife receives from her husband, or, in other words, desires him to make her his wife. It was in fact a very prominent part of the marriage ceremony among the Jews and other Oriental people. The prophet Ezekiel indicates this : — ' I spread my skirt over thee .... and thou becamest mine ' (Ezek. xvi. 8). The custom is still kept up by the modern Jews, though not perhaps in all the countries through which they are dispersed. When the bride and bridegroom stand before the priest, the latter takes up the end of the bridegroom's robe, and places it upon the bride's bead, with a distinct allusion to this an- cient ceremony. A similar usage prevails among some tribes of Arabs, with whom the ceremony constituting marriage is that one of the relations of the bridegroom, in the tent of the bride's father, throws over her head a man's abba or cloak, saying as he does so, ' No one shall cover thee but such a one,' mentioning the bridegroom's name. She is then conducted to the tent of her husband. Mr. Roberts mentions an analogous custom as existing among the marriage ceremonies of the Hindoos. This part of the ceremony often produces powerful emotions on all present ; and the parents on both sides then give their benedictions. Hence a common mode of expressing that a man has married a particular woman is to say, ' He has given her the koori,' that is, has spread over her the skirt so called. 15. ' Bring the vail that thon hast upon (Ape.'— This veil was probably such as are still used in general by the women of Western Asia when they go abroad. It has little resemblance to what the word ' veil' would suggest to the English reader. It is in fact a large sheet, which being thrown over the head descends to the heels, and being gathered in front by the hand, completely envelopes tlie whole person. These veils differ little except in colour, texture, and the manner in which the face is con- cealed. Ladies of distinction sometimes have them of silk, and these are mostly red, with narrow white stripes; but the poor women, and often others who are not poor, have them blue, striped ^vith white ; but those wholly of white are in most general use. These veils are always of linen or cotton, except those of red silk ; and those used by poor women are coarse and very strong — such as we may suppose poor Ruth's veil to have been. In Syria the women so hold their veils as to conceal all the face except one eye, to which custom Solomon probably alludes iu— ' Thou hast ravished mine heart with one of thine eyes' 80 Chap. IV.] RUTH. [B.C. 1312. :^^, (Sol. Song, iv. 9). In Persia the women also conceal the face, having only a bit of lace over the eyes, through ■which they can see ; but the Turkish women cover the whole face with a large veil of horsehair, which is very transparent from within, but seems perfectly opaque from without : the rest of their persons they cover wiih the sheet. We mention these particulars as illustrative of the veil as a large general envelope ; but it Joes not appear that the Hebrew women of ordinary rank concealed their faces so generally as is now done in the same country. See the notes and cuts under Isa. iii. CHAPTER IV. 1 Boaz cnlleth into jridyment the next kinsman. 6 He refiiseth the redemption according to the manner in Israel. 9 Boaz buyeth the inlieritance. 11 He marrieth Ruth. 13 She heareth Oberl the grand- father of David. 1 8 Uu: generation of Pharez. Then went Boaz up to the gate, and sat him down there: and, behold, the kinsman of wliom Boaz spake came by ; unto whom ho said, IIo, such a one ! turn aside, sit down here. And he turned aside, and sat down. 2 And he took ten men of the elders of the city, and said. Sit ye down here. And they sat down. 3 And he said unto the kinsman, Naomi, that is come again out »f the country of Moab, selleth a jjarcel of land, which was our brother Elimelech's : 4 And 'I thouglit to advertise thee, say- ing, Buy it before the inhabitants, and before the elders of my people. If thou wilt redeem it, redeem it : but if thou wilt not redeem it, 1 Hch. / laid 1 wilt reveal in l/ir'ne car. then tell me, that I may know : for there is none to redeem it beside thee ; and I am after thee. And he said, I will redeem it. 5 Then said Boaz, Wiiat day thou buyest the field of the hand of Naomi, thou must buy it also of Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance. 6 11 And the kinsman said, I cannot re- deem it for niyself, lest I mar mine own inheritance : redeem thou my right to thy- self; for I cannot redeem it. 7 'Now this icas the manner in former time in Israel concerning redeeming and concern- ing changing, for to confirm all things ; a man plucked off his shoe, and gave it to his neigiiiiour: and this rcas a testimony in Israel. 8 Therefore the kinsman said unto Boaz, Buy it for thee. So he drew off his shoe. y *\\ And Boaz .'*aid unto the elders, and unto all the peoi)le. Ye are witnesses this day, that I have bought all that icas Elimelech's, » Deiit. 25. 1, 9. Chap. IV.] Rl and all that tras Cliiliou's and Mahlon's, of the hand of Naomi. 10 Moreover Ruth the JNIoabitess, the wife of Mahlon, have I purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, that the name of the dead be not cut off from among his brethren, and from the gate of his place : ye a>-e witnesses this day. 11 And all the people that were in the gate, and the elders, said, JVe are witnesses. The Lord make the woman that is come into thine house like Rachel and like Leah, which two did build the house of Israel : and "do thou worthily in Ephratah, and 'be famous in Beth-lehem : 12 And let thy house be like the house of Pharez, whom 'Tamar bare unto Judali, of the seed which the Lord shall give thee of this young woman. Vd II So Boaz took Ruth, and she was liis wife : and when he went in imto her, the Lord gave her conception, and she bare a son. 14 And the women said unto Naomi, FH. [B.C. 1312. Blessed be the Lord, which hath not "left thee this day without a 'kinsman, that his name may be famous in Israel. 15 And he shall be unto thee a restorer of thy life, and "a nourisher of "thine old age : for thy daughter in law, which loveth thee, which is better to thee than seven sons, hath born him. 16 And Naomi took the child, and laid it in her bosom , and became nurse unto it. 17 And the women her neighbours gave it a name, saying. There is a son born to Naomi ; and they called his name Obed : he is the father of Jesse, the father of David. 18 H Now these are the generations of Pharez : '"Pharez begat Hezron, 19 And Hezron begat Ram, and Ram begat Amminadab, 20 And Amminadab begat Nahshon, and Nahshon begat "Salmon, 21 And Salmon begat Boaz, and Boaz begat Obed, 22 And Obed begat Jesse, and Jesse begat David. Verse 4. ^ There is none to redeem it beside thee ; and lam after thee.' — The law on which the usages described in tlie early part of this chapter are based will be found inDeut. xxv. There is indeed considerable difference in the details there stated, and the practice here followed ; but there is a gene- ral identity, which will render the same statement appli- cable to the illustration of both passages. This law, cum- nionly called the Levirate law, was, in substance, to the eflect, that, if a brother died without children, his next surviving brother, or, if he had no brother, his nearest kinsman, was bound to marry the widow, to raise up chiidren to the deceased ; that is to say, his firstborn sou by this widow, was to be considered as the son of the de- ceased : his name, as such, was to be inserted in the genealogical registers; and he was to receive the estate which in that character devolved upon him. This law did not originate with Moses. It existed long before his time ; for we find it fully and rigidly in force in the time of Jacob (Gen. xxxviii.). It is therefore to be regarded as one of those prevalent usages which the law of Moses sub- jected to certain limitations and directions which did not previously exist. For instance, we see by the earlier examples that the surviving brother had no choice but to marry the widow ; whereas the law of Moses did not abso- lutely compel him to do so. If his dislike to the woman, or to the duty which devolved upon him ; or if his being already married, indisposing him to take another wife — were stronger considerations than his duty to his brother; the law provided an alternative, easy in itself, although attended with some degree of ignominy. The woman was in public court to take off his shoe, spit in his face (or on the ground before his face, we are not certain which), and say, ' So shall it be done unto that man that will not build up his brother's house ; ' and, probably, the fact of this refiisal was stated in the genealogical registers, in con- nection with his name ; which is probably what is meant by, ' His name shall be called in Israel, The house of him that hath his shoe loosed ' (see Deut. xxv.). Under other circumstances (that is, if the deceased had left children of his own) marriage with a brother's widow was strictly forbidden (Lev. xviii. 16; xx. 21). Analogous usages have prevailed among different nations, ancient and modern, particularljf in Western Asia. The law is almost literally the same in principle, among the Arabians, the Druses of Lebanon, and the Circassians — not to mention others. It existed in Scotland so late as tlie eleventh cen- tury, according to Lord Hales. Among the Arabians, indeed, the obligation is not indispensable upon the sur- viving brother. He generally offers his hand to his deceased brother's widow ; but custom does not obtiye either party to make this match, nor can the brother pre- vent the widow from marrying another man. ' It seldom happens, however,' says Burckhardt, ' that he refi(ses ; for by such an uuion the family property is kept together.' The custom of marrying the brother's widow has long been discontinued by the Jews themselves, like several others no longer suited to the condition in which they are now placed, as a dispersed people without inheritance. Nothing therefore now remains among them of the original institution, except the ceremony of releasing both parties from a connection which is no longer permitted to be formed (Buxtorf, Si/nag. c. 30; Allen's Modern Judaism, p. 4.32). 7. ' Plucked off his shoe.'— In the law (Deut. xxv.) this act is directed to be performed by the woman ; but here it seems to be done by the man himself, who gives his shoe to Boaz. In the former instance, the man refiising to per- form his duty, without coming to any arrangement with the next of km to act for him, his shoe was taken from him with some ignominy ; but here, as he does not abso- lutely refuse without caring for the result, but makes over his right to Boaz, the ignominy is spared, and the m.itter is treated as an amicable transfer of right. The use of the shoe in this transaction is sufficiently intelligible — the Chap. IV.] RUTH. [B.C. 1312. taking off the shoe denoting the relinquishment of the right and the dissolution of the obligation, in the one in- stance, and its transfer in the other. The shoe is regarded as constituting possession ; nor is this idea unknown to ourselves, it being expressed in the homely proverbial ex- pression by whicb one man is said * to stand in the shoes ' of another. There are therefore two ways of considering this act : one as dissolving a right, the otlier as giving that right to another. In tlie former respect, the practice of the modem Jews in dissolving such a claim, may be taken as a fair illustration of the ancient practice. When the form of dissolving the mutual claim in question is to be cone through, three rabbles, with two witnesses, proceed, after morning prayers at the synagogue, to a place fixed the previous evening, attended by others of the congre- gation as auditors and spectators. The parties are then lalkd forward, and declare that they come to be released from each other. The chief rabbi then interrogates the man, and finding him determined not to marry the widow, orders him to put on a shoe of black list, which is exclu- sively used for this purpose. The woman then says : ' My husband's brother refuseth to raise up his brother's name in Israel ; he will not perform the duty of my husband's brother.' Then the brother says : ' I like not to take her.' The woman then unties the shoe, takes it off, and throws it on the ground. This she does with the right hand : ' but,' says old Purchas, ' if she want a right hand, it put- teth the rabbines out of their wits to skan whether with her teeth or how else it may be done.' Having thrown down the shoe, she spits on the ground before him, saying, ' So shall it be done unto the man that will not build up his brother's house : and his name shall be called in Israel, The house of him that hath his shoe loosed.' The persons present then exclaim three times : ' His shoe is loosed.' The chief rabbi then declares the woman at liberty to marry any other, and gives her a certificate to that effect. See Allen's Modern JudaUm ; Hyam Isaacs' Ceremonies ; a.\xA Purchas Ids Pih/rimaqe, p. 233. Isaacs' account differs somewhat from that of Allen, chiefly as to the treatment of the shoe, which, according to the former, is knitted in a peculiar manner, and must be unravelled by the man. Even at the present time, the use of the shoe as a token of right or occupancy, may be traced very extensively in the East; and however various and dissimilar the instances may seem at first view, the leading idea may still be de- tected in all. Thus, among the Bedouins, when a man permits his cousin to marry another (see the note on Gen. xxix. 19), or when a husband divorces his runaway wife, he usually says, ' She was my slipper ; I have cast her off' (Biirckhardt's ' Bedouins.' p. 65). Sir F. Henniker, in speaking of the difficulty he had in persuading the natives to descend into the crocodile mummy pits, in consequence of some men having lost their lives there, says, ' Our guides, as if preparing for certain death, took leave of their children ; the father took the turban from his own head and put it upon that of his son ; or put Mm in hi» place by giving him his slioes — " a dead man's shoes." ' This was an act of transfer : the father delegating to his son that charge of the family, which he feared he was about to leave destitute. Messrs. Tyerman and Bennett, speaking of the termagants of Benares, say : ' If domestic or another business calls off one of the combatants, before the affair is duly settled, she coolly thrusts her shoe under her basket, and leaves both on the spot to signify that she is not satisfied.' What the woman meant, doubtless, was to denote, by leaving her shoe, that she retained possession of the ground and the argument during her unavoidable absence. The shoe was the symbol of possession. In Western Asia, slippers left at the door of an apartment denote that the master or mistress is engaged — that other persons are in possession of their attention ; and later comers do not then think fit to intrude, unless specially invited. Even a husband does not venture to enter his wife's apartments while he sees the slippers of visiters at her door. These may serve as specimens of numerous instances which might be cited, in which the shoe is the symbol of possession, or of delegation or transfer, which are the ideas which seem to be conveyed by the Hebrew use of the shoe, in the present and other instances. In fact, this employment of the shoe may, in some respects, be considered analogous to that which prevailed in the middle ages, of giving a glove as a token of investiture in bestowing lands and dignities ; whence, also, the taking away of gloves was, at least in some cases, a ceremony of degradation or deprivation. It is a fact that the Targum in the place of 'shoe,' actually has 'right hand glove' in this place. We cannot admit this to be a right interpretation ; but gloves were certainly in use much more anciently than is commonly supposed. They appear, although rarely, in Egyptian sculptures, and not as worn by Egj'ptians, but seemingly by the people of a colder Asiatic climate than cither Egypt or Syria (see Wilkinson, i. 377). The gloves are long 8. ' Shoe.' — The same Hebrew word OV\ """l) denotes both a sandal and a shoe ; more generally, doubtless, the former than the latter, although always rendered ' shoe ' in our version of the Old Testament, in which the word ' sandal ' does not once occur. It must, indeed, generally be left to the context to determine which is intended ; and this the context does not often enable us to say. It is very likely, however, that shoes, properly so called, were in use before this time, for it is probable that we are to un- derstand, from the mention of 'rams' skins dyed red,' in the books of Moses (see the note on Exod. xxv. 5), that the Hebrews had the art of preparing and colouring leather. If so, shoes were probably confined to the more comfortable classes of the people ; for not only were san- dals of the earliest date, but, so far as a covering for the feet was employed at all, continued in general use for ages after the invention of shoes. Indeed, down to the present time, shoes have by no means superseded sandals in the East.— When men first thought of some contrivance to defend their feet from being cut by sharp stones, or in- jured by cold, or scorched by the hot sand, they fastened to the bottom of their feet soles of bark, wood, raw hide, and, ultimately, of tanned leather, by means of straps or thongs variously disposed— but most generally by two, one of which was joined to the sole at the heel or hollow of the foot, and after passing round the ancle, had fastened to it another which passed between the great and the second toe (see the note on Gen. xiv. 23). With some varia- tion, this is the general form of the simpler kind of sandals in different nations ancient and modern ; and it is well illustrated by the third and fourth figures of Egjptian sandals in the first of our present cuts. The latter, how- ever, is prolonged in a sharp, peaked point much beyond the toes, as is at present the case in a large proportion oJ Chap. IV.] RU' modem Oriental shoes and sandals. The preceding figures | of the same cut also deserve attention. They are such as appear on a large sitting figure now in the British Museum. ' They seem fastened by a strap passing between the great toe and its neighbour, and attached to an upper part, per- i haps of wood, which crosses the instep and descends to the j sole of the sandal on each side. The sole of the sandal { and the wooden part which crosses the instep are evidently one piece, in this instance ' (Long's Eyiiplian Antiquities, ii. 16). Among the same people the sandals of the priests were, according to Herodotus, made of papyrus. There is a figure in the British Museum which appears to have sandals of this sort, and which is thus mentioned in the work just cited : — These sandals ' must be considered as made of a flexible material, for they are represented bending exactly as the sole of the foot is bent at the toes, owing to the kneeling attitude of the figure. The bottom | of the sole is also marked with transverse lines, showing 1 that it is composed of separate small parts, the whole of j which are kept together by a rim of similar strips, running all round and forming the margin of the sole. It is in fact a shoe of papyrus, or some other flexible ma- I terial' (see fig. a in the following cut). With the exam- ples of Egyptian sandals in the first engraving, and those which will be found in the second, the following observa- tions of Sir J. G. Wilkinson may be usefully connected. ' The (Egyptian) sandals varied slightly in form ; (hose worn by the upper classes, and by women, were usually pointed and turned up at the end, like our skates, and many Eastern slippers of the present day. Some had a sharp flat point, others were nearly round. They were made of a sort of woven or interlaced work, of palm leaves [H^ [B.C. 1S12. and papyrus stalks, or other similar materials ; sometimes of leather ; and were frequently lined within with cloth, on which the figure of a captive was painted ; that hu- miliating position being considered suited to the enemies of their country, whom they hated and despised.' These facts are of particular importance on account of the prox- imity of the Hebrews to, and their connection with, the Egyptians, and from the exhibition which they ofkv of an early and simple form of the sandal. The progressive history of the sandal will be better illus- trated by our cuts than by written explanation. From these, it will be seen that it ultimately became an elaborate and ornamental article, with a more complete sole, bound to the foot and leg with lacings in multiplied convolutions, and sometimes decorated with costly ornaments of various kinds. Attention to the sandals became a foppery in the end ; and we see that Philopcemen, in recommending sol- diers to give more attention to their warlike accoutrements than to their common dress, advises them to be less nice about their shoes and sandals, and more careful in ob- serving that their greaves were kept bright and fitted well to their legs (Polybius, xi.). The Jewish ladies seem to have been very particular about their sandals, if we may judge from what is said of the bride in Sol. Song, vii. 1 :— ' How beautiful are thy feet with sandals, O prince's daughter!' and in the instance of Judith, in the Apocrypha, we observe that it was not so much the general splendour of her attire — her rich bracelets, rings, and necklaces — that attracted most strongly the attention of the fierce Holo- femes; but it was 'her sandals' that ' ravished his eyes ' (Jud. xvi. 9). Some of the customs connected equally with sandals and Chap. IV.] Rl shoes we have formerly noticed ; such as that frequent washing of the feet which they rendered necessary, and the custom of taking them otf on entering a sacred place, or even a house. We need therefore only further mention, that to loose or unbind the sandals was usually the business of the lowest servants. Disciples, however, performed this duty for their teachers ; but the rabbins advised them not to do it before strangers, lest they should be mistaken for servants. It was also the business of an inferior servant not only to loose, but to carry his master's sandals or shoes, when not immediately in use ; wlience the proverbial e.x- pressions of John the Baptist, in speaking of Christ— ' Whose shoes I am not worthy to bear' (Mat. iii. U) ;— ' The latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose ' (Mark i. 7). The Talmudists have some instructive remarks on the sandal, which we the rather cite here, as, being intended to mark the distinction between it and the shoe, it serves well to connect with the preceding observations the few further remarks which we have to offer on shoes, properly so called. ' Shoes were of more delicate use, sandals were more ordinary and fitter for service ; a shoe was of softer leather, a sandal of harder. There were sandals also whose sole or lower part was of wood, the upper of leather, and these were fastened together with nails. Some sandals were made of rushes, or of the bark of palm-trees, and they were open both ways, so that one might put in his foot either before or behind. Those of a violet or purple colour were most valued, and worn by persons of the first quality and distinction.' A shoe is a covered sandal ; and the idea of attaching a covering to the sole, so as to obtain a more complete pro- tection for the foot, was too obvious to be delayed for any considerable length of time. Indeed, at the present day, the shoes generally used in the East remain something between a complete shoe and a sandal, or, as we may say, slippers. Many of them have no quarters, and scarcely do more than cover the toes ; yet the natives walk in them with extreme ease, and almost never let them slip from the feet. The common shoe in Turkey and Arabia is like our slipper with quarters, except that it has a sharp and pro- longed toe turned up. No shoes in Western Asia have ' ears,' and they are generally of coloured leather^red or yellow morocco in Turkey and Arabia, and green shagreen in Persia. In the latter country the shoe or slipper in most general use (having no quarters) has a very high heel ; but, with this exception, the heels in these countries are generally flat. No shoes, or even boots, have more than a single sole (like what we call ' pumps '), which in wet weather generally imbibes the water freely. When the shoe without quarters is used, an inner slipper, with quar- ters, but without a sole, is worn inside, and the outer one alone is thrown off ou entering a house. But in Persia, instead of this inner slipper of leather, a worsted sock is used. Those shoes that have quarters are usually worn without any inner covering for the foot. The peasantry and the nomade tribes usually go barefoot, or wear a rude sandal or shoe, of their own manufacture : those who pos- sess a pair of red leather or other shoes seldom wear them except on holiday occasions, so that they last a long time, if not so long as among the Maltese, with whom a pair of shoes endures for several generations, being, even on holiday occasions, more frequently carried in the hand than worn on the feet. The boots are generally of the same construc- tion and material as the shoes ; and the general form may he compared to that of the buskin, the height varying from the mid-leg to near tlie knee. They are of capacious breadth, except among the Persians, whose boots generally fit closer to the leg, and are mostly of a sort of Russia leather, uncoloured ; whereas those of other nations are, like the slippers, of red or yellow morocco. There is also a boot or shoe for walking in frosty weather, which differs from the conmion one only in having, under the heel, iron tips, which, being partly bent vertically with a jagged edge, give a hold on the ice which prevents slipping. These arc particularly useful in ascending or descending the frozen mountain patlis. The sandal with the sole armed with [H^ [B.C. 1312. iron points, represented in our last cut, had doubtless the same use. The shoes of the Oriental ladies are sometimes highly ornamental ; the covering part being wrought with gold, silver, and silk, and perhaps set with jewels, real or imitated. The observations therefore made above, in re- ference to the sandals of the bride in Solomon's Song, and of Judith, may be equally applicable to shoes : and indeed it is not certain whether shoes or sandals are in these in- stances intended. We have thus spoken first of modern Oriental shoes, because we apprehend that they belong to a class of subjects best illustrated by the existing usages of the East. We have spoken from personal observation on this point. The shoes of the ancient Romans were chiefly of crude untanned leather. Ultimately shoes of tanned leather, of such forms as our cuts exhibit, were usually worn out of doors by persons in good circumstances ; but in-doors they continued to wear sandals. Wooden shoes were generally worn by poor people, slaves, and peasants ; but sometimes rude sandals, or shoes of raw leather. None but those who had served the office of Edile were allowed to wear shoes dressed with alum and of a red colour, which we may therefore infer to have been a favourite colour for shoes, as it appears to have been among the Hebrews, and as it is now in Western Asia. The Roman senators wore shoes or buskins of a black colour, with a crescent of gold or silver on the top of the foot. Women also appear to have used Emperor Aurelian forbade men to wear red, yellow, white, or green shoes, allowing them to women only ; and Heliogabalus forbade women to wear gold and precious stones in their shoes ; and this, with what we have said of modern shoes, helps us to understand in what the splendour of the Hebrew women's shoes con- sisted. Calmet finds boots of metal in the Scripture and in Homer ; but we imagine that greaves only are intended in the passages to which he alludes. What Vegetius says about the Roman soldiers having iron shoes, probably means that the soles were plated, shod, or nailed with iron. This they certainly were. The nails had sometimes their points outward, probably, as already intimated, to serve as snow or frost shoes, and also to assist in scaling walls in the attack of fortified places. Luxury, however, found its way even to the nails of shoes ; for we are told that in the army of Antiochus most of the soldiers had golden nails under their shoes. We have not mentioned Egyptian shoes, because we are not aware that anything that can properly be called a shoe occurs in Egyptian paintings and sculptures ; and the sandals we have already noticed. Wilkinson, indeed, gives a representation of a sandal of interwoven materials, with low sides, like a shoe or slipper. It is clear, however, that the Egyptians had the art of tanning and dressing leather. This would be alone probable from our finding that art among the Hebrews immediately after they left Egypt ; and that the Egyptians made shoes with leather at some period or other is testified by Belzoni, who says : — ' They had the art of tanning leather, with which they made shoes as well as we do, some of which 1 found of various shapes. They had also the art of staining the leather with various colours, as we do morocco, and actually knew the mode of embossing on it, for I found leather with figures impressed on it, quite elevated. I think it must have been done with a hot iron while the leather was damp ' { h'esearches and Operations, ii. 271, Svo. edit.). This is important ; because it is fair to infer that the Hebrews were not ignorant of what was known to their neighbours. The sandals or shoes which the Hebrews wore when they left Egypt were doubtless of Egyptian manufacture, and probably long contiimed to afford the model of those which they after- wards used. It is not however necessary to suppose that the art of preparing leather and of forming shoes had at that early time arrived at such perfection as is described by Belzoni. This conclusion we find confirmed by Wilkin- son, who believes the shoes or low boots which have been found in Egypt to be of comparatively late date, and to have belonged to Greeks ; for since no persons are repre- Chap. IV.] . Rl seiited in the paintings wearing them, except foreigners, we may conclude they were not adopted by the Egyptians, at least in a Pharaonic age. They were of leather, as de- scribed by Belzoni, generally of a green colour, laced iu front by thongs, which passed through small loops on either side ; and were principally used, as in Greece and Etruria, by women. This statement is, however, still interesting, since the comparatively late time of the Greek domination in Egypt belongs to a period which the Scripture history embraces. It is also, as we have seen, allowed by Wilkin- son, that the sandals of the very early Egyptians were sometimes of leather. In the absence of very definite information concerning the shoes and sandals of the Hebrews, the statements we have given concerning those of the modern occupants of Western Asia, and of ancient nations with which the Hebrews were at different times acquainted, will furnish 'H. [B.C. 1312. the best assistance which can now be obtained for the elu- cidation of the various passages of the Old and New Testa- ment in which the equipment of the feet is mentioned. 2\. ^Salmon begat BoaZj etc. — In the genealogy of our Saviour contained in the first chapter of St. Matthew, Boaz is described (t;. 5) as the son of Salmon by Rahab. Now if this Rahab were, as is usually supposed, Rahab the harlot, who protected the spies at Jericho, it is not easy to conceive that only three persons — Boaz, Obed, and Jesse — should have intervened between her and David, a period of at least 400 years. Usher's solution, that the ancestors of David were probably blessed with extraordinary longevity, is not altogether satisfactory. It seems more probable that the sacred writers have mentioned in the genealogy only such names as were distinguished and known among the Jews, according to the practice of abbreviated regis- tration which has been fully described under Genesis. GiiErlAN AND Roman SANnALi. TIIK FIRST BOOK OF SAMUEL, OTHERWISE CALLED THE FIRST LOOK OF THE KINGS. The two books wliioli bear tlie name of Snninel anoiently made but one book among the Jews, whicli was by them called the Book of Samuel (''^■I'^pi.QD) : and this circumstance gave more propriety to the title than it exhibits since the book has been divided into two ; for the portion of the whole which now forms the second book, and which carries the Hebrew history throug-h a period which did not commence till after the death of Samuel, could not possibly have been written by him. Whatever impropriety therefore is found in the application of Samuel's name to these books, arises from the division into two, for as one it might very properly be called after Samuel, not only from the great figure whicii he makes in the first portion of it, but because that portion may very probably have been written by him. But although the book bears this title in tlie earliest Hebrew copies with which we are acquainted, it is a matter of some doubt whether it was so called at the earliest period ; for it would seem that the Seventy read a different title in their copies, calling it, as well as the two succeeding books, the Book of Kings, or rather of Kingdoms {flaaikdm'), which is a very proper title, seeing that the book (taken as one) relates in much detail the institution of the monarchy and the reigns of the first two of the kings. This has been imitated in the Vulgate, which calls the two books of Samuel the first and second book of Kings ; and this is also preserved in the second title of our version, ' otherwise called the first' and the 'second book of Kings.' The Syriac version names this book ' the book of Samuel the Prophet ;' the Arabic, ' the book of Samuel the Prophet, which is the first book of Kings.' It is the belief of the Jews that the twenty-four first chapters of the book (the two taken as one) were written by Samuel himself, and that the remainder was supplied by the prophets Nathan and Gad. This notion is founded on the passage in the first book of Chronicles (xxix. 29), ' Now the acts of David the king, first and last, behold they are written in the book of Samuel the seer, and in the bonk of Nathan the prophet, and in the book of Gad the seer ;' and this really does seem as conclusive evidence of authorship as can be fomid in Scripture. I'irsf, we have the acts of David, ' first and last,' in the books before us ; and then we are told by an independent authority, that the books containing these acts were written by Samuel, Nathan, and Gad, who were successively con- temporary with the events which they relate : and this of course implies, that the portion of this history with which Samuel was contemporary (being the first twenty-four chapters) was written by him. No extent of inquiry can bring us to any more satisfactory conclusion than is thus obtained. It will in any case appear that the two books of Samuel were composed befi)re those of Kings and Chronicles ; for in these many circumstances are manifestly taken and repeated from the books of Samuel. "We may therefore assent to the general opinion that Samuel was the author of the greater part of the first of the books whicli bear his name ; which was probably composed by him towards the liillcr end of his life. There appear to be no allusions to monuments, etc., which are not consistent \\\\\\ this hypothesis, although some have been led by them to conceive tliat the book was prepared in a later age (by Jeremiah or Ezra), from contemporary documents or from oral traditions. The questions of authorship, of exact date, and of the mode of formation, are however of little consequence in them- .'iclves, though they may gratify our curiosity — the authority of the book never having been disputed, and that being the same, if we regard it as an inspired book, in whatever age or by whatever person composed. But the internal evidence seems to us entirely in favour of the contemporary authorship. The narrative is full of natural touches and incidental allusions, whicli indicate that the writer wa.'; I. SAMUEL. personally cognizant of much that he relates ; nor is it likely tliat a writer in a later age would give so mucli prominence to the history of David, while the annals of subsequent kings are so scantily recorded. If, therefore, it were even disputed that the work was a contemporary production, in the state in wiiich it has descended to us, it would still be allowed that it had been reduced to its present shape IVom contemporary materials, which Samuel, Gad, and Nathan are more likely than any other persons of their time to have provided. Besides, a history, manifestly complete in itself, and wliich comes down to the very verge of David's death without including that event, affords a manifest sign of having been substantially written while that monarch still lived. The books, as they stand, are among the most popularly interesting in Scripture. They are so rich in lively pictures of character, and descriptions, tliat in this respect they deviate from exact history, and sometimes become biographical. They also abound in little natural touches, which constitute one of the chief beauties of the narrative. As the principal of these beaiitiful narrative pieces of the two hooks, we may indicate the vision of Samuel, in 1 Sam. iii. ; the deatli of Eli, in 1 Sam. iv. 13-22; the anointing of Saul, in 1 Sam. x. ; and that of David, in xvi. ; and the grief of David for the death of Absalom, in 2 Sam. xviii. 29-33. Not less striking are tlie various discourses and addresses vvhich are interspered in the course of the history — such as tlie address of Samuel to the people res[iecting their demand for a king, and in vindication of his own character, as given in 1 Sam. xii. ; tliat of Abigail to David, to dissuade him from wreaking his threatened vengeance upon the liouse of Nabal,in 1 Sam. xxv. 24-31 ; that whereby Nathan made David sensible of the enor- mity of his crime in the matter of Uriah and Batlisheba, in 2 Sam. xii. 1-12 ; that of the woman of Tekoah to David, to induce him to recall Absalom, in 2 Sam. xiv. 4-17 ; that whereby Husliai in- duced the council of war to reject the advice of Ahithophel, in 2 Sam. xvii. 7-13; and, finally, the impressive words in which tlie aged Barzillai declined the proffered favours of the king, in 2 Sam. xix. 34-37. There are, also, poetical pieces, winch, of their different kinds, are among the most remarkable specimens of Hebrew poesy ; namely, the very beautiful song of Hannah, the mother of Samuel, in 1 Sara. ii. ; the tender and affecting elegy of David upon the death of Saul and Jonathan, in 2 Sam. i. 19-27; his short but characteristic and striking elegy upon the death of Abner, in 2 Sam. iii. 33-34; and the poem called ' tlie last words of David,' in 2 Sam. xxiii. which is remark- able not less for the sentiments which it embodies, than for the felicitous images in which it abounds. The authenticity of the books is open to the full measure of the proof usually adduced. Portions of them are quoted in the New Testament, as 1 Sam. xiii. 14, in Acts xiii. 22; 2 Sam. vii. 14, in Heb. i. 5. References to them occur in other parts of Scripture, especially the Psalms, to which they often afford very interesting historical illustration. Much stress has been laid upon the alleged contradiction which the books contain ; these have been considered in the notes, which will, we trust, shew that none of them are incapable of satisfactory explanation. Tiie books of Samuel contain the history of Samuel's administration as judge, and of the regal government introduced by his mediation, and established in the house of David. This history divides itself naturally into three parts; — 1. The history of Samuel's administration as prophet and judge, 1 Sam. i.-xii. 2. The history of Saul's government, and of the early history of David, prospectively anointed king, 1 Sam. xii.-xxxi. 3. The history of David's government, with which the second book is wholly occupied. The history of the two books covers a space of about 120 years, reckoning from the birth of Samuel to near the end of David's reign : of tiiis the first book occupies eighty years, or from the birth of Sanmel to the death of Saul. There are above a hundred treatises on different portions of the two books of Samuel. The following are the separate commentaries on them, or on the group of historical books in which they are included: — Strigelii, Comment, in quatuor Libr. Reg. et ParaUpp., 1591 ; Ferrarii Comm. in Libr. JosucE, Jud., Ruth, Reg. et ParaUpp., 1609 ; Willet, An Exposition upon the First and Second Books of Samuel, 1614; Bmsii, A/motatt. in Locos diffic. Jos., Jud., et Sam., 1618; Sa.nct\i in guat. Libr. Reg. et ParaUpp. Comtnent., 1625 ; Bonfrere, Comment, in Libr. quat. Reg. et ParaUpp., 1643; Guild, the Tlirone of David, or an Exposition of the Second Book of Samicel, 1659 ; Osiander, Comment, in i et ii Sam., 1687 ; Schmidt, in Libr. Sam. Comment., 1697 ; Hensler, Erliiuterungen des 1 Buck Sartmds, 1795. [Die Bikher Samitxls erllart, von Otto Thcnius, Leipzig, 1842; part of the Kurxgefasstcs Handhuch mentioned in the Introduction to Judges, q. ».] Chap. I.] [B.C. 1171—1165. CHAPTER I. 1 ElkanaU a Levtte, havinc; two wives, worshippeth yearly at S/iiloh. 4 He clierisheth Hannah, though barren, and provoked by Peninnah. 9 Hannah in grief prayeth for a child. 12 Eli first rebuking her , afterwards blesseth her. 19 Hannah having bom Samuel, slai/elh at home till he be weaned. 24 She presenteth him, according to her vow, to the LORD. OW there was a cer- ^ tain man ix\ of Rama- thaim - zo- phim, of I , ^,j mount '/-f\^ Ephraim, ' '^ and his \j I , name u-as ,^:'lj Elkanah, ' 'V^)^ the son of Jeroham, tlie son of Elihu, the bon of To- Jm, the son of Zuph, an Epiira- ! thite : 2 And he had two wives ; the name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah : and Peninnah had children, hut Hannah had no children. 3 And this man went up out of his city ' 'yearly to worship and to sacrifice unto the EoRD of hosts in Shiloh. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, the priests of the Lord, icere there. 4 IT And when the time was that Elkanah offered, he gave to Peninnah his wife, and to all her sons and her daughters, portions : 5 But unto Hannah he gave "a worthy por- tion ; for he loved Hannah : but the Lord had shut up her womb. 6 And her adversary also 'provoked her sore, for to make her fret, because the Lord had shut up her womb. 7 And as he did so year by year, ' 'when she went up to the house of the Lord, so she |irovoked her ; therefore she wept, and did not eat. 8 Then said Elkanah her husband to her, Hannah, why weepest thou ? and why eatest thou not ? and why is thy heart grieved ? am not I better to thee than ten sons ? 9 IT So Hannah rose up after they had eaten in Shiloh, and after they had drunk. Now Eli the priest sat upon a seat by a post of the temple of the Lord. 10 And she icas 'in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the Lord, and wept sore. 11 And she vowed a vow, and said, O Lord of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid 'a man child, then I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life, and "there shall no razor come upon his head. 12 IT And it came to pass, as she '"continued praying before the Lord, that Eli marked her mouth. 13 Now Hannah, she spake in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard: therefore Eli thought she had been drunken. 14 And Eli said unto her. How long wilt thou be drunken ? put away thy wine from thee. 15 And Hannah answered and said. No, my lord, 1 am a. woman "of a sorrowful spirit : I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured out my soul before the Lord. 16 Count not thine handmaid for a daughter of Belial : for out of the abundance of my ""complaint and grief have I spoken hitherto. 17 Then Eli answered and said. Go in peace : and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of him. 18 And she said. Let thine handmaid find grace in thy sight. So the woman went her way, and did eat, and her countenance was no more sad. 19 H And they rose up in the morning early, and worshipped before the Lord, and returned, and came to their house to Raniah : and Elkanah knew Hannah his wife ; and the Lord remembered her. 20 AVherefore it came to pass, "when the time was come about after Hannah had con- ceived, that she bare a son, and called his name "Samuel, saying. Because I have asked him of tlie Lord. 21 And the man Elkanah, and all his house, went up to offer unto the Lord the yearly sacrifice, and his vow. * lieh.Jroin Iter f/oin/j i n ileb. ftayd of spi '■frnmiimrlitt I. angered JuJg. 13. 0 Or, from Ik [Icb. multiplied to pray. Chap. II.] I. SAMUEL. [B.C. 1165. 22 But Hannah went not up ; for she said unto her husband, / loill not e Dea Syria) also states that he had seen this idol represented in Phienicia (Philistia) as a woman with the lower half fish ; but adds, that at Hierapolis (in Syria), where she was worshipped, her statue was in a female form throughout. He adds, however, that some thought this temple dedicated to Juno ; and that it was built by Deucalion, after his escape from the flood, as a memorial of the waters of the Deluge having escaped through a fissure in the earth, over which the temple was built, and into which the worshippers on certain days poured water. This is remarkable for the corroboration it affords to the view entertained by those who think that the mythology of Derceto was founded, partly at least, on traditionary accounts of the deluge. The consecration of fish and the abstinence from eating them, is attested by many writers besides those we have quoted, and seems referred to in the prohibition of fish- idolatry by Moses. It was not only a Syrian but an Egyptian practice. Lakes or ponds of tame consecrated fish, like that which Diodorus mentions at Askelon, were common in other parts of Syria : and it was firmly be- lieved that whoever ate the fish would be punished, by the goddess to whom they were consecrated, with fatal diseases in the liver and bowels. The custom is, in some degree, still kept up in Western Asia, where lakes full of tame fish are consecrated to the Mohammedan suintS and venerable persons. Thus there is connected with the mosque of Abraham, at Urfah (supposed ' Ur of the Chal- dees'J, a lake stocked with fish consecrated to him, and which no Moslem would on any account molest, much less eat. So also at Shiraz, in the garden containing the tomb of Saadi, there is a fountain abounding with fish, some said to be decorated with gold rings, to molest which is considered an act of sacrilege, which the poet himself would not fail to avenge, and which the local authorities do not neglect to punish severely. Banier's Mytholociy and Fables Explained, B. vii. ; Jahn's Biblische Archueo- loyie ; Creuzer's Sijmholik ; Ouseley's Travels, vol. i. Ap- pendix, No. 13. [On Assyrian Dagon, see Appendix, No. 29.] 5. ' Nor any that come into Dagon's house, tread on the threshold:— P'rostrsitiou at the threshold, in the East, im- plies the highest homage and reverence for the presence that dwells within : hence Dagon was brought into an in- telligible posture of humiliation before the ark of God. In the East, particularly in Persia, the attention paid to the threshold of holy places and the palaces of royalty, is very observable, and tends to illustrate strikingly the text before us, as well as that in Ezek. xliii. 8 ; in which God complains that his holy name had been defiled by ' their setting of their threshold by my thresholds,' by which we understand, that idols being placed within his temple, or their thresholds approximated to or identified with his threshold, the acts of homage there performed by worship- pers, were shared or appropriated by them, instead of being given to Him only. In Persia, the mosques conse- crated to eminent saints therein entombed, are never en- tered without previous prostration at the threshold. Thus in front of the highly venerated mausoleum of Fatima at Koora, are inscribed the words: ' Happy and glorious is the believer who shall reverently prostrate himself with his head on the threshold of this gate, in doing which he will imitate the snn and the moon.' So also, at the mau- soleum of Sheikh Seffi at Ardebil, Morier (vol. ii. p. 254) observes, ' Here we remarked the veneration of the Per- sians for the threshold of a holy place ; a feeling which they preserve in some degree even for the threshold of their houses. Before they ventured to cross it they knelt down and kissed it, while they were very careful not to touch it with their feet. In writing to a prince, or a great personage, it is common for them to say, " Let me make the dust of your threshold into surmeh (coUyrium) for my eyes." ' , . 6. ' Smote them with emerods.'— This disease (B'-;r-_^ aphalim') is the same that is mentioned in Deut. xxviii. 27. Some believe this to mean the dysentery ; and Jahn, after Lichtenstein, is of opinion that the disorder arose from tne bites of the venomous solpagus, which occasion swellings attended with fatal consequences. He supposes that these large vermin (of the spider class) were, by the special providence of God, multiplied in extraordinary numbers, and, being very venomous, were the means of destroying many individuals. But, after all, we incline to prefer the common opinion, that the disease, was the hsemorrhoids, or bleeding piles, in a most aggravated form. It was by diseases affecting such parts of the body as the text indi- cates, that the gods were thought, in ancient times, parti- cularly to punish offences against themselves; and there, fore such a disorder would the more readily lead the Phi- listines to conclude that their calamity was from Him whose indignation had already been testified by the de. struction of their idol. Chap. VI."1 I. SAMUEL. [B.C. CHAPTER VI. 1 After seven months the Philistines take counsel how to send back the ark. 10 They bring it on a new cart with an offering unto Beth-shemesh. 19 The people are smitten for looking into the ark. 21 I'hei/ send to them of Kirjath-jearim to fetch it. And the ark of the Lord was in the country of the Philistines seven months. 2 And the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, saying, \Miat shall we do to the ark of the Lord ? tell us wherewith we shall send it to his place. 3 And they said. If ye send away the ark of the God of Israel, send it not empty ; _ but in any wise return him a trespass offering : then ye shall be healed, and it shall be known to you why his hand is not removed from you. 4 Then said they. What shall be the tres- pass offering which we shall return to him ? They answered, Five golden emerods, and five golden mice, according to the number of the lords of the Philistines : for one plague icas on 'you all, and on your lords. 5 ^^^lerefore ye shall make images of your emerods, and images of your mice that mar the land ; and ye shall give glory unto the God of Israel : pcradventure he will lighten his hand from off you, and from off your gods, and from off your land. 6 Wherefore then do ye harden your hearts, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? when he had wrought 'wonderfully among them, Mid they not let 'the people go, and they departed ? 7 Now therefore make a new cart, and take two milch kine, on which there hath come no yoke, and tie the kine to the cart, and bring their calves home from them : 8 And take the ark of the Lord, and lay it upon the cart ; and put the jewels of gold, which ye return him /or a trespass offering, in a coffer by the side thereof; and send it away, that it may go. 9 And see, if it goeth up by the way of his own coast to Beth-shemesh, then 'he hath done us this great evil : but if not, then we shall know that it is not his hand that smote us ; it roas a chance that happened to us. 10 If And the men did so ; and took two milch kine, and tied them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home : 11 And they laid the ark of the Lord upon the cart, and the coffer with the mice of gold and the images of their emerods. 12 And the kine took the straight way to the way of Beth-shemesh, and went along the highway, lowing as they went, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left ; and the lords of the Philistines went after them unto the border of Beth-shemesh. 13 And . ' Afake us a king to judge us like all the na- tions'— This demand, and the general subject involved, lias been already somewhat fully illustrated in the notes to Deut. xvii., to which the reader is referred. HI The sole administration of Samuel lasted twelve years, dating it, as we do, from the end of the Philistine servi- tude, and not from the death of Eli. Near the close of this period, when the prophet was ' growing old and gray- Chap. VIII.] SAMUEL. QB.C. 1112—1005. heaJed,' being sixty-four years of age, he appointed his BOQS, Joel and Abiah, to act for him at Bethel and Beer- sheba. Bat they -walked not in the steps of their father. ' They turned aside af^er lucre, and took bribes, and per- verted judgment.' The misconduct of Samuel's sons, with his own advanc- ing age, and the seemingly unsettled state in which the government would be left at his death, were among the causes which at this time induced the elders of Israel to resort to Samuel at Kamah and to demand of him that a king should be appointed to reign over them, as in other nations. The causes which we have just stated, together with the regular administration of justice to which Sa- muel had accustomed them, occasioned the demand, it would seem, at this particular time ; but there were deeper causes which would unquestionably have brought them to this point ere long, if it had not now. These causes have been well discriminated by Jahn. This able writer justly refers the frequent interruptions to the welfare of the Hebrew state under the judges to— ' 1. The effeminacy and cowardice of tie people ; and, 2. To the disunion and jealousy of the tribes, who never assisted each other with the requisite zeal and alacrity. But as this effeminacy arose from the vices of idolatry, and their cowardice from a want of confidence in Jehovah ; so the disunion and jealousy of the tribes, though selfishness was the immediate cause, arose from a disposition to neglect their Divine King, and not to consider themselves as the united and only people of Jehovah. This disposition, if it did not originate from, was at least very much height- ened by the multiplication of deities. Thus both these causes of their misfortunes owed their origin to idolatry, that great cause of all their calamities, so often mentioned in the sanctions of the law. Thus the people, by increasing their gods, enervated themselves, and prepared for them- selves those suiierings and chastisements by which they were again to be brought back to their King, Jehovah.' He proceeds to say that ' These causes of national mis- fortune were all in operation at the time of Samuel, and threatened to produce after his death still greater calamities. The tribes beyond the Jordan had formidable enemies in the Ammonites and the southern tribes in the Philistines, while the northern tribes stood aloof from the dangers of their more exposed countrymen. The latter seems to have been the principal reason why the rulers in general assembly requested a king. The tribes in south- ern Palestine and beyond the Jordan were the most ear- nest for this change in the government ; they feared that the death of Samuel would leave them without a supreme magistrate, and that the nation being again disunited, they should be left to their fate. The degeneracy of Samuel's sons, who had been appointed subordinate judges, or deputies, increased their apprehensions. They therefore strenuously insisted on their demand, "Nay, but we will have a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations." They had reason to hope that a king invested with supreme authority might be able to unite the power of the whole nation and protect each tribe with the collected strength of all ; that under him the affairs of government would be more promptly adminis- tered and necessary aid more readily afibrded ; that if he were a man devoted to Jehovah, he could more effec- tually repress or prevent idolatry, and thus place the welfare of the state on a more solid foundation. They might imagine themselves justified in this request as Moses had taken it for granted that the nation would eventually have a king, and the same thing had been promised to their great progenitor Abraham. It conduces greatly to the honour of the Hebrews that they attempted this change in their constitution, not by their own power, but in accordance with the principles of the theocracy ; they requested it of their King, Jehovah, by the intervention of a prophet, and they effected it without bloodshed, — a manifest proof that tlie time of the judges was neither what is usually understood by a " barbarous " nor a " he- roic age."' [See in connection with the above, xii. 12.] But as all the objects which they desiied to realize were attainable under the theocracy, were tliey but faithful to its principles and engagements ; and as the unseen King^ Jehovah, would necessarily be obscured by a subordinate, visible monarch. He, by means of Samuel, gave the rulers to undei-stand his disapprobation of their request; and at the same time represented to them the burdens they would have to bear imder a king, especially how easily he might be led to imitate other Oriental monarchs, and to disregard the law of Jehovah. 11. ' Tliis will be the manner of the king that shall reiyn over you.' — The description which Samuel gives is doubt- less a picture of such kingly governments as were at that time established in the neighbouring nations, and such as that of the Hebrews ultimately became. It is therefore very instructive, and presents some striking analogies to the present condition of kingly power in the East. Some of these will hereafter come under our notice historically with more advantage than in this place, which will there- fore limit our remarks on the present chapter. — 'He will take your sons, and appoint them for him- self.'—This, and other passages of a similar import, which follow, we understand to refer to such a right as that which is still claimed by some Oriental monarchs, of appropriating the services of any of their subjects accord- ing to their pleasure : that is to say, the king is considered so far entitled to the services of his people, that they can- not refuse to serve him, when called upon to do so. The remuneration depends on circumstances; but more will not often be obtained than the wages of a slave — food and clothing. In Persia, for instance, the king exercises the right of calling, to work for him, any artisan distinguished for his skill ; in consequence of which, reputation for skill in any branch of art is deprecated as the worst of evils. The ultimate operation of this feeling is to prevent all improvement in the useful arts ; for even a man who has completed an improvement, is afraid to give it effect, in the knowledge that, by so doing, his prospects in life will not be bettered, but wholly ruined. — ' Some shall run before his chariots.' — Chariots are not now used ; but in Persia it is, to this day, a piece of state for the king and other great personages to have several men run on foot before and beside them, as they ride on horseback. This they do even when the rider puts his horse to a gallop. The men are trained to their business from boyhood; and the feats they are able to perform would scarcely be considered credible in this country. They are called shatirs. Chardin mentions a candidate for the place of shatir to the king, who accom- plished about 120 miles by fourteen hours' unremitted rimning; and who was rather censured for not having done it in twelve hours. Chardin himself followed him on horseback in his seventh course, when the heat of the day had obliged him somewhat to relax his pace, and the traveller could only follow him by keeping his horse on the gallop. No instance equal to this came to our own knowledge in the same country ; but what we did see and learn, rendered the statement of Chardin far from incre- dible. It is astonishing to observe the extreme ease with which the men appear to attend their master's horse in all its paces, even the most rapid ; and, as a general rule, it is understood that an accomplished footman ought to re- main untired as long, or longer, than the horse ridden by his master. The same custom existed in ancient Egypt, and the illustration derivable from this source is the more interesting, as Egypt was probably one of the contem- porary nations which the prophet had in view, and the more exact, as chariots were there actually employed. 12. 'He will appoint him captains' — Does this refer to a power, exercised by the king, of obliging persons whom he thought proper to nominate, to accept offices of honour whether they desired it or not ? It is very possible. In the East, a man must accept any office to which the king nominates him. however disagreeable or ruinous to him- self. Nor has this been confined to the East ; for no very long period has elapsed since our own sovereigns exer- cised the same power, and possessed also that claim upon 115 Chap. IX.] I. SAMUEL. [B.C. lODJ the services of artisans and others, to which we have ad- verted in a preceding note. 13. 'He will take youT daughters to he confectionaries . , . cooks . . .and bakers' — We" have, on several occasions, mentioned that these are the offices of females in Oriental households; and how great a number must have been em- ployed in providing for the vast royal establishments of the East, may easily be imagined. It is not too much to say, that thousands derive their daily food from the royal kitchens. Perhaps the picture drawn by Samuel was most completely realized in the time of Solomon, the daily provision of whose household amounted to ' thirty mea- sures of fine flour, and threescore measures of meal, ten fat oxen, and twenty oxen out of the pastures, and an hundred sheep, besides harts, and roebucks, and fallow- LiniOT. A-NCIE-VT Eqtpt. deer, and fatted fowl' (1 Kings iv. 22, 23). To prepare all this for the table must have occupied no small number of 'confectionaries, cooks, and bakers." The Rev. W. Jowett calculates that not fewer than two thousand per- sons were employed about the palace of that petty prince, the emir of the Druses. He says, ' We saw many pro- fessions and trades going on in it — soldiers, horse-breakers, carpenters, blacksmiths, scribes, cooks, tobacconists, etc. There was, in the air of this mingled assemblage, some- thing which forcibly brought to my mind the description of an eastern royal household, as given to the Israelites by Samuel.' Christian Researches in Si/ria, p. 84. The other topics of this remarkable chapter admit of being reserved for consideration in connection with future historical circumstances. CHAPTER IX. 1 Sajil despairing to find his father's asses, 6 b;/ the counsel of his servant, II and direction of yuuncj maidens, 15 according to God's revelation, 18 cometh to Samuel. 19 Samuel entertaineth Saul at the feast. 25 Samuel, after secret commimicntion, bringeth Saul on his way. Now there was a man of Benjamin, wliosc name teas 'Kisli, the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Bechorath, the son of Aphiah, 'a Benjamite, a mighty man of 'power. 2 And he had a son, whose name iras Saul, a choice young man, and a goodly : and there was not among the children of Israel a goodlier person than he : from his shoulders and upward he teas higher than any of the people. ] I (^ > Chap. H. 5] . 1 Cliroi). 8. S3. * Or, the 3 And the asses of Kish Saul's father were lost. And Kish said to Saul his son. Take now one of the servants with thee, and arise, go seek the asses. 4 And he passed through mount Ephraim, and passed through the land of Shalisha, but they found them not : then they passed through the land of Shalim, and there they were not : and he passed throtigh the land of the Ben- jamites, but they found them not. 5 And when they were come to the land of Zuph, Saul said to his servant that was with him. Come, and let us return ; lest my father leave carintj for the asses, and take thought for us. 6 And he said unto him, Behold now, thej-e i.i in this city a man of God, and he is an honourable man ; all that he saith cometh mofJcmini. » 0r,»uist(l/l«. Chap. IX.] I. SA] surely to pass : now let us go thither ; per- adventure he can shew us our way that we should go. 7 Then said Saul to his servant, But, be- hold, ifw'Q go, what shall we bring the man ? for the bread "is spent in our vessels, and there is not a present to bring to the man of God : what 'have we ? 8 And the servant answered Saul again, and said. Behold, °I have here at hand the fourth part of a shekel of silver : that will I give to the man of God, to tell us our way. 9 (Beforetime in Israel, when a man went to enquire of God, thus he spake. Come, and let us go to the seer : for he that is now called a Prophet was beforetime called a Seer.) 10 Then said Saul to his servant, 'Well said ; come, let us go. So they went unto tlie city where the man of God ivas. 11 *\ And as they went up 'the hill to the city, they found young maidens going out to draw water, and said unto them. Is the seer here ? 12 And they answered them, and said. He is ; behold, he is before you : make haste now, for he came to day to the city ; for there is a 'sacrifice of the people to day in the high place : 13 As soon as ye be come into the city, ye shall straightway find him, before he go up to the high place to eat : for the people will not eat until he come, because he doth bless the sacrifice ; and afterwards they eat that be bidden. Now therefore get you up ; for about '"this time ye shall find him. 14 And they went up into the city : and when they were come into the city, laehold, Samuel came out against them, for to go up to the high place. 15 H "Now the Lord had 'Hold Samuel in his ear a day before Saul came, saying, 16 To morrow about this time I will send thee a man out of the land of Benjamin, and thou shalt anoint him to be captain over my people Israel, that he may save my people out of the hand of the Philistines : for I have looked upon my people, because their cry is come unto me. 17 And when Samuel saw Saul, the Lokd said unto him. Behold the man whom I spake UEL. [B.C. 1095. to thee of! this same shall "reign over my people. IS Then Saul drew near to Samuel in the gate, and said. Tell me, I pray thee, where the seer's house is. 19 And Samuel answered Saul, and said, lain the seer: go up before me unto the high place ; for ye shall eat with me to day, and to morrow I will let thee go, and will tell thee all that is in thine heart. 20 And as for thine asses that were lost "three days ago, set not thy mind on them ; for they are found. And on whom is all the desire of Israel ? Is it not on thee, and on all thy father's house ? 21 And Saul answered and said. Am not I a Benjamite, of the smallest of the tribes of Israel ? and my family the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin ? wherefore then speakest thou "so to me ? 22 And Samuel took Saul and his servant, and brought them into the parlour, and made them sit in the chiefest place among them that were bidden, which were about thirty persons. 23 And Samuel said unto the cook. Bring the portion which I gave thee, of which I said unto thee. Set it by thee. 24 And the cook took up the shoulder, and that which icas upon it, and set it before Saul. And Samuel said. Behold that which is "left ! set it before thee, and eat : for unto this time hath it been kept for thee since I said, I have invited the people. So Saul did eat with Samuel that day. 25 H And when they were come down from the high place into the city, Samuel communed with Saul upon the top of the house. 26 And they arose early : and it came to pass about the spring of the day, that Samuel called Saul to the top of the house, saying. Up, that I may send thee away. And Saul arose, and they went out both of them, he and Samuel, abroad. 27 And as they were going down to the end of the city, Samuel said to Saul, Bid the servant pass on before us, (and he passed on,) but stand thou still ' 'a while, that I thee the word of God. may shew Heb. is gone out of, &c. 8 Heb. in the ascent of the city. Heb. revealed the ear of Samuel. Heb. is with us f ' is found iji mj/ hand. Heb. Thy wttrd is good. Chap. IX.] I. SAJ Verse 4. ' Mount Ephraim.' — Ephraim adjoined Benja- min on tlie north, which indicates the direction of Saul's journey. ' Mount Ephraim ' is rather extensively used in Scripture, and does not denote any particular mountain, but appears to be applied to all that part of the central range which passes through this tribe, including its rami- fications and inferior heights. — ' Land of Shalisha.' — This is usually supposed to be the same with the Baal-Sbalisha of 2 Kings iv. 42. But this, under the name of Beth-Shalisha, is placed by Euse- bius and Jerome in the Thamnitic canton, about fifteen miles to the north of Diospolis — a position which cannot be well made to agree with any probable estimate of the route taken by Saul. See the note on v. 14. — ' Ijand of Shalim,'— Some make this Jerusalem, which is sometimes called Shalem or Salem ; and others think it the same mentioned in Gen. xxxili. 18, as ' Shalem, a city of Shechem.' But, in fact, the names have very consider- able difference. Jerusalem and the ' city of Shechem ' are called D?^ Shalem ; whereas the present is DviJB' Sliaalim. In its present form, the name does not elsewhere occur ; but it is supposed to be the same as the Shaalbim (D'a^pt?') of Judges i. 35, and 1 Kings iv. 9 ; and the Shaalabbin of Josh. xix. 42, which lay in the tribe of Dan, and which usually occur in connection with Aijalon and Beth-shemesh. Jerome also speaks of the existence of a village called Shalim, in his time about seven miles west of Eleuthero- polis, and which was therefore in the tribe of Dan, and not far from the places which the Scripture associates with Shaalbim. Although this may not be so much as the former beyond the probable range of Saul's excursion, it is difficult to connect these positions with those subsequently indicated ; but it is useless to speculate from probabilities of route in a random journey in search of strayed asses. 5. ' Land of Zuph.' — Compare ch. i. 1, from which, and from what follows, it seems clear that this land of Zuph was a canton or district of Mount Ephraim, in which was situated Ramah, the native place and usual residence of Samuel. It derived its name from Zuph, the great-great- grandfather of Elkanah, the father of Samuel. This Zuph was the head of the Levitical family of Zuphim ; and it is iut resting to discover, from 1 Chron. vi., that he, and consequently Samuel, was descended from Korah, the ambitious Levite, whose awful doom is recorded in 7. ' There is not a present to bring to the man of God.' — In this passage the points that claim attention are :— that Saul and his servant thought it necessary to offer Samuel a present ; that they would have given some victuals if any had been left ; but that, having none, they determined to offer him about sevenpence in money. All this would be unintelligible if merely compared with any usages current among ourselves. We should, by this standard, either regard Saul and his servant as very silly, or else infer that Samuel was very rapacious. This one text alone would, therefore, render manifest the importance of illustrating many of the usages described in Scripture, by a reference to analogous usages still prevalent in the East. Such a reference shews that the proceeding of Saul, in offering, and of Samuel, in receiving, a present, is perfectljj regular and common. The usages concerning presents which here, and elsewhere, come under our notice, are among the most diffused customs of the East. It is everywhere the com- mon practice for an inferior to offer a present of some kind or other to a superior with whom he desires an interview, or of whom he seeks a favour. Manndrell has well discri- minated the character of this usage. After mentioning that, before visiting the pasha of Tripoli, he sent his present to procure a propitious reception, he says: ' It is counted un- civil to visit m this country without an offering in hand. All great men expect it as a kind of tribute due to their character and authority, and look upon themselves as affronted, and even defrauded, when this compliment is omitted. lOven in familiar visits among inferior people, you shall seldom have them come without bringing a flower, an orange, or some other such token cf their respect to the HS UEL. [B.C. 1095. person visited.' Being therefore received and offered as a token of respect, the humblest present which the poorest labourer can bring is never refused by the most exalted personages; on the contrary, they account such presents highly honourable to themselves, and therefore like them to be offered before company. To refuse the humblest offering is no less an incivility and insult to the person by whom it is offered, than it is to approach the presence of a superior without any offering. Neither is there any thing extraordinary in Saul's first intention to present Samuel with a piece of bread. Articles of provision are the most usual presents which the rural population offer to their patrons and superiors ; as such are the things which they can the most readily furnish from the produce of their field or orchard, or from their stock of poultry, or their goats or sheep. A fruit, a flower, a fowl, a kid, or a lamb, suffices to testify his respect, and to intro- duce him to the person whose favour he desires. On the same principle a merchant offers something from that in which he deals, and an artisan fi-om the products of his skill. Nothing more is expected from him, under the fair opera- tion of this usage, than that which his circumstances or temporary emergencies enable him to furnish. Plutarch relates an anecdote, which is in exact conformity with Oriental ideas. He says, that when Artaxer.'ces Longi- manus was on a journey, he fell in with a peasant, who, being at a distance from his cottage, and therefore unpro- vided with anything which he could offer to his sovereign, in testimony of his homage and respect, ran to the river and filled both his hands with water, which he presented to the king, who received it with the most gracious compla- cency. This handful of water offered to ' the great king ' matches very well with a piece of bread which Saul wished to offer to Samuel. Bread was among the presents of eat- ables which Jesse sent, by the hand of his son David, to Saul, when the latter reigned as king (ch. xvi. 20). As to money, there is not in all the East any of that peculiar feeling about money which prevails among our- selves. To receive money is there considered quite as good and graceful as to receive money's worth. Indeed, money is rather preferred ; and it is usually offered by those who have no particular profession or pursuit from which a suit- able offering might be derived : and a poor person who finds it more convenient to offer sixpence in money, finds it quite as acceptable as the basket of fruit which sixpence would purchase. European travellers in the East, unpro- vided with what they consider a suitable present to a great man, are often led, by their home ideas, to hesitate about offering money, lest the offer should be regarded as an insult. But they are soon instructed in the difference be- tween the customs of the East and West, by receiving very intelligible hints that money is expected or will be accepted ; and they are often astonished to find how small a sum a very great man is satisfied to receive. 9. ' Beforetime in Israel.' — This parenthetical verse in- terrupts the narrative here, and has no connection with what precedes it. Houbigant puts it after the 11th verse, which is obviously its proper place. II.' TViei/ found yoiin^ maidens going out to draw water.' — The subject which this mdicates has been largely illustrated in the note to Gen. xxiv. U. We shall here add the follow- ing appropriate passage from Mariti's T)-avels, iii. 141 : — ' When I was here ' (at Aiu in Palestine), ' a young Arab woman, at whose wedding I had been present on the first day of our arrival at the village, came hither to draw water. She was accompanied by some other women, who were singing a song allusive to her marriage. When she arrived at the well she filled her vessel, after which the rest of the women did the same. It is customary for women to do this not only in the villages of Palestine, but likewise in those of Galilee and other parts of Syria. "That simplicity of life which prevailed amongst the patriarchs is a good deal preserved among the country people in these provmces.' 14. ' The city.' — It is not said what the city was called; but as it was in ' the land of Zuph,' it has been assumed to be the si-,me with the Kaniah, or Kamathaim Zvphim, w hich Chap. X.^ I. SA was the native place and ordinary residence of Samuel (ch. i. 1). There is confessedly great difficulty in working out the site of this place, as well as in tracing the course of Saul's journey, lu dismissing Saul from the place subse- quently, Samuel predicts an adventure which would befal him near Rachel's sepulchre, on his way home. Now Saul's home was in Benjamin, the southern border of which tribe is several miles north of that sepulchre ; and it is therefore manifest that if Saul in going home were to pass by this sepulchre, the place from which he started must have been to the south thereof. Gesenius contends that if we allow weight to this mention of Rachel's sepulchre, we can only look for Samuel's Ramah in the neighbourhood of Beth- lehem ; where also Eusebius speaks of a Kamah. Not far south-east of Bethlehem is the Jebel Fureidis, or Frank Mount, which Robinson has identified as the site of the ancient city and fortress of Herod, called Herodium ; and Gesenius contends that if we fix here the site of Ramah, all the circumstances mentioned in 1 Sam. ix. 10, are suffi- ciently explained. But then the Ramathaim Zophim of 1 Sam. i. must have been a different place {Thesaurus, p. 1276). To this Dr. Robinson himself, in his edition of Gesenius, objects that the difference assumed in the last sentence is inadmissible. ' Besides, no one who had seen the Frank Mountain would suppose for a moment that a city ever lay upon it. It was indeed occupied by Herod's fortress ; but the city Herodium lay at its foot.' He adds that Eusebius, in the passage referred to, obviously places Ramah of Benjamin near Bethlehem, for the purpose of helping out a wrong interpretation of Matt. ii. 18. Another, and the most recent hypothesis in this vexed question, would place this Ramah at a site of ruins now called er-Rameh, two miles north of Hebron {Biblioth. Sacra, No. I., pp. 46-51). But this also assumes that the Ramathaim Zophim, the place of the prophet's birth, was different from the place of his residence and burial, contrary to the testi- mony of Josephus (Antiq., vi. 4, 6 ; vi. 13, 5), and to the conclusion deducible from a comparison of 1 Sam. i. 1, with verses 3, 19. In the midst of all this uncertainty. Dr. Ro- binson thinks that interpreters may yet be driven to the conclusion that the city where Saul found Samuel (1 Sam. ix. 10) was not Ramah, his home. [B.C. 1095. 24. * 7^he cook took up the shoulder, and . ... set it before Saul.'— It -was an ancient, and is a still existing, eastern custom to distinguish at table the person whom the host intends to honour, by the quantity or choice of the victuals set before him. As to the quantity, see the note on Gen. xliii. 34. From the present text it seems that the shoulder was considered the choice and distinguishing portion. Josephus calls it the royal portion ; and some symbolical association with the idea of royalty does indeed seem to be indicated in Isaiah ix. 6 : ' The government shall be upon his shoulder.' Harmer, in his valuable Observations, quotes from Ockley's History of the Saracens an anecdote, which shews the high estimation in which the shoulder of a lamb was (and we may add, still is) regarded in the East. ' Abdalmelick, the Caliph, upon his entering into Cufah, made a splendid entertainment. When he was set down, Amrou, the son of Hareth, an ancient Mechmuzian, came in ; he called him to him, and, placing him by him upon his sofii, asked him what meat he liked best of all that he had ever eaten. The old Mechmuzian answered, an ass's neck, well seasoned and well roasted. You do nothing, said Abdalmelick ; what do you say to a leg or shoulder of a sucking lamb, well roasted, and covered over with butter and milk?' The history adds, that while he was at supper he said, ' How sweetly we live, if a shadow would last !' Perhaps ' that which was upon the shoulder,' in the te,xt, may have been the butter and milk with which the caliph recommended a shoulder of lamb to be covered. It seems to have been an ancient practice to considei some portion of meat as particularly appropriated to do honour to a distinguished guest. The chine is made to serve this purpose in Homer. Thus, at an entertainment given by Agamemnon, — ' They feasted, and no want Of his due portion any guest sustain'd. 15ut Ajax most was favour'd, whom the king. The son of Atreus, with the whole huge chine Distiuguish'd, as the hero of the day.'— Cowpek. Here we see that, as among the Hebrews, the host assigned to the guests their several portions. [Appendix, No. 31.] CHAPTER X. 1 Samuel anointeth Said. 2 He confirmeth Mm by prediction of three signs. 9 SauV s heart is changed, and he prophesieth. li He concealeth the matter of the kingdom from his uncle. 17 Saul is chosen at Mizpeh by lot. 26 The different affections of his subjects. Then Samuel took a vial of oil, and poured // upon his head, and kissed him, and said. Is it not because the Lord hath anointed thee to he captain over his inheritance ? 2 When thou art departed from me to day, then thou shalt find two men by 'Rachel's sepulchre in the border of Benjamin at Zelzah ; and they will say unto thee. The asses which thou wentest to seek are found : and, lo, thy father hath left Hhe care of the asses, and sor- roweth for you, saying. What shall I do for my son ? 3 Then shalt thou go on forward from thence, and thou shalt come to the plain of 1 Gen. 35. 20. 2 Heb. the business. 3 Heb. ash thee Tabor, and there shall meet thee three men going up to God to Beth-el, one carrying three kids, and another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a bottle of wine : 4 And they will ""salute thee, and give thee two loaves of bread ; which thou shalt receive of their hands. 5 After that thou shalt come to the hill of God, where is the garrison of the Philistines : and it shall come to pass, when thou art corae thither to the city, that thou shalt meet a company of ])rophets coming down from the high place with a psaltery, and a tabret, and a pipe, and a harp, before tliem ; and they shall prophesy : 6 And the Spirit of the Lokd will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man. 7 And ''let it be, when these signs are corae unto thee, ''that thou do as occasion serve thee ; for God IS with thee. s to pass, that when these signs, &c. 119 Chap. X.] I. SA 8 And tliou slialt go down before rae to CJilgal ; and, behold, 1 will come down unto thee, to oiler burnt offerings, and to sacrifice saerilices of peace offerings : "seven days shalt thou tarry, till I come to thee, and shew thee what thou shalt do. •) If And it was so, that when he had turned his 'back to go from Samuel, God "gave him another heart : and all those signs came to pass that day. 10 And when they came thither to the hill, behold, a company of prophets met him ; and the Spirit of God came upon him, and he pro- phesied among them. 11 And it" came to pass, when all that knew him beforetime saw that, behold, he prophesied among the prophets, then the po()j)le said "one to another. What is this that is come unto the son of Kish ? '"/s Saul also among the prophets ? 12 And one "of the same place answered and said. But who is their father ? Therefore it became a proverb, /*■ Saul also among the prophets ? 13 And when he had made an end of pro- phesying, he came to the high place. 14 1[ And Saul's uncle said unto him and to his servant. Whither went ye ? And he said, To seek the asses : and when we saw that thei/ were no where, we came to Samuel. 15 And Saul's uncle said, Tell me, I pray thee, what Samuel said unto you. IG And Saul said unto his uncle, He told us plainly that the asses were found. But of the matter of the kingdom, whereof Samuel spake, he told him not. 17 1l And Samuel called the people to- gether unto the Loud to Mizpeh ; 18 And said unto the children of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the Egyptii Ileb. shoulder. UEL. [B.C. 1095. hand of all kingdoms, and of them that op- pressed you : 19 And ye have this day rejected your God, who himself saved you out of all your adversities and your tribulations ; and ye have said unto him, A'izy, but set a king over us. Now therefore present yourselves be- fore the Lord by your tribes, and by your thousands. 20 And when Samuel had caused all the tribes of Israel to come near, the tribe of Benjamin was taken. 21 When he had caused the tribe of Ben- jamin to come near by their families, the family of Matri was taken, and Saul the son of Kish was taken : and when they sought him, ho could not be found. "22 Therefore they enquired of the Lord further, if the man should yet come thither. And the Lord answered, Behold, he hath hid himself among the stuff. 23 And they ran and fetched him thence : and when he stood among the jieople, he was higher than any of the people from his shoul- ders and upward. 24 And Samuel said to all the people, See ye him whom the Lord hath chosen, that there is none like him among all the people ? And all the people shouted, and said, ''God save the king. 25 Then Samuel told the people the man- ner of the kingdom, and wrote it in a book, and laid it up before the Lord. And Samuel sent all the people away, every man to his house. 26 IT And Saul also went home to Gibcah ; and there went with him a band of men, whose hearts God had touched. 27 But the children of Belial said. How shall this man save us? And they despised him, and brought him no presents. But "he held his peace. Ueb. Let the king I ■d of oil and poured it upon -See the notes oa Exod. xj Samuel t Verse 1. Ills heiid.'—Sue the notes oa Exod. xxx. 2.'i, and Lei \-2. The act of anointing was a sign of investiture with royal authority, among the Hebrews, and some other Ori- ental nations, from whom it has descended to ourselves — the act being part of the coronation ceremonies in our own and other European kingdoms. Among the Hebrews, however, it was the principal, not a subordinate, act of in- auguration. We must distinguish two sorts of unction ; one was private, by some prophet, and does not appear to have conveyed any distinct right to the throne. ' They were," says Jahn, ' only prophetic symbols or intimations that the persons who were thus anointed should eventually (jovern the kingdom.' Thus Saul himself did not become king mitil some time after this anointing, when the kingdom 120 was renewed at Gilgal: and thus David, though anointed in Saul's lifetime, did not at all pretend to the kingly dig- nity, on any occasion, while Saul lived, nor afterwards until, first the men of Judah, and, seven years after, the other tribes, called him to the throne. In fact, no king, at any period, alleges a right to the throne as proceeding from the previous anointing by a prophet ; nor did the people consider themselves bound to nominate him in consequence of such anointing; though the knowledge of the fact that he had been anointed had the effect of a prophecy in direct- ing the attention of the people towards him, as one who would, at some time or other, be a king. The other anoint- ing, which took place afVer the new king had been solemnly recogiiized by the people, formed tlie actual inauguration ceremony ; and that it w.is repeated, even when tlie person Chap. X.] I. SAMUEL. [B.C. 1005. had beeu already anointed by a prophet, shews that this previous anointing was only regarded as a prophetic inti- mation. David, who had been prophetically anointed by Samuel, was twice afterwards anointed when successively called to reign over Judah and Israel. The more formal inaugural anointing was performed by the high-priest, and probably with the holy anointing oil. This solemn anoint- ing does not however appear to have been bestowed on every succeeding king. The first king of a dynasty seems to have been anointed for himself and his successors, and the proper heir succeeded to the rights of his father, with- out a renewal of the unction. The only exception appears to have been in cases of disputed succession, when the anointing was deemed to give the preference to the person who obtained it. Thus David, as the founder of a new dynasty, was anointed ; but none of his successors were, except when the order of succession had been contested or disturbed. Thus, Solomon was anointed, his right being contested by his elder brother Adonijah ; Joash was anointed, when his claim was asserted, after the throne of Judah had been usurped and occupied for six years by Athaliah. The case of Jehoahaz, the son of Josiah, the only other king in the hereditary kingdom who is said to have been anointed (2 Kings xxiii. 30), seems at first view to be an exception to this rule, but, on further examination, the act is so described as to convey an idea of irregularity : ' The people of the land took Jehoahaz, the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king :' and the irregu- larity itself is found by comparing his age with that of Je- hoiakim {vv. 31 and 36), by which we find that he super- seded his elder brother ; and this sufficiently accounts for his having been anointed. This is the view which the Hebrew writers entertain of the practice ; and it appears to be correct, unless we suppose that other anointings took place in the kingdom of Judah than those which are regis- tered in the sacred books. [Appendix, No. 32.] — ' Kissed him.' — This is thought to have been a kiss of homage and respect, and intended as an example of obedi- ence to the new king. We do not feel assured that Samuel's kiss was more than one of common regard : but it may be as well to speak of it as a kiss of respectful homage, as it is certain such was in use among the Jews. Thus, in Ps. ii. 1 2, the kings and judges of the earth are instructed to ' kiss the son, lest he be angry ;' doubtless meaning that they should offer the kiss of homage. The kisses of homage and respect, so mentioned or alluded to in the Bible as to enable us to discover the forms in which they were exhi- bited, are kissing the hands of the superior person, or his feet, or the ground before him, or some part of his dress. Ancient Egyptian. No one will suppose that Samuel's kiss was of this descrip- tion, since such acts imply the humblest deference that can be shewn. If his kiss were really the kiss of respect, it was probably of that kind which is indicated by kissing the forehead, and which implies respectful consideration mingled with esteem. Such was Antar's salutation of Prince Malik : ' Antar kissed the prince's head, and prayed for a continuance of his glory' (ii. 119). This act has still the same meaning among the modern Bedouins ; but the state of the great Oriental sovereigns does not admit of any but the mere abject indications of respect. The shades of meaning, as denoting affection and respect, are so diver- sified, as connected with the act of kissing, that it is not easy to understand what is intended when the act is simply mentioned without specification. We shall, however, en- deavour to discriminate the different significations as they 2. ' Zehali.'— It is stated in the Narrative of the Scot- tish Deputation, that on the face of a hill to the west of Eachel's tomb stands a large and pleasant-looking village called Bet-Jalah, inhabited entirely by Christians. ' May not this,' it is asked, be the ancient Zelzah, ' by Rachel's sepulchre in the border of Benjamin,' where Saul was told that his father's asses had been found? In other pas- sages of Scripture the place is called Zelah, from which the modem name might easily be formed by prefixing the common syllable 'Bet' (that is, 'home'), and softening the sibilant letter. If so, then, this is the sjiot where they buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan — ' in Zelzah, in the sepulchre of Kish his father.' 2 Sam. xxi. 14. 3. ' Tabor.' — This is not in any way to be confounded with Mount Tabor in its neighbourhood, which lay quite in an- other direction. The site is not known. 5. ' Hill of God.'— Some infer from ch. xiii. 3, that this was Geba, where there certainly was a garrison of the Phi- listines. Wherever it was, we may conclude that this name, ' hill of God,' was applied to it on account of a school of the prophets being established there, where young men received instruction in the Divine Law. The students in this school (such as are elsewhere called ' sons of the pro- phets ') were doubtless the ' company of prophets ' men- tioned in the sequel. This is the first intimation we have concerning the existence of such establishments, and we may, with probability, attribute their origin to Samuel, in his combined character of a prophet and civil ruler of the country. These sons, or pupils, of the prophets, are often afterwards mentioned, and they appear at times to have been numerous. The establishments to which they be- longed seem to have been generally presided over by some 121 Chap. XI.] I. SA inspired prophet, whom the students called their father (2 Kings ji. 12). Samuel was one, and perhaps the first, of these fathers (ch. xix. 20) ; Elijah was another (2 Kings ii. 2), and was succeeded in his office by Elisha (2 Kings Ti. 1). Besides the knowledge of the law, the pupils ac- quired the art of sacred psalmody, or (as it is called here and in 1 Chrou. xxv. 1, 7J of ' prophesying,' that is, of sing- ing sacred hymns to instrumental music. Saul's ' prophe- sying ' seems to have consisted in his being enabled, in spirit and fact, to join them in their musical acts of praise, without that previous instruction which they had received. The students were employed by the prophets occasionally in prophetical missions, even for the anointing of future kings, and the reproving of those that reigned (2 Kings ix. 1 ; 1 Kings XX. 35). It seems that God generally selected his inspired prophets from those schools, as Amos (vii. 1 4, 1 5) mentions it as extraordinary that, in his case, a herds- man, rather than one of the sous of the prophets, had been called to the prophetic office. The students lived in a society or community, in houses built by themselves, and were accustomed to eat together with the presiding pro- phet ; and their food seems to have been chiefly pottage of herbs ; but the people sometimes sent them bread, parched corn, honey, dried fruits, &c. (2 Kings iv. 38-42 ; vi. 2). This is the substance of what the Scriptures say about the schools of the prophets. [Appendix, No. 33.] 23. ' He was higher than anij of the people from his shoul- ders and upward.' — This circumstance has already been pointed out in v. 2 of the preceding chapter ; and, no doubt, the stature of Saul had no small effect in procuring for him the ready acclamations of the people. It is evident that the Hebrews partook fully in the notion, which we find everywhere in the early history of nations, that height of stature and accomplishments of person formed one of the principal recommendations to honour. This was not only the feeling of the people, but of Samuel himself; for, when he was sent to anoint Jesse's sons, the tall figure and fine appearance of Eliab made him hastily conclude that he must be the destined king of Israel ; which mistake oc- casioned the impressive rebuke from the Lord : ' Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature : for the Lord seeth not as man seeth ; for manlooketh on the out- ward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart ' (ch. xvi. 7). Antiquity is replete with exhibitions of the same kind of feeling. In the sculptures of Egypt and Persia, tlie king is usually distinguished by his size and stature from the persons with whom he is associated — not, of course, that the kings were always, or even generally, thus actually distinguished from their subjects; but they were so represented, in conformity with the ideas of dignity as associated with colossal proportions. There is an interest- ing passage in Homer, where the old king of Troy, viewing the battle-field from the walls, asks Helen the names of the several Grecian chiefs who attract his attention. It is remarkable that Priam's attention is exclusively drawn :UEL. [B.C. 10.95. towards the tall colossal men, and these, according to Homer, happen to be the most distinguished chiefs of the Grecian host. Herodotus (iii. 20) speaks of an Ethiopian nation which al ways elected to the sovereign power the person most distin- guished for size and proportionate strength, under the idea (as Diodorus seems to explain it — iii. 1) that monarchy and a fine person, being the two first gifts of Heaven, ought to be associated. The same author (Herodotus), speaking of the vast army mustered by Xerxes for the invasion of Greece, takes notice that, in an assemblage of so many myriads of men, there was not one who, in point of height and beauty of form, might seem more fit than Xerxes to be the master of such a host. It would be tedious to trace the development of the same feeling among the Greeks, Ko- mans, and other nations, who, however widely they dif- fered in other respects, agreed very well in the desire to give the place of authority to persons of superior personal appearance, when no stronger interest intervened. This kind of feeling is not yet wholly extinct, even in Europe, where, although distinguished stature is not expected in persons of authority, state requires its exhibition in the guards and attendants of royalty. This too was very an- cient ; for, if we may believe Josephus, when king Solomon rode abroad in his chariot, he was escorted by the tallest young men that could be found in the nation, mounted on horseback, and in complete armour. This ' modern ' practice is therefore as old as the time of Josephus, if not so old as that of Solomon. 25. ' Tlie. manner of the kingdom.'— See the note on 2 Sam. V. 3. 26. ' Saul went home to Gibeah.' — This was the same place in which the atrocious transaction occurred as related in Judg. XX., which led almost to the utter ruin of the tribe of Benjamin. It was the residence of Saul before he be- came king, and remained such afterwards ; and i' was pro- bably on account of his connection with the place that the Gibeonites hanged up here ten of his descendants (2 Sam. xxi. 6). Jerome speaks of Gibeah as being at his time level with the ground ; and since then the locality does not seem to have been, until recently, much explored by tra- vellers. Dr. Bobinson, who made some valuable observa- tions in this neighbourhood, detected Gibeah in a small and half-ruined village called Jeba, which lies upon a low, conical, or rather round eminence, in the ' broad ridge which shelves down toward the valley of tlie Jordan, and spreads out below the village into a fine sloping plain." The views of the Dead Sea and the Jordan, and of the eastern mountains, are here very extensive. Among the ruins some large hewn stones indicative of antiquity are occasionally seen. The spot is about five miles to the north of Jerusalem. 27. ' Broiiqht him no presents.'— See the notes on Judg. iii. 15; and ch. ix. 7. CHAPTER XI. 1 Niihnsh offereth than of Jdbesh-gilead a reproachful condition. 4 Thei/ semi vie.^sen(/ers, and are delivered by Saul. 12 Said thereby is confirmed, and his htmjdom renewed. Then Nahasli the Ammonite came up, and encamped against Jabesh-gilead : and all the men of Jabcsh said unto Nahasli, Make a covenant with us, and \vc will serve thee. 2 And Nahash the Ammonite answered them, On this condition will I make a cove- nant with you, that I may thrust out all your 1 Hel). F right eyes, and lay it for a reproach upon all Israel. 3 And the elders of Jabcsh said unto him, 'Give us seven days' respite, that we may send messengers unto all the coasts of Israel : and then, if there be no man to save us, we will come out to thee. 4 II Then came the messengers to Gibeah of Saul, and told the tidings in the ears of the people : and all the people lifted up their voices, and wept. 5 And, behold, Saul came after the herd out of the field ; and Saul said. What aileth Chap. XL] I. SA the people that they weep ? And they told him the tidings of the men of Jabesh. 6 And the Spirit of God came upon Saul when he heard those tidings, and his anger was kindled greatly. 7 And he took a yoke of oxen, and hewed them in pieces, and sent tliem throughout all the coasts of Israel by the hands of messen- gers, saying. Whosoever cometh not forth after Saul and after Samuel, so shall it be done unto his o.\en. And the fear of the Lord fell on the people, and they came out "with one consent. 8 And when he numbered them in Bezek, the children of Israel were three hundred thousand, and the men of Judah thirty thou- sand. 9 And they said unto the messengers that came, Thus shall ye say unto the men of Jabesh-gilead, To morrow, by tliat time the sun be hot, ye shall have 'help. And the messengers came and shewed it to the men of Jabesh ; and they were glad. 10 Therefore the men of Jabesh said, To morrow we will come out unto you, and ye UEL. [B.C. 1095. shall do with us all that seemeth good unto you. 11 And it was ,w on the morrow, that Saul put the people in three companies ; and they came into the midst of the liost in the morn- ing watch, and slew the Ammonites until the heat of the day ; and it came to pass, that they which remained were scattered, so that two of them were not left together. 12 H And the people said unto Samuel, Wlio is he that said. Shall Saul reign over us ? bring the men, that we may put them to death. 13 And Saul said, There shall not a man be put to death tliis day : for to day the Lord hath wrought salvation in Israel. 14 H Then said Samuel to the peo])le, Come, and let us go to Gilgal, and renew the kingdom there. 15 And all the people went to Gilgal ; and there they made Saul king before the Lord in Gilgal ; and there they sacrificed sacrifices of peace offerings before the Lord ; and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly. Verse 2. ' That I mrnj thrust out all your right eyes.' — The earliest instance of this barbarous infJiction is attbrded in the treatment of Samson, at Gaza. It probably ori- ginated in the desire to disable or incapacitate an enemy or rival without putting him to death. Persia is the country which, more than any other, has in all ages been distinguished for the frequency of this most horrid punish- ment, and where, in consequence, like other customary evils, it is regarded rather as one of the common cala- mities of life, to which high station, in particular, is incident, than as the subject of that intense horror and compassion with which it is regarded by ourselves. The punishment is entirely extra-judicial in that country. It is not recognised by the law, and is always inflicted by absolute power on the objects of its fear or anger. These are usually such persons as have aspired, or are supposed likely to aspire, to the throne (see the note on Judg. ix. 5) ; or else the chiefs of tribes and other distinguished persons, whom it is considered desirable to deprive of power with- out putting them to death ; and sometimes the adult male inhabitants of rebellious towns, in order to strike terror by a dreadful example. The last wholesale form of this bar- barity affords the nearest analogy to the case in the text, Sir John Malcolm, in his Histonj of Persia, mentions an in- stance of this sort which took place in the year 1795. At that time the throne was contested by two persons, Lootf All Khan, who had reigned and maintained his right, and Aga Mohammed Khan, who claimed to reign, and by vic- tories established his claim. The former was shut up by the latter in the city of Kerman : but he effected his escape ; and then Aga Mohammed ' wreaked his vengeance upon the unfortunate inhabitants of the city of Kerman : nearly twenty thousand women and children were granted as slaves to his soldiers; and all the males who had reached maturity were commanded to be put to death, or to be deprived of their eyesight. Those who escaped his cruelty owed their safety neither to mercy nor to flight, but to the fatigue of their executioners, who only ceased to be the instruments of glutting the revengeful spirit of their enraged monarch, when they were themselves ex- hausted with the work of blood. The numbers that were slain on this memorable occasion were great, and ex- ceeded even those who were deprived of sight, though the latter are said to have amounted to seven thousand. Many of these miserable wretches are still alive. Some, who subsist on charity, wander over Persia, and recount, to all who will listen to the tale, the horrors of that day of cala- mity.' We have the rather copied this, as it affords a modern exhibition of such horrors as those which but too often distinguished the warfare of ancient times. Sir John adds, in a note, ' It has been stated that Aga Mohammed directed that a number of pounds weight of ejes should be brought to him : nor is the tale incredible.' Nahash was comparatively merciful in requiring only one eye from the men of Jabesh. In Persia, the object being to create blindness, one eye alone is almost never taken. The only instance we know is that mentioned by Sir R. K. Porter, who states that the late king's brother (Hossein Ali Khan), having seized a troop of thirty rob- bers, ordered them all to be punished by the loss of their left eyes and right hands. Josephus says that the inten- tion of Nahash, in proposing to put out the right eyes of the men of Jabesh, was to disable them from acting as warriors. According to him, this disability resulted from the fact that a person who exposed his shield to the enemy necessarily held it so as to conoeal his left eye, leaving only the right for vision ; and consequently, that to lose the right eye was, for warlike purposes, as bad as being quite blind. We should also suppose that such a loss must deprive archers and slingers of the power of taking an ac- curate aim. Nahash, however, does himself assign a very distinct reason for his proceeding. 7. ' And he took a yoke of oxen, and hewed them in pieces.' — This is analogous to the incident recorded in Judges xix., where the Levite sends about the remains of Judges Ha sacrifice, she having herself tieen the Belial ' in Gibeah, the Chap. XI.] needed no oil victim to the sin of the ' sons of very place from whence Saul sends his present message, The principle of the custom is not difficult to understand. It was a conventional summon to war, to which usage had attached such peculiar solemnity as would alone perhaps have sufficed to give it effect, even without the denuncia- tion of vengeance against those who failed to obey the call. Nevertheless, ' So shall it be done to his cattle ' must have been felt as a peculiarly awful threat, to a people who were almost entirely devoted to agricultural and pastoral pur- suits. The analogy enables us to perceive that the Le- vite's transmission of his concubine's remains amounted to the denunciation, ' So let it lie done to his wife and daugh- ters who fails to become an avenger.' Probably the Levite's conduct was a new, but striking, application of the recognized principle: here we have apparently the more regular practice. Among many analogous customs which might be pro- duced, we may refer to that mentioned by Lucian as prac- tised among the Pythians. When any one had received an injury, and had not the means of avenging himself, he sacrificed an ox, and cut it in pieces, which he caused to be dressed and publicly exposed ; then he spread out the skin of the victim and sat upon it with his hands tied behind him. All who chose to take part in the injury which had been done took up a piece of the ox and swore to supply and maintain for him, one, five horses ; another, ten ; others still more: some infantry, each according to his strength and ability : they who had only their person en- gaged to march themselves ; and an army composed of such soldiers, far from retreating or disbanding, was invincible, as it was engaged by an oath— that their blood should be likewise poured out if they did not observe its con- ditions. A still more striking illustration may be derived from a passage in tlie third canto of Sir Walter Scott's Lad// of the Lake, and the note thereon. In the latter he says, that ' Wheu a (Highland) chieftain designed to summon his clan, upon any sudden or important emergency, he slew a goat, and, making a cross of any light wood, seared its extremities in the fire, and extinguished them in the blood of the animal. This was called the Fierij Cross, also Creaa Taritjh, or the Cross of Shame, because disobe- dience to what the symbol implied inferred infamy. It was delivered to a swift and trusty messenger, who ran full speed with it to the next hamlet, where he presented it to the principal person, with a single word, implying the place of rendezvous. He who received the symbol was bound to send it forward, with equal despatch, to the next village ; and thus it passed with incredible celerity through all the district which owed allegiance to the chief, and also among the allies and neighbours, if the danger was com- mon to them. At sight of the Fiery Cross every man, from sixteen years old to sixty, capable of bearing arms, was obliged instantly to repair to the place of rendezvous. He who failed to appear suffered the extremities of fire and sword, which were emblematically denounced to the disobedient by the bloody and burnt marks upon this war- like signal.' Sir Walter further states that the Fiery Cross was exhibited with effect so late as the civilwar of 174.5-6 ; and then quotes a passage from Olaus Magnus, shewing tliat a practice almost precisely analogous existed among the :incient Scandinavians. The command and denunciation with the latter were to the effect that, on an appointed day, a certain number of men, or else every man from fifteen years old and upward, should come with his arms, and with means for ten or twenty days, under pain that his or their houses should be burnt, as intimated by the burnt symbol. The effect of the message was no doubt much the same in Palestine as in Scandinavia or in the Highlands, and is thus stated by Sir Walter in the poem itself: — ' Fast as the fated symbol flies. In arms the huts and hamlets rise ; [B.C. 1095. From winding glen, from upland brown. Then pour'd each hardy tenant down, Nor slack'd the messenger his pace ; He show'd the sign, he named the place, And pressing forward, like the wind, Left clamour and surprise behind. The fisherman forsook the strand. The swarthy smith took dirk and brand : With changed cheer, the mower blithe Left in the half cut swath the scythe ; The herds without a keeper stray'd. The plough was in mid-furrow stay'd, The falc'uer toss'd his hawk away, The hunter left the stag at bay ; • Prompt at the signal of alarms. Each son of Alpine rush'd to arms.' 8. ' Bcieft.'— Jerome says that there were two villages near each other, seven miles from Neapolis (Shechem) ou the road to Scythopolis (Bethshan). This doubtless an- swers to the site of the present transaction, being in the great muster-field and battle-field of Esdraelon, and nearly opposite to Jabesh-Gilead, on the other side of the river. A place called Bezek is noted in Judges i. for the defeat, by the tribes of Judah and Simeon, of the powerful king whose capital it was, and who took his name (Adoni- Bezek, or Lord of Bezek) from it. Whether this was the same as the present Bezek, it is not easy to say. The tribes asked of the Lord (at Shiloh doubtless) who should go up against the Canaanites. The answer was ' Judah.' Accordingly, Judah, calling for the aid of Simeon, went and defeated the king of Bezek. As all the tribes were ready for this service, and Judah was merely honoured with the pre- ference, and as the answer was given at Shiloh, it is not improbable that the Bezek of that narrative is the same as this, and it seems by no means necessary that, as some think, it should be in the tribe of Judah. Sandys, how- ever, mentions a Bezek in that tribe. ' We departed (from Bethlehem), bending our course to the mountains of Judea, lying west from Bethlehem : near to which, on the side of the opposite hill, we passed by a little village, called (as I take it) Bezec ; inhabited only by Christians, mortal (as they say) to the Mahometans that attempted to dwell therein.' If the first chapter of Judges require a Bezek in Judah, this might well be taken for its position ; but as no one mentions it besides Sandys, and he speaks so doubt- fully, we fear there is no sufficient authority for giving it in the map the place which he indicates. 12. ' And thepeople said,' etc. — In the late transaction against the Ammonites Saul displayed a large measure of those heroic qualities which the ancient nations most de- sired their monarchs to possess. Considering all the cir- cumstances, the promptitude and energy of his decision, the speed with which he collected an immense army and brought it into action, and the skill and good military conduct of the whole transaction, there are probably few operations of the Hebrew history which more recommend themselves to the respect and admiration of the modern soldier. Its effect was not lost upon the people, who joy- fully recognized in their king the qualities which have generally been held most worthy of rule ; and so much was their enthusiasm excited, that they began to talk of put- ting to death the small minority who had refused to recog- nize his sovereignty. But Samuel interposed to prevent an act unbecoming a day in which ' God had wrought salvation in Israel.' So harsh a proceeding would also have been rather likely to provoke than allay the disaf- fection of the leading tribes. Samuel took advantage of this feeling to invite the army, which comprehended in fact the effective body of the Hebrew people, to proceed to Gilgal, there solemnly to confirm the kingdom to Saul, seeing that now his claims were undisputed by any por- tion of the people. This was done with great solemnity and with abundant sacrifices of peace and joy. Chap. XII.] CHAPTER XII. 1 Sarnitd testifieth his integrity. 6 He reprovelh the people of ingratitude. 16 He terrifieth them with thunder in harvest time. 20 He comforteth tliem in God's mercy. And Samuel said unto all Israel, Behold, I have hearkened unto your voice in all that ye said unto me, and liave made a king over you. 2 And now, behold, the king walketh be- fore you : and I am old and grayheaded ; and, behold, my sons are with you : and I have walked before you from my childhood unto this day. 3 Behold, 'here I am ; witness against me before the Lord, and before his anointed : whose ox have I taken ? or whose ass have I taken ? or whom have I defrauded ? whom have I oppressed ? or of whose hand have I received ani/ ''bribe ^to blind mine eyes there- with ? and I will restore it you. 4 And they said. Thou hast not defrauded us, nor oppressed us, neither hast thou taken ought of any man's hand. 5 And he said unto them. The Lord is witness against you, and his anointed is wit- ness this day, that ye have not found ought in my hand. And they answered, He is witness. 6 IT And Samuel said unto the people. If. is the Lord that ''advanced Moses and Aaron, and that brought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt. 7 Now therefore stand still, that I may reason with you before the Lord of all the 'righteous acts of the Lord, which he did °to you and to your fathers. 8 'When Jacob was come into Egypt, and your fathers cried unto the Lord, then the Loud "sent Moses and Aaron, which brought forth your ftithers out of Egypt, and made them dwell in this place. 9 And when they forgat the Lord their God, °he sold them into the hand of Sisera, captain of the host of Hazor, and into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the king of Moab, and they fought against them. 10 And they cried unto the Lord, and said. We have sinned, because we have for- saken the Lord, and have served Baalim and Ashtaroth : but now deliver us out of the hand of our enemies, and we will serve thee. 11 And the Lord sent Jcrubbaal, and Bedan, and ' ° Jephthah, and Samuel, and deli- UEL. [B.C. loys. vered you out of the hand of your enemies on every side, and ye dwelled safe. 12 And when ye saw that Nahash the king of the children of Ammon came against you, ye said unto me, Nay ; but a king shall reign over us : when the Lord your God was your king. 13 Now therefore behold the king whom ye have chosen, atid whom ye have desired ! and, behold, the Lord hath set a king over you. 14 If ye will fear the Lord, and serve him, and obey his voice, and not rebel against the "commandment of the Lord, then shall both ye and also the king that reigneth over you "continue following the Lord your God : 15 But if ye will not obey the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then shall the hand of the Lord be against you, as it ivas against your fathers. 16 Now therefore stand and see this great thing, which the Lord will do before your eyes. 17 Is it not wheat harvest to day? I will call unto the Lord, and he shall send thunder and rain ; that ye may perceive and see that your wickedness is great, which ye have done in the sight of the Lord, in asking you a king. 18 H So Samuel called unto the Lord ; and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day : and all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel. 19 And all the people said unto Samuel, Pray for thy servants unto the Lord thy God, that we die not : for we have added unto all our sins this evil, to ask us a king. 20 IT And Samuel said unto the people, Fear not : ye have done all this wickedness : yet turn not aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart ; 21 And turn ye not aside : for then should ye go after vain things, which cannot profit nor deliver ; for they «;-e vain. 22 For the Lord will not forsake his people for his great name's sake : because it hath pleased the Lord to make you his people. 23 Moreover as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord '■'in ceasing to pray for you : but I will teach you the good and the right way : 24 Only fear the Lord, and serve him in truth with all your heart : for consider ' 'how great things he hath done for you. 25 But if ye shall still do wickedly, ye shall be consumed, both ye and your king. 1 Ecclus. 4B. 19. 5 Heb. righteausnes. 0 Judges U. 1. s Heb. 1 s Or, that 1 should hide mine eyes at him. 7 Gen. ^6. 5, 6. 8 Exod. i cr. t3 Heb. from ceasing. Chap. XIII.] I. SA Verse 2. 'And nowbehold the king wulMh before you.' — The preceding solemnity had been obviously designed to keep the people in remembrance of their continued depend- ence upon Jehovah. But lest it should be construed into an approbation and sanction of all their proceedings, the prophet took this public occasion of reminding them that their proceeding had been most unpleasing to their divine King ; although, if they maintained their fidelity to him and to the principles of the theocracy, some of the evil con- sequences might be averted. He also neglected not the opportunity of justifying his own conduct and the purity of his administration. He challenged assembled Israel to produce one instance of oppression, fraud, or corruption on his part, while he had been their sole judge ; and in that vast multitude not one voice was raised to impugn his in- tegrity and uprightness. He then proceeded to remind them of their past transgressions, in forgetting or turning astray from their God, with the punishments which had invariably followed, and the deliverances which their re- pentance had procured ; shewing them, by these instances, the sufficiency of their divine Sovereign to rule them, and to save them from their enemies, without the intervention of an earthly king, whom they had persisted in demanding. And he assured them that, under their regal government, public sins would not cease to be visited with public cala- mities. To add the greater weight to his words, and to evince the divine displeasure, the commissioned prophet called down thunder and rain from heaven, then at the usual season of wheat-harvest, when the air is naturally, in that country, serene and cloudless. On this the people were greatly alarmed at the possible consequences of the displeasure they had provoked, and besought Samuel to in- UEL. [B.C. 1093. terccde for them. The prophet kindly encouraged them to hope that if they continued to trust faithfully in God, all would yet be well. 11.' Jtruhbaal, and Bedan, and Jephlhah, and Samuel' — No judge named Bedan occurs in the history. There are various explanations ; of which that perhaps is the best which follows the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions in reading ' Barak' instead of 'Bedan.' The Syriac and Arabic also have ' Samson ' instead of ' Samuel :' and it in- deed seems as imlikely that the prophet should omit Sam- son, as that he should place his own name in a list of mili- tary deliverers. These alterations, sanctioned by the best ancient versions, are in accordance with the list given by the Apostle in Heb. xi. 32. 17. ' He shall send thunder and rain.' — It is evident that rain and thunder must have been of extraordinary oc- currence at this season, or else its exhibition might not have been so distinctly recognized as the Lord's answer to the call of Samuel. The wheat-harvest is usually over towards the end of May or early in June, and its com- mencement depends upon the cessation of the latter rains, after which the corn soon arrives at maturity. Conse- quently, that it was the time of wheat-harvest, is, iu itself, an evidence that the season for rain had passed. Rain sometimes falls so late as the early part of May ; but in the remainder of that month, and throughout the months of June, July, and the early part of August, rain scarcely ever falls, and continues to be rare even till the commencement of the season of rain in October or November. Indeed we see. from Prov. xxvi. 1 , that ' rain in harvest ' was as incom- prehensible to an ancient Hebrew as ' snow in simimer.' CHAPTER XIII. 1 Satil's selected band. 3 lie calleth the Hebrews to Gilgal a/jahist the Philistines, whose garrison Jonathan had smitten. 5 The Philistines' great host. 6 The distress of the Israelites. 8 Said, weary of staying for Samvel, sacrificeth. 11 Samuel re- proveth him. 17 The three spoiling bands of the Philistines. 19 The policy of tlie Philistines, to suffer no smith in Israel. Saul 'reigned one year; and when he had reigned two years over Israel, 2 Saul chose him three thousand men of Israel ; whereof two thousand were with Saul in Michmash and in mount Beth-el, and a thousand were with Jonathan in Giheah of Benjamin : and the rest of the people he sent every man to his tent. 3 IF And Jonathan smote the garrison of the Philistines that ims in "Geba, and the Philis- tines heard of it. And Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, Let the He- brews hear. 4 And all Israel heard say that Saul had smitten a garrison of the Philistines, and that Israel also "was had in abomination with the Philistines. And the people were called to- gether after Saul to Gilgal. 5 1 And the Philistines gathered them- selves together to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horse- men, and people as the sand which is on the seashore in multitude: and they came up, and pitched in Michmash, eastward from Beth-aven. 6 H When the men of Israel saw that they were in a strait, (for the people were dis- tressed,) then the people did hide themselves in caves, and in thickets, and in rocks, and in high places, and in pits. 7 And some of the Hebrews went over Jordan to tlie land of Gad and Gilead. As for Saul, he was yet in Gilgal, and all the people 'followed him trembling. 8 If 'And he tarried seven days, according to the set time that Samuel had appointed: but Samuel came not to Gilgal ; and the people were scattered from him. 9 And Saul said. Bring hither a burnt offering to me, and peace offerings. And he offered the burnt offering. 10 And it came to pass, that as soon as ho had made an end of offering the burnt offer- ing, behold, Samuel came ; and Saul went out to meet him, that he might "salute him. 11 If And Samuel said, \Vhat hast thou done ? And Saul said. Because I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that thou earnest not within the days appointed, » Hcb. Hi slink. ' Uc\i. IrcmbUd <{fier him. Chap. XIII.] I. SAMUEL. [B.C. 1093. and that the Philistines gathered themselves together at Michmash ; 12 Therefore said I, The Philistines will come down now upon me to Gilgal, and I have not 'made supplication unto the Lord : I forced myself therefore, and offered a burnt offering. 13 And Samuel said to Saul, Thou hast done foolishly : thou hast not kept the com- mandment of the Lord thy God, which he commanded thee : for now would the Lord have established thy kingdom upon Israel for ever. 14 But now thy kingdom shall not con- tinue : the Lord hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the Lord hath commanded him to he captain over his people, because thou hast not kept that which the Lord com- manded thee. 15 And Samuel arose, and gat him up from Gilgal unto Gibeah of Benjamin. And Saul numbered the people tliat were "present with him, about six hundred men. 16 And Saul, and Jonathan his son, and the people that xccre present with them, abode in Gibeah of Benjamin : but the Philistines encamped in Michmash. 17 H And the spoilers came out of the camp of the Philistines in three companies : one company turned unto the way tliat leadcth to Ophrah, unto the land of Shual : 18 And another company turned the way to Beth-horon : and another company turned to the way of the border that looketh to the valley of Zeboim toward the wilderness. 19 IT Now there was no smith found throughout all the land of Israel : for the Philistines said. Lest the Hebrews make them swords or spears : 20 But all the Israelites went down to the Philistines, to sharpen every man his share, and his coulter, and his ax, and his mat- tock. 21 Yet they had 'a file for the mattocks, and for the coulters, and for the forks, and for the axes, and '"to sharpen the goads. 22 So it came to pass in the day of battle, that there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people that tcere with Saul and Jonathan : but with Saul and with Jonathan his son was there found. 23 And the "garrison of the Philistines went out to the passage of Michmash. lUh. intrcaled the fM Heb. a file Verse 1. ' Saul reigned year nd when he reigned two years' — There is nothing about 'reigning ' in the first clause of the original. It is, literally, ' Saul was the son of a year,' which being the Hebrew idiom for ex- pressing the age of a person, it seems that the first clause describes his age, and the second states how long he had reigned ; but that the word expressing the number of years he had lived has in some way or other been lost Origen, in his Hexapla, inserts ' thirty,' and is followed by Houbi- gant and others. Vignoles, however, in his Chronology, thinks that Saul was forty years of age at the time of his election ; and Dr. Hales observes that he could not well have been much younger, since, in the second year of his reign, his eldest son, Jonathan, held a separate military command, and smote the Philistine garrison in Geba, as recorded in this chapter. 3. ' Jonathan smote the garrison of the Ph itistines.' — How it came to pass that there were Philistine garrisons in the land is not very clear. It would seem, however, that in resigning their conquests after their last defeat, they had retained some hill fortresses, from which they knew the Hebrews would find it difficult to dislodge them ; and that, when they recovered from the blow which was then in- dicted upon their power, they contrived, by the help of this hold which they had in the country, to bring the southern tribes (at least those of Judah and Benjamin) under a sort of subjection. Thus, when Saul was returning home after having been privately anointed by Samuel at Ramah, and met the sons of the prophets at Gibeah, we learn that at that place was ' a garrison of the Philistines.' And now we further learn that the Hebrews had in fact been disarmed by that people. According to that jealous policy of which other examples will ultimately be offered {2 Kings xxiv. 14 ; Jer. xxix. 2), they had even removed all the smiths of Israel, lest they should make weapons of war; in consequence of which the Hebrews were obliged to resort to the Philistine garrisons whenever their agricul- tural implements needed any other sharpening than that which a grindstone could give ; and as this was an unplea- sant alternative, even these important instniments had been suffered to become blunt at the time to which we are now come ; and so strict had been the deprivation of arms that, in the military operations which soon after followed, no one of the Israelites, save Saul and his eldest son, was possessed of a spear or sword. [Appendix, No. 34.] — ' Geba.' — This is very generally supposed to be the same place as Gibeah, noticed under ch. x. 26. Both names mean a hill, and Gibeah is in the original essentially the same name as Geba, distinguished only by a feminine ter- mination. If they were not the same, they must have been very near to each other — much nearer in fact than we can well expect to find towns so similarly designated ; nor are there any ruins or named site near Gibeah which might be supposed to represent Geba. Nevertheless there are some reasons against regarding the two names as indi- cating the same place ; and for the present the point must be regarded as unsettled. 5. ' Thirty thousand chariots.' — If we allow two horses and two men to each chariot, there must hare been sixty thousand of each for the chariots alone. The horsemen also are only six thousand, whereas, usually, the propor- tion of cavalry in the ancient armies was far greater than the chariots. Such a number of chariots, or anything ap- proaching to such a number, never appears even in those vast armies which ancient history describes as having been occasionally raised by the great monarchs of the East. The proportion of chariots in an army was in fact exceedingly small. Pharaoh pursued the Israelites to the Red Sea with only six hundred chariots. Jabin, the powerful king of Ca- naan, possessed nine hundred (Judg. iv. 3). David took one thousand from Hadadezer (2 Sam. viii. 3). Zerah, the Ethiopian, had but three hundred in his army of a million 127 Chap. XIIIQ [B.C. 1093. Eastern Grindstone, of men (2 Chron. xiv. 9) ; there docs not appear to have been more than two hundred in the immense army -which Darius raised for the contest with Alexander (Q. Curtius, iv. 8) ; Antiochus Eupator had but three hundred in his large army (2 Mac. xiii. 2); and the great army which Mithridates brought against the Romans contained but one hundred. It may therefore be safely doubted whether the Philistines, with all the assistance which their neighbours might afford, could bring into the field a number of cha- riots such as perhaps all Asia could not supply. That the text conveys an erroneous impression is generally ad- mitted ; but there are different opinions as to the correct understanding. Some think, with Bishop Patrick, that the number is right, but that it does not refer exclusively to war-chariots, but includes carriages of all kinds, for con- veying the baggage of the infantry, for taking back the plunder from the Israelites, and other uses. Others appre- hend that ' thirty thousand ' means not so many chariots, but men fighting in them, in which sense the word ' cha- riots ' is sometimes used. (2 Sam. x. 18 ; 1 Kings xx. 21 ; 1 Chron. xix. 18.1 Some, however, prefer to take the reading as ' three thousand," as we find it in the Syriac and Arabic versions, concluding that some transcriber made the alteration by writing Q'E'pB' sheloshim, thirlij, for E''?E' sUalosh, three; and, after this correction, some com- mentators, thinking three thousand still too large a pro- portion, incorporate the previous conclusions, and sup- pose that the number either included baggage-chariots, or that we are to understand three thousand men fighting in a much smaller number of chariots. Whatever expla- nation we take, it seems impossible to understand that thirty thousand war-chariots are intended. 9. ' He offered the burnt-offering.'— Sau\ had manifested his inability of comprehending his true place, and his dis- position to regard himself as an independent sovereign, by entering upon or provoking this war without consulting, through Samuel or the priest, the Divine will. Although not formally so declared, it was the well-understood prac- tice of the Hebrew constitution, that no war against any other than the doomed nations of Canaan should be under- taken without the previous consent and promised assistance of the Great King. Yet Saul, without any such authority, had taken measures which were certain to produce a war 128 with the Philistines. He probably thought that the ag^ gressions of the Philistines, and their existing position as the oppressors of Israel, with their intrusion into the Hebrew territory, made his undertaking so obviously just and patri- otic as to render a direct authorization superfluous, as its refusal could not be imagined ; Samuel was not, however, willing that such a precedent of independent action should be established ; and therefore he had appointed to meet Saul on a particular day at Gilgal, 'to offer burnt- offerings and peace-offerings,' and to shew him what he should do, that is, both to propitiate the Lord, as on other occasions, and to advise Saul how to act iu carrying on the war On the appointed day Samuel did not arrive as soon as the king expected. The prophet probably delayed his coming on purpose to test his fidelity and obedience. Saul failed in this test. Seeing his force hourly diminishing by desertions, and, in the pride of his fancied independence, considering that he had as much right as the Egyptian and other kings to perform the priestly function, he ordered the victims to be brought, and offered them himself upon the altar. This usurpation of the priestly office by one who had no natural authority as an Aaronite, nor any special authorization as a prophet, was decisive of the character and the fate of Saul. If the principles of the theocracy were to be preserved, and if the political supremacy of Jehovah was at all to be maintained, it was indispensably necessary that the first manifestation by the kings of autocratic dispositions and self-willed as- sumption of superiority to the law, should be visited by severe examples of punishment ; for if not checked in the beginnings, the growth would have been fatal to the consti- tution. It will hence appear that the punishments which Saul incurred for this and other acts, manifesting the same class of dispositions, were not so disproportioned to his offences, or so uncalled-for by the occasions of the state, as some persons have been led to imagine. 10. ' Saul went out to meet him.' — The custom of going forth to meet and greet a visitor is frequently mentioned in the Scriptures. It is still usual, in Western Asia, tosend forth relatives or confidential persons of suitable rank to meet and escort an approaching traveller, whose advance has been previously notified ; but we cannot recollect that it is customary anywhere for the host himself to do so. In Ea.stern A.sia "the custom however still exists ; serving with Chap. XIVQ I. SA other instances to confirm a suspicion we have long enter- tained, that China and Japan would furnish to a diligent student a larger number of striking illustrations of Scripture manners and ideas than has been supposed. In the latter country Thunberg and Ka:mpfer both noticed the custom. The former says, — ' At Japanie, where we dined, we were received by the host in a more polite and obsequious man- ner than I ever experienced since in any other part of the world. It is the custom in this country for the landlord to go to meet the travellers part of the way, and, with every token of the utmost submission and respect, bid them wel- come ; he then hurries home in order to receive his guests at his house in the same humble and respectful manner, after which some trifling present is produced on a small low square table.' 14. ' Tliji hingJom shall not continue' — The apology which Saui made to the prophet for what he had done — that his force was diminishing, and that he was afraid that if he delayed any longer the Philistines would fall upon him before sacrifices had been offered to Jehovah — shewed little of that reliance upon the Divine King which every Hebrew general was expected to manifest, and but little anxiety to receive those prophetic counsels which Samuel had promised to deliver. Under nearly similar circum- stances, how different was the conduct of Gideon, who gained immortal honour by those theocratic sentiments UEL. [B.C. 1087. which enabled him to leave to his successors a memorable example of confidence in God ! Samuel saw through the hollowness of Saul's apologies, and warned him tliat by such sentiments as he entertained, and such conduct as he manifested, he was rendering himself unworthy to be the founder of a royal house, inasmuch as he could not become a pattern to his successors ; and that by persevering in such a course he would compel the appointment of one more worthy than himself to reign over Israel, and to be the father of a kingly race. I.^. 'Samuel arose, and cjat him up from Gilqal unto Gibeah of Benjamin.' — The Septuagint,' supported by the Vulgate, preserves a clause which has here dropped from the Hebrew text, but which the context indispensably re- quires. * And Samuel arose and departed from Gilgal. And the remnant of the people went tip after Saul to meet the enemy, going from Gilgal to Gibeah of Benjamin.' Samuel went away, probably home to Ramah, and Saul also went home to defend his native town, the Philistines being in strong force in that neighbourhood. Every copyist knows how easy it is to drop a clause, when that which precedes or follows ends in the same form of words, as in the present instance : and this has been the occasion of several omis- sions in the Hebrew text ; but the lost clause is usually found iu some of the ancient versions. CHAPTER XIV. 1 Jonathan, unwitting to his father, the priest, or the people, goeth and miraculously smiteth the Philis- tines' ganison. 15 A divine terror maketh them beat themselves. 17 Saul, not staying the priest's answer, setteth on them. 21 Tlie captivated Hebreivs, and the hidden Israelites, join against them. 24 Saul's unadvised adjuration hindereth the victory. 32 He restraineth the people from eating blood. 35 He buildeth an altar. 36 Jonathan, taken by lot, is saved by the people. 47 Saul 's strength and family. Now 'it came to pass upon a day, that Jo- nathan the son of Saul said unto the young man that bare his armour. Come, and let us go over to the Philistines' garrison, that is on the other side. But he told not his father. 2 And Saul tarried in the uttermost part of Gibeah under a pomegranate tree which is in Migron : and the people that icere with him loere about six hundred men ; 3 And Ahiah, the son of Ahitub, ^I-cha- bod's brother, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the Lord's priest in Shiloh, wearing an ephod. And the people knew not that Jo- nathan was gone. 4 And between the passages, by which Jonathan sought to go over unto the Philis- tines' garrison, there teas a sharp rock on the one side, and a sharp rock on the other side : and the name of the one icas Bozez, and the name of the other Seneh. 5 The "forefront of the one teas situate northward over against Michmash, and the other southward over against Gibeah. 6 And Jonathan said to the young man that bare his armour. Come, and let us go over unto the garrison of these uncircumcised : it may be that the Lord will work for us : for thei-e is no restraint to the Lord Ho save by many or by few. 7 And his armourbearer said unto him. Do all that is in thine heart : turn thee ; behold, I am with thee according to thy heart. 8 Then said Jonathan, Behold, we will pass over unto these men, and we will discover ourselves unto them. 9 If they say thus unto us, 'Tarry until we come to you ; then we will stand still in our place, and will not go up unto them. 10 But if they say thus. Come up unto us ; then we will go up : for "the Lord hath delivered them into our hand : and this shall be a sign unto us. 11 And both of them discovered themselves unto the garrison of the Philistines : and the Philistines said. Behold, the Hebrews come forth out of the holes where they had hid themselves. 12 And the men of the garrison answered Jonathan and his armourbearer, and said, Come up to us, and we will shew you a thing. And Jonathan said unto his armourbearer, Come up after me : for the Lord hath delivered them into the hand of Israel. Chap. XIV.] I. SA 13 And Jonathan climbed up upon his hands and upon his feet, and his armourbearer after him : and they fell before Jonathan ; and his armourbearer slew after him. 14 And that first slaughter, which Jo- nathan and his armourbearer made, was about twenty men, within as it were 'an half acre of land, lohich a yoke of oxen might plmo. ] .') If And there was trembling in the host, in the field, and among all the people : the garrison, and the spoilers, they also trembled, and the earth quaked : so it was "a very great trembling. 16 And the watchmen of Saul in Gibeah of Benjamin looked ; and, behold, the multi- tude melted away, and they went on beating down one another. 17^ Then said Saul unto the people that icere with him. Number now, and see who is gone from us. And when they had numbered, behold, Jonathan and his armourbearer loeiv not thei-e. 18 And Saul said unto Ahiah, Bring hither the ark of God. For the ark of God was at that time with the children of Israel. 19 And it came to pass, while Saul talked unto the priest, that the "noise that loas in the host of the Philistines went on and in- creased : and Saul said unto the priest, With- draw thine hand. 20 And Saul and all the people that ivere with him '"assembled themselves, and they came to the battle : and, behold, "every man's sword was against his fellow, and there was a very great discomfiture. 21 Moreover the Hebrews that were with the Philistines before that time, which went up with them into the camp from the country round about, even they also turned to be with the Israelites that xcere with Saul and Jonathan. 22 Likewise all the men of Israel which had hid themselves in mount Ephraim, when they heard that the Philistines fled, even they also followed hard after them in the battle. 23 So the Lord saved Israel that day : and the battle passed over unto Beth-aven. 24 IT And the men of Israel were tlis- trcssed that day : for Saul had adjured tlu; people, saying. Cursed he the man that eateth any food until evening, that I may bo avenged on mine enemies. So none of the people tasted any food. 7 Or, halfafurroip ofm nr.rc of land. 8 Hcb. a tremhlhii tUEL. [B.C. 1087. 25 And all they of the land came to a wood ; and there was honey upon the ground. 26 And when the people were come into the wood, behold, the honey dropped ; but no man put his hand to his mouth : for the people feared the oath. 27 But Jonathan heard not when his father charged the people with the oath : wherefore he put forth the end of the rod that was in his hand, and dipped it in an honeycomb, and put his hand to his mouth ; and his eyes were enlightened. 28 Then answered one of the people, and said. Thy father straitly charged the people with an oath, saying. Cursed be the man that eateth any food this day. And the people were ''faint. 29 Then said Jonathan, My father liath troubled the land : see, I pray you, how mine eyes have been enlightened, because I tasted a little of this honey. 30 How much more, if haply the people had eaten freely to day of the spoil of their enemies which they found ? for had there not been now a much greater slaughter among the Philistines ? 31 If And they smote the Philistines that day from Michmash to Aijalon : and the people were very faint. 32 And the people flew upon the spoil, and took sheep, and oxen, and calves, and slew them on the ground : and the people did eat them '"with the blood. 33 Then they told Saul, saying. Behold, the people sin against the Lord, in that they cat with the blood. And he said. Ye have "transgressed: roll a great stone unto me this day. 34 And Saul said. Disperse yourselves among the people, and say unto them, Bring me hither every man his ox, and every man his sheep, and slay them here, and eat ; and sin not against the Lord in eating with the blood. And all the people brought every man his ox ''with him that night, and slew them there. 35 1 And Saul built an altar unto the Lord : '"the same was the first altar that he built unto the Lord. 36 And Saul said. Let us go down after the Philistines by night, and spoil them until the morning light, and let us not leave a man of them. And they said, Do whatsoever seemeth good unto thee. Then said the priest, Let us draw near hither unto God. fOwi. 9 Oi,ttimuh. 10 llch. tvcre cried tiif/ttticr. Chap. XIV.] I. SA 37 IT And Saul asked counsel of God, Shall I go down after the Philistines? wilt thou deliver them into the hand of Israel ? But he answered him not that day. 38 ^ And Saul said, Draw ye near hither all the "chief of the people : and know and see wherein this sin hath heen this day. 39 For, as the Lord liveth, which saveth Israel, though it be in Jonathan my son, he shall surely die. But there was not a man among all the people that answered him. 40 Tiien said he unto all Israel, Be ye on one side, and I and Jonathan my son will be on the other side. And the people said unto Saul, Do what seemeth good unto thee. 41 Therefore Saul said unto the Lord God of Israel, '"Give a perfect lot. And Saul and Jonathan were taken ; but the people '"escaped. 42 And Saul said, Cast lots between me and Jonathan my son. And Jonathan was taken. 43 Tlien Saul said to Jonathan, Tell me what thou hast done. And Jonathan told him, and said, I did but taste a little honey with the end of the rod that was in mine hand, and, lo, I must die. 44 And Saul answered, God do so and more also : for thou shalt surely die, Jona- than. 45 And the people said unto Saul, Shall Jonathan die, who hath wrought this great salvation in Israel ? God forbid : as the UEL. [B.C. 1087. Lord liveth, there shall not one hair of his head fall to the ground ; for he hath wrought with God this day. So the people rescued Jonathan, that he died not. 46 Then Saul went up from following the Philistines : and the Philistines went to their own place. 47 If So Saul took the kingdom over Israel, and fought against all his enemies on every side, against Moab, and against the children of Ammon, and against Edom, and against the kings of Zobah, and against the Philistines : and whithersoever he turned himself, he vexed them. 48 And he '"'gathered an host, and smote the Amalekites, and delivered Israel out of the hands of them that spoiled them. 49 H Now the sons of Saul were Jonathan, and Ishui, and Melchi-shua : and the names of his two daughters ivere these; the name of the firstborn Merab, and the name of the younger Michal : 50 And the name of Saul's wife teas Ahi- noam, the daughter of Ahimaaz : and the name of the captain of his host was Abner, the son of Ner, Saul's imcle. 51 And Kisli was the father of Saul ; and Ner the father of Abner was the son of Abiel. 52 And there was sore war against the Philistines all the days of Saul : and when Saul saw any strong man, or any valiant man, he took him imto him. 10 Ilfb. wcntfmth. 20 Or, wrought mightibj. Verse 2. ' Miyroii.' — This, from the context, was olj- vioiisly the name of some marked local site in the land around Gibeah. 4. ' Bozez .... Seneh.' — Names, as the context expresses, of two roclts near Gibeah. Every object in the least degree marked seems to have had its distinctive name among the Hebrews. So it is now with the Arabs. Every marked hollow or projection (other than of sand) upon the plain, every well, every clump of trees, has its proper name. So has every defile, recess, promontory, or peak of the moun- tains, however inconsiderable : and on a river, such as the Tigris or Euphrates, there is not a single bend, angle, pro- jection, creek, cliff, rock, mound, or group of trees to which a proper name is not assigned. Thus a map of a country, over which one may travel for a hundred miles without finding a single town, might, nevertheless, be crowded with hundreds of names of this description. 4, 5. 'Between the passages .... there was a sharp rock on the one side, and a sharp rock on the other side .... The forefront of the one was situate northward, over against Michmash, and the other southward, over against Gibeah.' — ' We left Jeba' (Gibeah) ' for Mukhmas. The descent into the valley was steeper and longer than any of the pre- ceding. The path led down obliquely, and we reached the bottom in half an hour. It is called Wady es-Suweinit. It begins in the neighbourhood of Beitin and el-Bireh ; and as it breaks through the ridge below these places, its sides form precipitous walls. On the right, about a quarter of an acre below where we crossed, it again breaks off, and passes between high perpendicular precipices, which (our guide said) continue a great way dowu and increase in grandeur .... This steep precipitous valley is probably "the passage of Michmash," mentioned in Scripture (1 Sam. xiii. 23 ; comp. Isa. x. 28). In the valley, just at the left of where we crossed, were two hills, of a conical, or rather spherical form, having steep rocky sides, with small Wadys running up between each, so as almost to isolate them. One of them is on the side towards Jeba, and the other towards Mukhmas. These would seem to be the two rocks mentioned in connection with Jonathan's adventure. They are not indeed so " sharp " as the language of Scripture would seem to imply ; but they are the only rocks of tbe kind in this vicinity. The northern one is connected to- wards the west with an eminence still more distinctly iso- lated. This valley appears to have been, at a later time, the dividing line between the tribes of Benjamin and Epiiraim.' Eobinson's Biblical Researches in Palestine, ii. IIG. . , , , 14. ' Half-acre of land, which a yoke of oxen might plow. —The Hebrew is, literally, ' As in the half of a furrow of a yoke of a field," which some regard as unintelligible, and therefore prefer the Septuagint version, wliich has nothing about the space, but, instead, says that Jonathan and his armourbearer effected the slaughter ' with spears, pebbles, and flints of the field.' We are willing to adhere to the Hebrew text. It is certainly obscure ; but, as rendered in Chap. XV.] I- SAI our version, or even as read literally, refers to a mode of measurement which -was very ancient, and which still sub- sists in the East. Some think that a single furrow is in- tended, that is, half the space comprehended in the single furrow (drawn circularly, of course) which a yoke of oxen might trace in one day : but others suppose it to mean half the space which a yoke of oxen might plough in one day. Both alternatives are compatible with ancient usage ; the former may be illustrated by the historical circumstance, that so much land as could be ploughed around in one day was granted by the Komans to Horatius Codes, in recom- pense of his valorous stand, on the Sublician bridge, against the arms of Porsenna. Intimations are frequent in ancient writings of the prevalence of the custom of estimating the extent of ground according to what might be ploughed in a day ; and then it was usual to add, by what kind of ani- mals the plough was drawn, to render the estimate more exact. In this manner Homer measures the degree of proximity to which Diomedes and Ulysses allowed the Trojan spy to approach, before they rushed upon him from their concealment. He says they were as distant from each other as the furrows of two teams of mules. This is about as obscure as the Hebrew text of the passage before us, and is open to the same interpretations, the expression being very similar. That it was the space which two teams of mules could plough in a day is the common explanation, which is thus given in Dacier's note : — ' The Grecians did not plough in the manner now in use. They first broke up the ground with oxen, and then ploughed it more lightly with mules. When they employed two ploughs in a field, they measured the space they could plough in a day, and set their ploughs at the two ends of this space, and those ploughs proceeded towards each other. This intermediate space was constantly fixed, but less in proportion for two of oxen than for two of mules, because oxen are slower and toil more in a field that has not yet been turned up, whereas mules are naturally swifter, and make greater speed in a ground that has already had the first ploughing.' ^ The idea kept in view by our translators, in rendering ' half a furrow ' by ' half an acre,' is that it applied to half the space of ground which a yoke of oxen might plough in a day ; and is derived from one of the Roman land-mea- sures. This measure was called actus, of which there were three sorts ; the first was a piece of ground 120 feet long by only four broad ; the second {actus qiiadratus) was a square of 120 feet ; and the third was a double square, being 240 feet long by 120 feet broad, which made an acre of ground, or as much, according to Pliny, as a yoke of oxen might plough in a day. Something of the same idea and standard of measure is exhibited in Domesday-Book, which shews the results of a survey made by order of William the Conqueror, and in which the domains are estimated by the carucate (from caruca, in French charrue, a plough), or plough-land ; that is, so much land as would support a plough, or that one plough would work. At this day, in the East, an idea is popularly intimated of the extent of a man's possessions by stating the number of yoke of oxen which would be required to keep his grounds in order. UEL. [B.C. 107!). 26. ' T/ie lioney dropped.' — First we are told that the honey was on the gi'ound, then that the honey dropped, and lastly that Jonathan put his rod into the honeycomb. From all this it is clear that the honey was bee-honey, and that honeycombs were above in the trees, from which honey dropped upon the ground ; but it is not clear whether Jonathan put his rod into a honeycomb that was in the trees or shrubs, or into one that had fallen to the ground, or that had been formed there. Where wild bees are abundant, they form their combs in any convenient place that offers, particularly in the cavitii'.«, or even on the branches, of trees ; nor are they so nice as is commonly supposed in the choice of situations. In India, particularly, and in the Indian islands, the forests oftiii swarm with bees. ' The forests," says Mr. Roberts, ' literally flow with honey ; large combs may be seen hanging on the trees, as you pass along, full of honey.' We have good reason to conclude, from many allusions in Scripture, that this was also, to a considerable extent, the case formerly in Palestine. Kabbi Ben Gershom and others indeed fancy that there were bee-hives placed ' all of a row ' by the way- side. If we must needs have bee-hives, why not suppose they were placed in the trees, or suspended from the boughs ? This is a practice in diflferent parts where bees abound, and the people pay much attention to realize the advantages which their wax and honey offer. The woods on the western coast of Africa, between Cape Blanco and Sierra Leone, and particularly near the Gambia, are full of bees ; to which the negroes formerly, if they do not now, paid considerable attention, for the sake of the wax. They had bee-hives, made like baskets, of reeds and sedge, and hung on the out-boughs of the trees, which the bees eagerly appropriated for the purpose of forming their combs in tliem. In some parts these hives were so thickly placed that at a distance they looked like fruit. There was also much wild honey in the cavities of the trees. (Jobson's Gulden Trade, p. 30 ; in Astley's Collection.) Moore con- firms this account ; and adds, that when he was there, the Mandingos suspended, in this way, straw bee-hives not un- like our own, and boarded at the bottom, with a hole for the bees to go in and out. Travels into the Inland Paris of Africa, in Drake's Collection. As to the other supposition, that the honeycomb had been formed on the ground, we think the context rather bears against it; but the circumstance is not in itself unlikely, or incompatible with the habits of wild bees. For want of a better resource, they sometimes form their combs and deposit their honey in any toler.ibly convenient spot they can find in the ground, such as small hollows, or even holes formed by animals. Mr. Burchell, in his Travels in South Africa, mentions an instance in which his party (Hottentots) obtained about three pounds of good honey from a hole which had formerly belonged to some animal of the weasel kind. The natives treated this as a usual circumstance ; and indeed their experience in such affairs was demon- strated by the facility with which they managed to obtain the honey without being injured by the bees. CHAPTER XV. 1 Samuel sendeth Saul to destroy Amalek. G Saul favoureth the Kenites. 8 He spareth Agag and the best of the spoil. 10 Samuel denounceth unto Saul, commending and excusing himself, God's rejection of him for his disobedience. 24 SauCs humiliation. 33 Samuel killeth Agag. 34 Samuel and Saul part. Samuel also said unto Saul, 'The Lord sent me to anoint thee to be king over his people, over Israel : now therefore hearken thou unto the voice of the words of the Lord. 2 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I remem- ber that which Amalek did to Israel, 'how he laid icait for him in the way, when he came up from Egypt. 3 Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare theni not ; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass. Chap. XV.] I. SA: 4 And Saul gathered the people together, and nvimbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand footmen, and ten thousand men of Judah. 5 And Saul came to a city of Amalek, and 'laid wait in the valley. 6 If And Saul said unto the Kenites, Go, depart, get you down fi-om among the Ama- lekites, lest I destroy you with them : for ye shewed kindness to all the children of Israel, when they came up out of Egypt. So the Kenites departed from among the Amale- kites. 7 IT And Saul smote the Amalekites from Ilavilah until thou comest to Shur, that is over against Egypt. 8 And he took A gag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. 9 But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and *of the ftitlings, and the lambs, and all tliat teas good, and would not utterly destroy them : but every thing that teas vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly. 10 1 Then came the word of the Lord unto Samuel, saying, 11 It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to he king : for he is turned back from follow- ing me, and hath not performed my command- ments. And it grieved Samuel ; and he cried unto the Lord all night. 12 11 And when Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel, saying, Saul came to Carmel, and, behold, he set him up a place, and is gone about, and passed on, and gone down to Gilgal. 13 And Samuel came to Saul : and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the Lord : I have performed the commandment of the Lord. 14 And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear ? 15 And Saul said. They have brought them from the Amalekites : for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God ; and the rest we have utterly destroyed. 16 Then Samuel said unto Saul, Stay, and I will tell thee what the Lord hath said to me this night. And he said unto him. Say on. 17 And Samuel said. When thou tcast little in thine own sight, loast thou not made » OT,/ought. > Or, «/ the second mrt. 5 Heh. rte.v UEL. [B.C. 1079. the head of the tribes of Israel, and the Lord anointed thee king over Israel ? 18 And the Lord sent thee on a journey, and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until 'they be consumed. I'J Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the Lord, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the Lord ? 20 And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and have gone the way which the Lord sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. 21 But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God in Gilgal. 22 And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt oflerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of tlie Lord ? Behold, *to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is as the sin of 'witchcraft, and stubbornness w as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king. 24 If And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned : for I have transgressed the com- mandment of the Lord, and thy words : be- cause I feared the people, and obeyed their voice. 25 Now therefore, I pray thee, pardon my sin, and turn again with me, that I may wor- ship the Lord. 2G And Samuel said unto Saul, I will not return with thee : for thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord hath rejected thee from being king over Israel. 27 And as Samuel turned about to go away, he laid hold upon the skirt of his mantle, and it rent. 28 And Samuel said unto him, The Lord hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbour of thine, that is better than thou. 29 And also the "Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent : for he is not a man, that he should repent. 30 Then he said, I have sinned : ijet honour me now, I pray thee, before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and turn again with me, that I may worship the Lord thy God. Chap. XV.] I. SAMUEL. [B.C. 1079. 31 So Samuel turned agaiu after Saul ; and Saul worshipped the Lord. 32 1[ Then said Samuel, Bring ye hither to me Agag the king of the Amalekites. And Agag came unto him delicately. And Agag said, Surely the bitterness of death is past. 33 And Samuel said, °As thy sword hath made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women. And Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal. 34 If Then Samuel went to Ramah ; and Saul went up to his house to Gibcah of Saul. 35 And Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death : nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul : and the Loud repented that he had made Saul king o\er Israel. Verse 2. ' Ainalek.' — This is the name of a grandson of Esau, from whom the Amalekites are supposed to have descended. This supposition is entirely founded on the fact that Esau's grandson was so named ; for there is nothing in Scripture which points to, or even hints at, this commonly assigned origin of these bitter enemies of the Hebrew nation. Indeed, there are some rather strong considerations which seem to bear against it. These are : that Moses, in Gen. xiv., relates that in the time of Abra- ham, long before Amalek was born, Chedorlaomer and his confederates ' smote all the country of the Amalekites ' about Kadesh : and that Balaam calls Amalek ' the first of the nations,' which, if understood of priority, could be by no means correct of a nation descended from the grand- son of Esau. To these considerations, however, it may be answered, that Moses speaks, in the first instance, prolep- tically, of the country which the Amalekites afterwarils occupied ; and that, in the other, ' first ' does not refer to priority of time, but to rank. But besides this, it is to be observed that Moses never reproaches the Amalekites with attacking the Israelites, their brel/iren ; though it is not likely that he would have omitted to notice this aggrava- tion of their offence, if it had existed. In the Pentateuch there is continual reference to the fraternal relation of the Hebrews and Edomites. But no term implying consan- guinity is ever applied to the Amalekites ; and instead of their name being connected with that of the Edomites, tliey seem always associated in name and action with the Cauaanites and Philistines. It is also difficult to under- stand how the Amalekites could become so powerful a people as they were when the Israelites left Egypt, if their origin ascended no higher than the grandson of Esau. On these grounds Calmet concludes that they were descended from Canaan, and were, in fact, among the devoted nations — that devotement being the more strongly marked in their instance, on account of their early and persevering enmity to the Hebrews. This view does not materially differ from that of the Arabians, who make Amalek to be a son or descendant of Ham, who, according to them, be- came the founder of one of the original jjHre Arabian tribes, but which afterwards became mixed, by blending with the posterity of Joktan and Adnan. This Amalek had a famous son called Ad, who reigned in the south-east of Arabia (Hadramaut) in the time of Hebcr, the ancestor of Abraham, and whose age is the remote point of Arabian chronology and fable, so that, ' as old as king Ad ' is a proverbial expression of extnme and obscure antiquity. This Adite branch of AiikiI. l.ii. . :.fi. i ]r^^\u^^ Misl.iin. d a fearful destruction froui n , : . : II. i\,ii :ii iis im- piety, was so weakened I li.:! : ■. 1 . ;ih 11 He ir jlli- to prevail over it, and, al'tir Li i 1-. , ■MiL'id it tn with- draw and disperse. These, and ()t}Kr Amalekite families, then spread in Arabia Petrsea, in the peninsula of Sinai, and in the southern parts of Palestine. The Arabs be- lieve these to have been the enemies of the Israelites, and entertain an opinion that some of them, being defeated by Joshua, went into Northern Africa and settled there. The tribes of Amalek and Ad they number with those that have, from very remote ages, been completely lost, unless so far as they may have been incorporated with other tribes. There is nothing in this account adverse to the Scriptural intimations. Indeed, it would be easy to shew that the Amalekites, whether accounted as Arabians or not, were a people who, although they had some towns and hamlets, were of essentially Bedouin habits. In fact, we may, perhaps, best estimate the position they bore with respect to the Israelites, by regarding them as an unsettled, predatory people, who, from their situation on the imme- diate borders of the Hebrews, exhibited and experienced the full effect of that opposition of social principle which never fails to operate m similar circumstances. In the same countries, at this day, a settled or settling people, on the one hand, and the wild, aggressive, plundering Be- douins, on the other, exhibit tie same feelings towards each other which the Hebrews and Amalekites respect- ively entertained. Independently of the first deep cause of offence, and the high command under which the He- brews acted, there was an obvious social necessity that such dangerous neighbours as the Amalekites should be extirpated or driven from the frontiers. The transaction of this chapter was a fatal blow to the Amalekites. We indeed find that they still subsisted as a people, for David undertook an expedition against them while he was living in the country of the Philistines (chap, xxvii. 8 ; 2 Sam. i. 1). After that they cease to be historically noticed ; but in the book of Esther we find Haman, an individual of that nation, high in the favour of the Persian king. See further on this subject in — Iperen, Hist. Crii. Edumaonim et Amalchitarum, 1768,; Calmet, art. ' Amalek ;' D'Her- be\ot, Sib/iotlicque OrieiitaU, arts. ' Av,' 'Amlak;' and Michaelis's Commentaries, art. xxii. 4. ' Telaim.' — This is supposed to be thesameasTelcm, mentioned in Josh. xv. 24, among the ' uttermost cities of the tribe of the children of Judah towards the coast of Edom southward.' — 'Two hundred thousand footmen, and ten thousand men of Judah ' — This is a very small proportion for so im- portant and populous a tribe as that of Judah to supply : and the deficiency in its contributious is probably recorded on this as on a former occasion, in order to intimate that, since the sceptre had been of old promised to this tribe, it was not generally content to see a Benjamite upon the throne, and was less hearty tlian the other tribes in its obedience. 7. ' Havilah.' — This certainly was not the district men- tioned in the description of the garden of Eden as ' the bind <.f Ilavilah.' Some indeed suppose it so: and be- \i.\ in; . with US, that the Havilah near Eden was about the III I III tlir Persian Gulf, they think that Saul traversed all till' wiilr distance between, in pursuit of the Amalekites. 'Ibis is absolutely incredible, and is contrary to the text, which makes the pursuit be towards Egypt, whereas this would be exactly away from Egjpt. The text evidently places this Havilah near the south of Judah. There arc two explanations: one is, that the whole breadth of country forming the north of Arabia, from the Persian Gulf to tlie south frontiers of Palestine, was called Ha- vilah, and that the statement in Gen. ii. refers to the Chap. XV.] I. SAMUEL. [B.C. 1079. eastern part of this land, and tlie present account to the vesteru : or else, that there was more than one Havilah, — and this is exceedingly probable, when we recollect that the name is taken from Havilah the son of Cush, and who may, like his father, have left his name to different regions in which his descendants successively settled. Joscphus very properly describes the Amalekites of this history as occupying the country between Pelusium in Egypt and the Ked Sea. 9. ' Saul and the people spared Jgag.' — Josephus says that they were won upon to spare him by the beauty and tallness of his person. It is remarkable, by the by, that the Arabians make the Amalekites to have been giants ; and they believe that Goliath himself was an Amalekite. 12. ' CarmeV — This must not be confounded with Mount Carmel. It is mentioned in Josh. xv. 55, among the southern cities of Judah, and its name occurs between those of Maon and Ziph. Nabal, who resided at Maon, had his possessions in Carmel (1 Sam. xxv. 2). The place is probably the same as the ' Carmelia,' which Jerome de- scribes as being in his time a village, ten miles east of Hebron, where there was then a Koman garrison. — ' He set him up a place.'— This undoubtedly means that he set up a trophy or monument of his victory over the Amalekites. This we learn from 2 Sam. xviii. 18, where we read that Absalom set up a pillar and called it the monument ("I*, the same word here rendered ' place') of Absalom. It was usual in ancient times to erect some monument or other, in commemoration of a victory, gene- rally on the spot where it had been obtained. This was probably the design of Saul's monument. It is difficult to say -what it was. Perhaps it was a pillar or obelisk : Jerome makes it a triumphal arch ; and he says it was usual to make an arch of myrtle, palm, and olive branches on such occasions. The trophies, however, with which ancient authors make us best acquainted, were originally a heap of the arms and spoils taken from the enemy. Such spoils were in later times hung in an orderly manner upon a column or decayed tree ; and, in the end, representations of such trophies, in brass or marble, were substituted. They were consecrated to some divinity, with a suitable inscription ; and the sanctity with which they were in- vested prevented people from disturbing or throwing them down; but when they fell down, or were destroyedby accident or time, they were never restored, under the im- pression that! ; enmities ought not to be perpetuated. In the eleventh book of the iEneid Virgil has fully de- scribed the process of forming the most usual trophy, that of arms fixed on a denuded or decayed tree. The word 1^ tjad, applied to this monument and to Absalom's pillar, literally means a hand, and is so trans- lated in the Septuagint ; whence it has been supposed by some that the trophy iu question was surmounted by the figure of a hand, which is, in Scripture, the general em- blem of strength and power. In the note to Num. ii. 2, we have mentioned instances of standards surmounted by the figure of a hand : and the cut of Koman standards ex- hibits two of this description. To which we may add that, in the mosques of Persia, generally, the domes (for they have seldom minarets like the Turks) are surmounted by the figure of an outspread hand, in the place where the Turks would put a crescent, and we a cross or a vane. 26. ' Vw Lord hath rejected thee from being king.' — It would be wrong to consider Saul's transgression in the matter of the Amalekites as the sole act or occasion for which this rejection was incurred. It was but one of many acts by which he indicated an utter incapability of apprehending his true position, and iu consequence mani- fested dispositions and conduct utterly at variance with the principles of government which the welfare of the state, and indeed the very objects of its foundation, made it most essential to maintain. Unless the attempts at absolute in- dependence made by Saul were checked, or visited witli some signal mark of the Divine displeasure, the precedents established by the first king were likely to become the rule to future sovereigns. And hence the necessity, now at the beginning, of peculiar strictness, or even of severity, for preventing the establishment of bad rules and pre- cedents for future kings. 29. ' The Strength of Israel will not /le.'— The original is more emphatic — ' He who gives victory to Israel ;' an expression probably designed to convey a further rebuke to the perverse king for the triumphal monument which he had set up in Carmel, and wherebj^ he had secured to himself that honour for the recent victory which, nnder the principles of the theocracy, was due to God alone. 32. ' Agag came unto him delicateh/.'—' Cheerfully ' would be a more intelligible rendering of the original (nil']5J0 maadannolli) than ' delicately.' It seems that Agag thought he had nothing further to apprehend, now that he had obtained the protection of the king. ' Samuel hewed Agag _pie, -It is not clear M c TVL Tr whether Samuel did this himself or commanded others to do it. The latter is certainly rendered possible by the frequent practice of describing a great personage as doing that which he commanded to be done. But, on the other hand, there is nothing in the act incompatible with Ori- ental usage, or with the position which Samuel occupied. Samuel was not a priest, but only a Levite ; and tlie Le- vites seem to have held themselves bound to act for the Lord with their swords when required; as in the instance of the slaughter with which they punished their brethren for their sin in worshipping the golden calf: and, on a later occasion, even a priest— Phinehas, afterwards high- priest,— in the fervour of his zeal, took a javelin and slew therewith Zimri and Cosbi, as recorded in Nnm. xxv. It 135 Chap. XVI.] is not, and never -was, in the East, unusual for persons in power to slay offenders -with their own hands. In the pre- ceding book, we have seen Gideon himself destroying the two captive kings of Midian ; and in illustration of more modern usage there is an anecdote in Chardin, which illus- trates not only this point, but the hewing in pieces, and also the idea concerning the connecting bond formed by the eating of another's salt, to which we have had previous occasions to refer. The circumstance occurred in Persia when Chardin was there. The king, ' rising in wrath against an officer who had attempted to deceive him, drew his sabre, fell upon him, and hewed him to pieces, at the feet of the grand vizier, who was standing ; and looking fixedly upon him, and the other great lords who stood on each side of him, he said, with a tone of indignation, " I have then such ungrateful servants and traitors as these to eat ray salt. Look on this sword, it shall cut off all these perfidious heads." ' Hewing in pieces is still sometimes resorted to as an arbitrary punishment in dif- ferent eastern countries ; but we believe it is nowhere sanctioned by law, which indeed seldom directs the mode by which death shall be inflicted. Bruce notices ' UEL. [B.C. 1063. of this form of death in Abyssinia ; and it is mentioned among the atrocities of Djeziar, the notorious pacha of Acre, that he caused fifty or sixty officers of his seraglio, whom he suspected of fraud, to be hewed in pieces, each by the sword of two janissaries. It was not a Hebrew form of punishment, but appears to have been resorted to in the present instance in order to inflict on Agag the same kind of death which he had been accustomed to inflict on others : for the ' as,' with which Samuel's answer com- mences, implies analogy of action— that is, that his (Agag's) mother should be made childless, in the same manner as he had made women childless. 35. ' Samuel mourned for SauL' — The prophet had much personal regard for a man who, with all his faults, had many fine natural qualities which would well have fitted him to rule with credit under a merely human monarchy ; and who, moreover, was faithful, and even jealous of Je- hovah as his God, however deficient in obedience to him as his king. He therefore continued to mourn greatly for him, and to bewail the doom which it had been his painful duty to declare. CHAPTER XVI. I Samuel, sent by God under pretence of a sacrifice, Cometh to Belh-lehem. 6 His human judgment is reproved. 1 3 He anointeth David. 19 Saiil sendeth for David to quiet his evil spirit. And the Lord said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have re- jected him from reigning over Israel ? fill thine horn with oil, and go, I will send thee to Jesse the Beth-lehemite : for I have pro- vided me a king among his sons. 2 And Samuel said, How can I go? if Saul hear it, he will kill me. And the Lord said, Take an heifer 'with thee, and say, I am come to sacrifice to the Lord. 3 And call Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will shew thee what thou shalt do : and thou shalt anoint unto me him whom I name unto thee. 4 And Samuel did that which the Lord spake, and came to Beth-lehem. And the elders of the town trembled at his ''coming, and said, Comest thou peaceably ? 5 And he said. Peaceably : I am come to sacrifice unto the Lord : sanctify yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice. And he sanctified .Tessc and his sons, and called thera to the .'sacrifice. G 11 And it came to pass, when they w^cre come, that he looked on Eliab, and said, Surely the Lord's anointed is before him. 7 But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not en his countenance, or on the height of his stature ; because 1 have refused him : for the LORD secth not as man secth : for man looketh on the ^outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the 'heart. 8 Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, Nei- ther hath the Lord chosen this. 9 Then Jesse made Shammah to pass by. And he said, Neither hath the Lord chosen this. 10 Again, Jesse made seven of his sons to pass before Samuel. And Samuel said unto Jesse, The Lord hath not chosen these. 11 If And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here all thy children ? And he said. There remaineth yet the youngest, and, behold, he keepeth the sheep. And Samuel said unto Jesse, 'Send and fetch him : for we will not sit Mown till he come hither. 12 And he sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and withal 'of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to. And the Lord said. Arise, anoint him : for this is he. 1 3 Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren : and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to liamah. 14 1[ But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord "troubled him. If) And Saul's servants said unto him. Be- hold now, an evil spirit from God troubleth thee. 16 Let our lord now command thy servants, which are before thee, to seek out a man, tcho is a cunning player on an harp : and it shall Chap. XVI.] I. SA come to pass, when the evil spirit from God is upon thee, that he shall play with his hand, and thou shalt be well. 17 And Saul said unto his servants. Pro- vide me now a man that can play well, and bring him to me. 18 Then answered one of the servants, and said. Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Beth-lehemite, that is cunning in playing, and a mighty valiant man, and a man of war, and prudent in "matters, and a comely person, and the Lord is with him. 19 Wherefore Saul sent messengers unto Jesse, and said. Send me David thy son, which is with the sheep. UEL. [B.C. 1063. 20 And Jesse took an ass laden with bread, and a bottle of wine, and a kid, and sent them by David his son unto Saul. 21 And David came to Saul, and stood be- fore him : and he loved him greatly ; and he became his armourbearer. 22 And Saul sent to Jesse, saying. Let David, I pray thee, stand before me ; for he hath found favour in my sight. 23 And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took an harp, and played with his hand : so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him. Verse 12. ' He was riidJi/, and withal of a beautiful countenance^ and goodly to look to.' — Rather, ' He was ruddy, with beautiful eyes, and a goodly appearance.' Calmet, with whom Dr. Hales concurs, makes David to have been fifteen years of age at this time. Josephus, indeed, says that he was but ten ; but this is perhaps too young for him to have charge of the sheep ; and twenty-five, the age given by Lightfoot, is too old for the context. 14. ' An evil spirit from the Lord troubled him.'— The doom of exclusion had been pronounced upon Saul at a time when he was daily strengthening himself on the throne, and increasing in power, popularity, and fame ; and when his eldest son, Jonathan, stood, and deserved to stand, so high in the favour of all the people, that no man could, according to human probabilities, look upon any one else as likely to succeed him in the throne. But when the ex- citement of war and victory had subsided, and the king had leisure to consider and brood over the solemn and de- claredly irrevocable sentence which the prophet had pro- nounced, a very serious effect was gradually produced upon his mind and character ; for he was no longer prospered and directed by God, but left a prey to his own gloomy mind. The consciousness that he had not met the re- quirements of the high vocation to which, ' when he was little in his own sight,' he had been called, together with the threatened loss of his dominion and the possible de- struction of his house, made him jealous, sanguinary, and irritable, and occasionally threw him into fits of the most profound and morbid melancholy. This is what, in the language of Scripture, is called ' tlie evil spirit that troubled him.' That it was not a case of demoniacal possession, as some have been led by this form of expression to suppose, is obvious from the effects to which we shall presently advert Nor was it needful ; for, as acting upon the cha- racter of man, earth contains not a more evil spirit than the guilty or troubled mind, abandoned to its own impulses. 21. 'David came to Saul.' — Thus, in the providence of God, an opening was made for David, whereby he might become acquainted with the manners of the court, the business of government, and the affairs and interests of the several tribes, and was put in the way of securing the equally important advantage of becoming extensively known to the people. These were training circumstances for the high destinies which awaited him. Saul himself, ignorant that in him he beheld the ' man worthier than himself on whom the inheritance of his throne was to devolve, contributed to these preparations. He received the youthful minstrel with favour ; and, won by his en- gaging dispositions, and by the beauties of his mind and per- son, not less than by the melody of his harp, became much attached to him. "The personal bravery of David, also, did not long remain unnoticed by the veteran hero, who soon elevated him to the honourable and confidential station of his armour-bearer — having obtained Jesse's consent to allow his son to remain in attendance upon him. His presence was a great solace and relief to Saul : for when- ever he fell into fits of melancholy, David played on his harp before him ; and its soft soothing strains soon calmed his troubled spirit, and brought peace to his soul. 23. ' Saul was refreshed and was well.' — That the pro- posal of employing a skilful musician emanated from the courtiers of Saul, evinces that the Jews were of opinion that music had much power in soothing mental disorders ; and from the instance of Elisha's preparing his mind by the notes of a minstrel for the prophetic inspiration (2 Kings iii. 15), we gather the opinion that was entertained of its influence over even sane minds. Every nation bears witness to the power of its ancient music ; and if the ac- counts left to us are to be credited, the ruder art of ancient times had some mysterious access to the heart and mind, which the more artistical combinations of modern musical art do not in the same degree possess. It may be, how- ever, that the power of the music lay more in the suscepti- bilities of the auditors than in the skill of the musicians. Dryden's fine Ode of Alexander's Feast is founded upon the notions of the power of music which the ancients enter- tained, and is scarcely an exaggerated representation of the effects they ascribed to it. They even assigned to it marked effects not only upon the mind, but, by sympathetic in- fluences, upon the body. Thus Aulus Gellius {Noctes At- ticce, ii. 13) says, ' It has been credited by many, and has been handed down to memory, that when the pains of sciatica are most severe, they will be assuaged by the soft notes of a flute-player. I have very lately read in a book of Theophrastus, that the melody of the flute, skilfully and deli- cately managed, has power to heal the bites of vipers. The same is related in a book of Democritus, which is entitled, " Of Plagues and Pestilential Disorders :" in this he says that the melody of flutes is a remedy for many human com- plaints. So great is the sympathy betwixt the bodies and the minds of men, and betwixt the maladies and remedies of mind and body.' Even the Chinese writers of every age, according to Grosier, aflirm that their ancient music could call down superior spirits from the etherial regions, raise up the manes of departed beings, inspire men with a love of virtue, and lead them to the practice of their duty. Chap. XVII.] [B.C. 1063. CHAPTER XVII. 1 The armies of the Israelites and Philistines being ready to battle, 4 Goliath conielh proudly forth to challenge a combat. 1 2 David, sent by his father to visit his brethren, takelh the challenge. 28 Etiab chideth him. 30 He is brought to Saul. 32 JJe sheweth the reason of his confidence. 38 Without armour, armed by faith, he slayeth the giant. 55 Saul taketh notice of David. Now the Philistines gathered together tlieir armies to hattle, and were gathered togetlier at Shochoh, which hehnrjeth to Judali, and pitched between Shochoh and Azekah, in 'Ephes-dammim. 2 And Said and the men of Israel were gathered together, and pitched by the valley of Elah, and ^set the battle in array against the Philistines. 3 And the Philistines stood on a mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on a moun- tain on the other side : and there was a valley between them. 4 H And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Go- liath, of Gath, whose height xcas six cubits and a span. 5 And lie had an helmet of brass upon his head, and he was "armed with a coat of mail ; and the weight of the coat icas five thousand shekels of brass. 6 And he had greaves of brass upon his legs, and a 'target of brass between his shoul- ders. 7 And the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam ; and his spear's head weighed six hundred shekels of iron : and one bearing a shield went before him. 8 And he stood and cried unto the armies of Israel, and said unto them. Why are ye come out to set your battle in array ? am not I a Philistine, and ye servants to Saul ? choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me. 9 If he be able to fight with me, and to kill me, then will we be your servants : but if 1 prevail against him, and kill him, then shall ye be our servants, and serve us. 10 And the Piiilistiue said, I defy the armies of Israel this day; give mc a man, that we may fight together. 11 When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed, and greatly afraid. 12 If Now David was 'the son of that Ephrathite of Beth-lehem-judah, whose name Or, the ciKM ofDammim. Heb. ranged the battle. tvas Jesse ; and he had eight sons : and the man went among them for an old man in the diiys of Saul. 13 And the three eldest sons of Jesse went a7id followed Saul to the battle : and the names of his three sons that went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, and next unto him Abinadab, and the third Shammah. 14 And David was the youngest : and the three eldest followed Saul. 1 5 But David went and returned from Saul to feed his father's sheep at Beth-lehem. 16 And the Philistine drew near morning and evening, and presented himself forty days. 17 And Jesse said unto David his son. Take now for thy brethren an ephah of this parched corn, and these ten loaves, and run to the camp to thy brethren ; 18 And carry these ten 'cheeses unto the 'captain of their thousand, and look how thy brethren fare, and take their pledge. 19 Now Saul, and they, and all the men of Israel, toei-e in the valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines. 20 H And David rose up early in the morn- ing, and left the sheep with a keeper, and took, and went, as Jesse had commanded him ; and he came to the "trench, as the host was going forth to the "fight, and shouted for the battle. 21 For Israel and the Philistines had put the battle in array, army against army. 22 And David left '"his carriage in the hand of the keeper of the carriage, and ran into the army, and came and "saluted his brethren. 23 And as he talked with them, behold, there came up the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, out of the armies of the Philistines, and s])akc according to the same words : and David heard t/wm. 24 And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled "from him, and were sore afraid. 25 And the men of Israel said, Have ye seen this man that is come up ? surely to defy Israel is he come up : and it shall be, that the man who killeth him, the king will enrich him with great riches, and "will give him his daughter, and make his father's house free in Israel. 26 And David spake to the men that stood by him, saying, AVhat shall be done to the man that killeth this Philistine, and taketh away the reproach from Israel? for who is a Hcb. chtlied. * Or, mrget. » Cliap. 16. I. I Or, place of tlie carriage. » Or, baltlearray, or, place ojjight. o/peacc. li Hcl). Aom liis face. '» Josh. li. 16. Chap. XVII.] [B.C. 1063. this unclrcumcisecl Philistiue, that he should defy the armies of the living God ? 27 And the people answered him after this manner, saying, So shall it be done to the man that killeth him. 28 ^ And Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spake unto the men ; and Eliab's anger was kindled against David, and he said. Why earnest thou down hither? and with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness ? I know thy pride, and the naughti- ness of thine heart ; for thou art come down that thou mightest see the battle. 29 And David said, What have I now done ? Is there not a cause ? 30 IT And he turned from him toward another, and spake after the same ' 'manner: and the people answered him again after the former manner. 31 And when the words were heard which David spake, they rehearsed them before Saul : and he '^sent for him. 32 1[ And David said to Saul, Let no man's heart fail because of him ; thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine. 33 And Saul said to David, Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him ; for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth. 34 And David said unto Saul, Thy ser- vant kept his father's sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a '"lamb out of the flock : 35 And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth : and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him. 36 Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear : and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God. 37 David said moreover. The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go, and the Lord be with thee. 38 H And Saul "armed David with his armour, and he put an helmet of brass upon his head ; also he armed him with a coat of mail. 39 And David girded his sword upon his armour, and he assayed to go ; for he had not proved it. And David said unto Saul, I cannot go with these ; for I have not proved them. And David put them off him. u Heb. KW/, IS Heb. too* Aim. 16 Or, *M. 40 And he took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of the ■"brook, and put them in a shepherd's '"bag which he had, even in a scrip ; and his sling was in his hand : and he drew near to the Philistine. 41 And the Philistine came on and drew near unto David ; and the man that bare the shield iceiit before him. 42 And when the Philistine looked about, and saw David, he disdained him : for he w as hut a youth, and ruddy, and of a fair coiui- tenance. 43 And the Philistine said unto David, Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with staves ? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44 And the Philistine said to David, Come to me, and I will give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the field. 45 Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield : but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. 46 This day will the Lord "deliver thee into mine hand ; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee ; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth ; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. 47 And all this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear : for the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hands. 48 And it came to pass, when the Philis- tine arose, and came and drew nigh to meet David, that David hasted, and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine. 49 And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead ; and he fell upon his face to the earth. 50 So ''David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and smote the Philistine, and slew him ; but there xoas no sword in the hand of David. 51 Therefore David ran, and stood upon the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out of the sheath thereof, and slew him, and cut off his head therewith. And when the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they fled. 17 Ileb. dolhed Dimd with h!s rht/ics. 18 Or, vallct/. Chap. XVII.] I. SAMUEL. [B.C. 10G3. 52 ^ And the men of Israel and of Judah arose, and shouted, and pursued the Philis- tines, until thou come to the valley, and to the gates of Ekron. And the wounded of the Philistines fell down by the way to Shaaraim, even unto Gath, and unto Ekron. 53 And the children of Israel returned from chasing after the Philistines, and they spoiled their tents. 54 IT And David took the head of the Philistine, and brought it to Jerusalem ; but he })ut his armour in his tent. 55 IF And when Saul saw David go forth against the Philistine, he said unto Abner, the captain of the host, Abner, whose son is this youth ? And Abner said, As thy soul liveth, O king, I cannot tell. 56 And the king said. Enquire thou whose son the stripling is. 57 And as David returned from the slaugh- ter of the Philistine, Abner took him, and brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand. 58 And Saul said to him, "Whose son art thou, thou young man ? And David answered, / a7n the son of thy servant Jesse the Beth- lehemite. Verse 1. ' Vie rhillstines gathered together their armies' — Twenty-seven years had now passed since the defeat which, at the beginning of Saul's reign, this war- like people had sustained at Michmash. During this long period they seem to have gradually recovered their strength, and now deem themselves in a condition to wipe out the disgrace their arras had then incurred, and to re- gain their previous superiority over the Israelites. — ' Shochoh .... Azehah .... Ephes-dammim.' — These three places were evidently at no great distance from each other, the Philistines being encamped at the last of them and betTveen the first two. Shochoh is mentioned, in Josh. XV. 35, among the towns of the tribe of Judah 'in the valley ;' that is, in the western plains of that tribe. Jerome says that in his time there were two small villages of this name, one on a mountain and the other on the plain, nine miles from Jerusalem, on the road to Eleu- theropolis. Dr. Robinson thinks he has discovered this site under the name of Shuweikeh ; but there is nothing beside the resemblance of name to rest upon, and that is scarcely sufficient to establish the identity of a site which is nearly twice as far from Jerusalem as the distance as- signed by Jerome. Azekah, in his days, was also a vil- lage on the same road. Ephes-dammim is evidently between these two. In 1 Chron. xi. 13, it is mentioned under the name of Pas-dammim. 2. ' Vallei/ of Elah: — Eluh means an oak or terebinth- tree : wherefore Jerome renders it ' the valley of the oak ;' and the Vulgate, 'the valley of the terebinth," or turpen- tine-tree. In the Targum, the valley is called Butma, which in the Arabic signifies a terebinth. Tradition identifies it with the Wady Beit Ilanina, a fine valley which commences in the neighbourhood of Kamah and takes a south-westerly course till it comes nearly parallel to Jerusalem, where it bends off westward and eventually opens into the great Wady Ismail. The point -which tra- dition fixes upon as the scene of the combat is that where the valley comes nearest to Jerusalem, and is about six miles from it on the west. The scene is appropriate and picturesque. ' We entered,' says Dr. E. D. Clarke, ' the famous tercbinthine vale, renowned fbr centuries as the field of the victory gained by David over the uncircum- cised Philistines. Nothing has occurred to alter the face of the country. The very brook out of which David chose the five smooth stones has been noticed by many a thirsty pilgrim journeying from Jaffa to Jerusalem, all of whom must pass it on their way. The remains of goodly edifices, indeed, attest the religious veneration entertained in later periods for this hallowed spot ; but even these have DOW become so insignificant that they are scarcely discernible, and nothing can be said to interrupt the na- tive dignity of this memorable scene.' Dr. Robinson has endeavoured to assign the transaction to another valley, much more to the south. But the grounds on which this conclusion is founded are peculiarly weak and unsatisfac- HO tory. It amounts to this : — having, as we apprehend, placed Shochoh too far south, he then finds that the tradi- tional valley of Elah has become too far distant north from his Shochoh (see the last note), and therefore fixes upon a valley more to the south and nearer to that Shochoh, in order to bring about the necessary approximation. 4. ' Whose height was six cubits and a span.' — See the note on Deut. iii. 11. 5. 'He had an helmet of brass vpon his head,' etc. — Here we have the first account of what we may call a complete suit of defensive armour, which naturally gives occasion to some remarks on the subject generally, and on the several parts of armour which we find here specified. Sir Samuel Meyrick says that body-armour had its origin in Asia. "The warlike tribes of Europe at first contemned all protection but their innate courage, and considered any other defence but the shield as a mark of effeminacy. He adds that all the European armour, ex- cept the plate, which was not introduced till the fourteenth century, was borrowed from the Asiatics. This is of im- portance, because it enlarges our range of illustration ; since, the ancient armour being borrowed from the East, its condition there is more distinctly illustrated by the information we possess concerning the derived armour of the ancient European nations. The notice of a suit of armour in the present text is the earliest on record, and, to those who feel interest in the matter, affords an import- ant indication of the period when armour had arrived at a state of some completeness, though it does not enable us to ascertain the period when its several parts were in- vented. It is evident that armour had at this time become not uncommon. Saul himself had armour composed of nearly the same articles as that of Goliath, the use of which he offered to David, who, being, from his youth and manner of life, unaccustomed to sucli warlike liarness, preferred to act without the defence it offered. This fact helps us to the conclusion that, as Saul was himself a giant, taller by the head and shoulders than any other Israelite, while David was but a stripling, his intention to make David wear his armour proves that the armour then in use was not so nicely adapted to the size or form of the person destined to wear it as we find it to have been in later times. Helmets. — Of all kinds of armour a strong defence for the head was unquestionably the most common, and perhaps the most early. The shield and helmet have in- deed formed the only defensive armour of some nations. When men began to feel the need of a defence for the head in war, they seemed in the first instance merely to have given a stronger make to the caps which they usually wore. Such caps were at first quilted or padded with wool, then they were formed of hard leather, and ultimately of metal, in which state they gradually acquired various ad- ditions and ornaments, sucli as embossed figures, ridges, crests of animal figures, horsehair, feathers, etc. ; and also Chap. XVII.] I. SAMUEL. QB.C. 1063. flaps to protect the neck and cheeks, and even visors to guard the face. Visors do not, however, appear to have been used bv the ancient Orientals. Of the Hebrew helmets (called V3i3 hoba, or yiip qoha) we only know that they were generally' of brass ; and that the helmet of the king was distinguished by its crown. It is, however, interesting to learn that metallic helmets were, so far as appears, exclusively in use among them. Homer's heroes have also, generally, helmets of brass. Whether the Hebrews had crests to their helmets or not, it is impossible to say distinctly. We do not think that tlie crest was a characteristic of Oriental helmets ; but as the royal helmet in Egypt had a crest— as the hel- mets of Asia Minor were sometimes crested— and as in the Trojan war a crested helmet was worn by the Trojans, and also, it would seem, by the Greeks— it is not unlikely that the crest was known to the Jews. Plumes we are not to expect ; they were not used in the most ancient periods, and but sparingly in later antiquity. Homer never mentions plumes, but often horsehair. So of Paris it is said : — ' He set his helmet on his graceful brows. Whose crest of horsehair nodded to his step In awful state.' In the combat which followed, Menelaus was dragging him along by this horsehair crest, when — ' The broider'd band. That under braced his helmet at the chin, Strain'd to his smooth neck with a ceaseless force. Choked him.' But, fortunately for him, this band, ' though stubborn, by a slaughter'd ox supplied,' snapped, leaving the said helmet only in the victor's hand. It seems that in these crests the ridge was covered with hair from the mane of the horse, while other and longer hair hung dependent from the extremity behind ; but the ridge often terminated in a horse-tail when its surface had other ornaments. Meyrick seems to think that the horsehair was sometimes gilt, and he also supposes this ornament was occasionally composed of wires of gold. As we do not know the exact form of the Hebrew helmet, we shall add a few remarks concerning those of the nations who either were their neighbours, or with whom they were connected, or to whom they were subject at the different periods of their history ; and whose hel- mets at such times they probably wore, or at least allowed the forms they exhibited to modify their own. They must certainly have been well acquainted with them. Egyptians. — The historians tell us that, among this people, only the kings and nobles wore helmets of metal ; the common soldiers wore caps of woollen or of linen strongly quilted. The decisive authority of the sculptures and paintings, however, intimates a much more general use of the caps than this information would suggest. They were probably preferred because, being thick and well padded, they afforded an excellent protection to the head, without the inconvenience attending the use of metal in so warm a climate. Our cut contains specimens of the Egyptian helmets : figs, c and e exhibit the more usual forms. The padded helmets are usually represented as of a red, green, or black colour. Phrygians. — The Phrygian bonnet in peace, and the helmet in war, formed the preva- lent head-dress of the inhabitants of Asia Minor, and in Meyrick's opinion the helmet is one of the most ancient, and the same which was worn by the Trojan heroes in Homer. Its general form will be seen in our wood-cut ; and the Chap. XVII.] 1. SAMUEL. [B.C. 1063. following particulars deserve attention, as they illustrate our preceding observations concerning the transmutation of a cap into a helnaet. Its principal characteristics were those of a cap with the point bent forward, and with long flaps descending to the shoulders. It sometimes appears as a mere cap of the most soft and pliable stuflf, unable to support itself, and hanging down in large wrinkles; at others it appears to have formed a helmet of the most hard and iutlexible substance — of leather, or even metal, standing quite stiff and smooth, and enriched with era- bossed ornaments. To many of these there are four flaps, which would appear to have been made from the leg-skins of the animals of whose hide the cap was originally formed ; but in the lighter caps there are only a single pair of flaps, which are often tucked up, and confined by a string around the cro^n. A flap of mail frequently de- scended from under the helmet to protect the neck and shoulders. The St/rians seem to have adopted, with some modification, the cylindrical helmet or cap of the Persians ; bat there is one, represented in our wood-cut, which is considered more peculiarly Syrian, and the resemblance of which to that of the modern Chinese is very great. They have alike a high ornamental spike at the top : that which terminates the Syrian one is a lily, which, accord- ing to Herodotus, was the ornament which the Assyrians bore on the tops of their walking-sticks. — The Assgriaiis had helmets of brass. The Medes and Persians. — As we are not stating minute distinctions, we may mention gene- rally that the helmets, or ' impenetrable caps' as Xenophon rather calls them, of the Medes and Persians, exhibit four principal forms in the accounts of ancient writers and in tlie sculptures of Persepolis : these are cylindrical, hemi- spherical, semi-oval, or conical. To these also applies the remark concerning the origin of the form of national helmets in that of national caps. The cylindrical cap and helmet must, however, be particularly regarded as a national characteristic of the ancient Persians, the other forms being too general to be assigned as a national dis- tinction. It is exhibited in the form of a cylinder of various height, with a somewhat wider diameter at top than at bottom, and resembling a hat without a brim- particularly such hats with broad crowns as were iu use a few years since. It is either plain, or fluted, or otherwise ornamented ; and we see it exhibited either simply, or in various combinations — sometimes as a diadem, often ra- diated at top, and variously embossed and ornamented, and encircling one of the round, semi-oval, or conical caps. This cylindrical cap or helmet became greatly difliised by the conquests of the Persians, and must have been well known to the Jews during the captivity, and while Palestine was a Persian province. Xenophon speaks of brazen helmets with white crests ; but no crests appear in the sculptures of the country. We need not particu- larly dwell on the helmets of the Greeks and Jlomans. These were, indeed, well known to the Jews in the later period of their history ; but much that might be said con- cerning them has been anticipated in our first observations. The Roman helmet was borrowed from the Greeks with slight modifications. Of the more elaborate Greek helmet our cut of a Greek warrior furnishes a very fine specimen, which will be better understood by the eye than by tech- nical description. It has three crests of horsehair from the mane, cut short and square, with a dependent tail. Some helmets had as many as five crests of this sort. The more common helmet of both the Greeks and Romans was merely a scull-cap without ridge or crest, but having at top a knob or button, and differing in no material re- spect from that of the mounted Dacian below, except that the latter has a spike instead of a knob. The helmets and caps of the figures in the cuts to Judges v. will very ma- terially assist in the illustration of the present note. — ' Coat of mail.' — When men had realized the means of protecting their heads by strong caps and helmets, they na- turally began soon to think of extending the same protection to other parts of the body. It would be absurd to suppose that every nation adhered to the same rule of progression ; but it may perhaps be stated as a general rule, with large variations, that the progressive kinds of armour were — 1 . The skins of various animals, and even, in some coun- tries, of birds and fishes. 2. Hides, mats, wood ; linen or woollen padded or folded; strong twisted linen. 3. Leather bordered with metal. 4. Entire plates of metal ; but, as these were heavy and inflexible, various contrivances were resorted to in order to obtain the security which metal gives, without its rigidity, and without all its weight. For this purpose, the leather was covered with square pieces of metal, riveted on ; or else, embossed pieces of metal were fastened on so as to protect the more vital parts of the body, and to serve at once for ornament and use. Sometimes also, the defence was formed of bands or hoops of metal, sliding over each other, and therefore yielding to the motions of the body. 5. We then come to what is properly mailed armour, by which a higher degree of flexibility was ob- tained than a metallic covering might be supposed capable of affording. This armour was of several kinds. Leather, linen, or woollen, was covered with rings or with scales. a, Egj-ptian ; 6, Phrygian Tlie rings were of various liinds and sizes, and variously disposed. Sometimes they were fixed independently of each other, as in the very fine specimen of Phrygian mail which our wood-cut exhibits : in other instances, the rings were twisted into each other, like the links of a chain ; and, in some cases, the rings were set edgewise, as shewn in the Egyptian hauberks (fig. a of the above cut"), which Denon copied from the walls of Carnac. and which afibrds the earliest known specimen of this kind of armour. A similar suit, most elaborately wrought, occurs among the Sassanian sculptures at Takht-i-Bostan in the figure of a mounted king, which is also remarkable for the curious mailed dress by which the front of the horse is protected. The ordinary coat of armour among the Egyptians, although the same general form, was less thick and cumbersome than this. Its external surface presented about eleven rows of horizontal metal plates ; and, when this cuirass had a collar, with another narrower row at the bottom of the throat, and above this two more completed the collar. The breadth of each plate or scale was about an inch, twelve of them sufficing to cover the front of the body : they were well secured by bronze pins. They are often without collars. Some of them have sleeves reaching nearly to the elbow, while others are without any. Many soldiers wore a quilted vest of the same form as the coat of armour, and intended as a substitute for it ; and some had corslets, reaching only from the waist to the upper part of the breast, and sup- ported by straps over the shoulder. Scale armour was that which obtained the desired results, by arranging small pieces of metal, cut into the shape of leaves, scales, etc., in such a manner that they fell over each other like the feathers of a bird, or the scales of a fish. Officer ; /, Do. Imperial. This kind of armour had grown into extensive use long before it was adopted by the Romans, who regarded it as a characteristic of barbarians — that is, of all nations except themselves and the Greeks. In the time of the emperors, they were, however, led to adopt it from the Dacians and the Sarmatians. This scaled armour was not, however, always of metal : for the last-named people had none such. They were without suitable metals, and therefore they collected the hoofs of horses, and, after purifying them, cut them into slices, and polished the pieces so as to resemble the scales of a dragon, or a pine-cone when green. These scales they sewed together with the sinews of horses and oxen ; and the body armour thus manufactured was, according to Pau- sanias, not inferior to that of the Greeks either in elegance or strength. The Emperor Domitian had, after this model, a cuirass of boars' hoofs stitched together ; and this, indeed, would seem better adapted to such armour than the hoofs of horses. With such armour as this of scales, or indeed that of rings, any part of the body might be covered ; and, accordingly, we see figures covered with a dress of scale, ring, or chain armour, from head to foot, and even mounted on horses which have the whole body, to the very hoofs, clad in the same manner. Of this, our cut of a Dacian warrior on horseback is a curious specimen. The con- struction of such mailed armour had been brought to a state of astonishing perfection. In some instances, parti- cularly in scale-armour, we see figures covered completely in suits fitted to the body with consummate accuracy, and displaying not only the shape of the wearer but even the muscular parts of the person ; that is to say, the armour was so flexible that it yielded readily to the pressure of the muscles and to the various motions of the body. Now 143 Chap. XVII.] I. SA Goliath's ' coat of mail ' was of scales ; and affords the most ancient specimen of scaled armour on record. That it was Euch, does not appear in our translation, which omits the descriptive epithet DB'i^b'fJ kaskassim, which is found in the text, and which is the same that, in the feminine plural, is employed in Lev. xi. 9, and Ezek. xxix. 4, to express the scales of a fish. Whether this kind of scaled armour was adopted by the Jews does not appear. We should think it very probable ; though it is certainly true that this is the only instance in which the word D'li'i^E'g is used in appli- cation to armour. Having thus indicated the various methods in which TTie thorax or breastplate. — There is no question that this was the most ancient piece of armour for the pro- tection of the upper portion of the body. When men began to extend to that the protection which the helmet had given to the head, a defence for the breast was naturally the first desired and attempted. This was the principal use of the tliorar, which for a long time continued to be, under various modifications of form, the sole body-armour of ancient na- tions ; and which, under further modifications, was used in addition to other pieces of armour, subsequently introduced. It probably originated with the Egyptians, among whom, according to Meyrick, it was the only body-armour ; a statement which is now known to be incorrect. It hung over the breast and shoulders, in the manner of a tippet ; and was made of linen, several times folded and quilted in such a manner as to resist the point of a weapon. These linen pectorals came into extensive use among the neigh- bouring nations ; and those of Egyptian manufacture were particularly valued. A linen thorax of this kind seems to have been worn in the Trojan war by the Lesser Ajax, who — ' With a guard Of linen texture light his breast secured.' Sir S. Meyrick thinks that the Persians were the first who gave a metallic character to the thorax ; and it is also his opinion that it was the principal piece of body-armour among the Hebrews. The Corslet, called by the Greeks milhree, was of various forms ; and composed, progressively, of the sundry mate- :UEL. HB.C. 1063. rials we have described. It was a sort of waistcoat, some- times consisting of two compact pieces, one covering the front and the other the back, and commonly fastened to each 'other at the sides. It was at first, whether compact or mailed, cut short round at the loins; as in the cut of the Greek warrior, which illustrates many of the details we are now giving. This is also seen in the figure of the outermost Roman soldier in the annexed cut for these short corslets continued to be worn by certain descriptions of warriors long after that more complete cuirass had been introduced, which followed the line of the abdomen ; and which, whether of leather or metal, was, as we see in the Roman cuirasses, hammered so as to fit exactly to the natural convexities and concavities of the body ; with the natural marks of which, as of the navel, etc., it was often impressed. Such cuirasses were some- times plain, but were often highly enriched with embossed figures, of common or precious metals, in wreatbings, borders, animal heads, and other figures. The Romans, in particular, affected the Gorgon's head on the breast, as an amulet. Tlie girdle. — This was of more importance with the thorax only, or with the short corslet, than with the cuirass which covered the abdomen. Its use is seen in the cut of the Greek warrior ; but it was often broader than it there appears. It was a part of their armour on which the an- cient warriors set high value. It was often richly orna- mented; and the gift of a warrior's girdle to another was a testimony of the highest consideration. Thus it is not for- gotten to state that Jonathan gave his girdle to David ; and we read in the Iliad (vii. 305), that when Hector and Ajax exchanged gifts, in testimony of friendship, after a hard combat together, the latter presented the former with his girdle ; it is often mentioned in Scripture ; and from its use in keeping the armour and clothes together, and in bearing the sword, as well as from its own defensive character, ' to gird ' and ' to ai-m ' are employed as synonymous terms. The Skirt or Kilt fell below the girdle, and with the short cuirass covered only the hips and top of the thighs, but with the long cuirass covered great part of the thighs. It was sometimes a simple skirt, but often formed a piece of armour, and frequently consisted of one or more rows of leathern straps, sometimes plated with metal and richly bordered or fringed. In many of the Roman cuirasses, par- Chap. XVII.] [B.C. IO60 .^"II>. GE£CIA.N Warhjor ticnlarly those of superior officers, the shoulders were pro- tected in a similar manner. The long cuirass which covered the person from the throat to the abdomen, and, by means of the skirt, to the thighs, may be said to combine the several parts we have described, except the girdle, as may be seen particularly in fig-/°f 'l"^ miscellaneous cat. They were in fact defensive tunics ; and having mentioned them above, we have only to repeat that they were, in different times and countries, com- posed of all the materials specified at the outset of this note. These several parts of armour when put on separately, or when united in such long cuirasses as this, together with helmet and greaves, left only the arms, the lower part of the thighs, and the face, miprotected— and not always the face, as some of the ancient helmets had visors. But some parts being exposed, a step further was made by investing the body from throat to heel in a complete dress of mail : this step, however, was never taken by the classical nations of antiquity, it being in their view the attribute of such ' barbarians ' as the Sarmatians, Dacians, and Parthians. We trust that this cursory statement will assist the general ideas of the reader when armour is spoken of in Scripture ; which is the more necessary, as, in the absence of any dis- tinct intimations concerning the Hebrew armour, we can only form our notions on the subject by considering the kinds of armour which were generally worn by ancient na- tions. It will be observed that tlie various words which occur in our version, as, ' coat of mail, brigandine, haber- geon, harness, breastplate ' (except that of the high-priest, which has a different word) are expressed by what is essen- tially the same word, in Hebrew, with such variations of orthography as occur in other instances. The most usual form of tins word is lint?* shirion. Sir S. Meyrick is of opinion that this always or generally means the thorax of which we have spoken, and which the Hebrews probably derived from Egypt. He thinks that, in remote times, it was attached to a short tunic, in the same way that the sacred breastplate was fastened upon the ephod. ' Beneath the pectoral were belts plated with brass or other metal, and the uppermost of them was bound upon the bottom of the tunic which connected the pectoral with the belts, and all of them together formed a tolerably perfect armour for the front of the whole body. These belt*,' called in Hebrew lijn chagor, 'were generally two, one above the other, and appear similar to those that are represented in ancient Greek sculpture, though in some degree higher up. This mode of arming properly explains the passage in Scripture where Ahab is said to have been smitten with an arrow D'pa'in 1"3 " between the openings " or " joints," that is, of the belti, inu'n I'^-l " and between the thorax" or " pec- toral." The pectorals of the Egyptians were made of linen and perhaps anciently those of the Jews were the same. In after times they seem to have been covered with plates of metal, and in the New Testament we meet with the words eiipaKO! (nSripois, or pectorals of iron (Rev. ix. 9). The military saiiuin or cloak is called in our translation a " ha- bergeon," but the original (K'inn) is of doubtful significa- tion, and occurs only twice (Exod. xxviii. .32 ; xxxix. 23). But of whatever kind the garment may have been, it had Chap. XVII.] [B.C. 10G3. an aperture at the upper part through which the head was passed when it was put ou the body. Strutt conjectures that it was the tunic upon which the thorax was put, and bore the same relation to the thorax that the ephod did to the sacred pectoral.' Meyrick is so high an authority on these subjects, that it is difficult to dissent from him ; but we think his statement too restrictive. So far from sup- posing that the Hebrew shirion means only the thorax, we are satisfied that it has a more extended signification, and implies, perhaps, as understood by our translators, almost any kind of body armour, being rather a general than a spe- cific term. Indeed, he himself states, incidentally, that the same word means a cuirass in the description of Goliath's armour. Doubtless the Hebrews did wear such armour as he describes ; but surely not such exclusively. We rather imagine that they were at different periods acquainted with most of the forms of defensive armour which we have noticed. Most of the same kinds of armour and arms assigned in the sacred text to Goliath still exist in the modern East. The annexed engraviuc, copied unaltered from Cassas, might seem as if intended to represent Goliath and his armour-bearer, though it really represents a man- at-arms and his attendant (or armour-bearer) in Egypt at the end of the last century. 6. ' Greaves of brass upon his legs' — These were a kind of boots, without feet, for the defence of the legs made either of bull's hide or of metal, generally brass or copper. The ancient greave usually terminated at the ancle, and rose in front nearly to the top of the knee. It was open behind, but the opposite edges at the open part, nearly met when the greave was buckled, buttoned, or tied to the leg. There were some kinds that did not reach so high as the knee. This piece of armour was useful not only in combat, but for the purpose of guarding the leg against the impe- diments, such as iron spikes, etc., which the enemy strewed in the way, as well as to enable the warrior to make his way more easily among thorns and briers. It appears from ancient sculptures that greaves with the open part in front, and defending the calf rather than the shin, were some- times in use. Sometimes a greave was worn on one lej^ only, and that was the left ; that leg, and indeed the left side generally, being advanced in action on account of the buckler, which was borne ou the left arm. Homer's heroes usually wore brass greaves : indeed the Greeks aie continually called ' brazen-greaved Achaians ;' whence some suppose that this defence was first, and for a time exclusively, used by that people. The instance before us shews the contrary ; and besides, greaves were worn by the Trojans as well as the Greeks. 10. ' Gireme a man, that we maijfight together.' — Single combats at the head of armies are of continual recurrence in the history and poems of ancient times; and in many of these instances it was a condition, as in the one before us, that the result of such a combat should determine the national quarrel. A remarkable example of this is the combat between Paris and Menelaus, as described by Homer ; to which, and other similar instances, we refrain from particularly adverting, in order to make room for the following striking illustration, drawn from the existing practices of the Bedouin Arabs, as described by Burckliardt {Notes on the Bedouins, p. 174): — 'When two hostile parties of Bedouin cavalry meet, and perceive from afar that they are equal in point of numbers, they halt opposite to each other, out of the reach of musket-shot ; and the battle begins by skirmishes between two men. A horse- ■ s party, exclaiming, " O horsemen, mo !" If the adversary for whom he calls be present, and not afraid to meet him in combat, he gallops forward; if absent, his friends reply that he is not amongst them. "The challenged horseman, in his turn, exclaims, " And you, upon the grey mare, who are you ?" The other answers, " I am * * * the son of * * *." Having thus become ac- quainted with each other, they begin to fight ; none of the bystanders join in the combat, to do so would be reckoned f-' Chap. XVII.] I. SAMUEL. [B.C. 10G3. a treachrrous action ; but if one of the combatants should turn back and fly towards his friends, the latter hasten to his assistance and drive back the pursuer, who is in turn protected by his friends. After several of these partial combats between the best men of both parties, the whole corps join iu promiscuous combat. . . . Should a horseman not be inclined to accept the challenge of an adversary, but choose to remain among the ranks of his friends, the chal- lenger laughs at him with taunts and reproaches, and makes it known as a boast during the rest of his life, that such a one * * * would not venture to meet such a one * * * in battle.' This process is precisely the same as prevailed in the ancient times of Arabia, and which is continually exhibited in the old heroic story of Antar. From thence it seems, however, that the challenger did not always call out the particular person whom he wished to combat ; but, like the Philistine, defied any one that would come against him. If the champion's reputation or appearance made any war- rior unwilling to come forward from the adverse party, he paraded before them, boasting in a loud voice of his own exploits, recapitulating the wrongs they had committed, heaping insults and abuse upon them, and perhaps declar- ing that he was the author of some particular act of revenge or cnielty, against their tribe or some of its most esteemed members. In the accounts of the numberless combats in which Antar and others were engaged, we generally find this last declaration the most effective in calling forth an adversary. When they stand before each other, they ge- nerally each make a speech, or rather recite extemporary verses, before they begin, full of vauntings, threatenings, and abusiveness, as before. A few short extracts from these speeches will shew the analogy between them and those of Goliath. Thus, in one of Antar's battles with the tribe of Fazarah, Hasseiu comes forward, and in his chal- lenge of Antar says, — ' O my mother, sleep and be satis- fied, and rejoice ; this day will I relieve my thirst with Antar. When thou seest the birds mangle his carcass under the dust, then extol and thank me. The slave ! This day I will leave him on the face of the earth, where he shall lie dead on the barren waste. I will make him taste thrusts from my spear-head, and I will smite him with my bright and imfailing scimitar. I will leave the beasts to run at him, and prowl around him on the wings of the turbid night I will wipe out my shame with the sword and spear ; and I will wreak my vengeance on the swarthy slave.' On a subsequent day of the same engagement, Antar himself, in responding to the challenge of Mocri-ul- wahsh, says, among other things, ' Hey ! 0 Mocri-ul-wahsh, return thee home before thou remainest embowelled : I will soon relieve the Arabs from thee ; and truly Maseeka (the beloved of the other) shall be my wife. I will plunder her property, and slay her father, and I will leave her abode a desert with my sword.' The other retorts with interest : ' Soon will I slay Antar with the sword of conquest, and I will leave him dead on the sand. I will seize Ibla (Antar's beloved), and return home, and she shall serve my wife as her mistress. I will take numerous camels, and will return rejoicing towards Maseeka. I am ever the warrior of warriors, and this day will I consum- mate my glory.' The terms of abuse and insult in these passages are quite gentle compared with others that might be cited. 12, 13.— 'Now David was the son of that Ephrathite,' etc. — We cannot refuse to avail ourselves of Ilorsley's excellent note on this much-disputed passage ; — ' These twenty verses are omitted in the Vatican copy of the ver- sion of the LXX. From this circumstance, corroborated in some degree by others in themselves of less weight. Dr. Kennicott condemns this whole passage of the history as an interpolation, and makes himself so sure of the con- clusion, as to suggest that, in the next revisal of our public translation, these twenty verses should be omitted. Uut I hope that whenever a revisal of our public translation shall be undertaken, the advice of this learned critic in this in- stance will not be followed. It appears, indeed, from many (ircumstances of the story, that David's combat with Goliath MS was many years prior in order of time to Saul's madness, and to David's introduction to him as a musician. First, David was quite a youth when he engaged Goliath {v. •33-42) ; when he was introduced to Saul as a musician he was of full age (xvi. 13). Secondly, his combat with Goliath was his first appearance in public life (v. 5fi) ; when he was introduced as a musician he was a man of established character (xvi. 18). Thirdly, his combat with Goliath was his first military exploit {v. 38, 39). He was a man of war when he was introduced as a musician (xvi. 18). He was unknown both to Saul and Abner at the time when he fought Goliath. He had not, therefore, yet been in the ofiice of Saul's armour-bearer, or resident in any capacity at the court. Now the just conclusion from these circumstances is, not that these twenty verses are an interpolation, but that the last ten verses of the pre- ceding chapter, which relate to Saul's madness and David's introduction to the court upon that occasion, are misplaced. The true place for these ten verses seems to be between the ninth and tenth of the eighteenth chapter. Let these ten verses be removed to that place, and this seventeenth chapter be connected immediately with the thirteenth verse of the sixteenth chapter, and the whole disorder and inconsistency that appears in the narrative in its pre- sent arrangement will be removed.* These reasons, and the arrangement founded on them, although adopted by recent commentators, are pronounced to be unsatisfactory by Dr. Davidson in his Sacred Htr- meneutics ; and he seems inclined to think that the true point of difficulty has been touched by Calmet, who sup- poses that either David's face, voice, and air, must have been changed since the time that he had played before Saul on the harp, or that during his gloomy insanity the king had acquired false ideas of David's person, or after his recovery had forgotten him. There is certainly much in this : and it is satisfactory to find that this, like most of the other alleged difiiculties of Scripture, disappears before careful inquiry and consideration, and by no means requires the desperate course, so often resorted to by some com- mentators, of cutting out the passages they are unable to understand. 25. 'Make hh Jatha's house free in /srae/.'— This is understood to mean that the family should be exempted from all the taxes, impositions, and services which were incumbent on the great body of the Israelites. 34. ' A lion and a bear came.' — Not both at once, but at different times. The context shews this ; and besides, the lion and the bear never seek prey together. Concerning lions, and the character of such an exploit as that of de- stroying one, see the notes on Judg. xiv. David applies the same narrative to each respectively. When he speaks of seizing by the beard, the expression can only apply — and that rather in a popular than literal sense — to the lion, not to the bear ; the word however rendered ' beard ' sometimes denotes the chin, that is, the part on which the beard grows ; so that the meaning is that David seized the lion by the beard, and the bear by the chin or lower jaw. There are several references to the bear in the Scriptures, which shew that it was rather common and dangerous in that country, and was particularly injurious to the flocks. This animal still occurs in different parts of Western Asia, but is nowhere common. It even con- tinues to be found in the mountains of Lebanon and in the wilderness bordering on Palestine ; but instances have now become exceedingly rare of a bear having been met with in the country itself Concerning the species, see the note and cut under 2 Sam. xvii. 8. The account which David gives clearly illnsfrates the danger attending pastoral occupations in times and countries where the beasts of prey have not altogether given place to man. The dangers of such occupations, and the courage and presence of mind which they required, account for the honourable character which they bore in the early history of nations. The proprietors of flocks and herds could not always feel safe, in intrusting so hazardous a charge to the zeal of hired servants, or even of slaves ; and hence it came to pass, that they frequently committed tlicm to the Chap. XVIII.] I. SAMUEL. [B.C. 10G.3. care of their sons ; and the sons even of the most consider- able persons were not thought above the performance of this duty. But when beasts of prey were extirpated in the progress of civilization, this employment, in ceasing to be dangerous, lost its honourable distinctions, and gradually sank to the level of other rural occupations. The manner in which David records his exploits shews, as we may readily suppose, that it is no common circum- stance for a shepherd to deliver his flock from a lion or a bear. Indeed, for even an armed man to slay a lion, was considered a memorable circumstance in the history of the most famous ancient heroes. We have often been reminded of this first exploit of David by the first feat of the Arabian hero Antar, which occurred while he also was tending his father's flocks. But there is this serious difference, that David ascribes the glory to God, while Antar exults in the prowess of his own arm. The story runs : ' He used to employ himself in tending the flocks, and as he conducted them, he wandered about the deserts and plains, and loved solitude and retirement One day he was thus wander ing over the deserts with the flocks, and when the sun was burning hot he left his people, and climbed up a tree and took shelter from the heat, whilst the flocks grazed and he watched them ; when lo ! a wolf started from behind the trees, and dispersed them. But Antar seeing how the ani- mal had dispersed the herds, he descended, and ran after him till he overtook him, and struck him with his staff; he made the oil of his brains fly out from between his ears, and slew him ; he then cut off his head and his legs, and returned growling like an angry lion He put the head and legs into his scrip ; and leaving the carcass, he returned to the flocks.' David's exploits were more heroic; but Antar is said at this time to have been only ten years of age. It is observable that this Arabian shepherd, like David, had a scrip with him, and also a staff, such, perhaps, as that which offended the giant, when he said, ' Am I a dog. that thou comest to me with a staff?' CHAPTER XVIII. 1 Jonathan lovelh David. 5 Saul etwieth his praise, 10 see/ieth to kill him in his fury, Mfeareth him for his good success, J 7 offereth him his daughter for a snare. 22 David persuaded to be the king's son in law, giveth two hundred foreskins of the Philistines for Michal's dowry. 28 Saul's hatred, and David's glory increaseth. And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. 2 And Saul took him that day, and would let him go no more home to his father's house. 3 Then Jonathan and David made a cove- nant, because he loved him as his own soul. 4 And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that loas upon him, and gave it to David, and his garments, even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle. 5 If And David went out whithersoever Saul sent him, and 'behaved himself wisely : and Saul set him over the men of war, and he was accepted in the sight of all the people, and also in the sight of Saul's servants. 6 H And it came to pass as they came, when David was returned from the slaughter of the ^Philistine, that the women came out of all cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet king Saul, with tabrets, with joy, and with ^instruments of music. 7 And the women answered one another as they played, and said, ^Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands. 8 And Saul was very wroth, and the saying "displeased him ; and he said. They have ascribed unto David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed but thousands : and icliat can he have more but the kingdom ? » Ot, prospered. 2 Or, Phitistines. 3 Heb. t/iree-^tr. y And Saul eyed David from that day and forward. 10 H And it came to pass on the morrow, that the evil spirit from God came upon Saul, and he prophesied in the midst of the house : and David played with his hand, as at other times : and tke7-e ivas a javelin in Saul's hand. 11 And Saul cast the javelin ; for he said, I will smite David even to the wall with it. And David avoided out of his presence twice. 12 H And Saul was afraid of David, because the Lord was with him, and was departed from Saul. 13 Therefore Saul removed him from him, and made him his captain over a thousand ; and he went out and came in before the people. 14 And David 'behaved himself wisely in all his ways ; and the Lord loas with him. 15 Wherefore when Saul saw that he behaved himself very wisely, he was afraid of him. 16 But all Israel and Judah loved David, because he went out and came in before them. 17 H And Saul said to David, Behold my elder daughter Merab, her will I give thee to wife : only be thou 'valiant for me, and fight the Lord's battles. For Saul said. Let not mine hand be upon him, but let the hand of the Philistines be upon him. 18 And David said unto Saul, Who am I ? and what is my life, or my father's family in Israel, that I should be son in law to the king? 19 But it came to pass at the time when Merab Saul's daughter should have been ■pd inslrimcnts. * Chap. 21. 11, and 29. 5. Ecclus. 47. G. Chap. XVIII.] CB.C. 1063. given to David, that she was given unto Adriel the Meliolathite to wife. 20 H And Miclial Saul's daughter loved David : and they told Saul, and the thing "pleased him. 21 And Saul said, I will give him her, that she may be a snare to him, and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him. Wherefore Saul said to David, Thou shalt this day be my son in law in the one of the twain. 22 IF And Saul commanded his servants, saying, Commune with David secretly, and say, Behold, the king hath delight in thee, and all his servants love thee : now therefore be the king's son in law. 23 And Saul's servants spake those words in the ears of David. And David said, Seemeth it to you a light tiling to be a king's son in law, seeing that I am a poor man, and lightly esteemed? 24 And tlie servants of Saul told him, saying, "On this manner spake David. 25 And Saul said, Thus shall ye say to David, The king desireth not any dowry, but 8 Ileb. wa$ right in his eyes, » Heb. According to lliese an hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to be avenged of the king's enemies. But Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines. 26 And when his servants told David these words, it pleased David well to be the king's son in law: and the days were not '"expired. 27 Wherefore David arose and went, he and his men, and slew of the Philistines two hundred men ; and David brought their fore- skins, and they gave them in full tale to the king, that he might be the king's son in law. And Saul gave him Michal his daughter to wife. 28 IT And Saul saw and knew that the Lord was with David, and tliat Michal Saul's daughter loved him. 2i} And Saul was yet the more afraid of David ; and Saul became David's enemy continually. 30 Then the princes of the Philistines went forth : and it came to pass, after ihey went forth, that David behaved himself more wisely than all the servants of Saul ; so that his name was much "set by. -ords. io ileh.fuljilled. It IMi. iirecims. Verse 3. ' Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, hecause he loved him as liis own soul.' — Such covenauts of fraternization are still known in the East. The most re- markable practice of the kind which has fallen under our notice is recorded in Ogilliy's Asia as a Persian custom. Although Ogilby's book (which is, we believe, a transla- tion from the Dutch compiler, Dr. Olfert Dapper) is of no authority in geography or natural history, the de- scriptions of usages are, for the most part, good and true ; and Irom its agreement with what we do know, we have no doubt of the accuracy of this particular statement: — 'The great families or tribes generally meet once a year, when they feast and make merry ; and if any one have a peculiar kindness for another, then he says. Come, let us be sworn brothers, and this is commonly performed Ijetween two : and because these brothers must have a father, they choose one whom they think fit, and taking him by the lappet of his coat, say, We make you our Babba, or father, which he dare not refuse. Tliese going to the Khaliph (who hath every one's family regis- tered), kiss his hand in token of their friendship ; and being set down in a register for that purpose, they lay themselves down one behind another on their bellies, first the father and next the brothers ; whereupon the Khaliph gives each of them three light blows with a stick on their backs, and at the first says Allah, that is, God ; at the second, Mahomet ; and at the third, Aaly ; which done, they, kissing the staff, sign and conclude the agreement of brotherly friendship, which they really keep, and are more faithful to one another than brothers, affirming that they shall meet sooner in Paradise than real brothers.' 4. ' Gave it to David.'— iii.'e the notes on Gen. xli. 42, and xlv. 22, where we have mentioned the Eastern method of doing persons honour by presenting them with robes. We have now to add, that the honour thus conferred be- comes infinitely more honourable when a king or prince bestows on the favoured person a dress or robe which has been worn by himself. This has always been the higlicst 150 and most coveted honour in the East, and is so at this day. In the book of Esther, the king of Persia, to confer on Mordecai the highest distinction which a subject could receive, directed him to be invested with the royal apparel ' which the king useth to wear ;' and, in the same country, the same usage remains unaltered. Mr. Morier relates a rather amusing illustration. When the Russian and Per- sian plenipotentiaries were concluding a treaty of peace in 1813, the former had the names of so many orders of knighthood after his own in the preamble, that the Per- sian ambassador, who had no such honours, ' at first was at a loss how to make himself equal in personal distinc- tions to the other negotiator ; but recollecting that, pre- vious to his departure, his sovereign had honoured him with a present of one of his own swords, and of a dagger set with precious stones, to wear which is a peculiar dis- tinction in Persia, and besides, had clothed him with one of his own shawl-robes, a distinction of still greater value, he therefore designated himself in the preamble of the treaty as endowed with the special gifts of the monarch, lord of the dagger set in jewels, of the sword adorned with gems, and of the shawl-coat already worn' {Second Joiirnet/, p. 299). This illustration is very complete, since it shews the distinction not only of wearing robes, but arms which had been used by the king ; and with both his arms and robes the king's son honours David in the instance before us. And when, as in the present case, a distinguished person takes his own robes or weapons immediately from his own person, and bestows them on another, it is impossible that a higher mark of consideration should be given, it being regarded not as a mark of favour only, but also of attachment. It is therefore a very rare honour ; as Oriental princes, however profuse in their bestowal of marks of consideration, are chary of giving indications of attach- ment It is therefore difficult to find instances of this rare favour. One occurs in D'Herbelofs Bibliothtquc Orientate, art. Mkdinah. He says, that when the sultan Chap. XVIII.] CB.C. 1063. Selim I. arrived at Aleppo, after he had defeated Cansou Gauri, the Mameluke sultan of Egypt, and assisted for the first time at public prayers in that city, the imaum con- cluded prayers with the words, — ' God preserve sultan Selim, the servant and minister of the holy cities of Mecca and Medinah.* The sultan was so pleased with this title that he took off his pelisse and gave it to the imaum. He assumed the phrase as one of his titles, and his successors have continued to bear it in their quality of sultans of Egypt. In Tavernier's Travels there is a striking history of a lad whom the great Shah Abbas, when out hunting in the mountains, found playing on a pipe as he tended a flock of goats. Struck by the intelligence of his answers, the king took him under his protection, and after employing him in various capacities, ultimately made him nazar, or lord- steward of the household. When the king died, the ear of his successor was poisoned with insinuations against the integrity of the nazar, as if he had enriched himself at the expense of the treasures intrusted to him. But, on opening the room in which the nazar's dishonest wealth was supposed to be deposited, nothing was found but his shepherd's weeds and sheep-hook, his pipe, his water- bottle, and the scrip in which he used to put his victuals — all hung up against the wall. The nazar, observing the king's astonishment, said, ' When the great Shah Abbas found me in the mountains, keeping goats, these were all my possessions ; and he took nothing from me. All else, called mine, I owe to his and your bounty, and you may justly reclaim it; but allow me to retain that which be- longs to my original condition, to which I shall now cheerfully return, since I no longer enjoy your confi- dence.' The king, touched with admiration and remorse, instantly caused himself to be disarrayed of his outer robes, and gave them to the nazar ; ' which,' as Tavernier remarks, 'is the greatest honour that a king of Persia can bestow upon a subject.' This little anecdote illus- trates several points in the early history of David. 6. ' The women came out of all cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet king Saul.' — ' All the large cities of Hindostan contain sets of musicians and dancing-girls, under the care of their respective duennas, who are always ready to attend for hire at weddmgs and other festivities, or to finish the evening entertainment of the Europeans and natives; and many of them accompany the Asiatic armies to the field. ' The singing-men and singing-women, mentioned by the aged Barzillai, and the daughters of music that we read of in the sacred pages, as well as in the ancient poets, resembled these characters in Hindostan. The women of Israel came out to meet David and Saul, dancing to instruments of music. The characters of Palestine re- sembled those of India, who now celebrate a prince or general in the same manner at a public festival.'— Forbes' Oriental Memoirs. In point of fact, the illustrative customs which Forbes describes as existing in Hindostan, prevail throughout the East, from the shores of the Mediterranean to those of the Yellow Sea. We know with certainty that there were professed musicians, singers, and dancers among the Hebrews, as now in the East; but in the present in- stance, it is clear to us that the praises of David were chanted by the unbonght voices of the ' daughters of Israel' themselves. (See the note on Exod. xv. 20.) 8. ' What can he have more but the kingdom ? ' — From this it would seem that the preference given by the women to David over Saul on this occasion, first suggested to the king the possibility that the son of Jesse was the man worthier than himself, who was destined to succeed him and to supersede his descendants ; and the notion having once occurred, he probably made such inquiries as enabled him to conclude or to discover that such was the fact. The knowledge of it appears soon after ; and we know that from this time forward David became the object, not merely of his envy and jealousy, but of his hatred and dislike. Yet he was afraid, if he as yet wished, to do him any open injury ; but as he could not bear him any longer in his former close attendance about his person, he threw him more into the public service, intrusting to him the command of a thousand men. From his subsequent ex- pressions and conduct, it seems likely that the king 151 Chap. XIX.] [B.C. 10C3, 10G2. expected that the inexperience of youth might lead Da- vid into such errors in this responsible public station as would cither give him occasion to act against him, or would seriously damage his character with the people. Hut if such were his views, they were grievously disap- pointed. In his public station ' David behaved wisely in all his ways, for Jehovah was with him ;' and the oppor- tunity which was given him only served to evince his talents for business and his attention to it ; and, conse- quently, to increase and establish that popularity among the people which his character and exploits had already won. 25. ' Saul thought to make David fall hj the hand of the rhilistines.'— The father, as we have already shewn, ex- pecting the customary consideration for parting with his daughter, an opportunity is afforded him of getting rid of an obnoxious person by proposing that the price of the girl's hand shall consist in the results of some difficult and dangerous undertaking, in which there is every pro- bability that the adventurer will perish. Instances of this meet us continually in the poems and romances of the East ; and are frequent in sach of our own as refer to the ages and describe the manners of chivalry. The Bedouin story of Antar — that most perfect picture of early Oriental manners— affords several illustrations of tliis practice. In one of these a plot is laid between Antar's rival and the father of his beloved Ibla for his destruction. It is pro- posed by the former, who thus states it to the father, by whom Antar is bitterly hated, and who eagerly adopts the expedient suggested. ' Pretend to be good friends with Antar; appear very kind to hint, and do not prevent his entering your tents. Soothe him with gentle words, and when he comes to you, ask him about the dower of Ibla : then he will say, " What do you wish?" tell him you only desire a thousand Asafeer camels (a particular spe- cies of camel, much valued for riding), that your daughter may pride herself in them above the high and low. Know then, Malik, that these camels are in the possession of Monzar, son of Massema, the king of the Arabs, and the lieutenant of Nushirvan ; and I know that Antar, in the greatness of his courage, will go in search of them among the tribe of Shiban, and he will expose his life to danger and death, and you will never see him again.' Antar, like David, readily undertook the dangerous service ; and, like him, succeeded in the enterprise which was designed to ensure his destriu;tion. CHAPTER XIX. 1 Jonathan disclofeth his father's purpose to kill David. 4 He persuadet/i his father to reconciliation. 8 By reason of David's good success in a new war, Said 's malicious rage breaheth out against him. 1 2 Michal deceiveth her father with an image in David's bed. 18 David cometh to Samuel in Naioth. 20 SauUs messengers, sent to take David, 22 and Saul himself. And Saul spake to Jonathan his son, and to all his servants, that they should kill David. 2 But Jonathan Saul's son delighted much in David : and Jonathan told David, saying, Saul my father seeketh to kill thee : now therefore, I pray thee, take heed to thyself until the morning, and abide in a secret place, and hide thyself : 3 And I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where thou art, and I will commune with my father of thee ; and what I sec, tliat I will tcHl thee. 4 II And Jonathan spake good of David unto Saul his father, and said unto him. Let not the king sin against his servant, against David ; because he hath not sinned against thee, and because his worlds have been to thee- ward very good : 5 For he did put liis 'lifp in lii.s hand, and slew the Philistine, and the Loud wrouglit a great salvation for all Israel : thou sawest it, and didst rejoice : wherefore then wilt thou sin against innocent blood, to slay David without a cause ? 6 And Saul hearkened unto the voice of Jonathan : and Saul sware, As the Lord livcth, he shall not be slain. 1 .ludijos 0. \1, and 12. 3. Chap. 28. 21. I'sal. 119. 109. 7 And Jonathan called David, and Jona- than shewed him all those things. And Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence, as ''in times past. 8 H And there was war again : and David went out, and fought with the Philistines, and slew them with a great slaughter ; and they fled from ^him. 9 And the evil spirit from the Lord was upon Saul, as he sat in his house witii his javelin in his hand : and David played with his hand. 10 And Saul sought to smite David even to the wall with the javelin ; but he slipped away out of Saul's jiresenco, and he smote the javelin into the wall : and David fled, and escaped that night. 11 U Saul also sent messengers unto David's house, to watch him, and to slay him in the morning : and Michal David's wife told him, saying. If th(m save not thy life to night, to morrow thou shalt be slain. ] 2 If So Michal let David down through a window : and he went, and Hod, and es- caped. 13 And Michal took an image, and laid it in the bed, and put a pillow of goats' liair for his bolster, and covered it with a cloth. 14 And when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, lie is sick. 15 And Saul sent the messengers again to see David, saying, Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may slay him. IG And when the messengers were come in, behold, there was an image in the bed, with a pillow of goats' liair for his bolster. ^llvh. ycitcrdn;/ third day. 3 \lc\i. bis face. Chap. XIX.] [B.C. 1063, 1062. 17 And Saul said unto Miclial, Why hast thou deceived me so, and sent away mine enemy, that he is escaped? And Michal answered Saul, He said unto me, Let me go ; wliy should I kill thee ? 18 IT So David fled, and escaped, and came to Samuel to Ramah, and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and dwelt in Naioth. 19 And it was told Saul, saying. Behold, David is at Naioth in Ramah. 20 And Saul sent messengers to take David : and when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, and Samuel stand- ing as appointed over them, the Spirit of God was upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied. 21 And when it was told Saul, he sent other messengers, and they prophesied like- wise. And Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they prophesied also. 22 Then went he also to Ramah, and came to a great well that is in Sechu : and he asked and said. Where are Samuel and David ? And o?ie said, Behold, t/ici/ be at Naioth in Ramah. 23 If And he went thither to Naioth in Ramah : and the Spirit of God was upon him also, and he went on, and prophesied, until he came to Naioth in Ramah. 24 And he stripped off his clothes also, and prophesied before Samuel in like manner, and iay down naked all that day and all that night. Wherefore they say, ^Is Saul also among the prophets ? Verse 12. ' Michal let down David through a window.' — Perhaps iu a basket, like Paul (Acts ix. 25). The en- graving will give some idea of the mode in which this was probably effected 13. 'Michal took an image,' etc. — In the original this is a teraphim; and the intention, in placing it in the bed, was evidently to make an appearance as if a human being were lying there. Of teraphim we have already written under Gen. xxxi. 19. As these images appear to have been objectionable, it has occasioned some surprise that so pious a man as David allowed any to remain in his house. In fact, it is difficult to understand distinctly what the ideas connected with these images were; and it is very probable that the term was applied to different kinds of images, some of which were less objectionable than others. Abarbanel and other Kabbins specify dif- ferent sorts of teraphim, besides those used idolatrously. They say that one sort was a kind of talisman, designed to draw down the favourable influences of the heavenly bodies ; another served as a sort of dial, to make known the time of the day ; and a third was iu the similitude of some living person, and women had such figures of their husbands that they might have their presence, as it were, continually with them. The last of these explanations is exceedingly doubtful. We cannot help thinking that there was something wrong in these teraphim, and that they formed a superstition to which women seem to have been particularly addicted. We need not blame David, however. The image was not produced till he had left the place; and very probably he knew not that there was such a thing in the house. It must be constantly recol- lected that men and women live in separate tenements, and are not much in each other's company ; so that a hus- band has very little cognizance of what is kept or done in the haram. And, whatever may have been the ease in David's time, it is certainly true now, that one who re- ceives a king's daughter for his wife is very differently circumstanced from all other husbands. The princess assumes the entire control of the domestic establishment; in which the husband is seldom considered in much other light than that of a favoured (and not always favoured) upper servant. He is usually most submissive to her; and rarely ventures on the smallest exertion of that autho- rity which commonly belongs to htisbands in the East. — ' Put a pillow ojf goats' hair/or his bolster, and covered it with a cloth.'— It inust be observed, however, that the word hair is not in the original, and that the word ren- dered ' pillow ' ("1*33 kebir) is subject to various interpre- tations. The Septuagint and Josephus say that it was a govt's liver ; the use of which, as explained by the latter, was, that the liver of a goat had the property of motion for some time after being taken from the animal, and therefore gave a motion to the bed-clothes, which was necessary to convey the impression that a living person lay in the bed. But the Targum says it was a goat-skin bottle : if so, it was probably intlated with air — a fact which would impair any claims to originality which the recent invention of air-pillows may have established. Others think that the goats' hair was put about the head of the image, to look like human hair ; and, lastly, some suppose that the article in question was a net or curtain of Chap. XX.] I. SA! goats' hair, used, as a mosquito-curtain, for the purpose of keeping away troublesome insects. Harmer traces an in- genious traiu of reasoning which led him to conceive that this ' pillow of goats' hair' was a mosquito-net or curtain of that material. His philological reasoning, indeed, somewhat halts ; but as the idea has been adopted by some recent translators, and incorporated in their versions, it is worth while to state that his principal objection rests on the improbability of goats' hair being used for the bed of a sick man. This we cannot see. We have ourselves mattresses and pillows too of horsehair, with which also we stuff our sofas aud easy chairs ; and there seems no reason why goats' hair might not in the time of Saul have been used to stuff a pillow. The ancient pillows were usually very hard, and the use of one of goats' hair, or perhaps oi any pillow, was probably regarded as a sort of effeminacy, unsuited to any but women and sick persons ; aud the use of it in the bed of one of such hardy habits as David would therefore alone suggest and corroborate the idea of his illness. The head of the image being thus placed upon the bolster, Michal would draw over it the top of the bed covering, which would not only lessen the chances of detection, but increase the illusion, it being customary in the East for people to sleep with their heads under the covering, Those who prefer Harmer's inter- pretation are, however, not probably wrong in assuming that curtains or nets to keep off the gnats may have been in use in the time of David, for we know from Herodotus that they existed very anciently in Egypt. 15. ' Brbirj him up to me in the bed.' — It will be recol- lected that the beds commonly in use were probably, as DOW, merely a padded quilt, doubled, for a mattress, and another, single, for a covering. There cannot, therefore, be a more convenient way of transporting a sick person than to wrap him up in his bed and carry him away. In fact, this is the way in which we liave usually seen sick persons, in Western Asia, carried from one place to another, when circumstances rendered it necessary to remove them. UEL. [B.C. 1062. This also explains how it happened that the sick were brought to Christ in their beds, to be healed. 24. ' Lai/ down nahed all that day.' — Reland has an ex- cellent note on this subject, which we cannot refrain from quoting, with slight alteration, as given by Whistou iu his translation of Josephus. 'The word naked does not al- ways signify entirely naked; but sometimes means with- out men's usual armour, or without their usual robes or upper garments ; as when Virgil bids the husbandmen plough naked and sow naked. And we are thus to un- derstand when Josephus fays that God had given the Jews the security of armour when they were naked ; and when he says that Ahab fell upon the Syrians when Ihey were ?iaked and drunk ; when he says that Nehemiah com- manded those Jews who were building the walls of Jeru- salem to take care and have their armour on upon occasion, that the enemy might not fall upon them naked. I may add that the case seems to be the same in Scripture, when it says that Saul lay down naked among the prophets (1 Sam. xix. 24) ; when it says that Isaiah walked naked and barefoot (Isa. xx. 2, 3) ; and when it says that Peter, before he girt on his fisher's coat, was naked (John xxi. 7). Nor were the yvfxinjTesy or naked soldiers, others than those levis armalura, who were free from the heavy ar- mour of the rest. And the like may be supposed in several other places. What is said also of David gives light to this ; who was reproached by Michal for having shame- fully uncovered himself while dancing before the ark ; whereas it appears by the context that he had at that time been covered with a linen ephod, propably such as the Levites wore.' We are therefore to understand that, in the present instance, and also in that of David, the king put aside the outer robes and arms, by which his dignity was, perhaps, more particularly distinguished, and ap- peared in the light under-dress which, as now worn in the East, is complete in itself, although, from fitting closer to the body than the loose outer robes, it certainly does suggest the idea of comparative nakedness. CHAPTER XX. 1 David consuUeth with Jonathan for his safety. 1 1 Jonathan and David renew their covenant by oath. 18 Jonathan's token to David. 24 Saul, missing David, seeheth to kill Jonathan. 35 Jonathan loviiKjly taketh his leave of David. And David fled from Naioth in Ramah, and came and said before Jonathan, AVhat liave I done ? what is mine iniquity ? and what is my sin before thy father, that he seeketh my life ? 2 And he said unto him, God forbid ; thou shalt not die : behold, my father will do nothing either gi-eat or small, but that he will 'shew it me : and why should my father hide this thing from me ? it is not so. 3 And David sware moreover, and said. Thy father certainly knowcth that I have found grace in thine eyes ; and he saith. Let not Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved : but truly as the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, there is but a step between me and death. 4 Then said Jonathan unto David, "What- soever thy soul 'desireth, I will even do // for thee. 5 And David said unto Jonathan, Behold, to morrow is the new moon, and I should not fail to sit with the king at meat : hut let me go, that I may hide myself in the field unto the third clay at even. 6 If thy father at all miss mc, then say, David earnestly asked leave of me that he might run to Beth-lehem his city : for there is a yearly 'sacrifice there for all the family. 7 If he say thus, Jt is well ; thy servant shall have peace : but if he be very wroth, then be sure that evil is determined by him. 8 Therefore thou shalt deal kindly with thy servant ; for 'thou hast brought thy servant into a covenant of the Loud with thee : not- withstanding, if there be in me iniquity, slay me thyself ; for why shouldest thou bring me to thy father ? 9 And Jonathan said, Far be it from thee : for if I knew certainly that evil were deter- mined by my father to come upon thee, then would not I tell it thee ? ! ear. ' Or, Sai/ t ithyv » Cha Chap. XX.] I. SAT 10 Then said David to Jonathan, Who shall tell me ? or what if thy father answer thee roughly ? 11 II And Jonathan said unto David, Come, and let us go out into the field. And they went out both of them into the field. 12 And Jonathan said unto David, O Lord God of Israel, when I have "sounded my father about to morrow any time, or the third dai/, and, behold, if titer e ie good toward David, and I then send not unto thee, and 'shew it thee ; 13 The Lord do so and much more to Jonathan : but if it please my father to do thee evil, then I will shew it thee, and send thee away, that thou mayest go in peace : and the Lord be with thee, as he hath been with my father. 14 And thou shalt not only while yet I live shew me the kindness of the Lord, that I die not : 15 Bat also thou shalt not cut off thy kind- ness from my house for ever : no, not when the Lord hath cut off the enemies of David every one from the face of the earth. 16 So Jonathan "made a covenant with the house of David, saying, Let the Lord even require it at the hand of David's enemies. 17 And Jonathan caused David to swear again, 'because he loved him : for he loved him as he loved his own sold. 18 IT Then Jonathan said to David, To morrow is the new moon : and thou shalt be missed, because thy seat will be '"empty. 19 And when thou hast stayed three days, then thou shalt go down " '"quickly, and come to the place where thou didst hide thyself "when the business was in hand, and shalt remain by the stone "Ezel. 20 And I will shoot three arrows on the side thereof, as though I shot at a mark. 21 And, behold, I will send a lad, saying. Go, find out the arrows. If I expressly say unto the lad, Behold, the arrows are on this side of thee, take them ; then come thou : for tliere is peace to thee, and '^lo hurt; as the Lord liveth. 22 But if I say thus unto the young man. Behold, the arrows are beyond thee ; go thy way : for the Lord hath sent thee away. 23 And as touching the matter which thou and I have spoken of, behold, the Lord be between thee and me for ever. 24 H So David hid himself in the field : « Uel>. searched. 1 Heb. tincotier thine ear. 8 Heh II Or, d)ttgfntly. 12 Heh. grenthf. 13 lie 15 Hel). nut any thing. l« Or, Thou perverse rebel. \7 Ueb. Son I'/ie JEL. [B.C. 10G2. and when the new moon was come, the king sat him down to eat meat. 25 And the king sat upon his seat, as at other times, even upon a seat by the wall : and Jonathan arose, and Abner sat by Saul's side, and David's place was empty. 26 Nevertheless Saul spake not any thing that day : for he thought. Something hath befallen him, he is not clean ; surely he is not clean. 27 And it came to pass on the morrow, which was the second dag of the month, that David's place was empty : and Saul said unto Jonathan his son, Wherefore cometh not the son of Jesse to meat, neither yesterday, nor to day? 28 And Jonathan answered Saul, David earnestly asked leave of me to go to Beth- lehem : 29 And he said. Let me go, I pray thee ; for our family hath a sacrifice in the city ; and my brother, he hath commanded me to be there : and now, if I have found favour in thine eyes, let me get away, I pray thee, and see my brethren. Therefore he cometh not unto the king's table. 30 Then Saul's anger was kindled against Jonathan, and he said unto him, " "Thou son of the perverse rebellious icoman, do not I know that thou hast chosen the son of Jesse to thine own confusion, and unto the confusion of thy mother's nakedness ? 31 For as long as the son of Jesse liveth upon the ground, thou shalt not be established, nor thy kingdom. Wherefore now send and fetch him unto me, for he '"shall surely die. 32 And Jonathan answered Saul his father, and said unto him. Wherefore shall he be slain ? what hath he done ? 33 And Saul cast a javelin at him to smite him : whereby Jonathan knew that it was determined of his father to slay David. 34 So Jonathan arose from the table in fierce anger, and did eat no meat the second day of the month : for he was grieved for David, because his father had done him shame. 35 IT And it came to pass in the morning, that Jonathan went out into the field at the time appointed with David, and a little lad with him. 36 And he said unto his lad. Run, find out now the arrows which I shoot. And as the lad ran, he shot an arrow "beyond him. 37 And when the lad was come to the "se rebeilio. Or, hg his love towards hit 10 Heb. mil Or, that sheweth the i i. 19 Heb. to pass ov{ 155 Tia, Chap. XX.] I. SA place of the arrow wliich Jonathan had shot, Jonathan cried after tlie lad, and said. Is not the arrow beyond thee ? 38 And Jonathan cried after the lad, Make speed, haste, stay not. And Jonathan's lad gathered uj) the arrows, and came to his master. 3d But the lad knew not any thing : only Jonathan and David knew the matter. 40 And Jonathan gave his ""artillery unto "his lad, and said unto him. Go, carry them to the city. 41 H ^nd as soon as the lad was gone. UEL. [B.C. 1062. David arose out of a place toward the south, and fell on his face to the ground, and bowed himself three times : and they kissed one another, and wept one with another, until David exceeded. 42 And Jonathan said to David, Go in peace, '"^forasmuch as we have sworn both of us in the name of the Loud, saying. The Loud be between me and thee, and between my seed and thy seed for ever. And he arose and departed : and Jonathan went into the city. Verse 5. ' Tu-morrow is the new moon, and I shouhi not full to sit with the king at meat.' — See the note on Num. xxviii. 11. The commencement of the new month or moon ■was celebrated by extraordinary sacrifices and feasting, at which, it seems, the head of a family expected all its mem- bers to be present. It seems that David did not ordinarily take meat with the king ; but on such occasions he was ex- pected to be present — probably as being the king's son-in- law. Some of the Rabbins say that the principal persons of the court dined with the king on this occasion. In either case, David might be expected to attend ; but the text does not indicate the presence of any persons not of the king's family. 12. 'About to-morrow any time, or the third day.' — Rather, ' The morrow of the third day,' that is, the day after to-morrow. 1 S. ' Thou shnlt he missed, because thy seat will be empty —' Thy place has long been empty among thy friends or simply, ' thy place has been empty,' or—' has long been empty :'---are common expressions of compliment among the Persians, addressed to one who is again seen itter either a long absence, or after such short absences as occur in the common course of life. The late king of Pcrsn, for instance, used the expression as a gracious compliment to Sir John Malcolm, at his first audience on his second embassy. One who returns from a journey, or who joins a circle of acquaintance whom he has not seen withm the usual number of weeks or days, is greeted with tlie same phrase of compliment. 19. * The stone £rf/,'— literally, 'the stone of the way, or ' th^ way stone :' because, says the annotator m th" Bible of 1 595, ' it served as a sign to shew the way to thtm that passed by.' This seems likely, and then it appears to point out a very early origin of mile-stones, or direction posts. 25. ' TTie king sat upon his seat, •••hy the wall — From the account of the manner in which the principal persons were placed at Saul's table, and that they all had an assign d place, David's seat being empty in his absence, it 1s t^ i dent that Saul had hy this time introduced considerable stit and ceremony into his court. The expression — Jonatl > arose,' has been thought by some to imply that Jonatb i stood during the meal ; but others suppose he arose on tl entrance of his father, from respect, and then sat dow n again. Josephus says that Jonathan sat on one side of Saul, and Abner on the other, and the same view is taken by the Syriac version. By Saul's being seated 'next the wall,' it would seem that he sat in the corner, which, with other circumstances, goes to shew that the comer at the top of the room, was anciently, as now, the seat of honour in the East — that is, the left hand corner, which places the left arm to the wall, and leaves the right arm free 26. ' He is not clean.' — Saul conjectured that Divid s nttendance was precluded by some ceremonial defikment, from which he had not purified himself. 15G 30. ' Thou son of the perverse rebellinus woman.' — In abusing another it is still customary in the East to apply disgraceful epithets to the mother of tlie abused person. There is no intention to stigmatize the mother personally. She may be wholly unknown to those who employ such expressions, and no one thinks /icr injured by them; but they are in the highest degree offensive to her son. When one person is offended with another, or when two persons quarrel, it is, indeed, the last and most venomous mode of attack for the parties to apply every intemperate epithet to their respective mothers, wives, and daughters — to charge them with offences, and to threaten what shameful thing they will do or would do to them. But the mother is in all these cases the most general and favourite object of this revolting form of abuse ; and so prevalent is this habit, that not only will a father like Saul use such expres'^ious in abusing his son but even brothers in their quarrels with each other will in the sime way and for tlie purposes of mutual offence apply the same expressions to the mother whom both of them resptct and love Similar forms of reflected abuse — harmless to the object from which tli y Chap. XXL] I. SAl are reflected — are not unknown in this country, and, so far as they go, are quite analogous to those employed in the lOast. The father, also, is sometimes, though not so often, the object to whom contumelious epithets are applied for the sake of annoying the son. Even Antar, who deeply respected his father and loved his mother, does not scruple on occasion to call his own brother ' base born,' and ' the son of a dog.' UEL. [B.C.I 0G2. 33. ' Haul cast a javelin,' etc. — This act strongly illus- trates the state of temper to which the unhappy king was by this time reduced, and the strength of those paroxysms of passion to which his diseased mind had rendered him so liable. Javelins have been noticed under Judg. v. 8 ; and the act of throwing one is illustrated by the cut now intro- duced. CHAPTER XXI. 1 David at Nob obtaineth of Ahimelech hallowed bread. 7 Doeg was present. 8 David taketh Goliath's sivord. 10 David at Gath feigneth him- self mad. Then came David to Nob to Aliimelecli the priest : and Ahimelech was afraid at the meeting of David, and said unto him, Why art thou alone, and no man with thee ? 2 And David said unto Ahimelech the priest, The king hath commanded me a business, and hath said unto me. Let no man know any thing of the business whereabout I send thee, and what I have commanded thee : and I have appointed my servants to such and such a place. 3 Now therefore what is under thine hand ? give me five loaves of bread in mine hand, or what there is 'present. 4 And the priest answered David, and said, There is no common bread under mine hand, but there is 'hallowed bread; if the young men have kept themselves at least from women. 5 And David answered the priest, and said unto him. Of a truth women have been kept from us about these three days, since I came out, and the vessels of the young men are holy, and the bread is in a manner common, "yea, though it were sanctified this day in the vessel. 6 So the priest gave him hallowed bread : for there was no bread there but the shew- bread, that was taken from before the Lord, to put hot bread in the day when it was taken away. 7 Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the Lord ; and his name teas Doeg, an Edomite, the chiefest of the herdmen that belonr/ed to Saul. 8 H And David said unto Ahimelech, And is there not here under thine hand spear or sword ? for I have neither brought my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king's business required haste. 9 And the priest said. The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom thou slewest in the 'valley of Elah, behold, it is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod : if thou wilt take that, take it : for there is no other save that here. And David said, There is none like that ; give it me. 10 H And David arose, and fled that day for fear of Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath. 11 And the servants of Achish said unto him. Is not this David the king of the land ? did they not sing one to another of him in dances, saying, *Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands ? 12 And David laid up these words in his heart, and was sore afraid of Achish the king of Gath. 13 And he changed his behaviour before them, and feigned himself mad in their hands, and "scrabbled on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle fall down upon his beard. 14 Then said Achish unto his servants, Lo, ye see the man is 'mad : wherefore then have ye brought him to me ? 15 Have I need of mad men, that ye have brought this fellow to play the mad man in my presence ? shall this fellow come into my house ? 8 Or, eipmally when this day there is other sanctijied in the vessel. 0 Or, made marks. ' Or, playet/i the mad man. Verse 1. ' Nub.' — This is described in cli. xxii. 19 as a ' city of the priests ;' and in Nehem. xi. 32, its name is mentioned after Anathoth, among the cities occupied by the Benjamites on their return from the captivity. Jerome says that, in his time, the ruins of Nob still existed near Diospolis or Lydda. But this was in the south of Ephraim ; and if he rightly determines its site, we may conclude that, as the ten tribes did not return with Judah and Benjamin, the latter tribe took the liberty of appro- priating some part of the vacant territory of Ephraim which adjoined its own. The Kabbiiis generally, however, think that Nob was near Jerusalem— and so near, accord- ing to some, as to be visible from thence. This is con- firmed by Isa. X. 32 ; and it must therefore have been situated somewhere upon the ridge of the mount of Olives, north-east of the city. Dr. Kobinson states that he dili- gently sought along this ridge for some traces of an ancient site which might be regarded as that of Nob, but without the slightest success. It seems difficult to understand this chapter without supposing that the tabernacle must at this Chap. XXL] time have beeu at Nob. although we do not elsewhere find the least intimation of sucli a circumstance ; and the con- nected account which we have of the successive removals of the ark, after having beeu restored by the Philistines from Beth-shemesh to Kirjath-jearim, and from thence to the house of Obed-edom, and afterwards to Jerusalem by David, without any mention of Nob, might incline us to suppose that, if the tabernacle was at Nob, the ark was not in it There is no question that the customary services and sacrifices still took place at the tabernacle, even when the ark was absent. 4. ' There is hallowed Ji-earf.'— This was the old shew- bread, which, after lying a week on the table in the holy place, was taken away and might only be eaten by the 5. ' Tlie vessels oftlie young men are holt/,' etc. — We sub- join the older version of Queen Elizabeth's translators : 'The vessels of the young men were holy though the way were profane ; and how much more then shall every one be sanctified this day in the vessel ;' meaning, as the anno- tator explains—' shall be more careful to keep his vessel holy, when he shall have eaten of this holy food.' The word ' vessels' seems, as in 1 Thess. iv. 4, and elsewhere, to denote the persons of the young men : and David appears to mean that they were ceremonially clean when they had set out, and that if they had since contracted any pollution they could now be purified. 7. ' Doeg an Edoinite.' — He was of course a proselyte to the Hebrew religion. Some of the Rabbins think that he was of the seed of Israel, but is called an Edomite from having lived in Edom ; but this has a very suspicious look, and may be traced to their desire to intimate that no alien by birth was admitted to ofiices of trust and importance ; whence also they affirm that Uriah was a true Israelite, but is called ' the Hittite,' because he had dwelt among the Hittites. — ' TTie chiefest of the herdmen that belonged to Saul.' — Saul had by this time probably made large additions to his paternal property in flocks and herds, which constituted a very considerable part of the wealth of the ancient mo- narchs. As large possessions of this kind required to be divided into several parts and fed in different places, the person who had the general superintendence of the whole held an office of very considerable importance. The office of governor of the royal flocks is often mentioned by the ancient writers, as existing in most countries of which they had knowledge. David, however, who was practi- cally well acquainted with the management of cattle, seems to have abolished the office of general overseer of the pas- toral concerns of the king, and appointed a particular over- seer for the several species of cattle, which were divided into separate flocks. Thus there was an Arab (Ishmaelite) over the camels, and another Arab (Hagarene) over the flocks ; there was also an overseer of the asses ; and the herds had two overseers, one, a native of the district, for those that fed in Sharon, and another for those that fed in the valleys (I Chron. xxvii. 29). This excellent distribu- tion was not, however, peculiar to him, as we find some- thing of the same in Ulysses's little kingdom of Ithaca, where Euma^us is the chief swineherd, and seems to have nothing to do with any other cattle ; while Melantheus is the chief goatherd. "These two act quite independently of each other, and have many servants under them. They sit at meat with princes and nobles in their master's house. Euma^us, the son of a king, but sold for a slave, when young, to the father of Ulysses, is treated as the friend of the family, and Homer denotes his superior dignity to the subordinate swineherds, by calling him, ' the swineherd, prince of men.' Yet with all his superiority, he was not above the practical duties of his office ; while at the same time he was skilled in the use of arms, and rendered his master powerful aid in his great combat with the suitors. The character and situation of this remarkable person serve exceedingly well to illustrate the condition which a chief herdsman, even only of a particular species of cattle, occupied in those early times. On the great sheep-walks of Spain they have, at this day, over each flock a chief shep- [UEL. [B.C. 10G2. herd. Ten thousand compose a flock, which is divided into tea tribes. One man has the conduct of all. He must be the owner of four or five hundred sheep, strong, active, vigilant, intelligent in pasture, in the weather, and in the diseases of sheep. He has absolute dominion over fifty shepherds and fifty dogs, five of each to a tribe. He chooses them, he chastises them, or discharges them at will. He is the praepositus, or the chief shepherd of the whole flock. 9. ' Vie sicord uf Goliath is here wrapped in a cloth.' — Josephus says that David had dedicated the sword to the Lord. It was a custom among the ancients to dedi- cate to the gods some conspicuous part of the enemy's spoils ; a relic of which is preserved in the European cus- tom of^ depositing in churches standards captured in war. As the pot of manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, depo- sited in the tabernacle, had estal)lished the idea of laying up things as memorials of the Lord's deliverances, it is very likely that Goliath's sword was deposited there with the same intention. As to the cloth in which it was wrapped up, we are not thence to infer that it was thrust away in a corner. The cloth was probably a rich piece, embroidered or otherwise ornamented, in which the sword was wrapped up. In India, at this day, all things which are valuable or sacred, or which have been acquired at great expense or trouble, are always folded in a cloth. 10. ' GaM.'— This was one of the five principalities of the Philistines. No trace of it now remains, and even its site has been matter of controversy. Calmet, and others after him, conjecture that Ekron and Gath were at the op- posite extremities of the land of the Philistines— the former to the north, and the latter to the south. This conclusion is chiefly founded on a construction of the texts 1 Sam. v. 8, 10, and xvii. 52, to which we see no occasion to sub- scribe ; and it is thought to be supported by the mention which Jerome makes of a Gath betwen Eleutheropolisand Gaza. But even this would not make Gath the southern- most city of the Philistines. Besides, Jerome says that there were different Gaths in this neighbourhood ; for, speaking of Jonah's birth-place, he says it was called Gath- Opher, to distinguish it from other places of the same name near Eleutheropolis and Diospolis ; and which of these he understood as the Philistine city is clear from his conjecture in his comment on Jer. xxv. 20, that as Gath is not mentioned with the other Philistine states, it was probably at that time incorporated with Ashdod. He thus understood Gath to be nearer to Ashdod than to any other of the Philistine cities ; and therefore he points to the same place as Eusebius, who says that Gaza was four miles from Eleutheropolis, on the road to Lydda. This places the city within the allotted territory of Dan; and Josephus distinctly says that Gath was in the tribe of Dan. This is the position usually given in maps, and we appre- hend that none could be found more in unison with the general bearing of the Scriptures. Let us take the instance of the migrations of the ark while in the hands of the Phi- listines. It was first taken to Ashdod, and was from thence carried to Gath, which this account makes the nearest to Ashdod of all the Philistine towns; and its removal to the nearest town is certainly more probable than that it was taken to the most distant town of all, which Calmet's ac- count supposes Gath to have been, without touching at the intermediate towns of Askelon and Gaza on its way. Then, again, the ark was removed from Gath to Ekron, which the common account makes to have been the nearest town, except Ashdod, to Gath ; whereas the other account absolutely makes the ark in this removal traverse the whole length of the Philistines' country, from Gath, the most southern town, to Ekron, the most northern, with the same silence as before concerning the intermediate towns. For these and other reasons, we subscribe to the opinion which places Gath at no great distance from Ashdod. 13. ' Feigned himself mad.'— Ue must have feigned some definite disorder. It seems to have been what is called the falling sickness, which exhibited the symptoms he aflTected, and which, according to Celsus, was supposed to be re- lieved by foaming at the mouth. A writer in the Chriatian Chap. XXII.] I. SAMUEL. [B.C. 1062. Remembrancer for \S-20, to whom we are indebted for this illustration, cites the Captives of Plautus (iii. 4) in support of it :— Ti/ndarus. Hegio, this fellow was at JEWs deemed A madman, give no ear to what he says. 'T is there notorious that he thought to kill His father and his mother, and has often Fits of the falling sickness come upon him. Which make him foam at mouth. Pray get you from him. Hegio. Here, bear him farther off. [ To the sluves.'\ Aristophojites, How say you, rascal. That I am mad, and that I sought to kill My father and my mother ? and have often Fits of the falling sickness come upon me. Which make me foam at mouth ? Hegio. Be not dismayed. Many have laboured under this disease, And spitting has restored them to their health. Tyndarus. I know to some at ^lis it has proved of special use. — ' Let his spittle fall doion vpon his beard.'— So in- tensely is the beard respected in the East, that this defile- ment of his own beard by David, was well calculated to convince Achish that he was really mad. He could scarcely suppose that a man in his senses would do this indignity to his own beard. For one person to spit on the beard of another, or to say that he will do so, is the greatest possible act or expression of contempt ; and the fall of a mau's own saliva upon it is considered a sort of self-insult, of which no sane man could, unless from natural infirmity, be guilty. When the late Sir John Macdonald, the East India Com- pany's envoy in Persia, had his first audience of the Shah, in 182G, the Shah said that he had anxiously been expect- ing the envoy for some time, and that his place had long been empty (see the noteou ch. xx. 18) : the latter replied, that after leaving Shiraz the sickness which prevailed in the camp prevented his making such rapid progress as he wished, but that after quitting Ispahan he had hastened to the royal stirrup. His majesty said it was fortunate he had not arrived sooner, or he would have been involved in disputes with the Russians; adding, ' Poof rehsha pur,' — ' I spit on their beards' (Captain Alexander's Travels, p. 208). \5. ' Have I need of mad men?— The Eabbins say that the king's wife and daughter were mad, and hence they assign the stronger emphasis to the question, ' Have /need of mad men '?' CHAPTER XXII. 1 Companies resort unto David at Adidlam. 3 At MIzpeh he commendeth his parents unto the king nf Moab. 5 Admonished by Gad, he cometh to Hareth. 6 Said going to pursue him, complaineth of his ser- vants' unfaithfulness. 9 £>oeg accuseth Ahimelech. 11 Saul commandeth to hill the priests. 1 7 The footmen refusing, Doeg executeth it. 20 Abiathar escaping, bringeth David the news. David therefore departed thence, and escaped to the cave Adullam : and when his brethren and all his father's house heard it, they went down thither to him. 2 And every one that was in distress, and every one that 'icas in debt, and every one that was 'discontented, gathered themselves unto him ; and he became a captain over them : and there were with him about four hundred men. 3 IT And David went thence to Mizpeh of Moab : and he said unto the king of Moab, Let my father and my mother, I pray thee, come forth, and be with you, till I know what God will do for me. 4 And he brought them before the king of Moab : and they dwelt with him all the while that David was in the hold. 5 H And the prophet Gad said unto David, Abide not in the hold ; depart, and get thee into the land of Judah. Then David departed, and came into the forest of Hareth. 6 H When Saul heard that David was dis- covered, and the men that were with him, (now Saul abode in Gibeah under a ^tree in Heb. /tad a creditor. Heb. bitter ofsi Ramah, having his spear in his hand, and all his servants were standing about him ;) 7 Then Saul said unto his servants that stood about him. Hear now, ye Benjamitcs ; will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards, and make you all cap- tains of thousands, and captains of hundreds ; 8 That all of you have conspired against me, and there is none that * sheweth me that my son hath made a league with the son of Jesse, and there is none of you that is sorry for me, or sheweth unto me that my son hath stirred up my servant against me, to lie in wait, as at this day ? 9 H Then answered Doeg the Edomite, which was set over the servants of Saul, and said, I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub. 10 And he enquired of the Lord for him, and gave him victuals, and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine. 11 H Then the king sent to call Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitub, and all his father's house, the priests that tvere in Nob : and they came all of them to the king. 12 And Saul said. Hear now, thou son of Ahitub. And he answered, 'Here / am, my lord. 13 And Saul said unto him, Why have ye conspired against me, thou and the son of Jesse, in that thou hast given him bread, and a sword, and hast enquired of God for him, that he should rise against me, to lie in wait, as at this day ? Or, fjrove in a high place. * Ueh. uncovereth mine car. Chap. XXII.] I. SAMUEL. [B.C. 10G2. 14 Then Ahimelech answered the king, and said, And who is so faithful among all ihy servants as David, which is the icing's son in law, and goeth at thy bidding, and is honourable in thine house ? 15 Did I then begin to enquire of God for him ? be it far from me : let not the king im- pute an;/ thing unto his servant, nor to all the house of my father : for thy servant knew nothing of all this, "less or more. IG And the king said, Thou shalt surely die, Ahimelech, thou, and all thy father's house. 17 H And the king said unto the ^ "foot- men that stood about liim. Turn, and slay tlie priests of the Lord ; because their hand also is with David, and because they knew when he fled, and did not shew it to me. But the servants of the king would not put forth their hand to f;dl upon the priests of the Lord. 1 8 And the king said to Doeg, Turn tiiou, and fall upon the priests. And Doeg the Edomite turned, and he fell upon the priests, and slew on that day fourscore and five per- sons that did wear a linen ephod. 1 9 And Nob, the city of the priests, smote he with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and sucklings, and oxen, and asses, and sheep, with the edge of the sword. 20 1[ And one of the sons of Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, escaped, and fled after David. 21 And Abiathar shewed David that Saul had slain the Lord's priests. 22 And David said unto Abiathar, I knew it that day, when Doeg the Edomite teas there, that he would surely tell Saul : I have occasioned the death of all the persons of thy father's house. 23 Abide thou with me, fear not : for he that seeketh my life seeketh thy life : but witli me thou shalt be in safeguard. Verse 1. ' The cave AJiiUam.'— 0{ the city called Adul- 1am, see the note on Josh. xii. 15, -where it is intimated that this cave does not seem to have been near, or any way connected with that city, which is in a plain where no such caves as would afford shelter to four hundred men are found. It is therefore far more probable that the cave of Adullam was in the mountainous wilderness in the east of Judah towards the Dead Sea, where such caves occur, and where the western names (as Carmel) are sometimes re- peated. This conjecture is favoured by the fact that the usual haunts of David were in this quarter ; whence he moved into the land of Moab, which was quite contiguous, whereas he must have crossed the whole breadth of the land, if the cave of Adullam had been near the city of that name. Other reasons occur which would take too much room to state : but the result is, that there appear at length good grounds for the local tradition which fixes the cave on the borders of the Dead Sea, although there is no certainty with regard to the particular cave usually pointed out. The cave so designated is at a point to which David was far more likely to summon his parents, whom he intended to take from liethlehem into Moab, than to any place in the western plains. It is about six miles south-east of bethlehem, in the side of a deep ravine (Wady Khureitun) which passes below the Frank mountain on the south. It is an immense natural cavern, the mouth of which can be approached only on foot along the side of the cliff. Irby and Mangles, who visited it without being aware that it was the reputed cave of Adullam, state that it ' runs in by a long winding, narrow passage, with small cham- bers or cavities on either side. We soon came to a large chamber with natural arches of great height ; from this last there were numerous passages, leading in all direc- tions, occasionally joined by others at right angles, and forming a perfect labyrinth, which our guides assured us had never been perfectly explored, the people being afraid of losing themselves. The passages are generally four feet high by three feet wide, and were all on a level with each other. There were a few petrifactions where we were : nevertheless the grotto was perfectly clean, and the air pure and good ' ( Travels, pp. 340, 34 1 ). It seems pro- bable that David, as a native of Uethlehem, must have been well acquainted with this remarkable spot, and had probably often availed himself of its shelter when out wiih his father's flocks. It would therefore naturally occur to him as a place of refuge when he fled from Gath : and his purpose of forming a band of followers was much more likely to be realized here, in the neighbourhood of his native place, than in the westward of it, where the citi/ of Adullam stands. These circumstances have consider- able weight when taken in connection with what has already been adduced ; but the question is one which there is no means of deciding with certainty. 2. ' Ever;/ one that was in distress,' etc.— See the note on Judges xi. 3. 3. ' Let my father and my mother . . . be with you.' — This is the last we hear of David's parents. The Jews think that his brethren were included ; bnt that the king of Moab destroyed the whole family, except one brother who was preserved by Nahash, king of the Ammonites, and this was the kind act of that king for which David afterwards (2 Sam. x. 2) expresses his gratitude. 5. ' l-'orcst of Uareth.' — Jerome says that there was in his time a village called Arath, which had been the abode of David. It was west of Jerusalem ; by which, with the usual latitude, we may understand south-west, or south- west by west, which was probably the true direction, as David's present refuge does not seem to have been far from Keilah. This place is only mentioned here. 6. ' In Gibeah under a tree in liamah.' — This is not in- telligible. Itamah means a high place, or hill, and should not here be rendered as a proper name. Better, ' in Gibeah under a tree upon a hill.' Probably there was no house large enough in Gibeah for him to hold his court within doors; and if there had been such, he might still probably have preferred the situation in which he now appears, with the height for his throne, the tree for his canopy, and the spear for his sceptre. The assembly is described in such a manner as to suggest the idea that this was the regular form in which Saul sat in state to admi- nister public affairs, and not merely an accidental occur- rence. It is, in fact, such a position as a modern Oriental prince or chief would select, when any emergency re- quired him to hold his court or transact his affairs in the open air ; and which those who do so habitually regularly prefer, both for tlie sake of state and convenience. It will Chap. XXIU.^ [B.C. 1062—1061. be observed tbat Saul is almost never mentioned without a spear in his hand. Spears seem to have been the earliest sceptres, to illustrate which Bishop Patrick cites a passage from Justin (lib. xliii. cap. 31. who, speaking of the early times of the Romans, says, ' In those days kings hitherto had spears as signs of royal authority, which the Greeks called sceptres : for in the beginning of things, the an- cients worshipped spears for immortal gods; in memory of which religion, spears are still added to the images of the gods.' And as some of the Greeks called spears ' sceptres,' soothers, who had called a spear by its common name, even when regarded as a sceptre, continued long after to call their sceptres ' spears.' So Pausanias tells us that sceptres were called spears by the kings of A rgos. 18. ^ He fell upon the priests, and sleiu . . . .fuiirscore and five persons' — Thus the unrighteous command of Saul ac- complished to the letter the Lord's threalenings against the house of Eli : — ' Behold, I will do a thing in Israel, at which both the ears of every one tliat hcareth it shall tingle. In that day I will perform against Eli all things which 1 have spoken concerning his house: when I begin I will also make an end' (iii. 11, 12; see also ii. -J"- 3()). Abiathar indeed escaped, and was afterwards ex- alted to the high-priesthc priest unto the Lord, that I Lord which he spake c^n Shiloh'(l Kings ii. 27). Tl ever, extenuate the atrocity ficing so many innocent and -v rage. of the first from lieing ,vor.l of the ; persons to his blind CHAPTER XXIII. 1 David, eriqtiiriyig of the Lord bij Abiathar, resctiefh Keilnh. 7 God shewing hirn the coming of Said, and the treachery of the Keilites, he escapeth from Keiliih. 14 In Ziph Jonathan cometh and com- forteth him. 19 The ZIphites discover him to Saul. 25 At Maim lie is rescued from Saul by the invasion of the Philistines. 29 He dwelleth at En-gedi. Then they told David, saying, Behold, the Philistines fight against Keilah, and they roh the threshingfloors. 2 Therefore David enquired of the Lord, saying, Shall I go and smite these Philistines ? And the Lord said unto David, Go and smite the Philistines, and save Keilah. 3 And David's men said unto him. Behold, we he afraid here in Judali : how much more then if we come to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines ? 4 Then David enquired of the Lord yet again. And the Loan answered him and said. Arise, go down to Keilah ; for I will deliver the Philistines into thine hand. 5 So David and his men went to Keilah, and fought with the Philistines, and brought away their cattle, and smote them with a great slaughter. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah. 6 And it came to pass, when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech 'fled to David to Keilah, that he came down with an ephod in his hand. 7 1" And it was told Saul that David was come to Keilah. And Saul said, God hath delivered him into mine hand ; for he is shut in, by entering into a town that hath gates and bars. 8 And Saul called all the people together to war, to go down to Keilah, to besiege David and his men. 9 II And David knew that Saul secretly practised mischief against him ; and he said to Abiathar the priest. Bring hither the ephod. 10 Then said David, O Lord God of Israel, thy servant hath certainly heard that Saul seeketh to come to Keilah, to destroy the city for my sake. 1 1 AVill the men of Keilah deliver me up into his hand ? will Saul come down, as thy servant hath heard ? O Lord God of Israel, I beseech thee, tell thy servant. And the Lord said. He will come down. 12 Then said David, Will the men of Keilah '^deliver me and my men into the hand of Saul ? And the Lord said, They will de - liver thee up. 13 IT Then David and his men, which were about six hundred, arose and departed out of Keilah, and went whithersoever they could go. And it was told Saul that David was escaped from Keilah ; and he forbare to go forth. 14 And David abode in the wilderness in strong holds, and remained in a mountain in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God delivered him not into his hand. 15 And David saw that Saul was come out to seek his life : and David was in the wilder- ness of Ziph in a wood. 16 And Jonathan Saul's son arose, and went to David into the wood, and strengthened his hand in God. 17 And he said unto him. Fear not : for the hand of Saul my father shall not find thee ; and thou shalt be king over Israel, and I shall be next unto thee; and that also Saul my father knoweth. 18 And they two made a covenant before the Lord : and David abode in the wood, and Jonathan went to his house. 19 H Then came up the Ziphites to Saul 2 Heb. shutup. ICl Chap. XXIII.] [B.C. 1062—1061. to Gibeah, saying, Doth not David hide him- self with us in strong holds in the wood, in the hill of Hachilah, which is ""on the south of ■■Jeshimon ? 20 Now therefore, O king, come down ac- cording to all the desire of thy soul to come down ; and our part shall be to deliver him into the king's hand. 21 And Saul said. Blessed he ye of the LoKD ; for ye have compassion on me. ■ 22 Go, I pray you, prepare yet, and know and see his place whore his 'haunt is, and who hath seen him there : for it is told me that he dealeth very subtilly. 23 See therefore, and take knowledge of all the lurking places where he hideth himself, and come ye "again to me with the certainty, and I will go with you': and it shall come to pass, if he be in the land, that I will search liiin out throughout all the thousands of Judah. ■24 And tiiey arose, and went to Ziph be- fore Saul : but David and his men ivere in the wilderness of Maon, in the plain on the south of Jeshimon. 25 Saul also and his men went to seek him. And they told David : wherefore he came down into a rock, and abode in the wil- derness of jNIaon. And when Saul heard that, he pursued after David in the wilderness of Maon. 26 And Saul went on this side of the moun- tain, and David and his men on that side of the mountain : and David made haste to got away for fear of Saul ; for Saul and his men compassed David and his men round about to take them. 27 TT But there came a messenger unto Saul, saying. Haste thee, and come ; for the Philistines have 'invaded the land. 28 Wherefore Saul returned from pursuing after David, and went against the Philistines: therefore they called that place 'Sela-ham- mahlekoth. 29 H And David went u'p from thence, and dwelt in strong holds at En-gedi. * Heb.jToot shall he. ^ Il-'b. spread themselves t(/.o^i, .^c. Verse 2. ' Keilii/i.' — This place is mentioned in Josh. XV. 44, among tlie westei-u towns of Judah. Jerome says that it e.\isted in the fourth century as a small village, eight miles from Eleutheropolis, on the road to Hebron, where the tomb of the prophet Habakkuk was shewn. 15. ' Ziph.' — This occurs elsewhere as the name of a city in the tribe of Judah (Josh. xv. fio ; 2 Chron. xi. 8). It is mentioned by Jerome, but was not subsequently noticed till Dr. Robinson discovered the name in the Tell Zif (Hill of Zif ), which occurs about four and a half miles south by east from Hebron, and which is a round emi- nence, about a hundred feet high, situated in a plain. On the top is a level plot, apparently once enclosed by a wall. A site, also called Zif, lies about teu minutes east of this hill, upon a low hill or ridge between two small wadys, which commence here, and run towards the Dead Sea. There is now little to be .seen besides broken walls and foundations, mostly of unhewn stones, but indicative of solidity, and covering a considerable tract of ground. In the middle is a low massive square building, constructed of small squared stones, and vaulted within with pointed arches ; shewing that the place must have been inhabited long alter the Mohammedan conquest. Cisterns are found here as well as on the hill. Here then we have the Ziph which gave its name to the surrounding wilderness. — ' Wiiderness (if Ziph.' — A hilly region was often called a wilderness, as at present by the Arabs ; and it usually took its name from some principal town within its 17. ' Thou shall he king over htael, and I shall he next unto Now therefore, my lord, as the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, seeing the Louo hath withholden thee from coming to shed blood, and from "'avenging thyself with thine own hand, now let thine enemies, and they that seek evil to my lord, be as Nabal. 27 And now this "blessing which thine handmaid hath brought unto my lord, let it even be given unto the young men that "follow my lord. » Uvh. rcsti-ii. 8 Mc^i, slaughter. ' Hch.Jtew upwi tfirtn. 11 \le\\ Iftt/ h to his heart. ii llch. saviitij thjfiel/. Chap. XXV.] I. SAl 28 I pray thee, forgive the trespass of thine handmaid : for the Lord will certainly make my lord a sure house ; hecause my lord fighteth the battles of the Loku, and evil hath not been found in thee all thy days. 29 Yet a man is risen to pursue thee, and to seek thy soul : but the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the Lord thy God ; and the souls of thine enemies, them shall he sling out, ^'as out of the middle of a sling. 30 And it shall come to pass, when the Lord shall have done to my lord according to all the good that he hath spoken concerning thee, and shall have appointed thee ruler over Israel ; 31 That this shall be "^no grief unto thee, nor offence of heart unto my lord, either that thou hast shed blood causeless, or that my lord hath avenged himself : but when the Lord shall have dealt well with my lord.lhen remember thine handmaid. 32 H And David said to Abigail, Blessed he the Lord God of Israel, which sent thee this day to meet me : 33 And blessed be thy advice, and blessed be thou, which hast kept me this day from coming to shed blood, and from avenging my- self with mine own hand. 34 For in very deed, as the Lord God of Israel liveth, which hath kept me back from hurting thee, except thou hadst hasted and come to meet me, surely there had not been left unto Nabal by the morning light any that pisseth against the wall. 35 So David received of her hand that which she had brought him, and said unto her. Go up in peace to thine house ; see, I have hearkened to thy voice, and have accepted thy person. UEL. [B.C. lOGO. 36 H And Abigail came to Nabal ; and, behold, he held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king ; and NabaFs heart was merry within him, for he was very drunken : where- fore she told him nothing, less or more, until the morning light. 37 But it came to pass in the morning, when the wine was gone out of Nabal, and his wife had told him these things, that his heart died within him, and he became as a stone. 38 And it came to pass about ten days after, that the Lord smote Nabal, that he died. 39 H And when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, Blessed he the Lord, that hath pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and hath 'kept his servant from evil : for the Lord hath returned the wickedness of Nabal upon his own head. And David sent and communed with Abigail, to take her to him to wife. 40 And when the servants of David were come to Abigail to Carmel, they spake unto her, saying, David sent us unto thee, to take thee to him to wife. 41 And she arose, and bowed herself on her face to the earth, and said. Behold, let thine handmaid he a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord. 42 And Abigail hasted, and arose, and rode upon an ass, with five damsels of her's that went ' 'after her ; and she went after the mes- sengers of David, and became his wife. 43 David also took Ahinoam ' "of Jezreel ; and they were also both of them his wives. 44 H But Saul had given '"jNlichal his daughter, David's wife, to Phalti the son of Laish, which was of Gallim. l?Heb. at her feet. Verse I . ' Buried him in his oicn house at Bamah.'— The Kev. W. Jowett, in his Christian Researches in Sijria, re- lates : ' While walking out one evening, a few fields' dis- tance from Deir-el-Kamr, at Mount Lebanon, with Hanna Doomani, the son of my host, to see a detached garden belonging to his father, he pointed out to me, near it, a small, solid stone building, apparently a house ; very so- lemnly adding, " Kalibar beiti/" " the sepulchre of our family." It had neither door nor window. He then directed my attention to a considerable number of similar buildings at a distance, which to the eye are exactly like houses, but which are in fact family mansions for the dead. They have a most melancholy appearance, which made him shudder while he explained their use. They seem, by tlieir dead walls, which must be opened at each several interment of the members of a family, to say, " This is an unkindly house, to which visitors do not will- ingly throng ; but, one by one, they will be forced to enter, and none who enter ever come out again." ' Perhaps this custom, which prevails particularly at Deir-el-Kamr and in the lonely neighbouring parts of the mountain, may have been of great antiquity, and may serve to explain some Scripture phrases. The prophet Samuel was buried ' in his house at Ramah ' (1 Sam. xxv. 1) ; it could hardly be in his dwelling-house. Joab ' was buried in his ow n house in the wilderness' (1 Kings ii. 34); this is 'the house appointed for all living " (Job xxx. 23). Carpzovius (^/)f ara(KS, p. 643) remarks : ' It is scarcely credible that these sepulchres were in their houses and under their roofs. It is more correct therefore to under- stand this expression as embracing all the appurtenances of a house, and whatever is contiguous. In this sense, then, it means the court, or garden, in the farthest corner of which they probably erected some such monument.' Kubbehs, or tombs of the kind represented in the en- graving, are still very common in the gardens of the 'And David -As David, ncdiately Chap. XXV.] [B.C. 1060. after the death of Samuel, removed farther southward, even ' into the wilderness of Paran.' it would seem that, having no confidence in Saul's fits of right feeling, he was fearful of the consequences of the ahseuce of that degree of moral restraint upon him which had existed while the prophet lived. The southern country offers, iu the pro- per season, excellent pastures, to which those of Judah, who had ' large possessions of cattle,' were wont to send their flocks during a part of the year. The advantage offered by the free use of these open pastures was, how- ever, in some degree counterbalanced by the danger from the prowling Arab tribes with which they sometimes came iu contact. David probably supported his men during the eight months of his stay in this region by acting against those tribes, and making spoil of their cattle. And as their hand was against every man, it was natural that every man's hand should be against them ; the rather, as we may be sure, from their general conduct, that they lost no occasion of oppressing or plundering the people inhabiting, or pasturing their flocks, along or near the southern frontier. Thus the presence of David's troop was, for that reason, a great advantage to the shepherds, as he had by this time secured sufficient control over his men to oblige them to respect the property of the Israel- ites. And this was, at least in the feelings of the people, no small thing in a body of men, living abroad with swords in their hands, and obliged, as they were, to col- lect their subsistence in the best way they could. — ' Wilderness.' — By wilderness or desert the reader is not always to understand a country altogether barren and unfruitful, but such only as is rarely or never sown or cultivated ; which, though it yields no crops of corn or fruity yet affords herbage, more or less, for the grazing of cattle, with fountains or rills of water, though more sparingly interspersed than in other places. 2. ' The man was very great.' — This, coupled with the following description of his substance, affords an interest- ing indication of what was considered to constitute a very large prt.pLTiy among the Hebrews at this period. — ' //'■ icas shearing Ids sheep in CarmeV — Except for this incident, ;incl for the trophy set up by Saul for his victory over the Amorites (xv. 12), and the mere name in .Josh. XV. ri."i, Carmcl is not further mentioned in Scrip- ture. Eiisebins and Jerome describe it as a village with a Roman garrison. It is mentioned in the history of the Crusades as a place where king Almaric found a pool with plenty of water for his troops in 1172, when he drew back and encamped here, after having marched without effect against Saladin, who invaded the country south and east of the Dead Sea. Hut it is not said whether the place was then inhabited or ruined. How and when Car- mel became desolate no record tells, and its name and site were forgotten milil the present century, when it was visited by Seetyx.'n ; but since his day no traveller appears to hav(; recognized it till Dr. Robinson's visit. The place now bears the name of Kurmul, and lies about eight miles east of south from Hebron. The ruins are extensive, lying around the head and along the two sides of a valley of sojne width and depth; and the head of which forms a semicircidar amphitheatre shut in by rocl«. The main ruins are on the level ground west of this amphitheatre; and here stands the castle, in what must have been the middle of the ancient town. Tliis is a remarkable ruin, the exterior walls of which may from the style be referred to Herod or the Romans, while the in- terior has been built up at a subsequent period, iu a later and Saracenic style of architecture. The other ruins consist chiefly of the foundations and broken vralls of dwellings and other edifices, scattered iu every direction, and thrown together in mournful confusion and desolation. Most of the stones have been only rough-hewn, or else have been worn away by time and exposure. A more particular ac- count of the ruins may be seen in Professor Robinson's Researches, ii. 19(i-199. 3. ' Of the house nf Caleb.' — Caleb means a dog in He- brew ; and the ancient versions, as well as several of the modern, do not render it as a proper name, but as a further indication of Nabal's character. Under this view it will denote a man of a dog-like, that is, of a churlish, snapping, snarling disposition, or, as Boothroyd has it, ' irritable as a dog.' 5. ' Get you np to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and greet him in mij name,' etc.— We have already stated the results of Dr. Kol)inson's researches in the region containing Car- mel, Maon, Ziph, and Eu gedi. One passage iu his state- ment afibrds a very interesting commentary on the portion of the history of David contained in this and the con- nected chapters. He writes : ' We were here in the midst of scenes memorable of old for the adventures of David during his wanderings in order to escape from the jealousy of Saul ; and we did not fail to peruse here, and with the deepest interest, the chapters of Scripture which record those wanderings and adventures. Ziph and Maon gave their names to the desert on the east, as did Eii-gedi ; anil tA I ■ 111 In. niiiabitants of Ziph endeavour to betray the \ i > to the vengeance of his persecutor. At i: I "' I'l . :ind liis men appear to have been very nniri. 1,1 ii.. ,, I, iitii.n of similar outlaws at the preseiit day ; for " every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him: and he became a captain over them : and there were with him about four hundred men." They lurked in these deserts, associating with the herdsmen and shepherds of Nabal and others, and doing them good offices, probably in return for information ana supplies obtained through them. Hence when Nabal held his annual sheep-shearing in Cannel, David felt himself itled to share in the festival, and message, re- counting his own services, and asking for a present. " Wherefore let the young men find favour in thine eyes; for we come in a good day ; give, t pray thee, whatsoever Cometh to thine hand unto thy servants, and to thy son David." In all these particulars we were deeply struck with the truth and strength of the Biblical descriptions of manners and customs, almost identically the same as they exist at the present day. On such a festive occasion near a town or village, even in our own time, an Arab sheikh of the neighbouring desert would hardly fail to put in a word, either in person or by mes.sage ; and his message, both in form and substance, would be only a transcript of that of David.' 6. ' Peace he both to thee, and peace be to thine home, Chap. XXV.] [B.C. 1060. and peace be unto all that thou hast.' — The immutability of ancient customs in tlie East is shewn in nothing more strikingly than in matters of form and ceremony, and especially iu that branch in which salutations are compre- hended. The permanent type, the burden of all saluta- tions, is now, as it was formerly, peace. We know not any single passage we could adduce which would shew this more strikingly, and so illustrate this and similar te-xts, than the following extract from William Biddulph, an old tra-veller in Palestine, whose account is inserted in Purchas's Pilgrimage (p. 1340) :— ' The greatest part of them are very courteous people amongst themselves, salut- ing one another at their meetings with their hand on their breast (for they never uncover their head) with these words : Saiam Alike Siiltamim ; that is. Peace be unto you. Sir. Wherunto the other replieth, Alekem Salam ; that is. Peace be to you also. And sometimes thns, Elph Marhabhaiaimm ; or in Turkish, thus, Hosh Geldanos, Sophi Geldanos, that is. Welcome, my dear friend. And in the morning, Subalkier Sultunnm, that is. Good mor- row, Sir : and in the evening, thus, Misalker Sultamim, that is, Good even. Sir. And when friends and acquaint- ance meet, who have uot seen one another many days before, they salute one another in Turkish, thus, Neder halen 1 that is, How do you ? In Arabick, thus, Ish halac Scedi 1 that is. How do yot;, Sir ? And Ish babtac ■> that is. How doth thy gate? (meaning all within his gate), and so proceeds by particulars to ask how doth thy child, slave, horse, cat, dog, ass, &c., and everything in the house except his wife ; for that is held a very unkind question, and unusual amongst them. And if a man come to their houses, and at the door inquire of the children for their father, they will answer him ; but if he inquire for the mother, they will throw stones at him and revile him.' 11. ' Ml/ bread and m;/ water,' etc. — Here we have an- other indication of the value of water. Among us it would be considered strange to mention water in this way ; but it is uot thus in the East. Water was usually pro- vided by the masters for their husbandmen and the shearers of their sheep. Nabal had probably procured his with some difficulty, and by the labour of his people; and it was therefore quite natural for him to mention it among the articles of provision which he could not be ex- pected to spare. On such great occasions as the ploughing or harvest to the husbandman, or a shearing to the shep- herd, the owner was careful to supply an adequate quan- tity of water for the men while at work. In all such operations in the East, a number of attendants are usually employed to serve out water to the labourers, carrying it to them as they stand at their work. Weak wine seems to have been sometimes employed anciently. Homer describes wine as being served to ploughmen ; but we may believe that water was more common, though less poetical : — ' Oft as in their course They came to the field's bourn, so oft a man Met them, who in their hands a goblet placed Charged with delicious wine.' Iliad, x\-iii Cowper. An adequate supply of water—good water — is also a circumstance of the most essential importance in the pro- vision for the festivities in which the occasions of extra- ordinary rural or pastoral exertion terminated. 23. ' She hasted, and lighted off the ass.'— See the note on Gen. xxiv. (55. The following description of Antar's action on app: oaching the king of Persia is a very excel- lent illustration of Abigail's proceeding in the presence of David. Autar and his party meet with the king as he is riding out to hunt : — ' On perceiving Nushirvan they instantly dismounted. Antar presented himself, and at- tempted to kiss Chosroe's feet in the stirrup, but the king not only prevented him, but stooped towards him and kissed him between the eyes; and never had JSushiryan conferred such a mark of distinction on any one but Antar.' To this last action, of kissing between the eyes, we have referred in the note to ch. x. 1. In tlie above extract we see, that, as is still the custom, they dismounted as soon as they saw the king, and therefore either waited till he rode up, or proceeded on foot to meet him. The parallel is the more complete if; as some understand, David was mounted, and that therefore the exp.ression ' fell at his feet ' (literally ' fell on his feet') means that she took hold of his feet— to kiss them, doubtless — as he sat on his ass or mule. 25. 'Nabalis his' name, and foil;/ is with him:— The significant character of the Hebrew names gave great occasion for a reference to, or an application of, the mean- . ings which they oflFered. Of this there are many instances in Scripture ; and the present is one of these, Nabal signi- fying a fool. — ' Folly: — The folly here specified is not to be under- stood in the usual sense of the word in a European idiom, as a negative quality, or the mere want of sense, but as a kind of obstinately stupid lethargy, or perverse absence of mind, in which the will is not altogether passive. 29. ' 'flte soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life:— Mr. Roberts, 'in his Oriental Illustrations, borrows from the proverbial expressions of the Hindoos by much the best illustration of this text that has ever fallen under our notice. He says : ' Anything important or valuable is called a kattu, i. e., " a bundle, a pack, a bale." A yoirag man who is enamoured of a female is said to be " bound up in the kattu, bundle, of love." Of a just judge the people say, " He is bound up in the bundle of justice." ' He adds other instances, from the application of which we see that Abigail intended to express that, under the Lord's protection, the life of David was so securely guarded, that all the attempts of his enemies against his existence must prove abortive. 31;. 'He held a feast .... like the feast of a king: — Sheep-shearing is "an operation to which allusion is fre- quently made in the sacred volume. The wool iu very remote times was not shorn with an iron instrument, but plucked off with the hand. From the concurrent testi- mony of several writers, the time when it is performed in Palestine falls in the month of March. If this be ad- mitted, it fixes the time of the year when Jacob departed from Laban on his return to his father's house, for he left him at the time he went to shear liis sheep. In like manner the sheep of Nabal were shorn in spring; for among the presents which Abigail made to Davitj^ five measures of parched corn are mentioned. But we know from other passages of Scripture that they were accus- tomed to use parched corn when it was full grown, but not ripe ; for the people of Israel were commanded in the law not to eat parched corn or green ears, until the self- same day they had made an ofl'ering to the Lord. This time seems to have been spent by the eastern swains in more than usual hilarity : and it may be inferred from several hints in the Scriptures that the wealthier proprie- tors invited their friends and dependants to sumptuous entertainments. Nabal, on that joyous occasion, which the servants of David called a good or festive day, al- though a churlish and niggardly man, 'held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king;' and on a similar occasion Absalom treated his friends and relations in the same magnificent style. The modern Arabs are more frugal and parsimonious; yet their hearts, so little accustomed to expand with joyous feelings, acknowledge the powerful influence of increasing wealth, and dispose them to in- dulge in greater jollity than usual. On these occasions they perhaps kill a lamb, or a goat, and treat their rela- tions and friends; and at once to testify their respect for their guests, and add to the luxury of the feast, crown the festive board with new cheese and milk, dates, and honey. Chap. XXVI.] I. SAMUEL. [B.C. 1060. CHAPTER XXVI. 1 Smil, by the discovery of the Ziphites, cometh to Hachilah ot/ainst David. 5 David coming into the trench stayelh Abishai from killing Saul, but tahelh Ills xpear and cruse. 13 David reproveth Aimer, IS and exhorteth Said. 21 Said acknowledgeth his And the Zipliites came unto Saul to Gibcah, saying, 'Doth not David liide himself in the hill of Hachilah, ichich is before Jeshimon ? 2 Then Saul arose, and went down to the wilderness of Ziph, having three thousand chosen men of Israel with him, to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph. 3 And Saul pitched in the hill of Hachilah, which is before Jeshimon, by the way. But David abode in the wilderness, and he saw that Saul came after him into the wilderness. 4 David therefore sent out spies, and un- derstood that Saul was come in very deed. 5 H And David arose, and came to the place where Saul had pitched : and David be- held the place where Saul lay, and "Abner the son of Ner, the captain of his host : and Saul lay in the ''trench, and the people pitched round about him. 6 Then answered David and said to AJii- melech the Hittite, and to Abishai the son of Zeruiah, brother to Joab, saying. Who will go down with me to Saul to the camp? And Abishai said, I will go down with thee. 7 So David and Abishai came to the people by night : and, behold, Saul lay sleeping within the trench, and his spear stuck in the ground at his bolster : but Abner and the people lay round about him. 8 Then said Abishai to David, God hath delivered thine enemy into thine hand this day : now therefore let me smite him, I pray thee, with tiie spear even to the earth at once, and I will not smite him the second time. 9 And David said to Abi^hjii, Destroy him not : for who can stretch forth his hand against the Lord's anointed, and bo guiltless? 10 David said furthermore. As the Loun livcth, the Lord shall smite him ; or his day shall come to die ; or he shall descend into battle, and perish. 1 1 'i'hc Lord forbid that I should stretch forth mine hand against the Lord's anointed : but, I pray thee, take thou now the spear that is at his bolster, and the crvise of water, and let us go. 12 So David took the spear and the cruse of water from Saul's bolster ; and they gat them away, and no man saw it, nor knew it, neither awaked : for they were all asleep ; be- cause a deep sleep from the Lord was fallen upon them. 13 U Then David went over to the other side, and stood on the top of an hill afar oti'; a great space beiiif/ between them : 14 And David cried to the people, and to Abner the son of Ner, saying, Answerest thou not, Abner ? Then Abner answered and said. Who art thou that criest to the king? 15 And David said to Abner, Art not thou a valiant man ? and who is like to thee in Israel ? wherefore then hast thou not kept thy lord the king? for there came one of the people in to destroy the king thy lord. 16 This thing is not good that thou hast done. As the Lord liveth, ye are Svorthy to die, because ye have not kept your master, the Lord's anointed. And now see where the king's spear is, and the cruse of water that was at his bolster. 17 And Saul knew David's voice, and said. Is this thy voice, my son David ? And David said. It is my voice, my lord, O king. 18 And he said, AVherefore doth my lord thus pursue after his servant? for what have I done ? or what evil is in mine hand ? 19 Now therefore, I pray thee, let my lord the king hear the words of his servant. If the Lord have stirred thee up against me, let him 'accept an offering : but if they he the children of men, cursed be they before the Lord ; for they have driven me out this day from 'abid- ing in the inheritance of the Lord, saying. Go, serve other gods. 20 Now therefore, let not my blood fall to the earth before the face of the Lord : for the king of Israel is come out to seek a flea, as when one doth hunt a j)artridge in the moun- tains. 21 H Then said Saul, I have sinned: re- turn, my son David : for I will no nuire do thee harm, because my soul was precious in thine eyes this day : behold, I have played the fool, and have erred exceedingly. 22 And David answered and said, Behold the king's spear! and let one of the young men come over and fetch it. 23 The Lord render to every man his righteousne.=s and his faithfulness : for the Lord delivered thee into »«7/hand to day, but I woidd not stretch forth mine hand again&t the Lord's anointed. Chap. XXVL] [B.C. 24 And, behold, as thy life was much set by this day in mine eyes, so let my life bo much set by in the eyes of the Lord, and let him deliver me out of all tribulation. 25 Then Saul said to David, Blessed he thou, my son David : thou shalt both do great things, and also shalt still prevail. So David went on his way, and Saul returned to his place. Verse 5. ' Siud hi;/ in the trench, and the. people pitched ronnd about him.' — A 'trench' is here an exceedingly nn- likely meaning of the word ?3yi3 ma gal. The marginal reading, * in the midst of the carriages,' is better, if we understand it to mean not wheel-carriages, but of things curried on mules, etc., that is, baggage. This is occasionally the sense of the word 'carriage' in our version. We may be almost certain that no wheel-carriages were used in such military excursions as the present — much less in such a hilly part of the country as was the scene of this transaction. A very slight reference to existing usages in the East will suffice to elucidate the present and other allusions contained in the Scriptures, to the form of encampments. In all the dilfereut forms of encampment — the nomade, the travelling, the military — a general preference is given to a circular arrangement. The circumstances of the ground sometimes compel a departure from it ; and the additional exigencies connected with pasturage and water render this more fre- quent among the Bedouins than in other cases. With tliem, when the circular form can be adopted, the place of honour, occupied by the emir, sheikh, or chief, is in the centre ; the other tents being pitched at a respectful dis- tance around. Under the ordinary circumstances of a camp, however, the chief often, among some tribes, fore- goes this distinction for the sake of the character for hos- pitality, which requires him to have his tent, in every form of encampment, the nearest to that direction from which strangers usually arrive. The eastern military and regal camps, when the ground allows, are also disposed circu- larly ; and, if the army be large, in a number of con- centric circles, the royal pavilion being in the centre. A description which Mr. Morier gives of the encamp- ment of the Persian army, in the plain of Oujan, well explains this — except in the circumstance that, as the king had a palace in the plain, and resided in it instead of in a tent, that became the central object. ' Around this building, to an immense extent, at various intervals, was spread the camp, consisting of tents and pavilions, of all co- lours and all denominations. An order had been issued that every tent in the camp should be pitched with its entrance immediately facing the palace ; by which it was intended that every one who came forth should make the serferou, or bow the head to the royal abode The king thus be- came, as it were, the nave of a great wheel ; and he was so completely hemmed in by his troops, that if an enemy had appeared, it would have been impossible to get at him with- out first cutting a road through the labyrinth of ropes and tents which everywhere surrounded him' {Hecond Jonrnetj, p. 208). Unquestionably, Saul's camp was arranged on the same general principle, and probably for the same rea- sons— the honour and security of the royal person. It is not indeed clear that Saul's party had tents in this unos- tentatious expedition ; but the same general principle is observed even when a party is without tents. This explains how David was able to single out Saul even by night; and it gives point to his ironical reproaches of Abner and the rest, who had so insufficiently guarded their lord, around whom they slept. The mention of ' baggage,' if baggage be really intended by the word 7^yD, may obtain some further illustration from observing the manner in which travelling or mercantile caravans encamp. The circular form is usually adopted. The circle is formed by a long rope fastened to the gi-ound by pins of wood or iron, and to which the camels are tied at night, forming the exterior circle. Within this, a kind of rampart is made with the bales of merchandise, forming a sort of wall to the i area. In the centre of this area the tent of the principal person, if he have any tent, is pitched ; and the provisions and baggage are also usually there deposited. If the chief personage have no tent (and he often does without one if no women are of the party), he establishes himself among or under shelter of the heap of baggage, where the other heads of the party join him, unless his dignity be so distinguished that he is left to enjoy it apart, except he see fit to invite the society of others. The mass of the party repose along the circumference of the circle, mostly within the rampart formed by the bales ; but it often happens that many sleep outside, particularly those who have charge of the cattle, to be ready to protect them from thieves, or to check any strife that may arise among them. This is also done by other persons who have a personal interest in the cattle they use — as more generally happens in the caravans of horses and mules which traverse settled countries than in the camel caravans which cross the great deserts. It will easily be seen how far this applies to the elucidation of the text before us ; and we believe that the statement we have given will furnish a sufficient explanation of all the pas- sages of Scripture which bear on this subject. 1 1. ' The spear that is at his bolster, and the cruse of water.' — Literally ^nb'^5'^p, ' at his head,' answering to 1''n'^nD, ' at his feet.' 'This it is necessary to explain, that the present text may not seem to contradict an observation made under eh. xix. 13. Saul, as a king, and as sleeping apparently in the open air, may have had a bolster ; but the present text does not say that he had ; and we think it more than doubtful that bolsters had yet come into use for other tlian sick persons and women. The sleep of Saul, with his head on a bolster and a vessel of water by his side, re- ceives illustration from the practice of Eastern travellers. The bolster is round, about eight inches in diameter and twenty in length. In travelling, it is carried rolled up in the mat or carpet in which the owner sleeps. In a hot cli- mate, a draught of water is very refreshing in the night: hence a vessel, filled with water, is always near where a person sleeps. As to the custom of sleeping with the spear stuck into the ground at the head, see p. 27 of this vo- lume. However, the text as a whole receives much illus- tration from the existing customs of the East. 13, 14. ' Then David stood on the top of an hill afar off, a great space being between them : and David cried to the people; etc.— See also Judg. ix. 7, 20 ; 2 Sam. ii. 25, etc. In all these instances persons are described as addressing the people ' afar off,' and from the tops of hills, so that we are sometimes surprised to think how it was possible for them to be heard. We do not remember ever to have met with any attempt to explain this, save in the following in- teresting passage from Hough's Letters on the Nielgherries. ' The great extent to which the sound of the voice is con- veyed has been thought by some persons to be a proof of the extreme rarity of the atmosphere, A similar observa- tion is made by Captain Parry in his Voi/age of Discovery to the Polar Segions, 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 Nielgherries, or Blue Mountains of Coimbatore in South India. I have heard the natives, especially in the morning and evening, when the air was still, carry on conversations 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 171 Chap. XXYII.] [B.C. 10.58. svUable as distinctly as if they were conversing face to face. When listening to them, 1 have often been reminded of those passages of holy writ where it is recorded, that Jotham addressed the ungrateful people of Shechem from Mount Gerizim. In the dense atmosphere of England, and even in the purer air of the plains of India, it is not easy to imagine how a discourse could be carried on at so great a distance, and from such an eminence ; but on the Nielgher- ries, the portions of sacred history to which I have referred receive a striking illustration.' 20. 'A partridge.' — The original word is Nip hore, which signifies ' the crier ' or ' caller.' That it indicates a species of the Tetraoidda (grouse, partridges), there is no reason to doubt ; but to which one, if to any one, of the nume- rous species inhabiting that country, it applies, is hard to say. Probably it includes more than one species, as the ancients did not discriminate species by different names so nicely as ■we do, except among domestic animals. We set down the names of such of them as we have been able to ascertain. Francolims vulgaris, or Syrian partridge ; Perdrix rubra, or red-legged partridge; Pndrix saxatilis, or Greek part- ridge ; Perdrix petrosa, or Barbary partridge ; Pterocles alchata, or pin-tailed sand-grouse; Pterocles arenariu), or sand-grouse, and probably others which have not been yet ascertained. If we ajie to suppose that sonje particular Parthi; (Kalta ) spi cus IS intended by the Hebrew ^wt, there arc two be- tween which we should somewhat hesitate to make the preference. The first is the hatta, or hatha, which has received that name among the Arabs from its cry or call, which is a remarkable circumstance when we refer to the etymology of the Hebrew word. Besides, the katta is one of the most common- birds in and near Palestine, and actu- ally swarms in the stony districts beyond the Jordan. They are so numerous in this quarter, that they occasion- ally appear like clouds in the distance. In fact, there is no place in which they are known to be equally abundant, not, certainly, in Arabia Petra>a. Burckhardt notices them often. Near Boszra he says—' The quantity of kattas here are beyond description ; the whole plain seemed sometimes to rise: and far off in the air they were seen like large moving clouds.' In the country cast of the Dead Sea, and in the mountains of Edom, their numbers are the most ex- cessive and incredible ; and so dense are the flocks in which they fly, that the Arab boys often kill two or three at a time merely by throwing a s'ick among them. According to Russell the bird is found at all seasons, but thus numerously chiefly in May and June, when, even in Northern Syria, a quantity sufficient to load an ass has sometimes been taken at one shutting of the clap-net. The Turks, among whom the more delicate kinds of wild fowl are not in nmch re- quest, are remarkably fond of this bird ; but by the Franks in Syria the flesh is considered black, hard, and dry, and the bird never appears at their tables. The katta deposits upon the ground two or three eggs of a greenish black colour, and about the size of a pigeon's ; and the dangers to which they are exposed in this situation agrees with the reference to the kore in Jer. xvii. 11; 'the partridge sitteth on eggs and hatcheth them not.' The Arabs collect large quantities of them, and eat them, fried in butter. Burck- hardt, Hasselquist, and others are strongly of opinion that this bird is the selav (or quail) of Scripture; bat perhaps not on suflicient evidence, although it must be admitted that the question as to the selav of the Israelites must be understood to lie between the katta and the common quail. It must be conceded, however, that some of the indica- tions with respect to the ' partridge' of our version might be equally applicable to some one of the red-legged part- ridges, which, in the different species mentioned, are also very common in Palestine. Travellers seem to have applied the term ' red-legged ' without any discrimination of species — for not only that which is distinctly so called, but the Greek and Barbary partridges, and the Francoline vulgaris, are red-legged. Monro shot a ' red-legged partridge ' in the plains of Philistia, and says that its plumage resenibled that of the red-legged partridge of France, but was nearly twice the size, being little less than a hen-pheasant. This he says was the Tetrao rubricollis {rei-necked) of Lin- nteus, and he is probably right, as he must have known the obvious distinction of the species, which is red-legged as well as red-necked. Monro shot another partridge near Jerusalem, and found it to be the Barbary partridge. Burckhardt mentions the ' red-legged ' partridge as a powerful runner. The present text in reference to hunt- ing a partridge on the mountains, is applicable to the red- legged partridges even more than to the katta, for they are partial to upland brushwood, which is no uncommon cha- racter of the hills and mountains of Palestine. The mode in which the Arabs hunt them affords a further illustration of the comparison. They often get near enough to throw a destructive fire into a covey, by advancing under cover of an oblong piece of canvas, stretched over a couple of reeds or sticks, like a door. Having also observed that the birds become languid and fatigued after they have been hastily put up once or twice, they immediately run in upon them, and knock them down with staves. Captains Irby and Mangles state that, ' on approaching an Arab encampment near Homs, we beheld a very animated and busy scene : the girls were singing, and the children busied in running down the young partridges with dogs, as they were as yet only able to fly a short distance at a time.' — Travels, p. 261. CHAPTER XXVII. 1 Scni/ hraritiq Dnvid to he in Goth, seeheth no more for him. 5 liiirld bcf/r/etli Zildag of Achish. 8 He, inmrliiuj nlliir countries, persuadeth Acltish he fought against Jmluh. And David said in his heart, I shall now 'perish one day by the hand of Saul : there is nothing better for ine than that 1 should spee- dily escape into the land of the Philistines ; and Saul shall despair of me, to seek mc any more in any coast of Israel : so shall I esca])e out of his hand. 2 And David arose, and he passed over with the six hundred men that were with him unto Achish, the son of Maoch, king of Gath. 3 And David dwelt with Achish at Gath, he and his men, every man with his houshold, Hcb. he consumed. Chap. XXVIIL] [B.C. 1056. even David with his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezrenlitess, and Abigail the Carraelitess, Nakd's wife. 4 And it was told .Saul tliat David was fled to Gath : and he souirlit \w more again for liiui. 5 •! And David said unto Aehish, If I have now found grace in thine eyes, let them give me a place in some town in the country, that I may dwell there : for why should thy servant dwell in the royal city with thee ? 6 Then Achish gave him Ziklag that day : wherefore Ziklag pertaineth unto the kings of Judah unto this day. 7 And 'the time that David dwelt in the country of the Philistines was "a full year and four months. 8 H And David and his men went up, and invaded the Geshurites, and the 'Gezerites,and the Amalekites : for those nations were of old the inhabitants of the land, as thou goest to Shur, even unto the land of Egypt. 9 And David smote the land, and left nei- ther man nor woman alive, and took away the sheep, and the oxen, and the asses, and the camels, and the apparel, and returned, and came to Achish. 10 And Achish said, 'Wliither have ye made a road to day? And David said, Against the south of Judah, and against the south of the Jerahmeelites, and against the south of the Kenites. 1 1 And David saved neither man nor woman alive, to bring tidinrjs to Gath, saying, Lest they should tell on us, saying. So did David, and so will be his manner all the while he dwelleth in the country of the Philistines. 12 And Achish believed David, saying. He hath made his people Israel 'utterly to abhor him ; therefore he shall be my servant for ever. umber of days. Ileb. a year of days. Verse 2. ' Acliish, the son ofMancIi, h!nq of Gath.'— The manner in which this person is distinguislied, as ' the son of Maoch,' seems to render it probable that he -was not the same as the Achish who reigned when David first went to Gath. David's intention was now very different from what it had been at the former visit. His future prospects, and the enmity of the reigning king, were probably the common talk, and might afford sufficient reason for the king of Gath to deem it an act of policy to receive him well. Some think that a refuge within his dominions is to be understood as having been voluntarily offered by the king. 6. ' Ziklag.' — In the distribution of the land this town was assigned to Judah (Josh. xv. 31), and afterwards to Simeon (Josh. xix. 5) ; but it does not appear that the Israelites ever possessed it; and we now find it belonging to the Philistines, who gave it to David. We see, in ch. XXX., that when the Pliilistines assembled at Aphek to make war against Saul, and when David also had proceeded to the same place of rendezvous, the Amalekites availed themselves of the opportunity of invading the land, and burnt Ziklag ; but, as the autlior of these chapters adds in the text, that the town still in his time pertained to the kings of Judah, it must afterwards have been rebuilt. We have no information about the place of Ziklag, except that it was in Daroma, the southern province of Palestine. Daroma began at Elcutheropolis, and extended thence about twenty miles southward. If we place it in the northern part of that province, we shall have it at a convenient distance to the south of Gath ; for the history of David's transactions, during his sojourn among the Philistines, seems to render it quite clear that Ziklag must have been several miles to the south of Galh. 8. ' Geshurites.' — See the note on Josh. xiii. 2. — ' Gezrites' — If, on the best authority to be obtained, the town of Gezer be rightly placed in the note to Josh, xii. 12, the southward direction of David's excursion will not allow these Gezrites to have been the inhabitants of that Gezer, as some writers conceive. The word is rather uncertain, and does not occur in the Septuagint vei-sion of this text. We have no information concerning such a people, unless, as Wells conjectures, they are the same as the Gerrheuians of 2 Mace. xiii. 24; so called from their chief town Gerra, mentioned by Strabo as lying between Gaza and Pelusium in Egypt. 10. ^Jerahmeelites.' — The Jerahmeelites were merely one of the branches of the family of Judah, and probably oc- j cupied the southern part of that tribe's territory. The information that David had been acting against his own I tribe was well calculated to please and satisfy Achish. j Jerahmeel, who gave name to this branch of the tribe, was the great-grandson of Judah ; and concerning him and his ' posterity there are various particulars iu 1 Chron. ii. CIIArTER XXVIII. 1 Achish putteth cunfdaice in David. 3 Said, having destroyed the witches, 4 and now in his fear for- saken of God, 7 seeketh to a witch. 9 tlie witch, encouraged by Saul, raiseth up Samuel. 15 Snvl, hearing his ruin, fainteth. 21 The woman with his servants refresli him with meat. And it came to pass in those days, that the Philistines gathered their armies together for warfare, io tight with Israel. And Achish said unto David, Know thou assuredly, that thou shalt go out with me to battle, thou and thy men. 2 And David said to Achish, Surely thou shalt know what thy servant can do. And Achish said to David, Therefore will I make thee keeper of mine head for ever. 3 IF Now 'Samuel was dead, and .all Israel had lamented him, and buried him in Ramab, even in his own city. And Saul had put away Chap. XXVIII.] I. SAMUEL. those that had familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land. 4 IT And the Philistines gathered themselves together, and came and pitched in Shunem : and Saul gathered all Israel together, and they i)itched in Gilboa. 5 And v/h-n Saul saw the host of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart greatly trembled. 6 And when Saul enquired of the Lord, the Lord answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets. 7 II Then said Saul unto his servants. Seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit, that I may go to her, and enquire of her. And his servants said to him, Behold, there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at En-dor. 8 And Saul disguised himself, and put on other raiment, and he went, and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night : and he said, I pray thee, divine unto me by the familiar spirit, and bring me him up, whom I shall name unto thee. 9 And the woman said unto him. Behold, thou knowest what Saul hath done, how he hath cut off those that have familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land : wherefore then layest thou a snare for my life, to cause me to (lie ? 10 And Saul sware to her by the Lord, saying, As the Lord liveth, there shall no punishment hnppen to thee for this thing. 11 Then said the woman. Whom shall I bring up unto thee ? And he said, Bring me up Samuel. 12 And when the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice : and the woman spake to Saul, saying, AVhy hast thou de- ceived me ? for thou art Saul. 13 And the king said unto her. Be not afraid : for what sawest thou ? And the woman said unto Saul, I saw gods ascending out of the earth. 14 And he said unto her, "What form is he of? And she said. An old man cometh up ; and he is covered with a mantle. And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he stooped with his face to the ground, and bowed himself 15 1[ And Samuel said to Saul, Why hast thou disquieted me, to bring me up? And [B.C. Saul answered, I am sore distressed ; for the Philistines make war against me, and God is departed from me, and answereth me np more, neither ""by prophets, nor by dreams : there- fore I have called thee, that thou mayest make known unto me what I shall do. 16 Then said Samuel, Wherefore then dost thou ask of me, seeing the Lord is departed from thee, and is become thine enemy ? 17 And the Lord hath done 'to him, *as he spake by "me : for the Lord hath rent the kingdom out of thine hand, and given it to thy neighbour, even to David : 18 Because thou obeyedst not the voice of the Lord, nor executedst his fierce wrath upon Amalek, therefore hath the Lord done this thing unto thee this day. 19 Moreover the Lord will also deliver Israel with thee into the hand of the Philis- tines : and to morrow shalt thou and thy sons ie with me ; the Lord also shall deliver the host of Israel into the hand of the Philistines. 20 Then Saul 'fell straightway all along on the earth, and was sore afraid, because of the words of Samuel : and there was no strength in him ; for he had eaten no bread all the day, nor all the night. 21 IT And the woman came unto Saul, and saw that he was sore troubled, and said unto him. Behold, thine handmaid hath obeyed thy voice, and I have put my life in my hand, and have hearkened unto thy words which thou spakest unto me. 22 Now therefore, I pray thee, hearken thou also unto the voice of thine handmaid, and let me set a morsel of bread before thee ; and eat, that thou mayest have strength when thou goest on thy way. 2.3 But he refused, and said, I will not eat. But his servants, together with the woman, compelled him ; and'he hearkened unto tluir voice. So he arose from the earth, and sat uiion the bed. 24 And the woman bad a fat calf in the house ; and she hasted, and killed it, and took flour, and kneaded //, and did bake unleavened bread thereof: 25 And she brought it before Saul, and before his servants ; and they did eat. Then they rose up, and went away that night. Chap. XXIX.] [B.C. lO.iG. Verse 2. ' / irilt make line keeper of mine liead:—lu the East tlie head is usually meutioued as the principal part of the body. lu common language ' the head' is equivalent to ' the life;' therefore, what Achish means is, probably, that he would make David the commander of his life-guard — a most honourable office in the East. 4. ' Shunem.' — This place is mentioned in Josh. xix. 18, as being in the tribe of Issachar. Here it is the place where the Philistines encamp. It is also celebrated as the native place of the beautiful Abishag (1 Kings i. 3), and as the residence of the good woman who entertained Elisha (2 Kings iv. 8-37; viii. 1-6). Eusebius and Je- rome describe it as being in their day a village five Koman miles from Mount Tabor towards the south, and bearing the name of Sulem. It has been recently recognised under the corresponding name of Solam, by several travellers, in ■ a village three miles and a half north of Jezreel. — 'Gilbua.' — The circumstance of the narrative would alone lead us to seek Gilboa in the mountains which bound the great plain of Esdraelon on the south-east, and are in- terposed between it and the Jordan valley. Here there are a number of ridges, with a general direction from north- west to south-east, separated by vallies running iu the same direction. The largest of these vallies is the south- ernmost ; it is a broad, deep plain, about two miles and a half wide, and leading direct into the Jordan valley. This is supposed to be distinctively (for the plain of Ksdraelou is sometimes so called) the valley of Jezreel. The moun- tains which bound it on the north appear to be those of Little Hermon, and the higher mountains which bound it on the south undoubtedly form Mount Gilboa. There is still, indeed, an inhabited village, in whose name of Jelbom that of Gilboa may be recognised. 7. 'A woman that hath a familiar spirit.'— See the note on Dent, xviii. 11. From the present text it appears that those who pretended to the spirit of divination included in their pretensions the power of obtaining access to the coun- sels of the dead ; or, rather, of calling on the dead to appear to those who desired their presence. These were therefore what we call necromancers ; the belief in whose powers has existed in most countries, and still lingers perhaps in some of the dark corners even of our own land. The pre- sent chapter has given occasion to much discussion, turning chiefly on the points — whether the appearance of Samuel was real, or au imposition of the pythoness on the credu- lity of Saul; and; i/real, by what power it was produced? That the spirit of Samuel was evoked by the woman, and came on the compulsion of her powerful arts, is an opinion that has had its advocates, but has of late years generally been rejected. Even Sir Thomas Brown, whose errors are often on the side of credulity, rejected this explanation. In his chapter, 'Of the last and most common promoter of false opinions — the endeavours of Satan," he says, — ' Thus hath he (Satan) also made men believe that he can raise the dead, that he hath the key of life and death, and a pre- rogative above that principle which makes no regression from privations.' After alluding to the opinions of the heathen philosophical schools on this point, he adds : — • More inconsistent is the error of Christians, who, holding the dead do rest in the Lord, do yet believe they are at the lure of the devil, — that he, who is in bonds himself, com- mandeth the fetters of the dead, and, dwelling in the bot- tomless lake, (calleth) the blessed from Abraham's bosom : — that can believe the real resurrection of Samuel, or that there is anything but delusion in the practice of necro- mancy, or the popular raising of ghosts' ( Vulgar Errors, i. 10). For these and other reasons many believe that the witch of Endor was nothing more nor less than ' a cunning woman,' who, being acquainted with the state of public affairs — guessing that the tall stranger, who assurtd her that no harm should happen to herself, could be no other than the king of Israel — and being well acquainted, as pro- bably most of the Israelites were, with the person of Sanmel ^undertook the no very difficult task of deceiving Saul. Under this view, it is thought that Saul did not see the ap- pearance, but trusted to the woman's statement that she saw it ; and that the voice which was heard was produced by the powers of ventriloquism :— although others suppose that the woman had an associate who personated the appear- ance and imitated the voice of the dead prophet. Some, however, conclude that this associate was a demon, whose aid she invoked on this occasion. B\it, thirdly, a large class of highly respectable interpreters contend that the appearance was really that of Samuel ; but, of course, deny that the power of the woman or of the devil had any share in its production. They think that, when the woman was preparing either to use her craft in imposing on Saul, or else was about to employ her incantations in the expectation of raising a demoniacal spirit to answer his questions, Samuel himself, or his spirit, appeared, by the Lord's permission, to the very great and declared surprise of the woman her- self. The text certainly does throughout convey the im- pression that the appearance was real. This also was the opinion of the ancient Jewish church, as expressed in Ecclus. xlvi. 20, where of Samuel it is said, that ' after his death he prophesied, and shewed the king his end.' Jose- phus also describes the appearance as really that of Samuel. Dr. Hales, in his New Analysis of Chronology, has an able article on this view of the subject ; in which he thinks that the following were among the reasons for the permitted appearance to Saul : — 1. ' To make Saul's crime the instru- ment of his punishment, in the dreadful denunciation of his approaching doom. 2. To shew to the heathen world the infinite superiority of the Oracle of the Lord, in- spiring his prophets, over the powers of darkness and the delusive prognostics of their wretched votaries in their false oracles. 3. To confirm the belief of a future state, by " One who rose from the dead," even under the Mosaical dispensation ' (Luke xvi. 31). — ' jBn-(/or.'— -This town is, in Josh. xvii. 11, assigned to the half-tribe of Manasseh, although lying beyond the limits of that tribe. It is mentioned in Ps. Ixxxiii. 10, in connection with the victory of Deborah and Barak ; but is chiefly memorable for the circumstance recorded in this chapter. The name does not occur in the New Testament ; but it was near to Nain, and in the time of Eusebius and Jerome it still existed as a large village, four miles south of Mount Tabor. At about this distance, in the northern slope of the lower ridge of the lesser Hermon, a village of this name is still found. Burckhardt describes the inha- bitants as being aware of the Scriptural note of their vil- lage ; for they point out the grotto which they believe the witch to have inhabited. The Bible says nothing of her grotto, and she probably lived in a house like the other in- habitants of the place. CHAPTER XXIX. 1 David marchinrj xcith the Philistines, 3 is hy their princes. 6 Achish dismisseth him, with commendations of his fidelity. Now the Philistines gathered together all their armies to Aphek : and the Israelites pitched by a fountain which is in Jezreel. 2 And the lords of the Philistines passed on by hundreds, and by thousand.^ : but David and his men passed on in the rereward with Achish. 3 Then said the princes of the Philistines, What do these Hebrews here ? And Achish said unto the princes of the Philistines, Is not this David, the servant of Saul the king of Chap. XXX.] I. SAMUEL. [B.C. 10.56. Israel, wliich hath been with me tliese days, or these jears, and I have found no fault in him since he fell unto me unto this day ? 4 And the princes of the Philistines were wroth with him ; and the princes of the Phi- listines said unto him, 'IMake this fellow return, that he may go again to his place which thou hast appointed him, and let him not go down with us to battle, lest in the battle he be an adversary to us : for where- with should he reconcile himself unto his master? sliould it not be with the heads of these men ? 5 Is not this David, of whom they sang one to another in dances, saying, 'Saul slew his thousands, and David his ten thou- sand.s ? G 11 Then Achish called David, and said unto him, Surely, as the Lord liveth, thou hast been upright, and thy going out and thy coming in with me in the host is good in my sight : for I have not found evil in thee since the day of thy coming unto me unto this rthcle. 'the lords favour thee day : not. 7 Wherefore now return, and go in peace, that thou 'di.-please not the lords of the Phi- listines. 8 And David said unto Achish, But what iiave I done ? and what hast thou found in thy servant so long as 1 have been 'with thee unto this day, that I may not go light against the enemies of my lord the king ? 9 And Achish answered and said to David, I know that thou art good in my sight, as an angel of God : notwithstanding the princes of the Philistines have said, He shall not go up with us to the battle. 10 Wherefore now rise up early in the morning with thy master's servants that are come with thee : and as soon as ye be up early in the morning, and have light, depart. 11 So David and his men rose up early to depart in the morning, to return into the land of the Philistines. And the Philistines went up to Jezreel. 3 Heb. thou art not (]nt>d in the eyes of the lords. Verse 1. ' Apheh.'—'&ee note to Josh. xii. 18. This must have been in tlie tribe of Issachar, in or on the bor- ders of the great plain of Esdraelon ; and must not be con- founded with the place of the same name in the tribe of Judah, where the Philistines had their camp in the time ofEli(ch. iv. 1). — ' JezTceL'—TUi place is described in Josh. xix. 18, as being in the lot of Issachar. It is often mentioned in the subsequent history, as it acquired political importance from the presence of the kings of Israel, who had a palace in Jezreel, and sometimes held their court there, although Samaria was the capital. It is most frequently mentioned in the history of the house of Ahab. There was the vine- yard of Naboth, which Ahab coveted to enlarge the palace- grounds (1 Kings xviii. 45, 46; xxi.) ; and here Jehu executed his dreadful commission against the house of Ahab, when Jezebel, Joram, and all who were connected with that wretched dynasty perished (2 Kings ix. 14, 37; X. 1-11). These horrid scenes appear to have given the kings of Israel a distaste to this residence, ns it is not again mentioned in their history. It is, however, named by Hosea (i. 4 ; comp. i. 11; ii. 22) ; and in Judith (i. 8 ; iv. 3 ; vii. 3) ; it occurs under the name of Esdraelon. In the days of Eusebius and Jerome it was still a large village, called Esdraela (' Jezrael ') ; and in the same age it again occure as Stradela. Nothing more is heard of it till the time of the Crusades, when it was called by the Franks, Parvum Gerinum, and by the Arabs, Zeriu ; and it is described as commanding a wide prospect — on the east to the mountains of Gilead, and on the west to Mount Carmel ( Giiil. Tijr. xxii. 26). But this line of identification seems to have been afterwards lost sight of, and Jezreel came to be identified with Jenin. 3. ' The princes nf the Philistines'— The heads of the other Philistine states, not the lords in the court of Achish, who probably concurred in or submitted to the views which the king entertained concerning David. CHAPTER XXX. 1 'J'he Aiiiali/utes spoil Ziklng. 7 David asking counsel is encouraged by God to pursue them. II Bij the means of a revived Egyptian he is brought to the enemies, and recovereth ail the spoil. 22 David's lull! to divide the spod e.qiudUj hetiveen than thntjight mid III! HI Ihtit Imp the slut}'. 2G He sendcth pie- sviils to hisjriaids. And it came to pass, when David and his men were come to Ziklag on the third day, that the Amalekitcs had invaded the south, 17G and Ziklag, and smitten Ziklag, and burned it with fire ; 2 And had taken the women captives, that were therein : they slew not any, either great or small, but carried than away, and went on their way. 3 11 So David and his men came to the city, and, behold, it u-as burned with fire; and their wives, and their sons, and their daughters, were taken captives. 4 Then David and the people that %i>ere Chap. XXX.] I. SAMUEL. [B.C. 1056. with him lifted up their voice and wept, until they had no more power to weep. 5 And David's two wives were taken cap- tives, Ahinoam the Jczreelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite. 6 And David was greatly distressed ; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was 'grieved, every man for his sons and for liis daughters : but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God. 7 And David said to Ahiathar the priest, Ahimelech's son, I pray thee, bring me hither the ephod. And Abiathar brought thither the ephod to David. 8 And David enquired at the Lord, say- ing, Shall I pursue after this troop? shall I overtake them ? And he answered him. Pursue : for thou shalt surely overtake them, and without fail recover all. 9 II So David went, he and the six hundred men that icerc with him, and came to the brook Besor, where those that were left behind stayed. 10 But David pursued, he and four hun- dred men : for two hundred abode behind, which were so faint that they could not go over the brook Besor. 11 And they found an Egyptian in the field, and brought him to David, and gave him bread, and he did eat ; and they made him drink water ; 1 2 And they gave him a piece of a cake of figs, and two clusters of raisins : and wdien he had eaten, his spirit came again to him : for he had eaten no bread, nor drunk aui/ water, three days and three nights. 13 And David said unto him. To whom helonr/est thou ? and whence art thou ? And he said, I am a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite ; and my master left me, because three days agone I fell sick. 14 We made an invasion upon the south of the Cherethites, and upon the coast which belongeth to Judah, and upon the south of Caleb ; and we burned Ziklag with fire. 15 And David said to him, Canst thou bring me down to this company ? And he said. Swear unto me by God, that thou wilt neither kill me, nor deliver me into the hands of my master, and I will bring thee down to this company. 16 H And when he had brought him down, behold, theij were spread abroad upon all the earth, eating and drinking, and dancing, because of all the great spoil that they had taken out of the land of the Philistines, and out of the land of Judah. 17 And David smote them f\-om the twi- light even unto the evening of *the next day : and there escaped not a man of them, save four hundred young men, which rode upon camels, and tied. IS And David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away : and David rescued his two wives. 19 And there was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither spoil, nor any thincj that they had taken to them : David recovered all. 20 And David took all the flocks and the herds, ivhich they drave before those other cattle, and said, This is David's spoil. 21 And David came to the two hundred men, which were so faint that they could not follow David, whom they had made also to abide at the brook Besor : and they went forth to meet David, and to meet the people that ircre with him : and when David came near to the people, he "saluted them. 22 H Then answered all the wicked men and men of Belial, of 'those that went with David, and said. Because they went not with us, we will not give them ought of the spoil that we have recovered, save to every man his wife and his children, that they may lead them away, and depart. 23 Then said David, Ye shall not do so, my brethren, with that which the Lord hath given us, who hath preserved us, and delivered the company that came against us into our hand. 24 For who will hearken unto you in this matter ? but as his part is that goeth down to the battle, so shall his part be that tarrieth by the stuff: they shall part alike. 25 And it was so from that day 'forward, that he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel unto this day. 26 H And when David came to Ziklag, he sent of the spoil unto the elders of Judah, even to his friends, saying, Behold a "present for you of the spoil of the enemies of the Lord ; 27 To them which were in Beth-el, and to tliem which icere in south Ramoth, and to them which were in Jattir, 28 And to them which were in Aroer, and to them which were in Siphmoth, and to them which were in Eshtemoa, Chap. XXX.] I. SAMUEL. [B.C. 105G. 29 And to thein which were in Rachal, and to them wliich were in the cities of the Jerah- meelites, and to them which loere in the cities of the Kenites, 30 And to them which vv7-e in Hormah, and to them which icere in Chor-ashan, and to them which ivere in Athach, ol And to them which were in Hehron, and to all the places where David liimself and his men were wont to haunt. Verse 1. ' T/ie Amalekiles had invaded the soh(/i.'— The strenglh of the country, both of the Hebrews and of the Philistines, having been drawn northwards to the battle in Esdraelon, the Amalekites, as might be expected, eagerly availed themselves of the opportunity of invading the defenceless south. In this expedition, which has en- tirely the character of a nomade incursion into a settled countiy, they were not likely to overlook David's town, or to fail of avenging his recent expedition against themselves. 2. ' Slew not ani/.' — The men capable of bearing arms having gone to the war, there were probably none of those remaining in the town whom it was usual to put to death. In most cases the women and boys were spared, to be used as slaves, and the old people from the prevailing sentiment of respect to age. David, iu his recent expedition against the southern tribes, did not spare any ; while the Amale- kites spared all. The reason of this difference, apparently to the disadvantage of David's humanity, is obviously that David had to do with armed men, whom it was not usual to spare, whereas the Amalekites found none but those whom it was unusual to destroy. This, and other war practices which occur in this chapter, such as the division of spoil, etc., have already been fully considered in the notes to Num. xxxi. and Deut. xx. To this we cannot here abstain from adding the excellent illustration to be derived from the instructions which the Khalif Abubekr addressed to Yezid, when about to send him at the head of an army into Syria. After advising him to behave kindly to his own troops, he says: 'When you meet your euemies, quit yourselves like men, and don't turn your backs ; and if you get the victory, kill no little children, nor old people, nor women. Destroy no palm- trees (see note on Deut. xx. 19), nor burn any fields of corn. Cut down no fruit-trees, nor do any mischief to cattle, only such as you kill to cat. When you make any covenant, stand to it, and be as good as your word,' etc. (Ockley's Conquest of Si/ria, p. 24). 9. ' The brook Besor.' — The winter torrent now called Wady-Gaza, which is mentioned by Dr. Richardson as falling into the Mediterranean, a little to the south of Gaza, agrees exceedingly well with the situation which the history would seem to assign to the brook liesor. That so many of the men were tired by the time they got to the brook Besor proves that Ziklag, and consequently Gath, was a good distance to the north, and furnishes another argument for not placing it so far to the south as Calmet, T. H. Home, and others, have done. The vicinity of a river was naturally selected as the resting-place of those who were unable to proceed farther. 13. ' My master left mr, because three days agone I fell sick.' — This Egyptian had probably been taken prisoner treated with great kindness in the East; but it docs still not unfrequently happen that, in rapid journeys over the deserts, slaves are abandoned, and often perish, because the inhuman master, or his party, will not consent to en- cumber themselves with the necessary conveyance of, or attendance on, a sick man. If he can, by his own exer- tions, keep up with his company, it is well ; but if not, there is little hope for him. Old slaves — that is, those who have long been the property of a particular master, or have been reared in his family — are, we believe, scarcely ever thus treated ; but slaves newly purchased or acquired do not often meet with equal indulgence. This 'young man of Egypt ' would seem not long to have been a slave to his Amalekite master. 27. ' To them which were in Beth-el,' etc. — Bethel and the other principal towns in this list have already been noticed. — ' South Ramoth ' is mentioned in Josh. xix. 8, among the cities of Simeon. — ' Jattir ' is included in Josh. xv. 48, among the towns ofJudahinthe mountains. Jerome reads it ' Jether,' as he well might, and identifies it with a large village, which existed in his time mider the name of Jethira. It was in the interior of Daroma, near Malatha, about twenty miles (south-east, of course) from Eleutheropolis, which places it among the mountains, as the text referred to requires, to the south of Hebron, among the well-known haunts of David. 28. ' Aroer' was hardly the Aroer on the other side Jordan, as all the places mentioned seem to have been in the tribe of Judah or on its borders : the Septuagint reads 'Arouel' instead of 'Adamah' in the list of Judah's towns given in Josh. xv. (y. 22) ; and this may be the place intended. — ' Eshtemoa ' is mentioned next to Jattir iu the list (Josh. xxi. 14) of the towns which Judah gave to the Levites, and, like it, is among the towns enumerated in the mountains of Judah. Jerome says that it was in his time a Jewish village of Daroma, to the north of another village called Anem (probably the Anim menticmed after Ashtemosh in Josh. xv. 50), which he seems to place to the east of Hebron, but modifies his statement by saying, that il -.'.: 'ii. ;■ 1 ilia-.' .'f tlh- >,M!,. ii;iliif, south of ir ' i ■ ■, ,: lln' !■' -r': - i ; I , Or CVCIl !':■. ■ // ■ ; . ■ .>;l„ /■,!.,. h'm.mi.-mm.I ,„ ihe^'Bibie, neither is Alnrli. 30. ' Chor-ashan ' is doubtless the Ashan given to the tribe of Simeon in Josh. xix. 7, and perhaps the same as the village of Beth-Asau of Jerome's time, fifteen miles from Jerusalem. These presents, sent to the elders of so many important places, shew that David had a party of powerful friends in his own tribe. Chap. XXXL] [B.C. 1056. (JHAl'TEK XXXI . 1 Saul having lost liis army, and his sons being slain, he and his armourbearer kill themselves. 7 2'he Philis- tines possess the forsaken towns of the Israelites. 8 They triumph over the dead carcases. 1 1 They of Jabcsh-gilead, recovering the bodies by night, burn them at Jabesh, and 7nournfully bury their bones. Now 'the Philistines fought against Israel : and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down 'slain in mount Gilboa. 2 And the Philistines followed hard upon Saul and upon his sons ; and the Philistines slew Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Melchi- shua, Saul's sons. 3 And the battle went sore against Saul, and the ^archers 'hit him ; and he was sore wounded of the archers. 4 Then said Saul unto liis armom-bearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me through there- w itli ; lest these uncircumcised come and thrust nie through, and 'abuse me. But his armour- bearer would not ; for he was sore afi-aid. Therefore Saul took a sword, and fell upon it. 5 And when his armourbearer saw that Saul was dead, he fell likewise upon his sword, and died with him. 6 So Saul died, and his three sons, and his armourbearer, and all his men, that same day together. 7 1[ And when the men of Israel that loere on the other side of the valley, and thei/ that tvere on the other side Jordan, saw that the men of Israel fled, and that Saul and his sons were dead, they forsook the cities, and fled ; and the Philistines came and dwelt in them. 8 H And it came to pass on the morrow, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, that they found Saul and his three sons fallen in mount Gilboa. 9 And they cut off his head, and stripped ofli' his armour, and sent into the land of the Philistines round about, to publish it in the house of their idols, and among the people. 10 And they put liis armour in the house of Ashtaroth : and they fastened his body to the wall of Beth-shan. 11 ^ And when the inliabitants of Jabesh- gilead heard °of that which the Philistines had done to Saul ; 12 All the valiant men arose, and went all night, and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth-shan, and came to Jabesh, and 'burnt them there. 13 And they took their bones, and "buried them under a tree at Jabesh, and fasted seven days. Verse 4. ' Thcrrfore Saul took a sword, and fell upon it.' — The account here given is very materially different from that which the Amalekite gives in the first chapter of the following book. The moral difference between the "two accounts is however only the difference between tWQ forms of suicide. The account of Josephus reconciles the two statements by supposing that Saul claimed the assist- ance of the Amalekite, after having made an ineffectual attempt at self-destruction. But there remain other dis- crepancies which are not obviated by this explanation ; and, upon the whole, the general impression is more pro- bably correct, in receiving the statement in the present chapter as the accurate account; and in regarding the story told by the Amalekite as trumped up with the view of recommending himself to the favour of David. The plain account therefore is, that Saul, being wounded, and fearing the most grievous insults if he fell alive into the hands of the Philistines, chose rather to die by his own hand. This is one of the very few instances of suicide which occur in the Scriptures. It is still a practice ex- ceedingly rare among the Orientals, even in the most adverse circumstances of life, and with only prospects of death and misery before them. This appears to have been always the case in the East ; the ancient history of which affords very few instances of self-murder, connpared with that of the Western nations — the study of 'which has, unhappily, rendered the modern mind but too familiar with the historical celebrity of, and false principles con- nected with, a crime by which men affected to dare and to be superior to the calamities from which they shrank. 5. ' His armour-bearer . . . fell likewise upon his sword, and died with him.' — The Jews think that this armour- bearer was Doeg the Edomite, who had been promoted to that oiEce for his alacrity in obeying the king when com- manded to slay the priests. They also suppose that the sword which Saul took was that of the armour-bearer, and that the latter employed the same weapon, so that both Saul and Doeg died by the very weapon by which the priests of the Lord had been slain, by the order of the one and by the hand of the other. That the weapon with which Saul slew himself was that of the armour-bearer, seems highly probable from the context ; but we have no authority but this ancient tradition for supposing that the armour-bearer was Doeg. 10. ' The:/ fastened his body to the wall of Beth-shan; and the bodies of his sons also, as appears by verse 12. Josephus understands that the bodies were gibbeted on crosses outside the walls ; but others conceive, as the text seems to require, that the bodies were fastened to, or sus- pended against, tlie wall by nails or hooks. It was a custom among some ancient nations to punish criminals convicted of capital crimes, by throwing them from the wall, so that they should be caught by hooks which were inserted in the wall below, and by which they often hung for a long time in exquisite tortures. Very possibly the remains of these unhappy princes were fastened by such hooks to the wall of Beth-shan. — ' Beth-shan.' — This place was known to the Greeks by the name of Nysa, and afterwards by that of Scytho- polis, from the Scythians, who, when they overran Western Asia, took this city and retained it in their possession as lon;,^ as they continued in that region. It is known at present by the name of Beisan, which is merely a softened form of its ancient Hebrew name. It is situated about Chap. XXXI.] I. SAMUEL. [B.C. 1056. twelve miles to the south of the sea of Tiberias, and nearly two miles west of the Jordan. It was a place of such high repute among the Jews, that the Talmud says, that if the garden of Eden were in the land of Israel, Beth- shan was its gate ; and it is added, that its fruits were the sweetest in Israel. It remained a place of considerable importance in the fourth century, accoi'ding to Jerome ; hut at present its site is only marked by a miserable vil- lage in the midst of extensive ruins. Burckhardt describes Beisan as situated upon rising ground, on the west side of the valley of the Jordan, where the chain of mountains (Gilboa) declines considerably in height and presents merely elevated ground, quite open towards the west, and the mountains do not begin again till one hour's journey to the south. The ancient town was watered by a river now called Moiet Beisan, or the Water of Beisan, which flows in different branches towards the plain. The ruins of Scythopolis are of considerable extent, and the town built along the banks of the rivulet and in the vallies formed by its several branches, must have been nearly three miles in circuit. The only remains are large heaps of black hewn stones, many foundations of houses and fragments of a few columns. In one of the valleys there is a large mound of earth, which appeared to Burckhardt to be artificial, and which was probably the site of a castle for the defence of the town. On the left bank of the stream there is a large khan, where the caravans repose that take the shortest route from Jerusalem to Damascus. The village of Beisan contains seventy or eighty houses. Its inhabitants are in a miserable condition from being exposed to the depredations of the Bedouins, to whom they also pay a heavy tribute. Dr. Kichardson also, who calls the place ' an abominable sink of dirt and iniquity,' de- scribes the village as ' a collection of the most miserable hovels, containing about 200 inhabitants, and, in looking at their wretched accommodation, and a Bedoween en- campment that was spread out in the valley, we were not surprised to hear that in these countries the dwellers in tents look on the dwellers in towns as an inferior class of beings.' He also says that his party found the weather hotter at Beisan than in any other part of Juda?a. Masses of ejected lava lie scattered around the village, and the mountains have much the appearance of extinguished vol- canoes. Captains Irby and Mangles found traces of the walls of the ancient fortress, on the hill mentioned by Burckhardt. They also discovered other remains, which appear to have escaped his researches, and which suffi- ciently attest the ancient importance of the place, when it was the largest city of the Decapolis, being also the only one west of the Jordan. 1 2. ' Burnt them,' etc. . . . ' and took their hones, and buried them.' — This agrees with what was a common and honour- able rite of sepulture among the nations of classical anti- quity. This is the first time it is, as such, mentioned in Scripture ; and from the Law we should certainly infer that it was considered ignominious by the Hebrews. Per- haps it was resorted to in the present instance to preserve the remains of Saul and his sons from any further insult. This rite, however, ultimately became honourable among the Jews ; and perhaps the present instance gave the first impulse to the change of opinion (see the note on Jer. xxxiv. 5). Bat after the Captivity the practice was dis- continued, and the ancient aversion of the Hebrews to this rite revived with such vigour, that their learned men spent much ingenuity iu proving that it never had existed among them. Thus the Clialdce paraphrast alleges that the text means only that they burnt a light or lamp over them at Jabesh, such as they were accustomed to do over the bodies of kiugs. This, although a manifest miscon- struction of the plain sense of thu words, is M.r\ curious, as shewing that the subsisting Ori. i iil ii,: ■■ < f burning lights over the remains of princ. ^ . xisted in the timeof thcChaldeeparaphrasi. ■ 1 by him and his contemporaries as heingi^. n in ilmi tune ancient f LiOHTED ToMU.— Modern Oiuental. THE SECOND BOOK SAMUEL, OTHERWISE CALLED, THE SECOND BOOK OF THE KOGS. CHAPTER I. 1 Tlie Amaleltite, who brought tidings of the overthroiv, and acciiseth himself of Saul's death, is slain. 17 David lamenteth Saul and Jonathan with a song. "" OW it came to i)a=;s after the death of Saul, when Dav id was returned from ' tlie slaughter ' of the Ama- lekite^, and I)a^ id had abode two dajb in Zik- ' 'S ; 2 It came even to pass on the third day, that, be- hold, a man came out of the camp from Saul with his clothes rent, and earth upon his head : and so it was, when he came to David, that he fell to the earth, and did obeisance. 3 And David said unto him. From whence comest thou ? And he said unto him, Out of the camp of Israel am I escaped. 4 And David said unto him, ^How. went the matter ? I pray thee, tell mc. And he an- swered. That the people are fled from the battle, and many of the people also are fallen and dead ; and Saul and Jonathan his son are dead also. 5 And David said unto the young man that . 30. 17. S Heb. fTI I Chap. 3. Heb. Beliold me. told him. How knowest thou that Saul and Jonathan his son be dead ? 6 And the young man that told him, said, As I happened by chance upon mount Gilboa, behold, Saul leaned upon his spear ; and, lo, the chariots and horsemen followed bard after him. 7 And when he looked behind him, he saw me, and called unto ine. And I answered, ^Here am I. 8 And he said unto me, Who art thou? And I answered him, I am an Amalekite. 9 He said unto me again. Stand, I pray thee, upon me, and slay me : for 'anguish is come upon me, because my life is yet whole in me. 10 So I stood upon him, and slew him, be- cause I was sure that he could not live after that he was fallen : and I took the crown that u-us upon his head, and the bracelet that teas on his arm, and have brought them hither unto my lord. 11 11 Then David took hold on his clothes, and Vent them ; and likewise all the men that were with him : • 12 And they mourned, and wept, and fasted until even, for Saul, and for Jonathan his son, and for the people of the Lokd, and for the house of Israel ; because they were fallen by the sword. 13 ^ And David said unto the young man that told him, Whence art thou ? And he answered, I am the son of a stranger, an Ama- lekite. 14 And David said unto him, 'How wast thou not afraid to stretch forth thine hand to destroy the Lord's anointed? 1 Or, mn coat of mail, or, mu embroidered coat hindercth me, that my. Sec. Chap. I.] II. SAMUEL. [B.C. 1056. 15 And David called one of the youug men, and said, Go near, and fall upon him. And he smote him that he died. 16 And David said unto him, Thy blood be upon thy head ; for thy mouth hath testified against thee, saying, I have slain the Lord's anointed. 17 IF And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan his son: 18 (Also he bade them teach the children of Judah the use of the bow : behold, it is written 'in the book "of Jasher.) 19 The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places : how are the mighty fallen ! 20 "Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askelon ; lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph. 21 Ye mountains of Gllboa, let there he no dew, neither let there he rain, upon you, nor fields of offerings : for there the shield of the mighty is vilely cast away, the shield of 7 Josh. 10. 13. 8 Or, of the upright. Saul, as Ihowjh he had not been anointed with oil. 22 From the blood of the slain, fi-om tlie fat of the mighty, the bow of Jonathan turned not back, and the sword of Saul returned not empty. 23 Saul and Jonathan icere lovely and '"pleasant in their lives, and in their death they were not divided : they were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions. 24 Ye daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, who clothed you in scarlet, with other de- lights, who put on ornaments of gold upon your apparel. 25 How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle ! O Jonathan, thou wast slain in thine high places. 26 I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan : very pleasant hast thou been unto me : thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women. 27 How are the mighty fallen, and the weapons of war perished ! 9 Micah 1. 10. 11 Or, sweet. The Second Book, of Samuel.— The observations pre- fixed to the First Book of Samuel apply equally to that book and to this, leaving no occasion for introductory remarks upon the present book. Verse 10 ' T?ic bracelet that was vpon his arm' — We suppose that the aimlet found on the peison of feaul and Irought together with his crown to David was one ol the insignia of rojaltv and not as some have imagined, a mere personal ornament of value which the king hap- pened to wear. This conclusion is amply supported by the ancient and still subsisting customs of tlie East. When 182 worn hi/ men, they have been in nearly all eastern coun- tries marks of dignity, and, in some, of exclusively royal dignity. If we consult the numerous figures which the sculptures and paintings of ancient Egjpt offer, we find armlets very frequent ornaments of the women; but among men they only appear on the figures of the kings. Indun Armlets. D'Herbelot, in mentioning the investiture of Malek Rahim in the dominions and honours of his father (Alp Arslan) by the Khalif, Kaycm Bemrillali, observes that the ceremony of investiture ivas in such cases efl'ected by sending to the Sultan, who received that honour, toge- ther with his patent, a crown, bracelets, and a chain. In India tlic armlet was a mark of sovereignty at the court of the Grand Moguls. It still is such in Persia, where no man but the king wears armlets. They figure con- spicuously on the person, and even in the pictures of that potentate, and are, for their size, probably the most splen- did and costly articles of jewellery in the world, the two Chap. I.] II. SA which he wears on state occasions being, together, deemed worth a million sterling. This use of the bracelet was not, in ancient times, unknown in our own country. Thus the emblems of supreme autliority among the British kings were golden bands, worn around the neck, arms, and knees (Turner's Anglo Sax-ons, i. 383). One such ornament, set with jewels, and supposed to have belonged IP Caractacus, was found at the Herefordshire Beacon (Nash's Worcestershire, ii. 142). In the early Saxon era, such ornaments, although become more common, were confined to persons of high distinction, and if of gold, were considered proper presents for the sovereign. [UEL. [B.C. 105G. 18. 'He hade them teach the children of Judah the use o{ the bow.' — The words 'the use of not being in the original, some commentators think that ' the Bow ' was the title of the ensuing elegy, and that this is what was commanded to be taught. This is possible ; but the com- mon reading seems more than equally so, as the expe- rience of the efficacy of this weapon, in the recent engage- ment with the Philistines (1 Sam. xxxi. 3), was well calculated to direct David's attention to the subject, and induce him to desire that more attention should be paid to that arm for warlike purposes. David's own stay among the Philistines was also calculated to operate for the same result. The bow was indeed well known to the Hebrews long before this time; but it does not appear that it was used to any considerable extent as a military weapon. We read of no corps of archers in the Hebrew army till after David's time ; but very large bodies of archers are subsequently mentioned. They appear to have been chiefly Benjauiites, who seem, throughout their history, to have been remarkable for their partiality to missile weapons. The archers of Ephraim are, however, mentioned once (comp. 1 Chron. viii. 40 ; 2 Chron. xiv. 8, and xvii. 17 ; Ps. Ixxviii. 9). The frequent reference to archery in the Psalms would alone suffice to shew the interest which David took in the subject. The Bible itself bears witness to the extreme antiquity of the bow. Ishmael, when banished from his father's tents, ' dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer ;' and his nephew, Esau, employed the bow in his hunting (Gen. xxi. 20, and xxvii. 3). Very probably the invention of the bow originated in the desire to obtain a weapon for the distant attack of animals, whose strength or swiftness rendered a close assault difficult or dangerous. Such a weapon Teaching would, of course, soon come to be employed against man ; and to this we find allusions towards the end of Genesis, where, speaking of Joseph, the dying Israel says: 'The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him. But his (own) bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong ' (Gen. xlix. 23, 24). Here the strength of the arras is properly alluded to, a strong arm being necessary to bend a strong bow. The aged patriarch had, on a former occasion, told Jo- seph : ' Behold I have given thee one portion above thy brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow' (xlviii. 22). The most ancient offensive or defensive arms seem also —From a Sculpture at Thebes, to be those which are the most universal ; because that simplicity of construction which leads to early invention, leads also to independent discovery among different and unconnected nations. This applies to the bow, which we find to have been very extensively diffused. It exists among nations the most brutal, or ignorant, or savage, and even in the islands which lie most remote from any continent ; although, indeed, there have been some nations among whom no trace of its existence can be discovered. The ancient bows were for the most part of wood, but we sometimes read of horn being employed. Those of wood were tipped with horn, and those of horn with metal —often gold or silver. Indeed the bow was sometimes 183 Chap. I.] [B.C. 105C. EOVPTIAN- Bows. wholly of metal, as steel or brass ; and such are mentioned in Scripture (Job xx. 24 ; Ps. xviii. 34). These of course were, from their stifftiess, bent with great difficulty ; whence David, in the last-cited text, properly mentions it as a proof of the extraordinary strength with which the Lord had endowed him, that a bow of steel was broken by his arms. Thus, on account of the force required to bend some ancient bows, whether of wood, metal, or horn, it was often proposed as a trial of strength to bend some particular bow; and we find ancient heroes glorying in the possession and use of a bow which no one but them- selves could bend. Such was the famous bow of Ulysses. It had remained among his treasures during the twenty years of his absence from Ithaca. In the end, it was agreed that the hand of his supposed widow should be given to him who, out of the numerous suitors, should be able to bend this bow and to send the arrow through twelve rings. The bow was of horn, and the string had remained unhitched at one end, as usual when the weapon was not in use. Not one of the suitors was able even so far to bend the bow as to hitch on the string at the loosened end, although they tried to relax the rigidity of the bow by chafing it with suet before the fire. At last Ulysses himself, who was present in the disguise of a beggar, takes it, and the description of the manner in which he deals with it is highly interesting. ' He now, with busy look and curious touch. Explored the bow, now viewing it remote, Now near at hand, aware that, haply, worms Had, in his absence, drilled the solid horn.' At last— ' When the wary hero, wise. Had made his hand familiar with the bow. Poising it and examining — at once— As when in harp and song adept, a bard Strings a new lyre, extending first the chords. He knits them to the frame at either end. With promptest ease ! with such Ulysses strung His own huge bow, and with his right hand thrill'd The nerve, which in its quick vibration sang As with a swallow's voice He seized a shaft, which at the table's side Lay ready drawn .... He lodged the reed Full in the bowstring, drew the parted head Home to his breast, and aiming as he sat, At once dismiss'd it. Through the num'rous rings Swift flew the gliding steel, and, issuing, sped Beyond them.' 0(lijs/i. xxi. CowPER. It is observable that in the above extract, and in the other descriptions of Homer, the end of the arrow is drawn home to the breast, rather than to the right ear, as in Egyptian and Persian figures, and in the more modern practice both of the east and west. The length of the ancient bows seems to have been very various, but so far as we can collect, those intended for efficient use, and not merely for teaching archery, were seldom less than four feet long, or more than six. somewhat above five feet may have been the aveijige proportion of its length. The bow of the Ecyptians, who paid great attention to archery, was usually of wood, and about five feet in length. It appears from' the sculptures that, in stringing it, the Egyptians fixed the lower point of the bow in the ground, and, either standing or sitting, pressed the knee against the inner side of the bow, while they bent it with one hand, and with the other passed the string into the notch at the upper extremity. While shooting they frequently wore a guard on the left arm, to prevent its receiving an injury from the string; and this was not only fastened round the wrist, but was secured by a thong tied above the elbow. Sometimes a groove was fixed upon the fore knuckle, in which the arrow rested and ran when discharged ; and the huntsman, whose bow appears to have been less powerful than those used in war, occasionally held spare arrows in his right hand while he pulled the string.— See Wilkinson's Ancient Egi/plians, ch. iii. The bowstring was, among the ancients, formed of leathern thongs, horsehair, catgut, or string. The arrows were usually cither of reed or light wood, headed with bone, ivory, sharp stone, brass, or iron. They were some- times simply pointed, but oftener barbed, or leaf-shaped, like a spear-head. Arrow heads of bronze have been found in Egypt, triangular, in the shape of an elongated cone, with a barb at each angle. The horrible practice of poisoning the points of arrows, which now exists among many barbarous nations, is very ancient Ulysses is re- presented in Homer as having made a voyage to the island of Ephyre — ' In his swift bark, seeking some pois'uous drug, Wherewith to taint his brazen arrows keen. Which drug, through fear of the eternal gods, IIus refus'd, but readily my sire Gave to him, for he loved him past belief." It is thought that St. Paul alludes to such poisoned wea- pons when he exhorts the Ephesians to take ' the shield Chap. I.] II. SAMUEL. [B.C. 1056. of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.' But more probably the allusion is to another use of arrows, — which was, to fasten combus- tibles to them, and to send fire against the enemy or among the dwellings of a besieged place, or the works and engines of a besieging army. There seems a most dis- tinct reference to poisoned arrows in Job vi. 4; and to the custom of shooting combustibles in Ps. cxx. 4; and perhaps the latter reference may be detected in the figurative language which compares lightning to the arrows of the Almighty (Zech. ix. 14). The pestilence, and other sudden, devastating, and unavoidable calamities, are also described as the arrows of God. Arrows were usually feathered, generally with the wing feather of a goose or other large bird ; hence, and with reference to their swiftness, there was a two-fold propriety iu the poetical epithet of ' winged,' so often applied to these destructive missiles. The arrows were kept in a quiver, which was generally either round or obeliscal. and wider at the open than at the closed end, as the feathered ends of the arrows, which were uppermost, required more room than the points. In action, the Egyptian soldier usually bore the quiver in an almost horizontal position at his back, kept in that posi- tion by a weight which counterpoised its heavier end, and drew out the arrows from beneath his arm. Many in- Princes ■< AND QcivER.— From t ;-reUcf at Thebes. Stances, however, occur, as in the above engraving, in which the quiver is so placed at the back as to project over the top of the shoulder ; but this appears to liave been only during a march, or at a time when the arrows were not required. 'The quiver seems to have been closed by a lid or an over-lapping flap of skin, when no imme- diate occasion for the arrows was contemplated. The bow also had its case to preserve its elasticity, and pro- tect it from sun and damp. It was usually of leather or cloth, and was commonly suspended from the girdle, as represented in the opposite figure from the ancient sculp- tures of Persepolis. Among the Egyptians, bow-cases, more corresponding to the shape of the bow itself, were attached to the war-chariots, and were often very richly ornamented : but the only thing of the kind that appears to have been in use among the infantry, was a sheath of pliable substance, probably of leather, which covered only the centre, leaving the extremities exposed. As this only appears when the soldiers hold the bow in their hands during a march, it seems to have been chiefly intended to protect the bowstring from the perspiration of the hand. Taking it from the case, in preparation for action, is what Habakkuk alludes to in — ' Thy bow was made quite naked' (ch. iii. 9). The bow when out of its case was usually carried on the left arm or shoulder ; but in a sculpture at Tackt-i-Bostan, a king is represented with his bow about his neck, in such a fashion as might have suggested the Turkish use of the bowstring in strangling state offenders. Many of the above particulars are strikingly illustrated in the account which Homer gives of the archery of Pan- darus | and we cite it with the more satisfaction, on ac- count of the supposed proximity of the date of tlie Troja war to the times now under consideration : Chap. 11.] [B.C. 1056—1053. ' He complied, And at the word uncas'd his polish'd bow, The horn of a salacious mountain-goaL Full si.xteen palms his measur'd length of horu Had spir'd aloft; the bow -smith, root to root, Adapted each, shav'd smooth the wrinkled rind, Tlien polish'd all, and tipp'd the points with gold. That bow he strung, and, stooping to his task, Prepared it well for use, behind a fence Of Lycian shields, lest, seeing him, the Greeks Should fly to smite him ere the wound were giv'n. His quiver's lid displaced, he chose a dart Unflown, fuU-fledg'd, and barb'd with bitterest woe ; He lodg'd it on the cord, but ere it flew, To Lycian Phoebus vow'd, at his return To Zelia's walls, in honour of his aid, A hecatomb, all firstlings of the flock. Then, seizing fast the reed, he drew the barb Home to his bow, the bowstring to his breast. And when the horu was rounded to an arch. He twanged it. Whizz'd the bowstring, and the reed With fell impatience started to the goal.' /Karf,iv. 110-133. CowPEK. The bow was however by no means generally used in the Trojan war ; though it was preferred by some indi- vidual chiefs. The spear seems to have been considered the more honourable weapon in battle. It would seem, however, that the use of the bow was cultivated as an ac- complishment, useful in the chase and in occasional com- bats. Achilles and Ulysses we know to have been able archers, though we do not find them use the bow on the field of battle. In later times we find bodies of archers in the armies of Greece, Persia, and Rome, as well as in that of the Hebrews. The Cretans and Persians were the most famous archers of antiquity. The latter are spoken of in Scripture (Isa. xiii. 18; Jer. xlix. 35 ; 1. 9, 14, 29, 42). 19. ' Tlie heauty of Israel is slain upon tliij high places' — Jonathan is here intended, as appears from w. 25 : ' O Jonathan, thou wast slaiu in thine high places.' With Jonathan the poem begins, and with Jonathan, that tender and magnanimous friend, it ends. The word ('3V Izehi) rendered ' beauty ' in the present text, and elsewhere ' glory ' and ' honour,' means also the antelope or gazelle, which is regarded in Western Asia as the symbol of agility and beauty. It is probable that the animal comparison should be preferred, since the figure is then more sus- tained in the second clause. Under this view Geddes translates it : ' O antelope of Israel ! pierced on thine own mountains !' and the learned translator understands that the last clause refers to the habit among animals of tlie deer kind, when closely pursued, of running at last to their usual haunt, and there awaiting the fatal stroke. We see the allusion repeated in v. 25, and still with ap- plication to Jonathan. There may also be a reference in this comparison to the swiftness for which Jonathan was celebrated, for in v. 23 Saul and his son are described as being ' swifter than eagles.' We must be content with this single observation, without attempting to analyze this impressive elegy, or to expatiate on the several circum- stances of beauty and true pathos which it offers. 2G. ' Thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women,' or, as the word is frequently rendered, ' wives.' — Dr. Chandler, in his Life of David, remarks : ' This figure has been censured as not well chosen, and uisinua- tions dropped highly to the dishouour of the two noble friends. But the expression gives no countenance to it. It appears to me that there was somewhat in the conduct of Michal, David's wife, in too hastily consenting to be married to Phalti, that gave occasion to this comparison. It is certain from her behaviour to him, at the bringing the ark to Jerusalem, that she had not that high esteem and affection for him that she ought to have had, as she took this opportunity so bitterly to reproach him. It is certain also that her marriage to Phalti must have been preceded by a divorce from David, otherwise her second marriage would have been real adultery : and her con- senting to a divorce, though by her father's order, shewed great want of affection and fidelity to David. On this supposition no comparison could be better chosen, nor more tenderly and delicately expressed. The brother's love to him, as a friend, was more generous and constant than the sister's, though a wife. The compliment to Jonathan was very high, and just ; and the concealing the sister's name was truly polite.' CHAPTER II. 1 David, hy God's direction, with his company gocth rip to Hebron, where he is made king of Jvdah. 6 He commendeth them, of Jabesh-gilead for their kindness to Saul. 8 Abner maketh Jsh-bosketh king of Israel. 12 A mortal skirmish between twelve of ' Abner s and twelve of Joab's men. 18 Asaliel is slain. 25 At Abner's motion Joab soimdeth a re- treat. 32 AsaheVs burial. And it came to pass after this, that Uavid enquired of the Loud, saying, Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah ? And the Lord said unto him. Go up. And David said, Whither shall I go iipV And he snid. Unto Hebron. 2 So ]3avid went up thither, and his two wives also, Abinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abi- gail Nabal's wife the Carmelite. 3 And his men that ivere with him did David bring up, every man with his hous- hold : and they dwelt in the cities of Ilebrtjn. 4 'And the men of Judah came ; and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah. And they told David, saying, Tliat "the men of Jabesh-gilead iccre llicii that buried Saul. 5 If And David sent messengers mito the men of Jabesh-gilead, and said unto them, Blessed he ye of the Lord, that ye have shewed this kindness unto your lord, even unto Saul, and have buried him. 6 And now the Loro shew kindness and truth unto you : and I also will requite you this kindness, because ye have done this thing. 7 Therefore now let your hands be strength- ened, and "be ye valiant : for your master Saul is dead, and also the house of Judah have anointed me king over them. 8 H But Abner the son of Ner, captain of "Saul's host, took Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, and brought him over to Mahanaim ; Hcb. be ye the sons of valour. Chap. IT.] II. SAMUEL. [B.C. 10.5G— 10.53. 9 And made him king over Gilead, and over til eAshurites, and over Jezreel, and over Ephraim, and over Benjamin, and over all Israel. 10 Ish-bosheth Saul's son icas forty years old when he began to reign over Israel, and reigned two years. But the house of Judah followed David. 11 And the 'time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months. 12 IF And Abner the son of Ner, and the servants of Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, went out from Mahanaim to Gibcon. 13 And Joab the son of Zeruiah, and the servants of David, went out, and met "together by the pool of Gibcon : and they sat down, the one on the one side of the pool, and the other on the other side of the pool. 14 And Abner said to Joab, Let the young men now arise, and play before us. And Joab said. Let them arise. 15 Then there arose and went over by number twelve of Benjamin, which pe^-tained to Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, and twelve of the servants of David. 1 6 And they caught every one his fellow by the head, and thi-ust his sword in his fel- low's side ; so they fell down together: where- fore that place was called 'Helkath-hazzurim, which is in Gibeon. 1 7 And there was a very sore battle that day ; and Abner was beaten, and the men of Israel, before the servants of David. 18 IT And there were three sons of Zeruiah there, Joab, and Abishai, and Asahel ; and Asahel was as light "of foot "as a wild roe. 19 And Asahel pursued after Abner ; and in going he turned not to the right hand nor to the left '"from following Abner. 20 Then Abner looked behind him, and said, A?-t thou Asahel ? And he answered, I 21 And Abner said to him, Turn thee aside to thy right hand or to thy left, and lay thee hold on one of the young men, and take thee his ' 'armour. But Asahel would not turn aside from following of him. 22 And Abner said again to Asahel, Turn •1 Hcb. number ofdm/s. « Hel>. t/iem toijetim: ■ » Ileb. as one of the roes that is in thejicld. l" lloti. from after Alme, thee aside from following me : wherefore should I smite thee to the ground ? how tlien should I hold up my face to Joab thy brother ? 23 Howbeit he refused to turn aside : wherefore Abner with the hinder end of the spear smote him under the fifth 7-ib, that the spear came out behind him ; and he fell down there, and died in the same place : and it came to pass, that as many as came to the place where Asahel fell down and died stood still. 24 Joab also and Abishai pursued after Abner: and the sun went down when they were come to the hill of Ammah, that lieth before Giah by the way of the wilderness of Gibeon. 25 IT And the children of Benjamin ga- thered themselves together after Abner, and became one troop, and stood on the top of an hill. 26 Then Abner called to Joab, and said. Shall the sword devour for ever ? knowest thou not that it will be bitterness in the latter end ? how long shall it be then, ere thou bid the people return from following their bre- thren ? 27 And Joab said, As God liveth, unless thou liadst spoken, surely then "in the morn- ing the people had "gone up every one from following his brother. 28 So Joab blew a trumpet, and all the people stood still, and pursued after Israel no more, neither fought they any more. 29 And Abner and his men walked all that night through the plain, and passed over Jor- dan, and went through all Bithron, and they came to Mahanaim. 30 IT And Joab returned IVom following Abner: and when he had gathered all the people together, there lacked of David's ser- vants nineteen men and Asahel. 31 But the servants of David had smitten of Benjamin, and of Abner's men, so that three hundred and threescore men died. 32 11 And they took up Asahel, and buried him in the sepulchre of his father, which u-as in Beth-lehem. And Joab and his men went all night, and they came to Hebron at break of day. That is, thejMd of strumj men. « Uub. of his feet. 11 OTy spoil. 12 iiah. from the movoiiKj. 13 Or, gone aivay. Verse 9. ' Made him king over Gilead,' etc. — From this it appears that no tribe but Judah took part in the nomina- tion of David. Ou the contrary all the other tribes elected Saul's only surviving son, Eshbaal, as he was originally named, but nicknamed Ishbosheth(a man of shame), from his weakness and iDCapacity, which, it would appear, saved his life, by precluding him from being present at the battle in which his brothers perished. This measure was pro- bably promoted by that radical jealousy between the tribes of Judah and Ephraim which prevented the latter (which took the lead among the other tribes) from concurring in the appointing a king of the rival tribe, or indeed from 187 Chap. III.] IT. SAMUEL. [B.C. 1053—1048. heartily sympathising in any measure which that tribe originated. But the prime agent in this schism was Abner, the commander of the army, who had drawn ofi' the rem- nant of the defeated army to the other side the Jordan, and there, at Mahanaim, proclaimed Ishbosheth king. Abner was a bold and able, but unprincipled man ; and doubtless expected to govern in the name of his feeble nephew ; and he did so. 14. ' Let the young men now arise and pla;/ before us.' — For two years no hostile acts between the two kingdoms took place. But war was at length provoked by Abner, who crossed the Jordan with the intention of subduing the tribe of Judah to the authority of Ishbosheth. David sent Joab to meet him, and the opposing forces met near the pool of Gibeon. But the men on each side felt that they were all Israelites, and were reluctant to fight against each other. The two generals, therefore, thought of a device which has often been employed in the East and elsewhere, to excite tribes or nations to battle, when relationship or other causes made them reluctant or wanting in zeal. (See the notes on 1 Sam. xvii.) Twelve men on each side were matched to fight against each other between the two armies ; and so well were they matched that they no sooner came within reach of one another than each man seized his opponent by the head, and sheathed his sword in )iis lody, so that they were all killed on the spot. This kindled t he opposing forces, and a desperate and most sanguinary battle followed. IG. -They caught every one his fellow by the head.' — Doubtless by the hair of 'the head— that is, either of the scalp or the beard. On account of the convenient hold which the hair of the head or beard affords to an enemy in battle, it has been the custom in most nations for soldiers to dispense with it. Among those nations who wear the hair of the head, and do not shave it off like the Moham- medans, it is usually cropped close, as among our own sol- diers ; and even among some of the nations that cherish the beard, the soldiers have been persuaded or obliged to submit to the loss of it. Among both the Russians and Persians the beard is highly venerated; but in both nations the soldiers have been obliged to part with that important ornament. On the comparatively recent introduction of European tactics into the Persian army, a great stand was at first made for the retention of the beard ; and it was only through theoccnrrpno" (if:in ;ic,'i,ii.nt to a bearded soldier, that the late prill"''- ! ■'. \'t M ' erza, was convinced of the unmilitary ill u i; m appendage, and reluc- tantly issued an "i I . . i i.i M .1.1, s to be shaven. This is, however, no niodviii aio^uiL-.) . Plutarch relates in his Apophthegms that, when all things were prepared for a battle, the officers of Alexander asked him whether he had any further commands? He said, ' nothing ; unless that tlie Macedonians shave their beards.' And when Parmenio expressed some surprise at this order, he added : ' Have you not observed that in fight, there is no better hold than the beard?' 18. ' Light of foot as a wild roe.' — In the early history of all nations, as we have already had occasion to observe, physical endowments, such as strength and swiftness, hold the very first place in the estimation of the people. We hear much of physical characteristics and personal accom- plishments, but never, or very rarely, of mental distinc- tions. Among physical endowments swiftness seems to have held no mean place in the esteem of the Hebrews. In the last chapter, we see Saul and Jonathan described as ' swifter than eagles :' and now Asahel is ' light of foot as a wild roe.' In like manner we find Homer thus distin guishing the hero of the Iliad, whose name continually recurs in the form of—' Achilles, swiftest of the swift.' '21. ' Lay thee hold on one of the young men, and take his armour.'— From this we see that it was the custom with the Hebrews, as among other ancient nations, for the victor in a combat to strip the slain enemy of his armour, as the reward and honourable trophy of his conquest. In Home: we have continual examples of this. Tlie heroes no sooner kill an enemy than they jump from their chariots to secure his armour; and they are so eager in this matter, that it almost looks, sometimes, as if the armour of the respective combatants was the sole object of the conflict. Sometimes there is a fight over the dead body— from the anxiety of the friends of the deceased to prevent his armour from being taken, and from the eagerness of the victor and his friends to secure such honourable prey. This practice was well calculated to confuse a battle ; and seems therefore to have been restricted to the chieTs, the mass of the soldiers not being allowed to strip the dead until the next day, or at least not until after the battle. Thus also in 1 Sam. xxxi. we see that the Philistines did not come to strip the slain till the following day. If Saul had been killed in single combat, his armour would doubtless have been im- mediately seized by the victor. Nevertheless, under every modification, the practice was attended with much incon- venience, as we discover in the Iliad (vi. 70) from what Nestor says in his anxiety to prevent its bad conse- quences : — ' Friends, heroes, Grecians, ministers of Mars ! Stay none behind, desirous of the spoil, But slay we now ; that done, ye may at ease Traverse the plains, and strip them where they fell.' Some curious questions as to the right to such ."ipoil must sometimes have arisen. We find an instance of this among the Arabian conquerors of Syria. In the single combats between the Greeks and Arabians, which preluded the great and decisive battle of Yermouk, Serjabil was near being killed by a Christian officer, when Derar came to his assistance, and stabbed the latter to the heart. Then it liccan! • :: .;'v"ti.-n between Serjabil and Derar which had t!i. ,■ 1 • •! I i-l man's armour. Derar claimed it as li;i\iii I 1.^ i II ; Serjabil, as having wearied him in the ei.iii! .1. I li. .1.1 reiice was referred to the general, who liesii.iUil lu Jeiiiie. and sent to submit the matter to tlie Khalif (Omar;, concealing the names of the p.arties, and the armour being meanwhile kept by Serjabil ; but it was taken from him and given to Derar, when Omar sent back his determination, to the effect that the spoil of an enemy was always due to the person by whom he was killed. See Ockley's Conquest of Syria, p. 237. CHAPTER III. 1 During the war David still waxeth stronger. 2 Six sons were horn to him in Hebron. 6 Abner, dis- pleased with Lth-boshclh, 12 revollcth to David. 13 Dinld nyuinlh „ ro„dili„,„l\ ,i,„l ,l,.,„is,,,l -M .hmb, reliirnii„jlri i mu in bringing all Israel to aeliih . I ! : . .! ;irter this he found a pretext f... -in ■ l.n, 1 tn up. .ttdly to Hebron to complete tlie a>;reeni , miy tuppose that he was particularly indnr. In,, , ,,i,; l,V at this junc- ture in consideration of th ii;, measure was likely to give to those ait.nla.l i,, ih. lUmily of Saul. 190 As this claim was doubtless supported by Abner, it was granted ; and having obtained an order to demand her from her present husband, that personage himself under- took to escort her to David. From this transaction it would seem that the war had latterly been allowed to die away, although without any concession or treaty having been made on either side. That he was escorting Slichal to David, proved to Abner a favourable opportimity, on his way, of explaining his present sentiments to the elders of the tribes through which he passed : especially to those of Benjamin, which was naturally the most attached to the house of Saul, while his own influence in it was the greatest. He dwelt strongly on the public benefits which might be expected from the government of one who had been expressly nominated by Jehovah to the kingdom ; and such a representation, coming from such a quarter, coupled with the favourable dispositions towards David which had grown up during his reign iu Hebron, was attended with such eti'ect, that Abner was authorized to make overtures to him in behalf of the tribes which had hitherto adhered to the house of Saul. 24. ' Joab came to the hiiig, atid said, What hast thou done ■? ' — Through the energy of his character, his abilities, and experience in the affairs of peace and war, his influ- ence and popularity with the army which was under his command, aud his unquestioned devotion to the interests of David, Joab had great autliority with the king. His standing, indeed, iu the kingdom of Judah, had much resemblance to that of Abner in the other kingdom : nor were their characters unlike. In the points of difference the advantage was on the side of Abner ; for his experience in militai-y and public affairs was larger, from which, toge- ther with his near relationship to Saul and his son, and the high station he had occupied under them, his influence with the people was far greater than that which Joab or any other man in Israel could pretend to ; and hence his greater power at this time of rendering essential services to the king of Judah. Abner and Joab also served very dif- ferent masters ; and thus it happened that while Abner was, in the public eye, the greatest man in the kingdom of Israel, Joab was, in that of Judah, only the greatest man next to David. Upon the whole, Abner was the only man in the country of whom Joab had cause to be afraid, and by whom it was liki 1\ tliat his i.wn influence would be superseded in case tin i ' 1 ;: ':■ n "i-re united through his instrumentality. I i niMie from such con- siderations than aii\ .; I [l.asure at the inter- course between David ;mh1 Aim. n ai".sc. Chap. III.] II. SAMUEL. [B.C. 1053—1048. 30. ' Because he had slain their brother Asahel at Gibeon in the battle.' —This was -what Abner himself feared, when he killed Asahel (oh. ii.22). We have already stated the considerations which probably led Joab to dread the influence of such a man as Abner with the king. But it is also probable that he doubted tlie sincerity of Abuer's intentions, and entertained the fears he expressed, that his true object was to get such infonnation respecting his con- dition and resources as he might afterwards employ to his disadvantage . These considerations may have sharpened the weapon of the avenger ; but there is no reason to ques- tion that a leading motive to his conduct is that which the Scripture here distinctly assigns — vengeance for a brother's blood. This will be the more clearly seen if the reader turns to the note on blood-revenge, in Num. xxxv.- It would thei-efore seem, that, with the Hebrews, as among the Arabians, the claim of reveuge for blood extended to persons killed in war, when the slayer was known. Burck- hardt observes that the Arabs always desire to know by whom a man has been killed in a battle between different tribes, that it may be determined against whom the avenger has his claim for blood : and he thinks, with great proba- bility, that their anxiety on this subject has influenced their mode of warfare, since this fact is better ascertained in siugle combats and skirmishes than in the confusion of a general action. In Antar -we continually obsei-vc that the next relative of a man killed in a fair fight acts and talks as one bound to avenge his death on the slayer. To obviate the bad effects of this practice, it is sometimes customary for the sheikhs of both parties, with the consent of the majority of their people, in concluding a peace, to agree that the claims for the blood shed in the war shall on both sides be remitted. But to such terms of peace the Arabs, whose friends have been slain, are generally very unwilling to assent; and it often happens that, rather than do so, they leave their own tribe for a time, and settle with another, in order to reserve their right of seeking revenge. It must therefore, we think, be conceded that the existence of a blood-fend between Abner and Joab must have exte- nuated, if it did not justify, the act of Joab in the eyes of Israel. The extent to which the law of Moses had inter- fered with this custom only provided for the safety of the man-slayer while in a city of refuge. Hebron was a city of refuge, and if Joab had slain Abner within that city, the law would have allowed David to treat him as a murderer. This Joab knew ; and hence his meeting Abner at the gate, and drawing him aside before he entered the city. These details we judge necessary, to shew that those who most suflered from the death of Abner, and abhorred the manner in which it was inflicted, knew that his offence was not punishable by the king or by the law ; and hence that it was not merely the rank and influence of Joab which pre- vented David from calling him to account for this barbarous deed. Perhaps he could not have punished Joab in any case ; but it is important to know that in the present case, the law, custom and public opinion did not require or permit him to do so. 31. ' Gird yon loith sackcloth.' — Sacks are usually made of hair in the East ; whence we may understand that where sackcloth is mentioned hair-cloth is intended. Hence the idea is different from that which we, whose sacks are not of the same material, would affix to the term. That this is correct, seems to be confirmed by the fact, that the use of hair-cloth, as a penitential dress, was retained by the early Oriental monks, hermits, and pilgrims, and was adopted by the Roman church, which still retains it for the same purposes. Hair-cloth was, moreover, called ' sack- cloth ' by the early Greek and tatin fathers, and this seems conclusive. Perhaps, in a general sense, the word means any kind of very coarse cloth : but, undoubtedly, more particularly cloth of hair than any other. Our wood-cut represents one of the hair-cloth penitential dresses worn by the early devotees, designed after the old church prints of Italy. There are some remarks on this practice of assum- ing a mortifying dress as an expression of grief or repent- ance in the note to Exod. xxxiii. 4. The principle is so obvioirs that there are few nations among which, in mournings for the dead, some kind of mortifying habit has not been adopted. We do not know that sackcloth is now ^^J^ mu h used fui this pmpose in the East but ornaments iit lehnquishcd, the usual dress is neglected, oi it is hidnsidt, and one coarse or old assumed in its place. — ' Bier.'— The original word is ni3t? mittah, which generally denotes a bed or couch of any kind, on which a man lies in sleep. Whether therefore the sense is, that the term includes, fi-om the analogy of use, a bier as something distinct from a bed, or that Abner was carried to his sepul- chre on a proper bed, is not easy to determine. Our wood- cut below represents an Egjptian bier, which, it will be seen, looks very much like a bed. The forms of the biers w hich appear in the funeral processions of this people are very diversified, many of them exhibiting most elaborate and expensive decorations. Our cut is a fair average spe- cimen. It seems, then, that the Egyptians convcjed the remains of persons of distinction on bed-like biers, and such may have been the usage among the Jews. We cannot determine whether they were the same beds that were used for sleeping on, or were specially prepared for the occasion. If the former, it -would prove that the Hebrews had move- able beds ; and we have allowed that flicy might have s such, although we have s\\\>\ ■ - 1 as the modern Orientals u i i or on the immoveable diva, the note to Deut. iii. 11.) i i : elude that persons of high distinc sepulchres in rich beds, but the common people on biers, such as are still used in the East, and which are little other than hand-barrows. Thus, Herod was, according to Jose- phus, carried to his sepulchre on abed (or rather bedstead, or bedstead-like bier) of gold, enriched with precious stones, upon which the body lay on a purple bed, and was covered with a purple counterpane or pall. The corpse had a crown on the head, and sceptre in the right hand. Thie bier was surrounded by Herod's sons and kinsmen, after whom came his guards and foreign troops accoutred as if for war, who were followed by five hundred domestic servants and freedmen, with sweet spices in their hands. The bier was preceded by the bulk of Herod's army, in proper order, under their officers. This perhaps suggests a good idea of Abner's funeral procession. But these customs were not peculiar to the East, though ral they did, .11 the ground, ir rooms. (See ir, we may con- ■ carried to their Chap. III.] II. SAMUEL. [B.C. 1053—1048. Akcient EGTPTiiN.— From a Bas-relief at Thebes. probably derived from thence. The great men of Eome were, after the same manner, carried to the funeral pile on beds of state. Some of these beds were of gold, or gilded, with ivory feet, or were wholly of ivory, the body being covered with a rich pall. These bed-biers were carried by the nearest relatives or the freedmeu of the deceased ; but, according to Tacitus, the principal magistrates of I'ome carried the funeral bed of emperors and dictators. And not only was there the bed on which the deceased lay, but many others were carried in the procession, adorned with garlands and crowns of flowers, and containing the images of the ancestors of the deceased. As many as six thousand of these beds are said to have been carried at the funeral of the dictator Sylla, and six hundred at that of M. Marcellus, the nephew of Augustus. As we are only illustrating that part of the subject which relates to biers, we need not here state other particulars concerning the Roman funerals. Yet we may add that the procession stopped at the place of the Rostra, where a funeral oration was delivered in honour of the deceased, which may be taken, in some degree, as analogous to the king's lamenta- tion over Abner. 33. ' Died Abner as a fool dieth T — This short but em- phatic lament over Abner may be rendered, with stricter adherence to the form of the original, as follows : — ' Should Abner die as a villain dies ? — Thy hands — not bound. Thy feet— not brought into fetters : As one falls before the sons of wickedness, fellest thou ! ' As to the syntaclioal structure of tliese line-':, it is iniport.int dilion ii: ' . ' , ■ - ■ ■ . I ! Mi,i of propositii'ii 1 , ni.i; I,' i! \'\ 111- ;. '''/■ . ' ' • ,1 ■ I : :' ' ■ -'. and bythevc-rl. g.'n.Taliyln.V.miingay.,,/ -, '. u:, 'i:,.ri,L'ht knowledge of this structure the bean n :: 1 i .; many passages altogether depend ; and thr . : , : imt of it is to be ascribed to the circumslamr, ihil ili> -imlyof Hebrew so very seldom rCRches beyond the vocabulary into the deeper-seated peculiarities of its construction. (See Ewald's Jlehr. Gram. ^ .'i.'ifi.) As to the sense of the words, J. D. Michaelis (in his Uebcrsetzung des Alten Test.) saw that the point of this indignant, more than sor- rowful, lament, lies in the mode in which Abner was slain. Joab professed to kill him ' for the blood of Asahel his brother' (2 Sam. iii. 27). But if a man claimed his bro- ther's blood at the hand of his murderer, the latter (even if 192 ^ he fled to the altar for refuge, Exod. xxi. 11) would have been delivered up (bound, hand and foot, it is assumed) to the avenger of blood, who would then possess a legal right to slay him. Now Joab not only had no title to claim the right of the Goel, as Asahel was killed under justifying circumstances (2 Sam. ii. 19); but, while pretending to exercise the avenger's right, he took a lawless and private mode of satisfaction, and committed a murder. Hence David charged him, in allusion to this conduct, with ' shedding the blood of war in peace ' (1 Kings ii. 5) ; and hence he expresses himself in this lament, as if indignant that the noble Abner, instead of being surrendered with the forma- lities of the law to meet an authorized penalty, was treacher- ously stabbed like a worthless fellow by the hands of an assassin. — Dr. J. Nicholson, in Kitto's Ci/clopadia, Art. Abner. 35. ' Tilt the sun be damn.'— The Oriental fasts do not consist of abstinence from particular articles ; but of abso- lute abstinence during the day, while at night any usual food is eaten. The Mohammedan fast of Ramazan, for in- stance, is observed by such fasting by day and eating at night; while the Christians keep the fast of Lent by daily abstinence from some particular sorts of food, as flesh-meat, etc., to which they are accustomed. The former was doubtless ihe Jewish mode of fasting. 39. ' / am this daij weak, tliouijh anointed hing.' — Like other eastern sovereigns David must have been deeply impressed with the evils attending the inveterate custom of blood-revenge— under which Abner had, at least ostensibly, been slain — and with the extent to which it interfered with good government. Nor was he insensible to the insult offered to himself, in the present and other instances by ' the sons of Zeruiah,'— Joab and Abishai, and the high hand with which they wrought their own will. As it was of the highest importance to him that he should be clear of any suspicion of having had any pari in tlic death of Abner, he publicly, 'before Jehovah,' il' in- ! In:. If L'uiltlessof the blood which had been shell. ;i: i ill burden of that blood on Joab and on 111- 1 II i.d a public act of solemn mourning, in w hi. h ii. Imh l! in.ik a pro- minent part ; and at the funeral he followed the body, as chief mourner to the grave, where he stood weeping, and where he lamented in elegiac verse, over the prince and great man, who had that day fallen in Israel. This con- duct tended still further to satisfy and conciliate the tribes attached to the house of Saul ; and by them the murder of Abner was never imputed to him. Indeed, the event must at the time have seemed to himself and others, anything but advantageous for his cause. But we, who have his Chap. IY.] II. SA whole history before us. can see that the manner in which he ultimately became king over all Israel, by the free and unsolicited choice of the tribes, was more honourabVe and safe to liim, and more becoming his divine appointment, [B.C. 1048. than the same result brought about through tlie exertion of Abner ; whose conduct, as between David and Ishbn sheth, must have seemed very equivocal, and could best, have been but 'traitorously honest' the CHAPTER IV. 1 The Israelites beliicj troubled at the death of Atitier, 2 Bnnuah and liechab sin// Ish-bosheth, and bring his head to Hebron. 9 David cmtsetli them to be slain, and Ish-bosheth' s head tu be buried. And when Saul's son heard that Abner was dead in Hebron, his hands were feeble, and all the Israelites were troubled. 2 T[ And Saul's son had two men t/iat locre captains of bands : the name of the one icas Baanah, aixl the name of the 'other Kechab, the sons of Rimmon a Beerothite, of the chil- dren of Benjamin : (for Beeroth also was rec- koned to Benjamin : 3 And the Beerothites fled to Gittaim, and were sojourners there until this day.) 4 And Jonathan, Saul's son, had a son Verse 4. ' Lame of his feet.' — This is mentioned here to shew that Mephibosheth was (according to Eastern no tions) physically incapacitated fi-om sustaining the knigly office ; and that, in consequence, the assassins of Ish bosheth considered that, by compassing his death, thej had extinguished the succession in the house of Saul. 5. ' Bed.' — See the note on Dent. iii. 11, where we hive mentioned the diian or divan, as the usual, but not exclu sive, seat as well as bed of the Orientals. A divan con sists of a cushion placed under the wall of a room, upon a bench or platform, often very slightly raised abo^e the floor, and frequently upon the floor itself, with other cushions against the wall to support the back. These duans often extend along the upper end and two sides of the apartment, particularly in rooms where the mastei of the house receives friends and visitors. The Pei-sni « despising the luxury of cushions, have only a breadth of thick felt spread upon the carpeted floor, and have gene rally no cushions between the back and the wall, unless when lounging in their private apartments. We hive said already that the Orientals generally take their after noon nap, and have their beds at night on these duans or on the floor itself, and have also noticed exceptions. The annexed engraving illustrates these arrangements and also bears on the statements given under 1 Sam. xx 25, respecting the seat in the corner. 12. ' Cut off their hands and their feet.'— The mutila tion of the hand or foot for particular crimes seems to be implied in the lex talionis — ' Hand for hand, foot for foot etc. And, in Dent. xxv. 12, excision of the hand is ex pressly assigned to a particular offence, lu all suchdiiec tions there seems an idea of retaliating on the offending member. Thus the crimes which the hand or foot are instrumental in committing are punished with the loss of the hand or foot. In the present instance the hands and feet of the assassins are cut off after death, perhaps with a reference to the crime of the foot in entering the kings bedchamber, and the crime of the hand in shedding inno- cent blood. It is remarkable that mutilation only re mains, in the letter of our own law, as a punishment for offences against the majesty of the king — the loss of the hand being ordained for striking within the limits of the king's court, or in the presence of his judicial representa- tive. At present, in the East, mutilation is, in common with other punishments, inflicted, according to no specific rule, on those whose situation renders them obnoxious to the operations of arbitrary power. But in other cases where the law is left to its own operation, the excision of the hand is usually for offences of the hand, as theft, ', etc. In Persia, robbery and theft have of late "led with death. But the law only pre bes mutilation ; and this law was so much observed bj the early Mohammedans, that, as we perceive in Arabian tales, the loss of the hand was a permanent stain on a man's character, as an evidence that he had been punished for theft. The law of this subject, as stated in the VOL. II. M forgery, years be Mi^clat ul Maaibih from a tradition givtn b> Aluhu rail ah is that a thief is to have his rioht hand cut off , if he offends a second time he is to be deprived of the left foot; if he steals again, he is to lose his left hand; and if a fourth time, his remaining foot is to be taken fi-om Chap. V.] ir. SABIUEL. [B.C. 1048—1047 that was lame of Ids feet. He was five years old when the tidings came of Saul and Jona- than out of Jezreel, and his nurse took him up, and fled : and it came to pass, as she made haste to flee, that he fell, and became lame. And his name icas Mephibosheth. 5 And the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Recliab and Baanah, went, and came about the heat of tlie day to the house of Ish-bosheth, who lay on a bed at noon. 6 And they came thither into the midst of the house, as though they would have fetched wheat; and they smote him under the fifth rib : and Rechab and Baanah his brother es- caped. 7 For when they came into the house, he lay on his bed in his bedchamber, and they smote him, and slew him, and beheaded him, and took his head, and gat them away through the plain all night. 8 And they brought the head of Ish-bosheth unto David to Hebron, and said to the king. Behold the head of Ish-bosheth the son of Saul thine enemy, which sought thy life ; and the 2 Chap. 1. 4, 15. 3 lleb. At' was in his own eyes a bringer, &c. Lord hath avenged my lord the king this day of Saul, and of his seed. 9 ir And David answered Rechab and Baanah his brother, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, and said unto them,^As the Lord liveth, who hath redeemed my soul out of all adversity, 10 Wlien ^one told me, saying. Behold, Saul is dead, ''thinking to have brought good tidings, I took hold of him, and slew him in Ziklag, 'who thoiujht that I would have given him a reward for liia tidings : 1 1 How much more, when wicked men have slain a righteous person in his own house upon his bed ? shall I not therefore now require his blood of your hand, and take you away from the earth ? 12 And David commanded his young men, and they slew them, and cut off their hands and their feet, and hanged tliem up over the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ish- bosheth, and buried it in the "sepulchre of Abncr in Hebron. Or, which was the reward 1 mire him fur Ms tidings. ■■■ Cliap. 3. 32. CHAPTER V. 1 The tribes come to Hebron to anoint David over Israel. 4 David's age. 6 He taking Zion from the Jebusites dwelleth in it. 1 1 Hiram sendeth to David. 1 3 Eleven sons are born to him in Jeru- salem. 17 David, directed by God, smitelh the Philistines at Baal-perazim, '12 and again at the mulberry trees. Then 'came all the tribes of Israel to David unto Hebron, and spake, saying. Behold, we are thy bone and thy flesh. 2 Also in time past, when Saul was king over us, thou wast he that leddest out and broughtest in Israel : and the Lord said to thee, 'Thou shalt feed my people Israel, and thou shalt be a captain over Israel. 3 So all the elders of Israel came to the king to Hebron ; and king David made a league with them in Hebron before the Loud : and they anointed David king over Israel. 4 ^ David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years. 5 In Hebron he reigned over Judah ^seven years and six months : and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty and three years over all Israel and Judah. 6 1[ And the king and his men went to Jerusalem unto the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land : which spake unto David, saying. Except thou take away the blind and the lame, thou shalt not come in hither : 'thinking, David cannot come in hither. 7 Nevertheless David took the strong hold of Zion : the same is the city of David. 8 And David said on that day. Whosoever getteth up to the gutter, and smiteth the Je- busites, and the lame and the blind, that are hated of David's soul. Vie sliall be chief and captain. "Wherefore they said. The blind and the lame shall not come into the house. 9 So David dwelt in the fort, and called it the city of David. And David built round about from Millo and inward. 10 And David 'went on, and grew great, and the Lord God of hosts ivas with him. 11 IT And "Hiram king of Tyre sent mes- sengers to David, and cedar trees, and car- penters, and "masons : and they built David an house. 12 And David perceived that the Lord had established him king over Israel, and that he had exalted his kingdom for his people Israel's sake. 13 1 And "David took /(2»i more concu- bini's and wives out of Jerusalem, after he was come from Hebron : and there were yet sons and daughters born to David. Psalm T«. 71. 3Cll»p. 2. 11. « Or, sayins, David shall not, Stc. » 1 Cliron. had mid. v,:n the blind and the tame. He shall not CO me into the house. ? lK->>. went going and yr H. 1. mi^b. hewers 0/ the sld ne of the wall. 10 l Chron. 3. 9. Chap. Y.] II. SA 14 And "these l/e the names of those that were born unto hun in Jerusalem ; Sham- niuali, and Shobab, and Nathan, and Solo- mon, 15 Ibhai- also, and Elishun, and Nepheg, and Japliia, 1() And Elishama, and Eliada, and Eli- plialet. 17 ^ "But when the Philistines heard that they had anointed David king over Israel, all the Philistines came up to seek David ; and David heard of if, and went down to the hold. 18 The Philistines also came and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim. 19 And David enquired of the Lord, saying, Shall I go up to the Philistines ? wilt thou deliver them into mine hand ? And the Loud said unto David, Go up : for I will doubtless deliver the Philistines into thine hand. 20 And David came to '"Baal-perazim, and David smote them there, and said. The [B.C. 1048—1047. Lord hath broken forth upon mine enemies before me, as the breach of waters. Therefore he called the name of that place "Baal- perazim. 21 And there they left their images, and David and his men "" " burned them. 22 H And the Philistines came up yet again, and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim. 23 And when David enquired of the Lord, he said. Thou shalt not go up ; but fetch a compass behind them, and come upon them over against the mulberry trees. 24 And let it be, when thou hearest the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees, that then thou shalt bestir thyself: for then shall the Lord go out before thee, to smite the host of the Philistines. 25 And David did so, as the Lord had commanded him ; and smote the Philistines from Geba until thou come to Gazer. Verse 3. ' King David made a league with them . . . .before the Lord.' — It is important not to let this escape our atten- tion, as it shews that the Hebrew monarchs were by no means absolute in the strongest sense of the term ; but that there were certain conditions which they pledged themselves to observe. These leagues and covenants, which we find uewly-elected kings entering into with the people, formed what would, in our days, be called a constitution. The terms of these covenants are not expressed ; but a careful study of the historical books will enable the reader to dis- cover several very important privileges of royalty as well as restrictions on the royal power. The covenant probably stated the rights of the king on the one hand, and those of the people on the other. This is not the only instance of such a covenant. On the election of Saul, Samuel wrote ' the manner of the kingdom' in a book, and laid it up be- fore the Lord ; and this book probably stated the rights and limitations of the kingly power, and formed the basis on which the Hebrew government was established. The covenant was not renewed at the commencement of every fresh reign, as probably every succeeding king was con- sidered, without any formal stipulation, to stand on the same ground as his predecessors. Hence we only read of such covenants in the cases of Saul, the first king; of David, the founder of a new dynasty ; and of Joash (2 Kings xi. 17), who succeeded after an usurpation. It seems, however, that the people retained the right of pro- posing, at the commencement of a new reign, even in the ordinary course of succession, such further stipulations as their experience under former reigns suggested : and the refusal of Rehoboam to listen to any such proposal, gave occasion for ten of the tribes to secede from their allegiance to the house of David, and establish a new and independent kingdom. 6. ' The king and his men went to Jerusalem.' — It was thus the first act of David's reign to undertake the reduc- tion of the fortress of Jebus, on Mount Zion, which had remained in the hands of the natives ever since the days of Joshua, and which, as Josephus reports (Antig. v. 2), had been, from its situation and its fortifications, hitherto deemed impregnable. The fact that his rule was likely, under all circumstances, to find the most zealous supporters in his own tribe of Judah, probably disinclined David to remove from its borders ; and he determined to make his new conquest the metropolis of the empire. A more cen- trical situation with respect to all the tribes would have placed him in the hands of the Ephraimites, whose cordi- ality towards a Judahite king might well be suspected, and in whom little confidence could be placed in times of danger and difficulty. Similar considerations have dictated the choice of a very inconveniently situated capital to the reigning dynasty of Persia. But although better sites for a metropolitan city might have been found in the largest extent of Palestine, there was none better within the limits to which, for the reasons indicated, the choice of David was confined. That the site is overlooked from the Mount of Olives, although a great disadvantage in the eyes of modern military engineers, was of little consequence under the an- cient systems of warfare, and could not countervail the pecu- liar advantages which it offered in being enclosed on three sides by a natural fosse of ravines and deep vallies, and ter- minating in an eminence, which, while strong in its defences without, commanded the town within, and was capable of being strongly fortified. The united influence of all these considerations appears to have determined the preference of David for a site which was open to the serious objection, among others, of being so remote from the northern tribes as to render the legal obligation of resort to it three times in a year a more burdensome matter to them than it would have been had a more centrical situation been chosen. As Jerusalem henceforth becomes of importance in the history of the Jews, we shall here state such particulars concerning it as may conduce to the better understanding of the references to it, in the history of the kingdom of which it was the capital ; purposing, in the New Testa- ment, to resume the subject, with a view to the illustration of such references to its then existing and then fore- seen future state, as occur in that portion of the Holy Scriptures. The Scriptural history of Jerusalem we shall not here 11)0 Chap. V.] II. SAMUEL. [B.C. 104S— 104'i. give. This would be essential in any other work ; but in notes to tbe Bible it seems a siipSrerogatory undertaking to repeat that which the text itself sufficiently states. To the time of Ezra and Nehemiah the history of Jerusalem is found in the Scriptures ; and will for that period be unno- ticed, unless as the several prominent circumstances of that history occur in the sacred narrative. But in our future notes, we shall supply all that part of its history concerning which the Scripture contains no infoi-mation. This will be from the termination of the Old Testament accounts to the time of our Saviour, with a view of the subsequent de- solations which He foretold ; and this will lead to some notice of its present condition. All therefore wc have now to do, is to convey some general impressions concerning the site and immediate en- virons of this renowned city ; and even this duty is further limited by the occasion which we shall find to notice, separately, the particular spots whii'h are historically men- tioned in the Scriptures, hi I: t l- n. i.i i.hnographical glance as we have now to "i • ' i! Ii--, as far as possible, to abstain from !.• i ■ n instances as have proceeded from the li;iiir! -,i m n mil ilie alterations of time— that is, to render the vi.nv, as far as possible, natural only. But it is impossible altogether to exclude such circumstances ; since all our topographical notices arc of much later date than the historical statements in the Old Testament. Jerusalem lies near the summit of a broad mountain ridge. This ridge or mountainous tract extends, without interruption, from the plain of Esdraelon to a line drawn between the south end of the Dead Sea and the south-east comer of the Mediterranean : or more properly, perhaps, it may be regarded as extending as far as the southern desert where, at Jebel Araif, it sinks down at once to the level of the great plateau. This tract, which is nowhere less than from twenty to twenty-five geographical miles in breadth, is. in fact, high uneven table-land. The surface of this upper region is everywhere rocky, uneven, and mountainous . and is, moreover, cut np by deep vallies which run east or west on either side towards the Jordan or the Mediterranean. From the great plain of Esdraelon onwards towards the south, the mountainous country rises gradually, forming the tract anciently known as the mountains of Ephraini and J.idah ; until, in the vicinity of Hebron, it attains an elevation of 3250 feet above the level of the Mediterranean Sea. Further north, on a line drawn from the north end of the Dead Sea towards the true west, the ridge has an elevation of only about 2710 feet ; and here, close upon the watershed, lies the city of Jerusalem. Its mean geogra- phical position is in lat. 31° 46' 43" N., and long. 3.^° 13' E. from Greenwich. The traveller, on his way fi-om Eamleh to Jerusalem, at about an hour and half distance therefrom, descends into and crosses the great Terebinth vale, or valley of Elah (see the note on I Sam. xvii. 19). On again reaching the high ground on its eastern side, he enters upon an open tract sloping gradually downwai-ds towards the east; and sees before him, at the distance of about two miles, the walls and domes of the city, and beyond them the highest ridge of Olivet. The traveller now descends gradually towards the town along a broad swell of ground having at some dis- tance on his left the shallow northern part of the valley of Jehoshaphat, and close at hand on his right the basin which forms the beginning of the valley of Hinnom. Further down both these vallies become deep, narrow, and preci- pitous ; that of Hinnom bends south and again east, nearly at right angles, and unites with the other, which then con- tinues its course to the Dead Sea. Upon the broad and elevated promontory within the fork of the two vallies of Jehoshaphat and of Hinnom. lies the holy city. All around are higher hills: on the east the Mount of Olives, on the south the Hill of Evil Counsel, so called, rising directly from the vale of Hinnom ; on the west the ground rises gently, as above described, to the borders of the great valley ; while on tlie north, a bend of the ridge connected Chap. V.] II. SAMUEL. [B.C. 1048—1047. with tlie Mount of Olives bounds the prospect at a distance of more than a mile. Towards the south-west the view is somewhat more open ; for here lies the plain of Rephaim, commencing just at the southern brink of the valley of Hinnom, and stretching off south-west, when it runs to the western sea. In the north-west, too, the eye reaches up along the upper part of the valley of Jehoshaphat; and from many points can discern the mosque of Neby Samwil [Prophet Samuel], situated on a lofty ridge beyond the great valley, at the distance of two hours. The surface of the elevated promontory itsel f, on which the city stands, slopes somewhat steeply towards the east, termi- na ting on the brink of the valley of Jehoshaphat. From the northern part, near the present Damascus gate, a depression or shallow valley runs in a southern direction, having on the west the ancient hills of Akra and Zion, and on the east the lower ones of Bezetha and Moriah. Between the hills of Akra and Zion another depression or shallow valley (still easy to be traced) comes down from near the Jafia gate, and joins the former. It then continues obliquely down the slope, but with a deeper bed, in a southern direction, quite to the pool of Siloam and the valley of Jehoshaphat. This is the ancient Tyropoeon. West of its lower part Zion rises loftily, lying mostly without the modern city ; while on the east of the Tyropoeon and the valley first mentioned, lie Bezetha, Moriah, and Ophel, the last a long and compa- ratively narrow ridge, also outside of the modern city, and terminating in a rocky point over the pool of Siloam. These three last hills may strictly be taken as only parts of one and the same ridge. The breadth of the whole site of Jerusalem from the brow of the valley of Hinnom, near the Jaffa gate, to the brink of the valley of Jehoshaphat, is about one thousand and twenty yards, or nearly half a geographical mile ; of which distance three hundred and eighteen yards are occupied by the area of the great mosque of Omar, which occupies the site of Solomon's temple. North of the Jafl'a gate the city wall sweeps round more to the west, and increases the breadth of the city in that part. The country around Jerusalem is all of limestone formation. The rocks everywhere come out above the surface, which in many parts is also thickly strewed with loose stones ; and the aspect of the whole region is barren and dreary ; yet the olive thrives here abundantly, and fields of grain are seen in the vallies and level places, but they are less productive than in the region of Hebron and Nabulus. Neither vineyards nor fig-trees flourish on the high ground around the city, though the latter are found in the gardens below Siloam, and very frequently in the vicinity of Beth- lehem. The Scripture affords few materials for a connected view of the ancient city ; and although Josephus is more parti- cular, the idea which he furnishes is less distinct than it may at the first view appear. His descriptions also refer to a time later even than that of Christ, although in all essential points applicable to the New Testament period ; and then the city had become in most respects very different from the more ancient city which the Old Testament pre- sents to our notice. Still his account affords certain lead- ing ideas which must have been applicable at all periods, and its substance may therefore be stated in this place. He describes Jerusalem as being in his time enclosed by a triple wall, wherever it was not encircled by impassable vallies ; for there it had but a single wall. The ancient city lay upon two hills over against each other, separated by an in- tervening valley, at which the houses terminated. Of these hills, that(Zion) which bore the upper city was the highest, and was straighter in extent. On account of its fortifica- tions, it was called by King David the Fortress or Citadel (see V. 7-9); but in the time of the historian it was known as the Upper Market. The other hill, sustaining the lower city, and called Akra, had the form of the gibbous moon. Over against this was a third hill, naturally lower than Akra, and separated from it by another broad valley. But in the time when the Asmonaeans had rule they threw earth into this valley, intending to connect the city with the temple ; and working upon.\kra, they lowered the height of iu so that tiie temple rose conspicuously above it. Tiie valley of the Tyropoeon or Cheesemak(!rs as it was called^ which has already been mentioned as separating the hills of the upper and lower city, extended quite dow n to Siloam, — a fountain so named, whose waters were sweet and abundant. From witliout, the two hills of the city were enclosed by deep vallies ; and there was no approach be- cause of the precipices on every side. Dr. Robinson, in comparing the information derivable from Josephus with his own materials, declares that the main features depicted by the Jewish historian may still be recognised. ' True,' he says, ' the valley of the Tyro- poeon and that between Akra and Moriah have been greatly filled up with the rubbish accumulated from the repeated desolations of nearly eighteen centuries. Yet they are still distinctly to be traced ; the hills of Zion, Akra, Moriah and Bezetha are not to be mistaken, while the deep vallies of the Kidron and of Hinnom, and the Mount ot Olives, are permanent natural features, too prominent and gigantic indeed to be forgotten, or to undergo any perceptible change.' Recurring to the walls, Josephus says : — ' Of these three walls the old one was hard to be taken ; both by reason of the vallies, and of that hill on which it was built, and which was above them. But besides that great advantage, as to the place where they were situate, it was also built very strong: because David, and Solomon and the follow- ing kings were very zealous about this work.' After some further account of the walls, which has no immediate con- nection with our present subject, he adds that * the city in its ultimate extension, included another hill, the fourth, called Bezetha, to the north of the temple, from which it was separated by a deep artificial ditch.' But this part of the city belonging to the New Testament history, will not at present engage our attention. From this account of Josephus, as compared with those furnished by others, it appears that Jerusalem stood on three hills. Mount Zion, Mouut Akra, and Mount Moriah, on which last the temple stood. Or we may consider them as two, after Mount Akra had been levelled, and the valley filled up which separated it from Mount Moriah. Of these hills Zion was the highest, and contained the upper city, ' the city of David,' with the citadel, the strength of which, and of the position on which it stood, enabled the Jebusites so long to retain it as their strong hold, and to maintain their command over the lower part of the city, even when they were obliged to allow the Israelites to share in its occupation. This Mouut Zion (which we are only here noticing cursorily) formed the southern portion of the an- cient city. It is almost excluded from the modern city, and is under partial cultivation. It is nearly a mile in circumference, is highest on the west side, and towards the east slopes down in broad terraces in the upper part of the mountain, and narrow ones on the side, towards the brook Kidron. This mount is considerably higher than the ground on which the ancient (lowerj city stood, or that on the east leading to the valley of Jehoshaphat, but has very little relative height above the ground on the south and on the west, and must have owed its boasted strength principally to a deep ravine, by which it is encompassed on the east, south and west, and the strong high walls and towers by which it was enclosed and flanked completely round. The breadth of this ravine is about one hundred and fifty feet, and its depth, or the height of Mount Zion above the bottom of the ravine, about sixty feet. The bottom is rock, covered with a thin sprinkling of earth, and in the winter season is the natural channel for conveying off the water that falls into it from the higher ground. On both of its sides the rock is cut perpendicularly down ; and it was probably the quarry from which much of the stone was taken for the building of the city. The site, regarded as a whole, without further attending to the distinction of hills, is surrounded ou the east, west, and south l>y vallies of various depth and breadth, but to the north-west extends into the plain, which in this part is called ' the plain of Jeremiah,' anil is the best wooded tract in the whole neighbourhood. The progressive extension of the city was thus necessarily northward, as stated h\ I'JT Chap. V.] [B.C. 1048—1047 Josephus. Tlie towu mtist probably, almost certainly, be- gan at the southern, or Mount Zion, part of this site, and in its ultimate extension, according to Josephus, compre- hended a circuit of thirty-three furlongs ; whereas that of the modern town does not appear to exceed two miles and a half. The confining vallies are often mentioned in Scripture. Those on the east and south are very deep. The former is the valley of Jehoshaphat, through which flows the brook Kidron, and the latter is generally called the valley of Hinnom. This denomination is extended by some topographers also to the western and least deep valley, while others call it the valley of Gihon. On the opposite side of these vallies rise hills, which are mostly of superior ele- vation to that of the site of the city itself. That on the east, beyond the brook Kidron, is the Mount of Olives. That on the south is a broad and barren hill, loftier than the Mount of Olives, but without any of its picturesque beauty. On the west there is a rocky Hat, which rises to a considerable elevation towards the north, and to which has been assigned the name of Mount Gihon. Even in the north-east, at Scopus, where the besieging Romans under Titus encamped, the ground is considerably more elevated than the imme- diate site of the town. Thus is explained the expression of David : ' As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people ' (Ps. cxxv. 2). The relative height of those surrounding hills gives to the city an apparent elevation inferior to that which it really pos- sesses. The district for many miles round Jerusalem, is now of a very barren and cheerless character, whatever may have been its ancient condition. The considerations which may have influenced David in rendering it the capital of his kingdom have been already indicated : but his son Solomon must be considered as having permanently fixed its metro- politan character, by the erection of the temple and the royal establishment. But it was the temple, chiefly, wnieh in all ages maintained Jerusalem as the metropolis of the country. Even after the destruction of that venerated fabric, the mere fact that it had existed there, operated in preventing the selection of any new site, even when the opportunity occurred. The separation into two kingdoms, alter the death of Solomon, did also necessarily prevent any intentions of change which might have arisen, had the whole country remained one kingdom, with a large choice of situations for a capital ; and we are to remember that, although, after the erection of the temple, it always re- mained the ecclesiastical metropolis of the land, it was, in a civil sense, for a long series of years, the capital of only the smallest of the two kingdoms into which the land was divided. But under all disadvantages, many of which are perhaps the result of the wars, the desolations, and the neglect of many ages, the very situation of the town, on the brink of rugged hills, encircled by deep and wild vallies, bounded by eminences whose sides were covered with groves and gardens, added to its numerous towers and temple, must, as Came remarks, have given it a sin- gular and gloomy magnificence, scarcely possessed by any other city in the world. The best view of the site and locality of Jerusalem is obtained from the Mount of Olives. The Mount is usually visited by travellers, who all speak of the completeness of the view obtained from the above spot. This view com- prehends in the distance the Dead Sea and the mountains beyond ; while, to the west, the city with its surrounding vallies and all its topographical characteristics, is displayed like a panoram;i, bilow and very near the spectator, the Mount liii:i' th ■: II ii.(l from the town by the narrow valley of . I , ; 1 1 is seldom indeed that any city is scfii ill I ! ' I J '- ^ of detail as Jerusalem from the Mount ol' I III,, - I h, M.itoment of these details would however enibnu-c so iiincb that is modern, that we shall not at prese7it describe it, particularly as all that is of import- ance to our present purpose has already been indicated. The climate of the mountainous tract in which Jeru- salem is situated, differs from that of the temperate parts of Europe more in the alternations of wet and dry seasons than in the degree of temperature. The variations of rain and funshine which witli us exist throughout the year, are in 198 Palestine confined chiefly to the latter part of autumn and the winter, while the remaining months enjoy almost unin- terruptedly a cloudless sky. The rains have been already noticed under Deut. xi. 14, and do not therefore require further notice in this place. Snow often falls, about Jeru- salem, in January and February, to the depth of a foot or more ; but it does not usually lie long. The ground never freezes ; but the exposed standing waters in the reservoirs are sometimes covered with thin ice for a day or two. The high elevation of Jerusalem secures it the privilege of a pure atmosphere, nor does the heat of summer ever become oppressive except during the prevalence of the south wind, or sirocco. Dr. Robinson states that during his sojourn at Jerusalem, from April 14th to May 6th, the thermometer ranged at sunrise from 44° to 64° F., and at 2 p.m. from 60° to 79° F. ; this last degree of heat being felt during a sirocco, April 30th. From the 10th to the 13th of June, at Jerusalem, the range at sunrise was from 56° to 74°, and at 2 p. jr. once 8G° with a strong north-west wind. Yet the air was fine and the heat not burdensome. The nights are uniformly cool, often with heavy dew. Yet the total absence of rain soon destroys the verdure of the fields, and gives to the whole landscape the aspect of drought and barrenness. The only green thing that remains is the foliage of the scattered fruit-trees and occasional vineyards, and fields of millet. The deep green of the broad fig-leaf and of the millet is delightful to the eye in the midst of the general aridness ; while the foliage of the olive with its dull grayish hue scarcely deserves the name of verdure. 6. * Krcept thou takeaway the blind and the lame * etc. — This very difficult passage has been variously understood. The majority of the Jewish, and many Christian, inter- preters, apprehend that the epithet ' the blind and the lame,' was given derisively by David to the idolatrous images in which the Jebusites trusted for the security of their town, and v^hile they retained which they believed the place could never be taken. It is certain that the hea- thens had tutelar gods for their cities, whose images they set up in the fort or elsewhere : and these, the Greeks and Romans, when they besieged a place, either endeavoured to take away, or to render propitious. But we think it is impossible to read this passage connectedly with such a. reference — particularly as the Jebusites themselves are re- presented as using this expression ; and, however proper it might be from David, we can scarcely suppose thajthe idolaters would themselves employ it The explanatory statement of Josephus, followed by A ben Ezra and Abar- banel, and supported by Dr. Kennicott, has better claims to consideration. This is, that the Jebusites, persuaded of the strength of the place, and deriding the attempt of David to take it, mustered the lame and blind, and committed to them the defence of the wall, declaring their insulting belief that these alone were sufficient to prevent David's access. Dr. Kennicott thinks the translation in Coverdale's version better than the present. It is, ' Thou shalt not come in hither, but the blynde and lame shall dryve the awaie,' etc. He seems himself to think that the Jebusites professed that the blind and lame were to keep him off merely by shout- ing, ' David shall not come hither,' — or, ' No David shall ■ come hither,' and concludes a learned criticism on the text by proposing to translate: — 'And the inhabitants of Jebus said, Tliou shalt not come hither j for the blind and the lame shall keep thee off, by saying, David shall not come in liither.' We are sorry to give this version apart from the analysis on which it is founded ; but the considerations we have stated, and the comparison of the difierent versions we have given, will assist the reader's comprehension of this most obscure passage. 8. ' Gettcth up to the gutter.' — The word rendered gutter (yii'i tzinnor) occurs nowhere else except in Ps. xlii. 8 ; where it is translated ' waterspout ;' and there is a very perplexing diversity of opinions as to its meaning in that place. The word in that text certainly means a watercourse, and the probability is that the word here denotes a subterraneous passage through which water passed ; but whence the water came, whither it went, the use, if any, to which it was applied, and whether the Chap. VI.] II. SAMUEL. [B.C. 1042. channel was not occasionally dry, are questii ing which no satisfactory infonnation can be obtained. But recent research has shewn that there is an exten- sive system of subterraneous communications for water in Jerusalem, and that some of these liave their outlets beyond the walls. It is interesting to collect that commu- nications of this kind existed even before the Israelites obtained possession of the city. Besiegers have often ob- tained access to besieged places through aqueducts, drains, and subterraneous passages ; and we may be satisfied to conclude that something of this sort happened in the present instance. Josephus says simply that the ingress was ob- tained through subterraneous passages. The Jews have many traditions concerning passages leading from Jeru- salem to difi'erent parts of the vicinity, and their account is confirmed by Dion Cassius, who says, that in the last fatal siege of the town by the Romans, there were several such passages through which many of the Jews made their escape from the beleaguered city. 1 1. ' Hiram King of Ture sent messengers to David.' — It is interesting to note now early in David's reign his famous alliance with the Phoenicians of Tyre commenced. It may be remembered, however, that David was renowned in the closely neighbouring states before he became king ; and, no doubt, not only his eminent public qualities, but his remarkable personal history, was familiar not less to the Phoenicians than to the Philistines. And although an enterprising, commercial, and skilful manufacturing people like them, would be disposed to look down upon a nation so inferior to themselves as the Hebrews in the finer and larger arts of social life, — military success, and sucii heroic qualities as the character of David offered, have never yet failed to be appreciated wherever found. Hiram ' was ever a lover of David,' and the offered alliance must have been the more gratifying to him, as it came before David acquired greatness, and (before) ' his fame went out into all lauds, and the Lord brought the fear of him upon all nations.' This alliance was one of mutual advantage. Tyre possessed but a strip of narrow maritime territory, the produce of which, if not sedulously cultivated, would have been very inadequate to the supply of its teeming population and numerous flocks. But besides this, the absorbing devotion of the Phoenicians to commerce and the arts, rendered them averse to the slow pursuits of agriculture, the products of which they could so much more easily obtain in exchange for the products of their foreign traffic and their skill. To them therefore it was a most invaluable circumstance, that behind them lay a country in the hands of a people who had none of the advantages which were so much prized by themselves, but who had abundance of corn, wine, oil, and cattle to barter for them. An alliance, cemented by such reciprocal benefits, and undisturbed by territorial designs or jealousies, was likely to be permanent, and we know that it tended much to advance the Hebrews in the arts which belong to civilized life, and to promote the external splendour of tliis and the ensuing reign. In the present instance Hiram supplied the architects and mechanics, as well as the timber (hewn in Lebanon), whereby David was enabled to build his palace of cedar, aud to undertake the other works which united the upper and lower cities, and ren- dered Jerusalem a strong and comely metropolis. 24. ' Mulberrif trees ' (D'NSa becaim, Sing. N33 haca).— The Septuagint, followed by Josephus, paraphrases this word by saying, 'from the grove of weeping' {mh rov &\(ravs Tov K\avdfjiwvos). But, in 1 Cliron. xiv. 14, it ren- ders the same word by ' pear-trees," and is followed by the Vulgate. The word, in the singular, is retained in our version of Ps. Ixxxiv. 6, as a proper name. The Arabic seems to consider that ' hills ' are here denoted. Eosen- mliller and Gesenius think that the tree called by the Arabians bak or baka, is intended ; but it is not well agreed what tree this is. Some make it an elm ; but Dr. Royle (art. Baca, in Kitto's Ci/clopadia) holds it to be a poplar. The tree alluded to in Scripture, whatever it be, must be common in Palestine, must grow in the neigh- bourhood of water, must have its leaves easily moved, and must have a name in some of the cognate languages similar to the Hebrew baca. Now the bak of the Arabs, under- stood as the poplar, is as appropriate as any tree can be for the elucidation of the passages of Scripture in which the baca occurs. ' For the poplar,' says Dr. Royle, ' is well known to delight in moist situations ; and Bishop Home, in his Comm. on Psalm Ixxxiv. has inferred that in the valley of Baca the Israelites, on their way to Jerusalem, were refreshed by plenty of water. It is not less appro- priate in the passages in 2 Sam. and I Cliron., as no tree is more remarkable than the poplar for the ease with which its leaves are rustled by the slightest movement of the air ; an effect which might be caused in a still night even by the movement of a body of men on the ground, when attacked in flank or when unprepared. That poplars are common in Palestine may be proved from Kitto's Palestine, i. 250 : " Of poplars we only know, with cer- tainty, that the black poplar, the aspen, and the Lombardy poplar grow in Palestine. The aspen, whose long leaf- stalks cause the leaves to tremble with every breath of wind, unites with the willow and the oak to overshadow the watercourses of the Lower Lebanon, and, with the oleander and the acacia, to adorn the ravines of southern Palestine. We do not know that the Lombardy poplar has been noticed but by Lord Lindsay, who describes it as growing with the walnut-tree and weeping-willow beside the deep torrents of the Upper Lebanon.'" CHAPTER VI. 1 David fetcheth the ark from Ktrjath-jenrim on n new cart. 6 Uzzah is smitten at Perez-uzzah. 11 GodblessethObed-edomfortheark. 12 David bringeth the ark into Zion with sacrifices ; danceth before it, for which Michal despiseth him. 17 He placeth it in a tabernacle with great joy and feasting. 20 Michal reproving David for his religious joy, is childless to her death. Again, David gathered together all the chosen nicn of Israel, thirty thousand. 2 And 'David arose, and went with all the people that wc7-e with him from Baale of I 1 Cliron. 13. 5, R. 2 Or, at w/ttch the name even t/ie nan Judah, to hring up from thence the ark of God, "whose name is called by the name of the Lord of hosts that dwelleth between the cherubims. 3 And thoy ^set the ark of God upon a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab that was in 'Gibeah : and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drave the new cart. 4 And they brought it out of ''the house of Abinadab which teas at Gibeah, "accom- panying the ark of God : and Ahio went be- fore the ark. af the LORD 0/ hosts I «n. „.;,.. I Heb. made to r Chap. VI.] II. SAMUEL. [B.C. 1042. 5 And David and all the house of Israel played before the Lord on all manner of instruments made of fir wood, even on harps, and on psalteries, and on timbrels, and on cornets, and on cymbals. 6 H And 'when they came to Nachon's threshingiloor, Uzzah put forth Jus hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it ; for the oxen "shook it. 7 And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah ; and God smote him there for his "error ; and there he died by the ark of God. 8 And David was displeased, because the Lord had '"made a breach upon Uzzah : and he called the name of the place "Perez-uzzah to this day. i) And David was afraid of the Lord that day, and said. How shall the ark of the Lord come to me ? 10 So David would not remove the ark of the Lord unto him into the city of David : but David carried it aside into the house of Obed-edom the Gittite, 11 And the ark of the Lord continued in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite three months : and the Lokd blessed Obed-edom, and ail his houshold. 12 If And it was told king Da\id, saying, The Lord hath blessed the house of Obed- edom, and all that pertainetk unto him, be- cause of the ark of God. '■So David went and brought up the aik of God from the house of Obed-edom into the city of David with gladness. 13 And it was so, that when they that bare the ark of the Lord had gone six paces, he sacrificed oxen and fatlings. 14 And David danced before the Lord with all his might ; and David was girded with a linen ephod. 15 So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet. 16 And as the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Michal Saul's daughter looked through a window, and saw king David leaping and dancing before the Lord ; and she despised him in her heart. 17 if And they brought in the ark of the Lord, and set it in his place, in the midst of the tabernacle that David had '° pitched for it : and David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord. 18 And as soon as David had made an end of offering burnt offerings and peace offerings, '■"he blessed the i>eople in the name of the Lokd of hosts. 19 And he dealt among all the people, even among the whole multitude of Israel, as well to the women as men, to every one a cake of bread, and a good piece ofjlesh, and a flagon of tcine. So all the people departed every one to his house. 20 11 Then David returned to bless his houshold. And Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David, and said. How glo- rious was the king of Israel to day, who unco- vered himself to day in the eyes of the hand- maids of his servants, as one of the vain fellows '■'shamelessly uncovereth himself! 21 And David said unto Michal, It u-as before the Lord, which chose me before thy father, and before all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people of the Lord, over Israel : therefore will I play before the Lord. 22 And I will yet be more vile than thus, and will be base in mine own sight: and '°of the maidservants which thou hast spoken of, of them shall I be had in honour. 23 Therefore Michal the daughter of Saul had no child unto the day of her death. I), bioieit. 1 1 That is, Ihe breach of Vzznli. 1! 1 Chroii. 15. 25. Or, opctdy. i** Or, itf tlie hainjiitatds of my servants. Tse 2. ' Bnalf.'—The same that is c;illcd Baalali, illi li:i;il, and Kirjath-JL-ariiii. Coiiijjare Josh. xv. i;. ' y;,,,/,- hold „f it ; for the oxen shook it.'— It will be obnTv...! thai ilir mIioIh process adopted in the removal of till' ail- 1 • I i'i> !■ .-Hilary to the directions given in the law. Ill • Ml be conveyed on a cart, or drawn bv aii\ ,1. . : • ' I"' carried on the shoulilers of the Leviu'.-,, Lj, iiiLa;,. ,1 Mav,.,: «liir!l picfUided the ark itself from ln.iug hamil' I !'\ tli' K. !;■ is in its removals. Indeed, in Num. iv. l.i, ii -a pain of death, that any of the holy tlm;. ,: i : iiaiclied by the Levites: and we might i-.x]".,; i,, ii:.d ihis law the more rigidly enforced with respect to Ihi.' ark, on account of the superior sanctity with which it was invested. The ark had indeed before been conveyed on a cart, when retunied L'OO by the Philistines ; but that case was very different from the present. The Philistines could not be supposed to have been acquainted with the rules for its conveyance ; and if they had, they could not have commanded the ser- vices of the Levites for the occasion. Now the removal is C;Oiiducted by persons who ought to have known what the law required in such removals, particularly as they could not but have heard of the awful judgment with which an intrusion on the sanctity of the ark had been visited at IJeth-shemesh (1 Sam. vi. 1■ this the "manner of man, O Loud God ? 20 And what can David say more unto ee? f servant. 21 For thy word's sake, and according to thine own heart, hast thou done all these great things, to make thy servant know them. 22 Wherefore thou art great, O Lord God : for there is none like thee, neither i-9 there any God beside thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears. 23 And '■what one nation in the earth is like thy people, even like Israel, whom God went to redeem for a people to himself, and to make him a name, and to do for you great things find terrible, for thy land, before thy people, which thou redeemedst to thee from Egypt, from the nations and their gods ? 24 For thou hast confirmed to thyself thy people Israel to be a people unto thee for ever : and thou. Loud, art become their God. 25 And now, O Loud God, the word that thou hast spoken concerning thy servant, and concerning his house, establish it for ever, and do as thou hast said. 26 And let thy name be magnified for ever, saying. The Loun of hosts is the God over Israel : and let the house of thy servant David be established before thee. 27 For thou, O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, hast ''revealed to thy servant, saying, I will build thee an house : therefore hatli thy Chron. n. (1, nTOO/l*e inrfms. 4lS«m. 16. 11. Psulm 78. TO. BlKiiVi-S.amU.lS. 1 Chron. 22. 10. Mlcb. 1, 6. IS Peiit. -1. 7. 18 iieb. openefl the ear. Chap. VIII.] II. SAMUEL. [B.C. 104U. servant found in his heart to pray this prayer unto thee. 28 And now, O Lord God, thou art that God, and "thy words be true, and thou hast promised this goodness unto thy servant : 29 Therefore now "let it please thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may con- tinue for ever before thee: for thou, O Loud God, hast spoken it: and with thy blessing let the house of thy servant be blessed for ever. . be tfmi pledsed and hless. Vei-se 18. 'King David went in, and sat before the Lord: — To our notions it may seem not properly respect- ful for David to go and address the Lord in a sitting pos- ture. We have partly shewn by anticipation under 1 Sam. iv. 18, that this impression is groundless. The plain fact is, that in the East the sitting postures are -various, and that one of them is considered as respectful, or even re- verent, as any posture can be. The Orientals now sit upon the ground, or on carpets or cushions laid on the ground. And although there is evidence that the Israelites used raised seats, such as chairs and stools, it is clear that they also sat on the ground in the various postures now used in the East. The case, in this respect, appears to have been much the same with them as with the Egyptians, who, although they used all kinds of raised seats, yet also sat on the floor in every variety of posture. This is evinced by the small cut here introduced. The posture of crouching, shewn in the second figure of the cut, was very common among the Egyptians, but is now rather unusual in the East. Sitting cross-legged, a posture rather awkwardly represented in the last figure, is now the usual and ordinary posture in common life. It is the same as that which tailors adopt in this country, and which to those used to it, is really the sitting posture which gives more perfect repose to the body than any other. The postures in which the figures 1 and 3 are represented in the cut— of sitting on the heels —are more ditficult, and give less repose. These two were postures of respect among the Egyptians ; and they are figured in them when in the presence of their supe- riors, as iveU as when hearing sacred enthlenis before t/ie shrines of their gods. And this posture of sitting on the heels— the only one in which the Egyptians could sit be- fore the shrine of their gods, is obviously that in which David sat before the shrine of Jehovah. This continues to be the posture of respect in the East ; and no one thinks of using any other in the presence of a superior. Great personages sit thus, if they sit at all, in the presence of kings ; and it is one of the positions, and the only sitting one, which the Moslems take in their devotions. 19. ' The manner of man' — that is, a human custom, to which God had graciously condescended, in order to convey to his servant this intimation of His designs in a way which he had been accustomed to consider the most bindmg. CHAPTER VIII. 1 David subdiieth the Philistines and the Moabites. 3 He smiteth Hadadezer, and the Syrians. 9 Tui sendeth Joram with presents to bless him. 1 1 The presents and the spoil David dedicateth to God. 14 He putteth garrisons in Edom. 16 David's officers. And 'after this it came to pass, that David smote the Philistines, and subdued them : and David took 'Metheg-ammah out of the hand of the Philistines. 2 And he smote Moab, and measured them with a line, casting thera down to the gi-ound ; even with two lines measured he to put to death, and with one full line to keep alive. And so the Moabites became David's servants, and brought gifts. 3 U David smote also Hadadezer, the son of Eehob, king of 'Zobah, as he went to reco- ver his border at the river Euphrates. 4 And David took 'from him a thousand ^chariots, and seven hundred horsemen, and twenty thousand footmen : and David houghed all the chariot horses, but reserved of them /or an hundred chariots. 5 And when the Syrians of Damascus came to succour Hadadezer king of Zobah, David slew of the Syrians two and twenty thousand men. (i Then David put garrisons in Syria of Damascus : and the Syrians became servants to David, and brought gifts. And the Lokd preserved David whithersoever he went. 7 And David took the shields of gold that were on the servants of Hadadezer, and brought them to Jerusalem. _ 8 And from Betah, and from Berothai, cities of Hadadezer, king David took exceed- ing much brass. y IF When Toi king of Hamath heard that David had smitten all the host of Hadadezer, 10 Then Toi sent Joram his son unto king David, to "salute him, and to bless him, be- cause he had fought against Hadadezer, and Chap. VIII.] II. SAMUEL. [B.C. 1040. smitten him : for Hadadezer 'had wars with Toi. And Joram 'brought with hira vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and vessels of brass : 11 Which also king David did dedicate unto the Lord, with the silver and gold that he had dedicated of all nations which. he sub- dued ; 12 Of Syria, and of Moab, and of the chil- dren of Amnion, and of the Philistines, and of Araalek, and of the spoil of Hadadezer, son of Rehob, king of Zobah. 13 And David gat him a name when he returned from "smiting of the Syrians in the valley of salt, beiuf/ eighteen thousand men. 14 H And he put garrisons in Edom ; throughout all Edom put he garrisons, and all they of Edom became David's servants. And the Lord preserved David whithersoever he went. 15 H And David reigned over all Israel ; and David executed judgment and justice unto all his people. 16 And Joab the son of Zeruiah icas over the host ; and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was '"recorder ; 17 And Zadok the son of Ahitub, and Ahimelech the son of Abiathar, were the priests ; and Seraiah was the "scribe ; 18 "And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over both the Cherethites and the Pelethites ; and David's sons were '^chief rulers. ■^'ei-se 1 . ' Mitlieg-ami/iah.'—Tbere lias been some spe- culation about the signification of this name. It seems sufficient to know that it denotes ' Gath and her towns ;' as in ihe parallel passage, 1 Chron. xviii. 1. 2. ' Measured them with a line.'— Some apply this to the country of Moab ; but the plain meaning of the text seems to be, that David (in conformity, doubtless, with a known usage of Oriental warfare) caused all his captives to lie down, and instead of destroying the whole, as the law au- thorized, and as they all probably expected, marked oft' a certain proportion to be spared. What that proportion was is not very clear. Our version seems to make those who were destroyed two-thirds of the whole ; but we prefer the reading of the Septuagint and Vulgate, which, although they differ in terms, concur in the sense of making the proportion one-half. The former says there were two lines for preserving alive, and two for putting to death ; and the latter, that there were two lines, one for each pur- pose ; and this is the clearest interpretation. As to the principle of the measure, all comment has been anticipated in the remarks on the ancient war-law of the Hebrews and their neighbours, in the notes to Deut. xx. 6, 7, and Judg. i., which will serve to shew that the procedure here described could scarcely at that time have been considered as a severe measure, but rather as an act of lenity, with the intention of sparing a part of the male captives, whom the law and the general custom of war doomed to death. 3. ' Zobah.' — See the note on 1 Chron. xviii. 3. 4. ' Houghed all the chariot horses.' — See the notes on Deut. xvii. 16, .losh. xi. 6. The neighbouring nations, with some exceptions, continue strong in cavalry; while the Hebrews, according to the intentions of their lawgiver, remain without horses. In David's own Psalms there are frequent references to this, chiefly as contrasting their own confidence in Jehovah with the reliance which their ene- mies placed on their strong bodies of cavalry (Ps. xx. 7 ; xxxiii. 17; Ixxvi. G; cxlvii. 10); and such expressions occurring in hymns, were well calculated to foster in the minds of the Hebrews, those feelings of contempt towards cavalry which they unquestionably entertained. The di- rection to hough the horses of the enemy is not in the Law ; but was given to Joshua on occasion of his war with the northern Canaanites : but whether David in the pre- sent instance acted with reference to that direction, or ac- cording to the common practice of the time, is not very clear. The practice of thus treating the horses of the ad- verse partjf, when they cannot be brought off, has been continued m modem warfare, for the purpose of disabling the animals and rendering them unserviceable to the enemy. The Hebrews had more reason for such a pro- 20J m by rhich ceeding than any modern European nation : for they were forbidden to employ horses in war, and did not employ them for travelling or agriculture : and it is therefore dif- ficult to see what they could have done with these ani- mals, if they had preserved them. It is true they might have sold them ; but then their enemies might have con- trived to buy them back again, and employed them anew against their conquerors. The policy therefore was to diminish, as far as possible, the race of these animals, as possessed by their neighbours ; and the importance of this we cannot estimate without recollecting tliat the imme- diate neighbours of the Hebrews do not appear to have had any native breed of horses, but to have obtained them 1 purchase from Armenia or Egypt— a circumstance wh rendered it not easy to repair the loss which the destruc- tion of their horses involved. The same course was adopted by the Romans towards elephants, which they killed, — because, on the one hand, they had no desire themselves to obtain the assistance of such auxiliaries, and knew, on the other, that these creatnres were sometimes dangerous to the troops in which they were employed. 8. ' Brass.' — Josephus says that this brass was of most excellent quality, surpassing in value gold itself, like the famous Corinthian brass among the Greeks. 10. ' Vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and vessels oj brass.' — If what Denon says be true, that the arts of other nations are only spoils of those of the Egjptians, it will be right to consider that the vases and other vessels, whether of pottery or metal, in use among that most ingenious people, furnished the models for the style, fashion, and material of those possessed by, at least, their more imme- diate neighbours — including the Hebrews, Syrians, and others. We have therefore figured a small collection of Kgyptian vessels; and our conviction that they may be taken as examples of some of the vessels mentioned in Scripture, is founded on stronger reasons than the alleged derivation of all the arts from Egypt— and that is, on their ancient universality and their existing prevalence. Wherever they originated, certain it is, that wc every- where recognize the same essential forms in the ancient vases and domestic vessels. The Greek vases do not more certainly resemble those of Egypt, from which they are confessedly derived, than do those of ancieut Pei-sia and Babylonia. But then, also, they are modern European and modern Oriental. VVe may well derive the former from the Egyptians, or indirectly from the Greeks, and we see them preserved, more or less, in our water pitchers, jars, ewers, bowls, ale and wine glasses, goblets, flower-glasses, tea-pots, and many other examples. But then again we recognize the same forms— or at least many of them— in Chap. IX.] II. SAMUEL. [B.C. 1040. China, India, Persia, Mesopotamia, Syria— everywhere in the East. In Baghdad, or in any other town in that most ancient of historical regions inwliich Baghdad is situated, we see in the shop of an ordinary potter a variety of forms of common vessels, which we do not hesitate at once to re- cognize as ' classical,' or as ' Egyptian.' If we dig in the neighbouring primitive soil of Babylonia, or Chaldaea, or the ' plain of Shinar,' we there find precisely the same wares as are exhibited iu the shop of the potter, whose forms we hesitate any longer to call ' classical ' or * Egyptian.' They are universal : and therefore they are Egyptian, and Syrian, and Hebrew : although, of course, we must make some allowance for occasional peculiarities, resulting from the individual wants or tastes of a particular nation. Now, of these ancient universal forms, the remains of Egypt certainly furnish the most complete and various speci- mens ; and it is almost impossible to be much mistaken in referring to them for the purpose of Scriptural illus- tration : it being only necessary to recollect that in such specimens we sometimes discover a tendency to the gro- tesque in style and ornament, which we may reject as a general illustration, regarding it as a peculiarity of Egyp- tian taste. Concerning the paintings of Egyptian metallic vases, Mr. Long, iu his ' Egyptian Antiquities,' observes—' The art of working in the precious metals, such as the making of golden ornaments on gold vases, of large size and beau- tiful workmanship, might be inferred from a variety of incidental notices in ancient writers, but is confirmed by the representations given in Kosellini. Here we see nu- merous vases, painted yellow, which no doubt is intended to represent gold. Many of these, though exceedingly grotesque in some of their details, are often very finely formed, and indicate not only a high state of manual skill, hut much taste and imagination. Other plates in the same work contain drawings of a great variety of vases and vessels, some of which, for the lightness and beauty of their form, are not to be surpassed by any specimens of ancient or modern art.' 13. ' Returned from stnitinij of the Si/rians in the valleij ofsalt.'—SQe 2_Kings xiy. 7. That not the Syrians, as here, but the Edomites, are intended, is evident from the fol- lowing verse, and is clearly expressed in 1 Chron. xviii. 12, where we doubtless have the correct reading, from which it would appear that a whole line has here been dropped after ' Syrians,' which we might insert thus — ■ Meanwhile Abishai the son if Zeruiah slew of the Edomites, in the valley, etc. Thus it appears that while David carried on the war in person against the Syrians, his general Abishai brought the Edomites under subjection. 17. ' Zadok . . . and Ahimelech the son of Abiathar were the priests' — This is an obvious error of transcrip- tion, and we must read Abiathar the son of Ahimelech. We know that it was Abiathar who was priest ; that he was the son of Ahimelech, and that this Ahimelech had been slain some years before by Doeg. This is the first occasion in which Zadok is mentioned as high priest ; but afterwards, throughout the reign of David, he and Abi- athar are often named separately or together, as both bearing that character — a singular innovation, resulting probably from circumstances over which the king had little control. It seems likely that after Saul had slain the priests of Ithamar's line at Nob, he restored the pontificate to the line of Eleazer, in the person of Zadok ; while David and his people, during his wandering and his reign in Judah, had been accustomed to look to Abiathar, the escaped sou of Ahimelech, as the high- priest; that he thought it proper and prudent to recognize Zadok in that character without depriving Abiathar of the consideration he had previously enjoyed. If this explanation be cor- rect, Zadok would have had this advantage over Abia- thar, that he had actually discharged the regular func- tions of high-priesthood at the tabernacle, which the other had never an r fportunity of doing. It is probably on this account thu' wherever the two names occur to- gether that of Zadok is placed first. 18. ' Cherethites . . . Pelethites.'—See 1 Chron. xviii. 1 7. In the notes on the same chapter will be found some remarks on other particulars mentioned here. CHAPTER IX. I David by Ziha sendeth for 3Iephibosheth. 7 For Jonathan's sake he entertaineth him at his table, and restoreth him all that was Saul's. 9 He mahelh Ziba his farmer. Ano David said, Is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul, that I may shew him kindness for Jonathan's sake ? 2 And titer e luas of the house of Saul a servant vi'hose name was Ziba. And when they had called him unto David, the king said unto him, Art thou Ziba ? And he said, Thy servant is he. 3 And the king said, Is there not yet any of the house of Saul, that I may shew the kindness of God unto him ? And Ziba said unto the king, Jonathan hath yet a son, which is 'lame on his feet. 4 And the king said unto him, AVliere is he? And Ziba said unto the king, Behold, he is in the house of Machir, the son of Am- niiel, in Lo-debar. 5 *i Then king David sent, and fetched bim out of the house of Machir, the son of Ammiel, from Lo-debar. 6 Now when Mephibosheth, the son of Jo- nathan, the son of Saul, was come unto David, lie fell on his face, and did reverence. And David said, Mephibosheth. And he answered, Behold thy servant ! 7 1! And David said unto him, Fear not : for I will surely shew thee kindness for Jona- than thy father's sake, and will restore thee all the land of Saul thy father ; and thou shalt eat bread at my table continually. 8 And he bowed himself, and said. What is thy servant, that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am ? 9 If Then the king called to Ziba, Saul's servant, and said unto him, I have given unto thy master's son all that pertained to Saul and to all his house. 10 Thou therefore, and thy sons, and thy servants, filiall till the land for him, and thou shall bring in the fruits, that thy master's sou Chap. X.] II. Si may have food to eat : but Mephibosheth thy master's son shall eat bread alway at my table. Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants. 11 Then said Ziba unto the king, Accord- ing to all that my lord the king hath com- manded his servant, so shall thy servant do. As fur Mephibosheth, said the king, he shall eat at my table, as one of the king's sons. ^UEL. [B.C. 1037. 12 And Mephibosheth had a young son, whose name icas Micah. And all that dwelt in the house of Ziba v:ere servants unto i\Ie- phiboshetli. 13 So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem : for he did eat continually at the king's table ; and was lame on both his feet. Verse 11. 'He shall eat at mij table, as one of the kimj's sons' — The general reader may be perplexed to know why, when David intended Mephibosheth to eat at his own table, he yet directed Ziba to bring to Jerusalem the pro- duce of his estate, that he might have food to eat {v. 10). The fact seems to be, that David by no means intended that Mephibosheth, or any one else, should eat constantly with him ; but only that he should have a right to the honourable distinction of a place at his table, ou those public occasions and festivals when the king was accus- tomed to dine with the princes of his own family, and. perhaps, with the chief officers of state. This is still cus- tomary in the East, where the king usually eats alone, but ou certain occasions admits liis relations and great func- tionaries to his table. This is a very great privilege ; but of course it does not afiFect the favoured person's ordinary means of subsistence. The situation of Jonathan's son in David's court seems to have been analogous to that of David himself in the court of Saul. He, as the king's son-in-law, had an assigned place at the royal table, but was not expected to occupy it till the new moon. (See the note on I Sam. xxv. 5.) CHAPTER X. 1 David's messengers, sent to comfort Ilamm the son of Nahash, are villainonslif entreated. 6 I'he Ammon- ites, strengthened by the Syrians at Helam, are over- come by Joab and Abishai. 15 Shobach, mahing a new siipp/y cf the Syrians at Ilclam, is slain by David. And it came to pass after this, that the 'king of the children of Ammon died, and Ilanun his son reigned in his stead. 2 Then said David, I will shew kindness unto llanun the son of Nahash, as his father shewed kindness unto me. And David sent to comfort him by the hand of his servants for his father. And David's servanty came into the land of the children of Ammon. 3 And the princes of the children of Am- mon said unto Ilanun their lord, 'Thinkest tliou that David doth honour thy father, that he hath sent comforters unto thee ? hath not David rather sent his servants unto thee, to search the city, and to spy it out, and to over- throw it ? 4 Wherefore Hanun took David's servants, and shaved off the one half of their beards, and cut off their garments in the middle, even to their buttocks, and sent them away. 5 When they told it unto David, he sent to meet them, because the men were greatly ashamed : and the king said. Tarry at Jeri- cho until your beards be grown, and then return. 6 IT And when the children of Ammon saw that they stauk before David, the children of Ammon sent and hired the Syrians of Beth- rehob, and the Syrians of Zoba, twenty thou- sand footmen, and of king Maacah a thou- sand men, and of Ish-tob twelve thousand men. 7 And when David heard of it, he sent Joab, and all the host of the mighty men. 8 And the children of Ammon came out, and put the battle in array at the entering in of the gate : and the Syrians of Zoba, and of Kehob, and Ish-tob, and Maacah, icere by themselves in the field. 9 When Joab saw that the front of the battle was against him before and behind, he chose of all the choice men of Israel, and put tliem in array against the Syrians : 10 And the rest of the people he delivered into the hand of Abishai his brother, that he might put them in array against the children of Ammon. 11 And he said, If the Syrians be too strong for me, then thou shalt help me : but if the children of Ammon be too strong for thee, then I will come and help thee. 12 Be of good courage, and let us play the men for our people, and for the cities of our God : and the Lord do that which seemeth him good. 13 And Joab drew nigh, and the people that were with him, unto the battle against the Syrians : and they fled before him. 14 And when the children of Ammon saw that the Syrians were fled, then fled they also before Abishai, and entered into the city. So « Hfb. It, tUnetyes duth David. Chap. XL] II. SAMUEL. [B.C. 1035. Joab returned from the children of Ammon, and came to Jerusalem. 15 K And when the Syrians saw that they were smitten before Israel, they gathered them- selves together. 16 And lladarezer sent, and brought out the Syrians that were beyond the river : and they came to Ilelam ; and Shobach the cap- tain of the host of lladarezer tveiit before them. 17 And when it was told David, he gathered all Israel together, and passed over Jordan, and came to Helam. And the Syrians set tliemselves in array against David, and fought with him. 18 And the Syrians fled before Israel ; and David slew the men of seven hundred chariots of the Syrians, and forty thousand horsemen, and smote Shobach the captain of their host, who died there. 19 And when all the kings that were ser- vants to lladarezer saw that they were smitten before Israel, they made peace with Israel, and served them. So the Syrians feared to help the children of Ammon any more. Verse 4. ' Shared off the one half of their hearth.'—The shame of the meu, aud the indiguation of Da\'id, clearly demonstrate that scarcely any indignity could exceed that with which the king of Israels ambassadors were treated by Hanun. So it would now be considered, in those nations of the East by which the beard is cherished. It is not our purpose to inquire into the source of that tenderness and respect with which this appendage of the human face is regarded among nations which have scarcely any other feeling in common ; but we shall merely state a few facts which seem to illustrate the force of the present narrative. All the feelings concerning the beard which the Scrip- tures indicate, are no where more strongly manifested than among the Ari D'Arvieux, who has devoted a chaptf to the exposition of their sentiments on this subject, cor- rectly states, that the Ai-abs have such a respect for the beard, that they look upon it as a sacred ornament, which God has given to men to distinguish them from women. They never shave it, but let it grow from their very youtli. There is no ereater mark of infamy among them than that of shaving it off. They regard it indeed as an essential part of their religion, under the belief that Mohammed was never shaven. It is also the badge of a free man, and a shaven face is the brand of a slave. In this impression the Turks concurred when D'Arvieux wrote ; but since his time great alterations have in this respect taken place among ihem. It was well if they thought nothing worse of a shaven European, than that he was a runaway slave, of whom his own country was ashamed. Under this view, well might the ambassadors of David be overwhelmed with shame at the insult and degradation they had received. The Arabs, in short, regard the beard as the perfection and completion of man's countenance, which they believe to be infinitely less disfigured by the loss of the nose than by that of the beard. ' It is,' adds the accurate observer, to whose re- marks we are indebted, — ' it is a greater mark of infamy in Arabia to cut a man's beard off than it is with us to whip a fellow at the cart's tail, or to burn him in the hand. Many people in that country would rather die than incur that punishment. I saw an Arab who had received a musket shot in the jaw, and who determined rather to perish than allow the surgeon to C'Jt his beard off to dress his woimd. His resolution was at P^gth overcome; but not until the wound was beginnins '<• gangrene. He never allowed himself to be seen wtiite his beard was off; and when at last he got abitoxl, he went always with his face covered with a black veil, that he might net be seen with- out a beard ; and this he did till his beard had again grown to a respectable length.' More lately, the Wahabee chief, Saoud, acted upon this respect for the beard, in his punishment of grave offences, committed by persons of consideration. The loss of the beard was the severest puuisliment he ever inflicted ; and it was considi 1. M i ,i I , t.lrr.ible than death itself, by thosewho liail i . . ' : I lurckhardt, in la\s Material$ for a Histvri/ . ' ti , relates an anecdote which strongly illusir. Ill , i!. i. of Arabian feeling on this point: — ' Saoud luui long luen desirous to purchase the mare of a sheikh belonging to the tribe of Beui-Shammar, but the owner refused to sell her for any sum of money. At this time, a sheikh of the Kahtau Arabs had been sen- tenced to lose his beard for some offence. When the barber produced his razor in the presence of Saoud, the sheikh exclaimed, " 0 Saoud, take the mare of the Sham- raary as a ransom for my beard '." The punishment was remitted ; the sheikh was allowed to go and bargain for the mare, which cost him 2-500 doUai's, the owner de- claring that no consideration could have induced him to part with her, had it not been to save the beard of a noble Kahtany.' The same traveller observes, that the Arabs who had the misfortune to incur this disgrace, invariably concealed themselves from view until their beards had grown again. Numerous other examples of respect for the beard aud the disgrace of losing it, might be adduced ; but the above will perhaps be considered to convey an adequate illustration of the present text. 6. ' Sent and hired the Si/rians.' — The events of this war being more precisely stated in 1 Chron. xix., we reserve for that chapter such remarks as the narrative seems to require. CHAPTER XI. 1 W/iilc Joah besieyed Habbah, David committeth udulte.ry with Uathsheba. 6 Uriah, sent for by David to cover the aduUenj, woidd not go home neither sober nor drunken, li He carrieth to Joah the letter for his death. 18 Joab sendelh the news thereof to David. "20 David taketh Bath-sheba to wife. Axn it came to ])ass 'after the year was ex- i neb. nf ihc return of the ymr. pired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, tiiat 'David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel ; and they destroyed the chililrcn of Ammon, and besieged Kabbah. But David tarried still at Jerusalem. 2 If And it came to pass in an evening- tide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king's house : and from tiic roof he saw a woman washing « 1 Cliron. 20. 1. Chap. XL] II. S.\ liersolf; and tUe woman u-a.-< very beautiful to look upon. 3 And David sent and enquired after the woman. And one said, Is not this Bath-sheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the llittite ? 4 And David sent messengers, and took her ; and she came in unto him, and he lay with her ; 'for she was 'purified from her uncleanness : and she returned unto her house. 5 H And the woman conceived, and sent and told David, and said, I am with child. 6 And David sent to Joab, sayinfj. Send me Uriah the Hittite. And Joab sent Uriah to David. 7 And when Uriah was come unto him, David demanded of lihn °liow Joab did, and how the people did, and how the war pros- pered. 8 And David said to Uriah, Go down to thy house, and wash thy feet. And Uriah departed out of the king's house, and there ^followed him a mess of meat from the king. 9 But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his lord, and went not down to his house. 10 And when they had told David, saying, Uriah went not down unto his house, David said unto Uriah, Camcst thou not from thy journey ? why then didst thou not go down unto thine house ? 11 And Uriah said unto David, The ark, and Israel, and Judah, abide in tents ; and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, are encamped in the open fields ; shall I then go into mine house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife ? as thou livest, and as thy soul liveth, I will not do this thing. 12 And David said to Uriah, Tarry here to day also, and to morrow I will let thee de- part. So Uriah abode in Jerusalem that day, and the morrow. 13 And when David had called him, he did eat and drink before him ; and he made him drunk : and at even he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, but went not down to his house. 14 H And it came to pass in the morning, that David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah. 15 And he wrote in the letter, saying. Set ye Uriah in the forefront of the 'hottest battle, 3 Or, and trfien she had jjtirrjled hrrse^/, SiC, she returned. e lleb. neitt out a/ler hiin. 7 Heb. strung. B Heh./rmn n lUEL. [B.C. 10.-!.-,. and retire ye "from him, that lie may be smit- ten, and die. 1(3 And it came to jiass. when Joab ob- served the city, that he assigned Uriah unto a place vvliere he knew that valiant men IVCIT. 17 And the men of the city went out, and fought with Joab : and there; fell some of.,,the people of the servants of David ; and Uriah the llittite died also. IS If Then Joab sent and told David all the things concerning the war ; I'J And charged the messenger, saying. When thou hast made an end of telling the matters of the war unto the king, 20 And if so be that the king's wrath arise, and he say unto thee. Wherefore approached ye so nigh unto the city when ye did figiit ? knew ye not that they would shoot from the wall ? 21 Who smote 'Abimelech the son of Je- rubbesheth ? did not a woman cast a piece of a millstone upon him from the wall, that he died in Thebez ? why went ye nigh the wall ? then say thou. Thy servant Uriah the llittite is dead also. 22 1[ So the messenger went, and came and shewed David all that Joab had sent him for. 23 And the messenger said unto David, Surely the men prevailed against us, and came out luito us into the field, and we were upon them, even uiito the entering of the gate. 24 And the shooters shot from off the wall upon thy servants ; and some of the king's servants be dead, and thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also. 25 Then David said unto the messenger, Thus shalt thou say unto Joab, Let not this thing '"displease thee, for the sword devoureth "one as well as another : make thy battle nunc strong against the city, and overthrow it : and encourage thou him. 2(j H And when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband. 27 And when the mourning was past, David sent and fetched her to his house, and she became his wife, and bare him a son. But the thing that David had done "displeased the Loud. Chap. XII.] II. SAMUEL. [B.C. 1033. Verse \. 'At the time when kings go forth to battle.'— See the notes on 1 Chron. xx., where tlie narrative of the war, as given at the beginning of this and the end of the next chapter, is repeated, without any notice being talien of the unhappy transactions in which David was meanwlii'.e involved at Jerusalem. There is much point in the observation, which we find there as here, that although it was the time when kings went forth to battle, David the king of Israel did not go forth, but ' remained still at .lerusalem.' Whether it was indisposition or self-in- dulgence that prevented him, does not appear; but the latter is commonly supposed. 2. 'David arose fioin off his bed, and jvalked upon the roof.' — There have been many grave remarks and sermons upon the consequences of idleness, as exemplified in this instance, and so forth. Now there is no idleness in the case, or anything to blame David for, but the sin into which he fell. It is i|nir t. u ■ '!i ii ii I;'- bad not been at Jerusalem, and if he bail i i i ili.- roof of his palace after sleep, this thin.. i i , \ r liappened to him ; but this is no more tli.ui il . * > -. ■ i;^ iiiith that if a man were doing one thing, antither thing would not have been done, which is as applicable to every human act as to that of David. We are told that he oitghtnotto have been at Jenisalem, but at the head of his armi/. Now this is more than we know. It is, perhaps, rather creditable to David that he knew that a king had more important duties than to lead forth his armies in person on every occasion. He was doubtless ready, if there had been adequate occasion ; but the result proved that Joab was fully equal to the service on which he was engaged : and the king could probably more easily find one to command the army tlian to conduct the civil government in his own absence, according to his own plans and designs. Those must have singular notions of an oriental monarchy who suppose that David had grown indolent because he re- mained in his metropolis ; for there are few men whose ordinari/ home duties are more arduous and laborious than those of most eastern kings; and we know, from a sub- sequent event, that David actually undertook in his own person, when at Jerusalem, more labour than he was able adequately to sustain. Then, as to his afternoon sleep and subsequent walk, — the idleness of this has seemed unques- tionable. But this is the ignorant inference of people who sleep at night for eight or nine hours through, and then marvel to see others sleepful while they are wakeful, with- out considering that these others have slept but five hours at night, have risen at daybreak, and have discharged half the duties of the day before they commence their own. In warm climates the cool morning hours are highly fa- vourable to exertion, and therefore the orientals rise early to employ them ; and to compensate for this, as well as to obtain the tobil quantity of sleep which nature requires, they lie down again during the heat of the day, when, if they remained awake, the relaxing warmth would make exertion difficult. Taken in all, the orientals do not sleep more, if as much, as we do ; but they find it convenient and suitable to have two short sleeps instead of a single long one ; and for this they do not deserve to be consi- dered indolent. Joab doubtless slept as soundly in his camp this afternoon as David in his palace. — 'Walked upon the roof of the king',>: house.' — It is usual, towards evening, to resort to the house-top to enjoy tlie cool air. But the orientals do not properly walk there; they have no idea of walking for enjoyment or exercise ; and they regard it as one of the peculiar and inscrutable madnesses of the Europeans to walk to and fro without any present and apparent motive. They may saunter or lounge about a little, which was perhaps what David did ; but more generally they sit or recline on mats or carpets. The roofs being flat, a house in an elevated spot overlooks many other roofs and interior courts : but prudent persons are cautious of inspecting the proceedings of their neighbours, as, in many places, a man would be thought perfectly justified in shooting a too inquisitive person through the head — a thing which does sometimes happen. Keeling, in our country also, would be very strong against it, as we see from the following anecdote, which we transcribed long ago from Brook, without a re- ference to the particular work (probably the Mute Chris- tian): 'I have read of one Sir William Champney, once living in Tower Street, London, in the reign of King Henry III., who was the first man in England who ever built a turret on the top of his house, that he might the better overlook all his neighbours ; but so it fell out, that not long after he was struck blind.' 8. ' Go down to thi/ house.' — Detection would have been death to Bathsheba;'and David's object was to screen the effects of his own and her criminality, by getting Uriah to go home. It is possible that the latter may have sus- pected or heard something of the truth. The repeated urgency of the king on this particular point was alone well calculated to rouse his suspicions ; but the text seems to assign an adequate reason for his refixsal, in that high and honourable sense of military duty and propriety which he so forcibly expresses in v. 1 1. 11. ' ?'/ie arA.'— It would seem probable from this, that the ark was with the army ; and if so, this will make the second recorded instance of the kind, the first being when the ark was taken by the Philistines. As, however, the place of the ark was a tent even in Jerusalem, this point remains uncertain. CHAPTER XII. 1 Nallian's parable of the ewe lamb causeth David to be his own jjidr/e. 7 David, reproved by Nathm, confesselh his sin, and is pardoned. 15 David monrneth and prayeth for the child, while it lived. 24 Solomon i s born, and named Jedidiah. 2G David taheth Jiabbah, and tortureth the people thereof. And the Lord sent Nathan unto David. And he came unto liiin, and said unto him, There were two men in one city ; tlie one rich, and the other poor. 2 The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds : 3 But the poor rnan had nothing, save one little ewe lamb, which he had bouglit and nourished up : and it grew up together with him, and with his cliildrcn ; it did eat of his own 'meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter. 4 And there came a traveller unto the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd, to dress for the wayfar- ing man that was come unto him ; but took the ))oor man's lamb, and dressed it for the man that was come to him. f) And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man ; and he said to Nathan, .i.s- the Lord liveth, the man that hath done this t/iiiiff 'shall surely die : Ciup. xir.] II. SAMUEL. [B.C. 1033. 6 And he shall restore the lamb "fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity. 7 II And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I 'anointed thee king over Israel, and I deli- vered thee out of the hand of Saul ; 8 And I gave thee thy master's house, and thy master's wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah ; and if tliat had been too little. I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things. 1) Wherefore hast thou despised the com- mandment of the Lord, to do evil in his sight? thou hast killed Uriah the Ilittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the chil- dren of Ammon. 10 Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house ; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah tlie Hittite to be thy wife. 11 Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and I will 'take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbour, and ho shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun. 12 For thou didst it secretly: but I will do tills tiling before all Israel, and before the sun. 13 And David said unto Nathan, I iiave sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said unto David, 'The Lord also hath put away thy sin ; thou shalt not die. 14 Ilowbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Loud to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die. 15 51 And Nathan departed unto his house. And the Lord struck the child that LTriah's wife bare unto David, and it was very sick. 16 David therefore besought God for the child ; and David 'fasted, and went in, and lay all night upon the earth. 17 And the elders of his house arose, and u-ent to him, to raise him up from the earth : but he would not, neither did he eat bread with them. 18 And it came to pass on the seventh day, that the child died. And the servants of David feared to tell him that the child was dead : for they said, Behold, while the child was yet alive, we spake unto him, and he would not hearken unto our voice : how will he then Vex himself, if we tell him that the child is dead? 19 But when David saw that his servants whispered, David perceived that the child was dead : therefore David said unto his servants. Is the child dead ? And they said, lie is dead. 20 '] hen David arose from the earth, and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his apparel, and came into the house of the Lord, and worshipped : then he came to his own house ; and when he required, they set bread before him, and he did eat. 21 Then said his servants unto him. What thing is this that thou hast done ? thou didst fast and weep for the child, while it u-as alive ; but when the child was dead, thou didst rise and eat bread. 22 And he said. While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept : for I said. Who can tell whether God will be gracious to nie, that the child may live ? 23 But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me. 24 H And David comforted Bath-sbeba his wife, and went in unto her, and lay with her : and "she bare a son, and '°he called his name Solomon : and the Loud loved him. 25 And he sent by the hand of Nathan the prophet; and he called his name "Jedidiah, because of the Lord. 26 H And Joab fought against Eabbah of the children of Ammon, and took the royal city. 27 And Joab sent messengers to David, and said, I have fought against Kabbah, and have taken the city of waters. 28 Now therefore gather the rest of the people together, and encamp against the city, and take it: lest I take the city, and "it be called after my name. 29 And David gathered all the penjjli; together, and went to Kabbah, and ibught against it, and took it. 30 '"And he took their king's crown from off his head, the weight whereof icas a talent of gold with the precious stones : and it was set on David's head. And he brought forth the spoil of the city "in great abundance. 31 And he brought forth the people that were therein, and put them under saws, and under harrows of iron, and under axes of iron, and made them pass through the brickkiln : and thus did he unto all the cities of the chil- dren of Ammon. So David and all thepeojile returned unto Jerusalem. :liar. IB. 22. « Eoclus. 47. 1 I. ? Il.h. fi'slrf! n fnl. Beloved o/tlie LORD. n Ueb. hi;/ uame be eulkil aiA^n tl. Chap. XII.] II. SAMUEL [B.C. 1033. Verse 1. • Th^rr , the idea ia the prc's. 1,1 •■ ,■! ■■ \.■\^ ' «lii-lil.. ;. .'S lo a higher order df l. : i , ■, i: .: .: .1 .ilinn, is .;i ,;,iii':lj- applicable; and in mi.Ii Ui-i;^^ ., 4-t.(i|. d aud tusiaiiied analogy seldom occurs, and is not to be expected. David's crime was greater, even with reference to the comparison only, tlian as here stated ; for not only had he taken the pet-lamb from its master's bosom, but had produced the death of the faithful and devoted owner. But probably a more exact resemblance between the parable and the transaction against which it was levelled, would have de- feated the puipose of the prophet, by enabling the king to discover too soon the drift of his apologue. 4. ' He spared to take of his own flock,' etc. — Tn the notes to Gen. xviii., Judges iv., xix., and elsewhere, we have touched on the Oriental feeling concerning the duty aud honour of entertaining strangers. Tliis obligation is the most imperatively felt in camps and in small towns. In large towns the frequent concourse of strangers and the n:ore elaborate organization of society, together with the fjcilitics wliich visitors possess of providing for their own wants, nicessarily operate, with other circumstances, in dimiui.-.lung their claim upon the hospitality of the in- haljitants ; though even there such claims are not entirely neglected. We have little doubt that the same difference prevailed anciently in the same countries. Now, it is clear, from the mention of flocks quite at liand, that the scene of the present fable is laid in a country town or village, where, as at this day, the principal persons were bound in point of honour and duty to provide for the wants of tra- vellers. The ancient usage and feeling on this subject, and which still survive in many small towns aud villages, we conceive to be strikingly illustrated by what Burckhardt states concerning Kerai, a town of 5,50 families, about nine miles east from the Dead Sea towards its southern extremity, and the site of which formed part of David's dominion. The place has eight menzels or medliafes (lodg- iug-places) for strangers. ' Their expenses are not de- frayed from a common purse ; but whenever a stranger takes up his lodging at one of the medhafes, one of the people present declares that he intends to furnish that day's entertainment; and it is then his duty to provide a dinner or supper, which he sends to the medhafe, and which is always in sufficient quantity for a large number. A goat or lamb is generally hilled on the occasion, and barley for the guest's horse is also furnished. There are Turks who every other day kill a goat for this hospitable purpose .... Their love of entertaining strangers is carried to such a length, that not long ago, when a Christian silversmith, who came from Jerusalem to work for the ladies, and who, being an industrious man, seldom stirred from his shop, was on the point of departure after a two months' resi- dence, each of the principal families of the town sent him a lamb, saying that it was not just that he should lose his due, though he did not choose to come and dine with them. The more a man expends upon his guests, the greater is his reputation and influence ; and the fewfamilie.s who pursue an opposite conduct are despised by all the others.' Travels in Syria, p. .384. 5. ' I qare line th;/ mf the king, of : ;iiiil what we Hi, to conduct affection, and interest in their honour, i immediate are always of wood, fastened to the dooi, and sliding into a hole in the door-post. The additional bar, if any, used at night, is also of wood. This was no doubt the case also in the Bible times, for we read of bars of brass and iron, mentioned, in the way of contradistinction, as fastenings of extraordinary strength (1 Kings iv. 1.3 ; Isa. xlv. 2). 20. ' Tamar remuiiied dcs'ilate in her brother Jbsalom's hotise.'—The natural tendency of polygamy is to produce a house divided against itself. The several mothers hate each other and each other's children, and spend all their thoughts in plotting for the exclusive benefit of their own. Hence the large family which is sometimes formed in poly- gamy is not one family, but an assemblage of several fami- lies, opposed to each other in interest and in feeling. The ties of brotherhood and sisterhood seldom extend beyond the children of the same mother ; and the only sentiment in which they all concur is in respect for the common father and common husband. Under this state of things, however, the daughters, aware that there are others who have equal claim upon their father's affection, do not so much look up to him as their natural protector, and the avenger of their wrongs, as to their uterine brother, whose of the East, where the brother has often more adi authority in all that concerns the daughter of his mother, than the father himself. We find an instance of this here, and one still earlier, in the case of Simeon and Levi, who arranged the terms of their sister Dinah's marriage ; and who, to the deep regret of their father, horribly avenged upon the men of Shechem the injury their sister had 23. ' Baal-haxor, which is beside Ephraim ' — not in the tribe of Ephraim, in which we read of no town named thus, but near a town called Ephraim ; probably the same that is mentioned in 2 Chrou. xiii. 19, and John .\i. .51. In the former of these texts it is mentioned with Hethel: Baal-hazor would therefore seem to have been in the tribe of Benjamin ; and is prob:il.l v th.. same with the Hazor of Neh. xi. 33. All the iji'ii' i 'i -i ,|iture agree very well with the distance w 111' li 1 <,, of eight miles from Jerusalem; about . i.. i i. ii. ., in a direction N.N.E., D'Anville places hi.lu..ii.i, ul.u «liich Baal-hazor was situated. 29. ' Every man et choice animals of this class were employed in in )ic d ^iiitied offices. Mules, mentioned as \ pift illustrious by the Mysiaii-i .■r^t Loufeix'd on Priam,' were yoked to the litter in which that aged monarch con- veyed the ' glorious ransom ' of Hector's body to the Grecian camp, and in which the body itself was taken back to Troy. Chariots, drawn by mules, were also allowed to contend for the prize in the cliariotraces of the Olympic games, and in the similar games of the Romans. Mules are still much used in the East, as well for riding as for the conveyance of baggage and merchandise; and, from the attention paid to their hr I. th-v arc .j.Mierally much finer animals than in En-l n ' I i 'll^l^lUion, in the mule, of the more useful .|ii li i :, in- horse and the ass-its strength, activ,i>. . ,.;,i„ m.l great powci- of radnraiii'", are characttii.^lics ol i.iculjar value jn tia I • a: ! t liivfore the Jews, although interdicted f,.f,iii /, 111 : Lev. xix. 19), did not find it con- veiii.iit I" ' ' I '11 la It their use was forbidden. But as thev coui'i not k-gaily breed mules, the question arises, how ihcy obtained those which they possessed. It seems probable that they were employed in the araiies which Uavid overthrew ; and that, there being no precedent for hamstringing mules, he preserved them for use. Or they Chap. XIV.] II. SAMUEL. [B.C. 1027—1025. may have been obtained from David's friend Hiram, the king of Tyre ; for we find, in the time of Ezeliiel, that the Armenians brought not only horses J)ut mules to the great market of Tyre (Ezck. xxvii. 14). This they may have done at a much earlier period. At any rate,_ this fact points to Armenia as the possible source from which mules might, more or less directly, have been derived. In Solo- mon's time they might have been obtained from Egypt; but, till his reign, the commercial relations with that country do not appear to have been opened. (See the note on Josh. xi. 6.) CHAPTER XIV. 1 Joitl), suborning a widow of Tehoah hi/ a parable to incline the /ting's heart to fetch home Absalom, bringeth him to Jerusalein. 25 Absalom's beatity, hair, and rhildren. 28 After two years, Absalom by Joali is bronght into the king's presence. Now Joiib the son of Zeruiah perceived that the king's heart ira.i toward Alisalom. 2 And Joab sent to Tekoah, and fetched thence a wise woman, and said unto her, I pray thee, feign tliyself to be a monrner, and put on now mourning apparel, and anoint not tliy- self with oil, but be as a woman that had a hmg time mourned for the deail : 3 And come to the king, ami speak on this manner unto him. So Joab put the words in her mouth. 4 If And when the woman of Tekoah spake to the king, she fell on her face to the ground, and did obeisance, and said, 'Help, O king. 5 And the king said unto lier, What .aileth tiiee? And she answered, I am indeed a widow woman, and mine husband is dead. 6 And thy handmaid had two sons, and they two strove together in the field, and iltere tras 'none to part them, but the one smote the other, and slew him. 7 And, behold, the whole family is risen against thine handmaid, and they said. Deliver him that smote his brother, that we may kill him, for the life of his brother whom he slew ; Chap. XIV.] II. SAMUEL. [B.C. 1027 and we will destroy the heir also : and so they shall quench my coal which is left, and shall not leave to my husband neither name nor remainder ^upon the earth. 8 And the king said unto the woman, Go to thine house, and 1 will give charge concerning thee. y And the woman of lekoah said unto the king, My lord, O king, the iniquity be on me, and on my father's house : and the king and his throne he guiltless. 10 And the king said. Whosoever saith 07/17/1!^ unto thee, bring him to me, and he shall not touch thee any more. 11 Then said she, I pray thee, let the king remember the Lokd thy God, *that thou wouldest not suffer the revengers of blood to destroy any more, lest they destroy my son. And he said, As the Lord liveth, there shall not one hair of thy son fall to the earth. 12 Then the woman said. Let thine hand- maid, I pray thee, speak one word unto my lord the king. And he said. Say on. 13 And the woman said, Wherefore then hast thou thought such a thing against the people of God? for the king doth speak this thing as one which is faulty, in that the king doth not fetch home again his banished. 14 For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again ; "neither doth God respect any person : yet doth he devise means that his banished be not expelled from him. 15 Now therefore that I am come to speak of this thing unto my lord the king, it is be- cause the people have made me afraid : and thy handmaid said, I will now speak unto the king ; it may be that tlie king will perform the request of his handmaid. 16 For the king will hpar, to deliver his handmaid out of the hand of the man that would destroy me and my son together out of the inheritance of God. 17 Then thine handmaid said. The word of my lord the king shall now be "comfortable : for as an angel of God, so is my lord the king 'to discern good and bad : therefore the Lord thy God will be with thee. 18 Then the king answered and said unto the woman. Hide not from me, I pray thee, the thing that I shall ask thee. And the woman said. Let my lord the king now speak. 19 And the king said. Is not the hand of Joab with thee in all this? And the woman Ileb. upim titefare of the enHh. awa'i nis /'/'c, tic lititit aho devise 111 Heb. Andm Abnakm l/icre answered and said. As thy soul liveth, my lord the king, none can turn to the right hand or to the left from ought that my lord the king hath spoken : for thy servant Joab, he bade me, and he put all these words in the moulli of thine handmaid : 20 To fetch about this form of speech hath thy servant Joab done this thing : and my lord is wise, according to the wisdom of an angel of God, to know all tilings that are in the earth. 21 IT And the king said unto Joab, Behold now, 1 have done this thing : go therefore, bring the young man Absalom again. 22 And Joab fell to the ground on his face, and bowed himself, and "thanked the king : and Joab said. To day thy servant knoweth that I have found grace in thy sight, my lord, 0 king, in that the king hath fulfilled the request of 'his servant. 23 So Joab arose and went to Geshur, and brought Absalom to Jerusalem. 24 And the king said. Let him turn to his own house, and let him not see my face. So Absalom returned to his own house, and saw not the king's face. 25 H '"But in all Israel there was none to be so much praised as Absalom for his beauty : from the sole of his foot even to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him. 26 And when he polled his head, (for it was at every year's end that he polled it : because the hair was heavy on him, therefore he polled it:) he weighed the hair of his head at two hundred shekels after the king's weight. 27 H And unto Absalom there were born three sons, and one daughter, whose name ims Tamar : she was a woman of a fair counte- nance. •28 IT So Absalom dwelt two full years in Jerusalem, and saw not the king's face. 29 Therefore Absalom sent for Joab, to have sent him to the king ; but he would not come to him : and when he sent again the second time, he would not come. 30 Therefore he said unto his servants. See, Joab's field is "near mine, and he hath barley there ; go and set it on fire. And Absalom's servants set the field on fire. 31 Then Joab arose, and came to Absalom unto his house, and said unto him, Wherefore have thy servants set my field on fire ? 32 And Absalom answered Joab, Behold, 1 sent unto thee, saying. Come hither, that i uUiply to destroy. leb. to hear, reatly. Or, became God / !b. blessed. 11 Ueh.vrnr, Chap. XIV.] II. SAMUEL. [B.C. 1027 1025 may send thee to the king, to say, Wherefore am I come from Gcshur ? it. had been good for me to have been there still : now therefore let me see the king's face ; and if there be any iniquity in me, let him kill me. 33 So Joab came to the king, and told him: and when he had called for A bsalom, he came to the king, and bowed himself on his face to the ground before the king : and the king kissed Absalom. Verse 2. ' Telwah.' — This place was afterwards fortified by liehol)oam, and became the birthplace of the prophet Amos. It gave its name to the adjacent desert on the east. The place still bears the name of Tekua, and lies about six miles south of Bethlehem. It is not men- tioned in the New Testament. In 765 a.d., when visited by St. Willibald, it was a Christian place and had a church. In the time of the Crusaders, it was still inhabited by Christians, who afforded assistance to the Crusaders during the siege of Jerusalem ; and ulti- mately King Fulco a.ssigned it to the canons of the church of the Holy Sepulchre, in exchange for Bethany. In 1 138 A.D., it was sacked by a party of Turks from beyond Jordan ; and no subsequent notice of it as an inhabited place is found. In the time of Quaresmius it was, as now, desolate, and not visited for fear of the Arabs. Later travellers have not seldom passed this way, sometimes on their route between Bethlehem and Hebron. Tekoah lies on an elevated hill, not steep, but broad on the top, and covered with ruins to the extent of four or five acres. These consist chiefly in the foundations of houses built of squared stones, some of which are bevilled. Near the middle of the site are the ruins of a Greek church, among which are several fragments of columns, and a remarkable baptismal font. There are many cisterns excavated in the rocks; and not far off' is a living spring of fine water. SeeRobinson'si^iV.//. ../ //- .,,,,,:, , n, Palesline,\\.\ii'>-\Si. 7. ' Kill him. J r I / In other whom he slew.' — This case, alth •. very remarkable, as illustrating the upri m- n , i iln , usirini of blood-revenge among the Jews. 8ii iiivef-iate was that principle, that, although the mother herself was the most aggrieved party, she had no influence in preventing the next male kin from avenging the blood of the slain sou upon his slaying brother. She therefore applies to the king for his pardon and protection ; and knowing, as doubtless the king knew, 1 hat, in such a case, strong measures were necessary, she is not satisfied with a general promise, but presses him with her apprehensions, till at last he confirms his promise by an oath : ' As the Lord liveth, there shall not one hair of thy son fall to the earth.' She is then satisfied, and begins to develop her design. That design was to induce tlie king to satisfy his conscience in pardoning Absalom, by proving that, in so doing, he did not otherwise than he would have done in the case of a stranger, where no par- tiality could operate. It is clear that David wished to pardon his son, but was afraid, as a king, to do so. The device of Joab turned the balance which had so long wavered between private affection and public duty. That device was prol>al)ly borrowed from the course taken by Nathan to make David pronounce his own condemnation. The two cases arc strikingly analogous; and in both the crime stated in the fiction is inferior in its enormity to the actual offence. 9. ' TJie iniquitij he on me,' etc. — that is, the iniquity of pardoning a homicide, whom the avenger had a right to slay wherever he should find him, except in a city of refuge. 1 4. ' lie must nrcds dir, and are as water spilt on the qround, which cannot heijitthered up again.' — Joab could not liave found a more suitable advocate than this woman of Tekoah. What could be better calculated to impress a poet like David than the most beautiful figures of speech which she employs? In verse 7 she compares the pro- spective death of her only surviving son to the quenching of her last live coal ; and here she compares death to water, which, once spilt upon the ground, can be gathered up no more. With reference to the latter figure, the Rev. W. Jowett, in describing an Armenian funeral, says: — ' The corp.se is now carried out into tlie churchyard. A slab lifted up discovered to our view that the whole churchyard is hollow under ground. 'I"he body was put into a meaner wooden coffin, and lowered into the grave. I did not observe that they sprinkled earth upon it, as we do; but, instead of this, a priest concluded the ceremony by pouring a glass of water on the head of the corpse. I did not learn what this meant; but it brought to my mind that touching passage in 2 Sam. xiv. 14 — 'For we must needs die,' etc. On inquiry, Mr. Jowett would have learned that the water was holy water, and was intended to give the corpse its final purification and protection, before being shut out from the world for ever. The custom is however impressive ; as is also another in use among the same people, who collect into one place the bones which may have become exposed, and every yeai sprinkle them with water, praying for the hastening of that time when the dry bones shall be quickened to eternal life. It may further contribute to the illustration of tliis fine image, to notice that it was the custom of the Jews to throw out of window all the water in the house in which any one has died, in the belief that the departed soul has cleansed itself therein. There is a somewhat similar custom in some of the provinces of France, only they throw away the milk instead of the water. The Formo- sans, who place their dead in green booths, set there every day a calabash full of fresh water, with a bamboo beside it, that the soul may be enabled to bathe and to assuage its thirst. Essais sur la Lille'rature des He'breux, iii. 53". 2G. • lleiyhed the hair of his headat two hundred shekels.' — It appears that this handsome, but unprincipled and vain man, glorying in the abundance and beauty of his hair, wore it as long as he could without great incon- venience ; and when it was cut caused it to be weighed, that the reputation of its quantity might compensate to his vanity for the present loss to his personal appearance. The sacred historian condescends to notice the circum stance, in order to explain and give point to the fact, tliat the locks which Absalom so fondly cherished became sub- sequently the occasion of his death. It would seem that, at this time, the custom for men to wear the hair short, or to shave the head, except in mourning, had not come into use. In the time of St. I'uiil it was a shame for men to wear long haii 1 ( '<' ^ m - "mm , and confirmed by Josephus, who ii!.-i I \. : , ' IP linked men who formed the guara oftliii I nurch wore their hair in long flow- ing ti \ sprinkled every morning with gold dust 111' II y 1:1 ini.inted it, of course), so that flieir heads glitiircd in the sunbeams, as reflected from the gold, if this were the custom a little earlier, the weight of the unguents with which it was saturated, and of the gold dust it cotitained, may somewhat lessen our surprise at the weight of Absolom's hair, though it must still have been extraordinary. There have been various explanations as to the weight. In fact we do not know with certainty what was the weight of the Hebrew shekel at different periods. According to the common calcula- tion the weight of 200 shekels would be 112 ounces troy ; but the weight is hero said to have been by ' the king's shekel,' which is generally understood to have been con- siderably less than the common shekel. Some, with Chap. XV.] II. SAMUEL. [B.C. 1024—1023. refereDce to this, reduce the weight of Absalom's hair to half the above ; some (as Bochart) still lower, to 31b. 2oz., and even a pound lower than that. It may be even pos- sible to bring down the quantity to four shekels, by sup- posing that the quantity was originally stated in numeral letters, and that the letter daleth H, which stands for four, became transmuted in the course of copying into the very similar letter resli ^, which, as a numeral, stands for two hundred. But a head of hair weighing only two ounces would not be very remarkable. These difl'erences shew the difficulty of the matter, and that, in fact, we can know nothing with certainty, except that the hair of Absalom is intended to be described as remarkably fine and abundant. Harmer states that lie had been told that it was a very good English head of hair that weighs more than five ounces. On this Jahn builds the hypothesis that the shekel by which Absalom's hair was weighed, could not have been more than a fifth, or perhaps a sixth of the legal sliekel ; for, he says, we can hardly suppose the hair of Absalom weighed more than double a good English head of hair, and therefore the shekel could not have ex- ceeded that proportion to the legal shekel. — So much more wildly do men reason and infer on Scriptural topics than the common sense of mankind would tolerate on any other. In tact Harmer does not say to what kind of heads of liair his information applied — whether of males or females, or whether to the growth of one or of many years. It is certain, however, that heads of hair greatly exceeding his maximum have been known, especially among females, and only more particularly among them, probably, because their habit of allowing the hair to grow long has afforded jnore opportunity for comparison ; for the hair of men will certainly grow as thick, or even thicker than that of women, and if we may jud^e from the long queues (wliieh sometimes reach to the ground) of the Chinese, it will in White's Beyidar Gradation in Man, pp. 92-9-t ; and he adds, ' I have myself seen an Englishwoman, the wife of a theatrical gentleman, whose hair is six feet in length, and weighs upwards of three pounds, without that part which is nearly connected with the head. Its colour is of a light brown.' We have only to add the opinion of those, who, unable to satisfy their minds otherwise on the subject, suppose that two hundred shekels mean the value of the hair when sold : but it does not seem likely that the king's son would sell his hair, nor can we see to what use it could be ap- plied by those who bought it. Wigs, though certainly at and before this time in use among the Egj ptians, do not appear to have been ever used by the Jews. It remains to observe that the Hebrew does not say that Absalom polled his hair every year, but from time to time— occa- sionally ; — that is, as the text explains it, when it became heavy. This may have been at longer intervals than a year. — ' After the king's weiyht.' — The preceding note has exhibited some of the opinions which have been held respecting this ' king's weight.' It must denote some pe- culiarity. Perhaps it intimates accuracy only — meaning that the weight is given according to the accredited standard weight in the royal treasury. Of this opinion. Bishop Cumberland, in his standard w ork on the subject of Hebrew weights and measures .1 / - i. r.ir.ls the Recovery (f Jewish Measures u-../ i , i , seems to have been, for he confesses him- : , uiththe arguments adduced by some modri n .1. >i , ,,i,,i i In istians, for the existence of a shekel of inferior weight to the legal standard, p. 1II9. The prevailing opinion is, however, in favour of the 'king's shekel' beingof weight much inferior to the other, in the proportion stated in the last note. But the conclusion is obviously founded upon this text, and must be therefore taken with the limitations which a just view of the text may itself suggest. One notion is, that the sacred books being revised after the captivity, the Babylonish weight, distinguished as ' the king's weight,' was introduced, as, at that time, more generally intelligible ; and this, it is said, was only a third of the Jewish shekel. If we could rely upon this, it would remove most of the difficulty of the text as it stands. Another expla- nation is that of the always ingenious Michaelis, who concludes that as it was not forbidden the Israelites to deal in common life by different weights, there arose in process of time under the Judges, a shekel much smaller than that of the sanctuary : but at last, to prevent uncer- tainty and imposition, the kings fixed the weight of this common shekel more accurately ; so that from this time there were two lawful shekels current among the people, the sacred and the royal. 27. ' Three sons.' —They seem to have died early, as their names are not given, and as Absalom is elsewhere described as building a monument to perpetuate his memory, because he had no son. See xviii. 18. CHAPTER XV. I Absalom, by fair speeches and courtesies, stealelhthe hearts of Israel. 7 Under pretence of a vow he oh- taineth leave to go to Hebron. 10 He maheth there a great conspiracy. 13 David vpon the news fleeth from Jerusalem. 19 Ittai uoutd not leave him. ■24 Zadok and Abiathar are sent back with the ark. 30 David and his company go np mount Olivet weeping. 31 He curseth Ahithnphel's counsel. 32 Hitshai is sent back with instructions. A^'D it came to pass after tliis, that Absalom prepared him chariots and horses, and fifty men to run before him. 2 And Absalom rose up early, and stood beside the way of the gate : and it was so, that when any man that had a controversy 'came to the king for judgment, then Absalom called unto him, and said, Of what city art thou? And he said. Thy servant is of one of the tribes of Israel. 3 And Absalom said unto him, See, thy matters are good and right ; but 'there is no man deputed of the king to hear thee. 4 Absalom said moreover. Oh that I were made judge in the land, that every man which hath any suit or cause might come unto me, and I would do him justice I 5 And it was so, that when any man came nigh to him to do him obeisance, he put forth his hand, and took him, and kissed him. 6 And on this manner did Absalom to all Israel that came to the king for judgment : so Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel. 7 IT And it came to pass after forty years, that Absalom said unto the king. I pray thee, let me go and pay my vow, which I have vowed unto the Lord, in Hebron. I 8 For thy servant vowed a vow while I I abode at Geshur in Syria, saying, If the Lord « Or, none u-ill hear thee from the king clown«ard. 219 Chap. XV.] [B.C. 1024—1023. shall bring me again indeed to Jerusalem, then I will serve the Lokd. 9 And the king said unto him, Go in peace. So he arose, and went to Hebron. 10 ^ But Absalom sent spies throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, As soon as ye hear the sound of the trumpet, then ye shall say, Absalom reigneth in Hebron. 11 And with Absalom went two hundred men out of Jerusalem, that, were called ; and they went in their simplicity, and they knew not any thing. 12 And Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David's counsellor, from his city, even from Giloh, while he offered sacrifices. And the conspiracy was strong ; for the people increased continually with Absalom. 13 If And there came a messenger to David, saying. The hearts of the men of Israel are after Absalom. 14 And David said unto all his servants that icere with him at Jerusalem, Arise, and let us flee ; for we shall not else escape from Absalom : make speed to depart, lest he over- take us suddenly, and ''bring evil upon us, and smite the city with the edge of the sword. 15 And the king's servants said unto the king. Behold, thy servants are ready to do whatsoever my lord the king shall ^ap])oint. 16 And the king went forth, and all his houshold 'after him. And the king left ten women, ichich were concubines, to keep the house. 17 And the king went forth, and all the people after him, and tarried in a place that was far off. 18 And all his servants passed on beside him ; and all the Cherethites, and all the Pelethites, and all the Gittites, six hundred men which came after him from Gath, passed on before the king. 19 IT Then said the king to Ittai the Gittite, Wherefore goest thou also with us? return to thy place, and abide with the king : for thou art a stranger, and also an exile. 20 Whereas thou earnest but yesterday, should I this day "make thee go up and down with us? seeing I go whither I may, return thou, and take back thy brethren : mercy and truth he with thee. 21 And Ittai answered the king, and said. As the Lord liveth, and as my lord the king liveth, surely in what place my lord the king shall be, whether in death or life, even there also will thy servant be. 22 And David said to Ittai, Go and pass over. And Ittai the Gittite passed over, and all his men, and all the little ones that u-cre with him. 23 And all the country wept with a loud voice, and all the people passed over: the king also himself passed over the brook 'Kidron, and all the people passed over, toward the way of the wilderaess. 24 IT And lo Zadok also, and all the Le- vites icere with him, bearing the ark of the covenant of God : and they set down the ark of God ; and Abiathar went up, until all the people had done passing out of the city. 25 And the king said unto Zadok, Carry back the ark of God into the city: if I shall find favour in the eyes of the Lord, he will bring me again, and shew me both it, and his habitation : 26 But if he thus say, I have no delight in thee ; behold, licre am 1, let him do to me as seemeth good unto him. 27 The king said also unto Zadok the priest. Art not thou a "seer? return into the city in peace, and your two sons with you, Ahimaaz thy son, and Jonathan the son of Abiathar. 28 See, I will tarry in the plain of the wil- derness, until there come word from you to certify me. 29 Zadok therefore and Abiathar carried the ark of God again to Jerusalem : and they tarried there. 30 H And David went up by the ascent of mount Olivet, "and wept as he went up, and had his head covered, and he went barefoot : and all the people that teas with him covered every man his head, and they went up, weep- ing as they went up. 31 If And one told David, saying, Ahi- thophel is among the conspirators with Absa- lom. And David said, O Lord, I pray thee, turn the counsel of Ahithophel into fool- ishness. 32 If And it came to pass, that u-Jicn David was come to the top of the monnt, where he worshipped God, behold, Hushai the Archite came to meet him with his coat rent, and earth upon his head : 33 Unto whom David said. If thou passest on with me, then thou shalt be a burden unto me : 34 But if thou return to the city, and say unto Absalom, I will be thy servant, O king ; as I have been thy father's servant hitherto, so Chap. XV.] II. SAMUEL. [H.C. 1024—1023. tcill I now also be tliy servant : then niayest thou for me defeat the counsel of Ahitbophel. 35 And liast thou not there with thee Zadok and Abiatliar the priests ? therefore it shall be, that what thing soever thou slialt bear out of the king's house, thou shalt tell it to Zadok and Abiatliar the priests. 36 Behold, tltey huve there with them their two sons, Ahimaaz Zadok's son, and Jonathan Abiathar's son; and by them ye shall send unto me every thing that ye can hear. 37 So llushai David's friend came into the city, and Absalom came into Jerusalem. prepared }nvi chariots,^ etc. — It eii during liKs retirement in Gcshur, Absalom formed tho.se designs for the ultimate of which he soon after began to prepare the way ; this was no- less than to deprive his father of the crown. As David was already old, Absalom would probably have been content to await his death, but for peculiar circumstances. If David properly discharged his duty, he must have led his sons to understand that although the succession to the throne had been assured to his family, the ordinary rules of succession were not to be considered obligatory or binding, inasmuch as the Supreme King possessed, and would exercise, the right of appointing the particular person who might be acceptable to him. In the absence of any contrary intimation, the ordinary rules might be observed ; but, according to the principles of the theocratical government, no such rules could be of force when a special appointment intervened. It was already known to David, and could not but be known or suspected by Absalom, that not only he but some others of the kings sons weie to be passed over, by such an appointment, in favour of Solomon, whom, by this time, the king probably treated as his destined successor. The fact that even the ordinary law of primogeniture, as applied to the government, had not yet been exemplified among the Hebrews, must have tended to increase the misgivings of Absalom respecting his own succession. Besides, in contending for the crown while his father lived, he had but one competitor, and that one fondly attached to him ; whereas, if he waited until his father's death, he might have many vigorous competitors in his brothers. These, or some of them, were probably the considerations in which the designs of Ab- salom originated. But these designs were not merely culpable as against his own father, but as an act of rebellion against the ordinations of the theocracy, since they involved an attempt to appropriate by force that which God had otherwise destinated, or which, at least, was to be left for his free appointment. The ultimate success of Absalom would therefore have utterly subverted tl e theocr teal principle which still remained in the con titut on of tl Hebrew state. 2. ' Absalom rose up earl;/.' — This shews thit tl judicial and other pulilic business of tl e k dispatched very early in Jjie morning 1 1 sovereigns in the East rise at day-breal a 1 I morning devotions proceed immediately to tl of public business. Thus, in describing the d t king of Persia, Sir John Malcolm sajs At a 1 hour in the morning the principal ministe sand sccreta attend the king, make reports upon what 1 as occur I and receive his commands. After tliis aud e ce he p ceeds to his public levee, which takes place al ost e day, and continues about an hour and a hilf At tl levee, which is attended by the princes, m sters and tl Dfiicers of the court, all affairs which are w shtd to 1 made public are transacted ; rewards are g ven p i s ments commanded, and the king expresses aloud tl o e sentiments of displeasure or approbatioi wl ch he wisl s to be promulgated.' ( Hist, of Persia, ii 434 4to ) & 1 are the duties which, with little variat on an Or e 1 king has discharged in the early morn g b fore n England, persons of consideration u.sually leave the r beds This explains why Absalom was obi ged to r se ea ly when he wished to ingratiate himself with the persons who went to the morning levee, to present their petitions, or to submit their cases to the king's determination. — ' titood beside the way of the gate.'— The gate he'wg here mentioned in connection with the administration of justice, it may be well to notice a custom which so fre- quently comes under our observation in the Old Testament — that of public affairs being transacted and causes tried at the gates of towns. In the Scripture we see transacted at the gate such business as the purchase and sale of lauds (Gen. xxiii. 18); the transfer to another of a right of marriage, involving the conveyance of an estate (Ruth iv. 1 — 10); with numerous passages, in which the same place is described as the seat of justice. (Deut. xxii. 15 ; xxv. 7 ; Ps. cxxvii. 5 ; Prov. xxii. 22 ; xxxi. 23 ; Lam. v. 14 ; Amos V. 12; Zech. viii. 16, &c.) The cause commonly assigned for this is, that, as the Hebrews were chiefly an agricultural people, going out in the morning and coming back at night, it was convenient for them to have their affairs determined as they went or returned. The same circumstance rendered the gate a place of great re- sort, in consequence of which publicity was given to the proceedings of the judges—' the elders of the gate,' as they are called. Allowing due weight to such considerations, we have no doubt that Goguet {Origiiie des Lois, i. 44) is right in considering that the custom originated in the ignorance, in the early times, of the art of writing, or the infrequent and reluctant employment of it, after it had come into use. Then, as decisions were not registered in writing, it was necessary to their establishment that they should be registered in the minds of men, who might be appealed to as witnesses when any dispute arose about the decison — or rather, whose presence gave such pub- licity to the determination of the judges, as was calcu- lated to prevent any dispute from arising. We see Chap. XV.] [B.C. 1024— U)2i tliis clearly in the procedure of Boaz lu the gate of H'thlehem. Having formed his agreement with his relative, he calls ' uuto the elders and unto all the people,' and says, ' Ye are witnesses this day, that I have bonght,' etc. ; and, having completed his statement of the compact, he again repeats, ' " Ye are witnesses this d ly." And all the people that were in the gate, and the elders, said, " We are witnesses." ' This was the record of the transaction ; and we read of no written record or document of any kind. We find that precisely tlie same process of making the pate, or a place near the gate, the seat of judgment, con- tinues to prevail among those semi-barbarous nations of Asia and Africa with whom written documents are not in use, and where therefore the publicity necessary to establish a judicial determination or a covenant can only be obtained in a place of public resort, such as the gate usually is. The same custom may be traced in Homer, in whose epics we do not recollect that any written documents are men- tioned. The following passage is very remarkable :- ' But when Aurora, daughter of the dawn. Had tinged the East, arising from his bed Gerenian Nestor issued forth, and sat Before his palace-gate, on the white stones Resplendent as with oil, on which of old His father Neleus had been wont to sit /n council like a god ; but he had sought. By destiny dismissed long since, the shades. On those stones therefore, guardian of the Greeks, Sat Nestor now, his sceptre in his hand, Aud thither from their chambers also came, T' encircle him around, his uum'rous sons.' Odyss. iii.— CowPER. On this passage it is well remarked by Pope, — ' We have here an ancient custom recorded by the poet ; a king placing himself before the gate of his palace on a seat of marble ; worn smooth by long use, says Eustathius, or p rhaps smoothed exquisitely by the hand of the workman. What I would chieHy observe is, that they placed them- SL'lves thus in public for the dispatch of justice. We read in Scripture of judges siMin? in the gate; and that this procedure of Nestor was for that purpose is probable from the expression, " He sat in the seat where Neleus used to sit" (which seems to express his wisdom in the discharge of justice). Nestor is also described as bearing his sceptre in his hand, which was never used but on some act of regality, in the dispatch of business, or other solemn oc- casion." But this was at the gate of the palace, not at that of the town. Neither was David's court held at the gate of Jerusalem. When kings came to acquire some state, their sittings, wherever held, were sure to command a sufficient attendance to give publicity and to establish their determinations. Therefore they changed their seat of judgment to the gate of their own palace ; while, pro- bably, inferior mafri-tr:it<-s cnntiiiiiwl to adjudicate causes of small importaiii- ■ t th.' town in which the court was held, Mil, ,1 1 ns. all causes, except those which wcr.r ..-.i i i;, i,, il or referred by tlie local judges to the Uiu^. i i;,j i ..liiuiued operation of the same causes ultimately induced kings to discontinue the sitting even at their own palace gates; although probably the ciistnin of associating judicial procedure with gates ,„.,.,,,,.,,.,] n Vm-'-r P'liitnniance of the custom than the . . . I , I ,, 11, t wherever the king sat pub- h I ..r written documents, required. 1; II ,!„. II ill 11 i,,,;il to the interior was effected, it ^L■^.•lll^ pi ..h.il.l.- lii ' : " 't fi. n-K'ient usage did not at iirst induce llieiu i- ■ Imt than to a room of state oyer Me. f/ar/, ;n, I : i.r.' preserved the idea of the gate as"the s. I ■ ■. ;iili>, at the same time, this continued assi>i ;: t .4' jirti.-i. witli the gate, maintained tin- 1 ! I " •■'■' ■■ ' > the complaints of their ,1; i- 1: li i;i ' ii m :i1;l1 kings are particuhiiU riiriiu. Ii i imi . i. n iImi DjmiI, or any other king oi 1m-,.,-1. iMlii.M..Mcr>il jn^iici,- m the open gate ; and it is therefore uncertain what is meant by ' gate ' in the present text, .-^s it is mentioned inde- pendently, without saying what gate it was, some think it was the city-gate, others, the palace-gate ; and Jahn sup- poses that here (and in Est. ii. 19,21; iii. 3; Dan. ii. 49, etc.) the word 'gate' is equivalent to 'palace.' We are willing to allow this in a general sense, as the name of 'gate' is still very commonly applied in the East to the court of a prince (see D'Herbelot, s. v. ' Bab'): but, in the present instance, we incline to think that the gate of David's palace is simply intended ; but that it is not neces- sary to suppose that he held his morning levee for the administration of justice in the open gate, but in the room over it, from which there is usually access from the gate itself, on the one hand, while it communicates (if part of a palace or other habitable building) with the interior of the residence, on the other. (See the note on chap, xviii. 24 ) So also, we imagine, when we read that the principal entrance to the Alhambra (the palace of the Moorish kings of Granada) was called the ' Gate of Judgment,' that this was with reference to the king's tribunal being held over the gate, or in a room to which there was access from the gate ; not, as some travellers suppose, that it was held in or before the open gateway ; or else it might be with a respect to the idea that the inyul rei.ideiice. generally, was the fountain of justice, wh ,,' l:- |i,:i, :pal gate might be called the 'Gate of Jih! . iiue no historical information that the M - 1 : 1 >pain held their tribunals in the gatew.n - 1 ih u |m lues or cities; aud the more renowned kluhfs of i'agilad, whom they in general imitated, certainly did not. It was a very ancient custom, long retained, but ultimately discontinued under altered circumstances, although many ideas aud expressions connected with it are still preserved, and even the custom itself is still exhibited under circumstances analogous to those in which it originated. 6. ' So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.' — At the first view, such at enterprise as this against such a man as David, and byjitis own son, must have seemed wild and hopeless. But in the contest between youth and age, — between novelty and habit, — between the dignity and authority of an old king, and the ease and freedom of one who has onli/ popularity to seek, — the advantages are not all in favour of the old governor. Besides, it seems that there was much latent discontent among the people, arising in a considerable degree from that vei'y confidence in the justice and wisdom of the king by which his thriine ought to have been secured. It is the duty of an Oriental king to administer justice in his own person, and itat duty is not seldom among the heaviest of those which de- volve upon him. This grew in time to be so sensibly felt, that ultimately among the Hebrews, as in some Oriental and more European states, the king only undertook to attend to appeals from the ordinary tribunals. But under the former state of things, the people will rather bring their causes before a just and popular king than to the ordinary judges : and he in consequence is so overwhelmed with judicial hii-m- -. tn :■ ili re remain only two alterna- tives—either i- ii; I I- time to these matters, to the neglect ol 1, _ : dn of the nation; or else to risk his populaut) i,-) l,\iii- .1 certain time every day for the hearing of causes, whereby some of the suitors must often wait many days before their causes can be brought under liis notice. This hindrance to bringing a case im- mediately before the king is caleulated ii> relieve him by inducing the people to resort to il. nii ri.i' ml-es from whom prompt justice might be ol 1 in, 1 1: ■ 1 tlie other hand, it is well calculated to end.i: _ i l.~ | i| nijiity with the unthinking multitude, who deem Uieir uuii ullairs of the highest importance, and attribute to his neglect or in- dolence the delay and difficulty which they experience. David made choice of tlie latter alternative and incurred the inevitable consequences. 7. ' After forty years' — There is no convenient point from which "the commencement of this period might be dated : — certainly not from the commencement of David's reign, as its entire duration was but forty years. It is generally concluded that the difficulty arose from the error CuAr. XVI.] II. SAMUEL. [B.C. 1023. of some transcriber iu writing D'y3"IX arha'i/im, 'forty, for y3"1X arba, ' four :' and this understanding is supported by the Syriac and Arabic versions, by Josephus, by the Sixtine edition of tlie Vulgate, and by various manu- script copies of the same version. These all read ' four ' instead of ' forty.' 12. 'Sent for Ahitliophel.' — Absalom must have been aware that this man, although David's choseu counsellor and trusted friend, was likely to come if sent for. The Jewish writers assign a reason for this by alleging that Ahithophel was the grandfather of Bathsheba, and that he had been alienated from David by his conduct towards this woman and her husband. But this seems exceedingly doubtful. — ' G(7o/i.'— This place is mentioned in Josh. xv. 51, among the towns in the mountains of Judah's lot. It seems to have been not far from Hebron, where Absalom was when he sent for Ahithophel. 18. ' 77/e Gitlites. sir hundred men which came lifter him from Gath.' — These appear to have been native Philistines of Gath, whom David had attached to his ser- vice, after making himself master of their country, and who had perhaps become proselytes. Some, however, think that this body was composed of native Israelites, called Gittites or Gathites, in memory of the 600 followers who accompanied him when he sought refuge the second time at Gath, and in which the actual members of that body had been incorporated, and had been replaced as they died off. But there seems no good reason why a body tlnis constituted should be named from Gath rather than from any other place or circumstances in which their history connected them with David. Besides, the king oliviously speaks to their leader Ittai in v. 19, 20, as a foreigner, who, with his ' brethren,' could hardly be ex- pected to incur distress for his sake. 23. ' T!:e brook Kidron.' — This brook, as mentioned in the general notice of Jerusalem (chap, v.), flows through the valley which lies between the city and the Mount of Olives on the east. It discharges itself into the Dead Sea, and, like most of the other streams of Palestine, is a mere winter torrent, having a considerable current during the rainy season, but being usually quite dry for uiue months of the year. Its bed is very narrow and rather deep, and is in one place crossed by a bridge of one arch. 26. ' Lei him do to me as seemeth good unto him.' — From the -whole of the words which this sentence concludes, and from other expressions similarly humble and resigned to the dispensations of the Lord's providence, it is manifest that David recognized in this unnatural conspiracy, which made him a fugitive, a portion of the divine judgments which the prophet had been authorized to denounce against him for iniquities in the matter of Uriah and Bathsheba. 30. ' Had his head corered.'—This does not mean cover- ing the head in a common sense, as by putting on a cap or hat, which, it is evident, was not a sign of mourning; but it obviously means wrapping up or enveloping the head with a cloth or robe. 'This was also a custom of mourn- ing among the Persians, Egyptians, and Komans— and is indeed a rather general practice, being a sufficiently natural expression of grief when understood as a resource to conceal its expression. Do we not find something of the same idea among ourselves in the hoods worn by female mourners, and even in the sweeping hatbands worn by the men at funerals? There are two touching illus- trations of this custom in Quintus Curtius. Darius being informed by the eunuch Tyriotes that his queen had died in her captivity, but had been respectfully treated by the conqueror, ' he covered his head and wept a long time ; and then, the teai-s still flowing from his eyes, he uncovered ids face, and holding up his hands to heaven, prayed to be preserved in his kingdom ; but, if not, that none but Alex- ander might be master of Asia.' And again, when the same king was in the power of the traitor Bessus, every moment expecting his own death, he had an interview with Artabazus : they wept together, and the latter being unwilling to leave Darius, tlie unhappy monarch ordered him to be taken away, and covered his own head that he might not see him depart in such affliction, and then flung himself upon the ground. In these instances we see that the covering of the head involves the concealment of the face, and is taken as a sign of grief that would be concealed. The principle of this idea was in the mind of the ancient painter, who, despairing of exhibiting adequately the grief of a father at the sacrifice of his daughter, represented his head as covered with a veil. / CHAPTER XVI. 1 Ziha, hy presents and false svt/gestiotts, vbtaineth his master's inheritance. 5 At Hahurim Shiniei cursetli David. 9 Daiid with patience abstaineth, and re- straineth others, from revenue. 1 5 Hvshai insimiateth himself into Absalom's counsel. 20 Ahithnphel's counsel. And when David was a little past the top of the hill, behold, Ziba the servant of Mephi- bosheth met him, with a couple of asses sad- dled, and upon them two hundred loaves of bread, and an hundred bunches of raisins, and an hundred of summer fruits, and a bottle of wine. 2 And the king said unto Ziba, What meanest thou by these ? And Ziba said, The asses le for the king's houshold to ride on ; and the bread and summer fruit for the joung men to eat ; and the wine, that such as be faint in the wilderness may drink. 3 And the king said, And where is thy master's son ? And Ziba said unto the king, 1 llch. I i,i oticisancc. * Or, tie still caw, Behold, he abideth at Jerusalem : for he said. To day shall the house of Israel restore me the kingdom of my ftither. 4 Then said the king to Ziba, Behold, thine are all that pertained unto Mephibosheth. And Ziba said, 'I humbly beseech thee that I may find grace in thy sight, my lord, O king. 5 t And when king David came to Bahu- rim, behold, thence came out a man of the family of the house of Saul, whose name icas Shimei, the son of Gera : 'he came forth, and cursed still as he came. 6 And he cast stones at David, and at all the servants of king David : and all the people and all the mighty men icere on his right hand and on his left. 7 And thus said Shimei when he cursed. Come out, come out, thou 'bloody man, and thou man of Belial : 8 The LoKD hath returned upon thee all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose will and cursed. ' Heb. man 11/ blood. Chap. XVI.] II. SAMUEL. [B.C. 1023. stead thou hast ruigned ; and the Lord hatli delivered the kingdom into the hand of Ab- salom thy son : and, "behold, thou art taken in thy mischief, because thou art a bloody man. 9 IT Then said Abishai the son of Zcruiah unto the king, Why should this Mead dog curse my lord the king? let me go over, I j)ray thee, and take oft' his head. 10 And the king said. What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah ? so let him curse, because the Lord hath said unto him, Curse David. Who shall then say. Wherefore hast thou done so ? 11 And David said to Abishai, and to all his servants, Behold, my son, which came forth of my bowels, seeketh my life : how much more now may this Benjamite do it ? let him alone, and let him curse; for the Lord hath bidden him. 12 It may be that the Lord will look on mine ° 'affliction, and that the Lord will re- quite me good for his cursing this day. 13 And as David and his men went by the way, Shimei went along on the hill's side over against hiiii, and cursed as he went, and threw stones at him, and "cast dust. 14 And the king, and all the people that %i-ere with him, came weary, arid refreshed themselves there. 15 H And Absalom, and all the people the men of Israel, came to Jerusalem, and Ahi- thophel with him. * Heb. Miuld the in ihy mil. 5 I Sam. 21. H. Cluip. !i. 8. IG And it came to pass, when Hushai the Archite, David,'s friend, was come unto Ab- salom, that Hushai said unto Absalom, "God save the king, God save the king. 17 And Absalom said to Hushai, Is this thy kindness to thy friend ? why wentest thou not with thy friend ? 18 And Hushai said luito Absalom, Nay: but whom the Lord, and this people, and all the men of Israel, choose, his will I be, and with him will I abide. 19 And again, whom should I serve ? sliould I not serve in the presence of his son ? as I have served in thy father's presence, so will I be in thy presence. 20 f Then said Absalom to Ahithophel, Give counsel among you wliat we shall do. 21 And Ahithophel said unto Absalom, Go in unto thy father's concubines, which he hath left to keep the house ; and all Israel shall hear that thou art abhorred of thy father: then shall the hands of all that ai-e with thee be strong. 22 So they spread Absalom a tent u]jon the top of the house ; and Absalom went in unto his father's concubines in the sight of all Israel. 23 And the counsel of Ahithophel, which he counselled in those days, was as if a man had enquired at the "oracle of God : so v;as all the counsel of Ahithophel both with David and with Absalom. Verse 13. ' Threw stnms at him.' — In like manner, when ttie later Jews were offended at what Christ said to tliem, ' they took up stones to cast at him.' Professor Paxtou observes — ' '1 his conduct was evidently the relic of a very ancient custom, which had gradually fallen into disuse, as tlie conduct and policy of the warrior improved, till, among the Jews at least, it was confined to the movements of private rage or popular fury.' {Illustrations of Scripture, iii. 381.) This custom was that of using stones as regular and legitimate weapons of offence. There is no question that stones were the first missiles that were used, whether ill private quarrels or public warfare ; and one of the first inventions for an offensive purpose was (as by the sling) to give to the stone greater power and impulsion than when discharged by the hand. We have no notice in the Bible of the use of stones in regular warfare, unless in the de- fence of besieged towns ; but there is abundant indication that these were the weapons with which the Hebrews were most accustomed to assail each other in their quarrels, sometimes with fatal effect. See, for instance, Exod. xxi. 18, and Num. xxxv. 17. Nor was this an undignified re- source, according to ancient notions. Homer's most stately heroes do not hesitate to pelt each other with stones most vigorously. In one action — Full frequ We also see Diomede knocking down ^Encas with a great stone and breaking his leg ; Ajax and Hector assail each other in the same manner, and the latter has his shield shattered to pieces with a stone as large as a mill- stone. Agamemnon also, ' the king of men,' in dealing destruction among the ranks of the enemy, employs by turns ' spear, sword, and massy stones.' Other instances of this use of stones might be mentioned for the purpose of indicating that the act of throwing stones was not quite so undignified as it now is. (See tlie cut at page 145 of this volume.) — ' And ca^t dust.' — "Thus also the Jews of a later day, when offended at the address of St. Paul, ' Cried out, and cast off their clothes, and threw dust into the air' (Acts xxii. 23). That practice is however susceptible of a dis- tinct illustration, from the existing custom of the East, as thus graphically described by Mr. lioberts. ' Who, in the East, has not often witnessed a similar scene? Listen to the maledictions : they are of such a nature that evil spirits only could have suggested them. Look at the en- raged miscreant: he dares not come near for fear of punishment, but he stands at a distance, vociferates his imprecations, violently throws about his hands ; then stoops to the ground and takes up handsful of dust, throws it in the air, and exclaims, " Soon shalt thou be as that — thy mouth shall soon be full of it— look, look, thou cursed one; as this dust so shalt thou be!"' We may add, that the Oriental nations, generally, infinitely surpass those of Europe ill the expressions and acts of insult and abuse; Chap. XVII.] II. SAMUEL. [B.C. 1023. but that the exhibitions of their rage, however violent, are seldom attended with personal injury, or proceed to the length of bodily conflict. 21. 'Go in unto thy father's concKftines.'— Perceiving that many held back or wavered from the apprehension that Absalom would hardly go to the last extremities against his father, and that possibly they might become the victims of another reconciliation between David and his son, this wily and unprincipled statesman advised that Absalom should not delay to remove this apprehension by such an act as -would in the sight of all the people commit him, beyond all hope of a pardon or reconciliation, to the bad cause in which he was engaged. This was that he should rear a pavilion on the top of the palace (to render it conspicuous from afar), into -which he should, ' in the sight of all Israel,' enter unto the concubine-wives whom David had left in charge of the palace. This atrocious counsel was followed by Absalom, who thus unintentionally accomplished Nathan's prophecy in ch. xii. 11. CHAPTER XVII. I Ahithophd's counsel is overthroimi by Hushai's, ac- cording to God's appointment. 15 Secret intelligence is sent unto David. 23 Ahithopkel hangeth himself. 25 Amasa is made captain. 27 David at Malia- naim isfurnislied with provision. MuREOVER Ahithophel said unto Absalom, Let me now choose out twelve thousand men, and I will arise aud pursue after David this night : 2 And I will come upon him while he is weary and weak handed, and will make him afraid : and all the people that are with him shall flee : and I will smite the king only : 3 And I will bring back all the people unto thee : the man whom thou seekest is as if all returned : so all the people shall be in peace. 4 And the saying 'pleased Absalom well, and all the elders of Israel. 5 Then said Absalom, Call now Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear likewise ^what he saith. 6 And wlien Ilushai was come to Absalom, Absalom spake unto him, saying, Ahithophel hath spoken after this manner : shall we do after his "saying ? if not ; speak thou. 7 And Hushai said unto Absalom, The counsel that Ahithophel hath ''given is not good at this time. 8 For, said Hushai, thou knowcst thy fatlier and his men, that they be mighty men, and they he 'chafed in their minds, as a bear robbed of her whelps in the field : and thy father is a man of war, and will not lodge with the people. 9 Behold, he is hid now in some pit, or in some other place : and it will come to pass, when some of them be ^overthrown at the first, that whosoever heareth it will say, There is a slaughter among the people that follow Absalom. 10 And he also that is valiant, whose heart is as the heart of a lion, shall utterly melt : for all Israel knoweth that thy father is a mighty man, and theij wliich be with him are valiant men. 11 Therefore I counsel that all Israel be generally gathered unto thee, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, as the sand that is by the sea for multitude ; and 'that thou go to battle in thine own person. 12 So shall we come upon him in some place where he shall be found, and we will light upon him as the dew falleth on the ground : and of him and of all the men that are with him there shall not be left so much as one. 13 Moreover, if he be gotten into a city, then shall all Israel bring ropes to that city, and we will draw it into the river, until there be not one small stone found there. 14 And Absalom and all the men of Israel said, The coimscl of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel. For the Lord had "appointed to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that the Lord might bring evil upon Absalom. 15 H Then said Hushai unto Zadok and to Abiathar the priests. Thus and thus did Ahithophel counsel Absalom and the elders of Israel ; and thus and thus have I coun- selled. IG Now therefore send quickly, and tell David, saying. Lodge not this night in the plains of the wilderness, but speedily pass over ; lest the king be swallowed up, and all the people that are with him. 17 Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz stayed by En-rogel ; for they might not be seen to come into the city : and a wench went and told them ; and they went and told king David. 18 Nevertheless a lad saw them, and told Absalom : but they went both of them away ■ ' ' and came to a man's house in Bahu- quickly, rim, whi rim, which had a well in his court ; wliither they went down. 19 And the woman took and spread a covering over the well's mouth, and spread eb. bitter of soul, presence gOf &:c. Chap. XVII.] II. S^ f round corn thereon ; and the thing was not nown. 20 And when Absalom's servants came to the woman to the house, they said. Where is Ahimaaz and Jonathan ? And the woman said unto them, They be gone over the brook of water. And when they had sought and could not find them, they returned to Jeru- salem. 21 And it came to pass, after they were departed, that they came up out of the well, and went and told king David, and said unto David, Arise, and pass quickly over the water : for thus hath A hithophel counselled against you. 22 Tiien David arose, and all the people that were with him, and they passed over Jordan : by the morning light there lacked not one of them that was not gone over Jordan. 23 H And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not "followed, he saddled his ass, and arose, and gat him home to his house, to his city, and '"put his houshold in order, and hanged himself, and died, and was buried in the sepulchre of his father. JUEL. [B.C. 1023. 24: Then David came to Mahanaim. And Absalom passed over Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him. 25 II And Absalom made Amasa captain of the host instead of Joab : which Amasa icas a man's son, whose name icas Ithra an Israelite,''that went in to Abigail the daughter of Nahash, sister to Zeruiah Joab's mother. 26 So Israel and Absalom pitched in the land of Gilead. 27 H And it came to pass, when David was come to Mahanaim, that Shobi the son of Nahash of Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and Machir the son of Ammiel of Lo-debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite of Rogelim, 28 Brought beds, and "basons, and earthen vessels, and wheat, and barley, and flour, and parched corn, and beans, and lentiles, and parched pulse, 29 And honey, and butter, and sheep, and cheese of kine, for David, and for the people that tvei-e with him, to eat : for they said, The people is hungry, and weary, and thirsty, in the wilderness. ' Hcb. gave cltarge C07iceniinff his home. [» Ishmaelite in 1 Chron. ii. 17 ; i Verse 7. ' Tlie counsel that Mithophel hath given is not good at this time.' — The counsel which Ahithophel had given was in fact mavlsed by his usual political sagacity — advising prompt action before the king should be able to collect his resources. Hushai at once saw that, according to human probabilities, David was lost unless some plan of frustrating this deep counsel were devised. He therefore, with great presence of mind, adduced several specious ar- guments against it, and in favour of delay — dwelling upon the tried valour of David and his friends, and the serious consequences of any check or failure in the first attack. The least repulse at such a juncture must, he argued, be fatal to the cause of Absalom. The awe in which they all stood of the military talents and resources of the old king gave such effect to these suggestions, that the fallacious reasoning of Hushai had more effect upon the heads of the conspiracy than the really sage counsel of Ahithophel. 8. ' As a bear robbed of her whelps.' — Harmer apologizes for the coarseness of this comparison. We are unable to perceive any coarseness that needs apology. David and his valiant men are not compared to bears ; but their state of mind, wlien chafed by wrong, and contending for honour and existence, is compared to that most awful ex- ample of animal rage, and of unswerving vengeance and unconquerable energy, which the bereaved bear exhibits, even to the death. On this point we may remark again, under Prov. xvii. 12, where a similar comparison occurs — limiting our attention at present to the animal itself. We have stated in the note to 1 Sam. xvii., that the bear is now very rare in Palestine, but is not altogetlier unknown, and is still found in Syria aiul rithir parts of Western Asia. We liclii-ve th:vt I'li.' M,,U i,. m . . t mt of a proper Syriiin licar is lliat frivrn li\ M n | i i ,M I'.hrenberg in tlic .S'//;n/(M/,( /'////.mV,/, :ilh 1 ii' in our wood- cut biis lK-r„ (li;;w,i. Thr ;] . i :lm;u , a 1 iimle) was killed by tlie tnivi-UiTS near the village of Bischerre in Syria. They li;ivc- diMermined it to be a distinct species, to which tliey have given the name of the Syrian bear(6V»«ii .Sijriacus). It is perhaps a variety of the brown bear {JJrsus Arctos) produced by climate; and the figured spe- cimen of Ehrenberg bears much resemblance to an ali)ino specimen of the brown bear preserved in the British Mu- seum. The Syrian bear is sometimes of a fulvous brown colour, and sometimes of a fulvous white, variegated with fulvous spots; the fur is woolly beneath, with long, straight, or but slightly-curled hair externally ; and be- tween the shoulders there is a stiff mane of erected hairs, about four inches long. The individual killed was neither young nor old, and measured, from the nose to the tip of the tail, about four feet two, the tail being six inches. They saw her den (where there was much bear's dung), formed by great fragments of calcareous rock that appeared to have been casually thrown together. They ate of the flesh, which they found sapid, but the liver was sweet and nauseous. The gall appears to be held in great esteem ; the skins are sold, and so is the dung, under the name of bar-ed-dub ; the latter being used as a medicine for dis- eases of the eye in Syria and Egypt. There was nothing found in its stomach ; but it is described as frequently preying on animals, though it, for the most part, feeds on vegetables. It will be observed that Bischerre (Bishirrai of Burckhardt) is a few miles east of Kanobin in Mount Lebanon. It is there said to inhabit the higher parts of the mountain, near the region of snow, in summer ; but in winter wanders to the neighbourhood of the villages lower down the mountain. As the Scripture indicates no cha- racteristic of the bear which it mentions, except such as are common to every species, we cannot otherwise con- clude than that this bear is that which is intended, and concerning which the information furnished by Ehren- berg, however scanty, is by far the most satisfactory that has hitherto been given. 10. 'He also that is valiant, whose heart is as the heart of a lion.' — In v. 8, the bear robbed of her whelps is taken as the .symbol of the rage and boldness of excitement and despa'ir ; here the lion is made the symbol of native, or permanently inherent, boldness and courage. In the Bible Chap. XVII.] [B.C. 1023. .-i35L-.=-!r the native conrage of the lion is continually mentioned both as a fact and as suppljing an illustrative figure Nor IS this peculiar to the iiiblt for the daring and in domitable warrior is compared to the lion in the poetry of Greece and Rome, and of every nation, ancient or modem, in which the lion exists, or is known by tradition or re- port. Even we have the same comparison. Men of high courage are called ' lion-like ;' they ' fight like lions ;' and it was thought a proud distinction for the fiercest of our kings to be called the ' lion hearted.' We think that this concurrence of testimony, sacred and profane, ancient and modern, far outweighs whatever evidence may be deduced from the stray anecdotes by which it has, in modern times, been occasionally sought to shake the claim of this mag- nificent beast to those high distinctions which it has en- joyed from the earliest records of time. We believe that Leo Africanus was the first to assail the character of the lion. He says that the lions in some parts of Africa were so timid, that they would scamper away at the cry of chil- dren ; and this was particularly the case in the neighlx)ur- hood of Agla, whence it became a proverb in Fez, to cal! blustering cowards * lions of Agla.' Elsewhere he ob- serves, that the most timorous persons might drive the lions away with a small stick. Mr. Barrow and others have also more recently impugned the claim of the lion to the more noble qualities which have been assigned to him ; and numerous cases are related in which he has quailed before the eye of a courageous man, and made an undig- nified retreat in circumstances of danger. We have our- selves, on the banks of the Tigris, seen the most outrageous insults, by voice and missiles, insufficient to provoke lions from their secure dens, the entrances to which were strewed with the spoils of the animals they had devoured. Nevertheless, we do not see why indiMdual instances, or local modifications of character should be made to aflfect the general estimation in which an animal is held. There lb perhaps the same individuality of character among wild beasts, as we allow to dogs and other domestic animals: nor probably are they, in the different climates they in- habit, without, so to speak, national peculiarities analogous to those which we observe among the dispersed tribes of mankind. It requires therefore the concurrence of a large number of independent observations to establish the ge- neral character of any animal, or to authorize us to modify a character which has long been established. We may therefore allow that there are cowardly lions, and that even the lions of particular districts are timid creatures, without being required to admit that the lion is not ge- nerally as bold and courageous as the sacred writers and the general consent of mankind affirm him to be. 13. ' Bring ropes to that citt/,' etc. — The exaggerated, hyperbolical style which Hushai, here and elsewhere, judges to be calculated to win upon Absalom, shews that he perfectly understood the sort of man with whom he had to deal. In the present instance it is possible that there was some exaggerated reference to a mode actually adopted in the siege of towns. Hooks or cranes were thrown upon the walls or battlements, with which, by means of attached ropes, they were sometimes pulled down piecemeal into the surrounding trench or ditch. The language of Hushai is of stronger import than this, and seems intended to convey the idea, that, with such vast power as Absalom could command, the mere manual force of his troops would sweep the strongest town from the face of the earth. It is iu fact a true Oriental style of speaking of or to a prince. Forbes, in his Oriental Memoirs, has a passage which, as 227 Chap. XVIII.] II. SAMUEL. [B.C. 102.3. he states, illustrates tliis. In descriljing the manner in which the chopdars or heralds proclaimed the titles of Futty Singh, the Mahratta chief, as they marched before him, when he visited the British camp at Brodcra, he says ; — ' One of the most insignificant-looking men I ever saw, then became the destroyer of nations, the leveller of mountains, the exhauster of the ocean. After command- ing every inferior mortal to make way for this exalted prince, the heralds called aloud to the animal creation, " Retire, ye serpents ; fly, ye locusts ; approach not, guanas, lizards, and reptiles, while your lord and master con- descends to set his foot upon the earth." Arrogant as this language may appear it is less so than that of Ori- ental pageantry in general. The sacred writings afford many examples of such hyperbole ; none more so than HushaVs speech to Absalom.' Indeed, all Hushai's speeches to him furnish a choice collection of such Ori- entalisms, Absalom is to collect an army • as the sand that is by the sea for multitude :' which army is to light upon David and the faithful few ' as the dew falleth on the ground ;' and is to pull towns with ropes into rivers ' until there be not oue small stone found there.' 18. ' Had a well in his court; whither they went clown.' — This may have been either a proper well, at that time dry, or a cistern for the preservation of rain-water, which happened to be then exhausted. The water in common cisterns is often out before the end of summer, and wells also sometimes become dry in the same season. Some wells remain dry permanently, and cisterns can of course be kept dry when once exhausted. Hence there are in the East great numbers of dry cisterns and wells, which fur- nish occasional retreats to such as require concealment. Hushai himself had, in v. 7, suggested the probability that David was hid in some pit — perhaps referring to some such place of refuge as that which the sons of the priests now found. Instances are often heard in the East of persons who have remained concealed a considerable length of time, under similar circumstances. They are also occa- sionally used as prisons. Scott Waring mentions a de- scendant of Nadir Shah whom he found acting as head groom to Mihdee Ulee Khan, on a salary of about forty shillings a month. ' At two different periods he was con- fined in a well for two, and tlien three years, and was in- delited for his escape each time to the disturbances which distracted Khorassan.' Empty cisterns (sometimes how- ever with mire at the bottom) were used for the same pur- pose by the Jews, as we see by Jer. xxxviii. 6 ; Zech. ix. U. 23. ^ Hancjed himself.' — The far-seeing Ahithophel deemed the cause of Absalom to be lost when he knew that the cotmsel of Hushai was to be followed. His pride could ill brook the neglect of the advice which he had given, and which he had used to see so reverently regarded. On both accounts he abandoned the cause. He went to his own home, and while he was still wise enough to set his affairs in order, he was mad enough to hang himself. 2.5. ' Amasa.' — The explanation concerning this man's parentage which follows must be understood to mean that he was a cousin of Absalom. Zeruiah, the mother of Joab and Abishai, was a sister of David : Abigail, the mother of this Amasa, was another sister of the king. Thus Joab, Abishai, and Amasa were all nephews of David and cousins of Absalom (see 1 Chron. ii. IG, 17) The present text might seem indeed to make the mother of Amasa not the sister, but the daughter of the sister cf Zeruiah. But this arises from the ambiguity of the ex- pression, which, as interpreted by parallel texts, can only mean that Abigail was daughter to Nahash and sister to Zeruiah. The mother's name is given probably to shew that they were sisters by different mothers. 29. ' Cheese of kine.' — This is mentioned, we conclude, fo distinguish the cheese from that made from the milk of goats and sheep. These, with cows, furnish most of the cheese used in the East. Canjfils' milk is not used for the purpose, or very rarely. In different times and countries, the milk of a great variety of anima^has been used for making cheese. In the middle ages -Wread of cheese from deer's milk. The Arabs near Mount Carmel readily be- lieved D'Arvieux, when, to prevent them from seizing the cheeses which formed part of the cargo of a vessel wrecked on the coast, he told them that they were made with sows' milk. We conclude that when cheese is mentioned with- out such distinction as in the present text, we are to un- derstand that it is made from the milk of goats, and per- haps that of sheep. CHAPTER XVIII. 1 David viewing the armies in their march giveth them charge of Absalom. 6 The Israelites are sore smitten in the wood of Ephrairn. 9 Absalom, hanging in an oah, is slain by Joab, and cast into a pit. 18 Ab- salom's place. 19 Ahimaaz and Cushi bring tidings to David. 33 David mourncthfor Absalom, And David numbered the people tliat were with liini, and set captahis of thousands and captains of hundreds over them. 2 And David sent forth a third part of tlie people under the hand of Joab, and a third part under the hand of Abishai the son of Zeruiah, Joab's brother, and a third part under the hand of Ittai the Gittite. And the king sai/,^.-^- Eastben Town Gatb. each side with two columns and two half columns of the Ionic order, with pilasters at the corners. The elevation is about eighteen or twenty feet to the top of the archi- trave, and it is wholly cut from the rock. But the ad- jacent rock is not here so high as at the place of an adjacent monument which bears the name of Zacharias, and therefore the upper part of the work has been carried up with masonry of large stones. This consists first of two square layers, of which the upper one is smaller than the lower, and then a small dome or cupola runs up into a low spire, which appears to have formerly spread out a little at the top, like an opening flame ; the main work is perhaps twenty feet high, giving to the whole an elevation of about forty feet. There is a small excavated chamber in the body of the tomb, through which a hole has been broken through one of the sides several centuries ago in search of treasure. Upon the whole, it appears probable, that the original square mass with the moulding and cor- nice, formed the ancient Jewish tomb, surmounted perhaps with a pyramid (such as appears in 'the tombofZechariah'), and that the columns, with the metopes and the triglyphs, were sculptured at a subsequent period, and the dome of masonry perhaps added at a still later date ; so that its primitive character, and perhaps its destination, became greatly changed. 24. 'David sat hetween the two gates: and tlie watch- man vient up to the roof over the gate.' ... 33. ' And the hing was much moved, and went up to the chamber over the iidtc.'—The due understanding of the passages wc have here copied, will render intelligible many references to the gate which the Scriptures contain, and will corrobo- rate some of the statements in the note to chap. xv. 2. It is not difficult to perceive that the entrance to the walled town of Mahanaim was through a gateway, closed by two gates, one outward, facing the suburbs, and one inward, facing the town. They may have been opposite to each other; but this is not always the case. In the gate-ioai/, between the two gates, David sat, to render his presence as public as possible to the persons going to the battle, and to be ready to receive such intimations as the occasion might 2:!2 require. The gateway of Mahanaim was in fact the head quarters. Or David may have taken a lesson from Uriah, remaining in the gate and refusing the enjoyments of his chamber, while his army remained in the field. We are not to suppose that David's presence formed any ob- struction in the gateway. There is frequently a raised bench of masonry on each side, where the officers in at- tendance often sit ; and there are also sometimes rooms or c*lls, sometimes entirely open in front, for their accom- modation and that of the guard. We have only to sup- pose that David sat on the bench, or, if there were none, in the front of one of those side rooms or recesses. Then, the gateway was high, as we see by its top being the station of a sentinel, who cou'^''om thence command a view of the country. It vac '^ippareutly a sort of gate- tower. The height was occupied by a room above the gateway, and to which one could ascend from thence. This is the room which, in the note to xv. 2, we have sup- posed to have sometimes formed the seat of the gate tri- bunal. There is such a room in most Oriental gateways, whether of public or private buildings. In the former it is usually a sort of state-room, and in the latter often a drawing-room, handsomely fitted up, where the house- holder receives and entertains his friends, whom etiquette does not allow him to take to the interior parts of his mansion. He can come from the interior to it by a dis- tinct passage, while visitors ascend to it by a flight of steps near to or in the gateway. In most cases this room has a window towards the street, being usually the only one that appears. In Egypt and Turkey this window projects forward, something like a bay window, and is called a kiosk : but in Persia it is commonly a strong lattice of curious joinery inserted in the wall. Sometimes, however, this favourite apartment was, and still is, used as a private sitting-room, being the only place, except the roof, from which the master can amuse himself by observing what is going on out of doors. In this sense it seems to have been the ' summer parlour ' of Eglon (Judg. iii. 20), and the 'bed-chamber' of Ishbosheth (chap. iv. 7); as wc may observe from the fact that the regicides seem to have Chap. XIX.] II. SAMUEL. [B.C. 1023. entered the room and left it without appearing to have been observed. This was certainly the case in the former instance, and would scarcely have been practicable had the room been other than over the gate, with such a sepa- rate entrance as we have described. — The room to which David withdrew would seem, from its being sought for privacy, to have been rather a 'summer parlour ' than a state-room. We need not remind the reader that rooms — sometimes large and elaborately finished state-rooms — frequently occur over the gateways of our old towns and castles. CHAPTER XIX. 1 Jodb canseth the king to cease his mom-ning. 9 The Israelites are earnest to bring the king bach. 1 1 David sendeth to the priests to incite them of Judah. 18 S/iimei is pardoned. 24 Mephibosheth excused. 32 Barzillai dismissed, Chimham his son is taken into the king's family. 41 The Israelites expostulate icith Judah for bringing home the king without them. And it was told Joa!l), Behold, the king weepcth and mourneth for Absalom. 2 And the 'victory that day was turned into mourning unto all the people : for the people heard say that day how the king was grieved for his son. 3 And the people gat them by stealth that day into the city, as people being ashamed steal away when they flee in battle. 4 But the king covered his face, and the king cried with a loud voice, O my son Ab- salom, O Absalom, my son, my son ! 5 And Joab came into the house to the king, and said. Thou hast shamed this day the faces of all thy servants, which this day have saved thy life, and the lives of thy sons and of thy daughters, and the lives of thy wives, and the lives of thy concubines ; 6 Tn that thou lovest thine enemies, and hatest thy friends. For thou hast declared this day, "that thou regardest neither princes nor servants : for this day I perceive, that if Absalom had lived, and all we had died this day, then it had pleased thee well. 7 Now therefore arise, go forth, and speak ■"comfortably unto thy servants : for I swear by the Lord, if thou go not forth, there \\\\\ not tarry one with thee this night : and that will be worse unto thee than all the evil that befell thee from thy youth until now. 8 Then the king arose, and sat in the gate. And they told unto all the people, saying, Be- hold, the king doth sit in the gate. And all the people came before the king : for Israel had fled every man to his tent. 9 H And all the people were at strife throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying. The king saved us out of the hand of our ene- mies, and he delivered us out of the hand of the Philistines ; and now he is fled out of the land for Absalom. 10 And Absalom, whom we anointed over us, is dead in battle. Now therefore why 'speak ye not a word of bringing the king back ? 11 ir And king David sent to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, saying. Speak unto the elders of Judah, saying. Why are ye the last to bring the king back to his house ? see- ing the speech of all Israel is come to the king, even to his house. 12 Ye are my brethren, ye are my bones and my flesh : wherefore then are ye the last to bring back the king ? 13 And say ye to Amasa, Art thou not of my bone, and of my flesh ? God do so to me, and more also, if thou be not captain of the host before me continually in the room of Joab. 14 And he bowed the heart of all the men of Judah, even as the heart of one man ; so that they sent tins word unto the king, Re- turn thou, and all thy servants. 15 So the king returned, and came to Jordan. And Judah came to Gilgal, to go to meet the king, to conduct the king over Jordan. IG IT And 'Shimei the son of Gera, a Ben- jamite, which icas of Bahurim, hasted and came down with the men of Judah to meet king David. 17 And there were a thousand men of Ben- jamin with him, and 'Ziba the servant of the house of Saul, and his fifteen sons and his twenty servants with him ; and they went over Jordan before the king. 18 And there went over a ferry boat to carry over the king's houshold, and to do "what he thought good. And Shimei the son of Gera fell down before the king, as he was come over Jordan ; 19 And said unto the king. Let not my lord impute iniquity unto me, neither do thou remember "that wiiich thy servant did per- versely the day that my lord the king went out of Jerusalem, that the king should take it to his heart. 20 For thy servant doth know that I have sinned : therefore, behold, I am come the first 8 Hcb. By loving, &c. are ye silent f « 1 Kings S » Chap. 10. 5. Heb. tlie guod in liii eyes. 2a3 Chap. XIX.] II. SAMUEL. [B.C. 1023. this day of all the house of Joseph to go down to meet ray lord the king. 21 But Abishai the son of Zeruiah an- swered and said, Shall not Shimei be put to death for this, because he cursed the Lord's anointed ? 22 And David said, What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah, that ye should this day be adversaries imto me ? shall there any man be put to death this day in Israel ? for do not I know that I am this day king over Israel ? 23 Therefore the king said unto Shimei, Thou shalt not die. And the king sware unto him. 24 IT And Mephiboslieth the son of Saul came down to meet the king, and had neither dressed liis feet, nor trimmed his beard, nor washed his clothes, from the day the king de- parted xuitil the day he came affain in peace. 25 And it came to pass, when he was come to Jerusalem to meet the king, that the king said unto him, Wherefore wentest not thou with me, Mephibosheth ? 26 And he answered, My lord, O king, my servant deceived me : for thy servant said, I will saddle me an ass, that I may ride thereon, and go to tlie king ; because thy ser- vant is lame. 27 And '°he hath slandered thy servant unto my lord the king ; but my lord the king is as an angel of God : do therefore what is good in thine eyes. 28 For all of my father's house were but "dead men before my lord the king: yet didst thou set thy servant among them that did eat at thine own table. What right therefore have I yet to cry any more unto the king? 2i) And the king said unto him. Why speakest thou any more of thy matters? I have said. Thou and Ziba divide the land. 30 And Mephibosheth said unto the king. Yea, let him take all, forasmuch as my lord the king is come again in peace unto his own house. 31 IT And Barzillai the Gileadite came down from Rogelim, and went over Jordan with the king, to conduct him over Jordan. '62 Now Barzillai was a very aged man, even fourscore years old : and '"he had pro- vided the king of sustenance while he lay at Mahanaim ; for he was a very great man. 33 And the king said unto Barzillai, Come thou over with me, and I will feed thee with me in Jerusalem. 34 And Barzillai said imtothe king, "'How long have I to live, that I should go up with the king unto Jerusalem ? 35 I am this day fourscore years old : and can I discern between good and evil ? can thy servant taste what I eat or what I drink ? can I hear any more the voice of singing men and singing women? wherefore then should thy servant be yet a burden unto my lord the king ? 36 Thy servant will go a little way over Jordan with the king: and why should the king recompense it me with such a reward ? 37 Let thy servant, I pray thee, turn back again, that I may die in mine own city, ayid be buried by the grave of my father and of my mother. But behold thy servant Chimham ; let him go over with my lord the king ; and do to him what shall seem good unto thee. 38 And the king answered, Chimham shall go over with me, and I will do to him that which shall seem good unto thee : and what- soever thou shalt 'Vequire of me, that will I do for thee. 39 And all the people went over Jordan. And when the king was come over, the king kissed Barzillai, and blessed him ; and he re- turned unto his own place. 40 Then the king went on to Gilgal, and Chimham went on with him : and all the people of Judah conducted the king, and also half the people of Israel. 41 H And, behold, all the men of Israel came to the king, and said unto the king, Why have our brethren the men of Judah stolen thee away, and have brought the king, and his houshold, and all David's men with him, over Jordan ? 42 And all the men of Judah answered the men of Israel, Because the king is near of kin to us : wherefore then be ye angry for this matter ? have we eaten at all of the king's cost ? or hath he given us any gift ? 43 And the men of Israel answered the men of Judah, and said. We have ten parts in the king, and we have also more riffht in David than ye : why then did ye "despise us, that our advice should not be first had in bringing back our king? And the words of the men of Judah were fiercer than the words of the men of Israel. Chap. XIX.] II. SAMUEL. [B.C. 1023. Verse 4. ' Coi'ered hisjhce.' — This act is obviously the same, or of equivalent signification to the covering the head, mentioned in ch. xv. 30, and explained in the 10. ' lT7iy speak ye not a word of bringing the king back.' — It might seem the obvious consequence of his victory that David should repass the Jordan at the head of his conquering army, and re-ascend his throne at Jerusalem. But the mass of the people had chosen another for their king, and by that act had virtually, to the extent of their power, deposed himself; and in such a case it would ap- pear that the civil principles of the constitution required that he should, in a certain sense, be re-elected to the crown by the people before he was entitled to regard him- self as king over any but such as had continued to recog- nize him in that character ; he therefore remained beyond the Jordan until the tribes should decide to recall him. It seems there was a general disposition among the people to do this; they blamed one another for their rebellion against the king, and for their remissness in recalling him, but all seemed to shrink from taking the first step in the matter. Judah, from its more intimate relations with David, might be expected to give the example ; but Judah had been the head-quarters of the rebellion; and it appears that Jerusalem was in the occupation of Amasa, who. from the extent to which he had committed himself in Absalom's rebellion, might judge his case desperate, and hence use all his influence to prevent the king's return. 14. 'And he bowed the heart,' etc. — The Jewish inter- preters refer this, with great probability, to Amasa, not to David : that is, that David having won over Amasa, the latter employed his great influence in bringing the men of Judah back to their allegiance. 13. ' And there went over aferrij boat.' — This translation is very doubtful, and the text on which it is founded is not free from suspicion of being corrupted. It is probable that the reading now exhibited in the Septuagint is that of the original Hebrew, and is followed by good modern autho- rities. According to that, the words of the clause refer to the men mentioned in the preceding verse ; and would be rendered, ' And these went over Jordan before the king, and were serviceable in bringing over the king's house- hold :' that is, as some of the rabbins understand, by car- rying over, on their backs, the women and children who could not conveniently ford the river. Josephus and some of the ancient translators understood that they threw a bridge (of boats?) over the river; while Jerome supposes that they forded the river before the king's people, pointing out the proper places. An open interpretation, applicable to all these explanations, such as that we have indicated, would be the best and safest. As the text now stands, however, a ferry boat or raft might have been used. Nor is the thing itself unlikely : for, although the Jordan is not a great river, it is wide enough and deep enough to render such a mode of passing over aged people, women, children, and baggage, convenient. The ancients had also shallow flat-bottomed boats suited to such rivers ; and at this day (according to the author of Esthen) rafts are employed for such purposes on the Jordan. 23. ' Thou shall not die' — Considering the circum- stance which Shimei urged, that he was the first in all Israel (Judah excepted) to come forward with a strong party to promote the restoration of the king ; and consi- dering— what was a still greater merit and a more important benefit to the royal cause — that his party was from the tribe of Benjamin, it would have been a most ungracious act had the king been inexorable. He therefore pardoned him freely, although some of the oflieers were for putting him to death. It was for the like reason probably — that is, for fear of disgusting the valuable party to which he be- longed, and in which he had much influence — the king dared not entirely recal from Ziba the grant of Mephibo- sheth's lands which he had hastily made to him. Under the circumstances, the king could only say, ' Thou and Ziba divide the land ;' to which the reply of Mephibosheth was worthy the son of the generous Jonathan — ' Yea, let him take all, since my lord the king is come again to his own house in peace.' 24. ' — had neither dressed his feet.' — His feet, which were lame, and required attention ; or perhaps it means that he had omitted that general attention to the feet which is required in the East. — 'Nor trimmed his beard.' — After the explanation given in the note to ch. x. 4, concerning the estimation in which the beard is held in Western Asia, we scarcely need add that very considerable care is taken of it, the neglect of which is understood to express very forcibly the forgetful- ness of grief. The manner in which it is attended to, however, differs in various nations. It is clipped by some to give it a favourite shape, and by others only trimmed slightly to improve its appearanceir The example of Mo- hammed, who is alleged to have diminished the length and thickness of his beard, has had more weight with some of his followers than with others. Almost every Moslem carries a comb with him for the sole purpose of combing his beard. This is often done, particularly after prayers, at the conclusion of which the devotee usually remains sitting on his heels and combing his beard. The hairs which fall are carefully collected and preserved, to be buried with the person to whose beard they belonged ; and sometimes when he has collected a certain quantity, he de- posits them himself in his destined sepulchre. It seems that in the time of Mohammed the Jews did not dye their beards, but the Arabs did ; for the traditions mention it as a point of difference between Moslems and Jews. This, however, is not conclusive evidence that the latter never did so. The dyes usually employed for the beard are black or fiery red. The latter is obtained by the application of a paste oi henna leaves, and the black by a further applica- tion of indigo. The process is painful and tiresome, and must be repeated every fortnight ; but men cheerfully submit to it for the honour of their beards. The Persians dye their beards more generally than any other people, and prefer the black colour. The Turks almost never dye theirs, and the Arabs but seldom. When the last named people use a dye, they are commonly content with the red colour. In this they follow the instruction of their pro- phet, who recommended dyeing the beard, but hated the black dye, preferring the red, and recommending in this the nearest approach to yellow that could be obtained by art. Beards are also anointed, perfumed, and incensed in the East by the upper classes. All this care of the beard will illustrate the entire abandonment i tlie neglect of that important appendage i 35. ' Can I hear any more the voice of singing women 'V — As Barzillai mentions this am attractions of the court, of which age rendered him inca- pable of enjoying, it would seem that David had made music to form one of the enjoyments of his regal state, and had probably trained or collected a body of vocal and in- strumental performers, as part of his royal establishment. This we might expect from so accomplished a musician as David. The performances of his ' singing men and sing- ing women ' would seem, from what Barzillai says, to have been so much admired, that the subject formed one of those prominent wonders of the court, of which people living in distant parts of the country were accustomed to speak. This is still a royal custom of the East. Of pro- fessed singing women, who are also musicians and dancers, we have written under 1 Sam. xviii. 7. Of the corre- sponding vocation among men, we may mention that it is confined to music and singing, as men do not dance pro- fessionally. Much that illustrates the various scriptural intimations with regard to such persons might be drawn from the existing usages of the East. Jonas Hanway re- lates that Nadir Shah had in his army no less than nine hundred ' chioux or chanters.' They wore a distinctive dress, which Jonas describes, and ' they frequently chanted moral sentences and encomiums on the Shah, occasionally also proclaiming his victories as he passed along' ( Travels, i. 170). Forbes, in his Oriental Memoirs, more than once mentions a description of bards, whose services are much in request in the courts of India. ' No Hindoo rajah is with- J sorrow which aplies. ■■inging men and this among the Chap. XX.] II. SAMUEL. [B.C. 1022. out them. Hyder All though uot i Hiudoo delighted to be constantly preceded by them They have a wonder ful facility in speaking impro-v isatore upon any subject pro posed to them, in a kind of declamation which may be considered as a kind of medium between blank verse and modulated prose [similar to the Hebrew poetry] ; but their proper profession is that of chanting the exploits of former days in front of the troops, while marshalling to battle, and inciting them to emulate the glory of their an- cestors.' In Syria there are men singers, who perform in concert, each accompanying his voice by the musical in- slrument in which he has most skilL A representation of such a concert drawn from the life, is given by Hussel, in his Natural History of Aleppo, and a copy of it is here introduced The existence of such persons appears to arise from the fact that, although the Orientals take great pleasure m hearing music and singing, no man of any rank likes to sing or to handle a musical instrument ; nor are the youth of either sex taught music as an accomplish- ment ; and tlie persons whose skill in vocal and instru- mental music delights them are not regarded with much respect. This could not have been the case among the Hebrews, with whom persons of the highest rank and respectability were skilled in music. CHAPTER XX. 1 By occasion of the quarrel, Sheba maheth a party in Israel. 3 Datnd's ten concubines are shut up in perpetual prison. 4 Amasa, made captain over Judah, is slain by Joab. 14 Joab pursueth Sheba vnto Abel. 16 .4 wise woman saveth the city by Sheba s head. 23 David's officers. And there happenetl to be there a man of Belial, whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjamite : and he blew a trumpet, and said. We have no part in David, neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse : every man to his tents, O Israel. 2 So every man of Israel went up from after David, and followed Sheba the son of Bichri : but the men of Judah clave unto their king, from Jordan even to Jerusalem. 3 H And David came to his house at Jeru- salem ; and the king took the ten women his 'concubines, whom he had left to keep the house, and put them in 'ward, and fed them, but went not in unto them. So they were "shut up unto the day of their death, iiving in widowhood. 4 IT Then said the king to Amasa, 'As- semble me the men of Judah within three days, and be thou here present. 5 So Amasa went to assemble the men of Judah : but he tarried longer than the set time which he had appointed him. 6 And David said to Abishai, Now shall Sheba the son of Bichri do us more harm than did Absalom : take thou thy lord's servants, and pursue after him, lest he get him fenced cities, and "escape us. 7 And there went out after him Joab's men, and the 'Cherethites, and the Pelethites, and all the mighty men : and they went out of Jerusalem, to pursue after Sheba tlic son of Bichri. I Clmp. IC. 2; 23G Heb. deliver himself fro Chap. XX.] 11. SAMUEL. [B.C. 1022. 8 When they were at the great stone which is in Gibeon, Aiiiasa went before them. And Joab's garment that he had [)ut on was girded nnto him, and upon it a girdle with a sword fastened u])on his h)ins in tiie sheath thereof ; and as he went forth it fell out. 9 And .loab said to Amasa, Art thou in Iiealth, my brother? And Joab took Amasa by the beard with the right hand to kiss him. 10 ]5ut Amasa took no heed to the sword that was in Joab's hand : so he smote him therewith in the fifth rib, and shed out his bowels to the ground, and ".struck him not again ; and he died. So Joab and Abishai his brother pursued after Sheba the son of Biehri. 11 And one of Joab's men stood by him, and said. He that favouretli Joab, and he that is for David, lei him fjo after Joab. 12 And Amasa wallowed in blood in the midst of the highway. And when the man saw that all the jicople stood still, he removed Amasa out of the highway into the field, and cast a cloth upon him, when he saw that every one that came by him stood still. 13 When he was removed out of the high- way, all the ])eople went on after Joab, to pursue afler .Sheba the .son of I'ichri. 14 II And h(! went through all the tribes of Israel unto Abel, and to Beth-maachah, and all the Berites : and they were gathered toge- ther, and went also after him. 15 And they came and besieged him in Abel of Beth-maachah, and they cast up a bank against the city, and "it stood in the trench : and all the people that xoere with Joai) '"battered the wall, to tlirow it down. 16 If Then cried a wise woman out of the city, Hear, hear; say, I pray you, unto .Joab, (Jome near hither, that I may sjicak with thee. 17 And when he was come near unto her, the woman said. Art thou Joab? And lie answered, I am he. Then she said unto liim, Hear the words of thine handmaid. And he answered, I do hear. 18 Then she spake, saying, '"I'licy wen; wont to speak in old time, saying, 'J'iiey shall surely a.sk counsel at Ai)el : and so they ended tlic matter. 19 I am one of them that are peaceabh; and faithful in Israel : thou seekest to destroy a city and a mother in Israel : why wilt thou swallow up the inheritance of the Loud? 20 And Joab answered and said, Far be it, far bo it from me, that I should swallow up or destroy. 21 'J'he matter is not so : but a man of mount Ephraim, Sheba the son of Biehri 'by name, hath lifted up his hand against the king, even against David : deliver Inm only, and 1 will de|)art from the city. And the woman said unto Joab, Behold, his head shall be thrown to thee over the wall. 22 Then the woman went unto all the people in her wisdom. And they cut off the head of Sheba the son of Biehri, and cast it out to Joab. And he blew a trumpet, and they '^retired from the city, every man to his tent. And Joab returned to Jerusalem unto the king. 2;-} If Now 'Mo/lb iras over all the host of Israel : and Benaiali the son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and over the Pelethites : 24 And Adoram was over tlie tribute : and Jehoohaphat the son of Ahilud was "re- corder : 25 And Sheva wa.s scribe : and Zadok and Abiathar tcere the priests : 2G And Ira also the Jairite was '"a chief ruler about David. [Ii-b. dttuhled not hit sfj-oki?. » Or, it stood aijitintt the outmt Thry plaint;/ •pulle in tlm bcrjinning, tayinn, Surcbj they will mil of Abel, a la llcl). were teattered. " Chap. 8. 10. Verse 1. ' We have no part in David,' etc. — From the result we may see ground to doubt the wisdom of the se- parate appeal which David had made to his own tribe of Judah, inasmuch as his more intimate connection with that tribe, by birth and by having reigned over it sepa- rately for seven years, required the most cautious policy on his side, to prevent his appearing to the other tribes as tlie kiiig ol' a party. Now, when he had crossed tlie Jonliui, proplc IVom all the tribes flocked to him to join in the .ut ol' niall ;ind restoration. Hut when they came to (■oiisid.r .,r it I In- otliifF tiibi-s were not willing to forgive .lu iilli-iil ih.ii seeirif.' the king was i.r 11 ■. n 1 1 iln . ■ tin ii hum- ijinl to his own party. This impulse was supplied by one Sheba, of the discontented tribe of Henjamin, who, per- ceiving the state of feeling, blew the trumpet, and gave forth the Hebrew watchword of revolt, ' To your tents, O Chap. XXI.] II. SAMUEL. [B.C. 1021— lOlS Israeli' and, iu the name of the tribes, disclaimed all further interest iu David, and bade defiance to his ad- herents. The effect of this move, perhaps, exceeded his expectation. Ou a sudden he saw himself at the head of all the tribes, except that of Judah, which had occasioned this defection, and which was left almost alone to conduct the king from the Jordan to Jerusalem. 5. ' So Aiihisa Kent,' etc.— The defection of the ten tribes must have supplied to David an additional reason for per- forming the secret promise he had already made to Aniasa (ch. xix. 13) of making him captain of the host, as that person appears to have been high in favour with the tribes. But most readers will feel dissatisfied that Joab should at this juncture— after the brilliant displays which he had so lately afforded of his loyalty, courage, and prudence— be displaced in favour of the rebel leader ; and even if judged by the principles of the East, that every stroke of policy by which something may be gained is a good stroke, what- ever interests or honour it sacrifices, — even judged by this rule, the policy of this operation may very much be doubted, as, indeed, David himself had soon occasion to suspect. In fact, we agree with Hales, that in this David ' seems to have acted rather ungratefiiUy and unwisely,' justifying Joab's reproach (on a fomier occasion), " thou lovest thine enemies and hatest thy friends." But the old grudge and jealousy which he entertained against ' the sons of Zeruiah,' who were above his control, and too powerful to be punished, as in Abner's case, combined with Joab's disobedience of orders iu killing Absalom, which he could never forget, nor forgive, to the day of his death, seem to have got the better of his usual temporising caution and political prudence.' 8. ' It fell 0H<.'— That is, it fell out of the sheath. Jo- sephus says that he purposely let it fall out as he ap- proached Amasa, that, taking it up again, he might salute him unsuspiciously, although he had the drawn sword in his hand. This is probable. We see that further, to pre- vent his intention from being suspected, he held the weapon in his left hand. 9. ' Joab took Amasa btj the beard . . . . to kiss him.' — As the Hebrew language has no neuter gender, it is not clear whether the Aim should not have been rendered it; that is, whether Joab took hold of Amasa's beard to kiss it or him. The former seems most probable. In the East it is generally considered an insult to touch the beard except to kiss it. In kissing the cheek or forehead, it is not usual to touch the beard, but it may be done incidentally with- out offence. Among the Arabs, kissing the beard is an act of respect: it is an exchange of respectful salutation between equals, and also an act of respect and deference to a superior. D'An'ieux correctly observes that, ' The women kiss their husbands' beards, and the children their fathers', when they go to salute them. The men kiss each other's beards reciprocally ; and on both sides the beard, when they salute one another in the streets, or are returned from a journey. Such kisses are repeated from time to time among the compliments they make one another.' The same traveller, describing an entertainment given by one Arab emir to several others, fails not to remark how, as they arrived, they kissed one another's beards and hands. Homer seems to describe the touching of the beard, or at least the chin, as an act of respectful supplica- tion. Thus, when Thetis goes to Olympus, to obtain Jupiter's favour for her son Achilles— ' She sat before him, to his knees applied Her left hand, placed her riyht beneath his chin. And thus the king, Saturnian Jove, implored.' It is remarkable that both in this instance and that of Joab, the rigid hand is particularly mentioned. 10. ' And he died.' — Josephus has a just observation to the effect — that this atrocious murder had much less shew of excuse than that of Abner, since the fact that the latter had slain Asahel, afforded, under the principle of blood- revenge, a decent pretext for the assassination, which was wanting in the present instance, 15. ' ^AeZ o/" Be(A-maac/mA.'— This place is called also Abel-Maim, and simply Abel ; the additions being used to distinguish it from other places of the last name, which signifies a grassy place. 'The identity of the place in the text under these different names is established by com- paring V. 14, l.'j, 18, of this chapter; 1 Kings xv. 20; 2 Kings XV. 29; 2 Chron. xvi. 4. The addition of 'Maachah' indicates that it lay in or near to the region Maachah, which lay east of the upper Jordan under Mount Lebanon. The town was, eighty years after the date of the present transaction, taken and sacked by Benhadad, king of Syria, and it eventually was similarly dealt with by Tiglath-pileser, who moreover expatriated the inhabitants to Assyria. What gave the town its peculiar reputation for wisdom is not clear : but in most countries we find one or more towns, the inhabitants of which, on some account or other, are reported to be wiser than their neighbours. 22. ' Theij cut off the head of Sheba .... and cast it out to Joab.' — It is a very common course in the East, when an obnoxious person, who has taken refuge in a town, palace, or fortress, is demanded by an army or by an en- raged populace, for the inhabitants to consult their own safety by sacrificing the offender. How many instances occur in Turkish history of the heads of high functionaries being reluctantly thrown out from the seraglio at Con- stantinople, to pacify the enraged Janissaries 1 CHAPTER XXI. 1 The three years' famine for the Gibennites ceaseth, 1/1/ /imii/inij seven iif Snid's sons. 10 Rizpah's kind- nrs^ui'ilo tlic ilra'd. 1 'J I )ari Or, Be U VOL. II. P raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel, said, 2 The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and his word tvas in my tongue. 3 The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me, 'He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. 4 And he shall he as the light of the morn- Chap. XXIII.] II. SAMUEL. [B.C. 1018. ing, lohen the sun riseth, even a iiiorniiig with- out clouds ; as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain. 5 Although my house be not so with God ; yet he hath made with me an everlasting cove- nant, ordered in all things, and sure : for this is all my salvation, and all my desire, although he make it not to grow. G But the sons of Belial shall he all of them as thorns thrust away, because they can- not be taken with hands : 7 But the man that shall touch them must be ^fenced with iron and the staff of a spear ; and they shall be utterly burned with fire in the same place. 8 H These he the names of the mighty men whom David had : The 'Tachmonite that sat in the seat, chief among the captains ; the same icas Adino the Eznite : *he lift up his sjiear against eight hundred, °whom lie slew at one time. 9 And after him was ^Eleazar the son of Dodo the Ahohite, one of the three mighty men with David, when they defied the Philis- tines tliat were there gathered together to battle, and the men of Israel were gone away : 10 He arose, and smote the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand clave unto the sword : and the Lord wrought a gi-eat victory that day ; and the people returned after him only to spoil. 11 And after him teas ^Shammah the son of Agee the Hararite. And the Philistines were gathered together "into a troop, where was a piece of ground full of lentiles : and the people tied from the Philistines. 12 But he stood in the midst of the ground, and defended it, and slew the Philistines : and the LoHD wrought a great victory. 13 And "three of the thirty chief went down, and came to David in the harvest time unto the cave of Adullam : and the troop of the Philistines pitched in the valley of llc- phaim. 1 4 And David was then in an hold, and the garrison of the Philistines teas then in Beth- lehem. 15 And David longed, and said, Oh that one would give me drink of tiic water of the well of Beth-leheni, which is by the gate 1 16 And the three mighty men brake through the host of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Beth-lehem, that teas by the gate, and took it, and brought it to David : nevertheless he would not drink there- of, but poured it out unto the Lord. 17 And he said. Be it far from me, O Lord, that I should do this : is not this the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives ? therefore he would not drink it. These things did these three mighty men. 18 And "Abishai, the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was chief among three. And he lifted up his spear against three hundred, ' 'and slew them, and had the name among three. 1 9 Was he not most honourable of three ? therefore he was their captain : howbeit he attained not unto the fii-st three. 20 And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man, of Kabzeel, '"who had done many acts, he slew two '■'lionlike men of Moab : he went down also and slew a lion in the midst of a pit in time of snow : 21 And he slew an Egyptian, '^a goodly man : and the Egyptian had a spear in his hand ; but he went down to him with a staff, and plucked the spear out of the Egyptian's hand, and slew him with his own spear. 22 These things did Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and had the name among three mighty men. 23 lie was '''more honourable than the thirty, but he attained not to the first three. And David set him over his '" "guard. 24 '"Asahel the brother of Joab was one of the thirty ; Elhanan the son of Dodo of Beth- lehem, 25 Shammah the Ilarodito, Elika the Ha- rodite, 26 Ilelez the 'Taltitc, Ira the son of Ikkesh the Tekoite, 27 Abiezer the Anethothite, Mebunnai the Ilushathite, 28 Zalmon the Ahohite, Maliarai the Neto- phathite, 29 Ileleb the son of Baanah, a Neto- jiliathite, Ittai the son of Ribai out of Gibeah of the children of Benjamin, 30 Benaiah the Pirathonite, Iliddai of the ""brooks of Gaasli, 31 Abi-albon the Arbathitc, Azmaveth the Barhumite, 32 Eliahba the Shaalbonite, of the sons of Jashen, Jonathan, 33 Shammah the Ilararite, Aliiam the son of Siiarar the Ilararite, Hcb. great of acts. U.23,aman,irgrc.il 5 Hcb. slain. >0 1 Chron. 11.20. Ueh. lions of tiod. nourablu among the t/lhV/. Chap. XXIV.] [B.C. lOll 34 Eliplielet the son of Ahasbai, the son of the Maachathite, Eliam the son of Ahithophel the Gilonite, 35 Hezrai the Carmelite, Paarai the Ar- bite, 36 Igal the son of Nathan of Zobah, Bani the Gadite. 37 Zelek the Ammonite, Nahari the Beerothite, armourbearer to Joab the son of Zeruiah, 38 Ira an Ithrite, Gareb an Ithrite, 39 Uriah the Ilittite : thirty and seven in aU. Verse 1. ' T)iese be the last loords of David.'— The last of his poetical compositions, probably ; or the original may be understood to mean merely that it was a later compo- sition than the preceding. The Hebrew Scriptures not being divided into chapters, a few words to this effect might be necessary to prevent this from being read as a continuation of the preceding Psalm. — The first verse is the title given by the compiler of the book. The title of 'sweet psalmist of Israel' is applied with great propriety to David — the great lyric poet of the Hebrew nation. ' Sweet,' however, has somewhat changed its use since our version was made, and now ' pleasant,' or ' agreeable,' would better convey the sense of the Hebrew (D'J^J). The literal expression is, ' Pleasant in the songs of Israel.' 8, ' T/iese be the names of the 7nigliti/ men.' — This account is repeated, with some variation, in 1 Chrou. xi., in the notes to which some remarks will be found on the exploits of these distinguished men. An ingenious writer expresses an opinion, that the band of ' worthies ' which the text pro- ceeds to describe, forms a sort of order of knighthood. He says : ' from 2 Sam. xxiii. 8-9, it appears that the heroes or " mighty men" during the reign of David, were thirty-seven in number, including Joab, who was commander-in-chief of all his forces. These warriors were divided into three classes, the first and second of which consisted each of three men, Jashobeam, Eleazer, and Shammah ; Abithai, Benaiah, and Asahel ; and tlie third class was composed of the remaining thirty, of whom Asahel appears to have been the head. Such is the list according to 2 Sam. xxiii. ; but in 1 Chron. xi. 10-47, the list is more numerous, and differs considerably from the preceding. The most pro- bable solution of these variations is, that the first list con- tains the worthies who lived in the former part of David's reign, and that it underwent various changes in the course of his government of the kingdom of Israel. At the head of all these " mighty men " was Jashobeam the son of Hachmoni (1 Chron. xi. 11), who from his oflSce is, in 2 Sam. xxiii. 8 (Hebrew and marginal rendering;, termed " Joseb-Bassebet, the Hachmonite, head of the three," and whose military appellation was Adino-he-Ezni (the lifting up or striking with the spear), because he lifted up the spear against, or encountered, 300 soldiers at once. How- ever extraordinary it may seem, we may here perceive a distinct order of knighthood, similar to our modern orders, and presenting the same honorary degrees, and of which Jashobeam, according to modern parlance, was the grand master. An institution of this kind was, in every respect, adapted to the reign, the character and the policy of David.' Coquerel, Biographic Sacri'e. CHAPTER XXIV. 1 David, tempted hij Satan, forccth Joab to number the people. 5 The captains, in nine months and twenty days, bring the muster of thirteen hundred thousand fighting men. 10 David, having three plagues propounded by Gad, repenteth, and chooseth the three days' pestilence. 15 After the death of threescore and ten thousand, David by repentance p7-eventeth the destruction of Jerusalem. 1 8 David, by Gad's direction, purchaseth Araunah's threshing- floor; where having sacrificed, tlie plague stayelh. And again the anger of the Lord was kin- dled against Israel, and 'he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah. 2 For the king said to Joab the captain of the host, which was with him, ''Go now through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Bcer-sheba, and number ye the people, that I may know the number of the people. •3 And Joab said unto the king, Now the Lord thy God add unto the people, how many soever they be, an hundredfold, and that the eyes of my lord the king may see it : but why doth my lord the king delight in this thing ? 4 Notwithstanding the king's word pre- vailed against Joab, and against the captains of the host. And Joab and the captains of the host went out from the presence of the king, to number the people of Israel. 5 1 And they passed over Jordan, and pitched in Aroer, on the right side of the city that lieth in the midst of the ^-iver of Gad, and toward Jazer : 6 Then they came to Gilead, and to the ■"land of Tahtim-hodshi ; and they came to Dan-jaan, and about to Zidon, 7 And came to the strong hold of Tyre, and to all the cities of the Ilivites, and of the Canaanites : and they went out to the south of Judah, eveii to Beer-sheba. 8 So when they had gone through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. y And Joab gave up the sum of the number of the people unto the king : and there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men that drew the sword ; and the men of Judah vera five hundred thousand men. 10 IF And David's heart smote him after Chap. XXIV.] II. SAMUEL. [B.C. 101' that he had numbered the people. And David said unto the Lord, I have sinned greatly in that I have done : and now, I be- seech thee, O Lord, take away the iniquity of thy servant ; for I have done very foolishly. 1 1 For when David was up in the morning, the word of the Lord came unto the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying, 12 Go and say unto David, Thus saith the Lord, I offer thee three things ; choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee. 13 So Gad came to David, and told him, and said unto him. Shall seven years of famine come unto thee in thy land ? or wilt thou flee three months before thine enemies, while they pursue thee '? or that there be three days' pes- tilence in thy land ? now advise, and see what answer I shall return to him that sent me. 14 And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait : let us fall now into the hand of the Lord ; for his mercies are "great : and let me not fall into the hand of man. 15 1[ So the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time ap- ]>ointed : and there died of the people from Dan even to Beer-sheba seventy thousand men. 16 And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, "the Lord repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed the people. It is enough : stay now thine hand. And the angel of the Lord was by the threshingplace of Araunah the Jebusite. 17 And David spake unto the Lord when he saw the angel that smote the people, and said, Lo, I have sinned, and I have done wick- edly : but these sheep, what have they done ? let thine hand, I pray thee, be against me, and against my father's house. 18 IT And Gad came that day to David, and said unto him. Go up, rear an altar unto the Lord in the threshingfloor of Araunah the Jebusite. 19 And David, according to the saying of Gad, went up as the Lord commanded. 20 And Araunah looked, and saw the king and his servants coming on toward him : and Araunah went out, and bowed himself before the king on his face upon the ground. 21 And Araunah said. Wherefore is my lord the king come to his servant ? And David said. To buy the threshingfloor of thee, to build an altar unto the Lord, that the plague may be stayed from the peojjle. 22 And Araunah said unto David, Let my lord the king take and offer up what scemeth good unto him : behold, here he oxen for burnt sacrifice, and threshing instruments and otlier instruments of the oxen for wood. 23 All these things did Araunah, as a king, give unto the king. And Araunah said unto the king, The Lord thy God accept thee. 24 And the king said unto Araunah, Nay ; but I will surely buy ii of thee at a price : neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the Lord my God of that which doth cost me nothing. So David bought the threshingfloor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. 25 And David built there an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the Lord was intreated ibr the land, and the jjlague was stayed from Israel. Verse 2. ' Number ye the people.' — There is another ac- count of this transaction in 1 Chron. xxi., between which and that now before us there are some apparent discrepan- cies, which will be noticed under that chapter. We may also refer the reader to what has been already said on the subject of the Hebrew census, in the notes to Num. i. and xxvi., some of the considerations in which will contribute to the elucidation of the present chapter. There have been various opinions as to the sin of David in this trans- action, which must undoubtedly have been of a most objectionable appearance, even in the general opinion of the time, as it certainly was in the eyes of God, since we see such a person as Joab — a man by no means of a very tender conscience — giving a most decided opinion as to the sin and danger of such a measure. The common im- pression seems to be, that the act of taking a census was in itself culpable, as indicating the sinful pride of the king in contemplating the probable number of his subjects ; and, strange as it may seem, this opinion had at first consider- able weight in rendering the people in most European countries averse to enumerations of the population, when 244 such things first began to be seriously thought of by the different European governments. The absurdity of this opinion is shewn by a simple reference to the fact that, under Moses, two enumerations of the population were taken by the express direction of God himself. The ex- planation given by Josephus is very little better. It is, that David directed the census, without exacting for the sanctuary the half shekel of poll-tax enjoined by the law of Moses. Wc have, by anticipation, shewn the puerility of this, in the note to Num. i. Neither here nor in 1 Chron. xxi. is there any mention of the half shekel, which seems only to have been required at the fast census, to assist in the erection of the tabernacle : and it is besides very unlikely that, if this tax ought to have been levied, David would have omitted to collect it, when he had himself laid aside for the erection of the future temple sums com- pared with which the result of such a collection would have been a mere trifle. Therefore, although we believe this collection did not necessarily accompany a census ; yet if it did it is impossible to prove that he did not, or to iind any reason why he should not, direct it to be levied. Chap. XXIV.] CB.C. 1017. We therefore concur in the explanation which is now usually given by the best Biblical scholars, and which is thus stated hy Home {' Introduction,' ii. 615). 'At the time referred to, David probably coveted an extension of empire ; and having, through the suggestion of an adver- sary, given way to this evil disposition, he could not well look to God for help, and therefore wished to know whe- ther the thousands of Israel and Judah might be deemed equal to the conquest which he meditated. His design was to force all the Israelites into military service, and engage in the contests which his ambition had in view ; and as the people might resist this census, soldiers were employed to make it, who might not only put down re- sistance, but also suppress any disturbances that might arise.' See the same view more fully exhibited in Mi- chaelis's Conmientaries, art. clxxiv. 23. ' As a king, t/ive unto the king.' — The note of simili- tude is wanting in the original, it may be that it should be supplied, as by our translators ; but read literally, without it, the text stands : ' a king unto the king.' Hence some have supposed that Araunah had been the Jebusite king before Jerusalem was taken ; or at least that he was of the royal race, and probably the son and heir of the king who last reigned. The expression may, however, only denote the royal munificence of his character. It appears, in any case, that Araunah, a Jebusite, retained much con- sequence and property in Jerusalem, which last was so much respected by David, that he refused to accept the smallest portion of it without compensation. We find also, from the case of Uriah the Hittite, that persons of Canaan- itish descent found employment in the armies of the king, in which indeed, it appears, he held a command, and was obviously a person of some consequence. From these and other instances, it appears that almost all but the genea- logical distinction between the Israelites and the ancient inhabitants of the land had by this time disappeared. There is, however, much reason to conclude that many other Canaanites had become converts to the Jewish faith. 2-1. ' Fifli/ shekels of siloer.' — As this was little more than six pounds of our money, and paid not only for the threshing-floor, but for all that was upon it— cattle and implements — it seems to shew that the value of the pre- cious metals among the Hebrews, at this time, was much higher than it is now with us. It is, however, possible that Araunah merely set a nominal price to satisfy the delicacy of the king, who would not sacrifice to God at the cost of other people. There is an apparent contradiction between the account in 2 Sam. xxiv. 24, and 1 Chron. xxi. 2.5, which says that David gave Araunah 600 shekels of gold by weight (which would be no less than 1200/. of our money) ; but this may be removed by the very probable supposition that after David knew, by the acceptance of the altar erected on the spot, that the temple was to be built in this place, he made a further purchase of a sufii- cient site for the additional and much larger sum jast named. THE FIRST BOOK OF THE KINGS, COMMONLY CALLED, THE THIRD BOOK OF THE KINGS. The two books of Kings form but one in the most correct and ancient editions of the Hebrew Bible. In the time of the Masoretes we ivnow that this was tlie case. Liiie tlie books of Samuel, botli these are included under one enumeration of sections, verses, etc. in the Masora. The more modern copies have the same division as ours. Some of the ancient Fathers seem to have begun the first book at the deatli of David, 1 Kings ii. 12. Tiie titles of the books have been various. It would seem from Origen that they at first had their title, like the books of the law, from the commencing words, IH ^7^^\ ve-iiam-melecii David, ' Now king David.' The Septuagint simply terms the books BaatXddi', ' of reigns ' or ' kingdoms,' of wliicli it calls the books of Samuel the first and second, and these tlie third and fourth. The title of the Vulgate translation in full is Liber Regum tcrtius ; sccundtim Hchraos, liher Ma- lackim — ' The third book of Kings ; but, according to the Hebrews, the first book of Malaciiim.' The title of the Syriac Version points attention to the fact that tlie books contain the history not only of the kings, but of the contemporary prophets : ' The Book of tlie Kings who flourished among this ancient people, containing also the history of the prophets who flourished in their times.' The Arabic gives the first book the singular but appropriate title of ' The Book of Solomon.' In this country the first of these books is no longer ' commonly called the Third Book of Kings,' as the second title intimates ; but it was so at the time our version was made, and is so still in Roman Catholic liurope, where the authority of the Vulgate is followed : in Protestant Europe the books are named as with us. Biblical scholars are much divided in opinion respecting the authorship of the books of Kings. The general impression seems to be that they were brought into their present shape by some one of tiie later prophets from contemporary histories and chronicles. The attempts to ascertain the authors of the original documents have not been very successful. Some suppose that David, Solomon, and Hezekiah respectively left the histories of their own reigns, and that these were probably incorpo- rated in the general narrative as we find them : but there seems no solid foundation for this opinion. There is much more reason to suppo.se that the contemporary prophets left on record the events of their own times, .seeing that the books themselves, as well as those of Chronicles, contain distinct references to existing hi.stories so prepared, and of which, probably, the present histories are no other than summaries or abridgments. Tiie acts of Solomon are described by the author of Ciironicles as pxistiiis' in more detail than in his own record — 'In the words of Nathan the prophet, and in the jiriiphrcy ..f Aliijih the Shilonite, and in the visions of Iddo the seer' (2 Chron. ix. 29). The same .<:irr( i] w liii i- ^laio I hat the transactions of Jehoshaphat's reign were written ' in the words of Jehu the .'^ou (if IlaiKiiii, Mho is mentioned in the book of the kings of Israel' (2 Chron. xx. 34); and the prophet Isaiah is described as having penned ' the acts of Uzziah, first and last ' (2 Chron. xxvi. 22) ; as well as those of Hezekiah (xxxii. 32). In the books of Kings themselves references for ' the rest of the acts ' of particular reigns are given to ' the books of the chronicles of the kings of Israel,' or ' of Judali,' which seems to imply the existence of public records, kept perhaps by the high oflicer in the Hebrew court who bore the title of ' the recorder ' or ' registrar.' It is more than likely that these chronicles extended in great detail over every .successive reign, whereas only the events of particular reigns of great religious importance were recorded by the prophets, who were not likely to employ themselves in recording the merely secular incidents of any reign. All these I. KINGS. materials the author of ' Kings ' had before him. This evidence, which would be accepted as conclu- sive with respect to the first materials of any ancient book of heathen origin, must be regarded as establishing at least a probability in the present case. With respect to tiie preparation of the books in tlieir present shape from tiie materials thus provided, tiie Jews ascribe the work to Jeremiah ; others assign it to Isaiah ; but the most current opinion seems to be that whicli refers it to Ezra. The intrinsic evidence, as between Jeremiah and Ezra, seems to us so nearly equal, that we should hesitate to express an opinion between the alternatives, were it not that it seems unlikely that t\\ o works so parallel to each other as ' Kings ' and ' Chronicles' should have been produced by the same writer; and as the evidence which refers ' Chronicles ' to Ezra is much stronger than that which ascribes to him the books of Kings, the probability arises that he was not the author of 'Kings ;' and whatever tends to weaken his claim to the authorship of ' Kings,' goes to strengthen that of Jeremiah. The common arguments which evince that the autlior was a priest and a prophet, apply as fully to Jeremiah as to Ezra. There are marks that the books were written before the Exile ; and although these are compatible with the authorsliip by Ezra, on the supposition of his copying in some parts literally the contemporary documents before him, they are still more strongly in favour of Jeremiah's authorship wlien other jirobabilities support liis claim to the preference. Tluis the ark of the covenant is spoken of as being still in the temple (1 Kings viii. 8) ; the kingdoms of Judah and Israel are mentioned as still subsisting (1 Kings viii. 8; xii. 9) ; the months of Zif and Bui are spoken of (vi. 1 , 37, 38) ; — names wliich after the Captivity were no longer in use. Lastly, and particularly in the later portion, the writer expresses iiimself throughout as a contemporary, and as a writer who had witnessed wliat he describes. In the early portion tliis doubtless arises from tlie use of the con- temporary documents, whoevci- was the final compiler ; but in the later portion, where this feature is particularly manifest, it speaks more for Jeremiah than for Ezra, seeing tiiat he was contemporary with the events and took a strong interest in public afluirs. Furtliermore tliere are certain lin- guistical affinities between the books of Kings and the book of Jeremiah's prophecies, which would go far to suggest that botli were the work of the same writer, in the absence of direct evidence to the contrary. The reader may see this by comparing 2 Kings xvii. 13 with Jer. vii. 13; 2 Kings X. 8, with Jer. xxii. 8 ; 2 Kings xxiv., xxv., with Jer. lii. ; 1 Kings xi. 4 ; viii. 25 ; ix. 5, with Jer. xxxiii. 17 ; xiii. 13 ; xvii. 25 ; 2 Kings xxi. 12, with Jer. xix. 3. Upon the whole, then, we apprehend that the balance of probabilities somewhat preponderates in favour of Jeremiah, although no certainty on the subject can be realized. If Jeremiah was the autlior, he may be supposed to have written the greater part of it before tlie destruction of Jerusalem, and to have finished it after that event. Tliis seems best to agree with tlie internal evidence ; but there is nothing to forbid the opinion that they may have been wholly composed after the downfall of the monarchy and the ruin of the land ; and we know that, in ordinary circumstances, tlie overthrow of a state supplies a motive for the preservation of its historical remains ; and Jeremiah, so eminently patriotic, must have desired tliat the cliildren of the Captivity, wliose restoration he foresaw and predicted, should possess a digested history of their extinct kingdom, to keep tliem always in mind of tlie causes of tlie ruin which had befallen their nation, and to shew where tlieir hope of recovery lay ; and this object would seem to have been consistent with the designs of Him by whose hand the pen of the writer was guided. It is important to bear in mind that whatever uncertainty hangs over the aufliorship of the ijooks of Kings, tliere is none whatever respecting the verity of the facts which they relate. Tliere is, indeed, internal evidence amply sufficient to prove this. Tlie fidelity and care of the author is evinced by his incorporation of the original documents, preserving their differences of style (as is obvious in the Hebrew), and tlie words and phrases proper to them. His sincerity and good faith are manifested by the full disclosures whicli he gives of the guilt of the people and of their kings. A great portion of the facts contained in the books are adduced in the same manner by otlier sacred writers, which, besides establishing the historical verity of the books, aflferds tiie usual evidence of their canonical authority. Compare 1 Kings x. 1 with Matt. xii. 42, and Luke xi. 31 ; 1 Kings xvii. 9, 14 with Luke iv. 26 ; 1 Kings vi. 1 with Acts vii. 47 ; 1 Ivings xix. 10 with Rom. xi. 2-4 ; 1 Kings xvii. 1 with Rom. x. 18, and James v. 17, 18. It is further evident that our Lord and his apostles found these books among tiiose which they regarded as divinely inspired, and which tiiey quoted as such, thereby setting to them the seal of their authority. Thus our Lord quotes the examples of Elijah and Elisha to support liis assertion that a prophet hatli no honour in liis own country (comp. 1 Kings xvii. 9, and 2 Kings v. 14, with Lukeiv. 24-27) ; and has a pointed reference to the visit of ' the queen of the south' to Solomon (Matt. xii. 42, comp. 1 Kings x. 1). The books, by giving the history of the destruction of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, and of the exile of the people, bear a strong and invincible testimony to the veracity of tlie prophets, and to the divine autliority by which they spoke. It is only necessary to add that the Je«s liave in all times regarded these books as divinely inspired, and have always given them a place in their canonical Scriptures ; and from their hands tiie Cliristian church has received them as an undoubted part of those divine oracles which had been committed to their trust. ^ I. KINGS. The historical period covered by the two books of Kings is 455 years, from the anointing of Solomon as king in u.c. 1015, to the accession of Evil-Merodach, the successor of Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon. Of tliis period the first book, reaching to the death of Jehoshaphat in B.C. 889, covers 126 years ; and the second, reaching to the thirty -seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin, B.C. 560. covers 329 years. Many of the narrative pieces in the books of Kings are scarcely exceeded by any in the books of Samuel for their beautiful simplicity and natural force. Among these admirable pieces we may indicate the judgment of Solomon, in 1 Kings iii. 16-28; the history of the disobedient prophet, in xiii. ; and the narrative of the Shunamite woman in 2 Kings iv. Tlie pictures, as we may call them, of the books of Kings, have generally a character of greater magnificence than those of the books of Samuel. Such are those of Solomon oft'ering his noble prayer at the dedication of the temple, in 1 Kings viii. ; of the descent of the fire from heaven at the voice of Elijah on Mount Carmel, in 1 Kings xviii. ; and the appearance of Jehovah to the same prophet in Iloreb, than which nothing more grand and august can be conceived, in 1 Kings xix. 9-15. The most remark- able discourses contained in these books are Solomon's prayer to God in making choice of wisdom, in 1 King.s iii. 6-9 ; the long and beautiful prayer which the same king uttered at the dedication of the temple, in 1 Kings viii. ; the prophecy of Ahijah to the wife of Jeroboam, in 1 Kings xiv. 6-16; the address of Elijah to Ahabin the vineyard of Naboth, 1 Kings xxi. 19-24 ; the prayer of Ilezekiah after he had received the insulting letter of Sennacherib, 2 Kings xix. 15-19; and t lie prophecy of Isaiah against that conqueror, 2 Kings xix. 21-34. The books also abound, like those of Samuel, in little natural touches, which at once shew the hand of original contemporary writers, and evince the historical fidelity of the ultimate compiler. Some of the most striking tri'^js of this nature are the following: The threat of Benhadad (in 1 Kings xx. 10) that he would ^<(^^"n so large an army that ' the dust of Samaria should not suffice for handfuls,' with the truly n'..,^ fr '^^,y of Ahab, ' Let not him that girdeth on boast as he that putteth off " (his armour). This is '*l/?i®xJenhadad while he is drinking. He replies in a single word, ' Place ;' — that is, ' Bring up the engines of war.' Again, it is said {v. 27), 'The children of Israel pitched before them like two little flocks of kids, but the Syrians filled the country.' The conduct of Jezebel — equally infamous as a wife and a queen — is delineated with graphic fidelity in 1 Kings xxi. 7-16 and 2 Kings ix. 30-37: 'She painted her eyes and tired her head, and lookeil out at a window.' Equally natural are the taunts uttered to Micaiah the prophet, who had predicted the defeat of the Israelites — ' Which way went tiie spirit of the Lord from me to speak to thee ? ' and ISIicaiah's reply — ' Behold thou shalt see in that day when thou slialt go into an inner chamber to hide thyself.' The king says, ' Put this fellow in prison until I come in peace ;" and the prophet answers, ' If thou return at all in peace, the Lord hath not spoken by me' (1 Kings xxii. 24-28). Such zeal inspired the nation to repair the temple, that ' they reckoned not with the men ; for they dealt faithfully.' (2 Kings xii. 15.) The king of Judah chal- lenges the king of Israel, saying, ' Come, let us look one another in the face.' (2 Kings xiv. 8.) Tlie honesty of a man could not be better delineated than is done in 2 Kings vi. 5. A labourer has lost his axe in the water, and he exclaims to the prophet, ' Alas, master, for it was borrowed.' There is no separate commentary in English on the books of Kings, nor any of recent date in any language ; but several were produced in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, of which we give the titles: — Jia^enhAgii Adnotationes in libros Eegum, Basil. 1525; Willerii Commentarius in libros Regiim, Erancof. 1557; Sarcerii Comment, in libros Regum, Lipsiae, 1559; Martyris (Peter Martyr) Comment, in duos libros Eegum, Tiguri, 1566; Mendoza, Comment, in libros Eegum, Col. 1634 ; Schmidii Adnott. in libros Eegum, Strasb., 1697, which is perhaps the best of the separate commentaries, probably because the writer had the advantage of all his predecessors' labours. Several of those who have been noticed as commentators on ' Samuel' have also in connection therewith commentaries on the books of Kings, as Serarius, Drusius, Sanctius (Sanchez), and Bon- frerius. There are some others of less note. There is a good but diffuse commentary on that part of the first book which relates to Solomon by the Jesuit Pineda, published at Seville in 1557 under tlie title De rebus Salomouis. The apparent contradictions between the books of Kings and Chro- [;les have engaged much attention, and gave occasion to the useful work of Jean Baptise le Brun, better known by the name of Desmarettes, published at Paris in 1691 under the title of Concordia lihrorum Regum et Paralipomenon. [Two Commentaries on Kings have recently appeared in Germany ; namely, Commcntar iiber die Bucher der Konige, von K. F. Keif, Moskau, 1846 ; and Bio Biiclicr dcr Kiinige erJclart, von Otto Thenius, Leipzig, 1849. The latter forms part of the Kwzgrfasstes Handburh mentioned in the Introduction to Judges.] Chap. I.] CHAPTER I. 1 Abishag cherisheUi David in his extreme age. 5 Adonijah, David's darling, usnrpeth the kingdom. 11 By the counsel of Nathan, 15 Bath-shebaiyioveth the king, 22 and Nathan secondeth her. 28 David renetveth his oath to Bath-sheha. 32 Solomon, by David's appointmetit, being anointed king by Zadok and Nathan, the people triumph. 41 Jonathan bringing the news, Adonijah's guests fee. 50 Adonijah, fleeing to the horns of the altar, vponhis good behaviour is dismissed by Soil lord the king ''a j^oiing virgin : and let her stand be- fore the king, and let her 'cherish liim, and let her lie in thy bosom, that my lord the king may get heat. 3 So they sought for a fair damsel through- out all the coasts of Israel, and found Abishag a Shunaramite, and brought her to the king. 4 And the damsel was very fair, and che- rished the king, and ministered to him : but the king knew her not. 5 H Then Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, I will 'be king : and he prepared him chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him. 6 And his father had not displeased him °at any time in saying. Why hast thou done so ? and he also tvas a very goodly man ; and his mother bare him after Absalom. 7 And 'he conferred with Joab the son of Zeruiah, and with Abiathar the priest : and they "following Adonijah helped him. 8 But Zadok the priest, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and Nathan the prophet, and Shimei, and Rci, and the mighty men which beloiiffed to David, were not with i\.doni- jah. 9 And Adonijah slew sheep and oxen and sfGS. [B.C. 1015. fat cattle by the stone of Zoheleth, which is by 'En-rogel, and called all his brethren the king's sons, and all the men of Judah the king's servants : 10 But Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah, and the mighty men, and Solomon his brother, he called not. 11 H "Wherefore Nathan spake unto Bath- sheba the mother of Solomon, saying. Hast thou not heard that Adonijah the son of '"Haggith doth reign, and David our lord knoweth it not ? 12 Now therefore come, let me, I pray thee, give thee counsel, that thou mayest save thine own life, and the life of thy son Solomon. 1.3 Go and get thee in unto king David, and say unto him, Didst not thou, my lord, O king, swear unto thine handmaid, saying. Assuredly Solomon thy son shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne ? why then doth Adonijah reign ? 14 Behold, while thou yet talkest there with the king, I also will come in after thee, and "confirm thy words. 15 If And Bath-sheba went in unto the king into the chamber : and the king was very old ; and Abishag the Shunammite ministered unto the king. 16 And Bath-sheba bowed, and did obei- sance unto the king. And the king said, '"What wouldest thou ? 17 And she said unto him, jNIy lord, tliou swarest by the Lord thy God unto thine handmaid, saj/infj. Assuredly Solomon thy son shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne. 18 And now, behold, Adonijah reigneth ; and now, my lord the king, thou knowest it not: 19 And he hath slain oxen and fat cattle and sheep in abundance, and hath called all the sons of the king, and Abiathar the priest, and Joab the captain of the host : but Solo- mon thy servant hath he not called. 20 And thou, my lord, O king, the eyes of all Israel are upon thee, that thou should- est tell them who shall sit on the throne of my lord the king after him. 21 Otherwise it shall come to pass, when my lord the king shall sleep with his fathers, that I and my son Solomon shall be counted "offenders. 22 If And, lo, while she yet talked with the king, Nathan the prophet also came in. ered into days. « Heb. Let them seek, his darjs. ^ Heb, his words were witi 11 Weh.JIU up. . a dmnsel, a virgii Ileh. helped afie. >. TVhnt to thee t Chap. L] I- K 23 And they told the king, saying, Behold Nathan the prophet. And when he was come in before the king, he bowed himself before the king with his face to the ground. 24 And Nathan said, My lord, O king, hast thou said, Adonijah shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne ? 25 For he is gone down this day, and hath slain oxen and fat cattle and sheep in abund- ance, and hath called all the king's sons, and the captains of the host, and Abiathar the priest ; and, behold, they eat and drink be- fore him, and say, '*God save king Adonijah. 26 But me, even me thy servant, and Za- dok the priest, and Benaiah the son of Je- hoiada, and thy servant Solomon, hath he not called. 27 Is this thing done by my lord the king, and thou hast not shewed it unto thy servant, who should sit on the throne of my lord the king after him ? 28 IT Then king David answered and said, Call me Bath-sheba. And she came '* into the king's presence, and stood before the king. 20 And the king sware and said, As the Lord liveth, that hath redeemed my soul out of all distress, 30 Even as I sware unto thee by the Lord God of Israel, saying, Assuredly Solomon thy son shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne in my stead ; even so will I cer- tainly do this day. 31 Then Bath-sheba bowed with her face to the earth, and did reverence to the king, and said, Let my lord king David live for ever. 32 II And king David said. Call me Za- dok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada. And they came before the king. 33 The king also said unto them. Take with you the servants of your lord, and cause Solomon my son to ride upon '"mine own mule, and bring him down to Gihon : 34 And let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him there king over Israel : and blow yo with the trumpet, and say, God save king Solomon. 35 Then ye shall come up after him, that he may come and sit upon my throne ; for ho shall be king in my stead : and 1 have ap- pointed him to be ruler over Israel and over Judah. 36 And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada an- swered the king, and said. Amen : the Lord God of my lord the king say so too. " Ilcb. ix/TC the hi»g. IGS. [B.C. 1015. 37 As the Lord hath been with my lord the king, even so be he with Solomon, and make his throne greater than the throne of my lord king David. 38 H So Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, anil the Cherethites, and the Pelethites, went down, and caused Solomon to ride upon king David's mule, and brought him to Gihon. 39 And Zadok the ])riest took an horn of oil out of the tabernacle, and anointed Solo- mon. And they blew the trumpet ; and all the people said, God save king Solomon. 40 And all the people came np after him, and the people piped with ''pipes, and re- joiced with great joy, so that the earth rent with the sound of them. 41 IT And Adonijah and all the guests that rcere with him heard it as they had made an end of eating. And when Joab heard the sound of the trumpet, he said, Wherefore is this noise of the city being in an uproar ? 42 And while he yet spake, behold, Jona- than the son of Abiathar the priest came : and Adonijah said unto him, Come in ; for thou art a valiant man, and bringest good tidings. 43 And Jonathan answered and said to Adonijah, Verily our lord king David hath made Solomon king. 44 And the king hath sent with him Za- dok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Chere- thites, and the Pelethites, and they have caused him to ride upon the king's mule : 45 And Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet have anointed him king in Gihon : and they are come up from thence rejoicing, so that the city rang again. This is the noise that ye have heard. 46 And also Solomon sittcth on the throne of the kingdom. 47 And moreover the king's servants came to bless our lord king David, saying, God make the name of Solomon better than thy name, and make his throne greater than thy throne. And the king bowed himself upon the bed. 48 And also thus said the king. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, which hath given one to sit on my throne this day, mine eyes even seeing it. 49 And all the guests that were with Adoni- jah were afraid, and rose up, and went every man his way. 50 H And Adonijah feared because of i>^ llc\i. u/iich belongctli (u inf. '? Or,/7i/(«. Chap. I.] I. KINGS. [B.C. 1015. Solomon, and arose, and went, and caught hold on the horns of the altar. 51 And it was told Solomon, saying, Be- hold, Adonijah feareth king Solomon : for, lo, he hath caught hold on the horns of the altar, saying. Let king Solomon swear unto me to day that he will not slay his servant with the sword. 52 And Solomon said, If he will shew him- self a worthy man, there shall not an hair of him fall to the earth : but if wickedness shall be found in him, he shall die. 53 So king Solomon sent, and they brought him down from the altar. And he came and bowed himself to king Solomon : and Solomon said unto him. Go to thine house. Verse fi. ' Hia mother bare him after Absalom.'— The words ' bis mother ' are not in the original, and they in- volve an error, for the mother of Absalom was Maacah, whereas Adonijah was the sou of Haggith. The sense is, that he was born next after Absalom, but not by the same mother. 8. ' Shimei.' — It does not seem likely that the notorious Sbimei of Bahurim should be thus conspicuously men- tioned, or that he took any part in public affairs. This was therefore most probably another Shimei. Accordingly, Josephus distinguishes him as ' the king's friend ;' and we may conceive him to have been the same person whom we find in chap. iv. IS, as one of Solomon's twelve great officers. It is remarkable, however, that both this Shimei and the other were Benjamites. ' Stone of Zohdcth, which is ty En-rogel.' — Without 'ng the Rabbins in their speculations about this stone, we may observe, that its situation is marked by the proximity to En-rogel. From this proximity to the city, it appears that Adouijah's party were too confident of suc- cess and safety to affect secrecy in the first instance, or to consider distance necessary — differing in this from Absa- lom, who, when his conspiracy was ripe, went to Hebron and declared himself kmg thtie This consideration elu cidates the ensuing circumstances It will be observed that Adonijah s entei tamment wis i sort of fUe champctre — such as Orientals still delight in— by a fountain, and in a pleasant part of a valley. The refreshments were not, however, cold ; but the ' sheep and oxen and fat cattle ' were killed and dressed on the spot ; which is also a pe- culiarity of Oriental entertainments of this description. 20. ' Tell them who shall sit on the throne.'— U appears, throughout the history of David, that his right to nominate which of his sons he pleased to succeed him, was. at least formally, distinctly recognized by his subjects. Michaelis thinks that David had secured this right by the terms of the covenant which he made with the people when he re- ceived the crown. We are not inclined to concur in this opinion. To us it rather seems that it was a right which needed no stipulation, but was sanctioned by the general usage which we see exemplified in the case of Jacob, who deprived his eldest son Reuben of that priority which would otherwise have belonged to him. It was therefore natural to give that power to a king, in regulating the succession to the throne, which the head of a family enjoyed in regulating the inheritance of his sons. The right of the eldest son was in general recognized ; but with a reserved right in the father to giVe the preference to a younger son, if he saw occasion. Oriental kings still enjoy this power The late king of Persia, for instance publicly itcognized his second son (whose son now reigns) as his successor to the exclusion of the eldest. Chap. I.3 [B.C. 1015. who however took no pains to conceal his intention to put the matter to the arbitration of the sword. In fact, notwithstanding the general recognition of the royal and paternal right of selection, troubles so usually follow its exercise, in consequence of the strong feeling for the right of primogeniture, that instances of the preference of a younger son are not of frequent occurrence. These considerations will enable us to account for the stand which, first Absalom, and then Adonijah, were able to make for the right of primogeniture, and the powerful support they were enabled to secure, even when we may suppose it to have been generally known that David, iu nominating Solomon, was acting under the Divine direction, and not from the mere impulse of paternal preference. As the Lord did not again direct a particular preference, the troubles occasioned in this reign by a disturbance of the usual course of succession, probably operated in pre- venting the future kings from following the example ; for we read of no other instance of preference of a younger son. Indeed, it is by no means certain that David himself would have nominated Solomon, had he not been aware that such was the Divine will. It is true that he loved Solomon, but he also loved Absalom and Adonijah; and it is difficult to suppose that his affection to any of his sons could exceed that which he manifested towards the former. — ' Bring him down to Gihon.' — It will be recollected that Adonijah's party were by a fountain in the valley east of Jerusalem ; now this Gihon is agreed to have been a fountain or spring in the opposite or western valley. This simple fact explains, better than all the recondite reasons of the Kabbins, the motive of this precise direction. It was an opposite site, similarly circumstanced and equally public, selected for an opf osition proclamation, made with all that authority and solemnity which the royal sanction only could give. If Adonijah's party had 1)een In the western valley, Solomon would probably have been anointed and proclaimed in the ea.stern. 35. ' That he may come and sit vpon my throne.' — The ancient and modem customs of the Kast, and indeed of the west, afford many instances of kings securing, or en- deavouring to secure, the throne to the destined successor, by causing him to be proclaimed, crowned, or publicly recognized in his own lifetime. It was a regular practice for the ancient monarchs of Persia to have the heir so- lemnly inaugurated and acknowledged when they went on any dangerous expeditions. On the same principle, the late king of Persia presented his second son to his court as the future king, and caused him to be publicly acknow- ledged ; nor was the required acknowledgment and homage refused by any except the eldest son, who, even on that solemn occasion, alleged his claim to the rights of the first-born, and his determination to refer the result to the decision of the sword. 51. •CaiKjht hold if the horns if the altar.'— As the horns of the altar were five cubits (2^ yards) apart, it was impossible for Adonijah to lay hold of the horns of the altar. The Hebrew is literally, ' he caught hold in or between the horns of the altar:' this he might easily do, and this entirely obviates the difficulty. It is not certain what altar Adonijah fled to, the temple being not yet built, and the old tabernacle altar being at Gibeon ; but as David had prepared a place for the reception of the ark upon Mount Zion, and seems to have also erected an altar there for the daily sacrifices, it would seem that this was the altar to which Adonijah fled. Gibeon was not, how- ever, so distant from Jerusalem as to make his going thither inconsistent with the narrative. The Jews were also familiar with the idea of flying to places at some dis- tance for refuge, as iu the case of the cities of refuge. Chap. II.] [B.C. 1015—1014. CHAPTER II. 1 David, /laving given a charge to Solomon, 3 of re- ligiousness, 5 of Joab, 7 of Barzilltti, 8 of Shimei, 10 dieth. 12 Solomon succeedeth. 13 Adonijah, moving Bath-sheba to sve vnto Solomon for Abishag, is put to death. 26 Abiathar, having his life given him, is deprived of the priesthood. 28 Joab fleeing to the horns of ike altar is there slain. 35 Benaiah is prd in Joab's room, and Zadok in Abiathar s. 36 Shimei, confined to Jerusalem, by occasion of going thence to Gath, is intt to death. Now the days of David drew nigh that he should die ; and he charged Solomon his son, saying, 2 I go the way of all the earth : be thou strong therefore, and shew thyself a man ; 3 And keep the charge of the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and his testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, that thou ' "may est prosper in all that thou doest, and whithersoever thou turn- est thyself: 4 That the Lord may continue his word which he spake concerning me, saying. If thy children take heed to their way, to walk be- fore me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, "there shall not "fail thee (said he) a man on the throne of Israel. 5 Moreover thou knowest also what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me, and what he did to the two captains of the hosts of Israel, unto *Abner the son of Ner, and unto "Amasa the son of Jether, whom he slew, and "shed the blood of war in peace, and put the blood of war upon his girdle that was about his loins, and ill his shoes that loere on his feet. 6 Do therefore according to thy wisdom, and let not his hoar head go down to the grave in peace. 7 But shew kindness unto the sons of °Bar- zillai the Gileadite, and let them be of those that eat at thy table : for so tlicy came to me when I fled because of Absalom thy brother. 8 And, he\.\o\A,thou hast with thee 'Shimei the son of Gera, a Benjamite of Baliurim, which cursed me with a '"grievous curse in the day when I went to Mahanaim : but he came down to meet me at Jordan, and I sware to him by the Lord, saying, "1 will not put thee to death with the sword. 9 Now therefore hold him not guiltless : for thou art a wise man, and knowest what thou oughtest to do unto him ; but his hoar I Deut. 21. 0. Jnfih. 1. 7. 2 Or, do wisch/. 3 2 Sam. 7. 1; head bring thou down to the grave with blood. 10 IT So "David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David. 11 And the days that David ''' reigned over Israel tccre forty years : seven years reigned he in Hebron, and thirty and three years reigned he in Jerusalem. 12 H "Then sat Solomon upon the throne of David his father ; and his kingdom was established greatly. 13 11 And Adonijah the son of Haggith came to Bath-sheba the mother of Solomon. And she said, Comest thou peaceably ? And he said, Peaceably. 14 He said moreover, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And she said, Say on. 15 And he said, Thou knowest that the kingdom was mine, and that all Israel set their faces on me, that I should reign : how- beit the kingdom is turned about, and is be- come my brother's: for it was his fi-om the Lord. IG And now I ask one petition of thee, "deny me not. And she said unto him. Say on. 17 And he said, Speak, I pray thee, unto Solomon the king, (for he will not say thee nay,) that he give me Abishag the Shunam- mitc to wife. 18 And Bath-sheba said. Well ; I will speak for thee unto the king. 19 Bath-sheba therefore went unto king Solomon, to speak unto him for Adonijah. And the king rose up to meet her, and bowed himself unto her, and sat down on his throne, and caused a seat to be set for the king's mother ; and she sat on his right hand. 20 Then she said, I desire one small pe- tition of thee ; I pray thee, say me not nay. And the king said unto her. Ask on, my mother : for I will not say thee nay. 21 And she said. Let Abishag the Sliu- nammite be given to Adonijah thy brother to wife. 22 And king Solomon answered and said unto his mother. And why dost thou ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah ? ask for him the kingdom also ; for he is mine elder brother ; even for him, and for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah. 23 Then king Solomon sware by the Lord, saying, God do so to me, and more also, if Adonijah have not spoken this word against his own life. * Ileb. ht cut off from thee from the throne. 5 2 Sam. 3. 27. ron. 29. 23. '5 Ileb. turn not atctit/ my face. 253 Chap. II.] 24 Now therefore, as the Lord liveth, which hath established me, and set me on the throne of David my father, and who hath made me an house, as he '"promised, Adoni- jah shall be put to death this day. 25 And king Solomon sent by the hand of Benaiah the son of Jehoiada ; and he fell upon iiim that he died. 2G ll And unto Abiathar the priest said the king. Get thee to Anathoth, unto thine own fields ; for thou cij-t "worthy of death : but I will not at this time put thee to death, because thou barest the ark of the Lord God before David my father, and because thou hast been afflicted in all wherein my father was afflicted. 27 So Solomon thrust out Abiathar from being priest unto the Lord ; that he might "fulfil the word of the Lord, which he spake concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh. 28 IF Then tidings came to Joab : for Joab had turned after Adonijah, though he turned not after Absalom. And Joab fled unto the tabernacle of the Lord, and caught hold on the horns of the altar. 29 And it was told king Solomon that Joab was fled unto the tabernacle of the Lord ; and, behold, he is by the altar. Then Solo- mon sent BenaiaJi the son of Jehoiada, saying. Go, fall upon him. 30 And Benaiah came to the tabernacle of the Loud, and said unto him. Thus saith the king. Come forth. And he said. Nay ; but I will die here. And Benaiah brought the king word again, saying. Thus said Joab, and thus he answered me. 31 And the king said unto him, Do as he hath said, and fall upon him, and bury him ; that thou mayest take away the innocent blood, which Joab shed, from me, and from the house of my father. 32 And the Lord shall return his blood upon his own head, who fell upon two men more righteous and better than he, and slew them with the sword, my father David not knowing thereof, to wit, "Abner the son of Ner, captain of the host of Israel, and -"Amasa the son of Jether, captain of the host of Judah. 33 Tlieir blood shall therefore return upon the head of Joab, and upon the head of his seed for ever : but upon David, and upon his seed, and upon his house, and upon his throne, shall there be peace for ever from the Lord. 34 So Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went SfGS. [B.C. 1015—1014. up, and fell upon him, and slew him : and he was buried in his own house in the wilder- ness. 35 If And the king put Benaiah the son of Jehoiada in his room over the host : and Za- dok the priest did the king put in the room of Abiathar. 36 K And the king sent and called for Shimei, and said unto him, Build thee an house in Jerusalem, and dwell there, and go not forth thence any whither. 37 For it shall be, that on the day thou goest out, and passest over the brook Kidron, thou shalt know for certain that thou shalt surely die : thy blood shall be upon thine own head. 38 And Shimei said unto the king. The saying is good: as my lord the king hath said, so will thy servant do. And Shimei dwelt in Jerusalem many days. 39 And it came to pass at the end of three years, that two of the servants of Shimei ran away unto Acliish son of Maachah king of Gath. And they told Shimei, saying. Be- hold, thy servants be in Gath. 40 And Shimei arose, and saddled his ass, and went to Gath to Achish to seek his ser- vants : and Shimei went, and brought his ser- vants from Gath. 41 And it was told Solomon that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath, and was come again. 42 And the king sent and called for Shi- mei, and said unto him. Did I not make thee to swear by the Lord, and protested unto thee, saying. Know for a certain, on the day thou goest out, and walkest abroad any whither, that thou shalt surely die ? and thou saidst unto me. The word that I have heard is good. 43 Why then hast thou not kept the oath of the Lord, and the commandment that I have charged thee with ? 44 The king said moreover to Siiiuiei, Thou knowcstall the wickedness v\liich thine heart is privy to, that thou didst to David my father : therefore the Lord shall return thy wickedness upon thine own head ; 45 And king Solomon shall be blessed, and the throne of David shall be established be- fore the Lord for ever. 46 So the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada ; which went out, and fell upon him that he died. And the "kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon. Chap. II.] [B.C. lOi; -1014. Verse 5. ' TT7/u/ Joah the son rfZentiah did to me.'— The predominating influence of the sons of his sister Zeruiah had throughout his reign been very galling to David, and he advises his son, in fact, not to incur the same grievance, or to submit to it. As to Joab, he had through policy been pardoned for the part he took in the conspiracy of Ado- nijah, as David himself had, by like reasons, been con- strained to overlook the crimes of which he had been pre- viously guilty — such as the murders of Abner and Amasa : yet should he again offend, Solomon is advised to bring him to condign punishment, by which he would strike terror into evil doers, and, more than by any other act, evince the strength and firmness of his government. 9. ' Tlion art a wise man.' — By this it appears that Solomon was noted for his wisdom even in his youth, and before he had received special endowments from God. This is natural. It is those who are already wise who seek and obtain more wisdom ; and if Solomon had not been already wise, he would not have preferred wisdom before wealth and length of days. — ' His hoar head bring thou duion to the grave with blood.' — We cannot admit, and do not find it necessary to recapitulate, the ingenious attempts which have been made to shew that the original words mean just the contrary to what ours and all other translations make them express. The question is not whether the counsel of David to his son were good or bad, but what that advice was ; and the plain, obvious, and downright meaning seems to be this. The pardon which Shimei had asked beside the Jordan, with a thousand men at his back, could not well have been refiised: and David had now no wish to annul it. But aware of the character of this disaffected and dangerous Benjamite, he cautioned Solomon against him, and advised him to keep him under his eye at Jerusalem, and to watch him well, that he might have no opportunity of stirring up sedition among the tribes ; and should his conduct again offer occasion, David counselled the young king not to spare him, but at once to rid his kingdom of so suspicious and malevolent a character. The true purport of David's advice must be collected from what Solomon actually did towards Shimei, whom he put to death, as appears in the next chapter, for violating the injunction which had been laid upon him, not to leave Jerusalem under pain of death. David had forgiven the personal insult offered to himself, which constituted the original offence of Shimei ; but it does not appear that Solomon was thereby, according to the notions of the times, precluded from resenting it as a political crime; and it would seem that a promise on the part of a king not to punish a particular crime, left his successor free to punish or not, as he pleased. Solomon however felt there would be some indecency in avowedly punishing an offence forgiven by his father, and therefore subjected the offender to a new test and a new obligation. The affair is just the reverse of that of our Ifaleigh, who, after the lapse of many years, suffered under an old sen- tence, but really for a new offence not in itself punishable, whereas Shimei suffered for an old offence perhaps not in itself then punishable, under a sentence for a new offence which might of itself have been pardoned. 10. ' So David slept with his fathers' — David appears to have survived the coronation of Solomon about six months; for although he reigned seven years and six months over Judah, and thirty-three years over all Israel, yet the whole duration is reckoned only forty years in 2 Sam. V. 4, 5 ; 1 Chron. xxix. 27. The interval he seems to have employed in the development, for the benefit of his son, of those plans and regulations which had long before been formed and considered in his own mind, and to which the due effect was afterwards given by his son. These are fully stated in the last five chapters of the first book of Chronicles. 12. ' Tlien sat Solomon upon the throne of David.' — Never monarch ascended a throne with greater advantages than Solomon, or knew better how to secure and improve them. Under David the kingdom had been much ex- tended, and brought under good regulations. The arms of the Hebrews had for so many years been feared by all the neighbouring nations, that the habit of respect and obedience on their part oft'ered to the new king the rea- sonable prospect, confirmed by a Divine promise, that his reign should be one of peace. Noiv, the predominant tribe of Judah lay as a lion and as a lioness, which no. nation ventured to rouse up (Gen. xlix. 9 ; Num. xxiii. 24 ; xxiv. 9). The Hebrews were the ruling people, and their empire the principal monarchy of Western Asia. From the Mediterranean Sea and the Phcenicians to the Eu- phrates, in its nearer and remoter bounds ; from the river of Egypt and the Elanitic Gulf to BerytTis, Hamath, and Thapsacus ; all were subject to the dominion of Solomon : nor were the tribes which wander in Northern Arabia eastward to the Persian Gulf unconscious of his rule. At home, the Canaanites had not, as we have seen, been either entirely expelled or annihilated ; but they had become obedient and peaceable subjects ; and, which was of importance to an eastern king, liable to services which no king dared to impose upon the Israelites themselves. Jahn calculates that their whole number may have been about 400,000 or .500,000, since ultimately 1 53,000 were able to render soccage to the king. The warlike and civilized Philistines, the Edomites, Moabites, and Ammon- ites, the Syrians of Damascus, and some tribes of the nomadic Arabians of the desert, were all tributary to him. The revenues derived from the subject states were large ; and the wealth in the royal treasuries great beyond cal- culation ; and the king had the enterprise and talent to open new sources through which riches were poured into the couutiy from distant lands. Nor were the prospects and promises with which this reign opened frustrated in its continuance. ' Peace gave to all his subjects prosperity ; the trade which he introduced brought wealth into the country, and promoted the sciences and arts, which there found a native protector in the king, who was himself dis- tinguished for his learning. The building of the temple and of several palaces introduced foreign artists, by whom the Hebrews were instructed. Many foreigners, and even sovereign princes, were attracted to Jerusalem, in order to see and converse with the prosperous royal sage. The regular progress of all business, the arrangements for security from foreign and domestic enemies, the army, the cavalry, the armories, the chariots, the palaces, the royal household, the good order in the administration and in the service of the court, excited as much admiration as the wisdom and learning of the viceroy of Jehovah. So much was effected by the single influence of David, because he scrupulously conformed himself to the theocracy of the Hebrew state.' Uis kingdom was established greatli/.' — It may be 3 this place to remark, that although Solomon was not the firstborn, nor even the eldest living son of David, but succeeded to the throne through the special appoint- ment of the supreme king, Jehovah, there was one cir- cumstance which, from the usual notions of the Orientals, could not but be highly favourable to him, even had all his elder brothers been alive. Amnon had been born before his father became king, and Absalom and Adonijah while he was king of Judah only ; while Solomon was bom when his father was king over all Israel, and lord over many neighbouring states. And in the East there is a strong prejudice in favour of him who is the son of the king and of the kingdom, that is, who is born while his father actually reigns over the states which he leaves at his death. Thus, therefore, if, at the death of David, Amnon and Absalom had been alive, as well as Adonijah and Solomon, there might have been a contest among them on these grounds : Amnon would have claimed as the eldest son of David : Absalom would probably have disputed this claim on the ground, first, that he was the first-born after David became a king ; and, secondly, on the ground that his mother was of a royal house : this claim could not have been disputed by Adonijah ; but he would have con- sidered his own claim good as against Amnon, on the one hand, and as against Solomon on the other. But Solomon might have claimed on the same ground as the others against Amnon, on the one hand, and against Absalom and well Chap. IL] [B.C. 1015—1014. Adonijah, on the ground that their father was only king of Judah when they were born, but king of all Israel at the time of his own birth. And this claim would, in fact, have been but a carrying out of the principle on which Absalom and Adouijah are supposed to oppose Amnon ; and in this claim there would have seemed so much reason to an Oriental that, apart from all other considerations, we doubt not it would have found many adherents in Israel : and we feel assured that it must have operated in producing a more cheerful acquiescence in the preference given to Solomon. 19. ' The king rose vp to meet her, and bowed himself unto her . . . , and she sat on the hiiiti's riyht hand.' — This reverential behaviour of the king towards his mother is in entire conformity with the existing sentiments and usages of the East. The mother, and not the wife, is the real mistress of the house of which her son has become the master. Her power in fact begins when that of European women terminates — that is, when her husband dies and her son inherits in his place. She then continues to be treated by him with the utmost deference and respect ; and he will still not venture to seat himself in her presence till desired to do so. Nor can the great and powerful eman- cipate themselves from the control which these habits and forms shew to reside in the mother over her children. ' Imagine Ibrahim Pasha staying a whole week in the haram of his mother, waiting for a favourable opportunity of pressing a request upon her ; and, when admitted, kissing her feet, refusing to be seated, and standing an hour and a half with his arms crossed before him.' Mr. Urquhart, who relates this anecdote in his Spirit of the East, states the pardon of his step-father Mehemet Ali for an affront he had inflicted on his wife, furnished the occasion on which Ibrahim observed this etiquette — ' while he, the conqueror of Syria, and the victor of Konieh, humbly sued, from an aged woman, the pardon of the viceroy of Egypt, and was rejected.' This calls to mind an anecdote related by Quintus Curtius, which conveys another and perhaps more striking illustration of this interesting matter. He states that Alexander did not venture to sit down in the presence of the mother of Darius, until de- sired to do so: because among the Persians it was not the custom for sons to sit before their mothers. — ' The king's mother.' — In eastern countries, where polygamy is allowed or not forbidden by the law, and where the kings have numerous wives and concubines, there is no dignity analogous to that which the sole wife of a sovereign occupies in Europe. In fact, there is no ijiieen, in our sense of the word, as applied to the consort of a king. But the mother of the king (and next to her, or instead of her, the mother of the heir-apparent) is the woman of the greatest influence and highest station in the state, and the one whose condition is the most queenly of any which the East affords. According to this view, Bathsheba, during the latter part of David's reign, as mother of the heir apparent, and during at least the early portions of Solomon's reign, as mother of the king, was, in fact, the queen of Israel ; whence in both periods we find her taking a part in public afifairs, which, however slight, is such as none but a woman so placed could have taken. 22. ' Ask for him the kingdom also.' — See the note on 2 Sam. xii. 8. Bathsheba mentioned it as a small petition, and probably considered it in that light. She might, however, have suspected something, from the manner in which Adonijah had spoken to her of the loss of the succession, when all Israel had set their faces on him that he should reign — a fact of some importance in con- nection with the statement given in the note to ch. i. 20. Solomon, however, was at no loss to discover the latent motive, and acted accordingly. 26. ' Anathoth.' — This was one of the cities given to the priests out of the tribe of Benjamin. There is no remain- ing trace of its existence; but Josephus, Eusebius, and Jerome concur in placing it three miles to the north of .Jerusalem. It was the birth-place of the prophet Jere- This was in 1 Sam. ii. 27, etc., where this deposition of the house of Eli from the priesthood is foretold, while ch. iii. 1 1, etc., predicts the previous destruction which befcl that house in the time of Saul. (See a note on 1 Sam. xxi.) It will be recollected that the high-priesthood was in the first instance settled upon Eleazar, the eldest son of Aaron ; but in the beginning of 1 Sam. we find the priesthood held by Eli, a descendant of Aaron's youngest son, Ithamar, without being apprized of the cause of the alteration. Now, the effect of the deposition of Abiathar and the ap- pointment of Zadok is, that the priesthood is taken from the Ithamar branch of Aaron's family, and restored to the elder branch of Eleazar. In this line the dignity remained during a long while after the return from the Babylonian captivity. 28. ' Caught hold on the horns of the altar.'— We have given some statements on the general subject of asyla in a note to Josh, xx., and have there particularly referred to the present instance, as illustrating the superiority of the Hebrew practice and principle in this respect. This is in- deed the first example of the altar being sought as a refuge ; but the previous existence of the practice is dis - tinctly indicated even in the Law (see the marginal re- ferences on V. 31), where God directs, in the case of a murderer, ' Thou shalt take him from mine altar, that he may die.' The altar, therefore, was a place of refuge before the time of Moses. Indeed temples, churches, shrines, and altars have been privileged as sanctuaries in almost every nation. Probably the law of Moses on this subject was levelled against a practice which the Israelites had first learned in Egypt, where some of the temples cer- tainly were sanctuaries. Herodotus, for instance, mentions a temple of Hercules which was a refuge for slaves who, after they had received the marks or badges of that god, could not be reclaimed by their masters. We have also information concerning famous sanctuaries in Asia, Greece, and Kome. Some of these only afforded protection to a certain class of offenders or oppressed persons, but others to all without distinction. Thus, the temples which en- joyed this privilege became ultimately so many dens of murderers and thieves ; and the resulting evil was most sensibly felt by the civil authorities wherever the practice* prevailed. ' It was,' says Banier, ' not only cities and temples that served for sanctuaries ; the sacred groves, the altars wherever the;/ were, the statues of the gods, those of the emperors, and the tombs of heroes, had the same pri- vilege ; and it was enough for a criminal to be within the compass of those groves, or to have embraced an altar, or the statue of some god, to be in perfect safety. Being once within the protection of the asylum, the criminal re- mained at the foot of the allar or statue, and had his victuals brought to him, until he found an opportunity of making his escape, or of satisfying the oflfended party.' {Mythologij, b. iii. c. 8.) In ancient authors we, however, sometimes read of the most sacred asylums being occa- sionally violated. This was generally by some method thought likely to be least offensive to the presiding deity, as by cutting off the provisions of the refugee, or by wall- ing up his place of refuge. Sometimes he was even torn from the asylum and put to death. But it will be observed that, where such instances occur, we are sure to hear of some grievous calamity being the consequence of the pro- fanation. It rarely happened that a refugee was slain in his refuge ; and we may be sure that, if the pn'sent nar- rative had been related in profane history, we should have read of some horrible judgment falling upon Solomon and Benaiah if not upon the city at large. But in the end, even pagan superstitions gave way under the pressure of the evils which this state of things produced, and notorious oflenders were forced even from the altar, its protection being only allowed to minor offences. Asylums such as we have mentioned still remain in the East, being generally the mosques built over the remains of distinguished saints ; and the resources of the refugees are much the same, as well as the means sometimes taken to bring them to punishment— that is, by starving them in their retreat In Europe, the privilege of sanctuary was revived in favour Chap. III.] I. K of the churches, and was in time followed by the usual evils. Speaking of Funchal in Madeira, Ovington says — ' Murder is here in a kind of reputation ; and it is made the characteristic of any gentleman of rank or fashion to have dipt his hand in blood. The chief source of this ex- ecrable crime is the protection it receives from the churches, which sort of sanctuaries are very numerous. The indulgence given to such malefactors is the greatest reproach to religion and humanity. It is enough if the criminal can lay hold on the horns of the altar ; and the STGS. [B.C. 1014. utmost punishment inflicted is banishment or confinement; both of which, by large presents, may be bought off.' {Voijage to Surat, 1689.) In the reign of James I. the privilege of sanctuary in England was finally abolished by statute. This subject is of great interest ; and now, after this statement of the ancient and modern practices, we need only refer the reader again to Josh, xx., and remind him that the Hebrew law provided no sanctiiari/ except for involuntary offences, and that it directed wilful of- fenders to be taken by force even from the altar of God. CHAPTER III. 1 Solomon marriclh Pharaoh's damjhtcr. 2 High places helnrj in iise, Solomon sacrijiceth at Gibeon. 5 Solomon at Gibeon, in the choice which God gave him, preferring wisdom, obtaineth wisdom, riches, and honour. 16 Solomon's judgment between the two harlots maheth him renowned. And 'Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh's daughter, and broaglit her into the city of David, until he had made an end of building his own house, and the house of the Lord, and the wall of Jerusalem round about. 2 IF Only the people sacrificed in high places, because there was no house built unto the name of the Lord, until those days. 3 And Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of David his father : only he sacrificed and burnt incense in high places. 4 And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there ; for that wa.'! the great high place : a tliousand burnt offerings did Solomon ofier upon that altar. 5 H In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night : and God said, Ask what I shall give thee. G And Solomon said, Thou hast shewed unto thy servant David my father great 'mercy, according as he walked before thee in truth, and in righteousness, and in upright- ness of heart with thee ; and thou hast kept for him this great kindness, that thou hast given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. 7 And now, O Lord my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father : and I am hut a little child : 1 know not how to go out or come in. 8 And thy servant is in the midst of thy jicople which thou ha.st chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for mul- titude. 9 "Give therefore thy servant an 'under- standing heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad : for who is able to judge this thy so great a people ? 10 And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing. 11 And God said unto him. Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself "long life ; neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies ; but hast asked for thyself under- standing "to discern judgment ; 12 Behold, I have done according to thy words : lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart ; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee. 13 And I have also ^given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches, and honour : so that there "shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days. 14 And if thou wilt walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, °as thy father David did walk, then I will lengthen thy days. 15 And Solomon awoke ; and, behold, it rvas a dream. And he came to Jerusalem, and stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and ofiered up burnt offerings, and offered peace offerings, and made a feast to all his servants. IG ^ Then came there two women, that tpcre harlots, unto the king, and stood before him. 17 And the one woman said, O my lord, I and tins woman dwell in one house ; and I was delivered of a child with her in the house. 18 And it came to pass the third day after that I was delivered, that this woman was de- livered also : and we iccre together ; tliere mis no stranger with us in the house, save we two in tlie house. 19 And this woman's child died in the night ; because she overlaid it. 20 And she arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me, while thine handmaid slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom. 21 And when I rose in the morning to [Ifb. hearing. 5 Heb. many t/nys. " Heb. (o hear. ■, hath nut been. " Chop. 15. 5. 257 Chap. III.] I. KINGS. [B.C. 1014. give my child suck, behold, it was dead : but when I had considered it in the morning, be- hold, it was not my son, which I did bear. 22 And the other woman said. Nay ; but the living is my son, and the dead is thy son. And this said. No ; but the dead is thy son, and the living is my son. Thus they spake before the king. 23 Then said the king. The one saith. This is my son that liveth, ancl thy son is the dead : and the other saith. Nay ; but thy son is the dead, and my son is the living. 24 And the king said. Bring me a sword. And they brought a sword before the king. 25 And the king said. Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other. 26 Then spake the woman whose tlie living child was unto the king, for her bowels '"yearned upon her son, and she said, O my lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it. But the other said. Let it be neither mine nor thine, fmi divide it. 27 Then the king answered and said. Give her the living child, and in no wise slay it : she is the mother thereof. 28 And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged ; and they feared the king: for they saw that the wisdom of God was "in him, to do judgment. Verse 1. 'Solomon made affiiiil;/ loith Pharaoh king of Egypt . . . took Pharaoh's daughter'.' — When Solomon felt his throne secure, he sought "an alliance worthy the rank to which his kingdom had attained. The nearest power, from an alliance with which even he might derive honour, was that of Egypt. He therefore demanded and received the daughter of the reigning Pharaoh in marriage. Of this jirinccss the annexed figure is supposed by Roselliiii to be a portrait, as it more certainly is of a daughter of a king who reigned about the time of Solomon. His new spouse was received by the king of Israel with great mag- nificence, and was lodged in ' the city of D.avid,' until the new and splendid palace, which he had already com- menced, should be completed. That Solomon should thus contract an alliance, on equal terms, with the reigning family of that great nation which had formerly held the Israelites in bondage, was, in the ordinary point of view, a great thing for him, and shews the relative importance into which the Hebrew kingdom had now risen. The king is in no part of Scripture blamed for this alliance, even in places where it seems unlikely that blame would have been spared had he been considered blameworthy ; and as we know that the Egyptians were idolaters, this Pharaoh's Dauo absence of blame may intimate that Solomon stipulated that the Egyptian princess should abandon the worship of her own gods, and conform to the Jewish law. This at least was what would be required by the law of Moses, which tlie king was not likely (at least at this time of his life) to neglect. Nor need we suppose that the royal ftimily of Egypt would make much difficulty in this ; for, except among the Israelites, the religion of a woman has never in the East been considered of much consequence. — ' Building. . . .the wall of Jerusalem round about.' — Josephus understands by this, that he extended the walls and made them much stronger than before. No doubt Jerusalem was a walled town before this. It woidd ap- pear, from Ps. 11. 18, that this was one of the objects in which David had interested himself. 7. ' I am but a little child.' — Josephus says he was twelve years of age : but Dr. Hales and others have clearly shewn, by an analysis of the history, that he could not have been much, if anything, less than twenty years old when he ascended the throne. It is clear, that here Solomon, in calling himself a little child, does so with re- ference to his inexperience and his insufficiency for the onerous duties which had devolved upon him, or, in short, that he compares his condition to that of a little child. It is a well-known Hebraism, to state a comparison in a positive form ; supplying, therefore, the comparison, we have :' I am 05 a little child, who knows not how to go out or come in.' The last clause, to go out or come in, is, as Houbigant says, not only a Hebraism, frequent in the sacred writings, but is also a similitude taken from a little child, as yet unable to walk firmly, and ignorant of all things. This similitude in the last cl.ause sanctions a form of comparison which we have assigned to the first. 27. ' She is the mother thereof.' — In despotic govern- ments, both of the East and West, there have been fre- quent instances of difficult judicial cases being decided in this manner by an ingenious experiment upon the feelings of the litigant parties. Perhaps the fame of this decision of Solomon gave occasion, in many instances, to such ex- periments. Calmet mentions two illustrative examples. One is from Suetonius, who relates that the emperor Claudius discovered a woman to be the mother of a young man whom she would not own for her son, by command- ing her to be married to him ; when the horror of such a connection constrained her to confess the truth. Dio- dorus reliites that, on the same principle, Ariopharnes, king of the Thracians, being appointed to arbitrate be- tween three men, who all claimed to be sons of the king of the Cimmerians and demanded the succession, discovered the rightful son and heir in him who alone refused to obey the order for each of them to shoot an arrow into the dead king's body. Better than either of these is the illustration which Mr. lioberfs gives from a Hindoo book. ' A woman who was going to bathe left her child to play on the banks of the tank, when a female demon who was passing that way carried it off. They both appeared l)efore the deity, and each declared the child was her own : the command was therefore given for each claimant to seize the infant by a leg and arm, and pull with all their Chap. IV.] I. KINGS. [B.C. 1014. might in opposite directions. No sooner had they com- menced than the child began to scream, when the real mother, from pity, left off pulling, and resigned her claim to the other. The judge therefore decided that, as she only had shewn affection, the child must be hers.' {Oriental Illustrations, p. 196.) Some less instructed readers of the Bible are apt to wonder that no such striking anecdotes occur in the judicial proceedings of their own country. The reason is greatly in our favour. A judge must decide, not according to his own impression founded upon the feeling exhibited by the applicants, but according to evi- dence derived from facts, and from nothing else. Let us suppose a case like this decided by Solomon to have been brought before an English magistrate, and that he were to order the living child to be cut in two, and one half given to the respective claimants — what would be the elBect? The women certainly would not be alarmed, but would probably be amused at so shallow an attempt to frighten them : and this would be, because they must know well that the magistrate could not and would not put the in- nocent child to death. But under the Eastern despotisms the case is different ; and there such a direction would be really alarming, because, where the great practical law is that the king shall do as he pleases, there can be no as- surance, unless from a knowledge of his private character, that he will not do an unjust and barbarous action. There- fore the alarm of the mother, arising from her belief that the king would really kill her child, is of very great im- portance as an evidence of the despotic character of the authority wielded by the Hebrew kings. It is indeed of more importance than any thing we might infer from the summary executions of Adonijah and Joab in the pre- ceding chapter. There were reasons for their execution, and their_ offences were known; but here the success of the experiment depended upon its being believed by the women that the king could and would order an unoffend- ing infant to be_ slain. The royal authority among the Jews had certainly many limitations ; but its general tendency to despotism is everywhere apparent, and nowhere more so than in the reign of Solomon. In our view, the Hebrew government was generally not an absolute des- potism on the one hand, nor a limited monarchy on the other ; but what we would call a restricted despotism — that is, an authority restricted in some matters of general right, but despotic where such restrictions did not apply. It is evident that injudicial matters there was no practical limit to the royal power, whether for condemnation or for pardon. CHAPTER IV, 1 Solomon's princes. 7 His twelve officers for provi- sion. 20, 24 The peace and largeness of his kiiiy- dom. 22 His daily provision. 26 His stables. 29 His ivisdom. So king Solomon was king over all Israel. 2 And these ivcre the princes which he had ; Azariah the son of Zadok 'the priestj 3 Elihoreph and Ahiah, the sons of Shisha, ^scribes ; Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud, the ^recorder. 4 And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada loas over the host : and Zadok and Abiathar icerc the priests : 5 And Azariah the son of Nathan icas over the officers : and Zabud the son of Nathan was principal officer, and the king's friend : 6 And Ahishar teas over the honshold : and ■'Adoniram the son of Abda loas over the 'tribute. 7 % And Solomon had twelve officers over all Israel, which provided victuals for the king and his houshold : each man his month in a year made provision. 8 And these are their names : ^The son of Hur, in mount Ephraim : 9 'The son of Dekar, in Makaz, and in Shaalbim, and Beth-shemesh, and Elon-beth- anan : 10 "The son of Hesed, in Aruboth ; to him pe7-tai7icd Sochoh, and all the land of Hepher : 11 "The son of Abinadab, in all the region of Dor ; which had Taphatli the daughter of Solomon to wife : 12 Baana the son of Ahilud ; to him jKr- taincd Taanach and Megiddo, and all Beth- shean, which is by Zartanah beneath Jezreel, from Beth-shean to Abel-meholah, even imto the place that is beyond Jokneam : 13 '"The son of Geber, in Kamoth-gilead ; to him pertained the towns of Jair the son of Manasseh, which are in Gilead : to him also pertained the region of Argob, which is in Bashan, threescore great cities with walls and brasen bars : 14 Ahinadab the son of Iddo liad "Ma- hanaim : 15 Ahimiiaz icas'in Naphtali ; he also took Basmath the daughter of Solomon to wife : 16 Baanah the son of Hushai icas in Asher and in Aloth : 17 Jehoshaphat the son of Paruah, in Is- sachar : 18 Shimei the son of Elah, in Benjamin : 19 Geber the son of Uri icas in the country of Gilead, in the country of Sihon king of the Amorites, and of Og king of Bashan, and he ivas the only officer which icas in the land. 20 H Judah and Israel were many, as the sand which is by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking, and making merry. 21 And ''Solomon reigned over all king- doms from the river unto the land of the Phi- listines, and unto the border of Egypt : they brought presents, and served Solomon all the days of his life. Chap. IV.] KINGS. [B.C. 1014. 22 H And Solomon's "provision for one day was thirty "measures of fine flour, and threescore measures of meal, 23 Ten fot oxen, and twenty oxen out of the pastures, and an lumdred sheep, beside harts, and roebucks, and fallowdeer, and fatted fowl. 24 For he had dominion over all the rc- f/ion on this side the river, from Tiphsah even to Azzah, over all the kings on this side the ri\er : and he had peace on all sides round about him. 25 And Judah and Israel dwelt '^safely, every man imder his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, all the days of Solomon. 26 1[ And "'Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen. 27 And those officers provided victual for king Solomon, and for all that came unto king Solomon's table, every man in his month : they lacked nothing. 28 Barley also and straw for the horses and 13 Ilfb. breail. " HlI.. con. 15 Ilcb. ronjlifcatli/. "dromedaries brought they vmto the place where the officers were, every man according to liis charge. 29 H And '"God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and large- ness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore. 30 And Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east comitry, and all the wisdom of Egypt. 31 For he was wiser than all men ; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Ileman, and Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol : and his fame was in all nations round about. 32 And he spake three thousand proverbs : and his songs were a thousand and five. 33 And he spake of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall : he spake also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes. 34 And there came of all people to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, which had heard of his wisdom. Verse 1. ' So Idiirj Solomon ivas /(/«(/.'— Altliougli the accouut whicli is here given of the internal organization of Solomon's kingdom occurs even prior to that which de- scribes the building of the temple, there is reason to think that these arrangements did not, until a later date, assume the completed form in which they are there exhibited. The statement at the first view contains little more than a list of officers. But on closer inspection it will be found that even such a list is suggestive of an orderly arrange- ment and distribution of functions, as well as of the nature of what was considered public business. If it should be observed that most of these have reference to the supply of the wants of the court and the maintenance of the royal authority, it must be admitted that these are practically the chief objects of Oriental governments. However, we shall perceive that in all states such offices make the most conspicuous figure to the eye of the spectator, which, if it pe- netrates more deeply, may discover that an adequate provi- sion is nevertheless made through the working of some re- cognized and unostentatious system, and through the minis- tration of less splendid functionaries, for the well-being and the good government of the people. The internal polity of tlie constitution, as organized by the institutions of Moses, joined to the principles of patriarchal rule still at work in the several tribes, might seem ade- quate to every purpose of internal government. And whatever might be thus left wanting, was supplied by the regulation of David, to which Solomon himself gave effect, appointing I_.evitical judges and officers throughout tlie land. The list, as given in the sacred narrative, has rather a Ibrmal appearance; and in the usual way in which such lists are jireparcd, begins with the king him- self—' So king Solomon was king over all Israel ;' and then proceeds to enumerate the officers of his government. 3. ' T/ie sons of Shisha, scribes.'— The father, Shisha or Slieva, had been sole scribe in the time of David, and that three persons were now required in this office, seems to shew cither the great increase of business which the ar- 2C0 raugements of Solomon threw into this department, or some improved vi^'ws as to the distribution of labour. These appear to have been the royal secretaries through whom all the king's more formal commands were issued, and who registered all public acts and decrees. — ' Jehoshaphat, the son of Ahilud, the recorder.' — This is another instance of a son succeeding to his father's office. The marginal reading in our Bibles, ' a remembrancer, or a writer of chronicles,' helps to convey a notion of this office. The only difficulty is in drawing the line clearly between the functions of the recorder and those of the scribes. But his services appear to have been of a less temporary nature than tluirs. it bi-iutr ratlier his business to give the form of pirini' ■ it r. . nl m- chronicles to the occuiTences of his tiiiM I'li as related to the king and court. In ii; I ■ :.> was an office of great trust and imporuu.'. , . llu i - -■ ids formed by these officers in the Hebrew court probably furnished some of the materials from which the Books of Kings and Chronicles were compiled ; and a large portion of the latter perhaps exhibit nearly the form of the original documents. 5. ' Over the officers,'— that is, over tliose officers or governors of provinces enumerated below in vv. 7-19. — ' I'rinripal officer and the hiny's friend.' — Here are two of |)|.' cl'ii'f o'Hi'.-rs in the state lield by two sons of the jii-"]'! t ^ !•! '!! l! is not easy to distinguish in what IT-; I I- of one brother who was 'over the ollic. ; . .,,;:, : 1 ni iliat of the Other who was 'principal t''P'vtb. 'Other office of 'the king's ■11' If would seem that he had ■ ' ■ ' il ' -L' matters in which the king M 1 1 10 functions of 'the king's uliich this eminent person also held, seems to have been very nearly what we understand by the term favourite, as distinguished from the responsible chief minister. From the connection in which it occurs, it seems that this person was admitted to the peculiar in- timacy of the king, was in all his secrets, and conversed friend,' » hi, 1, the general in and court \\ 1 1 friend' or coiiii, Chap. IV.] I. K familiarly with him. Sometimes a person holdiug no public office enjoyed these privileges; but we at other times find it associated -with some important office in the state. So it -was under Solomon, -whose own friend Zabud, a son of the prophet Nathan, was also the ' chief officer,' which appears to point him out as what we call the prime minister. Hushai, without any such office, was the king's friend in the time of David ; and very worthily did he support that character. In later times the term came to be used in a more general sense, as applied to any one employed to execute the royal commands, or holding a high office in the state. C. ' Adoniram .... was over the tribute.' — The same person was over the tribute in the time of David (2 Sam . XX. 24). This officer seems to have been over those who collected the taxes and tributes, whether from the Israel- ites or from subject states ; and who received the amount of their collections, and consigned it to the treasure cham- bers of the king. The office seems to have answered in some measure to that of our chancellor of the exchequer. 7. ' Twelve officers.' — The number does not appear to have had any reference to that of the tribes, but to that of tlie months of the year, as we see that, during the year, these officers took their turns monthly to supply the royal household with provisions. It seems, from the analogy of usages that long prevailed in the East, and which are not yet discontinued, that the taxes due to the state were paid in the produce of the soil. Indeed, in 1 Sam. viii. 15, there is express mention of one-tenth of the produce of the fields and vineyards, which would be payable to the future king. As we may suppose there may have been some difficulty in the collection of this revenue and its transmission to the capital, Solomon seems to have divided his dominion into twelve governments or districts, with power in the pre- siding officer to collect this revenue, from which each government was charged with the maintenance of the king's household for one month. The surplus probably enabled the governor (if we may so call him) to support his own establishment; perhaps in considerable state, as the preferment would seem, from the rank of the persons employed, to have been very valuable. It seems very clear that Bishop Patrick is mistaken in supposing that these twelve officers were merely commissioned to buy up provisions in their several districts. — ' Which provided victuals for the king and his hous- hold.' — These twelve were appointed to preside over the collection of provisions in as many districts into which the whole kingdom was divided, every one being charged with the duty of collecting in his district, within the year, pro- visions enough to support the court for one month, follow- ing each other in rotation. It appears likely that the produce thus collected formed the kingly tenth, the exaction of which had been foretold by Samuel, and of which the present seems the first intimation. The comparative simplicity of the court of Saul, and the great spoil ob- tained by David in his wars, without any corresponding expenditure, had probably rendered this imposition pre- viously unnecessary. We have already explained why this imposition must have been felt in a peculiar degree onerous to the Hebrew people, on the ground that they alreadi/ paid the sovereign tithe to the true king of the Hebrew nation, Jehovah. And although they had been forewarned that this additional charge upon them would follow as a necessary consequence of their unauthorized choice of a human king, we may be sure that the first to impose it would greatly compromise his popularity with the people. That Solomon actually did so— that he imposed upon the people unaccustomed burdens which they felt to be very grievous — are facts which we know, and which seem to point to him as the one who first demanded the obnoxious tenth, which, as we have in- timated, was probably paid in the form of the produce which these twelve officers were appointed to collect. The ' store cities ' and granaries which Solomon is said to have erected in different parts of the country, were doubtless the places in each district to which the produce of that district was brought, and in which it was deposited until required S^GS. [B.C. 1014. for the use of the court. Supplying the court with pro- visions merely, might seem to the English reader no very heavy task to a nation. But a different notion will be formed by reference to the large numbers of persons who are fed from what may be considered as the provisions supplied to an eastern court. Vast numbers of persons who acted in some capacity or other as the servants of the numerous officers of the king; the officers and attendants of the great personages who were constantly visiting the court of Solomon, and the numerous servants of those officers and royal attendants ; the haram, which alone contained a thousand women, with a great number of ser- vants and eunuchs; and probably the rations of the royal guards and of all dependant upon them:— all were to be supplied from the court, being considered as members or guests of the royal household. This explains the pro- digious quantities of victuals which were daili/ required for the use of the court. 8. ' The son of Hur.'—?,e\era\ of the persons in this list are named after their fathers. It woidd have been better to have retained the whole as a proper name, ' Ben-Hur,' etc. It was a custom among the Hebrews, it seems, as it is now among the Arabs, for sons sometimes to take their father's name with the prefix Ben, ' son,' their own name being afterwards neglected. They more commonly, how- ever, annex their father's name to their own, and are then called indifferently by their full name, or by either of its component parts. Thus, David is generally called by his own name, but sometimes Ben- Jesse, 'the son of Jesse,' and at other times David-ben- Jesse, ' David the son of Jesse.' This is precisely analogous to the present usage of the Arabs. 11. ' — Which had Taphath the daughter of Solomon to wife.' — Another of the governors was thus favoured (v. 15). We suspect that this chapter docs not occupy its chronological place. If it does, several of its state- ments must be anticipatory ; for Solomon could not at this time have had a marriageable daughter. We may there- fore suppose that, like the account at the end of the chapter, of Solomon's songs, proverbs, and researches in natural history, this merely indicates what ultimately took place. It is true, however, that, according to Oriental custom, his daughter may have been betrothed long before the marriageable age. It may be mentioned that there is great difficulty in reducing into anything like chrono- logical order the circumstances reported here and in ' Chronicles ' respecting Solomon's reign. A very able and reasonably successful attempt to produce an orderly arrangement has been made by the Kev. G. Townsend in his Old Testament Chronologicalh Arranged, 1821. 19. ' Geher . . . in the country of Gilead.' — This region seems to have been already appropriated, in v. 13, to 'the son of Geber.' Was that officer the son of this Geber? He is described as ' the only officer which was in the land,' and Josephus says he had all the country beyond Jordan. We cannot reconcile the statements of either the text or of Josephus, but by supposing that he exercised a general superintending power over this region, including that part under Ben-geber, probably his own sou. Josephus adds, that besides these, Solomon had other rulers who were over the lands of the Syrians and Philistines, from the river Euphrates to Egypt, and who collected the tribute of the nations subject to this great king. [Appendix, No. 35.] 22. ' Thirtij measures of fine four, and threescore mea- sures of meal.' — This meal is common flour as distinguished from fine flour. The quantity is about 480 bushels of meal, and 240 of fine flour. 23. ' Ten fat oxen,' etc. — The statement of the daily provision for Solomon's household may well excite sur- prise in the European reader. It is less astonishing, although still very great, to one who is acquainted with the extent and arrangement of Oriental courts, and the vast number of persons, male and female, which the royal establishments support. We have touched on this subject in a note to 1 Sam. viii. We may now add one or two other illustrations of another kind. One is the account of the daily consumption of provisions in the royal establish- 261 Chap. IV.] I. KINGS. [B.C. 1014. raent of Cyrus, the particulars of which were found by- Alexander inscribed on a brazen pillar at Persepolis. The whole account is long, and some of the items obscure, and we shall only give the more conspicuous details. Upwards of 1000 bushels of various qualities of wheat ; the same of barley-meal ; 220 bushels of oatmeal ; 1 1 bushels of paste mi.xed for pastry of different kinds ; 400 sheep ; 300 lambs; 100 oxen; 30 horses; 30 deer; 400 fat geese: loo goslings; 300 doves; COO small birds; 11 bushels of salt; 3750 gallons of wine (half being palm-wine when the court was at Babylon or Susa, and the rest grape- wine) ; 75 gallons of new milk ; the same of sour milk (which was and is an article much consumed in the East). Besides this, there is a supplementary account of a vast quantity of corn, etc., dealt out in gifts and allowed for the food of cattle. We cannot of course vouch for tlie authen- ticity of this document (which may be found in Polya;nus, Stratagematuin iii. 3) ; but, upon the whole, it is rather con- firmed by the account of the number of cooks, confectioners, wine-servers, etc., attending Darius in the camp, and cap- tured, with the royal baggage, by Parmenio at Damascus (see Athenseus, 1. xiii.) ; as well as by the present text, and the existing state of things in the East. Still more remark- able is the account which Tavernier gives of the imperial kitchens, in his excellent account of the grand seignior's seraglio as it was in his time. There were seven kitchens distinct from each other, each having its own officer, but all being under the control of one chief director, who had altogether not less than four hundred cooks under his superintendence. The kitchens were distinguished ac- cording to the person, or class of persons, for whom food was prepared in it. Thus there was one for the sultan, another for the sultanesses, a third for the other women, and others for the officers and attendants in the different departments respectively, exclusive of the gardeners who dressed their own meat. Besides these there were various offices or laboratories in which conserves, sweetmeats, sherbets, etc., were in continual preparation, affording employment to four hundred persons. The consumption of food may be inferred from all this. On this point Tavernier himself observes, ' there enters no beef into the kitchens of the seraglio; but the ordinary consump- tion of every day, including all, as well those who eat within as without, may amount to Jive hundred sheep, in which number must be comprehended lambs and kids. .\ccording to the proportion of mutton may be computed the quantity of pullets, chickens, and young pigeons, the number of which is limited according to the season ; as also what may be consumed in rice and butter for the pillau, which is accounted the best dish in Turkey and all over the East.' After this we shall wonder the less at the consumption of Solomon's household. 24. ' From Tiphsah even to Azzah.'— These two places were evidently the extreme eastern and western towns of Solomon's dominion. The river is the Euphrates. Tiphsah is unquestionably the Thapsacus of the heathen authors. It was on the western bank of that river, at a point where its stream bends sharply eastward, which course it main- tains for about twenty-five miles, when it receives the Chaboras, and then inclines to the south again. The Hebrew name of the place (npsri from flDS to pass over) signifies a passage or ford, and at this place was a cele- brated ford, the lowest on the Euphrates; it was therefore a point of great trading intercourse between the nations east and west of the river ; and this circumstance rendered the possession of Thapsacus a matter of great importance in the eyes of the neighbouring sovereigns ; and this ex- plains the contests which took place in later times be- tween the kings of Egypt and Syria for the possession of Carchemish, a strong place lower down the river, at the junction of the Chaboras. Azzah is Gaza. 25. ' Under his vine.' — The frequent expression in Scripture, which describes a state of safety and repose by the sitting of any man under the shade of his own fig-tree and Ms own vine, shews that the Hebrews had the same use of vine-arbours as existed among the ancient Egyptians, and which we still find in Syria. Besides whatnas been 202 already stated as to the pi actice oi the Egyptians, an in- teresting lUustiatiou may bt demtd from the Mosaic pavement at Prxneste, where we see a trellisedvine-bowei, under whose pleasant shade several persons sit on benches drinking wine and solacing themselves with music. At a village (Beitdjin) near Caisarea, Shulze and his party took supper under a large viae, the stem of which was nearly a foot and a half in diameter, the height about thirty feet, and covered with its branches and shoots (for the shoots must be supported) a hut of more than fifty feet long and broad. The bunches of the grapes were so large as to weigh ten or twelve poimds, and might be compared to our plums. Such a bunch is cut ofi' and laid on the board, and each helps himself to as many as he pleases. Dr. Russell acquaints us. Natural Histori/ of Aleppo, i. 80, that the large grapes produced in the houses, upon the vines that cover the stairs and arbours, are of healthful appearance but have little flavour. 2G. ' Solomon had forty thousand stalls.' — See 2 Chron. ix. 25 : and here, not to multiply references, we may ob- serve that we find it expedient to pass unnoticed in the book of Kings many subjects, connected with the mag- nificence and prosperity of Solomon's reign, to which due attention will be given under the parallel passages in Chronicles. 28. ' Barlei/ also and straw.' — The straw is used for food, not for litter (see the note on Gen. xxiv. 25). With some exceptions, arising from local circumstances, barley may be stated as the usual food of Oriental horses. In some Arabian districts dates are also given to them, and some favourite horses are treated with meat raw or dressed, or with the leavings of their owner's meals. — ' Dromedaries.' — This is a finer breed of the Arabian or one-humped camel, used for riding, and having the same relation to the common camel that a race-horse or hunter has to a coach-horse or pack-horse. It has been usual to call the two-humped camel the ' camel,' and the one-humped a ' dromedary :' but the two-humped camel does not exist in Syria or Arabia, and is not likely to be here intended. See the note on Gen. xii. 16. Chap. V.] I. KINGS. [B.C. 1014. ..^<'..1J 30. ' 77(6 children of the cast country.' — It has been dis- cussed whether it be tlie Arabians, the Chaldeans, or the Persians wliich are here indicated. It is not necessary to were necessary to determine, we should fix the reference to the Chaldeans, whose country is most usually under- stood as the ' east country ' of the Scriptures. The country of the Arabs was not, properly speaking, east from Pales- tine ; and the Persians were too remote for their wisdom, if they had any, to have been much appreciated by the sacred writers. The word Wlp^ means 'ancient' as well as ' east,' whence some think that the text means that Solomon's wisdom exceeded that of all persons who lived in the earlier times, and whose long lives were favourable to the individual actiuisition of wisdom and knowledge. — ' All the wifilom cf Eyi/pt.'—lt seems then that, among the Ilelnxws as well as among the Greeks, the Egyptians were justly famous for their wisdom, that is, for their knowledge in science and art. Thns also Stephen says of Moses, that he was ' learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians ' (Acts vii. 22). Egypt was deemed by the Gentiles the fountain of the arts and sciences, and their philosophers were wont to go thither to fructify their minds by the outpourings of Egyptian wisdom. Tliis did Pytha- goras, Anaxagoras, Herodotus, Plato, and others. JYow, the point of concourse to the seekers after wisdom, was the court of Solomon. These journeys of people from remote regions to places where wisdom might be found, are interesting indications of that condition of things under which the general dearth of books, and the consequent want of any interchange of literature between difierent nations, obliged those who sought to derive benefit from the wisdom and knowledge of other people or other nations, to travel long and widely for it. 31. ' Wiser than alt men.' — Some think this to mean that Solomon was wiser than all men past or future ; and this seems warranted by ch. iii. 12 ; but, without this, the context would seem to require us to understand no more than that he was the wisest man of his own lime. If we allow Solomon to have been the wisest man of all times, we must remember that his wisdom was a supernatural gift from God, whereas others have been obliged to acquire knowledge by the slow and painful processes of study and experience. — ' nan Ethan,' etc.— Some of the Rabbins think that the word rendered ' men,' above, sliould be the proper name Adam, meaning the father of mankind ; also teaching that this Ethan is Moses, that Heman is Abraham, and Chalcol, Joseph. But others>(as Maimonides) indignantly deny that Solomon was wiser than Moses, and think that all the persons named were eminent Hebrews living in Solomon's time. Josephus says the same. Certainly there were two eminent persons called Ethan and Heman in the time of Solomon, who were two of the three chief musicians of the temple (comp. 1 Chron. vi. 33; xv. 17; xxv. 5); and who probably, from the titles, were the authors of the Psalms Ixxxviii. and Ixxxix. But also in 1 Chron. ii. 6, we find all the names here mentioned assigned to sons of Zerah, the son of Judah; and some think that these en- joyed some traditionary reputation for their wisdom and attainments, which is here referred to. They are said to bisons of RIahoI; but this may have been another name of Zerah, or may be understood as an appellative de- scribing these persons as skilled in (sons of) mahol — music or poesy. This characteristic would, however, apply as well or better to the temple musicians. 32. ' Three thousand proverbs.' —The book of Proverbs docs not contain so many : and some doubt exists as to the proportion of even these which should be assigned to Solomon. There are, however, many more such pithy sentences in the book of Ecclcsiastes, which is usually ascribed to him. Josephus absurdly says that the king wrote three thousand books of proverbs. — ' His songs were a thousand andjive.' — We have only the ' Song of Songs' remaining, unless the 127th Psalm be correctly attributed to Solomon. The Septuagint has ' five thousand.' 33. ' He spake of trees' etc. — All these works on natural history are lost ; probably because, not being of a sacred character, less interest was taken in their preservation than was exercised in behalf of those which still remain. Josephus imagines that Solomon made every plant and living creature the subject of a parable. CHAPTER V. 1 Hiram, sending to congratulate Solomon, is certified of his purpose to build the temple, and desired to furnish him with limber thereto. 7 Hiram, blessing God for Solomon, and requesting food for his family, funiisheth him with trees. 13 The number of Solo- mon's workmen and labourers. And Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants unto Solomon ; for he had heard that they had anointed him king in the room of his father : for Hiram was ever a lover of David. 2 And 'Solomon sent to Hiram, saying, 3 Thou knowest how that David my father could not build an house unto the name of the Lord his God for the wars which were Chap. V.] I. K about lilin on every side, until the Lord put them under the soles of his feet. 4 But now the Lord my God hath given me rest on every side, so that there is neither adversary nor evil occurrent. 5 And, behold, I ''jjurpose to build an house unto the name of the Lord my God, "as the Loud spake unto David my father, saying. Thy son, whom I will set upon thy throne in thy room, he shall build an house unto my name. G Now therefore command thou that they hew me cedar trees out of Lebanon ; and my servants shall be with thy servants : and unto thee will I give hire for thy servants accord- ing to all that thou shalt 'appoint : for thou knowest that there is not among us any that can skill to hew timber like unto the Sido- nians. 7 ^ And it came to pass, when Hiram heard the words of Solomon, that he rejoiced greatly, and said. Blessed be the Lord this day, which hath given unto David a wise son over this great people. 8 And Hiram sent to Solomon, saying, I have 'considered the things which thou sentest to me for : and I will do all thy desire con- cerning timber of cedar, and concerning timber of fir. • 9 My servants shall bring them down from Lebanon unto the sea :■ and I will convey them by sea in floats unto the place that thou shalt "appoint me, and will cause them to be dis- chai'ged there, and thou shalt receive them : >fGS. [B.C. 1014. and thou shalt accomplish my desire, in giving food for my houshold. 10 IT So Hiram gave Solomon cedar trees and fir trees accordinr/ to all his desire. 1 1 And Solomon gave Hiram twenty thou- sand ^measures of wheat /or food to his hous- hold, and twenty measures of pm-e oil : thus gave Solomon to Hiram year by year. 12 And the Lord gave Solomon wisdom, "as he promised him : and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon ; and they two made a league together. 13 H And king Solomon raised a "levy out of all Israel ; and the levy was thirty thou- sand men. 14 And he sent them to Lebanon, ten thou- sand a month by courses : a month they were in Lebanon, and two months at home : and "Adoniram was over the levy. 15 And Solomon had threescore and ten thousand that bare burdens, and fourscore thousand hewers in the mountains ; 16 Beside the chief of Solomon's officers which iKre over the work, three thousand and three hundred, which ruled over the people that wrought in the work. \7 And the king commanded, and they brought great stones, costly stones, and hewed stones, to lay the foundation of the house. 18 And Solomon's builders and Hiram's builders did hew them, and the ' 'stonesquarers : so they prepared timber and stones to build the house. Verse C. ' Ihio me cedar trees out of Lebanon.' — Ouly the forests of the Lebanon mountains could supply the timber required for this great work. Such of these forests as lay nearest the sea were in the possession of the Phoe- nicians, among whom timber was in such constant demand, that they had acquired great and acknowledged skill in the felling and transportation tliercof, and hence it was of much importance tliat Iliram consented to employ large bodies of men in Lebanon to hew timber, as well as others to perform the service of bringing it down to the sea side, whence it was to be taken along the coast in floats to the port of Joppa, from which place it could be easily taken across the country to Jerusalem. This portion of the assistance rendered by Iliram was of the utmost value and importance. If be b;id declined Solomon's proposals, all else that be watiti'd might have been supplied from Egypt. Hut that country was so far from being able to supply timber, that it wanted it more than almost any other nation. The curious and iuteresting particulars contiiined in the text relative to the operations of the king of Tyre in cutting timber in Lebanon for king Solomon, mil : t ^m ji . luiit of the manner in which such operatic 111 ; ',i t.d in the same mountains. Thisweareeim: i i ■ niylv iVuni Dr. Bowring's very valuable llepuit . ■ i\r < ouuhi nial Statistics of Sijria. It strikes us that the method by which labourers are obtained for the service, and the manner in which they are supplied with food, is deserving of par- ticular attention, as probably illustrative of the proceedings of the two kings, and in particular of the mode in which Hiram disposed of the corn obtained from Solomon. The statement in the ' Report ' is too long for quotation entire, and we are able to introduce only an abstract of its princi- pal facts. As the wood destined for Egypt is embarked at Scan- deroon, it is of course obtained, as nearly as may be, from the mountains which enclose the gulf and plain of that part: it is necessary to premise that in this quarter the wood is derived from two lines of mountains ; namely, from the mountains of Hyass, which extend north and south at the bottom of the gulf, and which are much the highest. They are also the most richly timbered, both as to variety and quantity, the trees being of much larger growth, except near the base, owing to the difficulties of transporting the timber to the sea-shore, from the steep- ness of the mountains and the want of all roads. The trees on them are white and yellow pine, of length from 100 to 150 feet, and of dimensions to take a square of from 24 to 25 inches : — Yellow Oak . 80 feet, and 1 8 to 20 inches square. Green . . . 18 to 20 feet, and 7 to 9 inches square. Chap. V.] Beech . . . 30 to 35 feet, and 14 to 15 inches square. Linden . . . 40 to 50 feet, and 25 to 27 inches square. The pine is mostly knotted and very full of turpentine. The oaks of both species are straight-grained, like the American. The beech is of good, close-grained quality, but not nearly so plentiful as the other two. The linden tree is scarce. In 1837 about ITiO wood-cutters were employed on these mountains, with twice the number of trimmers and dressers; but in 1838 the work was confined to the lower parts, from the difficulties of the transport, and from the want of roads. The distance from the sea is from three to five leagues. 150 men could cut 35,000 to 40,000 trees in the year, which it would require twice the number to dress and trim, and upwards of 600, witli practicable roads, to trans- port to the sea with buffaloes and bullocks. At the dis- tance of about two to three leagues from the coast, where the work is still carried on, the trees average from 1 5 to 20 feet long, and 8 to 1 2 inches square ; from thence is brought a large quantity of firewood in large billets. In 1837 ten or twelve vessels, of from 50 to 100 tons, were laden with it on government account. The other source of supply is from the mountains of Beilan, which stretch east and west along the southern side of the Gulf of Scanderoon. They take their ascent at from about one mile to two miles from the sea, leaving a rich but entirely uncultivated plain between tlieni and it. On these mountains the trees are : — Pine from 30 feet long, by about 15 to IC inches in the square ; Yellow Oak from 20 to 30 feet long, by about 10 to 15 inches in the square ; but few of that size. About 50,000 were cut in 1837, and brought down to the sea. for which about lOO men were employed in cutting, 200 dressing and trimming, and three times the number in the transport. From both sources it appears that the number of trees shipped for Alexandria has been, by the year, about 55,000 to 60,000 (another statement says 70,000 to 80,000 in 1837); about 40,000 fit for ship-building purposes, and the remainder for house purposes, freighted in 39 vessels of collectively 14,120 tons, besides 8 or 9 small craft, of 60 to 80 tons, which received cargoes of fire-wood. In December, 1837, a European engineer in the Egyptian service arrived from Alexandria to select and superintend the cutting and preparing of 1,032,000 trees for dams and proposed works on the river Nile, 70,000 of which to be 33 feet long, and 8 inches square ; the rest of small sizes, and even branches as low as 5 or 6 feet long. In &ct, as Mr. Hay remarks (in his report to Dr. liowring), the Egyptian government appeared to consider the mountains of this part of Syria as an inexhaustible mine for timber. We think that this statement puts in our possession several important and illustrative facts. It enables us to perceive one of the strong reasons which has made the mountain forests of Syria an object of desire to the rulers of Egypt, from the Pharaohs and Ptolemies down to the Sultans and to Mehemet All. It also shews the extent to which the more southern foi-ests of Syria must have been denuded of its timber to meet the wants of a country so void of wood as Egypt. And the extraoi-dinary demands occasioned by the peculiar wants of Mehemet Ali, and the operations which thence arise in the mountains and on the coast, may suggest some analogy to the circumstances which attended and resulted from the extraordinary de- mands of king Solomon. — ' Ml/ servants shall be with thy servants' — In the preceding note we have been enabled, from the Report of Di-. llowring, to furnish a view of the recent operations of ftlliiig timber in Lebanon. But this view remains imper- fect unless we are also informed of the condition of the men employed in the work, and which probably is in no small degree illustrative of the condition of the men whom Hiram and Solomon anciently sent into the mountains— in part, at least, by a forced levy — for the same service. This information we are enabled from the same source to supply. [B.C. 1014. For this work, then, all the effective population of the district is forcibly taken, [as by Solomon, if not by Hiram,] not leaving even a sufficient number of men to cultivate the land for their own maintenance. But grain has been imported by the government [as by king Hiram, from Palestine] from other parts of Syria, and from Egypt, and issued out as a portion of their pay, which is nominally three piasters, or about sevenpence halfpenny per day, but of which it falls short fully one-third by their being obliged to take a fixed portion in grain, without reference to their actual wants, and more than they require, at a stated price, which is enhanced in various ways and under various pretences, so as to be much higher than what it could be produced for in the neighbourhood. Thus on one side of the gulf the wood-cutters have been obliged to buy corn at fifteen piasters the measure, while it might be had at nine piasters on the opposite side of the gulf. It is possible (for the system is an old one) that Hiram dealt thus with the corn which he received from Solomon : for that which had so much analogy in other points perhaps did not fail in this. The cutters and trimmers of the wood are exposed to the contingency of a tree they have cut, being found, on trim- ming and squai'ing, to have perished at the heart or other- wise, when they receive no pay for it, but may take the tree and make what use of it they can : but iu fact the time and labour are lost, as the distance seldom leaves it worth the transport. It seems, however, that competent persons are now employed in the selection of the trees to be cut down. Those who transport the trees to the coast, who are about four times the number of those otherwise employed, receive each a pair and a half of bullocks, which are valued to them at abont 700 or 1000 piasters per pair, which sum they are debited with, and must make good in case of loss, death, or accident : the consequence is, that when a man meets with such a misfortune before he has the means of repairing it — which he must be for- tunate and indefatigable even to hope for — he generally has recourse to flight. The season for working the timber continues for about eight months— from the middle of March to the middle of November :— the remaining four months the people are left in a great measure to themselves ; but being winter months, they cannot turn them to much account, excepting to pre- pare and sow a little laud to meet the most pressing exigencies of their families. A few of them who follow different trades may find some little employment in the larger villages. But independently of such resources, their yearly earnings may be computed thus:— Piasters. Cutters — for 224 working-days, at 2J piasters . 504 Deduct for contingencies . . 60 • — 444 Trimmers— i'or 224 working-days, at 3 piasters . 672 Deduct for contingencies . . 80 502 Transporters — for 224 working-days, at 3;| piasters 784 Deduct for keep of animals . 400 384 The contingencies of this last and most numerous class are very heavy, for not only has each man to provide (at the computed cost of 400 piasters) for the keep of the bul- locks during the winter months when grass fails; but during the four years in which they remain fit for their hard service, he has to cover their cost, which is debited to him at the rate of from 700 to 1000 piasters for each pair of bullocks. To meet this he would have to lay aside 262 piasters of his net earnings of 384 piasters, leaving him but 122 piasters (or twenty-four shillings ! five current piasters in Syria being equivalent to one shilling), for his eight months' daily subsistence, being a fraction over a half piaster a day. It is also to be considered that the above rates of pay are often merely nominal ; as the men have so much above the fair market price to pay for the com and other provisions supplied to them. The cut which we introduce from the Egyptian monument, shews the 2G5 Chap. V.;] KINGS. [B.C. 1014. lELUIiO TUEES mode in which these operations were anciently conducted ; for it is generally understood to represent the people of Le- banon felling timber in their mountains. We have dwelt the more particularly on the develop- ments of this system, as it very strikingly illustrates the principles and results of that kind of compulsory labour to which there are so many allusions and references in the early history of the Hebrews. It is but right, however, to point out that much of the evil of this system, as ex- hibited in this statement, must have been obviated by the plan of rotatory labour, which the great resources of Solomon enabled him to establish. 9. ' / unll coiwei/ them by sea in foots unto the place that thou shalt appoint mc' — By ' floats ' is to be under- stood that the pieces of timber were bound together, and so drawn tlirough the rivers and the sea. The timber now chiefly comes from the mountains north of Lebanon, and the greater part is sent far south of Joppa— namely to Egypt — Alexandria. It is probably on account of this distance, as well as from the greater facilities which now exist in conveying timber in sailing vessels, that the use of floats is discontinued. This and other Bible customs are, however, still found on the Indian shores. The trees are cut down before the rainy season, all the branches are lopped off, and the trunks are squared on the spot. Notches arc then made in the logs, and they are tied together by ropes made of green withes gathered in the forest. If, however, the waters of the rainy season should not reach the spot where they are hewn down, they are dragged singly to the place where it is known that in the wet mon- soon they will float. Thus, in passing through remote forests in the dry season, the inexperienced traveller, in seeing numerous trees felled in every direction, and then again, in another place, a large collection bound together like a raft, which is also fastened to trees which are still standing (to prevent it from being lost when the floods come), IS at a loss to know how it can be got to the river, or to the sea ; for he sees no track or path except that which is made by the wild beasts ; he knows no vehicle can approacli the place, and is convinced that men cannot carry it. But let him go thither when the rains have fallen, and he will see in one place men in a little canoe winding through the forest ; in another direction a float with some men on it moving gently along ; and in the river he sees large rafts sweeping down the stream, with the dexterous steersmen making for some neighbouring town or the more distant ocean ; and then may be seen in the harbours immense collections of the finest timber, which have been brought thither 'by sea in floats.' 13. ' The king raised a levi/ out of all Israel.' — Solomon bad certainly a strong leaning towards arbitrary power, and, still in want of labourers, ventured to raise a levy of 30,000 Israelites, whom he sent to assist the Phoenician timber-cutters in Lebanon, — not all at once, but in alter- nate bands of 10,000 each, so that each band returned home and rested two months out of three. This relief, and the sacred object of the service, probably prevented the opposition which the king might otherwise have experienced. For the more onerous labour in tlie quar- ries, Solomon called out the remnant of the Canaanites, probably with those foreigners (or their sons) who had been brought into the country as prisoners or slaves during the wars of David, who had, indeed, lefl an enume- ration of all of them (adult males) for this very purpose. Their number was 153,600, and these also doubtless in alternate bands, like the others ; and as such service is usually required from persons in their condition, when any great public work is in progress, this measure was doubtless considered less arbitrary, and gave occasion to less discontent, than we, with our notions, might be dis- posed to imagine. Of these ' strangers,' 70,000 were ap- pointed to act as porters to the others, and to the Phoenician artisans, in bearing burdens, doubtless after the modes shewn (from Egyptian sources) in the annexed engraving. They also probably had the heavy duty of transporting to Jerusalem the large stones, which 60,000 more of them were employed in hewing and squaring in the quarries. Of these the stones intended for the foundation were in immense blocks ; and, as well as the rest, were probably brought from no great distance, as quarries of very suitable stone are abundant in the neighbourhood. The stones were squared in the quarry to facilitate their removal. It has been a question how such vast blocks of stone as we see in some ancient buildings were brought to their des- tination. Satisfaction on this point is afforded by the annexed engraving, which shews how this was managed by the Egyptians, and, doubtless, by the Israelites and otliers. Tlie string of cattle was prolonged as the weight to be drawn on the sledge required. The remaioing 3300 EOTTTTAN MOBE OP TRANSrOHTINO LAEOE StONES. Chap. VI.] [B.C. 1012—1005. of these strangers were employed as overseers of the rest, and -were, in their turn, accountable to superior Israelite oflicers. [ArPEXDix, No. 30.] 17. ' They brought great stones' etc. — In the treaty with Hiram no mention is made of stones or their conYey- ance, which must have been a matter of great difficulty if they were brouplit from Lebanon. The text does not seem to us to say more than that timber was brought from Lelianoii ; aTul that, wherever the stone was obtained, it M :i~ [11 : 1 ' 1 ; I luwn with the help of the Phoenicians. (',■••'■ ■ ame character with that of Lebanon, iiiiL; ■ been obtained much nearer. In Le- I'aii. II. li ' \. ,. tiny might find large masses of stone, which in tlie course of time had been loosened by earth- quakes and frosts, and cast down into the vallies. The stone of those regions generally is described by Shaw as hard, calcareous, and whitish, sonorous like freestone, and disposed in strata variously inclined. This stone has nearly the same appearance throughout Syria and Pales- tine, and is still used for building ; and is perhaps that with which Solomon's Temple was built, and which Jo- sephus describes as • white as stone.' The previous squaring of the stones at the quarry facilitated their removal to the site of the erection, and there produced the result noticed in verse 7 of the ensuing chapter. As to the largeness of the stones, we may remark that stones of astonishingly large size were certainly employed in the ancient struc- tures of Syria. Thus in the sub-basement of the great temple of Baalbek (which was probably much more an- cient than the now ruined Roman superstructure), Irby and Mangles measured a stoue sixty-six feet in length by twelve in breadth and thickness (p. 215). And Wood, in his account of the same ruins, confirms this observation ; and takes notice of stones which he found cut and shaped for use in a neighbouring quarry, one of which measured 70 feet in length by U in breadth, and 14 feet 5 niches in depth, containing 14,128 cubic feet ; and which would, if of Portland stone, weigh 1135 tons. We might also refer to the frequently enormous size of the stones employed in the erection of the ecclesiastical and sepulchral structures of Egypt. [18. Appendix, No. 37.] CIIArXER VI. 1 Tlie building of Sulotnon's temple. 5 The chambers thereof. 11 God's pro7>nsewilo it. 15 The ceiling and adorning of it. 23 T/ie chervbims. 31 The doors. 3G The court. 37 The tiyne of building it. And 'it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month Zif, which is the second month, that he "began to build the house of the Loud. 2 And the house which king Solomon built for the Lord, the length thereof icas tln-eescore cubits, and the breadth thereof twenty culits, and the height thereof thirty cubits. 3 And the porch before the temple of the house, twenty cubits ims the length thereof, according to the breadth of the house ; and ten cubits was the breadth thereof before the house. 4 ^ And for the house he made 'windows of narrow lights. 5 H And ■'against the wall of the house he built ''chambers round about, against the walls of the house round about, both of the temple and of the oracle : and he made ^chambers round about : 6 The nethermost chamber icas five cubits broad, and the middle icas six cubits broad, and the third was seven cubits broad : for without in the icall of the house he made ^nar- rowed rests round about, that the beams should not be fastened in the walls of the house. 7 XvA the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither : so that there was neither hammer nor ax wo?' any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building. 8 The door for the middle chamber icas in the right "side of the house : and they went up with winding stairs into the middle chamber, and out of the middle into the third. 9 So he built the house, and finished it ; and covered the house "with beams and boards of cedar. 10 And then he built chambers against all the house, five cubits high : and they rested on the house with timber of cedar. 11 II And the word of the Lord came to Solomon, saying, 12 Concerning this house which thou art in building, if thou wilt walk in my statutes, and execute my judgments, and keep all my commandments to walk in them ; then will I perform my word with thee, "which I spake unto David thy father : 13 And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel. 14 IT So Solomon built the house, and finished it. 15 And he built the walls of the house within with boards of cedar, "both the floor of the house, and the walls of the ceiling : and he covered them on the inside with wood, and covered the floor of the house with planks of fir. 16 And he built twenty cubits on the sides nndows broad within and narrow without : or, sietred and dused. t Or. upon, or Joining to. •lings, or, rebatements. « Heb. shoulder. « Or, the vault-bcams and the ceilings teith cedar. 11 Or, from thejloor of the house mto the walls, &c. and so verse 16. Chap. VI.] I. KINGS. [B.C. 1012—1005. of the house, both the floor and the walls with boards of cedar : he even built them for it within, even for the oracle, even for the most holy j^lace. 17 And the house, that w, the temple be- fore it, was forty cubits hncj. 18 And the cedar of the house within was carved with "knops and ''open flowers : all teas cedar ; there was no stone seen. 19 M And the oracle he prepared in the house witiiin, to set there the ark of the cove- nant of the Lord. 20 And the oracle in the forepart teas twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in the height thereof: and he overlaid it with '''pure gold ; and so covered the altar ri-hich was of cedar. 21 So Solomon overlaid the house within ^vith pure gold : and he made a partition by the cliains of gold before the oracle ; and he overlaid it with gold. 22 And the whole house he overlaid with gold, until he had finished all the house : also tlie whole altar that loas by the oracle he over- laid with gold. 23 H And within the oracle he made tuo chcrubinis of ''' '"olive tree, each ten cubits high. 24 And five cubits loas the one wing of the -herub, and five cubits the other wing of the cherul) : from the tittcrmost part of the one wing luito the uttermost part of the other were ten cubits. 25 And the other cherub rras ten cubits : both the chcrubinis lecre of one measure and one size. 26 The height of the one cherub was ten cubits, and so was it. of the other cherub. 27 And he set the cherubims within the inner house : and ' '' ' "they stretched forth the wings of the cherubims, so that the wing of the one touched the one wall, and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall ; and their wings touched one another in the midst of the house. 28 And he overlaid the chcrubinis with gold. 2'J And he carved all the walls of the house round about with carved figures of cherubims and palm trees and ' "open flowers, within and without. oO And the floor of the house he o\erlaid with gold, within and without. 31 If And for the entering of the oracle he made doors o/" olive tree : the lintel and side posts %vere '°a fifth part of the loall. 32 The "'two doors also were of olive tree ; and he carved upon them carvings of cheru- bims and palm trees and •'"open flowers, and overlaid tliem with gold, and spread gold u])on the cherubims, and upon the palm trees. 33 So also made he for the door of tin; temple posts of olive tree, ""a fourth part of the wall. 34 And the two doors 2cere of fir tree : the two leaves of the one door rcere folding, and the two leaves of the other door toej-e folding. 35 And he carved thereon cherubims and palm trees and open flowers: and covered them with gold fitted upon the carved work. 36 H And he built the inner court with three rows of hewed stone, and a row of cedar beams. 37 U In the fourth year was the foundation of the house of the Lord laid, in the month Zif: 38 And in the eleventh year, in the month Bui, which is the eightii month, was the house finished '''throughout all the j)arts thereof, and according to all the fashion of it. So was he seven years in building it. 2 Cv, gourds. 13 Heb. openings of^floweri Or, the cheruhims strctcfied forth their vnngs. , 19 Heb. openings of Jit ■ Ueb. openings of flowers. £8 Or^foursquare. Heb. shut up. 15 Or, oily. '« Heb. trees of oil. " Exod. 25. 20. "^ Ottjivesijuare. ^l Or, loaves of the doon toith all the ordinances thereof. the appurtenances tfiereoj Verse 2. ' The house which king Solomon htiilt for the Lord.' — Mount Moriali, on w]iicli, agreeably to the last wishes of David, tlie Temple was erected by Solomon, 621 years after the departure of the Hebrews from Egypt, was an abrnpt ascent, the summit of which was, according to .losi'plms. so small Hint it Iiad not suiTicii-nt b^sc for the !.■ aiihvity of the tlie stateinent be 111 the same source, 1 ir many ages, con- : of this hill; they moved back the wall on the north, the south, and the west; and they also erected walls of immense square stones from the lowest parts of the valley, so as at last to render the top of the hill a furlong square. It will be distinctly re- membered, that this was the vUimate extension, as it :i|ipi';ircd ill tlic lime of our Saviour. Til : miiiiMi ..(' Mi.ii:ili, being thus increased by Solo- I : I . iiKiitioned, appears to have been i '\ ' ill an interior colonnade, and was 11,1 • or ca-fcrior court, and the interior ri:iiri. •■■'.' : . I I lie coKrt 6c/bre //ic toH/i/f, and also the I" / 1 Kings vi. 36; vii. 12; 2 Kings xxiii. I ( ; ' i n. 11; XX. 5 ; Ezck. xl. 28.) Whe- ther 111 - tv Ml ; wi re separated from each other by a wall, or iiK-rcly by a sort of latticed fence or trellis, docs Chap. VI.] I. KINGS. [B.C. 1012—100.'). lilt (The dimensions r not clearly appear from the descriptions of the temple, which are given in a very concise form. It is, however, evident that the court called the nciv court, m 2 Ghron. XX .'> was not properly a new court, but the second or interior one newly repaired. There were various hmld- in^s and apartments which served as magazmcs for the wine oil corn, wood ; others in which were deposited the habits and utensils employed in the temple service; and some which served as lodges for the priests and Levites, while ent'aged in their course of duty. It would appear that both the courts (or the two interior courts if there were three, as some conclude) were surrounded by a colonnade, formed as in the court of the Egyptian temple, and behind Temple at Eufou feet, and tenths of a foot.) or below which were the cells appropriated to these several nurnoses We may suppose that those of the outer court served as the magazines, while those of the inner court con- tained the priestly cells, and whatever was needed for the mmediate service of the temple. The diiference about the courts consists in this-whether there were at first two or three enclosing walls, and, consequently, whether the courts were two or three. Jahn seems to think that there were but two, regarding the outer wall, and the court enclosed between it and the second wall, as a subsequent =«'< it>«n ! b,.t both Calmet and Lamy hold that this third >val f)-om the interior existed from the first, only the former thinks that it was originally a simple wall without a colonnade Chap. VI.] I. KINGS. [B.C. 1012—1005. or cells, whereas Laniy gives it a double colounade, but •without cells. The discrepancy of these statements is due to the want of agreement in the several passages of Jo- sephus which refer to this temple. Upon the whole, how- ever, we understand him to say, that there were, from the first, three courts, each of which he calls a temple, and that the middle court was surrounded with cloisters, and the outer court had a double cloister, supported by high pillars of native stone, roofed with cedar. But, in another place, Josephus seems to say, that the outer wall was at first without a colonnade, which was afterwards added when that wall was thrown back and the enclosed area enlarged : and this is Calmet's view. Although it is said generally that the exterior wall— one of the most astonish- ing works of the temple — was raised from the deep sur- rounding valley to the level of the summit of Mount Moriah, and, consequently, that all the courts were on the same level ; yet it appears that this must be a general statement only, for, from what Josephus says elsewhere, it appears that the inner court, with the sanctuary, had the highest level, the middle court being a few cubits lower, and the outermost lower still. This allowed all the beauty of the temple and its several courts to be conspicuous from without ; and, in a general view, must have given some unity to the several parts of this extensive series of build- There have been many most elaborate treatises on the temple; but the difficulty of the subject— the mistaken reference to classical ideas and models — with a compara- tive ignorance of the ancient and modern Oriental archi- tecture, have prevented any satisfactory result from being obtained. Modern commentators and illustrators of Scrip- ture have been so conscious of this that they have generally shrunk from the subject. Dr. Home says, ' Various at- tempts have been made to describe the proportions and several parts of this structure ; but as scarcely any two writers agree on this subject, a minute description of it is designedly omitted.' Others decliue entering into the sutiject on the ground that the details would be unintelli- gible without plates. Of this excuse we cannot avail our- selves, having always given whatever cuts we judge