whom she had fondly led out to swell the chorus of her father's victory, bewailing that which, to a Hebrew woman, was the worst part of her doom, the loss of the hope of off spring, and so of the possible honor of being the mother of the Messiah. At the end of the two months she returned to her father, "who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed," words which can leave no possible doubt of her fate." The custom was established in Israel that the daughters of Israel went out every year for four days to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite. 52 53 9954 Some persons, mindful of the enrollment of Jephthah among the heroes of faith in the Epistle to the Hebrews, as well as of the expression "the Spirit of the Lord came upon him,' have therefore scrupled to believe that he could be guilty of such a sin as the murder of his child. But the deed is recorded without approval, and it becomes only a moral difficulty to those who persist in the false principle, already more than once referred to, of identifying the record of actions in Scripture with their adoption. It should be recollected that Jephthah was a rude Gileadite, whose spirit had become hardened by his previous life as a freebooter. The victory over the Beni-ammi was followed, like Gideon's over the Midianites, by fierce jealousy on the part of the men of Ephraim because they had not been called to share the enterprise, and the rough warrior had not the same skill to turn aside their wrath. They threatened to burn Jephthah's house over his head, and taunted the men of Gilead with being outcasts of the tribe of Joseph, apparently in allusion to their predatory habits. The Ephraimites were utterly defeated in Gilead, and the men of Gilead, seizing the fords of Jor dan, put the fugitives to that curious test which shows that differences of dialect already existed among the tribes, and which has passed into a proverb for minor differences in the Church. Every one who demanded a passage westward was asked, "Are you an Ephraimite?" If he said, "No," he was required to pronounce the Shibboleth (a stream or flood), and, on his betraying himself by saying Sibboleth, he was put to death," for he could not frame to pronounce it right. 9955 The "It has been said that the succeeding clause, "and she knew no man," suggests an escape from such a conclusion in a sentence of perpetual virginity; but it seems almost certain that this circumstance is added to set forth in a stronger light the rashness of Jephthah and the hero- 52 Judg. xi. 34–40. 54 Judg. xi. 29. 55 Judg. xii. 1–6. The confusion of the sounds of the letters Shin and Six exists among ourselves when sh It whole loss of Ephraim in this campaign was 42,000 men. seems to have been characteristic of that tribe to hold back from great enterprises, and yet arrogating to themselves a sort of supremacy as the representatives of Joseph, to be bitterly jealous of their brethren's success. 56 Jephthah lived only six years to judge Israel," and was buried in Mount Gilead. § 10. A bare mention will suffice of the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth judges, who came between Jephthah and Samson. X. IBZAN, of Bethlehem, in Zebulun, judged Israel for seven years, and was buried in Bethlehem. 58 Like Jair, he used his position for the aggrandizement of his family, which consisted of thirty sons and thirty daughters. He married his daugh ters abroad, and took wives for his sons from abroad, that is, among the surrounding nations. 59 XI. He was succeeded by another Zebulonite, ELON, who judged Israel ten years, and was buried at Aijalon, in Zebulun, 50 which seems to have been named after him. The two words only differ in the vowel points, and the Vulgate identifies them. XII. ABDON, the son of Hillel, the Pirathonite, judged Israel for eight years (B.c. 1120-1112). He also had a family of forty sons and thirty nephews, who rode on seventy white asses' colts. He is perhaps identical with Bedan, who is enumerated by Samuel among the judges."" In our proposed scheme, they close the ninth of the twelve periods of forty years between the Exodus and the building of the Temple. The seventh of these periods ends with Gideon; the eighth and ninth include the seven judges, from Abimelech to Abdon, of whom the times of Abimelech, Tola, and Jair make up fortyeight years; and Jephthah, Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon, thirty-one years; or seventy-nine together. The eighteen years' oppression of the Ammonites is included in the latter period of thirty-one years; and therefore, if the three last judges followed Jephthah, twelve years of the eighteen would fall after his death, which appears quite inconsistent with the completeness of their defeat. But, considering that Jephthah's power only extended over Mount Gilead, while Ibzan and Elon ruled in the north, There is one feature in the history of this period which should not be overlooked: the remarkable silence of the Scripture narrative respecting the tribe of Judah, and those whose lot fell within its territory in the wider sense, namely, Simeon and Dan. While the scene changes between the highlands of Zebulun and Naphtali, the valley of Jezreel, the mountains of Ephraim, and those of Gilead, and while we have a succession of judges belonging to the northern, central, and eastern tribes, Judah is only once mentioned as suffering from the incursions of the Ammonites in the time of Jephthah. Only two explanations of this silence appear possible; that Judah, retaining its distinction as the princely tribe, loyal to Jehovah, enjoyed a comparative exemption both from the sins and the sufferings of the other tribes, or, that it was occupied by its own conflicts with the Philistines. Nor do these alternatives necessarily exclude each other. We may well believe that there was a state of war, more or less constant, with the Philistines, sustained chiefly by Simeon and Dan, within whose lots they lay, while Judah formed a compact government under its own princes, in loyal union with the high-priest at Shiloh. The truth of this view wil be seen in the subsequent history. and Abdon in Ephraim, which was This is confirmed by the fact, evident in open hostility to Jephthah, we from the narrative, that there was an may safely conjecture that Jephthah unusually long interval before a dewas at least in part contemporary liverer was raised up. The end of with these three judges, and that his the whole period, which is placed by six years belong to the latter part of the common chronology at B.C. 1112, the whole period of thirty-one years. | falls in our scheme at B.C. 1131. Dagon, the Fish-god. From Khorsabad. (Layard.) CHAPTER XIX. THE JUDGES-ELI, SAMPSON, AND SAMUEL. OPPRESSION. B.C. 1161-1095. THE PHILISTINE 1. Chronology of the period, and relation of Eli, Samson, and Samuel to each other. § 2. State of Southern Palestine-ELI, high-priest and judge Rise of Samson and Samuel. § 3. Birth of SAMSON, the Nazarite. 4. His first exploits and establishment as judge. § 5. The gates of Gaza-Delilah-Captivity and death of Samson. § 6. Parentage and birth of SAMUEL-His dedication to God. § 7. Wickeaness of Eli's sons, Hophni and Phinehas-A prophet sent to EliThe call of Samuel-His establishment as a prophet. § 8. The first two battles of Eben-ezer-Death of Eli and his sons- -Capture of the ark-"Ichabod." § 9. The ark among the Philistines-Its return to Beth-shemesh and Kirjath-jearim. § 10. Third battle and victory of Eben-ezer-End of the Philistine oppression-Judgeship of Samuel and his sons. § 1. WE have now reached a point at which the history becomes most interesting and the chronology most difficult. We read that the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of Jehovah; and he delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years.' Then we have the story of the birth and exploits of SAMSON, the thirteenth judge, who is expressly said to have judged Israel twenty years, in the days of the Philistines. The fair inference from these words is, that the forty years' oppression of the Philistines is to be reckoned from the beginning of Samson's exploits against them, and that the story of his birth is retrospective. The narrative of the Book of Judges ends with the death of Samson; but the interposition of the supplemental chapters and of the Book of Ruth breaks the connection of the story with 2 1 Judg. xiii. 1. This follows the death of Abdon; but it is not expressly said to have been after his death, as in some other cases, e. g Judg. iv. 1. 2 Judg. xv. 1. 3 Judg. xvi. 31 There we find Isra its continuation in the Book of Samuel. el under the government of ELI, who resided at Shiloh, by the tabernacle of Jehovah, and who was at once the highpriest, and the fourteenth judge, an office which he is said to have held for forty years, dying at the age of ninety-eight, at the time of the capture of the ark by the Philistines. Meanwhile Samuel had been born and dedicated to Jehovah, who made to him, while yet a youth, that signal revelation which established his character as a prophet of Jehovah. This revelation may be regarded also as Samuel's designation to his future office as the fifteenth judge of Israel, and hence we may explain the statement that "Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life." The time of his actual entrance on his office is not expressly named. If, as is commonly supposed, the first revelation of God was made to him shortly before the death of Eli, he would be too young to be Eli's immediate successor. But there is no necessity to make the interval so short. At all events, it was long enough to give time for Samuel to grow up and to establish his character as a prophet throughout all Israel; and if he was able to fulfill the part of a prophet, surely he could discharge the duties of a judge. We see no difficulty, therefore, in supposing that he at once succeeded Eli, and that he was then in his full manhood, about thirty years old, the period for entrance on public duties. The great victory which his prayers obtained at Eben-ezer, when "the Philistines were subdued, and came no more into the coast of Israel . . . all the days of Samuel," seems clearly to mark the end of the forty years' servitude to them; and it seems equally clear that this victory was gained twenty years after the capture of the ark. This victory may be regarded as the culminating point of Samuel's administration; and there seems no difficulty in supposing him to have been at least fifty years old at this time. 1 Sam. iv. 15, 18. The LXX. | twenty years; at all events, they do give twenty years instead of forty. 1 Sam. iii. Josephus says that Samuel was twelve years old at the time. 6 31 Sam. vii. 15. 71 Sam. iii. 19-21, iv. 1. not affect the computation in round numbers. Some writers have most strangely confused this twenty years, during which the Israelites mourned for the ark before making an effort to shake off the yoke of the Philistines, with the whole space of its abode at Kirjath-jearim, whence it was only removed by David after he 1 Sam. vii. 1, 2. The seven had reigned ten years, thus making months of its abode among the Phil- its abode there about seventy years istines may be included in the (2 Sam. vi. 1; 1 Chron. xiii. 5, 6). 8 1 Sam. vii. 13, comp. v. 3: "Jehovah will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines." Q |