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And the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, 5 Hittites, and Amorites, and Perizzites, and Hivites, and Jebusites: and they took their daughters to be their wives, and 6 gave their daughters to their sons, and served their gods. And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, 7 and forgat the LORD their God, and served Baalim and the groves.

5. Canaanites] The inference from these words is that these were not genealogical, but geographical appellations. The inhabitants of Canaan seem to have been a congeries of various races, who adopted a common Semitic language, and were attracted to the country (1) by the commercial facilities afforded by its sea-coast, (2) by the fertility of its lowland districts, and (3) by the strength of its mountain fastnesses. Such a people (see Rawlinson, Historical Illustrations of the O. T., p. 27), the ancient Babylonians seem also to have been, though the phenomena presented by their language are not precisely identical. Peaceful in their habits, and enervated by luxury, the Canaanites desired only to dwell safely in the pursuit of agriculture and commerce. The word Canaanite signifies lowlander, Amorite highlander, Perizzite dweller in the open country, Hivite dweller in villages, Jebusite probably thresher. The Hittites alone seem to have preserved their national designation, as emigrants from an important Turanian kingdom which existed outside the limits of Palestine. See note on ch. 4. Also Movers Die Phönizier, II. 1. 3. Brugsch, Hist. Egypt, II. 3. 6. And they took their daughters] The sacred writers are very careful to point out the evil of marriages with unbelievers. See Gen. xxiv. 3, xxvi. 35, xxvii. 46; Exod. xxxiv. 16; Deut. vii. 3, 4; 1 Kings xvi. 31; 2 Chron. xviii. I (with which compare xix. 2, xxi. 6, xxii. 10, 12).

i.

7. the groves] So the LXX. and Vulgate. Heb. Asheroth. This is not the same word as Ashtaroth. It begins with Aleph not 'Ain. They were usually wooden pillars, as is shewn by the fact that they were often cut down and burned. See 2 Kings xxiii. 6, 15. Also Deut. xii. 3. The stone pillars of Baal were on the contrary said to be "broken down." See Exod. xxxiv. 13; Deut. vii. 5, &c. Some, as Bertheau and Hengstenberg, have held that the Asherah was a wooden image or symbol of Astarte. But the learned historian of Phoenicia, Movers (Phönizier, 1. 560) holds Asherah to have been a totally different goddess to Ashtaroth and remarks that Scripture itself distinguishes between them. Gesenius supposes, from the connection of the word with the Hebrew Asher, happiness, that she was the goddess of fortune. Movers, however, imagines that the name was derived from the idea of standing upright, and refers to the Artemis Orthosia of Herodotus, IV. 87. The narrative of ch. vi. 25-30 shews that “ grove" cannot be the correct translation. It would have been impossible for Gideon unaided to have cut down a grove in a single night, or, having attempted to do so, to have eluded discovery.

8-11. The oppression by Chushan-rishathaim. Therefore the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Chushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia: and the children of Israel served 9 Chushan-rishathaim eight years. And when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised up a deliverer to the children of Israel, who delivered them, even 10 Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother. And the spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he judged Israel, 8-11. THE OPPRESSION BY CHUSHAN-RISHATHAIM.

8. sold them] See note on ch. ii. 14.

Chushan-rishathaim] Literally Cush (or Chushan, Hab. iii. 7) of double wickedness. The Targum translates "Chushan the wicked, king of Syria on Euphrates" and the Syriac and Arabic versions give a similar rendering. But the use of the dual in the case of an abstract noun is unknown in Hebrew. Rishathaim must therefore be a proper name. See next note. It has been conjectured (Rawlinson, Ancient Monarchies, 11. 61) that this monarch is identical with Asshur-ris-ilim the "powerful king, subduer of rebellious countries" as he is called in Assyrian inscriptions. But there are two objections to this identification; (1) that, as Hitzig observes, the name is clearly Turanian and (2) that Chushan-Rishathaim flourished about B.C. 1400, i.e. about the period of the fall of the early Turanian monarchy which (Gen. x. 6—10, cf. Rawlinson, Anc. Mon., ch. 3, Sayce, Babyl. Lit., p. 6, and Lenormant, Chaldean Magic, ch. 27) existed before the rise of the Semitic kingdom whose seat (Gen. x. 11, 22) was Nineveh; whereas Asshur-ris-ilim is supposed to have reigned about 1150 B.C.

Mesopotamia] Heb. Aram-naharaim, i.e. Syria of the two rivers, that is, the district between the Tigris and the Euphrates.

9. a deliverer] Or, as marg. saviour, LXX. owryp. This passage must have been recalled to the mind of every Hellenistic Jew by Acts xiii. 23. Othniel Supposing Othniel to have been twenty-five years old when he took Kirjath-sepher (see note on ch. i. 8), if we count twenty years from that time to the invasion of Chushan-rishathaim, and the eight years mentioned in this verse, Othniel would by this time have been but fifty-three. And supposing him to have lived through the whole of the subsequent forty years (v. 11) he would not have been more than ninety-three at his death.

10. And the spirit of the Lord] So ch. vi. 34, xi. 29, xiii. 25, xiv. 6, 19. The Targum renders "the Spirit of prophecy from before the Lord." Joshua is described in Numb. xxvii. 18 as "a man in whom was the Spirit." See note above, ch. ii. 18: "This gift, like every other, has faith as its foundation. Yet human weakness is not thereby excluded." Hengstenberg. It is remarkable that the historian does not ascribe the conduct of Ehud and Jael to His inspiration, though the deliverance by Ehud is of course so ascribed. See notes below.

and went out to war: and the LORD delivered Chushanrishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand; and his hand prevailed against Chushan-rishathaim. And the land I had rest forty years. And Othniel the son of Kenaz died.

I2-30.

The servitude under Moab, and deliverance by

Ehud.

And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of 12 the LORD and the LORD strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the LORD. And he gathered unto him the children 13 of Ammon and Amalek, and went and smote Israel, and possessed the city of palm trees. So the children of Israel 14 served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years. But when 15

and he judged Israel] The functions of the judge seem to be described here in accordance with the idea of righting what was wrong in any way (cf. the German richter). Some think that what is meant is that Othniel wrought out a moral reformation before he went out to But this does not seem to be borne out by the other passages in this book where the expression is used.

war.

and the Lord delivered Josephus states that Othniel (whom he calls Kenaz) accomplished this deliverance by collecting a band of resolute men and surprising the king's guard.

12-30. THE SERVITUDE UNDER MOAB, AND DELIVERANCE BY

EHUD.

13. the children of Ammon] These, as they originally were very near akin (Gen. xix. 37, 38), and their territories lay close together, would naturally have been closely allied in policy and war. See also ch. xi. 13-16, 25, 27, and notes.

Amalek] Amalek is mentioned in conjunction with Ammon in Ps. lxxxiii. 7. They were specially regarded as enemies to Israel (see Exod. xvii. 16). Their territory lay in the Sinaitic peninsula, while that of the Moabites lay to the northward of it, east of the Dead Sea, and the Ammonites lay further north still. After Saul's great campaign, which almost exterminated them (1 Sam. xv.), and which he prosecuted (1 Sam. xv. 7) to the borders of Egypt, we hear very little of them in history. They appear once, still warring against Israel, in the later reigns (1 Chron. iv. 43).

the city of palm trees] Sce ch. i. 16. Though Jericho was destroyed, Eglon might have constructed a fortification among the ruins.

15. But when the children of Israel cried] Or, and the children of Israel cried.

the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised them up a deliverer, Ehud the son of Gera, a Benjamite, a man lefthanded: and by him the children of Israel sent 16 a present unto Eglon the king of Moab. But Ehud made him a dagger which had two edges, of a cubit length; and 17 he did gird it under his raiment upon his right thigh. And he brought the present unto Eglon king of Moab and 18 Eglon was a very fat man. And when he had made an end to offer the present, he sent away the people that bare the 19 present. But he himself turned again from the quarries that

the Lord raised] "The same hand that raised up Eglon against Israel (v. 12) raised up also Ehud for Israel, against Eglon." Bp Hall. deliverer] As above, v. 9, "God stirred up and strengthened Ehud for the delivery of Israel. But the choice of means was left to himself." Hengstenberg. See also note on v. 10.

lefthanded] Heb. shut as to his right hand. See ch. xx. 16. The LXX renders by double-handed, and the Vulgate, qui utraque manu pro dextera utebatur. But this goes beyond the original, which clearly implies that the right hand was to a certain extent disabled by the exclusive use of the left. Blunt (Undesigned Coincidences, II. 4), suggests that Ehud was actually one of the six hundred Benjamites of whom we read in ch. xx. 47 (cf. v. 16). The event, according to Lightfoot and others, occurred about thirteen years before this. "What a strange choice doth God make of an executioner! A man shut of his right hand! It is the ordinary wont of the Almighty to make choice of the unlikeliest means. Bp. Hall.

a present] Heb. minchah, the word used of the meat offerings in Levit. ii. 1, &c. It seems to have been (1) an acknowledgment of dependence and obligation, (2) a token of good will. See Gen. xxxii. 18; 2 Sam. viii. 2, 6, for a similar use of the word. In the last passage it is translated gifts.

16. a dagger] The Hebrew has sword.
edges] Lit. mouths. See note on ch. i. 8.

So the LXX and Vulgate.

a cubit] So the Syriac and Arabic. The LXX and Vulgate have span. The word is not the usual one for cubit, but one which only occurs here. It means apparently something cut off, hence a small rod or staff.

raiment] The word denotes wide flowing garments.

17. fat] The LXX renders by a word equivalent to our fine man. See Acts vii. 20, Heb. xi. 23 (Greek).

19. quarries] The LXX, Vulgate and our margin have graven images or idols. The Targum renders as our version. The Syriac leaves the word untranslated, while the Arabic substitutes Palestine for Pesilim. The word is rendered “graven images" in Deut. vii. 25, cf. Is. xxi. 9; Jer. viii. 19. It is never used elsewhere of quarries. But it is derived from a word signifying to hew stones. See Exod.

were 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. And Ehud came unto him; and 20 he was sitting in a summer parlour, which he had for himself alone. And Ehud said, I have a message from God unto thee. And he arose out of his seat. And Ehud put forth 21 his left hand, and took the dagger from his right thigh, and

xxxiv. 1, 4; Deut. x. 1, 3, &c. where this word is used of the making the two tables of stone on which the Law was written.

Gilgal] This must have been the first encampment of the children of Israel, inasmuch as that (Josh. iv. 19, v. 10, 13) was close by Jericho. Keil's objection that it must have been the other Gilgal, near Bethel, because it lay in Ehud's way to Mount Ephraim (vv. 26, 27) is of no weight, since fugitives often strive to baffle their pursuers by taking a circuitous route.

Keep silence] The word in the original is has, equivalent to our hush.

20. a summer parlour] So also Wiclif. Lit., the upper room of cooling. Luther translates by summer arbour. It "corresponds in every respect to what the Turks call a keushk (kiosk). It consists of a small room built by itself on the roof of the house, having many windows to catch the breeze. There is a kiosk similar to that of King Eglon standing a few rods from the palace of Cheragan on the edge of the Bosphorus, which was a favourite resort of the late Sultan.' Van Lennep, Bible Customs, 443, 4. There was frequently a door of communication with the outside, whence persons having secret audience might be admitted and dismissed. The expression is only found here. Though this chamber was no doubt also a hall of private audience, no idea of the kind is suggested by the word, as it is by our translation, where the word parlour (from parler, to speak) originally signified audience-chamber.

a message from God] Lit., a word of God. It is observable that the name of Jehovah is not used, as it usually is on occasions of this kind. Eglon would have paid but little attention to a communication from the deity whose worshippers he had overthrown. Cf. 2 Kings xviii. 33-35. But on receiving what he supposed to be a Divine communication, he arose reverently from his seat. It has been objected that Ehud could not be supposed to have been the deliverer of a message from Chemosh, the Moabite deity (1 Kings xi. 7). But there was a general belief in a Divine being, apart from the particular name and attributes under which he was worshipped in any particular country. The Talmud (Sanhedrin, 50 a) supposing the message to have been from Jehovah, draws the inference that if a heathen rises up to receive a message from God, much more should an Israelite do so. Even Ewald admits that this history bears upon the face of its details the mark of genuineness.

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