Editorial note: Source collation note — paragraph 2: “the persons called judges, שופשׂים shophetim, from שפט, shaphat, to judge, discern”. source PDF page 3: “persons called Judges שופשׂים Shophetim from שפשׂ shaphat to judge, discern”. Compared with CLA_JDG.PDF PDF p. 3. The source-font or layout comparison does not securely establish every letter, mark or local sequence in these passages. The flagged language readings or layout are retained; the original source pages should be consulted for these specific readings. Additional-source investigation: an automated comparison of surrounding English text located possible corresponding passages in OCR from separately digitized printed volumes. The linked scan pages are research locators; their images have not been collated for this note's flagged readings. OCR agreement does not verify Greek or Hebrew letters, diacritics, word order, or table layout. The flagged readings or layout remain uncertain. CLA_JDG.PDF, PDF page 3; Additional printed-scan page locator (OCR context only; flagged reading unverified).
Editorial note: The supplied edition prints “Judges 17:11-8:31” here (CLA_JDG.PDF, physical PDF page 5). The stated subjects—Micah’s idolatry and the Danites’ conquest and worship at Laish—belong to Judges 17–18. The printed range appears to mean Judges 17:11–18:31, with the leading 1 absent from its ending chapter number. The historical wording is retained. CLA_JDG.PDF, PDF page 5.
PREFACE TO THE BOOK OF JUDGES
THE persons called Judges, שופשׂים Shophetim, from שפט, shaphat, to judge, discern regulate, and direct, were the heads or chiefs of the Israelites who governed the Hebrew republic from the days of Moses and Joshua till the time of Saul. The word judge is not to be taken here in its usual signification, i.e., one who determines controversies, and denounces the judgment of the law in criminal cases, but one who directs and rules a state or nation with sovereign power, administers justice, makes peace or war, and leads the armies of the people over whom he presides. Officers, with the same power, and nearly with the same name, were established by the Tyrians in new Tyre, after the destruction of old Tyre, and the termination of its regal state. The Carthaginian Suffetes appear to have been the same as the Hebrew Shophetim; as were also the Archons among the Athenians, and the Dictators among the ancient Romans. But they were neither hereditary governors, nor were they chosen by the people: they were properly vicegerents or lieutenants of the Supreme God; and were always, among the Israelites, chosen by Him in a supernatural way. They had no power to make or change the laws; they were only to execute them under the direction of the Most High. God, therefore, was king in Israel: the government was a theocracy; and the judges were His deputies. The office, however, was not continual, as there appear intervals in which there was no judge in Israel. And, as they were extraordinary persons, they were only raised up on extraordinary occasions to be instruments in the hands of God of delivering their nation from the oppression and tyranny of the neighbouring powers. They had neither pomp nor state; nor, probably, any kind of emoluments.
The chronology of the Book of Judges is extremely embarrassed and difficult; and there is no agreement among learned men concerning it. When the deliverances, and consequent periods of rest, so frequently mentioned in this book, took place, cannot be satisfactorily ascertained. Archbishop Usher, and those who follow him, suppose that the rests, or times of peace, should be reckoned, not from the time in which a particular judge gave them deliverance; but from the period of the preceding deliverance, e.g.: It is said that Othniel, son of Kenaz, defeated Cushan-rishathaim, Judges 3:9, and the land had rest forty years. After the death of Othniel the Israelites again did wickedly, and God delivered them into the hands of the Moabites, Ammonites, and Amalekites; and this oppression continued eighteen years; Judges 3:14. Then God raised up Ehud, who, by killing Eglon, king of Moab, and gaining a great victory over the Moabites, in which he slew ten thousand of their best soldiers, obtained a rest for the land which lasted forty years: Judges 3:15, 30; which rest is not counted from this deliverance wrought by Ehud, but from that wrought by Othniel, mentioned above; leaving out the eighteen years of oppression under Eglon king of Moab: and so of the rest. This is a most violent manner of settling chronological difficulties, a total perversion of the ordinary meaning of terms, and not likely to be intended by the writer of this book.
Sir John Marsham, aware of this difficulty, has struck out a new hypothesis: he supposes that there were judges on each side Jordan; and that there were particular wars in which those beyond Jordan had no part. He observes, that from the exodus to the building of Solomon’s temple was four hundred and eighty years, which is precisely the time mentioned in the sacred writings; (1 Kings 6:1;) and that from the time in which the Israelites occupied the land beyond Jordan, to the days of Jephthah, was three hundred years. But in reckoning up the years of the judges, from the death of Moses to the time of Ibzan, who succeeded Jephthah, there appears to be more than three hundred years; and from Jephthah to the fourth year of Solomon, in which the foundation of the temple was laid, there are again more than one hundred and fifty years; we must, therefore, either find out some method of reconciling these differences, or else abandon these epochs; but as the latter cannot be done, we must have recourse to some plan of modification. Sir John Marsham’s plan is of this kind; the common plan is that of Archbishop Usher. I shall produce them both, and let the reader choose for himself.
Who the author of the Book of Judges was, is not known; some suppose that each judge wrote his own history, and that the book has been compiled from those separate accounts; which is very unlikely. Others ascribe it to Phinehas, to Samuel, to Hezekiah, and some to Ezra. But it is evident that it was the work of an individual, and of a person who lived posterior to the time of the judges, (see Judges 2:10, &c.,) and most probably of Samuel.
The duration of the government of the Israelites by judges, from the death of Joshua to the commencement of the reign of Saul, was about three hundred and thirty-nine years. But as this book does not include the government of Eli, nor that of Samuel, but ends with the death of Samson, which occurred in A.M. 2887; consequently, it includes only three hundred and seventeen years; but the manner in which these are reckoned is very different, as we have seen above; and as will be more particularly evident in the following tables by Archbishop Usher and Sir John Marsham. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THIS BOOK, ACCORDING TO
ARCHBISHOP USHER.
Death of Joshua, aged one hundred and ten years. 2570 After his death, and that of the elders who succeeded him, the Israelites did evil in the sight of the Lord; to this period are to be referred the idolatry of Micah, the conquest of Laish, and the idolatry of a part of the tribe of Dan, which are mentioned Judges 17:11-8:31.
2585
The story of the Levite and his concubine, and the war which succeeded it, Judges 19:1-21:25.
This includes a period of about twenty-two years, viz., fifteen for the time of the elders who survived Joshua, and seven years of anarchy and rest, after which the Israelites fell under the domination of Chushan-rishathaim, king of Mesopotamia.
The first servitude under Chushan, which tasted eight years, began in 2591, and ended in 2599. Othniel delivered Israel the fortieth year after the rest procured by Joshua.
2591
2599
The land enjoys rest about sixty-two years. 2662
Second servitude, under Eglon, king of Moab, which lasted eighteen years.
2662
Ehud delivers Israel. 2679
After him appears Shamgar, and the land enjoys rest to the eightieth year from the termination of the first deliverance procured by Othniel, Judges 3:15-30.
The third servitude, under the Canaanites, which lasted twenty years, Judges 4:1-3.
2669
Deborah and Barak deliver Israel. 2719
From the deliverance procured by Ehud, to the end of the government of Deborah and Barak, was forty years.
About this time the Assyrian empire was founded by Ninus, son of Belus. The Assyrians had previously to this reigned five hundred and twenty years over a part of Asia; but Ninus, forming a league with Arieus, king of the Arabs, conquered the whole of Asia, and governed it for seventeen years. He reigned in all fifty-two years. 2737
The fourth servitude, under the Midianites, which lasted seven years; Judges 6:1.
2752
Gideon delivers Israel. 2759
From the rest procured by Deborah and Barak to the deliverance by Gideon are forty years, Judges 6:1-8:35. After the death of Gideon the people fall into idolatry. Abimelech, natural son of Gideon, kills seventy of his brethren, Judges 9:5. 2768
Abimelech is proclaimed king of the Shechemites. 2769 He reigns three years, and was killed at the siege of Thebes. 2771 Tola governs after Abimelech, twenty-three years. 2772 The commencement of the kingdom of the Lydians under Argon, who reigned in Sardis. This empire continued five hundred and five years; Herodot. lib. i. cap. 7.
2781
Semiramis marries Ninus, and reigns forty-two years over almost the whole of Asia. Jair succeeds Tola, and governs twenty-two years. 2789
The fifth servitude under the Philistines, which lasted eighteen years. 2795 God delivers the Israelites who dwelt beyond Jordan, from the Ammonites, &c., Judges 10:18.
Jephthah is chosen judge, and defeats the Ammonites. 2817 Forty-two thousand Ephraimites slain at the passage of Jordan. Jephthah governs six years, Judges 11:1-12:7. Troy is taken by the Greeks after a siege of ten years. Death of Jephthah. Ibzan governs seven years. 2820
Elon succeeds him, and governs ten years. 2823
Semiramis dies, aged sixty-two years, having reigned forty-two years; she is succeeded by Ninyas.
2830
Abdon judges Israel eight years, beginning from 2840 2840 Eli judges Israel, after the death of Abdon, forty years. 2848 The sixth servitude, under the Philistines, which lasted forty years, Judges 13:1. It began seven years after the commencement of the government of Eli.
Marriage of Samson; he begins to deliver Israel, and continues twenty years.
2867
Samson burns the corn of the Philistines, and kills a thousand of them with the jaw-born of an ass, Judges 15:3-20. 2868
Samson is betrayed by his wife, delivered into the hands of the Philistines, and has his eyes put out. The same year he pulls down a temple, in the ruins of which himself and multitudes of the Philistines are buried, Judges 16:1-31.
2887
The death of Eli, and the beginning of the government of Samuel, who delivers Israel from the oppression of the Philistines, 1 Samuel 7:14.
2888
This is in substance the chronology of Archbishop Usher on this period, the correctness of which is justly questioned.
THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE BOOK OF JUDGES, ACCORDING
TO THE SCHEME OF SIR JOHN MARSHAM.
Years after
the Exodus
Joshua governs Israel twenty-five years from the exodus to the sixty-fifth year after that deliverance.
Death of Joshua, aged 110 years.
Government of the elders. 40
Anarchy and idolatry, thirty-four years after Joshua. 65 First servitude under Chushan lasts eight years. 99
Othniel, son-in-law, of Caleb, defeats Chushan.
Forty years’ rest. 107
Second servitude, under Eglon, who oppressed the Jews beyond Jordan, and a part of the Benjamites, fifteen years.
147
Ehud slays Eglon, and delivers his country. 165
Peace of fourscore years beyond Jordan; which continues till the invasion of the Midianites.
Third servitude under Jabin, who chiefly oppressed the tribes which dwelt in the northern parts of Canaan. This servitude lasted twenty years.
185
Shamgar kills six hundred Philistines, and delivers Israel. 194 Deborah and Barak defeat Sisera; aided by the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali.
203
Rest of forty years, which continues to the two hundred and forty-third year of the exodus.
Fourth servitude under the Midianites, which lasts seven years. 243 Gideon delivers Israel, assisted by Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali.
253
Abimelech reigns three years at Shechem. 294
Tola judges Israel twenty-three years.
Jair judges Israel twenty-two years.
Fifth servitude under the Ammonites, beyond Jordan, three hundred years after the Israelites had taken possession of the land. This servitude lasted eighteen years.
345
Jephthah delivers Israel. 363
While the Ammonites oppressed Israel on the other side of Jordan, the Philistines afflicted those on this side of that river. This servitude lasted forty years, during which Samson and Eli were judges; but they did not wholly deliver Israel. They were notdelivered till the time of Samuel, three hundred and eighty-three years after the exodus.
During this interval God raised Up Ibzan, who judged Israel seven years; and
Elon, who judged ten years; and
Abdon, who judged eight years; but neither the year of the commencement of their office, nor of their death, can be exactly ascertained.
383
Saul reigns forty years 403
David reigns forty years 443
Solomon begins to reign four hundred and seventy-six years after the exodus;
476
And lays the foundation of the temple in the fourth year of his reign.
480
These are the schemes of those two great chronologists. as exhibited by Calmet.
Dr. Hales, dissatisfied with these schemes, and with all others hitherto published, strikes out a new path: and, following the chronology of Josephus, with some corrections, makes the whole period, from the time of Joshua and the elders who survived him, to the election of Saul, four hundred and ninety-eight years, which he accounts for thus:— In the general introduction of his Analysis of Scripture Chronology, he endeavours to show that the interval from the exodus to the foundation of Solomon’s temple was six hundred and twenty-one years; from which, subtracting one hundred and twenty-three years, (namely, forty years from the exodus to this return, eighty years from the two reigns of Saul and David, and the three first years of Solomon,) the remainder is four hundred and ninety-eight years.
“But,” says the learned and indefatigable doctor, “although we are indebted to Josephus for this, and for supplying some material chasms in the sacred annals; such as, 1, the administration of Joshua and the elders, twenty-five years; 2, the ensuing anarchy, eighteen years; 3, the administration of Shamgar, one year; and, 4, of Samuel, twelve years; still his detail of the outline there given requires correction.
“For, 1. The year ascribed to Shamgar’s administration is too short, as is evident from Deborah’s account, Judges 5:6; I have therefore included it, with David Ganz, in Ehud’s enormous administration of eighty years, and transferred the one year to Joshua’s, making that twenty-six years. 2. I have restored Abdon’s administration of eight years omitted by Josephus, and deducted it from the eighteen years he assigns to the anarchy, thereby reducing the latter to its correct length of ten years. 3. I have dated the first division of the conquered lands in the sixth year, which Josephus reckoned in the fifth year; because Caleb was forty years old when Moses sent him as one of the spies from Kadesh-barnea, in the second year after the exode; consequently he was thirty-nine years old at the exode; and therefore seventy-nine years old, forty years after, at the arrival in Canaan; but he was eighty-five years old when he claimed and got the hill of Hebron for an inheritance, which therefore must have been six years after the arrival in Canaan. Compare Numbers 10:11; 13:6, with Joshua 14:6-15. 4. Josephus has omitted the date of Samuel’s call to be a prophet, 1 Samuel 3:1-19, which St. Paul reckons four hundred and fifty years after the first division of lands, Acts 13:19, 20, and which, therefore, commenced with the ten last years of Eli’s administration of forty years. This last most important chronological character from the New Testament verifies the whole of this rectification; while it demonstrates the spuriousness of the period of four hundred and eighty years in the present Masorete text of 1 Kings 6:1, from the exode to the foundation of Solomon’s temple.”
Following the chronology of Josephus, in preference to the Hebrew text, his table of the Judges is as follows:—
Yrs. B.C.
1. Joshua and the elders 26 1608
First division of lands 1602
Second division of lands 1595
Anarchy, or interregnum 10 1582
I. Servitude to the Mesopotamians 8 1572
2. Othniel 40 1564
II. Servitude to the Moabites 18 1524
3. Ehud and Shamgar 80 1506
III. Servitude to the Canaanites 20 1426
4. Deborah and Barak 40 1406
IV. Servitude to the Midianites 7 1366
5. Gideon 40 1359
6. Abimelech 3 1319
7. Tola 23 1316
8. Jair 22 1293
V. Servitude to the Ammonites 18 1271
9. Jephthah 6 1253
10. Ibzan 7 1247
11. Elon 10 1240
12. Abdon 8 1230
VI. Servitude to the Philistines — 40 20 1222
13. Samson 20 1202
14. Eli — 40 30 1182
Samuel called as a prophet 10 1152
VII. Servitude to the Philistines 20 1142
15. Samuel 12 1122
Saul elected king 498 1110
“The only alteration here made in the present text of Josephus is the insertion of Tola and his administration of twenty-three years (Judges 10:1, 2,) which are inadvertently omitted between Abimelech and Jair, Ant. 5, 7, 15, page 56, but evidently were included in the original scheme of Josephus as being requisite to complete the period of six hundred and twenty-one years. To Abdon no years are assigned by Josephus, Ant. 5, 7, 15, page 215, perhaps designedly, for Clemens Alexandrinus relates that some chronologers collected together the years of Abatthan and Ebron, (Abdon and Elon,) or made them contemporary. But we may easily reconcile Josephus with SCRIPTURE by only deducting eight years from the eighteen years interregnum after Joshua, which will give Abdon his quota of years, and leave that interregnum its juster length of ten years.
“It is truly remarkable, and a proof of the great skill and accuracy of Josephus in forming the outline of this period, that he assigns, with St. Paul, a reign of forty years to Saul, Acts 13:21, which is omitted in the OLD TESTAMENT. His outline also corresponds with St. Paul’s period of four hundred and fifty years from the division of the conquered lands of Canaan, until Samuel the prophet.” See Dr. Hale’s Chronology, vol. i., pages 16, 17; vol. ii., page 28, 5-8.
Another method of removing these difficulties has been lately attempted in a new edition of the Universal History; but of conjectures there is no end; if the truth be not found in some of the preceding systems, the difficulties, I fear, must remain. I have my doubts whether the author of this book ever designed to produce the subject in a strict chronological series. The book, in several places, appears to have been composed of historical memoranda having very little relation to each other, or among themselves; and particularly what is recorded in the beginning and the end. There is, however, one light in which the whole book may be viewed, which renders it invaluable; it is a most remarkable history of the long-suffering of God towards the Israelites, in which we find the most signal instances of his justice and his mercy alternately displayed; the people sinned, and were punished; they repented, and found mercy. Something of this kind we meet with in every page. And these things are written for our warning. None should presume, for God is JUST; none need despair, for God is MERCIFUL. THE BOOK OF JUDGES
-Year before the common year of Christ, 1443.
-Julian Period, 3271.
-Year from the Flood, 904.
-Year before the first Olympiad, 667.
-Creation from Tisri, or September, 2561.
Joseph Benson
Argument
BEN_VOL2.PDF, source PDF p. 2
THE BOOK OF JUDGES.
ARGUMENT.
THIS book contains the history of the Israelites under the judges, which lasted two hundred and ninety-nine years: under Othniel, forty; under Ehud, eighty; under Barak, forty; under Gideon, forty; under Abimelek, three; under Tola, twenty-three; under Jair, twenty-two; under Jephtha, six; under Ibsan, seven; under Elon, ten; under Abdon, eight; under Samson, twenty. As for the years of their servitude, they coincide with the years of some or other of the judges. In the last five chapters we have an account of some memorable events, which happened in the days when the judges ruled. As to the state of Israel during this period, 1, They were miserably corrupted, and miserably oppressed. Yet we may hope the tabernacle service was kept up, and that many attended it. 2. It seems each tribe had its government within itself, and acted separately, without any common head. This occasioned many differences among themselves. 3. The government of the judges was not constant, but occasional. By their judging Israel is meant chiefly, their avenging Israel of their enemies, and purging them from their idolatries. 4. During the government of the judges, GOD was in an especial manner the king of Israel. It is not improbably supposed, that the Prophet Samuel was the penman of this book.
Joseph Sutcliffe
The Book of Judges.
SUT_VOL1.PDF, source PDF p. 608
THE BOOK OF JUDGES.
This Book contains the history of the commonwealth of Israel from the death of Joshua to the death of Eli, comprising a period of two hundred and ninety nine years, besides the time of oppression under heathen kings. It seems to have been compiled from the public records by Samuel, or by some persons about his time. It exhibits the Theocracy of the Jewish church and polity; which was a surrender of the patriarchal powers for the liberties of a thousand diminutive municipalities. The Sanhedrim, or council of Seventy Elders, seems to have sunk into oblivion on the division of the cities to the several tribes. Every man did that which was right in his own eyes. The supreme Judges were raised up by a divine vocation; and after delivering their country from oppression, they retired into private life, and continued to reside on that paternal lot, still retaining, however, the powers of war and peace, and of convoking the council of elders from every city. The events proved, that Israel was not worthy of so lenient a government: for when they departed from their covenant, and when the judge was despised by an apostate people, God permitted very weak kings among the heathen to subdue them. Consequently, the whole book demonstrates the special and frequent interference of heaven for the preservation of the people, and of the true religion. This form of government subsisted till within 1076 years of the birth of Christ, when Saul was anointed king, comprising in all 450 years, Acts 13:2, calculated it is thought from the death of Joshua. It is a well-written book; the narration of Samson’s history, of Micah’s idolatry, and of the Levite’s adventure, are perfect in their kind.
Daniel Whedon
Introduction.
WHD_CO03.PDF, source PDF p. 200
JUDGES
INTRODUCTION.
IN the Introduction to his Commentary on Judges, in Lange’s Bible-work, Cassel remarks that this book is, in a special sense, the first historical book of Israel. Its facts are not made to cluster round a single individual, as is the case in the Book of Joshua and the last four books of Moses. Genesis, though an historical book, is not properly a history of Israel; but rather, as its name denotes, a record of the beginnings of all nations and of all things. In the Book of Judges we see the Israelitish people rising into the position and character of a great State, with a dawning consciousness of their distinctive nationality. We see them not yet become historical among the nations of the earth, but in process of development. Though, under Joshua, they have gained a solid foothold in Canaan, there yet remains much land to be possessed, and many strong enemies to encounter. And several hundred years are to pass before that end is gained, and then not without repeated disasters and oppression. That end, in fact, is not gained until the people are brought under the authority of a strong central government, realizing their individuality, unity, and personality as a nation. Clearly apprehending that the want of such national organic unity was the source of the civil and social disorders of this formative period, the sacred historian again and again repeats, as an explanation of his dark record, “In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did that which was right in his own eyes.” That is, every man was largely his own master, lawgiver, and executive. There was no magistrate that wielded power in all the land, and whom all the tribes obeyed. Consequently tribe-jealousies, plunder, fearful retaliations, and great neglect of the laws which had been given as a sacred trust to the fathers, extensively prevailed.
But we are not to suppose that the age of the Judges was a period of universal anarchy or barbarism in Israel, and that there existed no courts of justice. The noble ideals furnished by the institutes of Moses were indeed not realized; but the simple and life-like narrative of the council of elders called by Boaz at the gate of Bethlehem (Ruth 4:1-12) is a sufficient indication that matters of ordinary litigation were not neglected. And there were long periods of peace and internal prosperity. “The land had rest forty years,” (Judges 3:11,) “fourscore years,” (Judges 3:30, etc.,) are statements which indicate domestic tranquillity; and the Book of Ruth reveals to us a picture of the more pleasant and beautiful side of this period. But there were also times of anarchy, and reigns of terror, and acts of barbarism, which strike the attention of every reader. There were times, too, when the highways were not travelled, and the Israelites sought refuge and security in caves and dens of the hills.
There were not wanting great lights of moral beauty and power in those dark ages. Deborah, and Boaz, and Samuel, present each a noble and estimable type of character and worth, and each, so far as we know, stands without a blot or stain. But we do not look to that age for our highest models of moral excellence, nor are we to bring the characters of the judges to the test of New Testament purity. “Other portions of Scripture,” says Stanley, “may be more profitable ‘for doctrine, for correction, for reproof, for instruction in righteousness;’ but for merely human interest, for the lively touches of ancient manners, for the succession of romantic incidents, for the consciousness that we are living face to face with the persons described, for the tragical pathos of events and characters, there is nothing like the history of the Judges, from Othniel to Eli. No portion of the Hebrew Scriptures brings us so near to the times described. It would seem, if one may venture to say so, as if the Book of Judges had been left in the sacred books with the express view of enforcing upon us the necessity (which we are sometimes anxious to evade) of recognizing the human, national, let us even add barbarian, element which plays its part in the sacred history. In other portions of the Hebrew annals the divine character of the revelation is so constantly before us, or the character of the human agents reaches so nearly to the divine, that we may, if we choose, almost forget that we are reading of men of like passions with ourselves. But in the history of the Judges the whole tenor of the book, especially of its concluding chapters, renders this forgetfulness impossible. Like the rugged rock which, to this day, breaks the platform of the Temple area at Jerusalem, and reminds us of the bare, natural features of the mountain that must have protruded themselves into the midst of the magnificence of Solomon, so the Book of Judges recalls our thoughts from the ideal which we imagine of past and of sacred ages, and reminds us by a rude shock that, even in the heart of the chosen people, even in the next generation after Joshua, there were irregularities, imperfections, excrescences, which it is the glory of the sacred historian to have recorded faithfully, and which it will be our wisdom no less faithfully to study.” But this history of the Judges is not without its divine element. While there may be other portions of Scripture more profitable than this, there may be, also, portions less profitable. This book gives us a vivid insight into the Divine Providence of history. In tracing the rise and growth of the Israelitish nation, the sacred penman gives us substantially the outline of the history of every great nation on the face of the earth. There has been no nation but some time had its clan or colony beginnings, its territorial settlement, its first comparatively rude and lawless ages, and its ultimate conscious attainment of authoritative and responsible nationality. In the early history of most nations we find a tendency to segregation; local and clannish feelings stifle or keep back the growth of the nobler sense of national unity and strength. This book shows us how sectional jealousies, together with moral perversity and apostasy from God, hindered the Hebrew people for more than three hundred years from realizing a true national unity. We must not think that God’s hand guided Israel, but not other nations. Greece and Rome had — America, England, and the rest have — a divine history and purpose as truly as had Israel. God’s hand has interposed in the history of all; but Israel’s pre-eminence and advantage were specially that “to them were committed the oracles of God,” (Romans 3:2,) and sacred history reveals to us, more clearly than other history, how “the powers that be are ordained of God.” No man or set of men ever purposely made a nation, or ever will or can; for nations, as truly as the elect sons of God, are “born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” And not only is every State of providential origin and growth, but, having attained a national self-consciousness and power, it becomes one of God’s mighty agents in governing the world. The miraculous element in the history of Israel no more made the nation a theocracy, than did the divine purpose of making it a mighty agent in the discipline of universal humanity. And this same purpose every nation, according to its several ability, must serve. He makes a grave mistake who supposes that the government of Israel by Judges was a temporary, provisional arrangement, adopted by the people, or that these officers derived their powers from the people. They were providentially raised up, from time to time, as exigencies demanded, (see Judges 2:16-19,) but the law made no direct provision for such a class of officers. It spoke of judges, and of a national court of appeals, (Deuteronomy 17:8, 9; 19:17,) but these were to be associated with the priests and Levites at that central seat of government and of worship which the Lord should choose. It thus made sufficient provision for a strong, central government, and doubtless contemplated a national executive. It even made provision for a king, should the people desire one, (Deuteronomy 17:14-20,) but both the law and the subsequent history of Israel show that the Lord preferred for his people another form of government. The seventy elders who assisted Moses, (Exodus 24:1, 9; Numbers 11:16,) and who had, perhaps, their successors in Joshua’s time and afterwards, would seem to have been the responsible parties, and, after Joshua’s death, should, like the apostles after the departure of the Lord, have appropriated existing offices and forms, and given them national stability and power, thus organizing for the people a supreme national council, with one chosen executive whom the Lord himself might choose. It is very noticeable that while Jehovah gave abundant revelations on other things, he gave none directing any specific form of national government for his people. So, too, Christ revealed to his disciples no special form of Church government for their subsequent use. These were matters to be left to human wisdom and prudence, guided by prayer. But here the elders of Israel came short. Jehovah designated, both by prophecy (Genesis 49:8) and Urim, (Judges 1:1, 2,) that Judah should lead the tribes; but the nation failed to seek in Judah a national executive, and Judah failed also to understand the Divine call; nor were immediate efforts made to ascertain the central seat of government which the Lord would choose. Accordingly, sectional jealousies soon sprang up, and the nation did not fulfil the divine commission to drive out the Canaanites; and so defeat, and disaster, and oppression came, and the people repeatedly fell into idolatry and fearful crimes. The Tabernacle was much neglected, and there were many high places where sacrifices were offered. The priests and Levites, failing to meet the full requirements of the law, and recognizing no central seat of worship, were sometimes found wandering idly through the land, and ready to sell themselves to a semi-idolater for food and clothes. Chap. 17. No wonder that national calamities came, and God sold them into the hands of their enemies.
In the absence of a united government, and in the midst of perils, Jehovah, not willing to cast his people utterly away, raised up these extraordinary JUDGES — an order of rulers so unique in history. Some have compared them with the Athenian Archons, the Roman Dictators, and the Carthagenian Suffetes, but in only a few points are they alike. As a class or succession of rulers they stand alone in the history of the world. They formed no part of the regular machinery of the Hebrew government as contemplated in the Law of Moses, but were extraordinary ministers raised up of God in times of national peril and oppression to deliver Israel. Their work was not properly the administration of civil jurisprudence, but it often involved the giving of advice and counsel, somewhat after the manner of the prophets of a later age. Thus Deborah judged Israel, (Judges 4:4, 5,) but it was chiefly by being a prophetess and delivering divine communications to the people who resorted unto her as unto an oracle. The Judges were, in fact, the seers or prophets of the time, though their more prominent work was to lead the people to battle and defeat the foes of Israel. Samuel appears more like a civil judge than any other, for he had a “circuit” (1 Samuel 7:16) around which he went yearly and “judged Israel.” But, unlike any other judge, he was brought up from early childhood in the sanctuary, “was established a prophet of the Lord,” and blessed the sacrifices of the people in high places.
It does not appear that any one of the Judges had jurisdiction over all the tribes. The expression “all Israel” is one of varying significance, and proves nothing in the case. Shamgar seems to have had no jurisdiction at all, but was raised up to execute one signal deed of vengeance. Gideon, after the defeat of the Midianites, seems to have had no rule or authority beyond the Abiezrites of Ophrah. Abimelech’s reign at Shechem was only a sectional and abortive attempt at kingly power. Samson had personally little or nothing to do with Israel outside the tribe of Dan. Jephthah’s authority extended only over the eastern tribes, and his election by the elders of Gilead at Mizpeh is no proof that all the other Judges of Israel were also elected by the voice of the people. At no time during all this period could the tribes of Israel be properly called twelve united States, for they were at best a loose confederacy.
The Authorship and Date
of the Book of Judges cannot be positively determined. A part of it was evidently composed before the time of David, for the Jebusites still occupied Jerusalem along with the children of Benjamin, (Judges 1:21,) which was not the case after David made that city his capital. But the oft-recurring remark, that “in those days there was no king in Israel,” shows that the author lived as late, at least, as the reign of Saul. Plausible, therefore, is the Rabbinical statement, that the book was written by Samuel after Saul had become king of Israel, and had “delivered them out of the hands of them that spoiled them.” 1 Samuel 14:47, 48. Keil thinks that this opinion “may be so far correct that, if it was not written by Samuel himself towards the close of his life, it was written at his instigation by a younger prophet of his school.” But the book is easily divisible into two sections, the latter of which (chaps. 17-21) bears marks of a different authorship, and has the form of an appendix. It is only in this latter section that the words “In those days there was no king in Israel” occur, and while the facts recorded belong to an earlier period than many of those recorded in the other section, it is not without fair reasons that many critics assign the composition to a different author and a later age. This appendix has as much internal evidence of being a distinct work as has the Book of Ruth, and we incline to the opinion that these two sections are to be referred to different authors, or, at all events, to an author who wrote the latter section a long time after he had finished the former.
Like other Old Testament books, this history was evidently compiled from various sources; and, like all the other historical books, it probably received slight additions and modifications from later editors. The words of the angel at Bochim, (Judges 2:1-5,) Deborah’s song, (chap. 5,) Jotham’s parable, (Judges 9:7-20,) and perhaps other parts, the author found ready at his hand, and he simply transferred them to his own pages. Chronology.
The period covered by this book is usually estimated at about 300 years. The book itself furnishes dates which altogether make up a period of 390 years, as follows:
But these figures furnish no absolutely certain basis from which to reckon the length of the entire period. Some of these Judges may have been contemporary, and there may have been other judges and other oppressions of which we have no record, for surely no one will claim that this book is a complete and exhaustive history of the times between Joshua and Samuel. Jael (Judges 5:6) and Bedan (1 Samuel 12:11) seem to have been Judges of whom no historical record has been preserved; and Judges 3:31, compared with 5:6, intimates a dark Philistine oppression that troubled Israel long before the days of Samson. In view of all this, we think there is lack of sufficient data from which to construct a system of chronology that is not open to dispute. Paul says, (Acts 13:20,) “He gave them judges about the space of 450 years, until Samuel the prophet,” and in 1 Kings 6:1, we read that Solomon began to build the temple 480 years after the Exodus. Josephus makes the period 443 years. Here, then, are discrepancies which we do not attempt to reconcile or explain. We are not sure that these statements are irreconcilable, but we are not satisfied that any one of the current schemes of chronology thoroughly solves the problem. The opposing figures of the different Christian writers, and of the different chronologists, may stagger a mathematician like Bishop Colenso, but need not, we think, disturb the faith of any devout Christian in the genuineness and authority of the Holy Scriptures.
Plan and Contents.
The Book of Judges is properly divided into three parts: (1.) The INTRODUCTION, extending from chap. 1, to Judges 3:6, which gives a general account of the condition of the Israelites after the death of Joshua, and their relation to the remaining Canaanitish nations. (2.) The second division takes in the main body of the book, and is properly called by Bachmann, in his very able work on Judges, the PRINCIPAL HISTORICAL PART. It extends from Judges 3:7, to Judges 16:31. (3) Then follows an APPENDIX, chaps. 17-21, which was probably added by a later hand. Part First-Introduction. Chaps. 1-3:6.
Adam Clarke
Preface to the Book of Judges
CLA_JDG.PDF, source PDF p. 3
Editorial note: Source collation note — paragraph 2: “the persons called judges, שופשׂים shophetim, from שפט, shaphat, to judge, discern”. source PDF page 3: “persons called Judges שופשׂים Shophetim from שפשׂ shaphat to judge, discern”. Compared with CLA_JDG.PDF PDF p. 3. The source-font or layout comparison does not securely establish every letter, mark or local sequence in these passages. The flagged language readings or layout are retained; the original source pages should be consulted for these specific readings. Additional-source investigation: an automated comparison of surrounding English text located possible corresponding passages in OCR from separately digitized printed volumes. The linked scan pages are research locators; their images have not been collated for this note's flagged readings. OCR agreement does not verify Greek or Hebrew letters, diacritics, word order, or table layout. The flagged readings or layout remain uncertain. CLA_JDG.PDF, PDF page 3; Additional printed-scan page locator (OCR context only; flagged reading unverified).
Editorial note: The supplied edition prints “Judges 17:11-8:31” here (CLA_JDG.PDF, physical PDF page 5). The stated subjects—Micah’s idolatry and the Danites’ conquest and worship at Laish—belong to Judges 17–18. The printed range appears to mean Judges 17:11–18:31, with the leading 1 absent from its ending chapter number. The historical wording is retained. CLA_JDG.PDF, PDF page 5.
PREFACE TO THE BOOK OF JUDGES
THE persons called Judges, שופשׂים Shophetim, from שפט, shaphat, to judge, discern regulate, and direct, were the heads or chiefs of the Israelites who governed the Hebrew republic from the days of Moses and Joshua till the time of Saul. The word judge is not to be taken here in its usual signification, i.e., one who determines controversies, and denounces the judgment of the law in criminal cases, but one who directs and rules a state or nation with sovereign power, administers justice, makes peace or war, and leads the armies of the people over whom he presides. Officers, with the same power, and nearly with the same name, were established by the Tyrians in new Tyre, after the destruction of old Tyre, and the termination of its regal state. The Carthaginian Suffetes appear to have been the same as the Hebrew Shophetim; as were also the Archons among the Athenians, and the Dictators among the ancient Romans. But they were neither hereditary governors, nor were they chosen by the people: they were properly vicegerents or lieutenants of the Supreme God; and were always, among the Israelites, chosen by Him in a supernatural way. They had no power to make or change the laws; they were only to execute them under the direction of the Most High. God, therefore, was king in Israel: the government was a theocracy; and the judges were His deputies. The office, however, was not continual, as there appear intervals in which there was no judge in Israel. And, as they were extraordinary persons, they were only raised up on extraordinary occasions to be instruments in the hands of God of delivering their nation from the oppression and tyranny of the neighbouring powers. They had neither pomp nor state; nor, probably, any kind of emoluments.
The chronology of the Book of Judges is extremely embarrassed and difficult; and there is no agreement among learned men concerning it. When the deliverances, and consequent periods of rest, so frequently mentioned in this book, took place, cannot be satisfactorily ascertained. Archbishop Usher, and those who follow him, suppose that the rests, or times of peace, should be reckoned, not from the time in which a particular judge gave them deliverance; but from the period of the preceding deliverance, e.g.: It is said that Othniel, son of Kenaz, defeated Cushan-rishathaim, Judges 3:9, and the land had rest forty years. After the death of Othniel the Israelites again did wickedly, and God delivered them into the hands of the Moabites, Ammonites, and Amalekites; and this oppression continued eighteen years; Judges 3:14. Then God raised up Ehud, who, by killing Eglon, king of Moab, and gaining a great victory over the Moabites, in which he slew ten thousand of their best soldiers, obtained a rest for the land which lasted forty years: Judges 3:15, 30; which rest is not counted from this deliverance wrought by Ehud, but from that wrought by Othniel, mentioned above; leaving out the eighteen years of oppression under Eglon king of Moab: and so of the rest. This is a most violent manner of settling chronological difficulties, a total perversion of the ordinary meaning of terms, and not likely to be intended by the writer of this book.
Sir John Marsham, aware of this difficulty, has struck out a new hypothesis: he supposes that there were judges on each side Jordan; and that there were particular wars in which those beyond Jordan had no part. He observes, that from the exodus to the building of Solomon’s temple was four hundred and eighty years, which is precisely the time mentioned in the sacred writings; (1 Kings 6:1;) and that from the time in which the Israelites occupied the land beyond Jordan, to the days of Jephthah, was three hundred years. But in reckoning up the years of the judges, from the death of Moses to the time of Ibzan, who succeeded Jephthah, there appears to be more than three hundred years; and from Jephthah to the fourth year of Solomon, in which the foundation of the temple was laid, there are again more than one hundred and fifty years; we must, therefore, either find out some method of reconciling these differences, or else abandon these epochs; but as the latter cannot be done, we must have recourse to some plan of modification. Sir John Marsham’s plan is of this kind; the common plan is that of Archbishop Usher. I shall produce them both, and let the reader choose for himself.
Who the author of the Book of Judges was, is not known; some suppose that each judge wrote his own history, and that the book has been compiled from those separate accounts; which is very unlikely. Others ascribe it to Phinehas, to Samuel, to Hezekiah, and some to Ezra. But it is evident that it was the work of an individual, and of a person who lived posterior to the time of the judges, (see Judges 2:10, &c.,) and most probably of Samuel.
The duration of the government of the Israelites by judges, from the death of Joshua to the commencement of the reign of Saul, was about three hundred and thirty-nine years. But as this book does not include the government of Eli, nor that of Samuel, but ends with the death of Samson, which occurred in A.M. 2887; consequently, it includes only three hundred and seventeen years; but the manner in which these are reckoned is very different, as we have seen above; and as will be more particularly evident in the following tables by Archbishop Usher and Sir John Marsham. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THIS BOOK, ACCORDING TO
ARCHBISHOP USHER.
Death of Joshua, aged one hundred and ten years. 2570 After his death, and that of the elders who succeeded him, the Israelites did evil in the sight of the Lord; to this period are to be referred the idolatry of Micah, the conquest of Laish, and the idolatry of a part of the tribe of Dan, which are mentioned Judges 17:11-8:31.
2585
The story of the Levite and his concubine, and the war which succeeded it, Judges 19:1-21:25.
This includes a period of about twenty-two years, viz., fifteen for the time of the elders who survived Joshua, and seven years of anarchy and rest, after which the Israelites fell under the domination of Chushan-rishathaim, king of Mesopotamia.
The first servitude under Chushan, which tasted eight years, began in 2591, and ended in 2599. Othniel delivered Israel the fortieth year after the rest procured by Joshua.
2591
2599
The land enjoys rest about sixty-two years. 2662
Second servitude, under Eglon, king of Moab, which lasted eighteen years.
2662
Ehud delivers Israel. 2679
After him appears Shamgar, and the land enjoys rest to the eightieth year from the termination of the first deliverance procured by Othniel, Judges 3:15-30.
The third servitude, under the Canaanites, which lasted twenty years, Judges 4:1-3.
2669
Deborah and Barak deliver Israel. 2719
From the deliverance procured by Ehud, to the end of the government of Deborah and Barak, was forty years.
About this time the Assyrian empire was founded by Ninus, son of Belus. The Assyrians had previously to this reigned five hundred and twenty years over a part of Asia; but Ninus, forming a league with Arieus, king of the Arabs, conquered the whole of Asia, and governed it for seventeen years. He reigned in all fifty-two years. 2737
The fourth servitude, under the Midianites, which lasted seven years; Judges 6:1.
2752
Gideon delivers Israel. 2759
From the rest procured by Deborah and Barak to the deliverance by Gideon are forty years, Judges 6:1-8:35. After the death of Gideon the people fall into idolatry. Abimelech, natural son of Gideon, kills seventy of his brethren, Judges 9:5. 2768
Abimelech is proclaimed king of the Shechemites. 2769 He reigns three years, and was killed at the siege of Thebes. 2771 Tola governs after Abimelech, twenty-three years. 2772 The commencement of the kingdom of the Lydians under Argon, who reigned in Sardis. This empire continued five hundred and five years; Herodot. lib. i. cap. 7.
2781
Semiramis marries Ninus, and reigns forty-two years over almost the whole of Asia. Jair succeeds Tola, and governs twenty-two years. 2789
The fifth servitude under the Philistines, which lasted eighteen years. 2795 God delivers the Israelites who dwelt beyond Jordan, from the Ammonites, &c., Judges 10:18.
2799
Death of Jair, Judges 10:5. 2816
Jephthah is chosen judge, and defeats the Ammonites. 2817 Forty-two thousand Ephraimites slain at the passage of Jordan. Jephthah governs six years, Judges 11:1-12:7. Troy is taken by the Greeks after a siege of ten years. Death of Jephthah. Ibzan governs seven years. 2820
Elon succeeds him, and governs ten years. 2823
Semiramis dies, aged sixty-two years, having reigned forty-two years; she is succeeded by Ninyas.
2830
Abdon judges Israel eight years, beginning from 2840 2840 Eli judges Israel, after the death of Abdon, forty years. 2848 The sixth servitude, under the Philistines, which lasted forty years, Judges 13:1. It began seven years after the commencement of the government of Eli.
The birth of Samson, Judges 13:24. 2849
Marriage of Samson; he begins to deliver Israel, and continues twenty years.
2867
Samson burns the corn of the Philistines, and kills a thousand of them with the jaw-born of an ass, Judges 15:3-20. 2868
Samson is betrayed by his wife, delivered into the hands of the Philistines, and has his eyes put out. The same year he pulls down a temple, in the ruins of which himself and multitudes of the Philistines are buried, Judges 16:1-31.
2887
The death of Eli, and the beginning of the government of Samuel, who delivers Israel from the oppression of the Philistines, 1 Samuel 7:14.
2888
This is in substance the chronology of Archbishop Usher on this period, the correctness of which is justly questioned.
THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE BOOK OF JUDGES, ACCORDING
TO THE SCHEME OF SIR JOHN MARSHAM.
Years after
the Exodus
Joshua governs Israel twenty-five years from the exodus to the sixty-fifth year after that deliverance.
Death of Joshua, aged 110 years.
Government of the elders. 40
Anarchy and idolatry, thirty-four years after Joshua. 65 First servitude under Chushan lasts eight years. 99
Othniel, son-in-law, of Caleb, defeats Chushan.
Forty years’ rest. 107
Second servitude, under Eglon, who oppressed the Jews beyond Jordan, and a part of the Benjamites, fifteen years.
147
Ehud slays Eglon, and delivers his country. 165
Peace of fourscore years beyond Jordan; which continues till the invasion of the Midianites.
Third servitude under Jabin, who chiefly oppressed the tribes which dwelt in the northern parts of Canaan. This servitude lasted twenty years.
185
Shamgar kills six hundred Philistines, and delivers Israel. 194 Deborah and Barak defeat Sisera; aided by the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali.
203
Rest of forty years, which continues to the two hundred and forty-third year of the exodus.
Fourth servitude under the Midianites, which lasts seven years. 243 Gideon delivers Israel, assisted by Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali.
253
Abimelech reigns three years at Shechem. 294
Tola judges Israel twenty-three years.
Jair judges Israel twenty-two years.
Fifth servitude under the Ammonites, beyond Jordan, three hundred years after the Israelites had taken possession of the land. This servitude lasted eighteen years.
345
Jephthah delivers Israel. 363
While the Ammonites oppressed Israel on the other side of Jordan, the Philistines afflicted those on this side of that river. This servitude lasted forty years, during which Samson and Eli were judges; but they did not wholly deliver Israel. They were notdelivered till the time of Samuel, three hundred and eighty-three years after the exodus.
During this interval God raised Up Ibzan, who judged Israel seven years; and
Elon, who judged ten years; and
Abdon, who judged eight years; but neither the year of the commencement of their office, nor of their death, can be exactly ascertained.
383
Saul reigns forty years 403
David reigns forty years 443
Solomon begins to reign four hundred and seventy-six years after the exodus;
476
And lays the foundation of the temple in the fourth year of his reign.
480
These are the schemes of those two great chronologists. as exhibited by Calmet.
Dr. Hales, dissatisfied with these schemes, and with all others hitherto published, strikes out a new path: and, following the chronology of Josephus, with some corrections, makes the whole period, from the time of Joshua and the elders who survived him, to the election of Saul, four hundred and ninety-eight years, which he accounts for thus:— In the general introduction of his Analysis of Scripture Chronology, he endeavours to show that the interval from the exodus to the foundation of Solomon’s temple was six hundred and twenty-one years; from which, subtracting one hundred and twenty-three years, (namely, forty years from the exodus to this return, eighty years from the two reigns of Saul and David, and the three first years of Solomon,) the remainder is four hundred and ninety-eight years.
“But,” says the learned and indefatigable doctor, “although we are indebted to Josephus for this, and for supplying some material chasms in the sacred annals; such as, 1, the administration of Joshua and the elders, twenty-five years; 2, the ensuing anarchy, eighteen years; 3, the administration of Shamgar, one year; and, 4, of Samuel, twelve years; still his detail of the outline there given requires correction.
“For, 1. The year ascribed to Shamgar’s administration is too short, as is evident from Deborah’s account, Judges 5:6; I have therefore included it, with David Ganz, in Ehud’s enormous administration of eighty years, and transferred the one year to Joshua’s, making that twenty-six years. 2. I have restored Abdon’s administration of eight years omitted by Josephus, and deducted it from the eighteen years he assigns to the anarchy, thereby reducing the latter to its correct length of ten years. 3. I have dated the first division of the conquered lands in the sixth year, which Josephus reckoned in the fifth year; because Caleb was forty years old when Moses sent him as one of the spies from Kadesh-barnea, in the second year after the exode; consequently he was thirty-nine years old at the exode; and therefore seventy-nine years old, forty years after, at the arrival in Canaan; but he was eighty-five years old when he claimed and got the hill of Hebron for an inheritance, which therefore must have been six years after the arrival in Canaan. Compare Numbers 10:11; 13:6, with Joshua 14:6-15. 4. Josephus has omitted the date of Samuel’s call to be a prophet, 1 Samuel 3:1-19, which St. Paul reckons four hundred and fifty years after the first division of lands, Acts 13:19, 20, and which, therefore, commenced with the ten last years of Eli’s administration of forty years. This last most important chronological character from the New Testament verifies the whole of this rectification; while it demonstrates the spuriousness of the period of four hundred and eighty years in the present Masorete text of 1 Kings 6:1, from the exode to the foundation of Solomon’s temple.”
Following the chronology of Josephus, in preference to the Hebrew text, his table of the Judges is as follows:—
Yrs. B.C.
1. Joshua and the elders 26 1608
First division of lands 1602
Second division of lands 1595
Anarchy, or interregnum 10 1582
I. Servitude to the Mesopotamians 8 1572
2. Othniel 40 1564
II. Servitude to the Moabites 18 1524
3. Ehud and Shamgar 80 1506
III. Servitude to the Canaanites 20 1426
4. Deborah and Barak 40 1406
IV. Servitude to the Midianites 7 1366
5. Gideon 40 1359
6. Abimelech 3 1319
7. Tola 23 1316
8. Jair 22 1293
V. Servitude to the Ammonites 18 1271
9. Jephthah 6 1253
10. Ibzan 7 1247
11. Elon 10 1240
12. Abdon 8 1230
VI. Servitude to the Philistines — 40 20 1222
13. Samson 20 1202
14. Eli — 40 30 1182
Samuel called as a prophet 10 1152
VII. Servitude to the Philistines 20 1142
15. Samuel 12 1122
Saul elected king 498 1110
“The only alteration here made in the present text of Josephus is the insertion of Tola and his administration of twenty-three years (Judges 10:1, 2,) which are inadvertently omitted between Abimelech and Jair, Ant. 5, 7, 15, page 56, but evidently were included in the original scheme of Josephus as being requisite to complete the period of six hundred and twenty-one years. To Abdon no years are assigned by Josephus, Ant. 5, 7, 15, page 215, perhaps designedly, for Clemens Alexandrinus relates that some chronologers collected together the years of Abatthan and Ebron, (Abdon and Elon,) or made them contemporary. But we may easily reconcile Josephus with SCRIPTURE by only deducting eight years from the eighteen years interregnum after Joshua, which will give Abdon his quota of years, and leave that interregnum its juster length of ten years.
“It is truly remarkable, and a proof of the great skill and accuracy of Josephus in forming the outline of this period, that he assigns, with St. Paul, a reign of forty years to Saul, Acts 13:21, which is omitted in the OLD TESTAMENT. His outline also corresponds with St. Paul’s period of four hundred and fifty years from the division of the conquered lands of Canaan, until Samuel the prophet.” See Dr. Hale’s Chronology, vol. i., pages 16, 17; vol. ii., page 28, 5-8.
Another method of removing these difficulties has been lately attempted in a new edition of the Universal History; but of conjectures there is no end; if the truth be not found in some of the preceding systems, the difficulties, I fear, must remain. I have my doubts whether the author of this book ever designed to produce the subject in a strict chronological series. The book, in several places, appears to have been composed of historical memoranda having very little relation to each other, or among themselves; and particularly what is recorded in the beginning and the end. There is, however, one light in which the whole book may be viewed, which renders it invaluable; it is a most remarkable history of the long-suffering of God towards the Israelites, in which we find the most signal instances of his justice and his mercy alternately displayed; the people sinned, and were punished; they repented, and found mercy. Something of this kind we meet with in every page. And these things are written for our warning. None should presume, for God is JUST; none need despair, for God is MERCIFUL. THE BOOK OF JUDGES
-Year before the common year of Christ, 1443.
-Julian Period, 3271.
-Year from the Flood, 904.
-Year before the first Olympiad, 667.
-Creation from Tisri, or September, 2561.
Joseph Benson
Argument
BEN_VOL2.PDF, source PDF p. 2
THE BOOK OF JUDGES.
ARGUMENT.
THIS book contains the history of the Israelites under the judges, which lasted two hundred and ninety-nine years: under Othniel, forty; under Ehud, eighty; under Barak, forty; under Gideon, forty; under Abimelek, three; under Tola, twenty-three; under Jair, twenty-two; under Jephtha, six; under Ibsan, seven; under Elon, ten; under Abdon, eight; under Samson, twenty. As for the years of their servitude, they coincide with the years of some or other of the judges. In the last five chapters we have an account of some memorable events, which happened in the days when the judges ruled. As to the state of Israel during this period, 1, They were miserably corrupted, and miserably oppressed. Yet we may hope the tabernacle service was kept up, and that many attended it. 2. It seems each tribe had its government within itself, and acted separately, without any common head. This occasioned many differences among themselves. 3. The government of the judges was not constant, but occasional. By their judging Israel is meant chiefly, their avenging Israel of their enemies, and purging them from their idolatries. 4. During the government of the judges, GOD was in an especial manner the king of Israel. It is not improbably supposed, that the Prophet Samuel was the penman of this book.
Joseph Sutcliffe
The Book of Judges.
SUT_VOL1.PDF, source PDF p. 608
THE BOOK OF JUDGES.
This Book contains the history of the commonwealth of Israel from the death of Joshua to the death of Eli, comprising a period of two hundred and ninety nine years, besides the time of oppression under heathen kings. It seems to have been compiled from the public records by Samuel, or by some persons about his time. It exhibits the Theocracy of the Jewish church and polity; which was a surrender of the patriarchal powers for the liberties of a thousand diminutive municipalities. The Sanhedrim, or council of Seventy Elders, seems to have sunk into oblivion on the division of the cities to the several tribes. Every man did that which was right in his own eyes. The supreme Judges were raised up by a divine vocation; and after delivering their country from oppression, they retired into private life, and continued to reside on that paternal lot, still retaining, however, the powers of war and peace, and of convoking the council of elders from every city. The events proved, that Israel was not worthy of so lenient a government: for when they departed from their covenant, and when the judge was despised by an apostate people, God permitted very weak kings among the heathen to subdue them. Consequently, the whole book demonstrates the special and frequent interference of heaven for the preservation of the people, and of the true religion. This form of government subsisted till within 1076 years of the birth of Christ, when Saul was anointed king, comprising in all 450 years, Acts 13:2, calculated it is thought from the death of Joshua. It is a well-written book; the narration of Samson’s history, of Micah’s idolatry, and of the Levite’s adventure, are perfect in their kind.
Daniel Whedon
Introduction.
WHD_CO03.PDF, source PDF p. 200
JUDGES
INTRODUCTION.
IN the Introduction to his Commentary on Judges, in Lange’s Bible-work, Cassel remarks that this book is, in a special sense, the first historical book of Israel. Its facts are not made to cluster round a single individual, as is the case in the Book of Joshua and the last four books of Moses. Genesis, though an historical book, is not properly a history of Israel; but rather, as its name denotes, a record of the beginnings of all nations and of all things. In the Book of Judges we see the Israelitish people rising into the position and character of a great State, with a dawning consciousness of their distinctive nationality. We see them not yet become historical among the nations of the earth, but in process of development. Though, under Joshua, they have gained a solid foothold in Canaan, there yet remains much land to be possessed, and many strong enemies to encounter. And several hundred years are to pass before that end is gained, and then not without repeated disasters and oppression. That end, in fact, is not gained until the people are brought under the authority of a strong central government, realizing their individuality, unity, and personality as a nation. Clearly apprehending that the want of such national organic unity was the source of the civil and social disorders of this formative period, the sacred historian again and again repeats, as an explanation of his dark record, “In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did that which was right in his own eyes.” That is, every man was largely his own master, lawgiver, and executive. There was no magistrate that wielded power in all the land, and whom all the tribes obeyed. Consequently tribe-jealousies, plunder, fearful retaliations, and great neglect of the laws which had been given as a sacred trust to the fathers, extensively prevailed.
But we are not to suppose that the age of the Judges was a period of universal anarchy or barbarism in Israel, and that there existed no courts of justice. The noble ideals furnished by the institutes of Moses were indeed not realized; but the simple and life-like narrative of the council of elders called by Boaz at the gate of Bethlehem (Ruth 4:1-12) is a sufficient indication that matters of ordinary litigation were not neglected. And there were long periods of peace and internal prosperity. “The land had rest forty years,” (Judges 3:11,) “fourscore years,” (Judges 3:30, etc.,) are statements which indicate domestic tranquillity; and the Book of Ruth reveals to us a picture of the more pleasant and beautiful side of this period. But there were also times of anarchy, and reigns of terror, and acts of barbarism, which strike the attention of every reader. There were times, too, when the highways were not travelled, and the Israelites sought refuge and security in caves and dens of the hills.
There were not wanting great lights of moral beauty and power in those dark ages. Deborah, and Boaz, and Samuel, present each a noble and estimable type of character and worth, and each, so far as we know, stands without a blot or stain. But we do not look to that age for our highest models of moral excellence, nor are we to bring the characters of the judges to the test of New Testament purity. “Other portions of Scripture,” says Stanley, “may be more profitable ‘for doctrine, for correction, for reproof, for instruction in righteousness;’ but for merely human interest, for the lively touches of ancient manners, for the succession of romantic incidents, for the consciousness that we are living face to face with the persons described, for the tragical pathos of events and characters, there is nothing like the history of the Judges, from Othniel to Eli. No portion of the Hebrew Scriptures brings us so near to the times described. It would seem, if one may venture to say so, as if the Book of Judges had been left in the sacred books with the express view of enforcing upon us the necessity (which we are sometimes anxious to evade) of recognizing the human, national, let us even add barbarian, element which plays its part in the sacred history. In other portions of the Hebrew annals the divine character of the revelation is so constantly before us, or the character of the human agents reaches so nearly to the divine, that we may, if we choose, almost forget that we are reading of men of like passions with ourselves. But in the history of the Judges the whole tenor of the book, especially of its concluding chapters, renders this forgetfulness impossible. Like the rugged rock which, to this day, breaks the platform of the Temple area at Jerusalem, and reminds us of the bare, natural features of the mountain that must have protruded themselves into the midst of the magnificence of Solomon, so the Book of Judges recalls our thoughts from the ideal which we imagine of past and of sacred ages, and reminds us by a rude shock that, even in the heart of the chosen people, even in the next generation after Joshua, there were irregularities, imperfections, excrescences, which it is the glory of the sacred historian to have recorded faithfully, and which it will be our wisdom no less faithfully to study.” But this history of the Judges is not without its divine element. While there may be other portions of Scripture more profitable than this, there may be, also, portions less profitable. This book gives us a vivid insight into the Divine Providence of history. In tracing the rise and growth of the Israelitish nation, the sacred penman gives us substantially the outline of the history of every great nation on the face of the earth. There has been no nation but some time had its clan or colony beginnings, its territorial settlement, its first comparatively rude and lawless ages, and its ultimate conscious attainment of authoritative and responsible nationality. In the early history of most nations we find a tendency to segregation; local and clannish feelings stifle or keep back the growth of the nobler sense of national unity and strength. This book shows us how sectional jealousies, together with moral perversity and apostasy from God, hindered the Hebrew people for more than three hundred years from realizing a true national unity. We must not think that God’s hand guided Israel, but not other nations. Greece and Rome had — America, England, and the rest have — a divine history and purpose as truly as had Israel. God’s hand has interposed in the history of all; but Israel’s pre-eminence and advantage were specially that “to them were committed the oracles of God,” (Romans 3:2,) and sacred history reveals to us, more clearly than other history, how “the powers that be are ordained of God.” No man or set of men ever purposely made a nation, or ever will or can; for nations, as truly as the elect sons of God, are “born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” And not only is every State of providential origin and growth, but, having attained a national self-consciousness and power, it becomes one of God’s mighty agents in governing the world. The miraculous element in the history of Israel no more made the nation a theocracy, than did the divine purpose of making it a mighty agent in the discipline of universal humanity. And this same purpose every nation, according to its several ability, must serve. He makes a grave mistake who supposes that the government of Israel by Judges was a temporary, provisional arrangement, adopted by the people, or that these officers derived their powers from the people. They were providentially raised up, from time to time, as exigencies demanded, (see Judges 2:16-19,) but the law made no direct provision for such a class of officers. It spoke of judges, and of a national court of appeals, (Deuteronomy 17:8, 9; 19:17,) but these were to be associated with the priests and Levites at that central seat of government and of worship which the Lord should choose. It thus made sufficient provision for a strong, central government, and doubtless contemplated a national executive. It even made provision for a king, should the people desire one, (Deuteronomy 17:14-20,) but both the law and the subsequent history of Israel show that the Lord preferred for his people another form of government. The seventy elders who assisted Moses, (Exodus 24:1, 9; Numbers 11:16,) and who had, perhaps, their successors in Joshua’s time and afterwards, would seem to have been the responsible parties, and, after Joshua’s death, should, like the apostles after the departure of the Lord, have appropriated existing offices and forms, and given them national stability and power, thus organizing for the people a supreme national council, with one chosen executive whom the Lord himself might choose. It is very noticeable that while Jehovah gave abundant revelations on other things, he gave none directing any specific form of national government for his people. So, too, Christ revealed to his disciples no special form of Church government for their subsequent use. These were matters to be left to human wisdom and prudence, guided by prayer. But here the elders of Israel came short. Jehovah designated, both by prophecy (Genesis 49:8) and Urim, (Judges 1:1, 2,) that Judah should lead the tribes; but the nation failed to seek in Judah a national executive, and Judah failed also to understand the Divine call; nor were immediate efforts made to ascertain the central seat of government which the Lord would choose. Accordingly, sectional jealousies soon sprang up, and the nation did not fulfil the divine commission to drive out the Canaanites; and so defeat, and disaster, and oppression came, and the people repeatedly fell into idolatry and fearful crimes. The Tabernacle was much neglected, and there were many high places where sacrifices were offered. The priests and Levites, failing to meet the full requirements of the law, and recognizing no central seat of worship, were sometimes found wandering idly through the land, and ready to sell themselves to a semi-idolater for food and clothes. Chap. 17. No wonder that national calamities came, and God sold them into the hands of their enemies.
In the absence of a united government, and in the midst of perils, Jehovah, not willing to cast his people utterly away, raised up these extraordinary JUDGES — an order of rulers so unique in history. Some have compared them with the Athenian Archons, the Roman Dictators, and the Carthagenian Suffetes, but in only a few points are they alike. As a class or succession of rulers they stand alone in the history of the world. They formed no part of the regular machinery of the Hebrew government as contemplated in the Law of Moses, but were extraordinary ministers raised up of God in times of national peril and oppression to deliver Israel. Their work was not properly the administration of civil jurisprudence, but it often involved the giving of advice and counsel, somewhat after the manner of the prophets of a later age. Thus Deborah judged Israel, (Judges 4:4, 5,) but it was chiefly by being a prophetess and delivering divine communications to the people who resorted unto her as unto an oracle. The Judges were, in fact, the seers or prophets of the time, though their more prominent work was to lead the people to battle and defeat the foes of Israel. Samuel appears more like a civil judge than any other, for he had a “circuit” (1 Samuel 7:16) around which he went yearly and “judged Israel.” But, unlike any other judge, he was brought up from early childhood in the sanctuary, “was established a prophet of the Lord,” and blessed the sacrifices of the people in high places.
It does not appear that any one of the Judges had jurisdiction over all the tribes. The expression “all Israel” is one of varying significance, and proves nothing in the case. Shamgar seems to have had no jurisdiction at all, but was raised up to execute one signal deed of vengeance. Gideon, after the defeat of the Midianites, seems to have had no rule or authority beyond the Abiezrites of Ophrah. Abimelech’s reign at Shechem was only a sectional and abortive attempt at kingly power. Samson had personally little or nothing to do with Israel outside the tribe of Dan. Jephthah’s authority extended only over the eastern tribes, and his election by the elders of Gilead at Mizpeh is no proof that all the other Judges of Israel were also elected by the voice of the people. At no time during all this period could the tribes of Israel be properly called twelve united States, for they were at best a loose confederacy.
The Authorship and Date
of the Book of Judges cannot be positively determined. A part of it was evidently composed before the time of David, for the Jebusites still occupied Jerusalem along with the children of Benjamin, (Judges 1:21,) which was not the case after David made that city his capital. But the oft-recurring remark, that “in those days there was no king in Israel,” shows that the author lived as late, at least, as the reign of Saul. Plausible, therefore, is the Rabbinical statement, that the book was written by Samuel after Saul had become king of Israel, and had “delivered them out of the hands of them that spoiled them.” 1 Samuel 14:47, 48. Keil thinks that this opinion “may be so far correct that, if it was not written by Samuel himself towards the close of his life, it was written at his instigation by a younger prophet of his school.” But the book is easily divisible into two sections, the latter of which (chaps. 17-21) bears marks of a different authorship, and has the form of an appendix. It is only in this latter section that the words “In those days there was no king in Israel” occur, and while the facts recorded belong to an earlier period than many of those recorded in the other section, it is not without fair reasons that many critics assign the composition to a different author and a later age. This appendix has as much internal evidence of being a distinct work as has the Book of Ruth, and we incline to the opinion that these two sections are to be referred to different authors, or, at all events, to an author who wrote the latter section a long time after he had finished the former.
Like other Old Testament books, this history was evidently compiled from various sources; and, like all the other historical books, it probably received slight additions and modifications from later editors. The words of the angel at Bochim, (Judges 2:1-5,) Deborah’s song, (chap. 5,) Jotham’s parable, (Judges 9:7-20,) and perhaps other parts, the author found ready at his hand, and he simply transferred them to his own pages. Chronology.
The period covered by this book is usually estimated at about 300 years. The book itself furnishes dates which altogether make up a period of 390 years, as follows:
Events. Years..
Chushan’s oppression 8 Judges 3:8
Othniel’s rule 40 Judges 3:11
Moabite oppression 18 Judges 3:14
Ehud’s rule, and period of rest 80 Judges 3:30
Jabin’s oppression 20 Judges 4:3
Deborah and Barak 40 Judges 5:31
Midianite oppression 7 Judges 6:1
Gideon’s rule 40 Judges 8:28
Abimelech’s reign 3 Judges 9:22
Tola 23 Judges 10:2
Jair 22 Judges 10:3
Ammonite oppression 18 Judges 10:8
Jephthah’s rule 6 Judges 12:7
Ibzan 7 Judges 12:9
Elon 10 Judges 12:11
Abdon 8 Judges 12:14
Philistine oppression 40 Judges 13:1
Total 390
But these figures furnish no absolutely certain basis from which to reckon the length of the entire period. Some of these Judges may have been contemporary, and there may have been other judges and other oppressions of which we have no record, for surely no one will claim that this book is a complete and exhaustive history of the times between Joshua and Samuel. Jael (Judges 5:6) and Bedan (1 Samuel 12:11) seem to have been Judges of whom no historical record has been preserved; and Judges 3:31, compared with 5:6, intimates a dark Philistine oppression that troubled Israel long before the days of Samson. In view of all this, we think there is lack of sufficient data from which to construct a system of chronology that is not open to dispute. Paul says, (Acts 13:20,) “He gave them judges about the space of 450 years, until Samuel the prophet,” and in 1 Kings 6:1, we read that Solomon began to build the temple 480 years after the Exodus. Josephus makes the period 443 years. Here, then, are discrepancies which we do not attempt to reconcile or explain. We are not sure that these statements are irreconcilable, but we are not satisfied that any one of the current schemes of chronology thoroughly solves the problem. The opposing figures of the different Christian writers, and of the different chronologists, may stagger a mathematician like Bishop Colenso, but need not, we think, disturb the faith of any devout Christian in the genuineness and authority of the Holy Scriptures.
Plan and Contents.
The Book of Judges is properly divided into three parts: (1.) The INTRODUCTION, extending from chap. 1, to Judges 3:6, which gives a general account of the condition of the Israelites after the death of Joshua, and their relation to the remaining Canaanitish nations. (2.) The second division takes in the main body of the book, and is properly called by Bachmann, in his very able work on Judges, the PRINCIPAL HISTORICAL PART. It extends from Judges 3:7, to Judges 16:31. (3) Then follows an APPENDIX, chaps. 17-21, which was probably added by a later hand. Part First-Introduction. Chaps. 1-3:6.
THE LEADERSHIP Judges 1:1, 2
LEAGUE OF JUDAH AND SIMEON Judges 1:3
DEFEAT OF ADONI-BEZEK Judges 1:4-7
CAPTURE AND BURNING OF JERUSALEM Judges 1:8
CONQUESTS IN THE TERRITORY OF JUDAH Judges 1:9
EPISODE CONCERNING CALEB AND OTHNIEL Judges 1:10-15 THE KENITES Judges 1:16
CONQUEST OF ZEPHATH AND THREE CITIES OF PHILISTIA Judges 1:17-19
EXPLOITS OF CALEB AND COWARDICE OF BENJAMIN Judges 1:20-21 CONQUEST OF BETH-EL Judges 1:22-26
COWARDLY INACTIVITY OF THE REST OF THE TRIBES Judges 1:27-36 THE NATION REBUKED Judges 2:1-5
GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE TIMES OF THE JUDGES Judges 2:6-23 LIST OF THE NATIONS LEFT Judges 3:1-6
Part Second-Principal Historical Part. Chaps. 3:7-16:31.
CHUSHAN’S OPPRESSION, AND THE DELIVERANCE BY OTHNIEL Judges 3:7-11
MOABITISH OPPRESSION, AND THE DELIVERANCE BY EHUD Judges 3:12-30
EXPLOIT OF SHAMGAR Judges 3:31
JABIN’S OPPRESSION, AND THE DELIVERANCE BY DEBORAH AND BARAK Judges 4:1-24
THE SONG OF DEBORAH Judges 5:1-31
MIDIANITE OPPRESSION Judges 6:1-10
CALL OF GIDEON Judges 6:11-24
OVERTHROW OF THE ALTAR OF BAAL Judges 6:25-32
PREPARATIONS FOR WAR Judges 6:33-35
THE SIGN OF THE FLEECE Judges 6:36-40
GIDEON’S ARMY REDUCED TO THREE HUNDRED Judges 7:1-8 THE PRESAGEFUL DREAM Judges 7:9-14
DEFEAT OF THE MIDIANITES Judges 7:15-25
ANGER OF THE EPHRAIMITES Judges 8:1-3
PURSUIT AND DEFEAT OF ZEBAH AND ZALMUNNA Judges 8:4-12 PUNISHMENT OF SUCCOTH AND PENUEL Judges 8:13-17
EXECUTION OF ZEBA AND ZALMUNNA Judges 8:18-21
CONCLUSION OF GIDEON’S HISTORY Judges 8:22-35
ABIMELECH’S USURPATION Judges 9:1-6
JOTHAM’S PARABLE Judges 9:7-21
DOWNFALL OF ABIMELECH Judges 9:22-57
TOLA AND JAIR Judges 10:1-5
PHILISTINE AND AMMONITE OPPRESSION Judges 10:6-9 ISRAEL’S REPENTANCE AND HUMILIATION Judges 10:10-16 PREPARATIONS FOR WAR Judges 10:17, 18
ELECTION OF JEPHTHAH Judges 11:1-11
JEPHTHAH’S MESSAGES TO AMMON Judges 11:12-28
JEPHTHAH’S VICTORY AND VOW Judges 11:29-40
EPHRAIM’S JEALOUSY AND DEFEAT Judges 12:1-6
JEPHTHAH’S DEATH Judges 12:7
IBZAN, ELON, AND ABDON Judges 12:8-15
PHILISTINE OPPRESSION Judges 13:1
SAMSON’S BIRTH Judges 13:2-25
SAMSON’S MARRIAGE AND RIDDLE Judges 14:1-20
BURNING OF THE PHILISTINES’ CORN Judges 15:1-5
SAMSON’S REVENGE FOR HIS WIFE’S DEATH Judges 15:6-8 SAMSON’S EXPLOIT WITH THE JAWBONE OF AN ASS Judges 15:9-20 SAMSON’S EXPLOIT AT GAZA Judges 16:1-3
SAMSON AND DELILAH Judges 16:4-20
SAMSON’S IMPRISONMENT AND DEATH Judges 16:21-31
Part Third-Appendix. Chaps. 17-21.
MICAH AND THE LEVITE CHAP. Judges 17:1-13
THE DANITE CONQUESTS IN THE NORTH Judges 18:1-31 THE LEVITE AND HIS CONCUBINE Judges 19:1-30
THE COUNCIL AT MIZPEH Judges 20:1-11
PREPARATIONS FOR WAR Judges 20:12-19
THE WAR AGAINST BENJAMIN Judges 20:20-48
THE REMNANT OF BENJAMIN PRESERVED Judges 21:1-25