vised him to bring his army about noon, in the violence of the heat, to the river, and to esteem those that bent down on their knees, and so drank, to be men of courage, but for all those that drank hastily and tumultuously, that he should esteem them to do it out of fear, and as in dread of their enemies. And when Gideon had done as God had suggested to him, there were found three hundred men that took water with their hands, tumultuously. So God bid him take these men, and attack the enemy. Accordingly they pitched their camp at the river Jordan; as ready the next day to pass over it. cipal persons of the tribe of Manasseh, brought || fess that it was owing to his assistance, he adhis sheaves of corn privately, and threshed them at the wine-press; for he was too fearful of the enemies to thresh them openly in the threshingfloor. At this time somewhat appeared to him, in the shape of a young man, and told him, that he was a happy man, and beloved of God. To which he immediately replied, "A mighty indication of God's favour to me, that I am forced to use this wine-press instead of a threshing-floor."* But the appearance exhorted him to be of good courage, and to make an attempt for the recovery of their liberty. He answered, that it was impossible for him to recover it, because the tribe to which he belonged was by no means numerous; and because he was but young himself, and too inconsiderable to think of such great actions. But the other promised him, that God would supply what he was defective in; and would afford the Israelites victory under his conduct. Now, therefore, as Gideon was relating this thing to some young men, they believed him, and immediately an army of ten thousand men got ready for fighting. But God stood by Gideon in his sleep, and told him, that mankind were too fond of themselves; and were enemies to such as excelled in virtue. Now that they might not pass God over, but ascribe the victory to him, and might not fancy it obtained by their own power, because they were a great army, and able of themselves to fight their enemies, but might con *He supposed that the dew which was distilled from heaven, was a divine gift, as the Scripture after testifies; and therefore, he desired that it might be directed by God, that though it commonly falls everywhere, by his extraordinary providence, it might now only water his fleece. Some are apt to think, that he chose a fleece for this purpose, not only because it was ready at hand, but the better to express how the land was shorn by the Midianites, even as the sheep had been by him: that when he begged the dew, as a sign of the divine favour, might fall upon the fleece, it was to represent the kindness of God to him; and when he begged it might fall upon the whole ground, to represent his favour to all the people. But there is further reason why he might desire to have the miracle inverted. For, as it is in the very nature of the wool to draw moisture to it, some might be apt to think, that there was no great matter in this; and therefore he requested of God a second miracle, which was contrary to the former. Patrick's Commentary. B. †M. Le Clerc is of opinion, that the sacred historian has omitted one circumstance, which, nevertheless, in the very nature of the thing, is implied, viz. that Gideon, when he led his men down to the water, did forbid them to make use of any cup or pot, or such like thing; for he thinks it incongruous (as well he may) that among such a number as ten thousand men, no one should be furnished with some drinking vessel or other. But then, had any of these been permitted to be used upon this occasion, the experiment could not have been made. (Comment. on Judg. vii. 6.) Interpreters are at a sad puzzle to conceive for what possible reason God made a distinction between the soldiers who lapped water in their hands, and those that laid Gideon was in great fear, because God had told him beforehand that he should set upon his enemies in the night-time. But God being willing to free him from his fear, bid him take one of his soldiers, and go near the Midianites' tents; for that he should from that very place have his courage raised, and grow bold. So he obeyed, and went and took his servant Phurah with him. And as he came near to one of the tents, he discovered that those that were in it were awake, and that one of them was telling his fellow-soldier a dream of his own; and that so plainly, that Gideon could hear him. The dream was this; he thought he saw a barley-cake, such an one as could hardly be eaten by men, it was so vile, rolling through the camp, and overthrowing the royal tent, and the tents of all the soldiers. Now themselves down to drink. Some of the Jewish doctors are of the other soldier explained this vision to signify the destruction of the army; and told them what his reason was, which made him so to conjecture: viz. That the seed called barley was all of it allowed to be of the vilest sort of seed; and that the Israelites were known to be the vilest of all the people of Asia; agreeably to the seed of barley. And that what seemed to look big among the Israelites, was this Gideon and the army that was with him. "And since thou sayest thou didst see the cake overturning our tents," said he, "I am afraid lest God hath granted the victory over us to Gideon." When Gideon had heard this dream, he was inspired with courage, and commanded his soldiers to arm themselves, telling them of this vision of their enemies. They also took courThey also took courage upon what was told them, and were ready to perform what he should command; so Gideon divided his army into three parts, and brought it out about the fourth watch of the night;* each part containing a hundred men; they all bare empty pitchers and lighted lamps in their hands, that their onset might not be discovered by their enemies. Each man had also a ram's horn in his right hand, which he used instead of a trumpet. The enemies' camp took up a large space of ground, for they had a great many camels; and as they were divided into different nations, so they were all contained in one circle. Now when the Hebrews did as they were ordered upon their approach to their enemies, and, on the signal given, sounded with their rams' horns, and brake their pitchers, and set upon their enemies with their lamps, and a great shout, and cried "Victory to Gideon, by God's assistance," a disorder and a fright seized on the other men, while they were half asleep, for it was night-time, as God would have it; so that a few of them were slain by their enemies, but the greatest part by their own soldiers, on account of the diversity of their language; and when they were once thrown into disorder, they killed all that they met with, * The expression in the text is, in the beginning of the middle watch. For though the Romans, in after ages, divided the night into four watches, (Matt. xiv. 25,) yet, in the eastern parts, and in more ancient times, it consisted but of three, whereof the first began at six, and continued four hours. The second therefore is called the middle watch, and began at eleven; so that we may suppose, that it was some time after this, that Gideon alarmed the Midianitish camp; and the reason why he chose this part of the night to do it in, is obvious, because the trumpets would then seem to sound louder, and the lights to shine brighter, and so both increase the consternation of the enemy, and conceal the smallness of his own army. Pool's Annot. B. † Judg. vii. 25. As the language of the Ishmaelites, the Midianites, and the Amalekites, who dwelt in Arabia, was originally the same, because they all descended from Abraham as thinking them to be enemies also. Thus there was a great slaughter made; and as the report of Gideon's victory came to the Israelites, they took their weapons and pursued their enemies, and overtook them in a certain valley, encompassed with torrents, a place which these could not get over, so they encompassed them, and slew them all, with their kings, Oreb and Zeeb ;† but the remaining captains led those soldiers that were left, which were about eighteen thousand, and pitched their camp a great way off the Israelites. However, Gideon pursued them with all his army, and joining battle with them, cut off the whole enemies' army, and took the other leaders, Zebah and Zalmunna, and made them captives. Now there were slain in this battle of the Midianites, and of their auxiliaries the Arabians, about a hundred and twenty thousand; and the Hebrews took a great prey, gold, and silver, and garments, and camels, and asses: and when Gideon was come to his own country of Ophrah, he slew the kings of the Midianites. The tribe of Ephraim, however, was so displeased at the good success of Gideon, that they resolved to make war against him; accusing him because he did not tell them of his expedition against their enemies. But Gideon, as a man of temper, and that excelled in every virtue, pleaded that it was not the result of his own authority or reasoning that made him attack the enemy without them; but that it was the command of God; and that still the victory belonged to them, as well as to those that were in the army; and by this method of cooling their passions, he brought more advantage to the Hebrews, than by the success he had against their enemies, for he thereby delivered them from a sedition which was arising among them. Yet did this tribe afterwards suffer the punishment of this their injurious treatment of Gideon, of which we will give an account in due time. Hereupon Gideon would have resigned the government, but being over-persuaded retained it forty years;§ and distributed justice to them as the peo their common father; so we may infer, that there was little or no difference in them at this time. Oreb, in the Hebrew, signifies a crow, and Zeeb, a wolf; and these are no improper words to represent the sagaciousness and fierceness which should be in two such great commanders. Nor was it an uncommon thing for great families in ancient times to derive their names from such like creatures, (hence the Corvini, Gracchi, Aquilini, &c. among the Romans,) either as omens, or monuments of their undaunted courage and dexterity in military achievements. But after all it seems every whit as probable, that these were only nicknames, which the Israelites gave these two princes of Midian, to denote their fierceness and rapaciousness of prey. Bedford's Scripture Chronology, lib. v. c. 3, and Le Clerc's Commentary. B. ‡ Judg. viii. 1. § From An. 1307 to An. 1267. ple came to him in their differences; and what he | we before related, went up to mount Gerizim, which determined was esteemed valid by all; and when he died he was buried in his own country of Ophrah. CHAP. VII. Now Gideon had seventy sons that were legitimate, for he had many wives; but he had also by his concubine Drumah, one that was spurious, whose name was Abimelech,* who, after his father's death, retired to Shechem, to his mother's relations, for they were of that place; and when he had got money of such of them as were eminent for many instances of injustice, he came with them to his father's house, and slew all his brethren, except Jotham, for he had the good fortune to escape and be preserved. But Abimelech made the government tyrannical, and constituted himself a lord, to do what he pleased, instead of obeying the laws; and he acted most rigidly against those that were the patrons of justice. Now when, on a certain time,† there was a public festival at Shechem, and all the multitude was there gathered together, Jotham his brother, whose escape * What the names of his other sons were, we have no mention made in sacred writ; but the name of this one is particularly set down, because the following story depends upon it; and not only so, but his mother perhaps might give him this name, which signifies, my father a king, out of pride and arrogance, that she might be looked upon as the wife of one who was thought to deserve a kingdom, though he did not accept it: and it is not improbable, that the very sense of this might be one means to inflame the mind of her son afterwards, to affect the royal dignity. Patrick's Commentary. B. † An. 1267. This is the first fable that we find anywhere upon record; and from hence it appears, that such fictions as these, wherein the most serious truths are represented, were in use among the Jews, as they are still in the eastern countries, long before the time of Æsop, or any other author that we know of. Various are the reasons that may be assigned for the first invention of them; but these two seem to be the principal: 1. Because men would suffer themselves to be reprehended in this guise, when they would not endure plain words: and, 2. Because they heard them with delight and pleasure, and remembered them better than any grave or rational discourses. The trees went forth on a time, to anoint a king over them, (so that anointing was in use 200 years before the first king of Israel;) and they said unto the olive-tree, Reign over us. But the olive-tree said unto them, Should I leave my fatness, wherewith by me they honour God and man, (because oil was offered in sacrifice to God, and fed the lamps of his house, besides all the other uses wherein it was serviceable to man,) and go to be promoted over the trees? And the trees said to the fig-tree, Come thou and reign over us. But the fig-tree said to them, Should I forsake my sweetness, and my good fruit, (an apt representation of that content and fullness of pleasure which may be enjoyed in a private life, and cannot, without folly, be exchanged for the troubles and cares that men meet with in the management of public affairs,) and go to be promoted over the trees? Then said the trees unto the vine, Come thou and reign over us. And the vine said unto them, hangs over the city Shechem, and cried out so as to be heard by the multitude, who were attentive to him. He desired they would consider what he was going to say; so when silence was made,‡ he said, "when the trees had a human voice, and there was an assembly of them gathered together, they desired that the fig-tree would rule over them. But when that tree refused so to do, because it was contented to enjoy that honour which belonged peculiarly to the fruit it bare, and not that which should be derived to it from abroad, the trees did not leave off their intentions to have a ruler; so they thought proper to make the offer of that honour to the vine. But when the vine was chosen, it made use of the same words which the fig-tree had used before, and excused itself from accepting the government; and when the olive-tree had done the same, the brier, a sort of wood good for firing, promised to take the government, and to be zealous in the exercise of it; but that then they must sit down under its shadow; and if they should plot against it to destroy it, the principle of fire that was in it should destroy them." -He added, "that what he had said was no laughing matter: for that when they had experienced Should I leave my wine, which cheereth God and man, (a form of speech imitated by heathen authors, and especially by Virgil (Georg. lib. 2,) where, speaking of some generous wine, he terms it-mensis et diis accepta secundis, since wine, as well as oil, was used both in Jewish and heathen sacrifices,) and go to be promoted over the trees? Then said all the trees unto the bramble, (the meanest of all trees, good for nothing but to be burnt, and therefore fitly resembling Abimelech, from whom the Shechemites could expect no manner of benefit, but a great deal of trouble and vexation,) Come thou, and reign over us. And the bramble said unto the trees, If, in truth, ye anoint me king, then come and put your trust in my shadow,) an apt emblem of Abimelech's ridiculous vanity, to imagine that he should be able to maintain the authority of a king, any more than the bramble could afford a shadow or shelter,) and if not, let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon; (words that carry a lively image of Abimelech's ostentatious spirit, and menaces to take severe vengeance on the nobles of Shechem, such as the house. of Millo, who had been chiefly instrumental in his promotion, in case they should desert him.) This is the parable, and, in some measure, the interpretation. The only difficulty is, to know whom these trees are set to sig. nify. And here, some have thought, that by the olive-tree we are to understand Othniel; by the fig-tree, Deborah; and by the vine, Gideon: for to the two former, they suppose the offer of the kingdom was made for the services done their country, and by them rejected, as well as by the last. But for this there is no authority; neither is there any necessity, in the explication of such fables, to assign a particular reason for every image that is drawn in them. It is sufficient if we can but hit off their main intendment, which, in this of Jotham, was to convince the Shechemites of their folly in choosing a man for their king, who was no more able to protect them, than a bramble was to cover other trees that should resort to it, under the shadow of its branches. Saurin's Dissertations, and Patrick's Commentary. B. many blessings from Gideon, they overlooked Abimelech, when he overruled all, and had joined with him in slaying his brethren, and that he was no better than a fire himself." So when he had said this, he went away, and lived privately in the mountains for three years, out of fear of Abimelech.* A little while after this festival, the Shechemites, who had now repented of having slain the sons of Gideon, drove Abimelech away, both from their city and their tribe; whereupon he contrived how he might distress their city. Now at the season of vintage, the people were afraid to go out, and gather their fruits, for fear Abimelech should do them some mischief. Now it happened that there had come to them a man of authority, one Gaal, that sojourned with them, having his armed men and his kinsmen with him; so the Shechemites desired that he would allow them a guard during their vintage. Accordingly he accepted of their desires, and the people went out, and Gaal with them, at the head of his soldiery; so they gathered their fruit with safety: and when they were at supper in several companies, they then ventured to curse Abimelech openly,† and the magistrates laid ambushes in places about the city, and caught many of Abimelech's followers, and destroyed them. Now there was one Zebul, a magistrate of the Shechemites, that had entertained Abimelech. He sent messengers, and informed him how much Gaal had irritated the people against him, and excited him to lay ambushes before the city; for that he would persuade Gaal to go out against him; which would leave it in his power to be revenged on him; and when that was once done, he * Judg. ix. 21. † Judg. ix. 27. Our translation of the Book of Judges from the Hebrew, represents Zebul as saying to Gaal, upon his being alarmed at seeing troops of men making to him, Thou seest the shadows of the mountains as if they were men, ch. ix. ver. 36. Whereas Josephus represents him as telling him, he mistook the shadow of the rocks for men. A commentator might be at a loss to account for this change, that had not read Deubdan's representation of some part of the Holy Land, in which he tells us, that in those places there are many detached rocks scattered up and down, some growing out of the ground, (Voyage, p. 98,) and others are fragments broken off from rocky precipices, the shadow of which it appears Josephus thought might be most naturally imagined to look like troops of men at a distance, rather than the shadow of the mountains. Harmer's Observations, vol. I. p. 98, Clarke's Edition. B. § In the text the expression is, Then God sent an evil spirit, or spirit of discord, between Abimelech and the men of Shechem, Judg. ix. 23, which, in Scripture, is an unusual form of speech, and denotes not any positive action, but a permission only, or, at most, a direction from God. It is observed, however, that this manner of expression may possibly have given rise to some notions in the theology of the Heathens, when they suppose, that the furies appointed by the gods to sow the seeds of discord among men; would bring him to be reconciled to the city. So Abimelech laid ambushes, and himself laid with them. Now Gaal abode in the suburbs, taking little care of himself; and Zebul was with him. Now as Gaal saw the armed men coming on, he said to Zebul, that some armed men were coming; but the other replied, they were only shadows of huge stones; and, when they were come nearer, Gaal perceived what was the reality, and said they were not shadows, but men lying in ambush. Then said Zebul, "Didst not thou reproach Abimelech for cowardice? why dost thou not then show how very courageous thou art thyself, and go and fight him?" So Gaal being in disorder, joined battle with Abimelech, and some of his men fell; whereupon he fled into the city, and took his men with him. But Zebul managed his matters so in the city, that he procured them to expel Gaal out of the city; and this by accusing him of cowardice in this action with the soldiers of Abimelech.§ But Abimelech, when he had learned that the Shechemites were again coming out to gather their grapes, placed ambushes before the city; and when they were come out, the third part of his army took possession of the gates to hinder the citizens from returning, whilst the rest pursued those that were scattered abroad; and so there was slaughter everywhere; and when he had overthrown the city to the very foundations, (for it was not able to bear a siege) and had sown its ruins with salt,|| he proceeded on with his army, till all the Shechemites were slain. As for those that were scattered about the country, and so escaped the danger, they were gathered together unto a certain strong rock, and The effect of salt, where it abounds, on vegetation, is described by burning, Deut. xxix. 23. Thus Volney, speaking of the borders of the Asphaltic Lake, or Dead Sea, says, "The true cause of the absence of vegetables and animals, is the acrid saltness of its waters, which is infinitely greater than that of the sea. The land surrounding the lake being equally impregnated with that saltness, refuses to produce plants: the air itself, which is by evaporation loaded with it, and which moreover receives vapours of sulphur and bitumen, cannot suit vegetation: whence the dead appearance which reigns round the lake." Voyage en Syrie, tom. i. p. 282. Thus also Virgil, Georg. lib. ii. 238. Hence the ancient custom of sowing an enemy's city, when taken, with salt, in token of perpetual desolation. Judg. ix. 45. And thus in after-times, An. 1162, the city of Milan was burnt, razed, sown with salt, and ploughed by the exasperated emperor Frederic Barbarossa. Complete System of Geogr. vol. I. p. 822. B. settled themselves upon it, and prepared to build a wall about: but when Abimelech knew their intentions, he prevented them; and came upon them with his forces; and laid fagots of dry wood round the place, he himself bringing some of them, and by his example encouraging the soldiers to do the same. And when the rock was encompassed round about with these fagots, they set them on fire, and threw in whatsoever by nature caught fire the most easily. So a mighty flame was raised, and nobody could fly away from the rock, but every man perished, with their wives and children; in all about fifteen hundred men; and the rest were a great number also. And such was the calamity which fell upon the Shechemites; and men's grief on their account had been greater than it was, had they not brought so much mischief on a person who had so well deserved of them; and had they not themselves esteemed this as a punish ment for the same. Now Abimelech, when he had affrighted the Israelites with the miseries he had brought upon the Shechemites, seemed openly to affect greater authority than he now had, and appeared to set no bounds to his violence, unless it were with the destruction of all. Accordingly he marched to Thebez, and took the city suddenly, and there being a great tower therein, whereunto the whole multitude fled, he made preparation to besiege it. Now as he was rushing with violence near the gates, a woman threw a piece of a mill-stone upon his head.* Upon which Abimelech fell down, and desired his armour-bearer to kill him; lest his death should be thought to be the work of a woman. So he underwent this death,† as a punishment for the wickedness he had perpetrated against his brethren; and his insolent barbarity to the Shechemites. Now the calamity that happened to those Shechemites was according to the prediction of Jotham. However, the army that was with Abimelech, upon his fall, was scattered abroad, and went to their own homes. * Thus Plutarch relates, that Pyrrhus, at the siege of Argos, was killed by a woman throwing a tile upon his head; but there is something more remarkable in Abimelech's death by a stone, because, as he slew all his brethren upon one stone, for him to die by no other instrument, carried some stamp of his sin upon it. The manner of his death, however, puts me in mind of what the same author records of the Spartan general Lysander, who fell ingloriously under the wall of Haliartus. "Thus he died," says he, "but not like Cleombrotus, who was slain while he was gloriously making head against an impetuous enemy at Leuctra, nor like Cyrus, or Epaminondas, who received a mortal wound, while he was rallying his men, and securing to them the victory. These great men died in their callings. They died the death of kings and commanders; whereas he, like some common soldier, or one of the forlorn hope, cast away his life inglorious Now it was that‡ Jair, the Gileadite, of the tribe of Manasseh, took the government. He was a man happy in other respects also; but particularly in his children; who were of a good character. They were thirty in number; and very skilful in riding on horses, and were intrusted with the government of the cities of Gilead. He kept the government twenty-two|| years, and died an old man; and he was buried at Camot, a city of Gilead. And now all the affairs of the Hebrews were managed uncertainly, and tended to disorder, and to the contempt of God, and of the laws. So the Ammonites and Philistines had them in contempt, and laid waste the country with a great army; and when they had taken all Perea, they were so insolent as to attempt to gain possession of all the rest. But the Hebrews being now reformed by the calamities they had undergone, made supplications to God, and brought sacrifices to him; beseeching him not to be too severe; but to be moved by their prayers to leave off his anger against them. So God became more merciful, and was ready to assist them. When the Ammonites had made an expedition into the land of Gilead, the inhabitants of the country met them at a certain mountain; but wanted a commander. Now there was one whose name was Jephtha, who both on account of his father's virtue, and on account of that army which he maintained at his own expense, was a potent man. The Israelites therefore sent to him, and entreated him to come to their assistance; promising him the dominion over them all his life-time. But he did not admit of their entreaty; and accused them, that they did not come to his assistance when he was unjustly treated, and this in an open manner, by his brethren. For they cast him off, as not having the same mother with the rest, but born of a strange mother, that was introduced among them by his father's fondness; and this they did out of a contempt of his inability to vinly; giving this testimony to the ancient Spartans, that they did well to avoid storming of walls; in which the stoutest man may chance to fall by the hand, not only of an abject fellow, but by that of a boy, or a woman, as they say Achilles was slain, in the gates of Troy, by the hands of the effeminate Paris." Patrick's Commentary, and Plutarch's Comp. of Lysander and Sylla. B. † An. 1264. Our present copies of Josephus all omit Tola among the Judges, though the other copies have him next after Abimelech, and allot 23 years to his administration, Judg. x. 1, 2, yet do all Josephus's commentators conclude, that in Josephus's sum of the years of the Judges, his 23 years are included. Whence we are to confess that somewhat has been here lost out of his copies. || From An. 1241 to 1219 B. C. 1 |