AN. 1158.] ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. by two pillars. So they sent for Sampson, and he was brought to their feast, that they might insult him in their cups. Hereupon he, thinking it one of the greatest misfortunes if he should not be able to revenge himself, when he was thus insulted, persuaded the boy that led him by the hand, that he was weary and wanted to rest himself; and desired he would bring him near the pillars. And as soon as he came to them, he rushed with force against them; and overthrew the house, by overturning its pillars, with three thousand men in it,* who were all slain, and himself with them. And such was the end of Sampson, when he had ruled over the Israelitest twenty years. And indeed this man deserves to be admired for his courage, and strength; and his magnanimity at his death; and that his wrath against his enemies went so far as to die himself with them. But as for his being ensnared by a woman, that is to be ascribed to human nature, which is too weak to resist the temptations to that sin. But we ought to bear him witness, that in all other respects he was one of extraordinary virtue. His kindred took away his body, and buried it in Sarasai, his own country, with the rest of his family. Now after the death of Sampson, Eli, the highpriest, was governor of the Israelites. Under him, when the country was afflicted with a famine, Elimelech, of Bethlehem, which is a city of the tribe of Judah, being not able to support his family under so sore a distress, took with him Naomi his wife, of his affairs there, he took for his sons wives of the Moabites, Orpah for Chilion, and Ruth for Mahlon. But in the compass of ten years, both Elimelech, and a little while after him the sons, died; and Naomi being very uneasy at these accidents, and not able to bear her lonesome condition, now those that were dearest to her were dead, on whose account it was that she had gone away from her own country, she returned to it again; for she had been informed that it was now in a flourishing condition. However, her daughters-in-law were not able to think of parting with her; and when they had a mind to go out of the country with her, she could not dissuade them from it. But when they insisted upon it, she wished them a more happy wedlock than they had with her sons, and that they might have prosperity in other respects also; and, seeing her own affairs were so low, she exhorted them to stay where they were, and not to think of leaving their own country, and partaking with her of that uncertainty, under which she must return. Accordingly, Orpah stayed behind; but she took Ruth along with her, as she could not be persuaded to stay behind, but would share her fortune, whatsoever it should prove.§ and the children that were born to him by her, Chi- some time Booz came thither, and wd; and after lion and Mahlon; and removed his habitation into the land of Moab; and upon the happy prosperity tain and unstable seat; for if that hinge had given way, there had been a greater slaughter than at the battle of Canna. This entirely removes any imaginary difficulty, of this nature at least, from the history of Sampson. "The Eastern method of building may assist us in accounting for the particular structure of the temple, or house, of Dagon, (Judg. xvi.) and the great number of people that were buried in the ruins of it, by pulling down the two principal pillars. We read (v. 27,) that about three the roof, to behold while Sampson thousand persons made sport. Sampson must therefore have been in a court, or area, below them, and consequently the temple will be of the same kind with the ancient suv, or sacred inclosures, surrounded only in part or altogether with some plain or cloistered buildings. Several palaces and dau-wanas, as they called the courts of justice in these countries, are built in this fashion; where upon their testivals or rejoicings a great quantity of sand is strewed upon the area for the wrestlers to fall upon, whilst the roof of the cloisters round about is crowded with spectators of their strength and agility. I have often seen several hundreds of people diverted in this manner upon the roof of the dey's were upon 20 When Ruth was come with her mother-in-law to Bethlehem, Booz, who was near of kin to Elimelech, entertained her. And when Naomi was so called by her fellow-citizens, according to her true name, she said, "You might more truly call me Now Naomi signifies, in the Hebrew It was Mara." tongue, Happiness; and Mara, Sorrow. now reaping-time; and Ruth, by the leave of her mother-in-law, went out to glean; that they might get a stock of corn for their food. Now it haphe saw the pened that she came into Booz's field; and after damsel, he inquired of his servant that was set over the reapers concerning the girl. The servant had palace at Algiers, which, like many more of the same quality and denomination, hath an advanced cloister over against the gate of the palace, Esther v. 1, made in the fashion of a large pent-house, supported only by one or two contiguous pillars in the front, or else in the centre. In such open structures as these, in the midst of their guards and counsellors, are the bashas, kadees, and other great officers, assembled to distribute justice, and transact the public affairs of their provinces. Here, likewise, they have their public entertainments, as the lords and others of the Philistines had in the house of Dagon. Upon a supposied structure of this kind, the pulling down of the front or centre tion, therefore, that in the house of Dagon there was a cloisterpillars only, which supported it, would be attended with the like catastrophe that happened to the Philistines." Shaw's Travels, p. 283. B. *Judg. xvi. 27, 30. † From about 1158 to 1138 B. C. According to the date, (1350,) it must have been long before the government of Eli. § Ruth i. 19. a little before inquired about all her circumstances, and told them to his master. Booz then kindly embraced her; both on account of her affection to her mother-in-law, and her remembrance of that son of hers, to whom she had been married, and wished that she might experience a prosperous condition. So he desired her not to glean, but to reap what she was able; and gave her leave to carry it home. He also gave it in charge to that servant who was over the reapers, not to hinder her when she took it away, and bade him give her her dinner and make her drink, when he did the like to the reapers. Now what corn Ruth received of him, she kept for her mother-in-law, and carried it to her in the evening. And Naomi had kept for her a part of such food as her neighbours had plentifully bestowed upon her. Ruth also told her mother-in-law what Booz had said; and when the other had informed her that he was near of kin to them, and perhaps was so pious a man as to make some provision for them, she went out again on the days following to gather the gleanings, with Booz's maid-servant. It was not many days before Booz, after the barley was winnowed, slept in his threshing-floor. When Naomi was informed of this circumstance, she contrived that Ruth should lie down by him, for she thought that it might be for their advantage that he should discourse with the girl. Accordingly Accordingly she sent the damsel to sleep at his feet, who went as she bade her; for she did not think it consistent with her duty to contradict any command of her mother-in-law. And at first she lay concealed from Booz, as he was fast asleep; but when he awaked about midnight, and perceived a woman lying by him, he asked who she was? and when she had told him her name, and desired that he, whom she owned for her lord, would excuse her, he said no more; but in the morning, before the servants began to set about their work, he waked her, and bid her take as much barley as she could carry, and go to her mother-in-law, before any body should see that she had lain down by him; because it was but prudent to avoid any reproach that might arise on that ac *Ruth iii. 13. It is not easy to give an account of the origin of this custom, but the reason of it is plain; it being a natural signification that he resigned his interest in the land, by giving him his shoe, wherewith he used to walk in it, that he might enter into and take possession of it himself. The Targum instead of the shoe hath right-hand glove; it being then the custom, perhaps, to give that in room of the shoc. In latter times the Jews delivered a handkerchief for the same purpose. So R. Solomon Jarchi says, we acquire, or buy, now, by a handkerchief or veil, instead of a shoe. The giving of a glove was, in the middle ages, a ceremony of investiture in bestowing lands and dignities. In A. D. 1002, two bishops were put in possession of their sees, each by receiving a glove. When she had informed the mother-in-law of this, they were very glad of it; out of the hope they had that Booz would make provision for them. Now about noon Booz went down into the city, and gathered the senate together; and when he had sent for Ruth, he called for her kinsman also. And when he was come, he asked him whether he did not retain the inheritance of Elimelech, and his sons? he confessed that he did retain it, as he was permitted to do by the laws, because he was their nearest kinsman. Then said Booz, "Thou must not remember the laws in part; but do every thing according to them. For the wife of Mahlon is come hither; whom thou must marry according to the law, in case thou wilt retain their fields." So the man yielded up both the fields and the wife to Booz, who was himself of kin to those that were dead; as alleging that he had a wife already, and children also. So Booz called the senate to witness, and bid the woman to loose his shoe,† and spit in his face, according to the law. And when this was done, Booz married Ruth, and they had a son within a year's time. Naomi was herself a nurse to his child; and by the advice of the women called him Obed, as being to be brought up in order to be subservient to her in her old age. For Obed in the Hebrew dialect signifies a servant. The son of Obed was Jesse; and king David was his son, who left his dominions to his sons for one-and-twenty generations. I was therefore obliged to relate this history of Ruth, because I had a mind to demonstrate the power of God; who, without difficulty, can raise those that are of ordinary parentage to dignity and splendour, to which he advanced David, though he were born of such mean parents. So in England, in the reign of Edward the Second, the deprivation of gloves was a ceremony of degradation.-With regard to the shoe as a token of investiture, Castell, Lex. Polyg. col. 2342, mentions that the Emperor of the Abyssinians used the casting of a shoe as a sign of dominion. See Psalm lx. 8. To these instances the following may properly be added: "Childebert the Second was fifteen years old, when Gontram his uncle declared he was of age, and capable of governing by himself. I have put," says he, "this javelin into thy hands, as a token that I have given thee all my kingdom." And then turning towards the assembly, he added, "You see that my son Childebert has become a man. Obey him." Montesquieu, Spirit of Laws, vol. i. p. 361. B. Ruth iv. 17. AN. 1183.] CHAP. X. ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. OF THE BIRTH OF SAMUEL, AND HIS PREDICTION OF THE CALAMITY nacle to beseech God to make her a mother, and to vow to consecrate the first son she should bear to the service of God; and this in such a way that And as she continued at her prayers AND now, upon the ill state of the affairs of the his manner of living should not be like that of ordiHebrews, they made war again upon the Philis-nary men. tines. The occasion was this: Eli, the high-priest a long time, Eli the high-priest who sat before the had two sons, Hophni and Phineas, who were tabernacle, bade her go away: thinking she had guilty of injustice towards men, and of impiety to-been disordered with wine; but when she said she wards God; and abstained from no sort of wicked- had drank water, but was in sorrow for want of ness. Some of their gifts they carried off, as be- children, and was beseeching God for them; he longing to the honourable employment they had: exhorted her to be of good cheer, and told her others of them they took away by violence. They that God would grant her request. also were guilty of impurity with the women that came to worship God at the tabernacle. Nay, the whole course of their life was no better than tyranny.* Their father therefore was angry at them for such wickedness, and expected that God would suddenly inflict his punishments upon them for what they had done. The multitude took it heinously also. And as soon as God had foretold what calamity would befall Eli's sons, which he did both to Eli himself, and to Samuel the prophet, who was yet but a child, he openly showed his sorrow for his sons' destruction. I will first dispatch what I have to say about the prophet Samuel; and after that will proceed to speak of the sons of Eli, and the miseries which they brought upon the whole people of the Hebrews. Elcanah, a Levite, one of a middling condition among his fellow-citizens, and one that dwelt at Ramathaim, a city of the tribe of Ephraim, married two wives, Hannah and Peninnah. He had children by the latter, but he loved the other best, although she were barren. Now Elcanah came with his wives to the city Shiloh, to sacrifice; for there it was that the tabernacle of God was fixed. Now after he had sacrificed, he distributed at that festival portions of the flesh to his wives and children; and when Hannah saw the other wife's children round about their mother, she burst into tears, on account of her barrenness; and, suffering her grief to prevail over her husband's consolations, she went to the taber Josephus here says, that Samuel was brought up in the holy place, or the temple; that is in the sacred buildings about the tabernacle; as is the holy house used by Josephus for the tabernacle itself, VI. 12, and in many other places. § About An. 1170. 1 Sam. iii. 21. The word of the Lord. Without recurring to the learned explanations which have been given of this expression, it may possibly receive an agreeable illustration from the following extracts. "In Abyssinia there is an officer named KAL HATZE, who stands always upon steps at the side of the lattice window, where there is a hole covered in the inside with a curtain of green taffeta; behind this curtain the king sits." Bruce's Trav. vol. iv. p. 76.) The king is described in So she came to her husband full of hope, and ate her meal with gladness. And when they returned to their own country, she found herself pregnant, and they had a son born to them; to whom they gave the name of Samuel, which may be styled one that was asked of God. They therefore came to the tabernacle to offer sacrifice for the birth of the child, and brought tithes with them; but the woman remembered the vow which she had made concerning her son, and delivered him to Eli; dedicating him to God, that he might become a prophet. Accordingly his hair was suffered to grow long, and his drink was water. So Samuel was brought up in the temple. But Elcanah had other sons of Hannah, and three daughters. When Samuel was twelve years old,§ he began to prophesy, and when he was once asleep, God called to him by name; but he supposing he had been called by the high-priest, came to him; but when the high-priest said he did not call him, God did so thrice. Eli was then so far illuminated, that he said to him, "Indeed Samuel I was silent "I now as well as before. It is God that calls thee. Do thou therefore signify unto him, and say, " am here ready." So when he heard God speak again, he desired him to speak, and to deliver what oracles he pleased, for he would not fail to perform any ministration he should make use of him in. To which God replied, "Since thou art here ready, learn what miseries are coming upon another place as very much concealed from public view. He even "covers his face on audiences, or public occasions, and when in judgment. On cases of treason he sits within his balcony, and speaks through a hole in the side of it, to an officer called KAL HATZE, the voice or word of the king, by whom he sends his questions, or any thing else that occurs to the judges, who are seated at the council table." (Bruce's Trav. vol. iii. p. 265.) If such a custom ever obtained among the Jews, the the idea must have been very familiar to them. This clearly propriety of the expression, the word of the Lord, is obvious, as appears to have been the case as to Joseph and his brethren, Gen. xlii. 23. Joseph spake by an interpreter not of languages, but of dignity and state. Other instances of the same nature may probably be traced in 2 Kings v. 10. Job xxxiii. 23. B. the Israelites; such indeed as words cannot declare, nor faith believe. For the sons of Eli shall die in one day; and the priesthood shall be transferred into the family of Eleazar; for Eli hath loved his sons more than my worship, and to such a degree, as is not for their advantage." This message Eli obliged the prophet by oath to tell him; for otherwise he had no inclination to afflict him by repeating it. And now Eli had a far more sure expectation of the perdition of his sons: but the glory of Samuel increased more and more; it being found by experience that whatsoever he* prophesied came to pass accordingly. CHAP. XI. OF THE MISFORTUNES WHICH BEFELL THE SONS OF ELL, THE ARK, AND THE PEOPLE; AND OF THE DEATH OF ELI. ABOUT this timet the Philistines made war against the Israelites, and pitched their camp at the city Aphec. Now when the Israelites had expected them a little while, the very next day they joined battle; but the Philistines were conquerors, and slew about four thousand of the Hebrews; and pursued the rest of the multitude to their camp. The Hebrews being now afraid of the worst, sent to the senate, and to the high-priest, and desired that they would bring the ark of God; that by putting themselves in array, when it was present with them, they might be too hard for their enemies; as not reflecting that he who had condemned them to endure these calamities was greater than the ark; and for whose sake it was that the ark came to be honoured. So the ark came, and the sons of the high-priest with it, having received an assurance from their father, that if they pretended to survive the taking of the ark, they should come no more into his presence. For Phineas officiated already as high-priest; his father having resigned his office to him, by reason of his great age. So the Hebrews were full of courage, as supposing they should be too hard for their enemies; the Philistines also were greatly afraid of the ark coming to the Israelites: however the event did not prove agreeable to the expectation of either side; but when the battle was joined, that victory which the Hebrews expected, was gained by the Philistines; and what defeat the Philistines were afraid of, fell to the lot of the Israelites; and thereby they found that they had put their trust in the ark in vain; for they were presently beaten, as soon as they came to a close fight with their enemies, and lost about thirty thousand men ; among whom were the sons of the high-priest. The ark also was carried away by their enemies. When the news of this defeat came to Shiloh, with that of the capture of the ark, (for a certain young man, a Benjamite, who was in the action, came as a messenger thither,) the whole city was full of lamentations. And Eli the high-priest, who sat upon a high throne at one of the gates, heard their mournful cries; and supposed that some strange thing had befallen his family. So he sent for the young man, and when he understood what had happened in the battle, he was not much grieved as to his sons, or what was told him about the army; as having previously known by divine revelation that those things would happen, and having himself declared them beforehand. For what sad things come unexpectedly, they distress men the most; but as soon as he heard the ark was carried captive by their enemies, he was very much grieved at it, because it fell out quite differently from what he expected; so he fell down from his throne, and died; having lived ninety-eight years, and retained the government forty.§ On the same day, the wife of his son Phineas died also; as not able to survive the misfortune of her husband. For they told her of her husband's death as she was in labour. However, she bare a son at seven months, to whom they gave the name|| Icabod; which name signifies disgrace; and this because the army received disgrace at this time. Now Eli was the first of the family of Ithamar, the other son of Aaron, that had the government; for the family of Eleazar officiated as high-priest at first; the son still receiving that honour from the father, Eleazar bequeathed it to his son Phineas, after whom Abiezer his son took the honour, and delivered it to his son whose name was Bukki; his son next received it; after whom Eli, of whom we have been speaking, had the priesthood; and so had his posterity until the time of Solomon's reign; but then it was resumed by the posterity of Eleazar. times called righteous men. See Matt. x. 41. xiii. 17. Con † An. 1143. * Although there had been a few occasional prophets before, yet was Samuel the first of a constant succession of prophets institut. VIII. 12. the Jewish nation; as it is implied in St. Peter's words, Acts iii. 24. "Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel, and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days." See also Acts xiii. 20. The others were rather some He was 98 years old. See 1 Sam. iv. 15. From An. 1188 to 1148 B. C. 1 Sam. iv. 21. |