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such scenes represent the punishment or destruction of Briareus, an opinion sufficiently refuted by the fact that a woman is included in one of the groups of this description: and it is admitted by Wilkinson that they are foreign captives, the names of whose districts and towns can be read off; but he nevertheless thinks they do not represent human sacrifices, but form a religious allegory, purporting to be an acknowledgment of the victory obtained by the assistance of the deity to whom the offering seems to be made. If so, this would be a curious method of expressing such acknowledgment; and one, too, which would express at least the former existence, in a less civilized state, of the actual custom thus figuratively indicated.

See the subject more largely considered in the author's Pictorial History of Palestine, ii. 386-391, from which this note is abridged.

18. Judah took Gaza... Askelon... Ekron.'-These towns, however, must soon have been recovered by the Philistines. This is the only place from which we could gather that Judah ever did possess these cities; and when they are next mentioned, we again find them in the hands of their former owners; who probably availed themselves of the earliest 'servitudes,' with which the Israelites were punished for their apostacy, to retake their lost towns.

19. Chariots of iron.'-See the note on Exod. xiv. 7. Most commentators and Biblical antiquaries agree in thinking that it is not necessary to suppose that these chariots were made of iron, but only that they were armed with it. As, however, such chariots do not occur in Egyptian sculptures, and are not mentioned by Homer in his Iliad, in which chariots of war are so often brought under our notice, it admits of a question whether armed chariots of war were at this time known in the west of Asia. If not, we may conclude-not, certainly, that the iron chariots' of the Canaanites were wholly composed of iron, but that they were so braced and strengthened with that metal, that their onset in war was more terrible than if they had been more entirely composed of some lighter material. In that case, iron chariots' was probably a term by which such were distinguished from other and lighter chariots, also employed in war. There is no difficulty in the epithet, if the Canaanites only used iron to emboss or sheath their chariots, in the same way that the Greeks of Homer used brass, tin, silver, and gold; for it is usual to describe an article as made of that substance with which it is only exteriorly covered or ornamented. Indeed metal appears

to have been profusely employed in the chariots of the Homeric period. Hence, from this burnished splendour, the epithets 'splendid' and 'bright' are continually applied to them. The extent to which metal was employed in the superior sort of chariots will appear by the description which the same poet gives of the chariot in which Juno and Minerva sped to assist the Greeks:

'Hebe to the chariot roll'd

The brazen wheels, and join'd them to the smooth Steel axle; twice four spokes divided each, Shot from the centre to the verge. The verge Was gold, by fellies of eternal brass Guarded, a dazzling show! The shining naves Were silver; silver cords, and cords of gold, The seat upbore; two crescents blazed in front. The pole was argent all, to which she bound The golden yoke with its appendant charge, Inserted braces, straps and bands of gold." Supposing the Canaanites to have had the principal parts of iron, which are here described as of steel, silver, and gold, we may easily obtain a notion of the iron chariots of the text.

The general form of the ancient unarmed chariots will be seen from our two wood-cuts, together with that which has already been given under Exod. xiv. The first of the present cuts, like the former one, is from Egyptian sculpture, and the vehicle seems, also like that, so small and light, as to be obviously intended merely for the conveyance of the warrior, without being, in itself, from its weight and power, an offensive engine. We observed, in the note to Exod. xiv. 7, that the Egyptian chariots have generally but one rider. The present has three; one holding the reins, another bearing a spear, and the third a shield. Yet it is still so small as scarcely to afford room for one person, and, with the three, is so crowded, that the warriors appear to be placed in unusual circumstances. In fact, as the travellers who have examined the battle-scene at Thebes, from which it was taken, describe it, this is a chariot of the defeated party, who, in their flight, crowd in twos and threes into the cars intended only for one person. (See Richardson's Travels, ii. 23.) In ordinary circumstances, a single person would have the shield in one hand, the spear in the other, and the reins lashed around the body. The chariots described by Homer always carried two persons-the warrior himself and his charioteer. The office of the latter

ANCIENT WAR-CHARIOT.-From an Egyptian Bas-relief.

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ANCIENT PERSIAN CHARIOT.-From a Persepolitan Bas-relief in the British Museum.

was one of very considerable importance; and all the heroes were competent to perform its duties on occasion. Patroclus, who was the dear and intimate friend of Achilles, and from whose death such important consequences resulted, was at the same time the charioteer of that imperious hero.

The second cut is, in our opinion, of much more consequence than the other, as affording a more probable representation of the chariots (not Egyptian), mentioned in Scripture, which can now be obtained. It also agrees better with the description of Homer. Indeed it seems to us the most perfect representation of an ancient chariot that now exists. It formed the termination of a line of procession among the bas-reliefs of Persepolis, and is now in the British Museum. It is to be regretted that it is represented as forming part of a walking procession rather than in proper action. We need not give a verbal description of the details which the cut so clearly exhibits; but the reader will not fail to observe its evident superiority for the purposes of a war-chariot to the slight cars of the Egyptians.

We have described unarmed chariots as illustrating the present text; but we do not wish to be understood as rejecting the notion that the iron chariots' of the Canaanites were armed with offensive projections. It is possible that they were, and we shall perhaps find a future opportunity of noticing such chariots. Meanwhile, the above statement will shew that this supposition is not absolutely necessary to the elucidation of the text. The high antiquity of such chariots as those which have engaged our attention, compared with the less certain, though also probably very high, antiquity of armed chariots, gives the former an unquestionable claim to priority of attention.

31. Accho.-This place was, in times long subsequent, enlarged and improved by the first Ptolemy, after whom it was then called Ptolemais. It has now recovered its ancient name, being called by the Arabs Akka, and by the Turks Acra or Acre. The apostle Paul touched at and spent a day in this place on his return to Jerusalem, from his travels in Greece and Asia Minor. (See the note on Acts xxi. 7.)

-Nor the inhabitants of Zidon.'-See the notes on Num. xxxiv. 6; and Josh. xix. 24. In the latter of these notes we have explained the opinion of Michaelis, that

Our

Sidon was not included in the lot of Asher, and have given his answers to the objections which might be made to that opinion. On arriving at the present text, he confesses that in its literal meaning it bears strongly against his theory; and says that it is the only text by which it is not favoured. Hopeless of getting over the difficulty which it offers, he says: To declare my opinion honestly, I conceive the words ji, inhabitants of Sidon, to be of doubtful authority and a mere interpolation.' It is not however just for a critic, without being able to adduce ancient manuscripts or versions in support of his opinion, to propose to omit a particular clause, merely because it happens to stand in the way of a favourite hypothesis. For ourselves, we are disposed to adopt the local hypothesis of Michaelis, in such a modified form as does, in our opinion, obviate all the difficulties of this perplexing subject, and has the advantage not only of being not adverse to, but of obtaining support from, the present text. It will be observed, that Tyre is not mentioned here, as in Josh. xix., but that Sidon is; and, further, that Achzib and Accho, towns on the coast to the south of Tyre, are mentioned among those whose inhabitants the Asherites could not drive out. impression is that Sidon, and its proper and ancient_territory, were not included in the lot of Asher; but that Tyre We conceive that the Sidonians, having found an advantageous situation for a commercial port, southward of their own territory, had extended their frontier so as to include this spot, and had there recently founded Tyre. So now, under this view, the present text would mean that the Asherites had neglected to drive the inhabitants of Sidon,' that is, those who were formerly inhabitants of Sidon, from Tyre and the usurped district, and had not obliged them to retire within their old boundaries. Otherwise, under the same view, the expression inhabitants of Sidon' may well be understood to denote the Sidonians generally; 'Sidon' being understood as the name of the country as well as of the town. In the Old Testament there is no particular name for this district except that of the principal town-just as we find in Ps. lxxxiii. 7, where the words, the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre,' are obviously used generally for the Philistines and Phonicians. Tyre was then the principal town, as Sidon was at the present date, and as such gave name to the whole Phoenician territory. Therefore, the text would express,

was.

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1 An angel rebuketh the people at Bochim. 10 The wickedness of the new generation after Joshua. 14 God's anger and pity toward them. 20 The Canaanites are left to prove Israel.

AND an 'angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you.

2 And ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land; 'ye shall throw down their altars but ye have not obeyed my voice why have ye done this?

3 Wherefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be *as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a 'snare unto you.

4 And it came to pass, when the angel of the LORD spake these words unto all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voice, and wept.

5 And they called the name of that place 'Bochim and they sacrificed there unto the LORD.

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7 Heb. prolonged days after Joshua. 11 Chap. 3. 12.

3 Deut. 12. 3.

omission of Tyre here, affords a strong ground for the view we have taken. We regret that we cannot here shew in detail the applicability of this view to the solution of all the difficulties which attend the subject. But the reader who feels an interest in the matter, and refers to the previous notes, will readily perceive these applications; and he will, we trust, find his considerations better assisted by this view, than by any which has yet been proposed. [APP. No. 22.]

11 And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim: 12 And they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land. of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the LORD to anger.

13 And they forsook the LORD, and served Baal and Ashtaroth.

14 And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and he sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies.

15 Whithersoever they went out, the hand of the LORD was against them for evil, as the LORD had said, and 'as the LORD had sworn unto them and they were greatly distressed.

16 Nevertheless the LORD raised up judges, which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them.

17 And yet they would not hearken unto their judges, but they went a whoring after other gods, and bowed themselves unto them: they turned quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in, obeying the commandments of the LORD; but they did not so.

18 And when the LORD raised them up judges, then the LORD was with the judge, and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge: for it repented the LORD because of their groanings by reason of them that oppressed them and vexed them.

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4 Josh. 23. 13.

8 Psal. 44. 12. Isa. 50. 1.

12 Or, were corrupt.

5 Exod. 23. 33, and 34. 12. 9 Lev. 26. Deut. 28. 13 Heb. they let nothing full of their.

6 That is, weepers. 10 Heb. saved.

21 I also will not henceforth drive out any from before them of the nations which Joshua left when he died:

22 That through them I may prove Israel, whether they will keep the way of the LORD

to walk therein, as their fathers did keep it,

or not.

23 Therefore the LORD "left those nations, without driving them out hastily; neither delivered he them into the hand of Joshua.

14 Or, suffered.

Verse 1.From Gilgal to Bochim.'-From this we may infer, that the angel had made his appearance at Gilgal, before he came to Bochim. The latter place is thought to have been at or near Shiloh, or, as some think, Bethel.

10. All that generation.'-That is, doubtless, the generation which had grown up in the wilderness, and had witnessed a part of the works of the Lord there. They had also crossed the divided Jordan, had beheld the wonders through which the Lord had enabled them to overcome 'nations greater and mightier than themselves,' and who, in the last days of Joshua, had solemnly renewed the covenant with Jehovah.

The chapter before us claims the most attentive consideration of those who would thoroughly understand the condition of the Israelites during the several centuries which elapsed from the death of Joshua to the establishment of a regal government. It is a masterly summary of the leading principles of conduct which the subsequent circumstances illustrate. The succeeding brief collection of leading facts would not be well understood without the general and connecting statement contained in this chapter.

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11. Served Baalim.'-The word Baalim (lords) being plural, the meaning is, that they served not one particular deity, but the various gods of the country, as is expressly said in v. 12. Jahn's section, on The Theocracy from Joshua to Samuel,' in his History of the Hebrew Commonwealth, forms so valuable, though short, a commentary on this chapter, that we shall not deny ourselves the satisfaction of quoting its substance in our notes. Referring to the apostacy of the Israelites, he observes: The last admonitions of Joshua, and the renewal of the covenant with Jehovah, failed to produce all the effect intended. That generation, indeed, never suffered idolatry to become predominant, but still they were very negligent in regard to the expulsion of the Canaanites. Only a few tribes made war on their hereditary foes, and even they were soon weary of the contest. They spared their dangerous and corrupting neighbours, and, contrary to an express statute, were satisfied with making them tributary. They even became connected with them by unlawful marriages; and then it was no longer easy for them to exterminate or banish the near relatives of their own families. Thus the Hebrews rendered the execution of the law more difficult, if not impossible, and wove for themselves the net in which they were afterwards entangled.' Their Canaanitish relatives invited them to their festivals, at which the most gross and corrupting rites of idolatry were freely exercised. These debaucheries were consecrated by the religious customs of all nations; and however painful it may be to refer to them, the truth of Hebrew history will not allow us to overlook them, in estimating the causes which operated in seducing the Israelites from their allegiance to JEHOVAH. The enticements of their pagan relatives and neighbours, and the impurities which their religion sanctioned, but which the law of JEHOVAH counted abominable, too soon brought His subjects to submit themselves to deities so tolerant of sin, and so highly honoured by the people with whom they associated. At first, probably,' says Jahn, a representation of JEHOVAH was set up, but this was soon transformed to an idol, or was invoked as an idol by others, of which there is a remarkable example in the time soon after Joshua (Judg. xvii., xviii.). Idolatrous images were afterwards set up with the image, and the Hebrews imagined that they should be the more prosperous if they rendered religious homage to the ancient gods of the land.

The propensity to idolatry, which was predominant in all the rest of the world, thus spread itself like a plague. From time to time idolatry was openly professed; and this national treachery to their King JEHOVAH, always brought with it national misfortunes.' [APPENDIX, No. 23.]

14. He delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them.'-Idolatry was probably not openly tolerated till the generation which had sworn anew to the covenant, had become extinct. But, after that, the rulers were unable, or unwilling, any longer to prevent the worship of pagan deities. Then the Hebrews,' to continue our quotations from Jahn, 'rendered effeminate by this voluptuous religion, and forsaken by their King JEHOVAH, were no longer able to contend with their foes, and were forced to bow their necks under a foreign yoke. In this humiliating and painful subjection to a conquering people they called to mind their deliverance from Egypt, the ancient kindnesses of Jehovah, the promises and threatenings of the Lord; they forsook their idols, who could afford them no assistance, returned to the sacred tabernacle, and then found a deliverer who freed them from the yoke of bondage. The reformation was generally of no longer duration than the life of the deliverer. As soon as that generation was extinct, idolatry again crept in by the same way. Then followed subjection and oppression under the yoke of a neighbouring people, till a second reformation prepared them for a new deliverance. Between these extremes of prosperity and adversity, as the consequences of their fidelity or treachery to their king, Jehovah, the Hebrew nation was continually fluctuating till the time of Samuel. Such were the arrangements of Providence, that as soon as idolatry gained the ascendancy, some one of the neighbouring people grew powerful, acquired the preponderance, and subjected the Hebrews. Jehovah always permitted their oppressions to become sufficiently severe to arouse them from their slumbers, to remind them of the sanctions of the law, and to turn them again to their God and king. Then a hero arose, who inspired the people with courage, defeated their foes, abolished idolatry, and re-established the authority of Jehovah. As the Hebrews, in the course of time, became continually more obstinate in their idolatry, so each subsequent oppression of the nation was always greater and more severe than the preceding. So difficult was it, as mankind were then situated, to preserve a knowledge of the true God in the world; though so repeatedly and expressly revealed, and in so high a degree made evident to the senses. This and the preceding extracts, from the same author, excellently discriminate the spirit of the period, the history of which now engages our attention.

16. Judges.'-See the introductory note to this book. It is important to the right understanding of the very interesting period before us, to have a distinct idea of the nature of the office held by the Hebrew judges. It will have been observed that the Hebrew constitution made no provision for a permanent and general governor of the nation. It is true that such rulers did exist, as Moses, Joshua, and the judges; but their office was not a permanent institution, but arose from circumstances, and from the necessity of the times, each ruler being, as occasion required, appointed by God, or elected by the people. We must not regard this irregularity as a defect in the Hebrew system of government; for, framed as it was, it became very possible for the state to subsist in happiness and strength without a general ruler. In the first place, God himself was the chief magistrate, and had established an agency, through which his

will might be at all times ascertained.

Under him there was his visible minister, the high-priest, who was empowered to attend to the general affairs of the nation, when there was no military or civil ruler specially appointed for the purpose. We are also to remember that every tribe had its own chief or prince, whose office was permanent, and who, with the subordinate heads of families, wielded the patriarchal powers, which, in ordinary circumstances, were amply sufficient to keep the affairs of his tribe in proper order. In this state of affairs, the mild authority of the high-priest ought to have been sufficient for the purposes of general government. But this was not the case; the apostacy and rebellion of the Hebrews, and the punishment with which such sins were visited, gave occasion to the appointment of extraordinary functionaries, which the organization of the state did not itself require. These were the judges. They arose, from time to time, as they were wanted; and were sometimes called by God himself to their high work, and were sometimes elected by the people. The judge was commonly a person, who, having been instrumental in delivering the people from oppression, usually continued to administer the general government during the remainder of his life. Some, however, seem to have been appointed to govern in time of peace. Deborah ruled in Israel before the war with Jabin; Samuel certainly was not introduced to the government by his military exploits; and of Jair, Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon, it is at least uncertain that they held any military command. The oppressions which this book records were not always equally felt all over Israel; and hence the authority of the deliverer sometimes only extended over the tribes he had delivered, or over those which chose to acknowledge his authority, or concurred in his appointment. Thus Jephthah did not exercise his authority on the west of the Jordan; nor did that of Barak extend to the east of that river. Some of the judges appear to have ruled, contemporarily, over different tribes: and this is one of the circumstances which perplexes the chronology of the period.

The judges, as we have seen, did not transmit their dignity to their descendants, neither did they appoint succesThe authority of the judges was very considerable;

sors.

and was in fact only limited by the Law. They exercised most of the rights of sovereignty, but they could not enact laws or impose taxes upon the people; they made peace and war, and, in their judicial character, they decided causes without appeal: yet all this power seems rather to have been the result of character and influence, than of any authority recognised as inherent in the office. No salary or income attached to it, unless it might be a larger share in the spoils of war, and such presents as might, according to Oriental custom, be offered to the judge, as testimonials of respect. These high functionaries had no external marks of distinction; they were surrounded by no circumstances of pomp or ceremony; they had no courtiers, guards, train, or equipage. They were in general men of moderate desires; and were content to deserve well of their country, without caring to aggrandize their own power, or to be enriched by the public wealth. Some of them manifest errors of conduct, which the sacred writer does not extenuate or conceal: but ancient or modern history does not exhibit a succession of public men more distinguished for disinterested patriotism and zeal, or more free from the public crimes which, in common histories, so frequently flow from resentments and from the lust of wealth or power. Their exalted patriotism, like everything else in the theocratical state of the Hebrews, was partly of a religious character; and these regents always conducted themselves as the officers of God; in all their enterprises they relied upon Him, and their only care was that their countrymen should acknowledge the authority of JEHOVAH, their invisible King.....They were not merely deliverers of the state from a foreign yoke, but destroyers of idolatry, foes of pagan vices, promoters of the knowledge of God, of religion, and of morality, restorers of theocracy in the minds of the Hebrews, and powerful instruments of Divine Providence in the promotion of the great design of preserving the Hebrew constitution, and, by that means, of rescuing the true religion from destruction.' Jahn's Heb. Commonwealth-sect. 'Office of the Judges; see also his Archæologia; Rosenmüller, in Lib. Jud. Proamium; Michaelis, Commentaries, art. 53; Lewis's Origines Hebrææ; and Horne's Introduction, iii. 84.

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Now these are the nations which the LORD left, to prove Israel by them, even as many of Israel as had not known all the wars of Canaan ;

2 Only that the generations of the children of Israel might know, to teach them war, at the least such as before knew nothing thereof;

3 Namely, five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites that dwelt in mount Lebanon, from mount Baal-hermon unto the entering in of Hamath.

4 And they were to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would hearken unto the commandments of the LORD, which he

1 Heb. Aram-naharaim.

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6 And they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons, and served their gods.

7 And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and forgat the LORD their God, and served Baalim and the groves.

8¶Therefore the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Chushan-rishathaim king of 'Mesopotamia: and the children of Israel served Chushan-rishathaim eight years.

9 And when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised up a 'deliverer to the children of Israel, who delivered them, even Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother.

10 And the Spirit of the LORD 'came upon

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