Exposition of the Whole Bible

| no want of any thing; and therefore none needed to be fhy of taking them in, fince they fhould not ready no doubt to receive him into his houfe: ad be burdenfome to any upon any account; all they wanted was a lodging. ' y¥.20. And the old man faid, peace be with you, &c.] All happinefs attend thee, particularly eafe and tranquility of mind, let nothing difturb or diftrefs thee: how/oever, let all thy wants lie upon me; fignitying, that if he had neither bread nor wine for himfelf, his wife, and his fervant, nor any litter nor provender for his affes, he was welcome to all trom him; and whatever his wants were, he would fupply them, which was nobly and generoufly faid: only lodge not in-the ftreet that I can’t bear to think of, as if he fhould fay; fora ftranger, an J/raelite, one of my Own Country, a good man, a Levite going to the houfe of God, me up a lodging in the ftreets, let it not be aid.

y.21. So he brought him into his boufe, 8cc.] Shewed him the way to it, and in a kind and friendly manner introduced him, and bid him welcome: and gave provemder unto the affes; this is mentioned firit, it being then perhaps as now, the firft thing that a careful man is concerned for, to fee that his cattle is taken care of, and then himfelf; and fuch a method this ancient good man took with his gueft: and they wajfhed their feet, which was commonly done to ftrangers in thofe hot countries, and was very refrefhing, fee Gen. Xvili. 4. and xix. 2. and did eat and drink; fat down at table and fupped with him.

y¥. 22. Now as they were making ther hearts merry, &c.| With a glafs of wine after fupper, and converfing together in a cheartul manner about their country and friends: Jebold, the men of the city, certain fons of Belial, very wicked, lawlefs, ungovernable, worthlefs and unprofitable creatures, men under the influence of fatan, and their own lufts: defet the houfe round about; that none might efcape out of it, efpecially the Levite, his wife and fervant: and beat at the door; to get entrance, either by thofe within opening to them, or by breaking, it open: and /pake to the mafter of the houfe, the old man; who upon this noife and clamour made, came to the door, to enquire what was the meaning of all this: to whom they replied, /aying, bring forth the man that came into thy bodfe, that we may know him. not what manner of perfon he was, of what countyy and profeffion, whither he was going, and what bufinefs he had here’; but that they might have carnal knowledge of him: in an unnatural way, or commit that fin with him which is commonly called Sodomy; and the men of Sodom exprefied their tuft by the fame word, Gen. XIX. 5. k's os y. 23. dnd the man, the mafter of the houfe, went out unto them, &c.] Opened the door, and went out to converfe with them, and befpoke them after this manner: and faid unto them, nay, my brethren, nay, I pray you, do not fo wickedly 5 it is plain he underftood them in fuch -fenfe, that they tneant not bare knowledge of the man, as who he ~ was, €#c, but to commit wickednefs the moft abo- ‘minable; fo great, that it canwot be well faid how great it is; and to diffuade from it, he ufes the moft tender language, and the moft earneft intreaties: feeing this man is come into my houfe, do not this folly; he argues from the law of hofpit lity, which ought not to be infringed; a man being obliged to proteé&t a ftranger under. his roof; and from the nature of the crime, which was

Ghexikwi2g—29. FOOD GES: a 58% folly, {tupidity, and what was abominable to the! of fuch brutith creatures: aad opened the doors of the —laft degree. boufe, and went out to go his way; either in fearch " y.24. Behold, here is my daughter, a maiden, and bis concubine, &c.] His own daughter a virgin, and the concubine of the Levite his gueft: them Twill bring out now, and bumble ye them, and do with them what feemeth good unto you; propofed to bring out, and deliver to them, to lie with, to do with as they pleafed to gratify their raging luft, which to do was more than he ought, or had power to do; he had no right to proftitute his own daughter, and much lefs the concubine or wife of another man, though perhaps it mightbe with the confent of the Levite; but all this he faid ina hurry and furprize, in a fright and terror, of two evils chufing the leaft, and perhaps in imitation of Lot, whole cafe might come to remembrance: but unto this man do not fo vile a thing; as he apprehended that to be which they were defirous of, whether to kill him, as he himfelf fays, ch. xx. 5. or to commit the unnatural fin, and which rather than comply with, he fhould have chofen to have been flain. ‘.

y. 27. And ber lord rofe up in the morning, &c.] Very early no doubt, and it is fcarcely reafonable to think he fhould’fleep quietly after fuch a riot, and his concubine or wife delivered up to the luft of her, or rather to make the beft of his way on his journey, to preferve his own life, having given her up for lofts and bebold, the woman bis concubine was fallen down at the door of the houfe, and thofe he) her hands were upon the threfbold, in a pofture that © perfons are when they fall, ftretching out their — hands to fave themf{elves what they can; or of fuch who lay themfelves down to fleep with their hands under their heads, and which her hufband thought was het cafe, by what follows, + ae y. 28. Aud he faid unto her, up, and let us be goimg, &c. ] He fpoke to her as fuppofing her andjafleep, in order to awake her, and prepare for their journey with all the hatte they could, left greater mifchief fhould befal them: Aut none an- /wered; for fhe was dead; and her death was occafioned, as Fo/ephus “ fays, partly through grief at what fhe had fuffered, and partly thro’ fhame, not daring to come into the fight of her hufband; but chiefly through the injuries done her by the number of perfons that had lain with her: fo it is reported * of the Theffalonians, when they took Phocis, many women were deftroyed through’ the abundance of rapes committed upon them. To thefe Abarbinel adds, the cold of the night, being without her clothes, or any thing to cover her: then the man took ber up upon an afs; and. carried off her dead body, without making any remon- {trance tothe inhabitants, from whom he could not. }expect that any juftice would be done him: and the man rofe up, and got him unto his place; to his city on one fide mount Ephraim, to which he made as much hafte as he could, inftead of going to the houfe of God at Shilobs as he propofed; for now the circumftances of things were changed with him, and inftead of facrificing and giving praife to God in his houfe, his bufinefs was to feek for juftice from the tribes of J/rael.

y.25. But the men would not hearken to him, &c.] Efpecially with refpect to his daughter, whom they knew very well, and had no affection for, perhaps was not handfome enough for them: fo the man took bis concubine, and brought her forth unto them; that is, not the old man, but the Levite took his own wife or concubine, and put her forth to them, very probably with her confent, to try if that would pacify them, fhe-being a fair and beautiful woman, as Ben Gerfom and Abarbinel fuggett; and Fofephus intimates, that fome young men of the city had feen her in the ftreet, and were captivated with her beauty, and came on purpofe for her, and would not be fatisfied unlefs fhe was delivered to them; and upon which her hufband perceiving this, laid hold on her by main ftrength, as the word fignifies, and brought her out whether fhe would or no, as Kimchi notes: and they knew ber, and abufed her all night until the morning;‘ had carnal knowledge of her, and ufed her in a moft fhocking manner one after another, all the night long until the morning appeared: and when the day began to pring; at break of day, when the light dawned: and J/et ber go; their works being works of darknefs, and would not bear the light.

y. 29. And when he was come into bis house, &c.] Having taken the dead body of his wife from off the afs, and brought it in thither, and laid it in a proper place and order: he took a knife, a carving knife, fuch as food is cut with, as the word fignifies; the Yargum is, afword: and laid hold on his concubine, and divided her, together with her * bones, into 12 pieces cut off her limbs at the joints of her bones, and made 12 pieces of them, according to the number of the tribes of [/rael: and /ent her into all the coajfts of Ijrael, that is, to every tribe, as Fo/ephus fays ”: there was now no fupreme magiftrate to apply unto for juftice, nor the court of 70 elders, and therefore he took this: ftrange and unheard-of method to acquaint the feveral tribes with the fact committed; this he did not and at thejout of difrefpect to his wife, but to exprefs the vehement paffion he was in on account of her death, in the way it was, and to raife their indignation at the perpetrators of it. Ben Gerfom thinks, he did not fend to the tribe of Benjamin, where the evil was done; but Abarbinel is of another mind, and as Levi was not a tribe that lay together in one part of the land,.but was fcattered in it, pieces might be fent to the two half tribes of Manaffeh, as the one lay on the one fide Yordan, and the other on the other, and fo there were 12 for the 12 pieces to be fent unto, So Ptolemy king of Egypt killed his eldeft fon, and divided his members, and put

¥. 26. Then came the woman in the dawning of the day, &c.|, When thofe wicked wretches who had abufed her, had left her, having had her from place to place, at fome diftance from the houfe out of which fhe was put, and to which fhe got again, as well as fhe could: and fell down at the. door of the man’s houfe where ber lord was her hufband, fo called, not becaufe fhe had been his fervant, but becaufe fhe was his wife; door of the old man’s houfe, where he was, which fhe knew, and had found out by one means or another; fhe fell down, either purpofely for her eafe, and to lie and wait there, until the time of opening the door in the morning; or rather through weaknefs, not being able to ftand, nor fo much as to knock at the door to get admittance: and there the lay ¢i// it was light. Broad day-light.

354 FULD CES Ch, xx. ¥.1—3. them in a box, and fent them to his mother on his birth-day ’. Chytreus * writes, that about. A. C. 140, a citizen of Vicentia, his daughter being ravifhed by the governor Carrarius, and cut to who had refufed to fend her to him, being fentjix. back again, he put up the carcafs in a vefiel, and fent it to the fenate of Venice, and invited them punifh the governor, and feize upon the city.

y. 30. And it was fo, that all that faw it, 8cc. The difmembered pieces of the dead body, and the dead body, and fending it to different parts; though that was awful and fhocking, as the complicated wickednefs committed at Gideah, which pieces, was the caufe of it, to which reference is had, Hof. 9. this is an obfervation of the writer of this book, Samue/; but what follows are the words tojeither of thofe the Levite fent, who were bid to deliver them to thofe to whom the pieces were fent, jor elfe of the perfons prefent at the time of the dew livery of the pieces to them, or whom they got to- were made acquainted with the caufe of it; for fo Sofephus* fays, he gave the meffengers a command to declare what was the caufe of her. death: aid, gether to difclofe the matter to: confider of it, take advice, and fpeak your minds; well weigh and think of the matter within yourfelves, confult with there was no fuch deed done nor feen, from the day that the children of Ifrael came out of Egypt, unto one another what is proper to be done, and give \your opinion freely without any referve.

this day; meaning not fo much the cutting in pieces

HIS chapter relates, how that there was affembly of ‘the children of J/rael at Mizpeh, upon what had happened to the concubine of theta Levite, where he appeared and related the whole affair to them, ¥. 1—7. upon which they unanimoufly agreed to chaftize the inhabitants of Giseab for what they had done, ¥. 8—11. and in order to it fent to the tribe of Benjamin to deliver up the guilty, but inftead of that they took to their arms, and prepared for battle in defence of them, y. 12—17. and two battles enfued on this, in which the J/raelites, who were on the right fide of the _ queftion, were worfted, ¥. 18—25. but upon their feeking the Lord again, and their humiliation fore him, they engaged a third timé in battle, and got an entire victory over the Benjaminites, and deftroyed them all excepting 600 men, ¥..26—48. anjfembled in the name and fear of God, and it was in the caufe of God, and as a folemn affembly, judicial one, in which God was ufually prefent, they are faid to be gathered unto him, and the rather, as they fought for direction and counfel from him in the affair before them.

. y¥. 2. And the chief of all the people, &c.| The princes of the tribes and heads of families, rulers of thoufands, and hundreds, and fifties, and tens; or the corzers*, who were like the corner-ftones in ‘a building, which are not only the moft valuable and ornamental, but the ftrength of the building, which - cement it, and fupport it, and hold it together 5 be-jthough déarbinel thinks, this intends the divifion and feparation of each tribe, which encamped in a feparate corner and fide by itlelf: but the former fenfe feems beft, and the meaning is, that the principal men of them, even of all the tribes of Iraels y. 1. Then all the children of Ifrael went out, &cc. ©f their tribes, cities, habitations, not every individual of them, but fome of the chief of them, with a felect company with them: and the congregation was gathered together as one many with as| much unanimity and eafe met together in one place,j | excepting the tribe of Benjamin: prefented themfelves i# the affembly of the people of God; now gathered together: which affembly confifted, befides the heads of them, of 400,000 footmen that drew word; or were armed men; there were 600,000 or more in J/rael able to bear arms; but as now at the fame time, as if only one man had been pitched upon and deputed for that purpofe: from Dan even to Beerfbeba, from the city Daz, lately.

the wars in Canaan were pretty much at an end, the militia of the nation was not fo regularly kepe. up, and many were employed in tilling the ground, built, which was in the moft northern parts of and dreffing the vines, and the like; and befides, the land of Canaan, to Beerfbeba, a city in the moft fouthern part, which included all the tribes in the land of Canaan, who all, excepting Benjamin, aflembled: with the land of Gilead, which lay on the other fide ‘fordan, inhabited by the two tribes of Reuben and Daa, and the half tribe of Manaffeb, who alfo came on this occafion: unto the Lord in Mizpeh, a city which lay upon the borders of Fudah and Benjamin, and is therefore affigned to them both, Yo/b. xv. 38. and xviii. 26. for this was not Mizpeb in the land of Gilead, but a city near to Shiloh; and, according to Fuller ”, eight miles from Gibeah, and fo was a convenient place to meet at: it is not to be thought the tribes met here, by a fecret impulfe upon their minds, but by a fummons of fome principal perfons in one of the tribes, very probably in the tribe of Ephraim, where the Levite dwelt, and in which was the tabernacle of the Lord, and of which the laft fupreme magiftrate was, namely Fofbua; and all having notice of the occafion of it, met very readily; and becaufe they af- as there were none of the tribe of Benjamin prefent, it need not be wondered at there fhould be no more, but rather that fo many fhould be gathered together on fuch an occafion. ‘ * ¥. 3. Now the children of Benjamin heard-that the children of Ifrael were gone up to Mizpeh, 8c.) Having no doubt the fame notice the reft of the tribes had; but the thing complained of being done in their tribe, and by fome of it, they might be willing to fkreen the delinquents, or were carelefs about, and indifferent to the cafe, and fecure and eafy, as imagining their brethren would never go to.war with them about it; or were proud and haughty, and would pay no regard to the fummons given them: then faid the children of Ifrael, tell us, bow was this wickednefs? proclamation was made in the affembly, that if any perfon there knew any thing of this fhocking affair, and horrid iniquity, which was the occafion of their meeting together, that they would rife up and declare what was the caufe of it, how it came about, and by ’ whom

FUDGES. whom it was done; or they addreffed themfelves * particularly to, the Levite, and his hoft, and his fervant, who might all be upon the fpot to bear witnefs in this cafe, as it is certain the former of them was, who upon this ftood up, and {poke as

Chi xxey 4121. 335 give here your advife and counfel; in this place, being affembled together on this occafion; confult What is beft to be done, and let every man fpeak his mind freely what ftep he thinks fhould be taken

¥.4. dnd the Levite, the hufband of the woman that was flain, anfwered, and faid, &c.|} He rofe up, and in an{wer to their requeft, declared the whole affair as follows; and none fo proper as he, who was upon the fpot when it was done, and fo near a relation of the deceafed, and had a right to demand juttice to be done; for from hence it appears, that fhe was his lawful wife, though called a concubine: I came into Gibeah, that belongeth to Benjamin, which he fo particularly defcribes, to diftinguifh it from another of the fame name in the tribe of Fudab, left any miftake fhould be made, and an innocent people fhould fuffer in their reputation, or otherwife; and which alfo would account for the tribe of Benjamin not being prefent at this convention: 1 and my concubine, to lodge; thither they came, not with an intention to ftay, to fojourn there, and much lefs to do them any injury, or to infringe any of their rights and privileges; nor in the leaft to be burdenfome to them, having brought all neceffary provifions with them for themfelves, fervant and cattle, only to get a night’s lodging with them.

¥. 5. And the men of Gibeah rofe againjt me, &c.] Not all of them, but fome that dwelt in that city; he forbears giving them the character they juftly deferved, fons of Belial,.Thefe came in a tumultuous and violent manner, and befet the heufe round about upon me by night, that he might not make his efcape, refolving if pofiible to get him into their hands, and do with him according to their will: and thought to have flain me; their firft intention was to commit the unnatural fin on him, and if he refifted, to flay him; but this he modeftly conceals, as being a fin not to be named in an affembly of faints; and befides he might fay “this, becaufe he himfelf chofe rather to be flain then to fubmit to their luft, which he knew mutt be the cafe upon his refufal and refiftance; and even if he had yielded, being.over-powered, this would have been the confequence, that he fhould have been abufed even unto death, as his wife was: and my. concubine have they forced, that fhe is dead, or affidied, or humbled* her; which is a modett expreflion for carnal knowledge of her, and which they had to fuch excefs, that the died thro’ it. y¥. 6. And I took my concubine, and cut her in pieces, 8cc.] Left it fhould be thought that thefe barbarous creatures, after they had ufed her in fuch a manner that occafioned her death, that they had committed this fact alfo; the Levite takes it to himfelf, and owns that he did that: and fent her throughout all the country of the inheritance of Ifrael; to alarm them, and excite their attention to what had pafled, and to raife their indignation againft it: for they have committed leudnefs and folly in Ifrael; being guilty of adultery and murder, and would have committed the unnatural crime, if they could have had an opportunity of doing it.

y.7. Bebold, ye are all children of Ifracl, &c.] The defcendants of one man that feared the Lord; were of one nation, and of one religion, men profeffing godlinefs, and therefore ought to bear teftimony again{ft fin and wickednefs of every fort, and efpecially fuch crying abominations as thefe:

for the glory of God; and honour of religion, and to bring fuch perfons to juftice who had committed fo foul a fact. og

¥. 8. And all the people arofe as one man, &c.] Either the heads of the people affembled in council, all agreed unanimoufly in one vote or refolution, or all the 400,000 men were of the fame mind, when the cafe was reported to them: /aying, we will not any of us go to his tent, neither will we any of us turn into bis houfe; that is, they would not return home, to take one night’s reft in their houfes, or attend to the bufinefs of their callings, or to any affait of life; however urgent, till fatisfaction was made for the evil committed.

¥. 9. But now this thall be the thing which we will do to Gibeab, &c.| Where the faét was done; what follows was propofed by fome; and unanimoufly agreed to by all: we will go up dy Jot againft it, caft lots-who fhall go up to it, and demand fatisfaction for the offence committed; and if denied, to act in an hoftile manner againtft it.

¥. 10. And we will take ten men of an hundred, throughout all the tribes of Ifrael, &c.} Excepting that of Benjamin, which was not with them, not any of them: and 4 hundred out of a thoufand, and a thoufand out of ten thoufand; in all 40,000; out of the 400,000: to fetch vitiual for the people; ten men were to provide food for go, and 100 men for goo, and 1oco men fot gooo, in all 40,000, for 360,000; thefe were either to go’ to their own tribes and habitations, or to the towns and cities adjacent, to procure food for this large army; for they came from their homes without any provifion, not knowing that the affair would retard them long; but perceiving that it would require time before it could be determined; they judged it the wifeft method for fome to be appointed to take care of provifion for the army, that it might not be fcattered about on that account, but purfue the war with vigour till fatisfaction was obtained: that they might do, when they came to Gibeah of Benjamin, according to all the folly that they have wrought in Ifrael; punifh with death the delinquents, and chaftize the inhabitants, and efpecially the magiftrates, for their connivance at fuch wicked perfons among them, and negligence of doing their duty. é- y. 11. So all the men of Ijfrael were gathered againft the city, &c.} Of Gibeab, even 360,000 men: kit together as one man, went heart and hand together, united in their fentiments and refolutions, determining to have juitice done, or lofe their lives in this caufe: according to the Jews °, this was on the 23d of Shebet, which anfwers to part of Fanuary and part of February, on which day a faft was kept on this account.

y. 12. And the tribes of Ifrael fent men through all the tribes of Benjamin, &c.\ Meaning the families of Benjamin, for as fometimes a tribe is called a family, Zod. vii. 17. fo a family is called a tribe; and there were ten families in the tribe of Benjamin, according to the number of his fons, the fathers of thefe families, fee Gen. xlvi. 21. which being numerous and powerful, and confifting of men of courage, and expert in war, thought themfelves a match for the ten tribes of J/rae now affembled, who fent one out of each tribe, very probably ten in ll, upon this errand; for they judged it moft advifeable, before they went to with them, to try to get the offenders delivered up to juftice, and fo prevent the fhedding of of either fide; and the rather, as there Were none of the tribe of Benjamin at this affembly, which indeed might give them reafon to they meant not to join with them in an amicable manner in this affair: however, they were willing to try peaceable methods firft: faying, what wickpdus® makes the number of the Benjaminites till © war lefs, no more than 25,600, led thereunto by an after-account, that 25,000 Benjaminites were flain bloodjin the third and laft battle, and only 600 efcaped to a rock for fafety, not confidering that a “ andjmen may well be fuppofed to be loft in’ the + fufpect)firft battles; for it would be ftrange indeed, that ‘ they fhould lofe none in two engagements with fo: 7 large an army; the fame error is committed in the: Vulgate Latin verfion, which makes them no more edne/s is this that is done among you? not that they were fent to enquire what the crime was that was committed, that was fully known; but by putting the queftion in this manner, their defign was to ageravate it, and to put the men of Benjamin on confidering how great it was, what an enormous fin it was that was committed, and that among them; and therefore it lay upon them, either to punifh the perpetrators of it themfelves, or deliver them up to them to be punifhed according to the common law of J/rael. ¥. 13. Now therefore deliver us the men, the children of Belial, which are in Gibeah, &c.} Thote wicked men that were the authors of that abominable wickednefs there committed: shat we may put them to death, as they deferved, fince they were guilty both of adultery and murder; their than 25,000; with which agrees the Alexandrian copy of the Septuagint verfion; though that, according to the Vatican exemplar, has but 23,000. The numbers in the Hebrew text are no doubt the right.

¥. 16. Among all this people there were 700 chofen.

men left-handed, &c.| According to Ben Gerfom,. thefe were the 700 men of Gibeah; but this does not appear from the text, but on the contrary, that thefe were among all the people; or there were fo many to be felected out of them all, who were left-handed men; nor is it likely that all the inhabitants of one, place fhould be fuch. Benjamin fignifies a fon of the right-hand, yet this tribe hada great number of left-handed men in it, fee ch. iii, 15. Fofepbus” wrongly reduces the number to 500: every ene could fling tones at an hairs meaning is, that they in conjunction with the tribe of Benjamin might adjudge them to death, and punifh} them with it, as their crime deferved: and put away evil from Ifrael, prevent both the fpread breadth, and not mifs, the mark they flung the tone at, fo very expert, were they at it; and perhaps their having fuch a number of {kilful men ofjin this art, made them more confident of fuccefs, fuch a finful evil in the nation, encouraged by fuch examples, and the evil of punifhment coming upon them from God, fhould they let fuch wickednefs pafs with impunity: but the children of Benjamin would not bearken to the voice of their brethren the children of Hrael, they refufed to give up the men of Gibeah, that had been guilty of fuch great wickednefs; reckoning it a reproach, as Jo/ephus § fays, to obey the commands of others, for fear of war, and emboldened them in this daring undertaking, to point.to which this circumftance feems to be) mentioned. There were a people that inhabited the iflands, now called Majorca and Minorca, anciently Baleares, from their fkilfulnefs in flinging ftones, to which they were brought up from their childhood, as it is related by various writers,” Strabo’, Diodorus Siculus*, Florus', and others ™;.

that their mothers ufed to fet their breakfaft on a and unwilling to yield to any in arms, neither on account of multitude nor courage.

ftrong, and in all but 26,700; and what are thefe to an army of 400,000 men, or however 360,000 that came up again{t Gideah, whilft 40,000 were employed in getting provifions. for them? o/ebeam or poft, or fome fuch thing, at a diftance, -{which they were not to have, unlefs they could {trike it off; and the firft of thefe writers fays, To|that they exercifed this art from the time that the Phwxicians held thele iflands; and, according to imy *, the Phenicians, the old inhabitants of Ca-) zaan, were the firft inventers of flings, and from thefe the Benjaminites might learn it. The Indians’ are {aid © to be very expert in flinging ftones to an: hair’s breadth,

¥.14. But the children of Benjamin gathered themfelves together out of the cities unto Gibeah, &c. protect and defend it againft the other tribes, being a city of theirs, and where the perfons charged|Pé with the crime lived; thefe got together thither out of the feveral cities of the tribe of Benjamin, as many as could bear arms: fo go out to battle againft the children of Ifrael; they neither denied the fact, ner attempted to palliate and excufe it, nor fought for peace, but at once betook themfelves to arms; which fhewed not only want of prudence, but pride, paffion and felf-confidence, and that.they were fadly depraved in their morals to rife up defence of fuch wicked men; anda ftrange infatuation to expect fuccels againft fuch vaftly fuperior numbers, and in fo bad a caufe.

¥.17. And the men of Tfrael, befide Benjamin, » &c.] Who did not join them in this affair, but) oppofed them, were numbered 400,000 men that drew fword; fee y. 2. all thefe were men of war; injinured to it, fkilful and courageous. wae _ y. 18. And the children of Ifrael arofe, &ez }x From Mizpeb, where they were affembled, having. heard that the Bewjaminites were gathered together to defend the men of Gibeah: and went up to the /oufe of God; to the tabernacle which was: in Shi- /ob, ch. xviii. 31. fee o/b. xviii. 1. though the \Targum takes Bethel for the name of a place fo: andjcalled; and fo do Ben Gerfom and Fofephus®, which was near Shiloh, for,Shileb is faid to be on the northyoung, ftout andjfide of Bethel, ch. xxi. 19. but as there is no rea-> fon to believe the tabernacle was now removed. from Shiloh thither, fo it is not likely they would go to any other place but where the tabernacle, ark, and high-prieft were: and afked counfel of Gods

¥.15. And the children of Benjamin were number-| ed at that time out of the cities, &c.] All that they could mufter up, and gather together cut of their feveral cities, were no more than 26,000 men that drew the fword, able-bodied men fit for war, expert in it: befide the inhabitants of Gibeah, which were numbered 700 chofen men;

- above all their caufe was good: and fet their battle before Phinebas the high-prieft, according to the judgment of Urim and Thummim, ¥. 28. and faid, which of us foall go up jirft to the battle againft. the children of Benjamin? there being no fupreme magiftrate, judge, or general to lead them, they not afk, whether they fhould go to war or no with their brethren; they made no doubt of that, tak: ing it for granted they had fufficient reafon for doing, and that it was according to the will of God; nor did they enquire whether they fhould be victorious or no, they made no doubt of being victorious, both from their fuperior numbers, the juftnefs of their caufe, they only enquire who fhould lead them on, having no general; and this they might do, to prevent any contentions among them about precedency: aad the Lord foid, fudah fhall go up fir?; which tribe pitched their (tandard firft about the tabernacle, and marched firft in their journies in the wildernefs, and was ordered to go up firft and fight the Cavaanites, being a powerful and warlike tribe. determined,: -\¥. 19. And the children of Ifrael rofe up in, the morning, &cc.| After they had had counfel at Séilob, and which perhaps was by a deputation fent thither: and encamped againft Gibeab, formed camp near Gibeah of 360,000 men, enough tojfwer have ftormed and taken that city at once, /amin, but ftood their ground; nor weré they fo fuperttitious as to fancy the place unlucky; nor was ita bad fituation they were in, to which their want of fuccefs was owing, for then they would did have changed it. B el hye

¥. 23. dnd ihe children of Ifrael went up and wept before the Lord until: even, &c.] The evenfoling of the day in which the battle was fought; not that the whole-army went up to Shiloh to the houfe of God there; but a deputation of them, who lamented their defeat, and the lofs of fo many andjlives, but not their fins and. tranfgreffions, and particularly the idolatry they had been guilty of: and a/ked counfel of the Lord, faying, jhall we go up again to battle againft the children of Benjamin my brother? they feemed to have fome doubt by the lofs they fuftained, whether they were right ia going to war with Benjamin, efpecially as he was their brother; and therefore the queition now is, not who fhould go up firft, which was already but whether they fhould go at all;

and ftill they don’t afk any help of God in battle, nor fuccefs,:but were depending on their numbers, and the juftnefs of their caufe, and therefore neiajther is promifed to them, only they have an anto their quettion: amd\ the Lord faid, go up onelagainjt him, tor Benjamin’ was certainly in the would think. wrong, and therefore the J/raelites are direéted to

¥.20. And the men of Ifrael went out to battle againft Benjamin, &c.] From the place where they were encamped: and the men of Ifrael put them y. Selves in array to fight again them at Gibeah, not only againft the inhabitants of Gideab, but the) children of Benjamin, that came to the defence of them; they formed themfelves in a line of and prepared for an action.

y.22. And the people, the men of Ifrael, encouraged themfelves, &c.| That though they had loft a great number of men, yet {till their forces were large and greatly fuperior to thofe of Benjamin, and go againft him, and they alfo were not dufficiently chaftized, nor thoroughly humbled.

24. And the children of Ifrael-came near, &c | 'Fo the city of Gibeab, drew nigh to battle:.againft she children of Benjamin the fecond day, for the two battles were fought two days fucceffively. battle,) y.25. And Benjamin went forth againft them out of Gibeah the fecond day, &c.| Fluthed with the victory they had obtained the day before: and de- /troyed down to the ground of the children of Irae again 18,000 men. all thefe drew the fword, were whole)armed men; this with the 22,000 flain the day preceding, made 40,000; the fame number fingled out from among them by lot to provide food for them, and is thought by fome to be the cale Dedorab refers to, ch. v. 8. and is what is certainly intended in Hof. x. 9.

— ¥. 21, And the children. of Benjamin came forth out of Gibeab, &c.] Which was their place of rendezvous, and which they came to defend; and in and about which they had ftationed their army of 26,000 men: and deftroyed down to the| ground; killed dead upon the fpot: of she J/raelites that day 22,000 men, wanting but 4000 of their whole number, excepting the men of Gideab, which was fuch a rebuff the J/raelites did not expect, being engaged in fo juft a caufe, and having fuch a numerous army. Several Fewi/h writes 2 think; this was on account of their idolatry, that though they were very zealous to revenge corporal adul- ‘tery in the cafe of the Levite’s concubine, and to remove fuch iniquity from J/rae/; yet were not zealous to revenge and put away fpiritual adultery or idolatry in the cafe of the Danites, who had fet up the image of Micah, and fo had f{pread idolatry not only in their own tribe, but throughout Tjrael; and therefore God took this opportunity to avenge his own quarrel, and rebuke them for their fin; and now did Benjamin raven as a wolf, according to Facob’s prophecy, Gen. xlix. 27.

y. 26. Then all the children of Tfrael and all the people went up, and came unto the houfe of God, &cc.} This looks as if the whole body of the army, with other people from parts adjacent, went up to the tabernacle of God in Shilob: and wept and fat there before the Lord; not only wept, but continued weeping, and that not merely for their defeat, but for their fins, fince it follows: and fafted that day until even; afficted their bodies with fafting, which was a token of the humiliation of their fouls for their fins: aud offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings defore the Lord; to make atonement for their fins, and to implore fuccefs on their arms. |, y¥.27. And the children of Ifrael enquired of the Lord, &c.] By the Word of the Lord, as the Targum, and which has the fame expreffion in ¥. 18, 23. for the ark of the covenant of God was there in thofe days; in Shilob, where the tabernacle was. A | again in array, formed a line of battle again facing their enemy, inviting to another battle, and bidding defiance: and in the place where ibey put themfelves in array the firft day; by which it feems they kept the field of battle; though they loft fo many men, they did not flee before the children of Bex- y.28. dud Phinebas the fon of Eleazar, the fon of 4aron,. flood before it in thofe days, &c.|\ Before the ark, miniftring before the Lord, which fhews that this affair was long before the times of Sam- /on, though placed after them; or otherwife Phinehas muft have been more than 300 years of age, which is not probable‘. Pbinebas’s ftanding before the ark was the pofture of the prieft, when he enquired of the Lord for any by Urim and Thummim the perfon that enquired ftood before him that was enquired of, as Kimchi oblerves, and he that was enquired of ftood before the Shekinab, or the prefence of the divine majefty, of which the ark was a fymbol: /aying, hall I yet. again go out ’ to battle againft the children of Benjamin my brother, or foall I ceafe? in which the queftion is put in fomewhat' different manner than before, not only defiring to know whether it was the will of God they fhould renew the battle or not, fince Bexjamin was their brother, but whether they fhould have fuccefs or not; intimating, that if the Lord would blefs and fucceed them, they were willing to go up, but if not they chofe to defift; for they were fully convinced now they were wrong in depending on their numbers, or the juftnefs of their caufe; whereas fuccefs depended wholly on the will and pleafure of God, to which they defired to fubmit: aud the Lord faid, go up, for to-morrow I will deliver them into thine hand; now they are not only direéted to go up to the battle, but are promifed victory.

¥.29. And Ifrael fet liers in wait round about Gibeab.] For though they were affured of fuccefs and victory, yet they thought proper to make ufe of means; and though their numbers were very great, they had recourfe to art and ftratagem, and fet an ambufh in divers places, much in like manner as J/rael did for the men of Ai; the two cafes being pretty much fimilar; this ambufh was fet in the night, as Yo/ephus fays*.

¥. 30. And the children of Ifrael went up againft the children of Benjamin on the third day, &c. ] Not the day following the fecond battle, fince it would take more time to go to Shiloh, and faft and offer facrifices there, but on the third day from the fecond battle: and put themfelves in array againft Gibeah, as at other times; as they had done on the firft and fecond days of battle.

y¥. 31. And the children of Benjamin went out againft the people, &c.| Sallied out of Gibeah upon them,, where they had put themfelves in array againft them: and were drawn away from the city, the J/raelites retreating, and difiembling a flight, which drew the Benjaminites to purfue after them, by which means they were drawn off to a greater diftance from the city of Gibeah: and they began to fmite of the people, and kill as at other times, at the other two battles: in the highways; where it feems two ways met: of which one goeth up to the houfe of God; to Bethel, as the Targum‘; or rather to Shiloh, where the houfe or tabernacle of God was, and was two miles» from Gibeah, as Bunting » {ays: and the other to Gibeah in the field, fo called, to diflinguifh it from the other Giseab fituated on an hill: about thirty men of Irael; which were killed in this running fight; and it feems as if one part of the army of J/rae/ took one road, and the other the other road, and fo divided the army of the Benjaminites that purfued after them.

¥. 32. And the children of Benjamin faid, they are {mitten down before us, as at firft, 8c.) At the firlt battle, which gave them great {pirit, and they concluded they fhould have victory, as before: but the children Ifrael faid, let us flee, and draw them from the city unto the bighways, pretending to be afraid of them, and not able to face them, and therefore made as if they fed through fear and cowardice, which infpired the Benjaminites with frefh ardour to purfue them clofely, and fo were drawn from the city to the highways, as exprefied in the preceding verte. “af.

¥. 33. And all the men of Ifrael rofe up out of their place, &c.) The main body of the army, which fled before Benjamin, when they were come to a proper place, ftopped, and rofe up out of it, and {tood in their own defence: and put themfelves in array at Baal-temar; drew up in a line of battle at that place, facing theif enemies, in order to engage with them: this place the Targum calls the plains of Fericho, that being the city of palm-trees, which Tamar fignifies; and fo Yarchi interprets it; but thefe are too far off, it muft be fome place near Gibeab. ‘Ferom™ {peaks of a little village in his time in thofe parts, called Bethamari, and may be thought to be this fame place; perhaps in the times of the old Canaanites here was a grove of palm-trees, in which Baa/ was worlhipped, from whence it had its name: and the lers in wait of Trael came forth out of their places, even out of the meadows of Gibeah; or plain of Gibeab, as the Targum tor as the city was built ona hill, ar the bottom of it were a plain and fine meadows of grafs, and here an ambufh was placed at fome little diftance from the city; and when the army of the Benjaminites were drawn of from it, in purfuit of J/rael, thefe came forth and placed themfelves between them and the city. s

¥. 34. And there came againft Gibeah 10,000 chofen men out of all Ifrael, &c.| Which, according to Ben Gerfom, were the hers in wait; and came from the fouth, as the Targum fays: and the battle was fore, not between thofe liers in wait, and the Benjaminites, but between thofe at Baaltamar, and them who fet themfelves in battle-array againft them, and they fought ftoutly on both fides < but they knew not that evil was near them; that there was an ambufh laid, by which they were in great danger; they knew nothing of the 10,000 men that were now come out againft Gideah, and were between them and that..

¥. 35. And the Lord fmote Benjamin before Ifrael, &c.] Gave J/rael the vitory over them at Baal-tamar; for notwithftanding all the art and {tratagem they ufed, their numbers and their valour, victory was of the Lord, and to him it is afcribed; for until now Benjamin, though fewer in number, had been always, victorious: and the children of Sfrael deftroyed of the Benjaminites that day 25,1003 which is the total fum of all that were flan of them that day, the particulars of which are afterwards given: all thefe drew the fword; were armed men.

¥. 36. So the children of Benjamin faw that they

were fmitten, &cc.| Their forces broken and worfted, ~ many being killed: for the men of I/rael gave place to the Benjaminites, at firft, and made as if they were afraid of them, and fo fled before them, which was only to decoy them to a greater diftance from the city of Gibeah: becaufe they trufted unto the liers in wait, which they had fet befide Gibeab; that thefe would not only enter the city, and burn it, but meet the Benjaminites fleeing back to it, when they fhould turn upon them and fmite them, and fo cut off all that remained of them.;

¥. 37. And the liers in wait hafted, &c.) When the time was come agreed upon for them to rife out out of their ambufh: and rujfbed upon Gibeab; at unawares, with great force and violence entered the city, and took poffeffion of it; or extended*, or fpread themfelves unto it; before they lay clofe in a narrow compafs, but now they put themfelves in a regular order, and marched rank and file, and reached from the meadows in which they were, y¥.33. to the city: and the liers in wait drew themfelves along; along the city, in every part of it, fpread themfelves all over it, and made themfelves ~ mafters of every corner of it; or made a long found’ with a trumpet, protracted that to a great length, which was done to terrify the inhabitants, or to let the J/raelites know they were poffefied of the city: and fmote all the city with the edge of the fword; old men, women and children, who were not able to bear arms.

¥. 38. Now there was an appointed fign between the men of Ifrael, and the liers in wait, &c.) Or an appointed time, as the Targum; fo Kimchi and Abarbinel. There was a time fixed, at which the men of J/rae/ propofed to be at Baal-tamar, exactly when the Benjaminites would be drawn at a proper diftance from the city, and then the liers in wait were to break forth, and rufh upon it, and enter it: and that they fhould make a great flame with fmoke to rife up out of the city; fet it on fire, and caufe the fire to burn fiercely, that there might be a large afcent of flame and {moke to be feen afar off; which, when the men of J/rae/ faw, they would know the city was taken.

¥. 39. And when the men of Ifrael retired in the Battle, &c.] Which is before expreffed by their fleeing, and giving place to the Benjaminites, and was only an artifice of theirs to draw them off from the city: Benjamin began to fmite, and kill of the men of Ifrael about thirty perféns; which was done in the highways leading to Shilob’ and Gibeah in the field, ¥. 31. for they faid, furely they are fmitten down before us as in the firft battle; when the greater number of the J/raelites were flain by y¥. 40. But when the flame began to arife up out of the city with a pillar of fmoke, &c.| Fire being fet to it by the liers in wait, who had entered it, and who made a large fire, which caufed a vaft pillar of flame and fmoke to arife, which might be feen a great way off: the Benjaminites looked behind them; perhaps at hearing the blowing of the trumpet, and the long found of that: and bekold, the flame of the city afcended up to heaven, went upwards, and reached to a great height.

¥. 41. And when the men of Ifrael turned again, &c.] Turned their faces to the Benjaminites, on whom they had turned their backs; and which they did on hearing the found of the trumpet, or feeing the flame of the city, or both, and that in order to fight the Benjaminites, and {mite them, as now was their opportunity: the men of Benjamin were amazed; at this ftrange and fudden change of things, at the fight of the flame of their city behind them, and at the //raelites turning back to fight them, when they thought themfelves fure of victory, as at other times: for they faw that evil was come upon them, that they were in the utmoft danger, between two fires, as we ufually fay, liers in wait behind them, which had feized their city and burnt it, and the army of J/rae/ turning upon them with great fpirit and refolution.

WM. 42. Therefore they turned their backs beforé the men of Ifrael, &c.] And fled from them: ‘ unto the way of the wildernefs; what wildernefs is not certain, perhaps the wildernefs of Fudah, they did not turp direétly back towards Gibeab, perceiving that was taken, and in the hands of a body of men that would meet them, and therefore they turned on one fide towards the wildernefs, if happily they could make their efcape thither, and fhelter themfelves: but the battle overtook them; that is, they that made war, as the Targum, the J/- raelites that were engaged in battle with them, purfued them, and overtook them: and them which came out of the cities they deftroyed in the midft of them; either the J/raelites that came out of their cities to affift their brethren, deftroyed the Benjaminites as they fled, or the Benjaminites who came out of other cities to Gibeah, thefe were deftroyed in the midft of it, with the inhabitants, by the liers in wait, when they entered it.

¥. 43. Thus they enclofed the Benjaminites round about, &c.] Surrounded them on all fides, the army of Irae! being pofted in different places, and people coming out of all the cities to their affiftance. Fofephus *fays, they were forced into, and cooped up, in a-hollow place in a valley, fo that they could not éefcape: and chafed them; or caufed to purfue®; calling after them a purfuit, crying to one another as they went along, faying, purfue them, purfue them; fo Farchi and Kimchi; which cry, as it infpited the purfuers with zeal, fo the purfued ‘with terror: and trod them down with eafe; they making no refiftance, being quite difpirited; the Targum is, *‘ from the houfe of their reft,’ where they took up their reft, and defigned to reft that night, but could not, being fo clofely purfued, and diligently fought after. Some take menuchab, rendered eafe, to be the name of a place, from or unto which they were purfued and trodden down, fee 1 Chron. ii. 52. and fo the Septuagint feems to take it for the name of a place, rendering it, from Noua: over-againft Gibeah, towards the fun rifing; that is, as Yerchi interprets it, to the eaft of Gibeah, there was this overthrow and flaughter made.

¥. 44. And there fell of Benjamin 18,000 men, &c.] Juft the’number they had flain of [/ael in the fecond battle. This is the number of them that were flain when J/rael turned upon them, and by that time they got to the eaft of Gibeah; afterwards 5000 more were flain on the high ways, and 2000 near Gidom, as after related: all thefe were men of valour; as appears by three times facing and engaging with the army of J/rael, fo vaftly fuperior to them, and twice beating them.

¥. 45. And they turned and fled toward the wilderne/s unto the rock of Rimmon, &c.]) Which fignifies a pomegranate; perhaps it was in the form of one, and may be the fame as in 1 Sam. xiv. 2. where Saul is faid to be under a pomegranate tree, or under Rimmon, the rock Rimmon, for that is faid to be near Gideah, as this was. There was a village in the times of Yerom called Remmon, 15 miles from ‘ferufalem to the north *, but could not be near this rock to have its name from thence; hither the reft of the army fled for fhelter: and they gleaned of them in the highways 5000 men; who were fcattered one from another, and as they were found in the highways, and picked up, they

~ were flain one after another, juft as ears of corn are gleaned one by one, after the harveft is got or as grapes in fingle berries, after the vintage is over: aud purjued bard after them unto Gidom;| and being fwift of foot, got to a wildernefs, w in,jwildernefs is not certain; unto the -rock Rim and abode in the rock Rimmon four months; v probably in a.cave of that rock, which might.

Which perhaps had its name from the cutting off!

1d as NS, F.e ee er if i¥ arge enough to hold. fuch a number; Saud is. of the Benjaminites there: and flew 2000 men of them;, that is, 2000 more befides the 5000 before to have juft the fame number under it, and D, had dlfo a like number in a cave at-Lingedi, x | thentioned. xiv. 2. and xxiii. 13,.and xxiv. 3. Aer from hence _¥. 46. So that all which fell. shat day of Benjamin were 25,006 men, &cc.] tis before faid 25,100,

¥. 35. here the 100 are omitted, and the round number of thoufands given, which is no unufual way of fpeaking and writing: the whole army of Benjanin confilted of 26,790, of which, 38,000 were flain the field of battle, go00 in the highways, and 2000 at Gidom, in all 25,000; and we may fuppofe 100 as they were ftraggling in the road, or found in bye places, or are not mentioned With either of the thoufands for the fake of a round number,. and 600 fled to.the rock Rimmon; as for the. other 1000, it is highly probable they fell the two firkt battles, as Ben Gerfom and Abarbinel rightly fuppofe; for it is nov credible, that though they got fuch amazing victories,.it.was:without the lofs of men, and thele are as few.as well can bé imagined. archi thinks thefe.thoyfand fed to the cities of Benjamin, and were flain. when, the J raelites entered them, as after related, ¥, 48. which is much more probable than. a tradition they have, _ that they went into the land of Rameuia,.and dwelt there: Now all thofe that were flain, were men that. drew, the fword, soldiers, not hufbandmen, artificers, €Fc. but armed men: ai] thefe, were men of walogr 5, even thofe that fled, who chofe to lofe their lives than afk for quarter. _ yi 471 But 600 men, &c.] Who were all that \thefe men might. fend out of their number to fei in,provifion. for, them from. parts adjacent, afte the heat of the action was over, and the rage and fury of the J/raelites tubfided, 9 i y. 48. dnd. the men of Irae] turned again + ¥be children of Benjamin, 8c.) After they had de. ftroyed their army, the city of Gideah, andthe in= habitants of it: not, content with this, in their: wrath and fury, turned and went, aud /mote them with the edge of the fword, as well the men of every city;. even men,.women.and children, in every city of Benjamin, at leaft all thatJay in their way 5 injand which they might do to be avenged on them, for fending out their militia again. them, which. had made fuch a flaughter among, them to the lofs. of 40,000 mea, or to fulfil their.oath, that fuch, who..came-not to Mizpeb fhould be put to death;. for. which reafon.alfo. the retical { - -|gilead, as well as of the cities. of Bewamin, 3 ere put.to death, men, women and children,” cali in the fame feverity with them, as withthe ( an nations, or as witha city given, to idolatry: as the eaft, and all that came to.band;, {pared no living creature, herds and flocks: al/fo they Jet.on fire all. the cities that they cameunto, which belonged to the tribe rather of Benjamin, fo exceedingly wroth were..the 7. with them,,for.protecting. fuch. that had been ile all thors of fuch abominable wickednefs,. and. for the were left of 26,700: turned and fled to the wildernes, turned out of the highway or common road,.). \lofs of the lives.fo many valuable men. ©... 9. ich chal ah

| “. blot sie mi CHA iy OXXTE OU 32aoe sel?

ufe thofe men that remained. as heathens, and: nog; intermarry with them, as follows:.faying, there Joall not any of us give his daughter unto Benjamig to wife; feeing shofe that ufed the wife of the £ vite in fuch a bafe manner, and thofe that protected and defended them, deferved to haye no wives. +

M.2., dud the, people came to the boule of God, ~ &c.}, Not.to the. city Bethel, as the Targum, Septuagint, and other verfions, but.to Shiloh, wherewere the tabernacle and ark;- and this is to be ainderftood of the army after they had urterly des ftroyed the Benjaminites: hence we read of the camp in Shiloky y. 12. here they came not fe much fo rejoice, and be glad, and to return thank for the victory they had at laft obtained, as to }ment the unhappy. cafe of the tribe of Bemjami and to have counfel and advice, and confider. ways and means to repair their, lof$: and abode there till even before God; fafting aud praying, i chapter relates how that when the J/- raclites came to be cool, and ferioufly to refleét.-on what had pafied, they were fore grieved, and much lamented the cafe of Benjamin, and:were particularly concerned what they fhould do for wives for thofe few men that remained, that. the tribe might be built up again, ¥.1-—-7. and for thefe they provided wives, partly out of Fabeh-. gilead, the inhabitants of which came not up to) the convention at Mizpeb, and therefore they {mote them; men, women and children, only referved | 400 virgins, whom they gave to the men of Ben-| jamin; ¥.8—15. and partly from among the daugh- | ters of Shiloh, taken. at a yearly feaft there, the taking of whom was connived at, the other number not being fufficient, ¥. 16—25.

¥. 1. Now the men of Irael had fworn. in Mizfeb, Sc.) Where they were there convened, be-. fore the war began; after they had heard the account the Levite gave of the affair, which brought them thither;-and after they had fent meflengers to Benjamin to deliver up the men of Gibeab, that had committed the wickednefs; and after they per- ‘eecived that Benjamin did not, hearken to their demand, but prepared to make war with them; then, as they refolved on the deftruction of Gibeab, and of all the cities that fent out men againft them, ftead of feafting and rejoicing: aad lift up voices, and wept fore; not fo much, or sf leak. only for the 40,000 I/raclites that. were Main, | for the tribe of Benjamin, in danger of being ‘ole las follows... ( acca deta cg. Sapeilie __ y¥. 3., dud Said, O.Lord God. of Yael, Sec ees vah, the only living and true God, the. Rete ae beings, eternal, immutable, omnipotent and omni. prefent, the God of all J/rael, of the cael ae hae evén all the inhabitants of them, men, women and ‘children, entered intoan oath, that they would of J/rael, their Covenant-God. and. Rather; a had ‘fhown favourjtothem in fuch.a peculiar” re gracious’ manrfer, as he had not. to other nations, and therefore hoped he would ftill have a kind regard unto them, and fuffer them to expoftulate with him in the following manner: wéy is this come to pajs in Ijrael; exprefling, as dbarbinel thinks, a contern for the 40,000 men of J/rael which fell inthe two firft battles; but it manifeftly * ¥. 6. And the children of -Ifrael repented them for Benjamin their brother, &c.] Not that they went to war with them, as if their caufe was not good; bur for the feverity they had exercifed towards them, efpecially in deftroying their women and children, and for the fatal confequences like to follow hereon, particularly the diffolution of the whole tribe:

refers to the cafe inthe next words: that there Should be to-day one tribe lacking in Ifrael, meaning the tribe of Benjamin, which was all deftroyed,

- excepting fix hundred men, and thefe had no wives to propagate the tribe; and thereforeunlefs fome provifion could be made for that, it muft in a fhort time be totally extinct; for which they exprels great concern, it not being their intention when they made the above oath to extirpate them; but fuch were now the circumitances of things in providence, that it mutt perifh unlefs fome way could be found to relieve it, and which their oath feemed to preclude; and this threw them into great perplexity.

y. 4. And it came to pafs on the morrow, thatthe people rofe early, &c.] The day after their fafting and prayer, and a fenfe of their prefent cafe and circumi{tances- being deeply impreffed upon their minds, they.rofe early in the morning to acts of devotion, and exercifes of religion, hoping that being in the way of their duty, the difficulties with which they-were perplexed would be removed, and built there an altar, if this place was Bethel, as Kimchi reafons, there Facod had built an altar; but that in fuch a courfe of years might have been demolifhed: and if it was Shi/ob, there was the tabernacle, and fo the altar of the Lord there; wherefore this either fignifies the repairing of that, being in ruins, which is not likely, fince it was and faid, there is one tribe cut off from Ifrael this itp; that is, there is a likelihood or great danger OL ite

¥: 7. How fhall we do for wives for them that remain, &c.| By which it feems, as well as by what is after related, that they knew of the fix hundred men hid in the rock Rimmon: feeing we have fworn by the Lord; by the Word of the Lord, as the Targum, and fuch an oath with them was a facred thing, and to be keptinviolable,.even to their own hurt: that we will not give them of our daughters to wives; asin ¥. 1. and therefore they mutt either marry among the heathens; which was forbidden, or they muft make void their oath, or the tribe in alittle time would be extinét; thefe were difficulties they knew not how to furmount, and this was the object.of their enquiry. -

¥. 8. And they faid, what one is there of the tribes of Ifrael that came not up to Muizpeb to the Lord, &c.| This is afked not only to bring them to juftice, and put them to death, according to their oath, who fhould be found guilty, ¥. 5. but as an expedient to find wives for the furviving Benjaminites, fince thefe, as they came not to Mizpeb, fo confequently fwore not that they would not give their daughters to Benjaminites; wherefore from among them wives might be given to them, without the violation of an oath: and behold, there came none to the camp from F abefh-gilead to the af- buc lately ufed, ch. xx. 26. or the building of a /embly; this was obferved by fome upon the quef- new one, which to do in the tabernacle was not unlawful, efpecially when the number of facrifices required it, which it is highly probable was the caie now, as it was at the dedication of the temple, 1 Kings viii. 64. though the above-mentioned writer thinks, that building an altar fignifies, as in many places, only feeking the Lord; but the ufe for which it was built is exprefled; and offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings; both to atone for the fins they had been guilty of in the profecution of the war, and to return thanks for victory given, and to implore frefh favours to be beftowed upon them.

¥. 5. And the children of Ifrael faid, &cc. One to another, after they had offered their facrifices, and whilft they were together in Shiloh: who is there among all the tribes of Ifrael, that came not up with the congregation unto the Lord? when they were fummoned to come to Mizpeh, to confult together about the affair of the Levite’s concubine, as appears by what follows: for they bad made a great cath, ina very awful and folemn manner, with a curfe annexed to it, as that about not giving a wife to Benjamin, ¥.18. concerning him that came not upto the Lord to Mizpeh; not abouthim, who did not go out to battle againft Benjamin, nor about every individual that did not come to confult about it; but every city that did not fend their proper tion put, which caufed an enquiry to be made as. after related. This city was inthe land of Gilead, from whence it had its name, onthe other fide Jordan, and is placed by Adrichomius* in the half tribe of Manaffeb; and Ferom *fays it was a village in his time 6 miles from the city Pel/a, upon a mountain, as you go to Gera/a.

y. 9. For the people were numbered, &c.| To know who did come up, and who did not, and particularly to know whether the inhabitants of Fabefo-Gilead did or not, againft whom an information was brought: and bebold there were none of the inhabitants of Fabefo-Gilead there; for as yet none that came had returned home; all came to Shilob firft, to pay their devotion to the Lord; and as none were found among the living, it did not appear they were among the flain.; and very probably the mufter-roll was taken before they went to battle, and they were not on that..

¥. 10. And the congregation fent thither 12000 men of the valianteft, &c.| That were in their army; in the Vulgate Latin verfion it is only 10,000; but the Targum, Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic verfions,.and Yofepbus*, agree with the Hebrew. text. This place, according to Bunting, to which this army was fent, was 52 miles from Shilob*: and commanded them, faying; thefe were the orders they gave them, when they marched out: go and reprefentatives or quota to affift in that affair: be /mite the inhabitants of Fabefo-Gilead with the edge frail furely be put to death, this was fent along with the fummons, in order to quicken their attention to of the fword, with the women and tke children,; which it feems was according to theoaththey had made,

¥.11. And this is the thing that ye fhall do, &c. Which they gave them in charge to execute: ye foal utterly defiroy every male, without any young of old, married or unmarried: and every avoman that bath lien by man; whether lawfully or unlawfully, in a married or unmarried ftate. © ~~ judged of by their age, and by their unmarried ftate, and by common report, unlefs it can be thought they were examined by matrons; it was that they were not obliged, or did not think themfelves obliged by their oath to put thefe to death, as well as others, is not eafy to fay; whether they thought the neceflity of the cafe would excufe it, or they hada difpenfation from the Lord for it, on confulting him; however fo it was: and they brought them unto the camp to Shilob, which is in the land of Canaan, this is obferved becaufe wives to the Benjamiinites: becaufe the Lord bad made a@ breach in the tribes of ifrael; by almoft deftroy= referve, jing ohne of them; for though this was done by the I/raelites, yet by the permiffion and accor to the will of God, and through his over-r providence. be wit Tea iy niet y. 12. And they found among the inbabitants of fabefb-Gilead 400 young virgins, &c.] Or damfel virgins®; damfels that were virgins: that had known no man by lying with any.

y. 16. Then the elders of the congregation faid, &c.| This being the cafe, that there peice wives enough for them, they were obliged to male, which was fult. again, and confider of another expedient to provide for theny; and this motion came fromthe ~ elders of the peoples ‘not only in’ years, but in. but how Joffice: ‘how’ hall we do'for'wives for them that re: main; the other 200°who had noné: /eeing the womenare deftroyed out of Benjamin? and fo no wives - to be had there; and as for the J/raelites which came to Mizpeh, who were of all the tribes of J/- rae/, they had folemnly fworn that they wouldnot give any of their daughters to them, and therefore | it was a very difficult thing to provide wives for them. tc that Fabe/-Gilead was not in the land. of Canaan, from wherice they were brought, but in the land of Og king of Bajhan; only what was on this fide Fordan was the land of Canaan, and in that Shilob was, to which they. were brought; and this fhews that not the city Bethel, but Shiloh, was the place whither the people or army of J/rae] came to offer facrifice after the war was ended.

¥.13. And the whole congregation fent fome to Jpeak to the children of Benjamin, &c.| Sent fome meffengers to them, to call them, and defire them ‘to come to them: that were in the rock Rimmon; the 600 men who hadshid themfelves in a cave in it, of which the people of J/rae/ were informed: and to call peaceably unto them; to proclaim peace tothem, and affure them of it, and to let them know that they had no ill defign againft them, that they might come fafely to them, and would be

_Kindly received and protected by them.

y¥. 14. And Benjamin came again at that time, &c.] The 600 Benjaminites returned with the meffengers at the fame time to the people of J/rael, putting confidence in the affurances they had given them of peace and fafety: and they gave them wives which they had faved alive of the women of fabefb- Gilead; in doing which they fuppofed they had not violated their oath, fincethough they had fworn that they would not give their own daughters, they had not fworn they would not give the daughters of others; and befides as’ the men of Yabe/fb-Gilead were not at Mizpeh when the oaths were made, they had taken none, and fo their daughters might be given in marriage to the Benjaminites, notwithftanding that oath: and yet fo they fufficed them not, there were not wives enough for them all; for they were 600 men, whereas the daughters of the inhabitants of ‘fabe/h-Gilead were but 400, fo that there were 200 more wanting. Abarbinel interprets the word we render /o in a different manner by right, as in Numb. xxvii. 7. and gives the fenfe thus, that it was’ not a point of juftice and judgment to do this to the daughters of ‘fabe/b-Gilead, namely, to fave and give them in marriage; but they did this becaufe the people repented for Benjemin, as follows.

y. 15. And the people repented them for Benjamin, &c.] That they had deftroyed all their women, and that they had faved no more of the daughters of Fabefb-Gilead, not a fufficient number to be y¥. 17. And they faid, there mutt be an inberitance for them that be efcaped of Benjamin, &e.] The efcaped are the 600 men in the rock Rimmon; four hundred of them were fupplied with wives, the other two wanted; and as there was an inheritance divided by lot to the tribe of Benjamin, to that tribe and to that only it belonged, and they muft have it and no other; it now of right devolved on thefe 600 men, and them only, and therefore provifion muft be made to increafe their number, that they'may occupy the inheritance they have a right to, rebuild their cities, ‘till their land, cultivate their’ vineyards and olive-yards, anden-. - joy all the advantages of their pofléffions: ¢thar@ tribe be not deftroyed cut of Ifrael; but the full number of the tribes be preferved, and their inheri— tances belonging to them, according ‘to the pré- dictions of Facob and Mo/es, and the’ affignment of them by lot unto'them by Fofoua, © pe

¥. 18. Howbeit we may not give them *wivestof our daughters, &c.} Though their cafe-was fo vet neceffitous and defperate: for the children of Ifrael have fworn, faying, curfed be he that giveth a wife to Benjamin, y. 1. and therefore without the’ violation of their oath could not give any of their daughters in marriage to them; wherefore fome other way muft be devifed-to help them. o

¥. 19. Then. they faid, &c.] Some of the eld that fat in council, debating this matter, and con fidering of ways and means to affift their brethren the Benjaminites, and preferve their tribe from being. loft: debold there is a feaft of the Lord in Shilo yearly, where the tabernacle then was, and before which the males of //rael were obliged to appear three times of the year; and this was one of them, as is clear by its being called a feaft of the Lord; and therefore cannot defign any civil feftival, or fair kept for trade and commerce. Some have. thought of the feaft of the paflover, but itis mof likely to be the feaft of tabernacles, as Adarbinel takes it to be; which in Yewih writings is emphatically called the feaft; and the time of year when that was kept was a time of great rejoicing, on. account of the fruits of the earth being gathered in, and the reading of the law, and efpecia at the time of drawing of water at this feaft; infomuch that it is faid*, that he who never faw the rejoicing at drawing of water, never faw re- _ joicing in his life, which was attended with piping, and. daheing; and finging: It is pretty ftrange what Kimchi notes, that this may be either one of the above’ feafts, or the day of atonement, at which he fays the daughters of J/rael ufed to go and dance in the vineyards, according to the words of the Rabbins; when though’ that is reckoned among the featts, Lev. xxiii. it was properly a°faft, as itis called Aas xxvii.g. and all tokens of feftivity and joy: were forbidden on it; and where thefe words of ‘their Radéins are. to be met.with he fays not: ina place wich is on the north-/ideof Bethel; we rightly fupply 7 @ place; for the intention is not to deferibe the fituation of Shiloh, which was well known, but a place not far from it, where at this feftival the daughters of Shilob ufed to dance »-on'the caft-fide of the highway that goeth up from Bethel to Shechem; this place lay to the eaft of a public road, that led from Bethel to Shechem: and on the fouth of Lebonab; which Mr. Maundrell ‘ takes to be a place now called Kane Ledan, which ftands on the eaft-fide of a delicious vale, having a village of the fame name ftanding oppofite to it on the other fide of the vale; one of thefe places, either that Kane or the village is fuppofed to be the Lebonah mentioned Fudg. xxi. 19. to which both the name and fituation feem to agree.

take evéry one one, not more, and g6 off diretly with them to their own tribe.

¥i22. And it fhall be when their fathers or their brethren come unto. us to complain, 8cc.| OF this rape of their daughters or fifters, or to. bring an action'againft them, and defire they might be fummoned before them, the elders of the people, and be tried and judged:according to law for what they had:done; or to'put them upon going to war with them again for fuch treatment of them: that we will fay unto them, be favourable unto. them for our fakes; for the fake of the elders, who advifed them to do what they did or for the fake of us I/raelites, your fake and ours, who were too fevere upon them, and.profecuted the war with too»much vigour, which made what they have done neceffary, or otherwife a tribe muft have been loft in J - rael: becaufe we referved not to each man bis wife in the war; either in the war with Benjamin, which they carried on with fuch wrath and fury as to de-

{troy all the women, fo that there were no wives left for the men that remained, which they now repented of; or in the war with Fabefh-Gilead, they did not referve enough of the women taken, only 400 virgins, whereas there were 600 men; but the firft feems beft: for ye did not give unto them

¥. 20. Therefore they commanded the children of Benjamin, &c.] The 200 men of the tribe thatlis, at this time that you fhould be guilty, the meaning thatif they had any uneafinefs upon their minds wanted wives; they ordered them as follows, and which they fpake with authority, being the elders of the congregation, ¥. 16. faying, go and lie in wait in the vineyards; which might belong to Sdilob, or itmay be to Lebonahb, which perhaps is the fame with Beth-Laban, famous for its wine with the Mifnic writers; who fay * the fecond places for wine are Beth rimab and Beth-laban; and I fufpect that Beth-rvimab is the fame with Beth-rimmon, near which wasthe rock Rimmon thefe men were in; now this being the time of year when the vintage was juft over, the. vines were full of branches and leaves, under which the men might the: better hide themfelves; and the grapes being gathered, there were no men in the vineyards, and fo migh lie in wait» fafely, and under cover., y¥. 21. And fee and bebold,if the daughters of Shi- about the oath which they had taken, not to give any of their daughters in marriage to Benjamin, they need not be difturbed at that, fince they did not give them to them, but thefe took them by force; which was the fcheme thefe elders contrived to fecure from the violation of the oath. This they propofed to fay to quiet»them, and make them eafy, to which other things might have been added; as that thefe° were their brethren, and not ftrangers they were married to, and not to mean men, but to men of large eftates, having the whole inheritance of the tribe of Benjamin devolved upon them; and their daughters would be the. original mothers of the pofterity of that tribein fucceeding ages. ‘ y. 23. And the children of Benjamin did fo, &c.}

Went and laid wait in the vineyards, and when the lob come out. to dance in dances, 8cc.]. As they ufed daughters of Shilab came out to dance, they ruthed to do at this feftival, not along with men, but by themfelves; and fo might the more eafily be taken and carried off; and though only males were obliged to appear from all parts at this feaft, yet females might come if they would; and no doubt from neighbouring places at leaft many did; however the daughters of Shilob, who dwelt where the tabernacle was, thefe always attended the feaft with demonftrations of joy, and among the reft with dancing, and that as exprefive of fpiritual and re- Figious joy, as in the cale of Miriam, and the J rael- itifa woman, L£xod. Xv. 20. and as in latter times the moft religious men ufed to exprefs their joy at this feaft: now the 200 men in the vineyards, which lay near the field where thefe virgins ufed to dance at this time, were to watch and obferve when they came out of the city thither, and were engaged in fuch an exercife: then come ye out of the vineyards, and catch you every. man bis wife of the daughters of Shilob, and go to the land of Benjamin; they are directed to rufh out at once upon them, as they were dancing, fecure as they thought from moleftation and danger; and they were to upon them: and took them wives according to their number, two hundred of them, each man a wife, and no more; for though polygamy was in ufe in thofe times, and if at any, time neceflary, and could be excufed, it might feem now; yet it was not indulged to, neither by the elders, nor by the children of Benjamin: of them that danced whom they caught; the rape of. the Sabine virgins by Romulus, at the cirque plays and fhows, mentioned by various authors"; and the carrying off of 15 Spartan virgins from the dances by Ari/tomenes the Meffenian', are fometimes obferved as parallel cafes tothis, andjuftified by it, particularly that of Romulus *: and they went and returned unto their inheritance; the 600 Benjaminites, with their wives, returned to their own tribe, which was their inheritance by lot; and thefe being the only furvivors, had a right to the whole: and repaired the cities and dwelt in them; in procefs of time they rebuilt the cities the Jfraelites had burnt in the late war, and repeopled them as their pofterity increafed. And the Fewi/h writers fay, that in after times they were allowed to marry with other tribes as before,

364 FUDGES Ch. xxi.y.24,25 - for they obferve, that it ran only, there fhall not any\rightuntos give wives to Benjamin, and foin time they became numerous again. 1 4. I jand-as yet no judge in J &c.]; No fupreme magiftrate, Fe/bua being d rae/had rifen wp;,.fo

¥. 24. And the children of Ifrael departed thence at that time, every man to his tribe and to bis family, done=between the death of Fo/hua, and, fervation of the tribe of Benjamin, who were the caufe of it, and had fuffered fo much in irs ‘the J - raelites that had met at Mizpeb, andwho had not fallen inthe war, returned to their refpeétive countries, to their wives and children, and the bufinefs of their callings: and they went out from thence | every man to bis inberitance, divided by lotto them, be/b-gilead, and the rape of the daughters of Shs

Benjaminites, the laughter of Pieler | lok -

(a eee Y Site eke ath iQ, iad, - ae they call Shophetim or Fidges; the principal defign of itis to give the genealogy of David, whom Samuel had anointed to be king of J/rae/, and from whom the Meffiah was to come, and whe therefore may be faid to be the aim and {cape of it, as he is of all fcripture s and wheteby ic appears that he {prung both from Fews and Gentiles, and is the faviour of both, and there is a good foundation for both to hope in him: and the call and converfion of Ruth the Moabdite/s, may be confidered as a fhadow, emblem, and pledge of the ae aN HIS book is called Ruth, not | becaufe fhe was the author of it, but becaufe fhe is the principal y, fubject of it. In the Syriac and te Arabic verfions, it is called the “hs, book of Ruth the Moabitefs, MERE! which defcribes her by the country of which fhe was. Her name, according to Hillerus ' fignifies beautiful, of a good afpect, the fame with Calliope in Greek. As to the author of this book, fome attribute it to ii the prieft, who feems to have been too foon to give an account of the birth of David; others to Gad or Nathan; feme to Hezekiah, and others to Ezra; but what the Talmudifts affert, which is moft generally received, and mott probable, is, that it was written by Samuel; {0 they fay Samuel” wrote his own book, Fudges, and Ruth, and it is commonly faid that this book is an appendix to that of the judges, and an introduction to Samuel, and is fitly placed converfion of the Gentiles. Many things befides may be learnt from this little book, as the different circumftances of good people in this life, and the particular providence of God refpecting them, It furnifhes out examples of bearing afflictions patiently, of induftry, courteoufnefs, kindnefs to ftrangers, and young converts; and none can doubt of the divine authority of this book, that confiders the ufe made of it in the genealogies of between them both. According to Eu/edius", with Corift by the evangelilts Matthew and Luke.

the Hebrews, Judges and Ruth make one book

HIS chapter -tteats of a family that removed from the land of Cauaan to the land of Moab| on account of a famine, where the father of it and his two fons died, and each of them left a widow, ¥. t—5. the mother-in-law propofed to return to her own country; and fet forward with her two daughters in: law, whom, when they had gone a little way with her, fhe intreated to go back, expoftujated with them about it, ¥. 6—13.-upon which one of them did, but the other, Ruth, fubjec&t of this book, refolved to go the journey with her, y¥. 1418. and they both came to Berhlebem, the former refidence of her mother-in-law Naomi, who was, greatly taken notice of by old friends and acquaintance, to whom fhe related her prefent circumftances, ¥. 19—22.

of theirs -it belongs to, is not agreed. on. Foephus ° places it in the government of Ei, but that is too late for Boaz, the grandfather of Jefe, the father of Devid, to live. Some Fewi/h writers, as archi, fay ix was in the times of Jézan, who they fay? is the fame with Boaz, but without proof, and which times are too late alfo for this andjhiftory.. The Fewifh chronology 4 comes nearer the truth, which carries it up as high as. the times thelof Eglon, king of Moab, when Ebud was judge; jand with which Dr. L#ghéfoot" pretty much agrees, who puts this hiftory between the third and fourth chapters of Fudges, and fo muft belong to the herjtimes of Ehud or Shamgar. Junius refers it to the times of Deborah and Barak; and others * on account of the famine, think it began in the times

Y when the Midianites opprefied J/rael, and carried

¥. 1. Now it came to pals, in the days when the judges ruled, &c.] So that it appears that this hiftory is of time and things after the affair of Micab, and of the concubine of the Levite, and the war between J/rae/ and Benjamin; times there was no king nor judge in I/rael,: but to what time of the judges, and which government off the fruits of the earth, which caufed it, when Gideon was raifed up to be their judge; ting * places it in the times of Fephthab; fuch is the ofjuncertainty about the time referred to: that there for in thofejwas a famine in the land, the land of Canaan, that very fruitful country. The Targus fays this was the fixth famine that had been in the wats