long periods in the briefest manner. Thus, in x. 1, "After Abimelech there arose he says, .... Tola; he judged Israel twenty-and-three years, and died;" iii. 30, "And the land had rest fourscore years; viii. 28, "and the country was in quietness forty years in the days of Gideon." For this reason, it is difficult to determine the chronology of the book. Portions of the book are pragmatic; for example, "The anger of Jehovah was hot against Israel," (ii. 14, 15, 16, 18, 20-23.) The deliverers of the nation are [See, also, x. 3, xii. 7—15, xv. 20, xvi. 31.] [The following table is taken from De Wette's Archæology, § 27:— From Joshua till the time when the new race fell into idolatry, (Judg. i. ii. Josephus, Ant. vi. 5, 4,) Servitude under Cushan-rishathaim, (iii. 8,) Deliverance by Othniel, and 40 years' rest, (iii. 11,) Deliverance by Ehud, and 80 years' rest, (iii. 30,). Twenty years' servitude under Jabin, (iv. 1, sq.,) . Oppression by Midianites, (vi. 1,) Rest under Gideon, (viii. 28,) Decline of the Jews after Gideon's death, (viii. 33—35,) · อิง 18 years. 8 66 40 66 7 66 40 66 In all, (without the 40 doubtful years, marked in numerals,) . . 428 But if the temple of Solomon was built 480 years after the departure from Ægypt, as it is said, 1 Kings vi. 1, the above chronology must be wrong. Rosenmüller makes 410 years.] raised up by a special act of omnipotence, (iii. 9, 15, iv. 6, 23, vi. 8—10, 11, sqq. et al.,) Jehovah is said to deliver the people to their conquerors, (iv. 2, vi. 1.) Less important actions, in the spirit of antiquity, are referred directly to the Supreme Being, as in xiii. 25; ix. 23, "God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem;" verse 56, "Thus God repaid the wickedness of Abimelech." The story of Gideon is mythical and pragmatic in a high degree. But there are no marks of a theocratic, still less of a Levitical, spirit in the first part of the book. The mythology of this book is peculiar. In chap. ii. 1, sqq., an angel of Jehovah comes up from Gilgal to Bochim to admonish the nation. But he speaks as if he were Jehovah himself, and not simply his angel. "I made you go out of Egypt," &c.; "Ye have not obeyed my voice," &c. Again, in vi. 11, sqq., an angel of Jehovah appears to Gideon, sits under the terebinth in Ophrah, and assures the doubtful son of Joash that Jehovah is with him. But as he hesitates to believe the assertion, the angel speaks as if he were Jehovah, — "Have not I sent thee ?"-and the narrative seems to confound Jehovah and the angel, (verses 14, 16.) Gideon prepares food for the angel, who causes it to be spread on a rock, and touches it with his staff. Fire comes out of the rock, consumes the food, and the angel vanishes. Then Gideon suspects his visitor was celestial, and is frightened. But Jehovah himself bids him fear not. The same night, Jehovah appears to him [Perhaps the original legend taught that Jehovah himself appeared, and some redactor, thinking this too gross, ascribed the action to an angel of Jehovah.] again, and afterwards Gideon consults him by a sort of divination, (verse 36, sqq.) On another occasion, (xiii. 3,) an angel of Jehovah appears to the wife of Manoah, and predicts the birth of Samson. Manoah, who supposes he was but a man, prayed that he might return. The prayer was granted; the visitant repeated his instructions, refused to eat, or to tell his name, and ascended in the smoke of a burnt-offering. Manoah exclaimed, "We shall surely die, because we have seen God." These appearances of divine beings differ remarkably from those in Genesis. The ark appears but once in the book, then in a gloss on the appendix, (xx. 27.) The story of Samson is very remarkable, and suggests numerous historical parallels. Paulus thinks his feats of strength are not incredible. He compares him with the Rephaim, Anakim, and Goliath; with David and his heroes, who slew lions and bears single-handed; with Ajax, Diomed, Achilles, Hector, and Turnus—not to mention the strong men of the Teutonic nations. But their strength was only extraordinary, while that of Samson is represented as miraculous. We are to compare him, not so much with Hercules and the demigods of other nations, as with their mythological heroes, — with the Argonauts and Theseus, who lived before Homer's time; while David and his heroes are to be 'compared with the Ajax, and Hector, and Achilles, of Homer."] a See Paulus, 1. c., and De Lavaur, Conference de la Fable avec l'Histoire Sainte, (cited by Clarke, Com. in loc.) Justi, Bauer, De Wette, 4th ed., and Palfrey, l. c. § 174. COMPILATION OF THE BOOK. The appendix (xvii.-xxi) is clearly distinguished from the proper book of Judges by taking a different point of view, and referring the sins of the land to the want of a king, (xvii. 6, xviii. 1, xix. 1, xxi. 25,) by its want of mythology, but not by its style." It is a later addition, but it does not contradict itself. There is a contradiction between i. 18 and iii. 1—3. In the former, it is said Judah took Gaza, Askelon, and Ekron, with their coasts; but, in the latter, it is said the people of these places were left-"Five lords of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, and the Zidonians." On this account, and because i. 27-36, seems, at the least, superfluous, if iii. 3, was to be written, it appears the first chapter could hardly have come from the author of the book of Judges. It may have been derived from some other source. Such is the opinion of Eichhorn. Yet verse 16 agrees with iv. 11. Bertholdt and Studer think it is from a later hand. It is a compilation which contradicts itself. Thus, (verse 8,) it is said, the children of Judah fought against Jerusalem, and took it, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and set the city on fire; (verse 21,) "But the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites that inhabited Jerusalem, but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem unto this day." Again, (verse 10,) "Judah conquered the Canaanites who dwelt at Heshbon, and slew Sheshai, and Ahiman, • But see Eichhorn, § 457, and Bertholdt, p. 876, 886. and Talmai;" but, in verse 20, Caleb expels from Hebron these three Anakim. The passage, ii. 1-5, seems removed from its true connection; for the book of Joshua proper begins with verse 6; however, it agrees with the idea of the book, and probably originated with the same author. The book of Judges proper (ii. 6—xvi. 31) has a strong resemblance to the Jehovistic documents and the book of Joshua, and has an internal agreement with it. For this reason it has been ascribed to the same author." But, as in the Pentateuch and the book of Joshua, more ancient fragments lie at the bottom. Monuments of these appear here and there. The plan of the book, laid down in chap. ii., occurs beforehand in Josh. xxiii. xxiv., and even in Ex. xxiii. 20, sqq. The style is like that in the Jehovistic parts of Deuteronomy," though there are Elohistic passages. a Stähelin, in Stud. und Krit. for 1835, p. 474, sqq. For example, to do evil, 9 ; i. 11, and frequently, as in Deut. iv. 25, ix. 18, xvii. 2, 5, and elsewhere. The land rested, yn PW; iii. 11, 30, v. 31, viii. 28, as Josh. xi. 23, xiv. 15. Miracles, hinbd); vi. 13, as Ex. xxxiv. 10. Armed men, n; vii. 11, as Josh. i. 14, and frequently. For a snare, pb; ii. 3, viii. 27, as in Ex. xxiii. 33, and elsewhere. To put before the face; xi. 9. There is a resemblance between ii. 2, 3, and Ex. xxiii. 24, 28, 29, 32; between iii. 6, (they took their daughters to be wives, &c.,) and Deut. vii. 3, 4; vi. 39, (I will speak but this once,) and Gen. xviii. 32; xiii. 17, 18, (where the angel is unwilling to tell his name,) and Gen. xxxii. 28, 29. Chap. ii. 15,- as Jehovah said, — refers to Deuteronomy. There is a similarity in the mythology; for example: Angel of Jehovah; ii. 1, sqq., vi. 11, 14. Miraculous signs; vi. 17, 36, as in Ex. iv., and elsewhere. It is considered fatal to see God; vi. 22, 23, xiii. 22, as in Gen. xvi. 13, 14. Verses are quoted;, xiv. xv. Chap. vi. 11, sqq., is like xiii.; vii. 1, sqq., like xii. 1, sqq.; viii. 27, prepares for chap. ix. ; xvi. 17, refers to xiii. 5. But in chap. v. I cannot find the work of the Jehovist, nor in several narratives which give a faithful description of ancient manners. Chap. xi. 15, — “ Israel took not away the land of Moab, ... ... of the children of Ammon,”– |