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into the wilderness of Judah, which lieth in the south of Arad; and they went and dwelt among the people.

And Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they slew the Canaanites that inhabited Zephath, and utterly destroyed it, And the name of the city was called Hormah.1 And the Lord was with Judah; and he drave out the inhabitants of the hill country; but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron.

And the house of Joseph, they also went up against Beth-el; and the Lord was with them. And the house of Joseph sent to descry Beth-el. (Now the name of the city before was Luz.) And the spies saw a man come forth out of the city, and they said unto him: "Shew us, we pray thee, the entrance into the city, and we will shew thee mercy." And when he shewed them the entrance into the city, they smote the city with the edge of the sword; but they let go the man and all his family. And the man went into the land of the Hittites, and built a city, and called the name thereof Luz: which is the name thereof unto this day.

Neither did Manasseh drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shean and her towns, nor Taanach and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Dor and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Ibleam and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Megiddo and her towns; but the Canaanites would dwell in that land. And it came to pass, when Israel was strong, that they put the Canaanites to tribute, and did not utterly drive them out. Neither did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer; but the Canaanites dwelt in Gezer among them. Neither did Zebulun drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, nor the inhabitants of Nahalol; but the Canaanites dwelt among them, and became tributaries. Neither did Asher drive out the inhabitants of Accho, nor the inhabitants of Zidon, nor of Ahlab, nor of Achzib, nor of Helbah, nor of Aphik, nor of Rehob: but the Asherites dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land: for they did not drive them out. Neither did Naphtali drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh, nor the inhabitants of Beth-anath; but he dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land: nevertheless the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and of Beth-anath became tributaries unto them. And the Amorites forced the children of Dan into the hill country: for they would not suffer them to 1 Hormah. Devoted to Destruction,' - viz., by the vow recorded on p. 130.

come down to the valley: but the Amorites would dwell in mount Heres in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim: yet the hand of the house of Joseph prevailed, so that they became tributaries. And the coast of the Amorites was from the going up to Akrabbim, from the rock,1 and upward.

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. 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? 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." 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. And they called the name of that place Bochim: 2 and they sacrificed there unto the Lord.

1 the rock. Perhaps Petra in Edom, an ancient rock-cut city, which has recently (in 1908) been successfully excavated for early remains. 2 Bochim. Weepers.'

VIII

THE JUDGES

Explanation of Israel's Fortunes during the Period of Settlement (Judg. ii. 11-iii. 6). And the children of Israel did. evil in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim:1 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. And they forsook the Lord, and served Baal and Ashtaroth. 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. Whithersoever they went out, Ashtart: Terra-cotta figure from Cyprus. the hand of the Lord was against

[graphic]

[From Perrot and Chipiez: Histoire de l'art dans l'antiquité)

1 Baalim. Pl. of Baal, which means literally 'Possessor.' A Baal was a local Canaanite divinity, thought of as possessing the soil and controlling its fertility. Each agricultural settlement had its Baal, which at stated festivals it worshipped in conjunction with Ashtart (see next note). Since the special gift of these deities was fertility, their festivals were made the occasion of immoral indulgence. As the Hebrews settled among the Canaanites, they readily fell in with this native worship, especially in northern Israel, where agriculture was more general than in the south. Jehovah himself, at the popular high places (see note, p. 223), was apt to be worshipped with Baalish rites.

2 Ashtaroth. Pl. of the name of a widely worshipped Semitic goddess, here denoting the goddess in her various local representations. In Assyria and Babylonia she was called Ishtar; in Phœnicia, Ashtart. The latter name, more familiarly known in its Greek form Astarte, is by the Old Testament writers rendered 'Ashtoreth,' in order to stigmatize it by making it suggest the word bōsheth, shameful thing.' (See note on p. 265.) Ashtart is commonly goddess of fertility and reproduction, though as the tutelary divinity of a city she often appears in a warlike character. Through Phœnician traders the cult of Ashtart helped to form the Greek conception of Aphrodite.

them for evil, as the Lord had said, and as the Lord had sworn unto them: and they were greatly distressed.

Nevertheless the Lord raised up judges,1 which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them. And yet they would not hearken unto their judges, but they went a whoring after other gods, and bowed themselves unto them. 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. And it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they returned, and corrupted themselves more than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them, and to bow down unto them; they ceased not from their own doings, nor from their stubborn way.

And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel; and he said: "Because that this people hath transgressed my covenant which I commanded their fathers, and have not hearkened unto my voice; I also will not henceforth drive out any from before them of the nations which Joshua left when he died: 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." Therefore the Lord left those nations, without driving them out hastily.

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; only that the generations of the children of Israel might know, to teach them war, at the least such as before knew nothing thereof; namely, five lords of the Philistines,2 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. And they were to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would hearken unto the commandments of the Lord, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses. And the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, Hittites, and Amorites, and Perizzites, and Hivites, and Jebusites: and they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons, and served their gods.

1 judges. The heroes whose exploits are told in the book of Judges are primarily deliverers rather than magistrates, men who had vindicated the rights of Israel in battle. By a 'judge,' the Hebrews originally meant one who delivered oracles, especially in matters of dispute; but the duty of administering justice fell naturally to a chief who had gained prestige in war, and in later times was often performed by the king.

2 five lords of the Philistines. See note, p. 191. By Canaanites are here meant 1 Asheroth. Pl. of asherah, which in the old Testament commonly denotes a sacred pole planted beside the altar and mazzebah at every Canaanite high place. There was, however, an ancient Canaanite goddess Asherah, whose worship as goddess of fertility became associated with that of Baal, until it gave place to that of Ashtart. The wooden pole was thus doubtless originally a symbol of her, as the stone pillar was of Baal.

Othniel (Judg. iii. 7-11). And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and forgat the Lord their God,

[graphic]

Impression from an ancient cylinder-seal showing a Sacred Tree

and Asherah

and served the Baalim and the Asheroth. Therefore the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Cushan-rishathaim 2 king of Mesopotamia: and the children of Israel served Cushan-rishathaim eight years. 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. And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he judged Israel, and

the lowlanders of the southwest. The entering in of Hamath is the opening between Lebanon and anti-Lebanon some thirty miles south of Hamath, modern Hama.

the

The name Cushan-rishathaim 'Cushite of double wickedness,' conceals the real name of this oppressor. For Aram (rendered 'Mesopotamia' in the text) we should probably read Edom, the two words in Hebrew being closely

alike.

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