CHAPTER III _An account of the nations that we left to prove Israel_, 1-4. _How the people provoked the Lord_, 5-7. _They are delivered into the power of the king of Mesopotamia,_ _by whom they are enslaved eight years_, 8. _Othniel is raised up as their deliverer; he discomfits the king_ _of... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Judges 3:2. _THAT - ISRAEL MIGHT KNOW, TO TEACH THEM WAR_] This was another reason why the Canaanites were left in the land, that the Israelites might not forget military discipline, but habituate themselves to the use of arms, that they might always be able to defend themselves against their... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Judges 3:4. _TO KNOW WHETHER THEY WOULD HEARKEN_] This would be the consequence of the Canaanites being left among them: if they should be faithful to God, their enemies would not be able to enslave them; should they be rebellious, the Lord would abandon them to their foes.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Judges 3:6. _AND THEY TOOK THEIR DAUGHTERS_] They formed matrimonial alliances with those proscribed nations, served their idols, and thus became one with them in _politics_ and _religion_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Judges 3:7. _SERVED BAALIM AND THE GROVES_] No _groves_ were ever worshipped, but the _deities_ who were supposed to be resident in them; and in many cases temples and altars were built in _groves_, and the superstition of _consecrating groves_ and _woods_ to the honour of the deities was a p... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Judges 3:8. _CHUSHAN-RISHATHAIM_] _Kushan_, the _wicked_ or _impious_; and so the word is rendered by the _Chaldee Targum_, the _Syriac_, and the _Arabic_, wherever it occurs in this chapter. _KING OF MESOPOTAMIA_] King of ארם נהרים _Aram naharayim_, "Syria of the two rivers; " translated _Me... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Judges 3:9. _RAISED UP - OTHNIEL, THE SON OF KENAZ_] This noble Hebrew was of the tribe of Judah, and nephew and son-in-law to Caleb, whose praise stands without abatement in the sacred records. Othniel had already signalized his valour in taking Kirjath-sepher, which appears to have been a ve... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Judges 3:10. _HIS HAND PREVAILED_] We are not told or what nature this war was, but it was most decisive; and the consequence was an undisturbed peace of _forty_ years, during the whole life of Othniel. By the _Spirit of the Lord coming upon him_, the _Chaldee_ understands the _spirit of prop... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Judges 3:12. _THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL DID EVIL_] They forgat the Lord and became idolaters, and God made those very people, whom they had imitated in their idolatrous worship, the means of their chastisement. _THE LORD STRENGTHENED EGLON THE KING OF MOAB_] The success he had against the Israel... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Judges 3:13. _THE CITY OF PALM TREES._] This the Targum renders _the_ _city of Jericho_; but Jericho had been destroyed by Joshua, and certainly was not rebuilt till the reign of Ahab, long after this, 1 Kings 16:34. However, as Jericho is expressly called _the city of palm trees_, Deuteronomy... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Judges 3:15. _EHUD THE SON OF GERA - A MAN LEFT HANDED_] איש אטר יד ימינו _ish itter yad yemino, a man lame in his right hand_, and therefore obliged to use his _left_. The Septuagint render it ανδρα αμφοτεροδεξιον, _an ambidexter_, a man who could use both hands alike. The Vulgate, _qui utraq... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Judges 3:16. _A DAGGER WHICH HAD TWO EDGES, OF A CUBIT LENGTH_] The word גמד _gomed_, which we translate _cubit_, is of very doubtful signification. As the root seems to signify _contracted_, it probably means an instrument made for the purpose _shorter_ than usual, and something like the Ital... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Judges 3:17. _EGLON_ WAS _A VERY FAT MAN._] The איש בריא _ish bari_ of the text is translated by the _Septuagint_ ανηρ αστειος σφοδρα, _a_ _very beautiful_ or _polite man_, and in the Syriac, _a very rude man_. It probably means what we call _lusty_ or _corpulent_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Judges 3:18. _MADE AN END TO OFFER THE PRESENT_] Presents, tribute, c., in the eastern countries were offered with very great ceremony and to make the more parade several persons, ordinarily slaves, sumptuously dressed, and in considerable _number_, were employed to carry what would not be a b... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Judges 3:19. _HE-TURNED - FROM THE QUARRIES_] פסילים _pesilim_. Some of the versions understand this word as meaning _idols_ or _graven_ _images_, or some spot where the Moabites had a place of idolatrous worship. As _pasal_ signifies to _cut, hew_, or _engrave_, it may be applied to the imag... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Judges 3:20. _HE WAS SITTING IN A SUMMER PARLOUR_] Besides the platforms, says Dr. Shaw, which were upon the ancient houses of the East, and which are found there to this day, it is probable that heretofore, as well as at present, most of the great houses had a smaller one annexed, which seld... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Judges 3:22. _THE HAFT ALSO WENT IN AFTER THE BLADE_] As the instrument was very _short_, and Eglon very _corpulent_, this might readily take place. _AND THE DIRT CAME OUT_] This is variously understood: either the contents of the bowels issued through the wound, or he had an evacuation in th... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Judges 3:24. _HE COVERETH HIS FEET_] He has lain down on his sofa in order to sleep; when this was done they dropped their slippers, lifted up their feet, and covered them with their long loose garments. But the _versions_, in general, seem to understand it as implying a certain natural act.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Judges 3:26. _PASSED BEYOND THE QUARRIES_] Beyond the _pesilim_, which appear to have been the Moabitish borders, where they had set up those hewn stones as _landmarks_, or sacred _boundary stones_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Judges 3:28. _TOOK THE FORDS OF JORDAN_] It is very likely that the Moabites, who were on the western side of Jordan, hearing of the death of Eglon, were panic-struck, and endeavoured to escape over Jordan at the _fords_ near Jericho, when Ehud blew his trumpet in the mountains of Ephraim, and... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Judges 3:29. _ALL LUSTY, AND ALL MEN OF VALOUR_] Picked, chosen troops, which Eglon kept among the Israelites to reduce and overawe them.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Judges 3:30. _THE LAND HAD REST FOURSCORE YEARS._] This is usually reckoned from the deliverance under Othniel, that being a _term_ from which they dated every transaction, as in other cases they dated from the _exodus_, from the _building of Solomon's temple_, c., and as other nations did fro... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Judges 3:31. _AND AFTER HIM WAS SHAMGAR THE SON OF ANATH_] Dr. Hales supposes that "Shamgar's administration in the West included Ehud's administration of eighty years in the East; and that, as this administration might have been of some continuance, so this Philistine servitude which is not n... [ Continue Reading ]