THE two incidents just recorded are illustrations of the turbulence and disorder of the period which followed the death of Joshua and of the elders that outlived Joshua. Forgetful of their vocation, the Chosen People intermingled with the heathen Canaanites, conformed to their rites and customs, and so forfeited the protection and blessing of their Invisible King. He therefore delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, He sold them to their enemies round about ... and they were greatly distressed (Judg. ii. 14, 15).
But on the first manifestation of repentance, He regarded their affliction, He heard their cry (Ps. cvi. 44, 45), and raised up Deliverers, who saved them from their enemies. The Hebrew word used to denote these Deliverers, these Saviours of their country, Shofet, Shophetim178, and which we have translated Judge, is much the same as the Suffes, Suffetes of the Carthaginians at the time of the Punic wars. Raised up on extraordinary occasions, like the Dictators in the history of Rome, they delivered the nation from some pressing danger, and their power and authority generally terminated with the crisis which had called them forth. Higher than the princes of the tribes, vested with extraordinary powers for the emergency, their office was not hereditary, though we shall see it finally tending in more than one instance towards fixedness and perpetuity, and in the person of Eli united with that of the High-priest (Judg. x. 3, 4; xii. 8–14; 1 Sam. viii. 1–3).
Invasion from the North-east. Othniel.
The crisis, which called forth the first of these Deliverers, was the invasion of the country by Chushan-rishathaim, king of Mesopotamia. From the seat of his dominion between the Euphrates and the Tigris he extended his conquests so far southward, that the Israelites suffered grievously from his oppressions for a space of 8 years. At the close of this period, Othniel, whose valour in attacking Kirjath-sepher and marriage with the daughter of the famous Caleb have been lately recorded179, went out against him and defeated him, and restored rest to the land for 40 years (Judg. iii. 8–11).
Invasion from the South-east. Ehud.
On his death, the people again fell into idolatry, and the Moabites under Eglon, aided by their old allies the Ammonites and Amalekites, crossed the Jordan and seized the ruined site of Jericho. From this vantage ground, Eglon was enabled to extend his dominion at least over the tribe of Benjamin, from which, if not from other tribes, he exacted annual tribute for a space of 18 years. This was brought to him at Jericho, where he would seem to have constructed a palace. On one occasion, Ehud, the son of Gera, a Benjamite, was selected to command the party deputed to carry this proof of subjection. Having executed his commission, he accompanied his men as far back as the quarries, or rather the graven images at Gilgal (Judg. iii. 19, margin), possibly the idol-temples, with which the Moabites had profaned the associations of that sacred spot. Thence he turned back, and on pretence of having a message from God to deliver to him, obtained a private interview with Eglon, as he sat in his summer parlour, or “parlour of cooling” (Judg. iii. 20, margin), probably on the roof of his house, where he might catch the cool breezes that tempered the tropical heat of the Jordan valley. On entering, Ehud repeated the purport of his errand, and Eglon bade the attendants instantly withdraw. Then as he rose from his seat to meet his visitor, Ehud, who was left-handed like many of his tribe, drew a long two-edged dagger, which he had made180 and hidden under his mantle upon his right thigh (Judg. iii. 16), and stabbed him with such force as to leave the weapon in his body. Without lingering a moment, he then shut and locked the doors of the chamber, and fled “through the porch or gallery that ran round the roof181,” and passing beyond Gilgal, made for the wooded, shaggy, hills of Seirath, in the mountains of Ephraim. There he blew a horn, and roused the Israelites, who rushed down the hills and followed him in the direction of Jericho. Meanwhile the attendants had opened the door of Eglon’s chamber, and beheld the corpse lying on the floor. Panicstricken at this unexpected death of their leader, and still more by the sudden rising of the Israelites, the Moabites fled towards the fords of the Jordan. But the Israelites had been beforehand with them, and suffering none to cross, slew upwards of 10,000 men.
Rest was now restored at least to the tribe of Benjamin for 80 years, but in the south-west the Philistines, encouraged probably by the success of the Moabites, made an inroad, and reduced the Israelites to great straits (Judg. v. 6). But Shamgar, the son of Anath, was raised up to be a deliverer. Armed with nothing but a long iron-spiked ox-goad182, he made a sudden and desperate assault upon the Philistines, and slew 600 of them, thus obtaining a temporary respite for his people (Judg. iii. 31).
Invasion from the North. Deborah and Barak.
But a more terrible invasion was in store for the nation, which again on the death of Ehud relapsed into idolatry (Judg. iv. 1). This time the oppressor came from the north, where under a second Jabin, the Canaanites, whom Joshua had defeated in his memorable victory at the waters of Merom, had recovered a portion of their former strength. With his vast hosts, and his 900 chariots of iron commanded by Sisera his captain, who resided at Harosheth of the Gentiles183, he overran the country of the neighbouring tribes, Asher, Naphtali and Zebulun.
Such was the general prostration and terror that, as had already been the case in the days of Shamgar, the highways were unoccupied, and the travellers stole from place to place by crooked, tortuous by-paths (Judg. v. 6). Village life ceased in Israel, and the peasantry, abandoning the cultivation of the ground, retired for refuge to the walled towns. But even here they were not secure. There was war in the gates, the place usually devoted to the administration of justice, and even in the places of drawing water the noise of the archers could be heard twanging their terrible bows (Judg. v. 8, 11). No resistance could be offered, for according to a common policy (1 Sam. xiii. 19–22) there had been a general disarmament of the people, and not a spear or shield was to be seen among forty thousand in Israel (Judg. v. 8). The spirit of the nation was completely crushed, and the second Jabin and Sisera his captain carried on unchecked for upwards of 20 years those measures, whereby they reduced the Israelites to a condition of degrading servitude (Judg. iv. 3).
At length, however, a Deliverer appeared. Under a solitary palm-tree in the mountain-range of Ephraim between Ramah and Bethel, lived a prophetess named Deborah, who was or had been the wife of Lapidoth. In the failure of all other leaders she was now regarded by the oppressed people with the utmost reverence, and they went up to her for judgment (Judg. iv. 5). Like Joan of Arc in after times, her whole soul was fired with indignation at the sufferings endured by her people, and at length from Kadesh-naphtali, a City of Refuge, not far from Jabin’s capital (Josh. xx. 7; xxi. 32), and therefore peculiarly animated with hostility to the oppressor, she summoned Barak184 (lightning) the son of Abinoam. On the strength of a Divine commission, she then enjoined him to gather 10,000 men from his own and the neighbouring tribe of Zebulun to the green summit of Tabor185, and promised to draw to the river Kishon in the plain of Esdraelon the great captain of Jabin’s army with his chariots and his host, and there deliver them into his hand. Barak declined to undertake the arduous enterprise, unless the Prophetess promised to accompany him. To this she assented, but distinctly warned him that the expedition would not be for his honour; as he was thus willing to lean upon a woman’s aid, so into the hands of a woman would the Lord deliver the leader of his enemy’s forces.
Leaving her seat of judgment, Deborah then accompanied Barak to Kedesh, and he employed himself in rousing his own tribe of Naphtali and that of Zebulun to join in the insurrection. Having at length gathered 10,000 men around his standard he marched, still attended by the Prophetess, to the high places of Tabor. There he was joined by portions of other tribes, whom the influence of Deborah had roused to take part in the great struggle, consisting of the princes of Issachar, a body of Ephraimites, and detachments from Benjamin and north-eastern Manasseh (Judg. v. 14, 15). Other tribes, however, came not thus zealously to the help of the Lord against the mighty. Of the two maritime tribes, Dan on the south clung to his ships in the port of Joppa, and Asher forgat the perils of his fellows in the creeks and harbours of his Phœnician allies (Judg. v. 17). The name of Judah is not even mentioned among the patriot forces. Amongst the tribes across the Jordan great was the debate as to the course to be pursued. Reuben preferred to abide secure among his sheepfolds186, and to listen to the bleating of his flocks, and Gad to linger beyond Jordan in his grassy uplands (Judg. v. 17). But amidst the wavering of many hearts, Zebulun and Naphtali remained firm, and prepared to jeopardize their lives unto the death on the high places of Tabor (Judg. v. 18).
Meanwhile certain of the Kenites187, who had separated from the rest of their tribe in the hill country of Judah (Judg. i. 16), and now dwelt under the oaks of Zaanaim188 near Kedesh, informed Sisera of the sudden movement of Barak towards Tabor (Judg. iv. 11, 12). Thereupon, without delay he gathered all his forces, and encamped on the level plain of Esdraelon, between the friendly towns of Taanach and Megiddo189, where he was also joined by other Canaanite chiefs anxious to quell the sudden insurrection (Judg. v. 3, 19).
At length the heroic Deborah gave the encouraging command to Barak, Up, for this is the day in which the Lord hath delivered Sisera into thine hand. Probably long before it was light190 the camp of Barak’s little army was struck, and the patriot tribes rapidly descending the winding mountain-path fell upon the hosts of Sisera and threw them into wild confusion. As they fled in utter dismay along the plain, not only the troops of Barak, but the stars in their courses (Judg. v. 20), the elements of heaven, began to fight against the Canaanites. A furious storm of rain and hail191 gathered from the east, and bursting right in their faces, rendered useless the bows of their archers192, and swelled into a mighty torrent the rivulets, springs, and spongy marshes near Megiddo. Before long the ancient torrent of the Kishon (twisted or winding) rose in its bed, and the plain became an impassable morass193. The chariots of Sisera were now utterly useless. The hoofs of the horses vainly plunging in the tenacious mud and swollen streams were broken by means of their pransings (Judg. v. 22). The torrent of the Kishon, now rushing fast and furious, swept them away, and the strength of the Canaanites was trodden down. Stuck fast, entangled, overwhelmed they could not stand for a moment before the avenging Barak, and not a man made good his escape to the city of their great leader, Harosheth of the Gentiles, before their pursuers had smitten them with the edge of the sword (Judg. iv. 16).
Meantime, while his mother and her attendants were vainly awaiting the return of his triumphal chariot (Judg. v. 28), Sisera himself fled away on foot to the friendly tribe of Heber the Kenite beneath the oaks of Zaanaim, where he hoped for safety from his remorseless pursuers. After a while he drew near the tent of Jael, Heber’s wife, and chieftainess of the tribe. She herself had descried him approaching, and went forth to meet him. Turn in, my lord, said she, turn in to me, fear not. And he turned in, and she covered him with a rug or blanket (Judg. iv. 18). Spent and weary, before he lay down, he asked for a little water to drink; but she gave him something better than water. She opened the skin bottle of milk, such as always stands by Arab tents, she brought forth butter, or “thick curdled milk” in a lordly dish194, or the bowl used for illustrious strangers, and covered him again with the rug.
Thus doubly assured of hospitality Sisera bade her deny his presence if any enquired after him, and then laid him down and slept. But as she stood at the tent-door, other thoughts than those of kindness towards the slumbering chief came over Jael. At length taking one of the wooden sharp-pointed tent-nails in one hand and a mallet in the other, she went softly unto him, and smote him with such force that the nail entered into his temples, and fastened his head to the ground, for he was fast asleep and weary, and so he died. Meanwhile the pursuing Barak drew near. Him too Jael went forth to meet, and taking him within, showed him his terrible foe, the captain of the nine hundred iron chariots, lying dead upon the ground, with the nail driven through his temples.
Thus on that day, as the Prophetess had said, God delivered Sisera into the hand of a woman. Together she and Barak returned from the battle-field, and chanted responsively a sublime Triumphal Hymn, celebrating the recent victory over the northern Canaanites, which now secured to the land rest for 40 years (Judg. v.).
AS so often before, the effects of this last great deliverance were but transitory. Again the Israelites relapsed into idolatry, and in consecrated groves practised all the abominations that disgraced the worship of Baal. The national punishment they thus drew down upon themselves was more severe than anything they had yet endured. Since the sacred war led by Phinehas against the Midianites195 (Num. xxxi. 1–13), that people had recovered much of their ancient strength, and now in concert with the Amalekites, and the children of the East (Judg. vi. 3), or the Arabian tribes beyond the Jordan, they determined to invade the territory of Israel. Led by two superior chiefs, having the title of king, Zebah and Zalmunna, and two inferior chiefs, Oreb and Zeeb (the Raven and the Wolf), they poured into the country with their herds, their flocks, and their camels, like locusts for multitude, and gradually overran it from the plain of Jezreel down the valley of the Jordan, and southward as far as Gaza in the fertile Lowlands of the west. Here they established themselves, destroyed the crops196, and for a period of seven years reduced the Israelites to the greatest straits, so that they left the plains, and fled for refuge to dens or catacombs, which they cut out of the rocky mountains, to inaccessible strongholds, and the limestone caves with which Palestine abounds197 (Judg. vi. 2).
As so often before, the Deliverer came from the quarter most exposed to the ravages of the invaders. At Ophrah, in the hills of western Manasseh, not far from Shechem, and overlooking the plain of Jezreel, the head-quarters of the Midianitish host, lived a high-born Abi-ezrite, a descendant of one of the princely families of Manasseh (Josh. xvii. 2; Num. xxvi. 30), named Joash. The invasion had brought not only impoverishment but dire bereavement into his home. In a skirmish near the heights of Tabor the Midianite kings, Zebah and Zalmunna, had slain all his noble sons save one, Gideon (Judg. viii. 18, 19).
On one occasion, as Gideon was threshing wheat, not in the open summer threshing-floor, but by the winepress198 near his native Ophrah, to hide it from the Midianites, an Angel appeared and saluted him with the words, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour. In reply Gideon contrasted the present degraded condition of the nation with the glorious days when Jehovah brought them out of Egypt, and complained that He had now deserted them, nor was there any hope of deliverance. Thereupon the Angel informed him that he was the destined Saviour of his people, that the Lord would be with him, and that he should smite the Midianites as one man (Judg. vi. 16). Unable to believe that such a mission could be designed for himself, Gideon requested a sign to assure him that the Speaker was a messenger of Jehovah, and by direction of the Angel made ready a kid, and cakes of unleavened bread, and presented them under the oak. The Angel then bade him lay the flesh and unleavened cakes upon the rock and pour the broth over them, and when he had done so touched them with a rod he bore in his hand. Instantly there rose up fire from the rock, and consumed the offering, in the midst of which the Angel suddenly disappeared. The fact that he had thus been permitted to converse face to face with Deity filled Gideon with alarm, but the Lord reassured him, and he built an altar there which he called Jehovah-Shalom, or, the Lord send Peace, in memory of the salutation of the Angel (Judg. vi. 24).
i. Thus solemnly called to be the Deliverer of his countrymen, Gideon was first commissioned to testify against the idolatrous practices which had caused the present national degradation. The Lord appeared to him in a dream, and bade him throw down an altar which his father had erected in honour of Baal, and cut down a grove he had set up, and then to build in an orderly manner an altar to Jehovah on the rock where his meat-offering had been accepted, and sacrifice thereon his father’s second bullock of seven years old. With the assistance of his servants, Gideon during the night-time executed this commission, and on the morrow the townspeople were surprised to find that both altar and grove had disappeared. Enquiry led to the detection of the offender, and Joash was bidden to bring forth his son that he might be put to death for the sacrilege of which he had been guilty. But Joash replied with much irony that he was truly guilty of impiety who believed that Baal could not defend himself. Will ye take upon yourselves, said he, to plead Baal’s cause? let him plead for himself. A new name, which Gideon henceforth bore, Jerub-Baal, or the Tryer of Baal, attested the national acquiescence in the wisdom of his father’s reply (Judg. vi. 32).
ii. Tried and not found wanting in moral courage, Gideon was now directed to carry out the second part of his commission. Blowing a trumpet he first gathered around him his own clan of Abi-ezer, and then sending messengers throughout Manasseh, Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali199, invited the aid of these tribes against the common enemy. With characteristic caution, however, he requested a further sign from Jehovah before actually entering upon his arduous task. A double sign was vouchsafed to him. A fleece of wool, first dripping with dew while all the soil around was hot and dry, then dry while all the soil around was damp, convinced him that the Lord would indeed deliver Israel by his hand.
By this time upwards of 32,000 of his countrymen had gathered around him, and with this force he encamped on the slope of Gilboa, near the spring of Jezreel, henceforth known as the Spring of Harod or Trembling, overlooking the plain of Jezreel covered with the tents of the Midianites. But the host was too many and too great for God to give victory thereby. If they were successful with their present numbers they might vaunt that their own hand had saved them. Proclamation was, therefore, made that from the Spring of Trembling all who were afraid to persevere in their arduous enterprise might return to their homes. Of this permission 22,000 at once availed themselves and went their way. But another trial was to test the qualifications of the rest. By Divine command Gideon took the remaining 10,000 of his forces to the spring, and watched them as they asswaged their thirst. While all the rest bowed down upon their knees, three hundred putting their hand to their mouth, lapped of the water with their tongues as a dog lappeth (Judg. vii. 5, 6).
These three hundred Gideon set by themselves, the rest he sent away. Night now drew on, and with his little band, like the same famous number at Thermopylæ, he was left alone on the brow of the steep mountain which overlooks the vale of Jezreel, where Midian and Amalek and all the children of the east lay along like locusts for multitude, their camels gaily caparisoned, numerous as the sand on the seashore (Judg. vii. 12). To confirm the faith of Gideon in this great crisis, God now bade him, attended by Phurah his armour-bearer, drop down from the height where he was, and go to the host of his enemy. Accordingly the two crept down cautiously from rock to rock200 in the still night to the outskirts of the Midianitish tents, where Gideon overheard a man tell his fellow how he had dreamt a dream, and lo! a cake of common200 barley bread tumbled into the host of Midian, and came unto a tent, and smote it that it fell, and overturned it, that the tent lay along. To this recital the other replied, showing the reputation Gideon had gained even amongst his foes, This is nothing else save the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel: into his hands hath God delivered Midian, and all the host (Judg. vii. 13, 14).
The Listener heard the dream and the interpretation, and straightway knew what he was to do. Returning up the mountain to his faithful three hundred, he divided them into three companies, and gave to every man a horn, an earthen pitcher, and a firebrand or torch201 (Judg. vii. 16, margin) to put therein. Then bidding them follow him, and do exactly as they saw him do, in the beginning of the middle watch he again stole down towards the outskirts of the tents of the Midianites, while the three companies following silently took their places every man round about the slumbering camp. Then Gideon and his company suddenly blew their horns, and at this signal 300 horns blew, 300 pitchers crashed, 300 torches blazed, and the always terrible war-cry of the Israelites, The Sword of Jehovah and of Gideon202, rent the midnight air. In a moment the Midianites and Amalekites were roused, and thrown into inextricable confusion and alarm. Amidst the blazing of so many torches, the crashing of so many pitchers, and the blast of so many trumpets all on different sides, they imagined themselves attacked by an enormous force. Filled with uncontrollable terror, they turned their swords against one another, and then rushed with one accord down the steep descent towards the Jordan eastward, to Beth-Shittah, the House of the Acacia, and Abel-Meholah, the Meadow of the Dance, hotly pursued not only by the three hundred, but some of the forces of Naphtali, Asher, and Manasseh, now convinced amidst the returning light of day that Gideon had indeed achieved a great victory (Judg. vii. 23).
The Midianites hoped to reach the fords of Beth-barah immediately under the highlands of Ephraim. But Gideon had already sent messengers thither, and the Ephraimites were not slow to seize the fords and intercept the flying foe, but not before a considerable body had already crossed with the two kings, Zebah and Zalmunna. But they were in time to capture the two inferior chiefs, Oreb and Zeeb, the one at a sharp cliff, the other at a winepress, where they slew them, and cutting off their heads hurried after Gideon, who with his three hundred was already on the other side of the Jordan, faint yet pursuing. Annoyed, now the victory was won, that they had not been summoned to join in the battle, the haughty Ephraimites chode with him, and manifested great resentment. With rare self-restraint the victorious Leader asked what after all he had done in comparison with them. Pointing to the bloody heads of the princes they had slain, he enquired whether the grapes Ephraim had already gleaned were not better than the entire vintage of his little clan of Abi-ezer. This soft answer turned away the wrath of the offended tribe, and the chase was renewed (Judg. viii. 1–3).
Two places on the track of the pursuit refused to befriend Gideon. The men of Succoth203 on the east of Jordan, near the ford of the torrent Jabbok, and of Penuel further up the mountains, declined to supply his nearly exhausted troops with bread, and mocked at him, when he said he was chasing the kings of Midian. Halting only to threaten them with vengeance on his return, he hurried on after the enemy. The victorious Israelites had already slain 120,000, but 15,000 with the two kings had reached Karkor, far from any towns in the open desert-wastes east of the Jordan. Here they thought themselves secure, but Gideon ascending from the valley of the Jordan burst upon them, put them to a complete rout, and at last captured the two kings, Zebah and Zalmunna.
Then in triumph the conqueror returned down the long defiles leading to the Jordan, followed by his cavalcade of captives mounted on their gaily decked camels (Judg. viii. 21). As he passed Penuel he razed to the ground its lofty watchtower, and slew the men of the city. Reaching Succoth he obtained from a young man of the place a description of its 77 head-men, and showed them the captive kings, and then “with the thorny branches of the neighbouring acacia-groves” he beat them to death. Then pushing westwards he reached his native Ophrah. There turning to the captive kings204 and at length revealing the secret of this long pursuit, he enquired what manner of men they were whom they had murdered on the green slopes of Tabor. As thou art, so were they, was the reply, each one resembled the children of a king. The remembrance of his brethren, the sons of his own mother, filled the warrior with wrath. Had they shown mercy to them, he would have spared his prisoners, but now that could not be. Summoning, therefore, his firstborn Jether, he bade him draw his sword and slay them. But the boy quailed before those mighty kings, and at their request Gideon himself took the sword and slew them, and gathered up the golden chains and crescent-shaped collars and trappings of their camels (Judg. viii. 18–21).
The immediate effect upon the nation of this deliverance was greater than that of any other. Not only had the country quietness for 40 years (Judg. viii. 28), not only did Gideon’s Altar, and the Spring of Trembling, and the rock Oreb (or the Raven’s Crag), and the winepress of Zeeb remain standing monuments of this great day, when God made like a wheel205, and drove over the uplands of Gilead as stubble before the wind (Ps. lxxxiii. 13, 14), like clouds of chaff blown from the summer threshing-floors, the proud people which had said, Let us take to ourselves the pastures of God in possession (Ps. lxxxiii. 12), but for the first time the Israelites offered hereditary royal dignity to the great conqueror. Rule thou over us, said they, both thou, and thy son, and thy son’s sons also. Gideon had the rare self-control to decline the flattering request. I will not rule over you, said he, neither shall my son rule over you; Jehovah shall rule over you. One request only and a strange one did he make of the grateful tribes, that they would give him the golden earrings and other ornaments they had taken from the conquered foe. Willingly into his cloak the people flung the ornaments, jewels, and chains from the camels’ necks to the weight of 1700 shekels, and with these Gideon made an ephod, and put it in his native Ophrah, and all Israel went a whoring after it, which thing became a snare unto Gideon and to his house. Though he declined the royal dignity, he was addicted to a royal failing. He multiplied wives and begat 70 sons, and after living to a good old age descended in peace to the tomb of his father Joash in Ophrah of the Abi-ezrites206 (Judg. viii. 32).