city, after his father's death. He immediately slew all his brethren, with the exception of Jotham, the youngest son of Gideon. The latter addresses the men of Shechem, from the top of Mount Gerizim, and relates a parable: after the olive-tree, the fig-tree and the vine, had successively refused the crown, the trees made the bramble their king, to their own destruction; thus, too, Abimelech and the people of Shechem are devoted by Jotham to reciprocal destruction. A civil war commences after the expiration of three years, in which nearly all the people of Shechem are destroyed by Abimelech, and he himself is ultimately killed by a piece of a millstone which a woman cast from a tower upon his head.

§ 66. B. The History of Ruth.

A certain man of Bethlehem, named Elimelech, together with his wife Naomi and his two sons, went to the country of Moab, in consequence of a famine which prevailed in Israel; it had, very probably, been occasioned by the predatory incursions of the Midianites, to which Gideon had put an end. The two sons married Orpah and Ruth, two of the women of Moab. The father died; his two sons also died, without leaving children. Naomi returns to her own country, and the two widowed daughters-in-law propose to accompany her; Orpah submits to her decision, and remains behind. But the noble heart of Ruth is controlled by an irrepressible desire to obtain communion with the people of Jehovah. On their arrival in Bethlehem, Ruth begins to glean in the field after the reapers, for the purpose of obtaining food for Naomi and herself, and receives kind treatment in the field of Boaz. In this event, Naomi sees the finger of God, for Boaz was one of the nearest kinsmen, and was accordingly subject to the law concerning Levirate marriages. As soon as he is made acquainted with all the circumstances of the case, he readily complies with his obligations, and Ruth ultimately becomes the greatgrandmother of king David.

OBS. 1. The Book of Ruth, which contains this very beautiful narrative was written after the days of David; the author's name is unknown. As the books of Samuel contained no special record in

reference to the ancestors of the house of David, the author prepared this book for the purpose of supplying the deficiency. The chief significance of the book, however, arises from the circumstance that David's great-grandmother is also an ancestress of Christ. It is also a very significant fact that the heroine of the book is a heathen woman; she is, indeed, the third heathen woman in the genealogy of David and Christ, being preceded by the Canaanitess Tamar (Gen. ch. 38), and the Canaanitess Rahab. (2 60. 2.) She is the most noble of all-a consecrated blossom of paganism, turning, with a longing desire, to the light and salvation of Israel. The fact that these three females are brought forward and ingrafted on the chosen line or family, conveys a very expressive lesson to the Israelites, lowers their national pride, and bears testimony (by being both a fulfilment and a type), to all that had been promised to Abraham respecting his seed. ( 24. 1, OBS. 2.) Of those who are blessed in the seed of Abraham, Naomi represents the people of God who are to proceed from the ancient people of the covenant, and Ruth represents those proceeding from the heathen world.

OBS. 2. For the law of Levirate marriages (levir, that is, brotherin-law), see Deut. 25: 5-10. When an Israelite died without leaving children, the nearest kinsman married the surviving widow, and the first-born son of this marriage was regarded as the son of the deceased, and, as such, his name was inserted in the genealogy.

§ 67. Jephthah.

1. Judg. ch. 10.—The people again served Baalim and Ashtaroth, and the anger of the Lord sold those who dwelt in the western portion of the land into the hands of the Philistines, and those in the eastern portion, into the hands of the Ammonites; these oppressed Israel on the other side of the Jordan, eighteen years. The people cry unto the Lord; he directs them to apply for help to the strange gods which they had served. But they humble themselves before the Lord, and he has compassion on them again. The children of Israel encamp in Mizpah, opposite to the enemy, but they have not yet found a leader.

2. It is Jephthah, the son of a strange woman, whom the Lord appoints to be the saviour of the people. After having been expelled from his father's house, he had dwelt in the land of Tob,

a region in the east-Jordanic territory, the boundaries of which are not distinctly known. Here he collected a small body of men, and occasionally conducted hostile expeditions against the Ammonites. Messengers are now sent to him, who solicit him to accept the office of captain or leader of the host. His efforts to secure a peaceful issue of the controversy with the king of the Ammonites, are made in vain. The latter are entirely defeated, but Jephthah's vow robs him of his only daughter. The successful termination of the contest awakens the envy of the proud tribe of Ephraim. As they had not been requested by Jephthah to assist him, they invade the eastern territory, but are defeated, and, as no one was permitted to pass over the Jordan who could not pronounce the word "Shibboleth" (signifying both an ear of corn and a stream, and pronounced Sibboleth by the Ephraimites), all the men of Ephraim were detected and slain. Jephthah judged Israel six years only. After him Ibzan was judge in the east-Jordanic territory seven years, Elon ten years, and Abdon eight years.

OBS.-Jephthah had vowed that if he should be successful in his contest with the Ammonites, "whatsoever came forth of the doors of his house to meet him should surely be the Lord's, and that he would offer it up for a burnt-offering." It was his only child who met him! It is true that a mode of interpreting this vow and its fulfilment has been proposed, according to which Jephthah's daughter was not offered as a sacrifice, but devoted to a life of celibacy, and consecrated to the service of the tabernacle; and the confirmation of this view has been sought in the institution of an order of females who served before the tabernacle (Exod. 38:8; 1 Sam. 2: 22; Luke 2:37). Luther already remarked: “Some maintain that she was not sacrificed, but the text is too clear to admit of this interpretation." But stronger evidence of her sacrifice than even the unambiguous words of the vow afford, is found in the distress of the father, in the magnanimous resignation of the daughter, in the annual commemoration and lamentation of the daughters of Israel, and, particularly, in the narrative of the historian himself, who is not able to describe clearly and distinctly the terrible scene on which he gazes both with admiration and with abhorrence. The Law undoubtedly prohibited human sacrifices as the extreme of all heathen abominations (Lev. 18:21; Deut. 12: 31, &c.). But the age of the Judges had descended to a point far below the lofty position occu

pied by the Law. Even in the most eminent men of that age, as in Gideon (3 66. A. 2, OBS.), the theocratico-legal sense or consciousness is often clouded, or even disappears entirely; and it is by no means an inexplicable circumstance that in this point Jephthah's decided but rude character still remains ensnared and fettered by the gloomy influence of that horrible superstition. (See § 29. 2. OBS.)

§ 68. Eli, the High-Priest.

1. Judges, ch. 13; 1 Sam. ch. 1-3. At the time of the invasion of the Ammonites, which resulted in the conquest of the east-Jordanic territory, the Philistines conquered the west-Jordanic territory (and retained possession of it forty years). Eli was the high-priest at this time: he was governed by good intentions, but was a weak man, not fitted either for the religious or the political task which the necessities of the times imposed upon him. But the Lord provided for the people in both respects. At the beginning of the Philistine oppression, two children were born, who were both dedicated to the Nazareate (§ 52. A. OBS.), and both were appointed to restore, in different modes, the fallen children of Israel. The angel of the Lord announced to the wife of Manoah the Danite, who was barren, that she should bear a son (named Samson) who should be a Nazarite from his birth, and who should begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines. Soon after, Hannah (the wife of Elkanah, a Levite of mount Ephraim), who was also barren, obtains a son from the Lord, in answer to her prayers, whom she names Samuel (that is, asked of God, or, heard of God), and dedicates as a Nazarite to the service of the tabernacle. In the mean time Hophni and Phinehas, the wicked sons of Eli, commit abominations even before the holy place, and their weak father does not restrain them. Then the Lord appears by night to Samuel, who ministers before the tabernacle; Samuel does not yet know the Lord, but he follows the directions of Eli, and answers: 66 Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth." The Lord informs him of the approaching ruin of Eli and of his whole house; but Eli says: "It is the Lord; let him do what seemeth him good."

OBS.-The Levitical descent of Samuel is ascertained from 1 Chron. 6: 20-28, and 33: 38; it is not inconsistent with this state

ment that his father is called an Ephraimite: he was one of those Levites to whom cities were assigned in the portion of the tribe of Ephraim (Joshua, 21: 20). An analogous case occurs in Judges, 17:7.

2. 1 Sam. ch. 4-6. - The Israelites make an attempt to release themselves from the yoke of the Philistines, and carry the ark of the covenant with them into battle, supposing that its presence will give them the victory. It falls into the hands of the Philistines, who place it in the temple of their idol Dagon. The idol is twice found prostrate on the ground, and the Philistines themselves are visited with painful plagues, which destroy many of them. Two milch-kine conduct the ark and certain golden offerings to Beth-shemesh, a city on the borders of the tribe of Judah, where the kine are offered as a burnt-offering, and the Levites take possession of the ark. Seventy* prying and overcurious men of Beth-shemesh, who look into the ark of the Lord, suffer death (Numb. 4:20). The ark is then taken to Kirjathjearim, which also belongs to the tribe of Judah. The sons of Eli had perished in the battle; when the tidings reach him that the ark is taken, he falls from his seat, and his neck is broken. These events occurred about the twentieth year of the Philistine oppression. Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him, and all Israel knew that he was established to be a prophet of the Lord (ch. 3: 19-21).

OBS.-The ark of the covenant was not restored to the Tabernacle. David afterwards caused a tent to be constructed for it on Mount Zion, in which it was deposited. (3 74.) At a later period, Solomon placed it in the temple which he built. (¿ 81.)-The Tabernacle, with the altar of burnt-offering and all the vessels belonging to it, remained in Shiloh. We afterwards find them in Gibeon (1 Kings 3:4; 1 Chron. 16: 39; 21: 29), but we are not informed of the time and of the purpose of the removal. After Solomon had completed the building of the temple, the tabernacle, with its vessels and furniture, was deposited within its precincts. (1 Kings 8: 4. See ? 71, OBS. 2.)

* According to the received text, the number consists of "seventy men, fifty thousand men. This uncommon expression, and the fact that the words "fifty thousand men" are wanting in some manuscripts, alike indicate that these latter words are erroneously inserted in the text.