JUDGES, BOOK OF
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JUDGES, BOOK OF
ral, they are far from fabulous. Considering the very remote period at wliich our book was written— consid- ering also the manner of viewing and describing events and persons which prevailed with the ancient Hebrews, and which verj- much differs from that of our age- taking, moreover, into account the brevity of the narra- tives, which consist of historical fragments, we may well wonder that there do not occur in it more difficulties, and that not more doubts have been raised as to its his- torical authority (see Herder, Geist der Ilehrdischen Po- fsie ii 250,59; Eichhom, Reperiorium der BiMischen imd Morgenldndischen Litteratur, vii, 78). For a further elu- cidation of the above and other difficulties, see the sev- eral subjects in their alphabetical jjlaces.
IX. Chronolo(jical Difficulties.— 'Yhe time commonly assigned to the period contained in this book is 299 yeans. But this number is not derived directly from it. The length of the interval between Joshua's death and the invasion of Chushan-rishathaim,and of the time dur- ing which Shamgar was judge, is not stated. The dates which are given amount to 410 years when reckoned consecutively ; and Acts xili, 20 would show that this was the computation commonly adopted, as the 450 years seem to result from adding 40 years for Eli to the 410 of this book. But a difficulty is created by xi, 26, and in a still greater degree by 1 Kings vi, 1, where the whole period from the exodus to the building of the Temple is stated at 480 years (Septuag. 440). One solu- tion questions the genuineness of the date in 1 Kings. Kennicott pronounces against it {Diss. Gen. 80, § 3) be- cause it is omitted by Origen when quoting the rest of the verse. It is also urged that Josephus would not have reckoned 592 years for the same period if the pres- ent reading had existed in his time. But it is defended by Thenius (ad loc), and is generally adopted, partly on account of its agreement with Egyptian chronology. Most of the systems therefore shorten the time of the judges by reckoning the dates as inclusive or contem- porary. But all these combinations are arbitrary. The same may be said of Keil's scheme, which is one of those least open to objection. He reckons the dates succes- sively as far as Jair, but makes Jephthah and the three following judges contemporary with the 40 years of the Philistine oppression (comp. x, 6-xiii, 1) ; and by com- pressing the period between the division of the land and (.'hushan-risliathaim into 10 years, and the Philistine wars to the death of Saul into 39, he arrives ultimately at the 480 years. Ewald and Bertheau have proposed ingenious but unsatisfactory explanations— differing in details, but both built upon the supposition thatthe whole period from the exodus to Solomon was di\ided into 12 generations of 40 years; and that, for the period of the judges, this system has become blended with the dates of another more precise reckoning.
But the whole theory of the parallel or contempora- neous rule of two or more judges, upon which all these shortenings of the period in question proceed, is purely arbitrary. There is nothing in the book of Judges to warrant the supposition that the national unity was completely broken up, so that there ever were two in- dependent judges ruling different parts of Israel : sucli a scliism first appeared in the days of Ishbosheth and Jeroboam, and then our attention" is strongly called to it. The Aramonitish oppression is distinctly stated to have extended far beyond the eastern tribes, into Judah, and Benjamin, and Ephraim, all being included in that '■ Israel which they oppressed." Nor is there anything in the history which suggests the restriction of Jeph- Ihah's jurisdiction to the east of .Jordan. On the con- trary, Mizpeh of (Jilead (xi, 29) seems to be distinguish- td from Mizpeh simply so called, where he took up his house (ver. 34), where he uttered all his words before the Lord (ver. 11 ), and where the children of Israel had assembled themselves together and encamped (x, 17) • and It will be difficult to assign a reason for tbiukin<^ that this was not the :Mizpeh in Benjamin, wliere a't Other times the people of the Lord were used to meet in
those days (xx, 1 ; 1 Sam. vii, 5, 6 ; x, 17). Jephthah's successors, whose rule must also be made contemporary with the Philistine oppression during 40 years, had no special connection whatever with the eastern tribes. Ibzan belonged to Bethlehem, and was buried there; Elon stood in the same relation to the tribe of Zebulon, and Abdon to Pirathon, in the land of Ephraim. So far as we know, these are fair specimens of the connec- tions which the judges had with the different localities of the land of Israel, and there is no ground for restrict- ing the rule of one of them more than that of another to a part of the land. We are pretty sure that this was not the case with Deborah and Barak, nor with Gideon, nor, certainly, with Samuel ; why imagine it with any of the rest? What time coidd be suggested less likely for such a revolution in the constitution of Israel than the close of 55 years of peaceful government under two suc- cessive judges, in whose administration there was so lit- tle to record for the instruction of posterity ? Or, if there had been a threatening of such disintegration of the commonwealth, would it not be prevented by the nomi- nation of the high-priest Eli to the office of judge? Yet that other supposition of Eli's last 20 years falling im- der the first 20 of the Philistines compels us to suppose that his first 20 were contemporaneous with Jair's gov- ernment, down to whose death Keil admits that there is no trace of division : hence he is driven to the desperate resource of denying that Eli was a judge at all, except in the sense in which every high-priest might be called by this name. But, had Eli been only a judge during the Philistine servitude, we should expect this to be stated, as in Samson's case. Neither is it easily credi- ble that four judges, Jephthah, Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon, should rule the eastern tribes in uninterrupted succes- sion, without attempting to drive out the Philistines, and support Samson in his marvellous struggle.