The Pulpit Commentary — Judges — Section 96

EXPOSITION. Vor. 7.-0n the top of Mount Gerizim. image e.nd all its parts are in strict accord- Mount Gerizim rises on the south-west side ance with nature. In the Scripture allegory of Samaria or Shechem ae a sheer rock about real persons and their actions prefigure the 800 feet in height, facing Mount Ebal, actions and the persons which they are in- which is separated from it by the narrow tended to represent (see Matt. xii. 39, 40; valley, "some ·600 yards wide," in which Gal iv, 21-31; Heb. xi. 19). Allegorical Samaria., now N abl0.8, is built, It was personages may, however, be fictitious, as in from Mount Gerizim that Joshua, in accord- the 'Pilgrim's Progress.' The general mean- ance with the directions given by Moses in ing of this fable is clear. The trees worthy Deut, xi, 29, caused the blessings of the to reign for their intrinsic excellence refused law to be proclaimed, after the capture of the proffered kingdom one after another. Ai, while the curses were proclaimed from The vilest and most unworthy accepted it. Mount Ebal (Josh. viii. 33, 35). Some The result would be that a fire would burst explain the name to mean " the mount of out from the despicable bramble, and set fire the Gerizzites," or Gerzites (1 Sam, xxvii. to the lofty cedar tree. Thus Gideon refused 8) ; but the absence of the article makes the kingdom, and his sons had virtually this doubtful. Lifted up his voice. Imply- refused it likewise. The base-born A bime- ing that a considerable effort was necessary lech had accepted it, and the result would to be heard by the people below. The be a deadly strife, which would destroy both narrowness of the valley, however, and the the ungrateful subjects and the unworthy rocky nature of the cliffs there largely in- ruler. crease the sound. I have myself heard the Ver. 9.-TheyhonouzGodandman: God, human voice utter an articulate word at a by the frequent offerings of oil with the measured distance of one mile one furlong meat offerings (Levit. ii, 1-16, &c.); and and seventeen yards ; but it was in a pecu- man, e. g., by the solemn anointing with oil liar state of the atmosphere. The experi- of kings, priests, and prophets (1 Sam. xvi ment bes betn made in recent years, and it 12, 13; 1 Kings xix. 16 ; Ps. lxxxix. 21). has been proved that a man's voice can be To be promoted, literally, to wa,:e, or move, distinctly heard in Nabl1ls, and also upon <YVe'I', i. e. to rule, in the case of a tree. Ebal, from Gerizim. It is thought that Ver. 13.-Which cheereth God and man. Jotham, having emerged from one of the vast The wine is said to cheer, or make to rejoice, caverns, ov6rhung with luxuriant creepers, God because the drink offering which ac- which are in the mountain's side, "stood companied the meat offering consisted of upon a huge projecting crag of Gerizim" wine (Numb. xv. 7, 10), and God was well just above the ancient site of Shechem, and pleased with the offerings of hls people (cf. thence addressed the people who were as- Gen. viii 21 ; Phil. iv. 18 ; Heb. xiii. 16). sembled beneath him. The rich vegetation The idea in this verse, as in vers. 9 and 11, of that well-watered spot, "unparalleled in is, that while the olive, the fig, and the vine Palestine," supplied the materials of his were occupied in icaving their branches over fable ; for the olive, the fig, the vine all the other trees, in token of their superiority, grow in that rich valley; while the bramble, they would necessarily be neglecting their which creeps up the barren side of the own proper gift nnd office, which was to mountain, and which is still used to kindle produce oil, and figs, and grapes. the fire to roast the lamb at the Samaritan Ver. 14.-Thebramble. A prickly shrub; Passover, was to be seen there in abund- in Greek j,aµvor;, Rhamnus, "the southern ance. buckthorn" (Gesenius). The same plant as Ver. 8.-The trees, &c. This is the earli- is mentioned in Ps. !viii. 9 (thorns, A. est example of a fable in Scripture ; indeed V.) as used to mnke fires with (see note ta the only one except that in 2 Kings xiv, 9, ver. 7). It is remarked that in the Indian and Greek Ver. 15.-If in truth, i. e. trnly, as th~ fables the animals are tLe dramatis personm, same phrase is rendered in vers. 16, 19, with the fox, the lion, the nss, &c. ; whereas in integrity of purpose nnd sincerity of heart. the only two specimens of Hebrew fable re- The English would be less nmbiguous if it maining to us, the members of the vegetable ran, "If ye anoint me king over you in kingdom, the olive, the fig, the vine, the truth." The speech of the bramble indicates bramble, the cedar, the thistle, are the actors the grounds for suspicion already existing and speakers. The parable, of which Isa. v. between Abimelech nnd the men of Shechem. 1-7 1s a beautiful example, is quite different Let fire oome out, .!tc.-keeping up the pro- in its structure. Like the inimitable pa.rabies priety of the image, as the nature.I function of our Saviour in the New Testament, it sets of the bramble was to kindle a fire, nncl as it forth Divine truth under an image, but the had no other use ; showing, too, how a bnso  102 THE BOOK OF JUDGES. [CH. iY 7-21. ---------------------------· ·--- -- britmble could destroy ll noble cedar, Rnd Ver. 21--lotham rat\ i.way. Being close the base-born Abimelech could bring niin to tl1e top of Gerizim, J otham had the onen upon the lords of Shechem. country before him. It would take the men Yers. 16-20.-Now therefore, &c_ The of Shechcm twenty minutes to ascend the fuble being ended, now comes the forcible hill, by which time Jotham woultl be out of nnd bitter application. The simple refer- sight, and two or three miles on his way. ence to Gideon's great actions, and the l!eer, to which he fled, is thouaht to be juxtaposition of the base and bloody deed either the same as Beeroth, amon~ tl1e heights in which the Shechemitos and the men of of the tribe of Benjamin (Josh. IX. 17), now the house of Millo had made themselves El-Bireh, "the first halting-pince for caravans nccomplices by choosing Abimelech for their on the northern road from Jerus&lem" king, formed an indictment which could not (' Sinai and Palestine,' p. 210) ; or a place he answered. With lofty scorn and irony called by Eusebius Bera, now El-Bireh, lie "ishes well to them if thev had acte.d eight Roman miles from Eleutheropolis honourably ; but if not, he pre'1icts the (now Beit JibrinJ, and possibly the same inentable Nemesis of an alliance founded in as the pince of the same name described by bloodshed and treachery and wrong, viz., the Maundrell as four hours from Jr,rusalern, mutual hatred a.nd destniction of the con- and two hours west of Bethel ; or, as Ewald tracting parties. Observe how "the house thinks,BeerbeyondJorda.n (Nuu_b, xxi.16). of Millo" is consistently spoken c,f as a It is impossible to decide whir.h, or whether separate commllllity from " the men of any, of these is the place designated as Sher.hem." Jotham's place of refuge.