The Pulpit Commentary — Judges — Section 102

Ver. 44.-The company. The Hebrew Neapolis (i. e. Shechem) and Scythopolis lms companies, but the sense requires the (i. e. Beth-shean), about thirteen miles from singulal'. Shechem. It still survives in the large and Ver. 45.-Abimelech fought age.inst the beautiful village of T1lbas, which, Robinson city, &c. When all the Shochemites in the tells us, is on the Roman roacl between fielcl were smitten or dispersecl, Abimelech Nabulus ancl Beishan. Thebez hacl eviclently stormed the city, weakened as it was by the joined the rebellion against Abimelech. previous loss of so many of its defenclers. Ver. 51.-They of the city. In Hebrew 'rhe city made an obstinate defence not- (baaley) the men of the city, i. e. the owners withstanding, b•!t was taken before night, or citizens, the same phrase as is used and nil the inhabita.nts were put to the throughout thechapte~of themenof Shechem sword. The walls were then razed to the (cf. Josh. xxiv. 11 ; 1 Sam. xxiii. 11, 12). ground, and the site was sown with salt to The English phrase master, or 'fl1?J mczsters, express the wish that it might be barren is v,:,ry similar. The A. V. has here para- and uninhabited for ever (cf. Ps. cvii. 34, phrased it they of the city, to avoid the repe- marg.; J er. xvii. 6). This action of sowrng tition of the word men. The top-the tlat with salt is not elsewhere mentioned ; but it roof or house-top. is well known that salt clestroys vegetation, Ver. 52. -To bum it with :fire - en- ond is used by gardeners for this very pur- couraged by his success at the tower of pose. Pliny (quoted by Rosenmiiller) says, Shechem. Om.nis locus in qua reperitur sal sterilis est. Ver. 53.-A millstone. The word here Ver. 46. -The men of the tower of used means the upper millstone, which rides Shechem. The tower of Shechem is no as it were, or moves, over the fixed nether doubt the same fortified building as was stone. All to brake his skull. Tbis obsolete spoken of in vers. 6 and 20 by the 'name of English phrase has been the subject of a the house of Milla (see note to ver. 6). An, recent controversy. In the older English ot or rather the, hold. The word so J'endered Chaucer and his immediate successors such occurs elsewhere only in l Sam. xiii. 6, where compounds as to-break, to-burst, &c. were it is rendered high places, and is coupled very common, and were frequently preceded with caves, thiclcets, rocks, and pits, as one of by the adverb all. Hence, some English the hiding-places of the Israelites from the scholars would read the phrase here, and all Philistines. It was probably some kind of to-brake his skull. It is, however, certain keep built on an eminence, and the place that before the time when the A. V. was where the treasure of the temple was kept made the compounds to-break, to-b1lrst, &c. (ver. 4). It appears from the narrative that had become entirely obsolete, and the com- the tower of Shechem, or house of Milla, was pound all-to had come into use. The right not actually part of Shechem, nor imme- way, therefore, in which to read the present diately contiguous, since the report of the phrase is, and all-to brake his skull, i. e. capture of Shechem had to be carried thither. smashed it, dashed it in pieces. The prefix The god llerith. It should rather be El- all-to gives intensity to the verb. berith, the some as Baal-berith in ver. 4- Ver. 54.-His armour-bearer-an office El. i. e. god, being substituted for Baal. of trust, entailing much intimacy. Saul Ver. 48.-Mount Zalmon, i. e. the shady loved David greatly, 11ml he became his ll10unt, so called from the thick wood which armour-bearer (1 Sam. xvi. 21). Compare grows upon it. It was in the neighbourhood the similar incident of Saul and his a.rmour- of Shechem, and is perhaps the same as that bcurer in l Sam. xx.... i. 4-6. mentioned in Ps. lxviii. 14 as famous for Ver. 55.-The men of Israel-Abimelech's its snow-storms. An 11xe. The Hebrew hns followers (see vel'. 22). axes. If this is right, the phrase in his Ver. 56.-Which he did unto his father. hand must be rendered with him, as l It is remarkable that the sacred writer, in Sam. xiv. 34: Each one his ox in his calling attention to the righteous vengeance hand, i. e. with him; Jer. xxxviii. 10: Take which fell upon the head of Abimelech, thirty men in thy hand, i. e. with thee ; o.nd marks especially the conduct of Abimelech elsewhere. as undutiful to his father (see Exod. xxi. 17; Ver. 49.- Set the hold on fire - thus Matt. xv. 4; cf. also Gen. ix. 24-26). liturally fulfilling Jotham's curse in vers. 15 Ver. 57 .-The men of Shechem. Nat here and 20. It is thought by many that those baaley, but simply men. Each such eviuence who thus perished miserably by suffocation of the righteous judgment of God is a pre- and fire in the holcl of the temple of Banl- sage of thejudgment to come, aud encourages berith had ta.ken sanctuary there, not bccu- the reflection of the Psalmist : "Verily th~re pied it for the purposes of defence. is II rewnrd for the righteous; doubtless Ver. 50.-Thebez. A place so called still there is a God that judgeth the earth" (Ps. existed iu the time of Eusebius b8tween !viii. 10, Pr. B. vers.).  108 THE BOOK OF JUDGES. [CH. IX, 22-57,