lie north-east of Ephraim, it hardly seems e. Omitting the long explanatory parenthesis natuml description of the Ephra.imite move- from the letter part of ver. 4 to the latter ment to say they " went northwards ; " part of ver. 6, the narrative runs (ver. 4), whereas if they marched to Ze.phon the And the men of Gikad smote Ephraim, for, phre.se would be precise. The previous said they, ye ane fugitwes of Ephraim ; and phre.se, gathered themselves together, means there fell at that time of the Ephraimitesforty mw1tered for baUle, es in eh. vii. 23, 24, and two thousand. The parenthesis explains We will burn thine house, &c.-the same why the Ephraimites had to pass through savage threat as the Philistine youths made Gileed, and how the Gileadites ascertained use of to induce Samson's wife to discover in each case whether a man was an Ephraim- and reveal his riddle (eh. xiv, 15), and e.s the ite or not .. Philistines actually put in practice upon her Ver. 6. -Say now Shibboleth, &c. We 11nd her father in revenge for the destruction have thus, as it were, accidentally preserveu oftheircorn(ch. xv. 6). Passedstthouover, to us a curious dialectical difference between as in eh. xi. 29, 32 ; xii. 3. theEphraimitesand theinhabitantsof Gilead. Ver. 2. -When I called you. This incident A similar difference exists at the present day is not mentioned in the previous narrative, between the pronunciation of the inhabitants Probably J ephthah asked the help of Ephraim of different parts of Germany. What the when he was first made chief of the Gileedites, Hanoverians call stein, a stone, the other and they refused partly because they thought Germans call shtein. Shibboleth means both the attempt desperate, and partly because an ear of corn and a stream. Forty and two they were offended at Jephthah's leadership. thousand. It is possible that the war be- Vers. 4, 5.-The English version of these tween Jephthah and the Ephraimites may somewhat obscure verses is obviously wrong, have lasted a considerable time, though only and devoid of sense. The obscurity arises the single incident of the slaughter at the partly from verses 6 and 6 being merely an fords of Jordan is mentioned, so that the amplification, i. e. a narrative in. detail of large number of 42,000 men may be less im- wl:.d.t is more briefly related in ver. 4 ; and probable than it seems at first sight. There from the insertion of the explanatory words, is, however, always some doubt as to the " Gikad lies in the midst of Ephraim and correctness of numbers (see 1 Sam. vi. 19). in(the midst of Manasseh," in ver. 4. The Ver. 7.-Six years. Perha;ps his sorrow literal translation of the two verses is as for his daughter shortened his life. Then follows : - .tl.nd the men, of Gikad smote died J'ephthah the Gileadite. Better, And Ephraim (at the fords of Jordan), for, sa;id Jephthah the Gikadite died. In one of the they, ye are fugitives of Ephraim. (Gikad cities, His exact burial-place was perhaps lies in the midst of Ephraim and in th6 midst unknown, and therefore the general phrase of Manasseh, i. e. between Manasseh and in the cities of Judah was used, as in Gen. Ephraim, so that in coming from Manasseh, xiii. 12. Lot is said to have dwelt in the where they had taken refuge, to return to cities of the plain, and in Neh. vi. 2 San- Ephraim they were obliged to pass through balla.t asked N ehemieh to meet him in the Gileed, and th6 GikaditR,a had taken th6 pas- villages of the plain. Still the phrase is not sages of Jordan before th6Ephraimites; and it what you would expect here, and it seems was so, that when the fugitives of Ephraim unlikely thet Jephthah's bnrio.1.-place shoulu said, Let me pass O'l!er, that th6 men, of be unknown. The Septuagint, Vulgate, Gikad said, .tl.rt thou an Ephraimite1 If he Syriac, and Arabic versions read, '' in his city said, Nay, then said they unto him, Say ww Gilead," as if Gilead had been the name of Shibboleth, &c., i. e. they put him to the test Jephthah's patern11l city. Another conjec- of pronunciation ; and if they found by his ture is that there might h11ve been an Ar of pronunciation of the word Shibboleth, viz., Gilead as well as the well-known Ar of Moab, Sibboleth, that he was an Ephraimite, in spite or there might have been a. collection of of his denial, then they t-Ook him and slew towns called Arey - Gilead (the towns of him (killed him in cold blood) at the passages Gilead), after the analogy of Havoth-jair (eh. of Jordan.) And there fell at that time, &c. x. 4), but there is no evidence in support of The direct narrative goes on here from ver. 4. these conjecture3.
HOMILETICS. Vere. 1-7.-The enmJ of the small great at the' great deeds of the small. Tho detection of faults of character is useful to those who wish to correct and perfect their own, and for this reason the observation of the tendency of particular position~ to produce particular faults is very valuable. Tho particular vice of the human mind which tho shameful and unpatriotic nrroganco of the Ephraimites toward~ the deliverer of thoir country bringij to light, is the tendency on tho part of those in high places to K 2 132 'THE BOOK OF JUDGES. [cu. xn. 1-7.