doubt, in po.rt at least, because the expense the broad space or place near the gate, such of hiR daughter's maintenance would be trans- as is usual in an Oriental city (cf. Ruth forred from himself to his daughter's husband. iv. 1). There was no man that took them Ver. 4.-Retained him. See the same into hie house. This absence of the common phrnse 2 Kings iv. 8, where it is rendered rites of hospitality toward strangers was a she conatravnPAi, him. The full phrase is in sign of the degraded character of the men of Gen. x:xi. 18, hold him in thy hand. Gibeah (see Gen. xviii. 3-8 ; xix. 2, 3 ; Ver. 5.-Comfort thine hee.rt, &c. Com- Rom. xii. 13 ; Heh. xiii. 2; 1 Pet. iv. 9. pare Gen. xviii. 5. Ver. 16.-Which wa.e also of mount Ver. 6. - For the de.msel's fe.ther he.d Ephraim. The Hebrew is, And the man ae.id, &c., or rather, And the damsel's father was from t}.e hill cowntry of Ephraim. It said. He had not at first intended to stay does not mean that he also, as wall as the on, but to go on his way after he had eaten Levite, was from Ephraim. e.nd drunk (ver. 5). But when they had Ver. 18.-The side of mount Ephraim. prolonged their carousal, the father of the See ver. l, note. I am going to the house of damsel persuaded him to stay on another the Lord, i. e. to the tabernacle at Shiloh. night. But some translate the words I frequent, a.m Ver. 7.-:e:e lodged there a.gain. Literally, conversant with, walk in, the house of the he retwrned OJTul, lodged there. The Septuagint Lord, i. e. am a. Levite. But the former and one Hebrew MS. read, And he tarried 11eems the best rendering on the whole. and lodged there. Ver. 19.-Yet there is both straw, &c., Ver. 8.-And they ta.Tried. It should i. e. he only wanted shelter, he had all his rather be rendered in the imperative mood : provisions with him, it was but little that And tarry ye wntil the afternoon. So they he asked for, and yet no man would take did ee.t both of them. The imperative com- him in. fort thine heart is in the singular becauso Ver. 20.-They washed their feet. See only the man and the father-in-law are repre- Gen. xviii. 4 ; xix. 2 ; Luke vii. 34 ; l Tim. sented throughout e.s eatvng and drinking v. 10, &c. both of them together. The imperative tarry Ver. 22.-llaking their hearts merry- ye is in the plural because it applies to the as in vers. 6, 9, and in eh. xvi. 25 ; Ruth wife as well e.s the man. iii. 7. But there is nothing in the expression Ver. 9.-Dre.weth towa.rd evening. The implying any excess in drinking. Bring Hebrew phrase, which is uncommon, is, TM forth the man. The abandoned character of day is slackening to become e'IJening, i. e. the the men appears in this, that not only did heat a.nd the light of the day a.re becoming they offer no hospitality to the stranger slack and weak, and evening is coming on. themselves, but were ready to violate the The day groweth to an end. Another un- sanctity of the hospitality of the old man's usual phrase ; literally, Behold the declining house by their brutal violence. There mnst of the day, or, e.s some render it, the encamp- have been a fearful absence of all law and ing of the day, as if the sun after his day's order and government when such deeds journey was now pitching his tent for the could be done without any interference on night. Go home. Literally, to thy tent, as in the pa.rt of magistrate or elder or ruler of eh. xx. 8. So the phrase, To yowr tents, 0 any kind. The singular resemblance of the Israel, means, Go home (see 1 Kings xii. 16. whole narrative to that in Gen. xi.x. suggests &c.). that the Israelites by their contact with the Ver. 10.-J'ebus. ~ee eh. i. 21, note. accursed Ca.naanites had reduced themselves Jerusalem is numbered among Joshua's con- to the level of Sodom and Gomorrah. Surely quests at Josh. x. 23; xii. 10. But from this shows the wisdom of the co=and to this verse it would appear that the Israelite destroy utterly the workers of abomination. population had withdrawn e.nd left the city Bona of Belial. See eh. x..-,:. 13, where the to be entirely occupied by the J ebusites, who same Hebrew phrase is rendered ch,ildren of held it till the time of David (2 Sam. v. 6). Belial. Belia.I in this co=on phrase is not J eruaalem is only a.bout two hours from a. proper name, but a noun meaninl? worth- Bethlehem. lessness. Sons or men of Belia.l means Ver. 12.-Gibeah (or ha-Gibeah, the hill). worthless fellows. In the tribe of Benjamin (Josh. xviii. 28); Ver. 23.-He pleads the sanctity of hos- Saul's birthplace. Its modern name is Jeba. pitality. It would be about two and a ho.If hours' Ver. 25.-The man took his concubine, further journey from Jerusalem. &c. One's blood boils at such selfish base- Ver. 13.-Ramah (ha.-Ramah, the height). ness and such cowardly cruelty. It is not Now er-Ra.m, less than an hour's journey quite clear whether the man means the from Gibeah, both being about equi-distant Levite or the old Ephraimite. from Jerusalem. Ver. 26.-Till it was light, or, e.s th11 Ver. 16.-A street of the oity. Rother, worda may mean, at daylight. JUDGES. 0 1!)4 'lHE BOOK OF JUDGES. [cH. XIX. 1-30.
Yer. 2i.-The woman was fallen down at as thus : "He sent lier in,to all tlie coas/,s of the door, &c. Poor thing! with her last Israel (ver. 29), saying, It shall come to pass breath she turned to the house where he wa.s that all wlio see it will say, Tliere liath been who should have been her protector, but who nothin,g done and nothing seen lilce tli-is from had deserted her in her hour of need. tlie day, &c. But the A. V. makes very good Ver. 29. -Compare I Sa.m. xi. 8. sense, and the Hebre,v will bear it. Con- Ver. 30. -And it was eo, &c. Some sider of it, &c. The general sense of the translate this verse quite differently. They whole nation was to call a national council understand the whole verse a.s what the to decide what to do. The Levite h11d suc- Lente said when he sent the twelve pieces ceeded in arousing the indignation of tho of the murdered woman to the twelve tribes, twelve tribes to avenge his terrible wrong.