border. Litcrnlly, Jorda,n and a border The word used for "tribe " in the firs\ and (sM note on ver. 23). The edge. Ifather, second half of this verse ia not the same. tho end (see note on ver. 24). Some German critics ha,ve derived an argu. Ver. 28.-Th!e le the Inheritance of the rnent for the hypothesis that the rustorical children of Gad. The cause of the dif- and geographical portions of the hook 11,re ference between the Reubenites and the not by the same hand, !rom the supposed Gaditea may perhaps be thus explained. fact that the former of these words is used While both inhabited 11, simil!Lr tract of almost exclusively in the first, or histori- country, 11, country from its open and cal portion, and the latter in the second, or pastoral cha,racter likely to develop a hardy geographical portion, of the hook. The and healthy race of men, the Reubenites word " almost " would be almost sufficient were exposed to the seductions of the to overthrow the theory, but this verse is Moabitish worship of Chemosh, which, an insuperable objection to it. Is it seriously when combined with an ancestral tempera- contended that one half of this verse is taken ment by no means prone to resist such from one suthor, and the other from an- influences (see Gen. xlix. 4), soon proved other? Or is it possible that the writer of fatal to a tribe, itself not numerous (Deut. the book may actually have understood the l'xxiii. 6), and hemmed in on every side but language he was using, and meant to use the north by the unbelievers. The tem- the two words in somewhat different senses? perament inherited by the Gadites added to Gesenius, it is true, would explain the ,vords their more favourable situation and the as being precisely synonymous. But his own nature of their pursuits, developed a hardy etymological remarks are fatal to his theory. and warlike race ready to do battle, and nt::10 the latter of the two words. is a bough, fearless of their foes (1 Chron. v. 18). Of or shoot (derived from a word signifying to this tribe came the valiant Jephthah, and grow), capable of throwing out blossoms of it also came the brave soldiers of David, (Ezek. vii. 10). It refers, therefore, to the whose qualifications stir to poetry the sober natural descent of the tribe from Manasseh chronicler of Ju.dab (1 Chron. xii. 8). We their father. But t::IJ~ is allied to t:)!:).j to may see here the influence of circum- judge, and the Greek aK~-;r7pov, and perhaps sta,nces on the character of a people. the English shaft, and signifies a rod as the Originally (1 Chron. v. 18) _the Reubenites emblem of authority. Thus it is used in and the Gadites were alike. But the Reuben- Gen. xlix. 10, of a roya,l sceptre. So Psa. ii. ites, as we have seen, from unfavourable sur- 9, an iron sceptre. Psa. xiv .. 6. Thus the roundings, lost the character which the latter word bas reference to the tribe as an Gadites, more. favourably situated, were organised community, the former to it in enabl~d to preserve. And the distinctions reference to its ancestral derivation. Thie of tribes, producing as they did a separate view would seem to be supported by ver. 24, esp,-it de corps in each tribe, will serve to where the nt::10 of Gad is further explained explain why one tribe did not immediately to mean his sons and their familie~. as well succumb to influences which proved fatal to as by this verse, where the t::IJC' is used another. In the end, as we know, 11,ll the nbsolutely, the ;it:)r., in connection with the people of Gad fell victims to the temptations family which surrounded them, and, save in the case.of Levi, Judah, and Benjamin, and the Ver. 30.-The towns of Jair. Litemlly, few faithful Israelites who went over to Havoth-Jair, as in Num. xxxii. 41; Deut. them, irrevocably. The same phenomenon iii. 14. The word n~lj is derived from may be observed in the history of nations mn to live, and the word is compared generally. As long as their manners were by Gesenius to the names Eislenen and simple and their morals pure, they have the like in Germa,ny. So we use the phrase preserved their liberty, and in many cases "live," 11,s synonymous with ",lwell." \Vhy have acquired empire. As soon as their the term is confined to these particular bodies ,vere enervated by luxury, and their cities is not known. Gesenius regards it as minds corrupted by vice, they fell a prey to equivalent to" nomadic encampment." But foes whom formerly they would have de- the ruins of the giant cities of Basbnn, spised. Thus fell the Greek 11,nd Roma,n recently re-disco,ered in our own time (by republics, thus the Britons beca,me 11,n easy Mr. Cyril Graham, in 1857), and displaying prey to the Saxons, nnd the Saxons to the all the signs of high civilisation, dispose of Danes. In every· instance the history of this idea. These cities are mentionell inDeut. a tribe 11,nd of a nation serves to illustrate iii. 4 ns "threescore cities, all the region of the maxim tha,t '' righteousness exalteth Argob," an,l 11,gain in ver. 13, "all the region e. nation, but sin is a reproo.oh to any of Argob with all Ba,shan, which is ca,JJed people." the la,nd of giants." "To the eo.st he (Abra- Ver. 29.~The half-t.rl.be of Manasseh. ham) would leave the barren 11,ml craggy 220 TlIE BOOK OF J"OSHUA.
fatnesses of the formide.bleArgob, still (i.e., Eastern Manasseh sent the immense nnm• in Abmham's time, not Joshua's) the ber of 120,000, and this while Abne1·, the asylum of the fiercest outlaws ; and would supporter of lshbosheth, had hie head-quar- jealously RYoid the bee.then haunts in groves ters at Mahanaim. But the numbers are and on high places where smoke arose to suspicious, especially when Judah, always a t-he foul image, and the frantic dance swept powerful tribe, comes below the insignificant round.'· (Tomkins, ' Studies on the Time of tribe of Simeon in number. And II compari- Abraham,' p. 69. See also not.e on • Judah son of 2 Sam. v. 1 with 1 Chron. xii. 22, upon Jordan,' eh. xix. 34). Threescore 23, would lead to the idea that the corona- cities (cl. eh. xni. 1). It was the martial tion of David after the death of Ishbosheth oho.meter, e.s well as the half. tribe of is the event referred to (see also 1 Chron. Manasseh, that qualified him to receive and xii 38-40). subdue this important territory with its wide Ver. 31.-The one half of tile cll1ldren of extent. and teeming population. In the Mach1r. See this question fnlly discussed e.rticle on Manasseh in Smith's • Dictionary in note on eh. xvii. 5, 6. of the Bible,· reference is made to the fact Ver. 32.-Moses (see Num. uii. 1; xxxiv. that, while Ephraim only sent 20,800, and 15l. Pla.lns. Hebrew, Araboth (see eh. iii. 'Western Manasseh 18,000, Reuben, Gad, and 16.