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roof, which, from its great weight, would render the simultaneous tearing down of the walls also a very natural result. If this might happen under ordinary circumstances, how much more, when the roof bore the weight of three thousand people, who were doubtless crowded in front the better to witness the performances of Samson in the open area! We should then consider the fall of the roof, and with it of the walls, an inevitable consequence of the destruction of the pillars. The fall indeed of the front parts alone would have been sufficient for the purposes of destruction; for while the people on the roof would be thronged in front to see the spectacle, those greater personages below would also be towards the front of the building, not only for the same reason, but because, if the structure were really a temple, the interior apartment-the adytum, the sanctuary-could not have been a place of concourse, that being (as in the Hebrew tabernacle and temple, and in most heathen temples) sacred to the priests.

CHAPTER XVII.

1 Of the money that Micah first stole, then restored,

his mother maketh images, 5 and he ornaments for them. 7 He hireth a Levite to be his priest.

AND there was a man of mount Ephraim, whose name was Micah.

2 And he said unto his mother, The eleven hundred shekels of silver that were taken from thee, about which thou cursedst, and spakest of also in mine ears, behold, the silver is with me; I took it. And his mother said, Blessed be thou of the LORD, my son.

3 And when he had restored the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, his mother said, I had wholly dedicated the silver unto the LORD from my hand for my son, to make a graven image and a molten image: now therefore I will restore it unto thee.

4 Yet he restored the money unto his mother; and his mother took two hundred shekels of silver, and gave them to the founder, who made thereof a graven image and a molten image: and they were in the house of Micah.

5 And the man Micah had an house of gods, and made an 'ephod, and 'teraphim, and consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest.

1 Chap. 8. 27. Gen. 31. 19. Hosen 3. 4.

6 In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

7 ¶ And there was a young man out of Beth-lehem-judah of the family of Judah, who was a Levite, and he sojourned there.

8 And the man departed out of the city from Beth-lehem-judah to sojourn where he could find a place: and he came to mount Ephraim to the house of Micah, as he journeyed.

9 And Micah said unto him, Whence comest thou? And he said unto him, I am a Levite of Beth-lehem-judah, and I go to sojourn where I may find a place.

10 And Micah said unto him, Dwell with me, and be unto me a father and a priest, and I will give thee ten shekels of silver by the year, and a suit of apparel, and thy victuals. So the Levite went in.

11 And the Levite was content to dwell with the man; and the young man was unto him as one of his sons.

12 And Micah consecrated the Levite ; and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah.

13 Then said Micah, Now know I that the LORD will do me good, seeing I have a Levite to my priest.

Heb. filled the hand. 4 Chap. 18. 1, and 21. 25.
7 Heb. an order of garments.

6 Or, a double suit.

6 Heb. in making his way.

Chap. xvii.— Here begins what may properly be considered as an appendix to the book of Judges, and which includes the five remaining chapters, the events recorded in which happened long before the time of Samson, and probably in the interval of anarchy which ensued or began not long after the death of Joshua and the elders who outlived him. In chronological order, the proper place for these chapters would probably be between chaps. ii. and iii. This appendix consists of two main histories; one explaining the origin of idolatry (or at least of improper worship) in the tribe of Dan, and detailing the foundation of the settlement which the Danites established near the sources of the Jordan. This history, comprehended in the present and following chapter, exhibiting the measures to which the Danites resorted in consequence of their confined territory, is obviously connected with chap. i. 34, where the cause of their insufficient inheritance is stated: "The Amorites forced the children of Dan into the mountain: for they would not suffer them to come down to the valley." The sad history which occupies the remainder of the appendix (chaps. xix.-xxi.) is expressly said to have occurred while Phineas, the grandson of Aaron (xx. 28), was high-priest; and must therefore be assigned to about the same period.

3. "I had wholly dedicated the silver unto the Lord."-This chapter strikingly illustrates the mistaken ideas which had arisen, and which, by insensible degrees, led to downright idolatry. Micah and his mother clearly intend to honour the true God by their proceedings, which were nevertheless such as the law declared to be punishable with death. What they did seems to have been to set up a little religious establishment in imitation of that at Shiloh, probably with an imitation of the ark, of the images of the cherubim, and of the priestly dress, and ultimately completing the establishment by obtaining a Levite to officiate as priest. And all the while they thought that they were doing God service. But perhaps there was an under speculation of gain: for the proprietor of the establishment would certainly have got into thriving circumstances, if the want of a correct understanding of the law, together with the desire

to save the trouble and (in disturbed times) the apparent danger of travelling to Shiloh, had induced the people to bring their stated offerings to Micah's chapel. That they might the more readily be induced to do so, is probably the reason why Micah, after having tried with his own son as priest, was anxious to obtain for his establishment the sort of credit which the presence of an officiating Levite would appear to give. We need not add, that the Levite had no more right to officiate as a priest than Micah's own son. It will be remembered how awfully the attempt of Korah had formerly been punished.

5. "An house of Gods."-" A house of God," or "a house for his god," would be more probably correct. The word usually translated "God" (, elohim) is always plural; and as Micah evidently intended his establishment in honour of Jehovah, however mistakenly or interestedly, it might be more proper to render the word here in the singu lar, as it always is rendered when our translators understood it to refer to the true God.

7. "Of the family of Judah.”—A man of the tribe of Judah could not be a Levite; and these words have therefore probably crept into the text by some mistake, unless we suppose it is merely intended to denote that the Levitical city to which he belonged, and in which he had lived (Bethlehem), was in the lot of Judah.

ance.

CHAPTER XVIII.

1 The Danites send five men to seek out an inherit-
3 At the house of Micah they consult with
Jonathan, and are encouraged in their way. 7
They search Laish, and bring back news of good
hope. 11 Six hundred men are sent to surprise
it.
14 In the way they rob Micah of his priest
and his consecrate things. 27 They win Laish,
and call it Dan. 30 They set up idolatry, where-
in Jonathan inherited the priesthood.

IN 'those days there was no king in Israel:
and in those days the tribe of the Danites
sought them an inheritance to dwell in; for
unto that day all their inheritance had not
fallen unto them among the tribes of Israel.
2 And the children of Dan sent of their
family five men from their coasts, men of
valour, from Zorah, and from Eshtaol, to
spy out the land, and to search it; and they
said unto them, Go, search the land: who
when they came to mount Ephraim, to the
house of Micah, they lodged there.

3 When they were by the house of Micah, they knew the voice of the young man the Levite and they turned in thither, and said unto him, Who brought thee hither? and what makest thou in this place? and what hast thou here?

4 And he said unto them, Thus and thus dealeth Micah with me, and hath hired me, and I am his priest.

that might put them to shame in any thing; and they were far from the Zidonians, and had no business with any man.

8 And they came unto their brethren to Zorah and Eshtaol: and their brethren said unto them, What say ye?

9 And they said, Arise, that we may go up against them; for we have seen the land, and, behold, it is very good: and are ye still? be not slothful to go, and to enter to possess the land.

10 When ye go, ye shall come unto a people secure, and to a large land: for God hath given it into your hands; a place where there is no want of any thing that is in the earth.

11 ¶ And there went from thence of the family of the Danites, out of Zorah and out of Eshtaol, six hundred men appointed with weapons of war.

12 And they went up, and pitched in Kirjath-jearim, in Judah; wherefore they called that place Mahanehdan unto this day: behold, it is behind Kirjath-jearim.

13 And they passed thence unto mount Ephraim, and came unto the house of Micah.

14 Then answered the five men that went to spy out the country of Laish, and said unto their brethren, Do ye know that there is in these houses an ephod, and teraphim, and a graven image, and a molten pros-image? now therefore consider what ye have to do.

5 And they said unto him, Ask counsel, we pray thee, of God, that we may know whether our way which shall be

we go perous. 6 And the priest said unto them, Go in peace: : before the LORD is your way where

in ye go.

7 Then the five men departed, and came to Laish, and saw the people that were therein, how they dwelt careless, after the manner of the Zidonians, quiet and secure; and there was no 'magistrate in the land,

15 And they turned thitherward, and came to the house of the young man the Levite, even unto the house of Micah, and 'saluted him.

16 And the six hundred men appointed with their weapons of war, which were of the children of Dan, stood by the entering of the gate.

1 Chap. 17. 6, and 21. 25.
* Heb. sons. 3 Heb. possessor, or, heir of restraint.

♦ Heb. girded. 5 Heb. asked him of peace.

17 And the five men that went to spy out the land went up, and came in thither, and took the graven image, and the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image: and the priest stood in the entering of the gate with the six hundred men that were appointed with weapons of war.

18 And these went into Micah's house, and fetched the carved image, the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image. Then said the priest unto them, What do ye?

19 And they said unto him, Hold thy peace, lay thine hand upon thy mouth, and go with us, and be to us a father and a priest: is it better for thee to be a priest unto the house of one man, or that thou be a priest unto a tribe and a family in Israel?

20 And the priest's heart was glad, and he took the ephod, and the teraphim, and the graven image, and went in the midst of the people.

21 So they turned and departed, and put the little ones and the cattle and the carriage before them.

22¶And when they were a good way from the house of Micah, the men that were in the houses near to Micah's house were gathered together, and overtook the children of Dan.

23 And they cried unto the children of Dan. And they turned their faces, and said unto Micah, What aileth thee, that thou comest with such a company?

24 And he said, Ye have taken away my

Heb. that thou art gathered together.

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gods which I made, and the priest, and ye are gone away: and what have I more? and what is this that ye say unto me, What aileth thee?

25 And the children of Dan said unto him, Let not thy voice be heard among us, lest 'angry fellows run upon thee, and thou lose thy life, with the lives of thy houshold.

26 And the children of Dan went their way: and when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back unto his house.

27 And they took the things which Micah had made, and the priest which he had, and came unto Laish, unto a people that were at quiet and secure: and they smote them with the edge of the sword, and burnt the city with fire.

28 And there was no deliverer, because it was far from Zidon, and they had no business with any man; and it was in the valley that lieth by Beth-rehob. And they built a city, and dwelt therein.

29 And they called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father, who was born unto Israel: howbeit the name of the city was Laish at the first.

30 And the children of Dan set up the graven image: and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, he and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan until the day of the captivity of the land.

31 And they set them up Micah's graven image, which he made, all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh.

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Verse 19. "Priest unto a tribe."—All this transaction obviously means that the Danites wished to have, and had, a religious establishment independent of that at Shiloh: and to this course they were probably the more induced by considering the distance of the colony they were about to establish, from the present seat of the tabernacle, to which the law required them to resort with their offerings three times every year. On the unlawfulness of such innovations, and the evils they were calculated to produce, we have already remarked in the notes to chaps. viii. and xvii.

28. "There was no deliverer, because it was far from Zidon."-As the people of this place lived after the manner of the Sidonians, and were so circumstanced as to have a claim on their assistance, it is highly probable they formed a colony from Sidon, and were connected with or dependent on that state.

30. "Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh.”—There is but the difference of one small letter between the name of Manasseh (D), as here, and that of Moses (TWD); and it is now generally agreed that this Jonathan was really the son of Moses's son Gershom, the Jews having interpolated the in order to hide this disgrace upon the family of their great lawgiver and prophet. The singular name of Gershom, and the date of the transaction, concur in establishing this view. Accordingly, the Vulgate and some copies of the Septuagint have the name of "Moses " instead of Manasseh. Indeed, the interpolation has been very timidly executed. The letter was originally placed above the line of the other letters (as it now appears in the printed Hebrew Bibles), as if rather to suggest than to make an alteration; but in process of time the letter sunk down into the body of the word. The Hebrew writers themselves adinit this; and say that the intention was to veil this disgrace on the house of Moses by suggesting a figurative descent of Jonathan from Manasseh, the idolatrous king of Judah, who lived about 800 years after the date of the present transactions.

It seems almost certain that this Jonathan, the grandson of Moses, was the same who had been Micah's priest: and how touchingly does it speak for the magnanimous disinterestedness of that truly great man, that not only did he twice decline the offer of the aggrandizement of his own family, when the Lord proposed to make of him "a great nation." rejecting the Israelites for their rebellions:—but that, neglecting all opportunities of enriching his descendants, he left his sons undistinguished from common Levites by rank or patrimony, and so poor, that one of his grandsons was glad to accept a situation which afforded only his victuals, with a suit of clothes and less than twenty-five shillings by the year!

CHAPTER XIX.

1 A Levite goeth to Beth-lehem to fetch home his

wife. 16 An old man entertaineth him at Gibeah. 22 The Gibeonites abuse his concubine to death. 29 He divideth her into twelve pieces, to send them to the twelve tribes.

AND it came to pass in those days, 'when there was no king in Israel, that there was a certain Levite sojourning on the side of mount Ephraim, who took to him a concubine out of Beth-lehem-judah.

2 And his concubine played the whore against him, and went away from him unto her father's house to Beth-lehem-judah, and was there four whole months.

3

3 And her husband arose, and went after her, to speak 'friendly unto her, and to bring her again, having his servant with him, and a couple of asses: and she brought him into her father's house: and when the father of the damsel saw him, he rejoiced to meet him.

4 And his father in law, the damsel's father, retained him: and he abode with him three days: so they did eat and drink, and lodged there.

5¶And it came to pass on the fourth day, when they arose early in the morning, that he rose up to depart: and the damsel's father said unto his son in law, Comfort thine heart with a morsel of bread, and afterward go your way.

6 And they sat down, and did eat and drink both of them together: for the dam sel's father had said unto the man, Be content, I pray thee, and tarry all night, and let thine heart be merry.

7 And when the man rose up to depart, his father in law urged him: therefore he lodged there again.

8 And he arose early in the morning on the fifth day to depart: and the damsel's father said, Comfort thine heart, I pray thee. And they tarried until afternoon, and they did eat both of them.

9 And when the man rose up to depart, he, and his concubine, and his servant, his father in law, the damsel's father, said unto him, Behold, now the day "draweth toward evening, I pray you tarry all night: behold, 'the day groweth to an end, lodge here, that thine heart may be merry; and to morrow get you early on your way, that thou mayest go home.

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10 But the man would not tarry that night, but he rose up and departed, and came over against Jebus, which is Jerusalem; and there were with him two asses saddled, his concubine also was with him.

11 And when they were by Jebus, the day was far spent; and the servant said unto his master, Come, I pray thee, and let us turn in into this city of the Jebusites, and lodge in it.

12 And his master said unto him, We will not turn aside hither into the city of a stranger, that is not of the children of Israel; we will pass over to Gibeah.

13 And he said unto his servant, Come, and let us draw near to one of these places to lodge all night, in Gibeah, or in Ramah.

14 And they passed on and went their way; and the sun went down upon them when they were by Gibeah, which belongeth to Benjamin.

15 And they turned aside thither, to go in and to lodge in Gibeah: and when he went in, he sat him down in a street of the city: for there was no man that took them into his house to lodging.

16 And, behold, there came an old man from his work out of the field at even, which was also of mount Ephraim; and he sojourned in Gibeah: but the men of the place were Benjamites.

17 And when he had lifted up his eyes, he saw a wayfaring man in the street of the city and the old man said, Whither goest thou? and whence comest thou?

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18 And he said unto him, We are passing from Beth-lehem-judah toward the side of mount Ephraim; from thence am I and I went to Beth-lehem-judah, but I am now going to the house of the LORD; and there is no man that receiveth me to house.

19 Yet there is both straw and provender for our asses; and there is bread and wine also for me, and for thy handmaid, and for the young man which is with thy servants there is no want of any thing.

20 And the old man said, Peace be with thee; howsoever let all thy wants lie upon me; only lodge not in the street.

21 So he brought him into his house, and gave provender unto the asses: and they washed their feet, and did eat and drink.

22 ¶ Now as they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city,

Chap. 17.6, and 18. 1, and 21. 25.
Heb. a woman a concubine, or a wife a concubine. 3 Or, a year and four months.
4 Heb. days four months. 5 Heb. to her heart. 6 Heb. Strengthen. 7 Heb. till the day declined. 8 Heb. is weak.
Heb. it is the pitching time of the day. 10 Heb, to thy tent. 11
Heb.
to over against.
12 Heb. gathereth.

certain sons of Belial, beset the house round | about, and beat at the door, and spake to the master of the house, the old man, saying, Bring forth the man that came into thine house, that we may know him.

23 And the man, the master of the house, went out unto them, and said unto them, Nay, my brethren, nay, I pray you, pray you, do not so wickedly; seeing that this man is come into mine house, do not this folly.

24 Behold, here is my daughter a maiden, and his concubine; them I will bring out now, and humble ye them, and do with them what seemeth good unto you: but unto this man do not so vile a thing.

25 But the men would not hearken to him so the man took his concubine, and brought her forth unto them; and they knew her, and abused her all the night until the morning: and when the day began to spring, they let her go.

26 Then came the woman in the dawning of the day, and fell down at the door of

the man's house where her lord was, till it was light.

27 And her lord rose up in the morning, and opened the doors of the house, and went out to go his way: and, behold, the woman his concubine was fallen down at the door of the house, and her hands were upon the threshold.

28 And he said unto her, Up, and let us be going. But none answered. Then the man took her up upon an ass, and the man rose up, and gat him unto his place.

29 And when he was come into his house, he took a knife, and laid hold on his concubine, and divided her, together with her bones, into twelve pieces, and sent her into all the coast of Israel.

30 And it was so, that all that saw it said, There was no such deed done nor seen from the day that the children of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt unto this day: consider of it, take advice, and speak your minds.

18 Gen. 19. 6. 14 Heb, the matter of this folly.

Verse 1. "A concubine."--We have explained in the note to Gen. xvi. 3, that the original word means, not what we should understand by the word "concubine;" but a legal and proper wife, with inferior rights and privileges-a "secondary wife," as we might say, or, as Boothroyd renders, "a concubine-wife." The effect of the narrative is much impaired by the use of a word so liable to misconstruction as that of "concubine." The woman, whose sad history this chapter contains, was evidently a free woman before marriage, and not a slave married to her master; and her condition was, therefore, in so much superior to that of Hagar, the handmaid-wife of Abraham, and of Bilhah and Zilpah, the hand-maid-wives of Jacob. Josephus calls the woman, without reserve, the Levite's wife. See also the notes to Gen. xxi. 10; xxv. 6.

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2. Played the whore."-The whole narrative is adverse to this statement. If she had done this, her husband would have been more likely to have followed her to get her capitally punished, than to undertake a journey "to speak friendly to her "-"to speak to her heart," as the original expresses-to rekindle her tenderness, and entreat her to return to the home she had left cheerless. And if he had been so lost to oriental feeling, most assuredly the father himself, or the woman's brothers, if she had any, would not have received her, but rather would have proved implacable avengers of the dishonour which her conduct had brought upon them. It is the general feeling in the East that in such cases, the wrong falls more heavily on the woman's own family than on the husband; and under this feel 1g, the Arabs, for instance, often send the adulteress home, where she receives her death from the hands of her ather or her brothers, if the crime is proved to their satisfaction. On the other hand, a wife, not an adulteress, is su.e of refuge and protection at her father's: neither can her husband compel her to return; but he often prevails upon her to do so by "speaking to her heart," and by offering her propitiatory presents of trinkets and fine clothes. But if she will not be persuaded, all he can do is to oblige her to remain single by withholding a divorce; neither has she then any claim to the dowry which she would receive if dismissed by her husband. That the Levite's concubine was of this la+ class is evinced not only by such probabilities, but by the testimony of the Chaldee Paraphrase, the Septuagint, and Josephus; which merely say that she "disliked" or "despised" her husband-or, simply, that she separated herself .om him-or, as Josephus more particularly explains, that such continual bickerings arose, that the woman was disguste 1, and went home to her father.

8. " They tarried until afternoon.”—The verses 5-9, inclusive, may perhaps be the better understood from the follow ing statement.

The Orientals have generally two meals a day, one from ten to twelve in the morning, and the other (which is the principal) about seven in the evening. As they usually rise as soon as it is light, and there is a long interval to breakfast, they usually take some small matter that cannot be called a meal, such as a crust of bread and a cup of coffee. What we understand here is, that the hospitable father-in-law persuaded the Levite to delay his journey, both on the fourth and fifth days, till after the late breakfast, at which he engaged him so long, that the lateness of the hour for commencing a journey furnished him with an argument to induce the Levite to stay another day. "Until afternoon," in this verse, explains what is meant by "the day groweth to an end" in the ninth verse. This does not mean that it was late in the evening, but that it was, as the marginal reading has it, "the pitching time of the day," that is, the time, about the middle of the afternoon, when travellers who (unless they journey by night) start at day-break, begin to think of pitching their tents, for their rest and refreshment till the following morning. This was a late hour to begin a day's journey; but not so late but that a person bent on proceeding might hope to make considerable progress before sunset. Indeed, it is usual for persons beginning a journey to leave in the afternoon, and, after proceeding a short distance, remain in camp or otherwise, till the next morning, when the journey may be said to commence regu larly, the first day being merely a start.

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