Bible Commentary (1871–1879 Edition) (continued)
Quari-el of the Ephraimiles. JUDGES XIII, XIV. The Birth of SamsoTt.
—After cro Ksins the Jordan, their route from Ephraim for the sake of lier promised of Tspving, required to practice the rigid abstinence of the Nazarite law (see on Nam-' hers (i. 3). lie shall begin to deliver Israel OMt of the hands of the Philistines—A prophecy encouraging to a patriotic man; tlie terms of it, however, indicated that the period' of deliverance was still to be distant. 6-8.
was, strictly siiciking, in a nortli-easterly direction, towards Mi/.pch. tliey said unto Jeplithali, Wherefore didst thoM not call nsl—Tliis is a fresli developnieTt of the jealous, rasli,and irritable temper of the Ephraimiles. The ground of their offence now wiis their desire of enjoytlieit nianoah entreated the Lord—On being informed by his wife of Mie welcome intimation, the husband made ing the creditor patriotism, alllioiigh tlieyhad not shared
In the glory of victory. 3. wlien I called yon, yc delivered me not ont of fUeir Siands—The straifjlitforward answer of Jeplithah shows tliat their chai>;e was false; it the suljject of" earnest pr.ayer to God ; and this is a remarkable instance, indicative of tlie connection which God has established between prayer and the fulfilment ot His promises.
their complaint of not being treated as confederates and allies entirely without foundation; and their boast of a ready contribntiou jf their services came with an ill grace from peoplewho had purposely delayed appearing till the
11-U. The Angel Appears TO Manoah. 11. Art thou the man that spakest unto the -woman 1—Manoah's intense desire for the repetition of the angel's visit was prompted not by doulits or anxieties of .any kind, but was the fruit of lively faith, and of his great anxiety to follow out the instructions given. " Blessed was he wlio had not seen, yet had lielieved."
crisis was past. 3. wlien I saw tliat yc delivered me not, I put n»y life in my hands—A common form of speech in the East for undertaking a duty of imminent peril. This Jephthah had done, having encountered and routed the Ammonites witli the aid of his Gileadite volunteers alone; and since the Iord had enabled him to conquer without requiring assistance from any other
1.5-2;',. Manoah's Sacrifice. 15. Manoah said unto the angel, I pray thee, let us detain thee, until we shall liave made ready a kid—The stranger declined the intended liospitality,and intimated that if the meat were to lie an offering, it must be presented to tlie Lord. Jlanoah needed this instruction, for his purpose was to offer the prepared viands to him, not as the Lord, but as what he imagined him to be, not even au angel (v. 16), but a proptifc. .>v merely human messenger. It was on this account, and not as rejecting Divine honours, that he spoke in this manner to Manoali. The angel's language was exactly similar to that of our Lord (Matthew 19.17). 17. Manoah said »»nto the nngel, Wliat Is tJ»y nanie I Manoali's request elicited the most unequivocal proofs of the divinity of hissupernatural visitor—in liis name "secret" (in the Mnrtj. wonderful), and in the miraculous flame tliat betokened tlie acceptance of the sacrifice.
tribe, why should the Ephraimites take offence? They ought rather to have been delighted and tliaukful that the war had terminated without their incurring any labour and danger.
DiSCERXEn BY THE WORD 81BTSOLETH, ARE SljAFN BY THE Gri>EAniTES. 4-. the men of Gllead smote Ephraim, hecanse they said. Ye Glleadif es are fiijfltives of Kphraim—The remonstrances of Jephthah, though reasonable and tem])erate, were not only ineffectual, but followed by insulting sneers tiiat the Gileadites were reckoned both by the western Manassites and Ephraimites as outcasts—the scum and refuse of their common stock. This was addressed to a peculiarly sensitive people. A feud immediately ensued. The Gileadites, determined to chastise this public affront, gave them battle; and having defeated the Ephraimites, chased their foul-mouthed but cowardly assailants out of the territory; and rushing
24, 2.5. Samson Eoun. 24. the woman bare a son, and called his name Samson—Tlie birtll of this cliild of promise.and the reportof the importantnational services he was to render, must, from the first, have made him an object of peculiar interest and careful instruction. 35. the Spirit of God began to move Itim at times—Not, probalily, as it moved tlie prophets, who were charged with an inspired message, but kindling in his youthful bosom a spirit of high and devoted patriotism. Eshtaol —The free city. It as well as Zorah stood on the border between Judah and Dan.
to.the fords of the Jordan, intercepted and slew every fugitive. Tlie method adopted for discovering an Ephraim-
Ite was hy the pronunciation of a word naturally suggested by the place where they stood. ".Shil)boleth," means a stream; "Sibboleth," a burden. The Eastern tribe had, it seems, a dialectical provincialism in the sourid of Shibboleth ; and the Ephraimites could not bring their organs to pronounce it. 7. Jeplithah died—After a government of six years, this "mighty man of valour" died ; and however difficult it may be for us to understand some passages in his liistory, he has been ranked by apos-
CHAPTER XIV.
tolic authority among the worthies of the ancient church. He wasfolloyred by a succession of minor judges, of whom the only memorials preserved relate to the number of their families and their state.
Ver. l-o. Sam.son Desires a Wife of the Philistines.
1. Tlmnath—now Tibna, about three miles from Zorah, his birth-place, saw a woman . . . of the Philistines; and tolfl his father and his mother, and said. Get her for me to wife—In the East parents did, and do in many cases still, negotiate the marriage alliances for their sons. During their period of ascendency, tlie Philistine invaders had settled in the towns, and the intercourse between them and the Israelites was often of such afriendly and familiar character as to issue in matrimonial relations. Moreover, the Philistines were not in the number of the seven devoted nations of Canaan-—with whom thai law forbade them to marry. 3. Is there never a woma'ii among the daugliters of tliy brethren—/, c, of thine, own tribe—a Danite woman. Samson said, Get lier for me, for she pleaseth me -»vell lil., "slie is riglit in mine eyes"—not b.y her beautiful countenance or handsome figure, but right or fit for his ptirpone. And this throws light on the historian's remark in reference to the resistance of Ills parents: "they knew not that it was of tli« Lord that he sougiit an occasion against the Philistines" —rather from the Pliilistines—originating on their side. The Lord, by a course of retributive proceedings, was about to destroy the Philistine power, and the means whicii he meant to employ was not the forces of a numerous army, as in the case of the preceding judges, but the miraculous prowess of the single-h luded champion ofls-
CHAPTER XIII.
Ver. 1. Israel Serves the Philisthnes Forty Years.
1. the Lord delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years—The Israelites were represented (cli.
10. 6, 7) as having fallen universally into a state of gross and confirmed idolatry, and in chastisement of this great apostasy the Lord raised up enemies tluit harassed them
In various quarters, especially the Ammonites and Philistines. The invasions and defeat of the former were narrated in the two chapters immediately preceding this; and now the sacred historian proceeds to describe the inroads of the latter people. Tlie period of Philistine ascendency comprised forty years, reckoning from the time of Elon till the death of Samson.
2-10. An Anoet, Appears TO Maxoah's Wife. 2. Zorah—A Danite town (Joshua 15. :):?) lying on the conunon boundary of Jidah and Dan, so that it was near the Philistine border. 3. the angel of the Iord—The messenger of the covenant, the Divine personage who made so many remarkable appearances of a similar kind already de- •cr1l)ed, 5. thou ghalt conceive and bear a son—This predicted child being to be a Nazarite, the mother was.