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had neglected an important duty, in not consulting the oracle at the tabernacle, before they went to battle.

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The bat

In verse 31st, there are two ways alluded to went up to the house of God; and the other to Gibeah. Here house of God should be Bethel, unless the tabernacle was stationed near, in the same direction. tle was not now in Gibeah, but at a little distance. object was to draw the Benjamites away from Gibeah. The same ruse is employed here as at Ai, and it meets with the same success. Jos. viii.

The

The loss of thirty persons, alluded to in verse 39, may seem small. But as the army of Israel were fleeing before the Benjamites, merely to draw them away from the city, the loss of life would not naturally be great. It was not the loss of so few men, that gave the Benjamites encouragement, but it was the apparent cowardice of their enemies.

The great destruction of the Benjamites, in this battle, was due mainly to two facts-first, that they were hemmed in on all sides, and it was not then customary, as now, to surrender to an enemy; and second, that the Benjamites were few compared with their foes. A large army is desirable only, when the victory is theirs. When defeated, the destruction is generally in proportion to size. This accounts for the great numbers that fell

in the first two battles.

The few that escaped fled to a noted rock, or ledge of rocks, called Rimmon.

They gleaned five thousand men. The figure is taken from the harvest field. No mention is made of the number that surrendered, nor of the missing. Men did not then lay down their arms and ask quarter. They did not skulk away, so as to be numbered with the "missing."

The number slain on the side of Benjamin is given as 25,000, and then as 25,100. The latter is the exact number-the other is given as the whole number, without the fractional parts. Probably neither is correct to a

man.

After the custom of the times, the victors turned their weapons to the rest of the tribe, unarmed and at home. The wives of the soldiers are now slain, since their husbands are. This will account for the lack of wives, so deplored after the battle. The wives of the hidden soldiers are sacrificed with the rest. We can the more easily believe this, of men who had been in the habit of pursuing this kind of warfare with the Canaanites.

How WIVES WERE OBTAINED.

JUD. XXI.

1. Now the men of Israel had, there of the tribes of Israel that sworn in Mizpeh, saying, There came not up to Mizpeh to the Lord? shall not any of us give his daugh- And, behold, there came none to ter unto Benjamin to wife. the camp from Jabesh-gilead to the assembly.

2. And the people came to the house of God, and abode there till even before God, and lifted up their voices and wept sore;

8. And said, O Lord God of Israel, why is this come to pass in Israel, that there should be to-day one tribe lacking in Israel?

9. For the people were numbered, and, behold there were none of the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead there.

10. And the congregation sent thither twelve thousand men of the valiantest, and commanded them, 4. And it came to pass on the saying, Go and smite the inhabimorrow, that the people rose early, itants of Jabesh-gilead with the and built there an altar, and offer-edge of the sword, with the women ed burnt-offerings and peace-offer- and the children. ings.

5. And the children of Israel said, Who is there among all the tribes of Israel that came not up with the congregation unto the Lord? For they had made a great oath concerning him that came not up to the Lord to Mizpeh, saying, He shall surely be put to death.

6. And the children of Israel repented them for Benjamin their brother, and said, There is one tribe cut off from Israel this day:

7. How shall we do for wives for them that remain, seeing we have sworn by the Lord, that we will not give them of our daughters to wives?

8. And they said, What one is

11. And this is the thing that ye shall do, Ye shall utterly destroy every male, and every woman that hath lain by man.

12. And they found among the inhabitarts of Jabesh-gilead four hundred young virgins, that had known no man by lying with any male: and they brought them unto the camp to Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.

13. And the whole congregation sent some to speak to the children of Benjamin, that were in the rock Rimmon, and to call peaceably unto them.

14. And Benjamin came again at that time: and they gave them wives which they had saved alive

of the women of Jabesh-gilead: and 21. And see, and, behold, if the yet so they sufficed them not. daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in dances, then come ye cut of the vineyards, and catch you every man his wife of the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin.

15. And the people repented them for Benjamin, because that the Lord had made a breach in the tribes of Israel.

16. Then the elders of the congregation said, How shall we do for wives for them that remain, seeing the women are destroyed out of Benjamin ?

17. And they said, There must be an inheritance for them that be escaped of Benjamin, that a tribe be not destroyed out of Israel.

18. Howbeit we may not give them wives of our daughters; for the children of Israel have sworn, saying, Cursed be he that giveth a wife to Benjamin.

19. Then they said, Behold, there is a feast of the Lord in Shiloh yearly, in a place which is on the north side of Beth-el, on the east side of the highway that goeth up from Beth-el to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah.

20. Therefore they commanded the children of Benjamin, saying, Go and lie in wait in the vineyards;

22. And it shall be, when their fathers or their brethren come unto us to complain, that we will say unto them, Be favorable unto them. for our sakes; because we reserved not to each man his wife in the war; for ye did not give unto them at this time, that ye should be guilty.

23. And the children of Benjamin did so, and took them wives according to their number, of them that danced, whom they caught: and they went and returned unto their inheritance, and repaired the cities, and dwelt in them:

24. And the children of Israel departed thence at that time, every man to his tribe, and to his family; and they went out from thence every man to his inheritance.

25. In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

At last the wild fury of the Israelites subsides; and they look around on the desolation they have occasioned. They convene at the house of God as usual, either at Shiloh, or some nearer place, where the tabernacle had been placed for its temporary use. The Sep. has Bethel as usual. But our version is correct. The Vulgate has "house of God at Shiloh." But it is not certain that the house of God was at Shiloh, at this particular time. It was no more difficult to change places with the taberna. cle now, than it was when it was conveyed through the wilderness.

It was made a capital offense, not to meet with the people when consulting on the expediency of this war. If a tribe had violated this ordinance, they could be just

ly slain; and that would furnish wives for the surviving Benjamites. It was a happy thought, for the moment, as it would cut a knot which they could not untie. It administered deserved punishment on the absentees, and helped the nation out of serious embarrassment. It was not unjust, as justice was then understood.

war.

Jabesh-Gilead had not come to the council, nor to the The Gileadites were generally present at the great assembly, as we are expressly informed. xx. 1. But the citizens of Jabesh were not among them. The reason is not given, and it would be vain to offer conjectures.

Josephus represents the destruction of the men of Jabesh Gilead as taking place during the progress of the war and in the heat of passion. Ant. B. v. C. ii. s. 11.

It seems unnecessary to order the women of Jabesh slain, together with their husbands; but such was the practice at that time, unless special reasons interposed.

Bringing the virgins to the camp at Shiloh, settles the question about the location of the tabernacle. It does not follow, however, that it had not been at or near Gibeah, during the war. It may have been; but now, since the war is over, it is placed again at Shiloh. The last sentence of the 12th verse is an addition of some late copyist. No one at the first writing of this history, would have thought it necessary to offer any such qualification.

The four hundred virgins of Jabesh were not enough for six hundred men. The expedient to supply this lack, recalls a method adopted by Romulus, the founder of Rome, to obtain wives for his citizens.

There was an annual festival in Shiloh. It does not appear that this was a Mosaic festival. Josephus says it was, but the circumstances are opposed to that theory.

One of the reasons offered for this seizure of the virgins, is, that they had not been offered! The inconsistency of this consists in the fact, that, had they been offered, there would have been no occasion for seizing them. But how could the parents of these virgins offer

them, so long as they rested under the oath, with the rest of the nation, that they would not give their daughters to the Beniamites? That they were present, and took this oath, is evident from their not being put to death for contumacy. We think the language, "ye did not give unto them at this time, that ye should be guilty," should be understood as implying guilt in the parents, if they had offered them. And since they could not offer them without being guilty, therefore this method became a necessity.

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This story, according to St. Jerome, instead of occupying a separate place in the Bible, was a part of the book of Judges. We here restore it to its proper position.

RUTH I.

1. Now it came to pass, in the from the country of Moab: for she days when the judges ruled, that had heard in the country of Moab there was a famine in the land. how that the Lord had visited his And a certain man of Beth-lehem- people in giving them bread. judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons.

7. Wherefore she went forth out of the place where she was, and her daughters-in-law with her: and 2. And the name of the man was they went on the way to return unElimelech, and the name of his wife to the land of Judah.

Naomi, and the name of his two 8. And Naomi said unto her two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephra-daughters-in-law, Go, return each thites of Beth-lehem-judah. And to her mother's house: the Lord they came into the country of Moab, and continued there.

3. And Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died; and she was left, and her two sons.

4. And they took them wives of the women of Moab; the name of one was Orpah, and name of the other Ruth: and they dwelled there about ten years.

5. And Mahlon and Chilion died also both of them; and the woman was left of her two sons and her husband.

6. Then she arose with her daughters-in-law, that she might return

deal kindly with you, as ye have dealt with the dead, and with me.

9. The Lord grant that ye may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband. Then she kissed them: and they lifted up their voice, and wept.

10. And they said unto her, Surely, we will return with thee unto thy people.

11. And Naomi said, Turn again, my daughters, why will ye go with me? are there yet any more sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands?

12. Turn again, my daughters,

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