God hath requited me. And 8 (Now 'the children of Judah they brought him to Jerusalem, had fought against Jerusalem, and there he died. 'Let f See Josh. 15. 63. Canaanites previous to the arrival of have proceeded only from the most the Israelites, and this circumstance barbarous and brutal dispositions. probably tended to facilitate their But we have cause to be humbled conquests. 'Judah,' says Lightfoot, for human nature that such propen'in conquering Adoni-bezek did in sities still adhere to it. This is evieffect conquer seventy kings.' Indent from the pleasure which child. the case of this cruel tyrant we can- ren often take in torturing insects not fail to perceive the uncertainty and animals, and in vexing and tyof human greatness. The mighty rannizing over those who are weaker potentate is here reduced to the con- than themselves-a disposition which dition of a prisoner, to the very ex-in after life displays itself in a fondtremity of meanness and disgrace; showing that pre-eminence in station often leads only to a sad pre-eminence in misery and distress. not the highest be proud, nor the strongest secure, for they know not how low they may be brought before they die.'- Henry.- TAs I have done, so God hath requited me. A striking acknowledgment, extorted from a guilty conscience, of the retributive justice of Heaven. 'When God's judgments awaken the conscience we shall own his righteousness, and stand self-condemned before him.'-Haweis. What pretences he had for warring against these kings, we know not; but thus to insult over the misfortunes of the vanquished, to maim their persons, and compel them, like dogs, to gather up the crumbs from under his table, argued a degree of cruelty which one could scarcely have conceived to exist in a rational being. As the personal injuries he had inflicted would of course disable them from harming him as long as they were kept in bondage, thus to sport himself in their miseries, was a conduct of pure gratuitous cruelty, and could ness for despotic sway, in a vindic. tive spirit, and in a career of ruthless ambition. But God is known by the judgments that he executeth, and this cruel Canaanite was in his turn made to feel the anguish which he had so wantonly inflicted upon others. The Israelites were led to deal with him on the principle of their own law of retaliation, 'an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,' &c.; although, as it would have been inconsistent with those gracious affections which, as the Lord's chosen people, they were bound to exercise, they did not reduce him to the same ignominy or insult over him with the same arrogance that he had shown towards others. Thus it is that God sometimes makes men's punishments to correspond with their crimes; and in this case, notwithstanding all the feelings of humanity, we cannot but acquiesce in the judgment that befel him, or help being conscious of a secret satisfac tion that the same evils he had so cruelly inflicted upon others should be brought home to himself. 8. Had fought against Jerusalem and had taken it. This evert of and had taken it, and smitten it with the edge of the sword, and set the city on fire.) 9And afterward the children of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites that dwelt in the mountain, and in the south, and in the valley. 10 And Judah went against the Canaanites that dwelt in Hebron (now the name of He Josh. 10. 36. and 11. 21. and 15: 13. prior occurrence is mentioned here to intimate how it happened that they were able to convey the captive king 10 Jerusalem. It was because they had before taken that city, and it was now in their possession. The reason of removing him thither was perhaps to make him a more public spectacle of the just judgments of God against barbarous and bloodthirsty tyrants. But though the city is said to have been taken, yet the hill of Zion, as appears from the subsequent history, was still held by the Jebusites till the time of David. - Set the city on fire. Heb. 283 1030 1197 hâir shillehu bâësh, cast the city into the fire; an inverted phraseology, peculiar to the Hebrew. Thus Ps. 74. 7, 'They have cast fire into the sanctuary;' Heb. ' they have cast thy sanctuary into the fire.' Joel, 3.-18, The hills shall flow with milk; Heb. 'milk shall flow with hills.' This burning the city or a part of it, was probably in token of their detestation of the idolatry which had been practised there. 9. Went down to fight, &c. That , descended to the hill-country lyng south of Jerusalem. 10. And Judah went down against | the Canaanites, &c. That is, under the conduct of Caleb, as we learn from Josh. 15. 14-19, where substantially the same account with the present occurs. How this has happened, whether the writer of Judges took this narrative from Joshua, or the writer of Joshua inserted his from Judges, it is impossible to determine. That both accounts relate the same events there can be no doubt, but whether those events occurred before or after the death of Joshua, is a point which we despair of ever having satisfactorily settled. As the discussion of the question would encumber our pages with matter of little profit to the general reader, we waive it entirely without offering at opinion. Slew Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai. In the parallel passage, Josh. 15. 14, Caleb is said merely to have driven out' these sons of Anak. The probability is, that the words before us give the true sense, and that they were actually slain. An enemy driven out is not necessarily understood to be slain, but whoever is slain is virtually driven out, by being expelled from among the living. 6 11-15. See on Josh. 15. 15-19 13 And Othniel the son of Ke- Caleb gave her the upper springs naz, 'Caleb's younger brother, and the nether springs. took it and he gave him Achsah his daughter to wife. 16 And the children of the Kenite, Moses' father-in-law went up out of the city of palmtrees with the children of Judah into the wilderness of Judah, which lieth in the south of Arad; and they went and dwelt among the people. 17 And Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they slew the Canaanites that inhabited And Zephath, and utterly destroyed 1 ch. 3. 9. m Josh. 15. 18, 19. " Gen. 33. 11. och. 4. 11, 17. 1 Sam. 15. 6. 1 Chron. 2. 55. Jer. 35. 2. P Deut. 34. 3. 4 Numb. 21. 1. r Numb. 10. 32. s ver. 3. the Amalekites, he sent a message to the Kenites to depart from among them, as God would not destroy them with that devoted people. From them descended Hemath, the father of the house of Rechab, of whom we have so interesting an account, Jerem. 35.- Arad. Of this place see on Num. 21. 1.—¶ And they went and dwelt, &c. That is, the greatest part of them. Some few families were dispersed in other places, as we find the tent of Jael, who was of this stock, far to the north, in the tribe of Naphtali, when Sisera took shelter there, ch. 4. 17. 16. The children of the Kenite, Moses' father in-law. That is, of Jethro; but why he is called the Kenite it is not easy to say. The probability is, that he inhabited the country occupied by a people of this name, Num. 24. 21. 22, and on this account in process of time came to be distinguished by the same appellation. Whether Jethro himself accompanied Israel into Canaan, according to Moses' invitation, Num. 10. 32, is not clear, but that his posterity did is certain. After their arrival, they at first pitched their tents near Jericho, called also 'the city of Palm trees,' which lay in the lot of Benjamin,¶ Among the people. Heb. ON and here remained during the lifetime of Joshua. After his death, for reasons now unknown, they united with the tribe of Judah, and went with them to attack Arad. After the conquest of that country, the Kenites established themselves there and remained in it mingled with the Amalekites, and leading a quiet life remote from public affairs, till the days of Saul. When this king received a commandment from God to destroy eth hââm, that people; viz. the children of Judah resident there. They who willingly share with God's Israel in their sufferings in the wil derness, shall share also with them in the inheritance in glory.'-Haweis. 17. And Judah went with Simeon, &c. According to previous compact, v. 3. The thread of the narra. tive which had been interrupted for the purpose of introducing the foregoing account of Caleb and Othniel, is here resumed.- - Slew the Canaanites that inhabited Zephath. A 19 And the LORD was with Judah; and he drave out the inhabitants of the mountain; but could not drive out the mhabitants of the valley, because they had 'chariots of iron. x ver. 2. 2 Kings 18. 7. y Josh. 17. 16, 18. and remained for ages an almost in- valley called Zephathah, is inention- 19. Drave out the inhabitants of Judah, where Asa gained a signal | yoresh eth hâhâr, possessed the mounvictory over the Ethiopian army. tain. The idea of the original howThis is probably the same place. It ever is, possessing in consequence of was now destroyed in pursuance of a previous expulsion. If the former a vow taken by Israel before the sense of 'driving out' be retained, death of Moses, Num. 21. 1-3, and mountain, i. e. the mountainous rewhich for some reason they had de- gion, is of course used for mountainlayed to perform till this time. This eers, or the inhabitants of the mounseems likely from the fact that the tain, as the name of a country or same name, 'Hormath,' importing city often stands for its occupants. utter destruction, is there also bestow-In the parallel member of the sened upon the devoted region, and we tence immediately following, the can otherwise see no particular rea- word 'inhabitants' is expressed.son for making Zephath an anathe-¶ But could not drive out, &c. That ma on this occasion. Arad appears is, Judah could not. The reason not to have been so much the name of a city, as of a tract of country embracing a number of cities, of which | perhaps Zephath was the principal. 18. Took Gaza with the coast thereof. With the adjoining territory thereof; and so in what follows. Having conquered the south, they turned their arms towards the Philistines' country in the west. These cities it is said they took,' but it is not said that they slew the inhabitants, as they ought to have done. They probably contented themselves with making them tributary, and as a consequence of their ill-judged lenity, they afterwards recovered with believers, when they view out. strength, expelled their invaders, ward difficulties with the eye of why they could not was their unbelief. Had they duly confided in omnipotence, the chariots of iron would have been no more of an obstacle to them than chariots of straw. But although on a former occasion, Josh. 11. 4-9, they had seen how complete was the victory which Joshua, relying upon God, had obtained over these engines of war, yet now they weakly suffer their fears to prevail over their faith, and instead of trusting God under apparent disadvantages, they meanly withdraw their forces, when one bold stroke would have completed their victories. So 20 And they gave Hebron | busites that inhabited Jerusalem; unto Caleb, as Moses said: and but the Jebusites dwell with the he expelled thence the three children of Benjamin in JerusaSons of Anak. lem unto this day. sense, and forget the almighty power of God; their hearts grow discouraged, their expectations feeble, and their attempts timid and wavering; and then no wonder they do not prosper, for in proportion to our faith will be our vigor, zeal, and success. The Chal. paraphrast renders the verse; 'And the Word of Jehovah was in the support of the house of Judah, and they extirpated the inhabitants of the mountains; but afterwards, when they sinned, they were not able to extirpate the inhabitants of the plain country, because they had chariots of iron.' 20. And they gave Hebron unto Caleb, &c. We have little doubt that the true design of inserting this verse in this connexion is lost sight of, by the present mode of rendering. Let the verb be translated in the pluperfect tense, 'had given,' and the drift is obvious. It is as if the writer had said, 'Although they had some time before given Hebron to Caleb, and he had expelled thence the three gigantic sons of Anak, who were deemed the most formidable and invincible of all the old inhabitants of Canaan, and though his success ought to have been regarded as a pledge and earnest of their own, let the opposing power have been what it might, yet notwithstanding this precedent, they ignobly failed in the 22 And the house of Joseph, they also went up against Bethel: and the LORD was with them. b ver. 19. achievement of a conquest equally easy.' Understood in this sense, the words, instead of being an unmeaning repetition of an incident frequently mentioned before, are in fact a tacit but severe rebuke of the cowardice and pusillanimity of the nation. 21. The children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites. Jerusalem was situated partly in the tribe of Judah, and partly in that of Benjamin; the northern part belonging to the latter tribe, the southern to the former. This will account for the fact, that what is here said of Benjamin, is, in Josh. 15. 63, said of Judah. It was owing to the most culpable remissness on the part of the tribe of Benjamin that these Jebusites were not expelled from their strong-hold. As the Jebusites dwelt in Jerusalem till the days of David, and the author of this book states them to have been in possession of Jerusalem when he wrote, therefore this book was certainly written before the reign of David, or before the date of his capture of that part of the city. 22. The house of Joseph-went up. That is, the tribe of Ephraim, as ap pears from the contrary affirmation respecting Manasseh.¶ The Lord was with them. Another mode of saying that they were eminently successful in the expedition. The pre |