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and the overthrow of Og the king of Bashan, and of the Anakims who were called giants, is considered as having given rise to the fable of the overthrow of the giants. The tempest of hail-stones mentioned in Josh. x. 11. was transformed by the poets into a tempest of stones, with which (they pretend) Jupiter overwhelmed the enemies of Hercules in Arim, which is exactly the country where Joshua fought with the children of Anak.2

The Samaritans are by some writers supposed to have received the book of Joshua, but this opinion appears to have originated in mistake. They have indeed two books extant, bearing the name of Joshua, which differ very materially from our Hebrew copies. One of these is a chronicle of events from Adam to the year of the Hijra 898, corresponding with A. D. 1492;3 and the other is a similar chronicle badly compiled, from the death of Moses to the death of Alexander Severus. It consists of forty-seven chapters, filled with fabulous accounts, written in the Arabic language, but in Samaritan characters.4

II. The book of Joshua comprises the history of about seventeen years, or, according to some chronologers, of twenty-seven or thirty years it is one of the most important documents in the old covenant; and it should never be separated from the Pentateuch, of which it is at once both the continuation and the completion. The Pentateuch contains a history of the acts of the great Jewish legislator, and the laws upon which the Jewish church was to be established: and the book of Joshua relates the history of Israel under the command and government of Joshua, the conquest of Canaan, and its subsequent division among the Israelites; together with the provision made for the settlement and establishment of the Jewish church in that country.

III. From this view of the argument of Joshua, we may easily perceive that the scope of the inspired writer of this book was, to demonstrate the faithfulness of God, in the perfect accomplishment of all his often-repeated promises to the patriarchs, that their posterity should obtain possession of the land of Canaan. At the same time we behold the divine power and mercy signally displayed in cherishing, protecting, and defending his people, amid all the trials and difficulties to which they were exposed; and as the land of Canaan is in the New Testament considered as a type of heaven, the conflicts and trials of the Israelites have been considered as adumbrating the spiritual conflicts of believers in every age of the church. Although Joshua, whose piety, courage, and disinterested integrity, different translators, or being quoted from memory, -no unusual occurrence among profane writers.

1 Polybius, Frag. cxiv. Sallust. Bell. Jugurthin. c. xxii.

2 Allix's Reflections, ut supra. Huet, Demonstratio Evangelica, vol. i. pp. 273 -282. Amstel. 1680. 8vo. Some learned men have supposed that the poetical fable of Phaeton was founded on the miracle of the sun standing still (Josh. x. 12 -14.); but on a calm investigation of the supposed resemblance, there does not appear to be any foundation for such an opinion.

3 Jahn, Introd. in Vet. Fœd. p. 246. note.

4 Ibid. Fabricii Codex Apocryphus Veteris Testamenti, p. 876, et seq.

are conspicuous throughout his whole history, is not expressly mentioned in the New Testament as a type of the Messiah, yet he is universally allowed to have been a very eminent one. He bore our

Saviour's name; the Alexandrian version, giving his name a Greek termination, uniformly calls him Indous-Jesus; which appellation is also given to him in Acts vii. 45. and Heb. iv. 8. Joshua saved the people of God (as the Israelites are emphatically styled in the Scriptures) from the Canaanites: Jesus Christ saves his people from their sins. (Matt. i. 21.)

IV. The book of Joshua may be conveniently divided into three parts: viz.

PART I. The history of the occupation of Canaan1 by the Israelites (cc. i.-xii.) comprising,

SECT. 1. The call and appointment of Joshua to be captaingeneral of that people. (i.)

SECT. 2. The sending out of the spies to bring an account of the city of Jericho. (ii.)

SECT. 3. The miraculous passage of the Israelites over Jordan (iii.), and the setting up of twelve memorial stones. (iv.)

SECT. 4. The circumcision of the Israelites, and their celebration of the first passover in the land of Canaan; the appearance of the "captain of the Lord's host" to Joshua. (v.)`

SECT. 5. The capture of Jericho (vi.) and of Ai. (vii. viii.) SECT. 6. The politic confederacy of the Gibeonites with the children of Israel. (ix.)

SECT. 7. The war with the Canaanitish kings, and the miracle of the sun standing still. (x.)

SECT. 8. The defeat of Jabin and his confederates. (xi.)

SECT. 9. A summary recapitulation of the conquests of the Israelites both under Moses (xii. 1-6.), and also under Joshua himself. (xii. 7—24.)

PART II. The division of the conquered land: containing,
SECT. 1. A general division of Canaan. (xiii.)

SECT. 2. A particular appointment of it among the Israelites, including the portion of Caleb (xiv.); the lot of Judah (xv.); of Ephraim (xvi.); of Manasseh (xvii.); of Benjamin (xviii.); and of the six tribes of Simeon, Zebulun, Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, Dan, and of Joshua himself. (xix.)

SECT. 3. The appointment of the cities of refuge (xx.) and of the Levitical cities. (xxi.)

SECT. 4. The dismission from the camp of Israel of the militia of the two tribes and a half who settled on the other side of Jordan, their consequent return, and the transactions_resulting from the altar which they erected on the borders of Jordan in token of their communion with the children of Israel. (xxii.) ART III. The assembling of the people (xxiii.); the dying address and counsels of Joshua (xxiv. 1-28.); his death and burial, &c. (xxiv. 29-33.)

1 On the objections which have been brought against the conquest of Canaan by the Israelites, see Vol. I. Appendix, No. III. Section V. pp. 560-562. 5

VOL. IV.

It is, however, necessary to remark, that there is some accidental derangement of the order of the chapters in this book, occasioned probably by the antient mode of rolling up manuscripts. If chronologically placed, they should be read thus:- first chapter to the tenth verse; then the second chapter; then from the tenth verse to the end of the first chapter; after which should follow the third and consecutive chapters to the eleventh; then the twenty-second chapter; and lastly, the twelfth and thirteenth chapters to the twenty-fourth verse of the latter.

V. A considerable difference of opinion subsists among learned men, concerning the book of Jasher, mentioned in Josh x. 13. In addition to the observations already offered, we may remark, that Bishop Lowth (whose conjecture is far from being improbable) is of opinion, that it was a poetical book, no longer extant when the author of Judges and Samuel lived and wrote.2

SECTION III.

ON THE BOOK OF JUDGES.

I. Title.-II. Date and author.-III. Scope, chronology, and synopsis of its contents. -IV. Observations on some difficult pas

sages in this book.

I. THE book of Judges derives its name from its containing the history of the Israelites, from the death of Joshua to the time of Eli, under the administration of thirteen Judges, and consequently before the establishment of the regal government. These Judges were men of heroic spirit, raised up by God out of the several tribes to govern

1 See Vol. I. p. 124. supra.

2 The book of Jasher is twice quoted, first in Josh. x. 13. where the quotation is evidently poetical, and forms exactly three distiches.

"Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon,

And thou moon, in the valley of Ajalon:

And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed her course,

Until the people were avenged of their enemies.

And the sun tarried in the midst of the heavens,

And hasted not to go down in a whole day."

The second passage where, the book of Jasher is cited, is in 2 Sam. i. 18., where David's lamentation over Saul is said to be extracted from it. The custom of the Hebrews, in giving titles to their books from the initial word, is well known : thus Genesis is called Bereshith, &c. They also sometimes named the book from some remarkable word in the first sentence; thus the book of Numbers is sometimes called Bemidbar. We also find in their writings canticles which had been produced on important occasions, introduced by some form of this kind : az jashar, (then sang) or ve-jashar peloni, &c. Thus az jashir Mosheh, "then sang Moses," (Exod. xv. 1. the Samaritan Pentateuch reads jasher); ve-thashar Deborah," and Deborah sang." (Judg. v. 1. See also the inscription of Psal. xviii.) Thus the book of Jasher is supposed to have been some collection of sacred songs, composed at different times and on different occasions, and to have had this title, because the book itself and most of the songs began in general with this word, ve-jashar. Lowth's Prælect. pp. 306, 307. notes; or Dr. Gregory's Translation, vol. ii. pp. 152, 153. notes.

the people, and to deliver them from those actual and imminent dangers, which, by their sins against God, they had brought upon themselves. The Judges frequently acted by a divine suggestion, and were endowed with preternatural strength and fortitude (compare ii. 18. vi. 14. 34. xi. 29. and xiv. 6. 19.): it is necessary to bear this in mind when perusing the relation of some of their achievements, which were justifiable only on the supposition of their being performed under the sanction of a divine warrant, which supersedes all general rules of conduct.

II. From the expression recorded in Judg. xviii. 30. some have imagined that this book was not written till after the Babylonish captivity, but this conjecture is evidently erroneous; for, on comparing Psal. lxxviii. 60, 61. and 1 Sam. iv. 11. with that passage, we find that the captivity intended by the historian was a particular captivity of the inhabitants of Dan, which took place about the time the ark was taken by the Philistines. Besides, the total absence of Chaldee words sufficiently proves the date of the book of Judges to have been many centuries anterior to the great Babylonish captivity. This book, however, was certainly written before the second book of Samuel, (compare 2 Sam. xi. 21. with Judg. ix. 53.) and before the capture of Jerusalem by David. (Compare 2 Sam. v. 6. with Judg. i. 21.)

There is a considerable diversity of opinion as to the person by whom this book of Judges was written; it being, by some writers, ascribed to Phinehas, Hezekiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, or Ezra, who compiled it from the memoirs of his own time which were left by each Judge; while others think that it was compiled by some prophet out of the public registers or records that were kept by the priests and Levites. But the best founded opinion seems to be, that it was written by the prophet Samuel, the last of the Judges; and in this opinion the Jews themselves coincide.

III. The book of Judges comprises the history of about three hundred years: it consists of three parts; the first embraces the history of the Elders, who ruled the Israelites after the death of Joshua, and the subsequent transactions, to the commencement of their troubles. (ch. i.-iii. 5.) The second part contains the history of the Judges from Othniel to Eli (ch. iii. 5. xvi.); and the third, which narrates several memorable actions performed not long after the death of Joshua, (ch. xvii.-xxi.) is thrown to the end of the book, that it might not interrupt the thread of the narrative. "This history," observes Dr. Priestly," abundantly verifies the frequent warnings and predictions of Moses; according to which, the people, being under the immediate government of God, were in the most exemplary manner to be rewarded for their obedience, and punished for their disobedience, and especially for their conformity to the religions of their neighbours, whom God had devoted to destruction on account of their polytheism and idolatry." There is considerable difficulty in settling the chronology of this book, several of the facts related in it being reckoned from different æras, which cannot now be exactly ascertained: many of the Judges also are generally supposed to have been successive

who in all probability were contemporaries, and ruled over different districts at the same time. In the following synopsis it is attempted to reduce the chronology to something like order, and also to present a correct analysis of the book.

PART I. The state of the Israelites after the death of Joshua, until they began to turn aside from serving the Lord. (i.—iii. 5.) в. c.

1443-1413.

PART II. The history of the oppressions of the Israelites, and their deliverances by the Judges. (iii. 5. xvi.)

-

SECT. 1. The subjection of the Eastern Israelites to the king of Mesopotamia, and their deliverance by Othniel. (iii. 5—11.) B. c. 1413-1405.

SECT. 2. The subjection of the Eastern Israelites to the king of Moab, and their deliverance by Ehud. The Western Israelites delivered by Shamgar. (iii. 11-31.) B. c. 1343-1305. SECT. 3. The Northern Israelites, after being oppressed by Jabin, king of Canaan, are delivered by Deborah and Barak. (iv.) The thanksgiving song of Deborah and Barak. (v.) B. c. 1285. SECT. 4. The Eastern and Northern Israelites, being for their sins delivered into the power of Midian, are delivered by GideHistory of Gideon and his family, including the judicature of Abimelech. (vi.—ix.) b. c. 1252—1233.

on.

SECT. 5. History of the administrations of Tola and Jair. The Israelites, being oppressed by the Ammonites, are delivered by Jephthah. The administrations of the Judges Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon. (x.-xii.) B. c. 1233—1157.

SECT. 6. The birth of Samson. Servitude of the Israelites to the Philistines, and their deliverance by Samson, with an account of his death. (xiii.-xvi.) B. c. 1155—1117.

PART III. Account of the introduction of idolatry among the Israelites, and the consequent corruption of religion and manners among them; for which God gave them up into the hands of their enemies. (xvii.-xxi.)

SECT. 1. Account of the idol of Micah and its idolatrous worship, at first privately in his family (xvii.) and afterwards publicly in the tribe of Dan. (xviii.) B. c. 1413.

SECT. 2. Account of a very singular violence and detestable murder, committed by the Benjamites of Gibeah (xix.) ; the war of the other tribes with them, and the almost total extinction of the tribe of Benjamin. (xx. xxi.) B. c. 1413.

IV. The book of Judges forms an important link in the history of the Israelites, and is very properly inserted between the books of Joshua and Samuel, as the Judges were the intermediate governors between Joshua and the kings of Israel. It furnishes us with a lively description of a fluctuating and unsettled nation; a striking picture of the disorders and dangers which prevailed in a republic without magistracy; when the highways were unoccupied, and the travellers walked through by-ways (v. 6.); when few prophets were appointed to control the people, and every one did that which was right in his own eyes. (xvii. 6.) It exhibits the contest of true religion with superstition; displays the beneficial effects that flow from the former, and re

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