THE TRIBES OF ISRAEL.
Not far removed from the harbour-cities, whose ships discovered the land
of silver, which carried the natural wealth of the West to the lands of
the Euphrates and Tigris, and the Nile, in order to exchange them for
the productions of those countries, in part immediately upon the borders
of the marts which united the East and the West, and side by side with
them, dwelt the Israelites on the heights and in the valleys which they
had conquered, in very simple and original modes of life.
Even during the war against the ancient population of Canaan,
immediately after the first successes against the Amorites, they had, as
we have seen, dropped any common participation in the struggle, any
unity under one leader. According to their numbers and bravery, and the
resistance encountered, the various tribes had won larger or smaller
territories, better or inferior districts. Immigration and conquest did
not lead among the Israelites to a combination of their powers under the
supremacy of one leader, but rather to separation into clans and
cantons, which was also favoured by the nature of the country conquered,
a district lying in unconnected parts, and possessing no central region
adapted for governing the whole. Thus, after the settlement, the life of
the nation became divided into separate circles according to the
position and character of the mountain canton which the particular tribe
had obtained, and the fortune which it had experienced. Even if there
was an invasion of the enemy, the tribe attacked was left to defend
itself as well as it could. It was only very rarely, and in times of
great danger, that the nobles and elders of the whole land, and a great
number of the men of war from all the tribes, were collected round the
sacred ark at Shiloh, at Bethel, at Mizpeh, or at Gilgal for common
counsel or common defence. But even when a resolution was passed by the
nobles and elders and the people, individual tribes sometimes resisted,
even by force of arms, the expressed will of the nation, or at least of
a great part of the nobles and people, and the division of the tribes
sometimes led even to open war.
Within the tribes also there was no fixed arrangement, no fixed means
for preserving peace. The clans and families for the most part possessed
separate valleys, glens, or heights. The heads of the oldest families
were also the governors of these cantons, and composed the differences
between the members of the clan, canton, or city by their decisions;
while in other places bold and successful warriors at the head of
voluntary bands made acquisitions, in which the descendants of the
leader took the rank of elder and judge. Eminent houses of this kind,
together with the heads of families of ancient descent, formed the order
of nobles and elders; "who hold the judge's staff in their hands, and
ride on spotted asses with beautiful saddles, while the common people go
afoot."[181] If a tribe fell into distress and danger, the nobles and
elders assembled and took counsel, while the people stood round, unless
some man of distinction had already risen and summoned the tribe to
follow him. For the people did not adhere exclusively to the chief of
the oldest family in the canton; nobles and others within, and in
special cases without, the tribe, who had obtained a prominent position
by warlike actions, or by the wisdom of their decisions, whose position
and power promised help, protection and the accomplishment of the
sentence, were invited to remove strife and differences, unless the
contending persons preferred to help themselves. Only the man who could
not help himself sought, as a rule, the decision of the elder or judge.
The names of some of the men whose decision was sought in that time have
been preserved in the tradition of the Israelites. Tholah of the tribe
of Issachar, Jair of the land of Gilead, Ebzan of Bethlehem in the tribe
of Judah, Elon of the tribe of Zebulun, and Abdon of Ephraim, are all
mentioned as judges of note. Of Jair we are told that he had 30 sons,
who rode on 30 asses, and possessed 30 villages. Ebzan is also said to
have had 30 sons and to have married 30 daughters; while Abdon had 40
sons and 30 grandsons, who rode on 70 asses.[182]
On the heights and table-lands of the districts east of the Jordan, in
the land of Gilead, were settled the tribes of Reuben and Gad and a part
of the tribe of Manasseh. At an early period they grew together, so that
the name of the region sometimes represents the names of these tribes.
Here the pastoral life and breeding of cattle remained predominant, as
in the less productive districts on the west of the Jordan. But on the
plains and in the valleys of the west the greater part of the settlers
devoted themselves to the culture of the vine and agriculture. The walls
of the ancient cities were at first used as a protection against the
attacks of robbers, or raids of enemies; the inhabitants, afterwards as
before, planted their fields and vineyards outside the gates.[183] But
the custom of dwelling together led to the beginnings of civic life,
industrial skill, and common order. The trade of the Phenicians, which
touched the land of the Hebrews here and there, and the more advanced
culture of the cities of the coast, could not remain without influence
on the Hebrews.
The religious feeling which separated the Israelites from the Canaanites
was not more thoroughly effective than the community of blood and the
contrast to the ancient population of the land in bringing about the
combination and union of the Israelites. The religious life was as much
without organisation as the civic; on the contrary, as the Israelites
spread as settlers over a larger district, the unity and connection of
religious worship which Moses previously established again fell to the
ground. It is true, the sacred ark remained at Shiloh, five leagues to
the north of Bethel, under the sacred tent in the land of the tribe of
Ephraim. At this place a festival was held yearly in honour of Jehovah,
to which the Israelites assembled to offer prayer and sacrifice. On
other occasions also people went to Shiloh to offer sacrifice.[184] The
priestly office in the sacred tent at the sacred ark remained with the
descendants of Aaron, in the family of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the
eldest son of Aaron (I. 497). But with the settlement a number of other
places of sacrifice had risen up beside the sanctuary at Shiloh. On the
heights and under the oaks at Ramah in the land of Benjamin, at Mizpeh
in the same district, as well as at Mizpeh beyond Jordan, where Jacob
and Laban had parted in peace,[185] at Bethel on the borders of the
land of Ephraim and Benjamin, where Abraham sacrificed (between Bethel
and Ai) and Jacob received the name of Israel;[186] finally at Gilgal on
the east of Jordan, where Joshua lay encamped, and kept the passover,
before he attacked Jericho, Jehovah was invoked. At these places also
the firstlings of the fruits were offered; goats, rams, and bulls were
offered, with or without the intervention of the priest, and inquiry
made for the will of Jehovah without priestly help or intervention. Any
one who set up an altar established a priest there, or hired a priest.
For this purpose men were chosen who claimed to be of the race of Moses
and Aaron, just as the service of the sacred ark at Shiloh was in the
hands of this family; but men of other origin and tribes were not
excluded even from the priesthood at the ark.[187]
In such a want of any defined and influential position of the
priesthood, in the want of any church organisation, it was only the
superior personal power of the priests at Shiloh which could protect the
religious feeling and traditional custom against the influences of the
new surroundings, and Canaanitish rites. Tradition, at any rate from the
first third of the eleventh century B.C., had no good to tell of the
morals of the priests at Shiloh. To those who came to bring an offering
the servant of the priest said, "Give flesh to roast for the priest; he
will not have it sodden but raw." If the person sacrificing replied, "We
will burn only the fat, then take what you desire," the servant
answered, "You must give it me now, and if you will not I shall take it
by force." If the priest desired cooked flesh from the sacrifice, he
sent his servant, who struck with his three-pronged fork into the
cauldron, and what he brought out was the priest's.
The religious views of the Israelites, not sufficiently represented
among themselves, were the more exposed to the influence of the rites of
the Canaanites, as these rites belonged to tribes of kindred nature and
character. In this way it came about that the Canaanitish gods Baal and
Astarte were worshipped beside Jehovah, the god of Israel, and that in
one or two places the old worship was perhaps entirely driven out by
these new gods. But even where this did not take place, it was owing to
the example and impulse of the Syrian modes of worship that images were
here and there set up on the altars of Jehovah. When the conception of
the divine nature in the spirit of a nation passes beyond the first
undefined feeling and intimation,--when it receives a plainer and more
expressive shape in the minds of men, and the first steps of artistic
and technical skill, or the example of neighbours, are coincident with
this advance,--the general result is that men desire to see the ruling
powers fixed in distinct forms, then the gods are presented in a
realistic manner in visible forms and images. And thus it was among the
Israelites. The command of Moses given in opposition to the images of
Egypt (I. 354) was long since forgotten. Michah, a man of the tribe of
Ephraim, caused a goldsmith to make a carved and molten image of Jehovah
of 200 shekels of silver; and set it up in a temple on Mount Ephraim,
establishing as a priest a Levite, the "descendant of Moses." When a
part of Dan marched northwards in order to win for themselves abodes
there, which they could not conquer from the Philistines, the men of Dan
carried off this image along with the Levite and set it up in the city
of Laish (Dan), which they took from the Sidonians (I. 371), and the
"grandson of Moses" and his descendants continued to be priests before
this image.[188] At Nob also there was a gilded image of Jehovah, and
many had Teraphim, or images of gods in the form of men, in their
houses.[189]
Nothing important was undertaken before inquiry was made of the will of
Jehovah. The inquiry was made as a rule by casting lots before the
sacred tabernacle at Shiloh, before the altars and images of
Jehovah,[190] or by questioning the priests and soothsayers. Counsel was
also taken of these if a cow had gone astray, and they received in
return bread or a piece of money.
Of the feuds which the tribes of Israel carried on at this time, some
have remained in remembrance.[191] The concubine of a Levite, so we are
told in the book of Judges, who dwelt on Mount Ephraim, ran away from
her husband; she went back to her father, to Bethlehem in Judah. Her
husband rose and followed her, pacified her, and then set out on his
return. The first evening they reached the city of the Jebusites, but
the Levite would not pass the night among the Canaanites (I. 500), and
turned aside to Gibeah, a place in the tribe of Benjamin. Here no one
received the travellers; they were compelled to remain in the street
till an old man came home late in the evening from his work in the
field. When he heard that the traveller was from Ephraim he received him
into his house, for he was himself an Ephraimite, gave fodder to the
asses of the Levite and his concubine, and placed his attendant with
his own servants. Then they washed their feet, and drank, and their
hearts were merry. But the men of Gibeah collected round the house in
the evening, pressed on the door, and demanded that the stranger from
Ephraim should be given up to them; they wished to destroy him. In order
to save himself the priest gave up to them his concubine, that they
might satisfy their passions on her. The men of Gibeah abused her the
whole night through, so that next morning she lay dead upon the
threshold. The Levite went with the corpse to his home at Ephraim, cut
it into twelve pieces with a knife, and sent a piece to each tribe.
Every one who saw it said, "The like was never heard since Israel came
out of Egypt." And the chiefs of the nation assembled and pronounced a
curse upon him who did not come to Mizpah (in the land of Benjamin) that
he should be put to death. Then all the tribes assembled at Mizpah, it
is said about 400,000 men;[192] only from Jabesh in Gilead and the tribe
of Benjamin no one came. The Levite told what had happened to him, and
the tribes sent messengers to Benjamin, to bring the men of Gibeah. But
the children of Benjamin refused, and assembled their men of war, more
than 26,000 in number, and took up arms. Then the people rose up and
said, "Cursed be he who gives a wife to Benjamin."[193] Every tenth man
was sent back for supplies; the rest marched out against Benjamin. But
"Benjamin was a ravening wolf, who ate up the spoil at morning and
divided the booty in the evening;" they were mighty archers, and could
throw with the left hand as well as the right.[194] They fought twice
at Gibeah with success against their countrymen. Not till the third
contest did the Israelites gain the victory, and then only by an
ambuscade and counterfeit flight. After this overthrow the whole tribe
is said to have been massacred, the flocks and herds destroyed, and the
cities burnt. Only 600 men, as we are told, escaped to the rock Rimmon
on the Dead Sea. When the community again assembled at Bethel the people
were troubled that a tribe should be extirpated and wanting in Israel;
so they caused peace and a safe return to be proclaimed to the remainder
of Benjamin. And when 12,000 men were sent out against Jabesh to punish
the city because none of their inhabitants came to the gathering at
Mizpeh, they were ordered to spare the maidens of Jabesh. In obedience
to this command they brought 400 maidens back from Jabesh, and these
were given to the Benjamites. But as this number was insufficient the
Benjamites were allowed, when the yearly festival was held at Shiloh (p.
92), and the daughters of Shiloh came out to dance before the city, to
rush out from the vineyards and carry off wives for themselves. Thus
does tradition explain the non-execution of the decree that no Israelite
should give his daughter to wife to a man of Benjamin, and the rescue of
the tribe of Benjamin from destruction.[195]
Without unity and connection in their political and religious life, amid
the quarrels and feuds of the tribes, families and individuals, when
every one helped and avenged himself, and violence and cruelty
abounded,--in the lawless condition when "every one in Israel did what
was right in his own eyes,"--the Israelites were in danger of becoming
the prey of every external foe, and it was a question whether they could
long maintain the land they had won. It was fortunate that there was no
united monarchy at the head either of the Philistines or the Phenicians,
that the latter were intent on other matters, as their colonies in the
Mediterranean, while the cities of the Philistines, though they acquired
a closer combination as early as the eleventh century B.C., or even
earlier (I. 348), did not, at least at first, go out to make foreign
conquests. But it was unavoidable that the old population, especially in
the north, where they remained in the greatest numbers amongst the
Israelites, should again rise and find strong points of support in the
Canaanite princes of Hazor and Damascus; that the Moabites who lay to
the east of the Dead Sea, the Ammonites, the neighbours of the land of
Gilead, that the wandering tribes of the Syrian desert should feel
themselves tempted to invade Israel, to carry off the flocks and plunder
the harvests and, if they found no vigorous resistance, to take up a
permanent settlement in the country. Without the protection of natural
borders, without combination and guidance, as they were, the Israelites
could only succeed in resisting such attacks when in the time of danger
a skilful and brave warrior was found, who was able to rouse his own
tribe, and perhaps one or two of the neighbouring tribes, to a vigorous
resistance, or to liberation if the enemy was already in the land. It is
the deeds of such heroes, and almost these alone, which remained in the
memory of the Israelites from the first two centuries following their
settlement; and these narratives, in part fabulous, must represent the
history of Israel for this period.
Eglon, king of Moab, defeated the Israelites, passed over the Jordan,
took Jericho, and here established himself. With Gilead the tribe of
Benjamin, which dwelt nearest to Jericho, at first must have felt with
especial weight the oppression of Moab. For 18 years the Israelites are
said to have served Eglon. Then Ehud, of the tribe of Benjamin, a
reputed great grandson of the youngest son of Jacob, the father of the
Benjamites, came with others to Jericho to bring tribute. When the tax
had been delivered Ehud desired to speak privately with the king.
Permission was given, and Ehud went with a two-edged sword in his hand,
under his garment, to the king, who sat alone in the cool upper chamber.
Ehud spoke: "I have a message from God to thee;" and when Eglon rose to
receive the message Ehud smote him with the sword in the belly, "so that
even the haft went in, and the fat closed over the blade, for the king
of Moab was a very fat man. But Ehud went down to the court, and closed
the door behind him." When the servants found the door closed they
thought that the king had covered his feet for sleep. At last they took
the key and found the king dead on the floor. But Ehud blew the trumpet
on Mount Ephraim, assembled a host, seized the fords of Jordan, and slew
about 10,000 Moabites, and the Moabites retired into their old
possessions.[196]
Another narrative tells of the fortunes of the tribes of Naphtali,
Zebulun, and Issachar, which were settled in the north, under Mount
Hermon. Jabin, king of Hazor, had chariots of iron, and Sisera his
captain was a mighty warrior, and for 20 years they oppressed the
Israelites.[197] Deborah, the wife of Lapidoth, of the tribe of
Issachar, dwelt in the land of Benjamin, between Bethel and Ramah, under
the palm-tree; she could announce the will of Jehovah, and the people
came to her to obtain counsel and judgment. At her command Barak, the
son of Abinoam, assembled the men of the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali;
assistance also came from Issachar, Manasseh, Ephraim and Benjamin.
Sisera went forth with 900 chariots and a great host and the Israelites
retired before him to the south of the brook Kishon. Sisera crossed the
brook and came upon the Israelites in the valley of Megiddo; he was
defeated, leapt from his chariot, and fled on foot and came unto the
tent of Heber the Kenite. Jael, Heber's wife, met him and said, "Turn
in, my lord, to me; fear not." When in his thirst he asked for water,
she opened the bottle of milk and allowed him to drink, and when he lay
down to rest she covered him with the carpet. Being wearied, he sank
into a deep sleep. Then Jael softly took the nail of the tent and a
hammer in her hand, and smote the nail through his temples so that it
passed into the earth. When Barak, who pursued the fugitive, came, Jael
said, "I will show thee the man whom thou seekest," and led him into the
tent where Sisera lay dead on the ground.
Israel's song of victory is as follows: "Listen, ye kings; give ear, ye
princes; I will sing to Jehovah, I will play on the harp of Jehovah, the
king of Israel. There were no princes in Israel till I, Deborah, arose a
mother in Israel. Arise, Barak; bring forth thy captives, thou son of
Abinoam. Shout, ye that ride on she-asses, and ye that sit upon carpets,
and ye that go on foot, and let the people come down into the plain, to
the gates of the cities. Then I said, Go down, O people of Jehovah,
against the strong; a small people against the mighty. From Ephraim they
came and from Benjamin, from Machir (_i.e._ from the Manassites on the
east of the lake of Gennesareth) the rulers came, and the chiefs of
Issachar were with Deborah, and Zebulun is a people which perilled his
life to the death, and Naphtali on the heights of the field. On the
streams of Reuben there was taking of counsel, but why didst thou sit
still among the herds to hear the pipe of the herdsmen? Gilead also
remained beyond Jordan, and Asher abode on the shore of the sea in his
valleys, and Dan on his heights. The kings came, they fought at the
water of Megiddo; they gained no booty of silver. Issachar, the support
of Barak, threw himself in the valley at his heels. The brook Kishon
washed away the enemy: a brook of battles is the brook Kishon. Go forth,
my soul, upon the strong. Blessed above women shall Jael be, above women
in the tent. He asked for water, she gave him milk; she brought him
cream in a lordly dish. She put forth her hand to the nail, and her
right hand to the workman's hammer, and she smote Sisera, she shattered
and pierced his temples. Between her feet he lay shattered. The mother
of Sisera looked from her window; she called through the lattice: 'Why
linger his chariots in returning? why delay the wheels of his chariot?'
Her wise maidens answered her; nay, she answered herself: 'Will they not
find spoil and divide it; one or two maidens to each, spoil of broidered
robes for Sisera?' So must all thine enemies perish, O Jehovah, but may
those who love him be as the sun going forth in his strength." Whether
this song was composed by Deborah, or by some other person in her name,
it is certainly an ancient song of victory and contemporary with the
events it celebrates.
The tribes of Israel also which were settled in the land of Gilead
remembered with gratitude a mighty warrior who had once delivered them
from grievous oppression. The Ammonites, the eastern neighbours of the
land of Gilead, oppressed "the sons of Israel who dwelt beyond Jordan"
for 18 years, and marched over Jordan against Judah, Benjamin and the
house of Ephraim. Then the elders of the land of Gilead bethought them
of Jephthah (Jephthah means "freed from the yoke"), to whom they had
formerly refused the inheritance of his father because he was not the
son of the lawful wife, but of a courtezan. He had retired into the
gorges of the mountain and collected round him a band of robbers, and
done deeds of bravery. To him the elders went; he was to be their leader
in fighting against the sons of Ammon. Jephthah said, "Have ye not
driven me out of the house of my father? now that ye are in distress ye
come to me." Still he followed their invitation, and the people of
Gilead gathered round him at Mizpeh and made him their chief and leader.
"If I return in triumph from the sons of Ammon," such was Jephthah's
vow, "the first that meets me at the door of my house shall be dedicated
to Jehovah, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt-offering." When he had
asked the tribe of Ephraim for assistance in vain he set out against the
Ammonites with the warriors of the tribes of Reuben, Gad and Manasseh,
and overcame them in a great battle on the river Arnon. The Ephraimites
made it a reproach against Jephthah that he had fought against the
Ammonites without them; they crossed the Jordan in arms. But Jephthah
said, "I was in straits, and my people with me; I called to you, but ye
aided me not." He assembled the men of Gilead, defeated the Ephraimites,
and came to the fords of the Jordan before the fugitives, so that more
than 42,000 men of Ephraim are said to have been slain.
When he returned to his home at Mizpeh his only daughter came to meet
him joyfully, with her maidens and timbrels and dancing. Jephthah tore
his garments and cried, "My daughter, thou hast brought me very low; I
have opened my mouth to Jehovah and cannot take it back." "My father,"
she answered, "if thou hast opened thy mouth to Jehovah, do to me as
thou hast spoken, for Jehovah has given thee vengeance on thine enemies,
the Ammonites. But first let me go with my companions to the mountains,
and there for two months bewail my virginity." This was done, and on her
return Jephthah did to her according to his vow. And it was a custom in
Israel for the maidens to lament the daughter of Jephthah for four days
in the year. After this Jephthah is said to have been judge for six
years longer beyond Jordan, _i.e._ to have maintained the peace in these
districts.
Grievous calamity came upon Israel in this period from a migratory
people of the Syrian desert, from the incursions of the Midians, who,
like the Moabites and Ammonites, are designated in Genesis as a nation
kindred to the Israelites, with whom Moses was said to have entered into
close relations (I. 449, 468). Now the Midianites with other tribes of
the desert attacked Israel in constant predatory incursions. "Like
locusts in multitude," we are told, "the enemy came with their flocks
and tents; there was no end of them and their camels. When Israel had
sowed the sons of the East came up and destroyed the increase of the
land as far as Gaza, and left no sustenance remaining, no sheep, oxen
and asses. And the sons of Israel were compelled to hide themselves in
ravines, and caves, and mountain fortresses."[198] For seven years
Israel is said to have been desolated in this manner. Beside the tribes
of Issachar and Zebulun, between Mount Tabor and the Kishon, dwelt a
part of the tribe of Manasseh. The family of Abiezer, belonging to this
tribe, possessed Ophra. In an incursion of the Midianites the sons of
Joash, a man of this family, were slain;[199] only Gideon, the youngest,
remained. When the Midianites came again, after their wont, at the time
of harvest, and encamped on the plain of Jezreel, and Gideon was beating
wheat in the vat of the wine-press in order to save the corn from the
Midianites, Jehovah aroused him. He gathered the men of his family
around him, 300 in number.[200] When Jehovah had given him a favourable
sign, and he had reconnoitred the camp of the Midianites, together with
his armour-bearer Phurah, he determined to attack them in the night. He
divided his troop into companies containing a hundred men; each took a
trumpet and a lighted torch, which was concealed in an earthen pitcher.
These companies were to approach the camp of the Midianites from three
sides, and when Gideon blew the trumpet and disclosed his torch they
were all to do the same. Immediately after the second night-watch, when
the Midianites had just changed the guards, Gideon gave the signal. All
broke their pitchers, blew their trumpets, and cried, "The sword for
Jehovah and Gideon!" Startled, terrified, and imagining that they were
attacked by mighty hosts, the Midianites fled. Then the men of Manasseh,
Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali arose, and Gideon hastily sent messengers
to the Ephraimites that they should seize the fords of Jordan before
the Midianites. The Ephraimites assembled and took two princes of the
Midianites, Oreb (Raven) and Zeeb (Wolf). The Ephraimites strove with
Gideon that he had not summoned them sooner. Gideon replied modestly,
"Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of
Abiezer? Did not Jehovah give the princes of Midian into your hand?
Could I do what ye have done?" He pursued the Midianites over the Jordan
in order to get into his power their princes Zebah and Zalmunna, who had
previously slain his brothers. When he passed the river at Succoth he
asked the men of Succoth to give bread to his wearied soldiers. But the
elders feared the vengeance of the Midianites, and said, "Are Zebah and
Zalmunna already in thine hand, that we should give bread to thy men?"
Gideon replied in anger, "If Jehovah gives them into my hand I will tear
your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers." The
inhabitants of Penuel on the Jabbok also, to which Gideon marched,
refused to feed their countrymen; like those of Succoth, they feared the
Midianites. Gideon led his army by the way of the dwellers in tents far
away to Karkor. Here he defeated and scattered the 15,000 Midianites who
had escaped, and captured the two princes. Then he turned back to
Succoth and said to the elders, "See, here are Zebah and Zalmunna, for
whom ye mocked me." He caused them to be seized, seventy-seven in
number, and tore them to death with thorns and briers. The tower of
Penuel he destroyed, and caused the inhabitants of the place to be
slain. To the captured princes he said, "What manner of men were they
whom ye once slew at Tabor?" And they answered, "As thou art, they
looked like the sons of a king." "They were my brethren, the sons of my
mother," Gideon answered. "As Jehovah liveth, if ye had saved them alive
I would not slay you. Stand up," he called to his first-born son Jether,
"and slay them." But the youth feared and drew not his sword, for he was
yet young. "Slay us thyself," said the prisoners, "for as the man is, so
is his strength." This was done. When the booty was divided Gideon
claimed as his share the golden ear-rings of the slain Midianites. They
were collected in Gideon's mantle, and the weight reached 1700 shekels
of gold, beside the purple raiment of the dead kings, and the moons and
chains on the necks of the camels.
Gideon had gained a brilliant victory; no more is heard of the raids of
the Midianites. Out of the booty he set up a gilded image (ephod) at
Ophra.[201] He overthrew the altar of Baal and the image of Astarte in
his city; and this, as is expressly stated, in the night (from which we
must conclude that the inhabitants of Ophra were attached to this
worship); and in the place of it he set up an altar to Jehovah on the
height, and in the city another altar, which he called "Jehovah, peace."
"Unto this day it is still in Ophra."
After the liberation of the land, which was owing to him, Gideon held
the first place in Israel. We are told that the crown had been offered
to him and that he refused it.[202] But if Gideon left 70 sons of his
body by many wives, if we find that his influence descended to his sons,
he must have held an almost royal position, in which a harem was not
wanting. He died, as it seems, in a good old age, and was buried in the
grave of his fathers (after 1150 B.C.[203]).
The same need of protection which preserved Gideon in power till his
death had induced some cities to form a league, after the pattern of the
cities of the Philistines, for mutual support and security. Shechem, the
old metropolis of the tribe of Ephraim, was the chief city of this
league. Here on the citadel at Shechem the united cities had built a
temple to Baal Berith, _i.e._ to Baal of the league, and established a
fund for the league in the treasury of this temple. One of the 70 sons
of Gideon, the child of a woman of Shechem, by name Abimelech, conceived
the plan of establishing a monarchy in Israel by availing himself of
Gideon's name and memory, the desire for order and protection from which
the league had arisen, and the resources of the cities. At first he
sought to induce the cities to make him their chief. Supported by them,
he sought to remove his brothers and to take the monarchy into his own
hands as the only heir of Gideon. A skilful warrior like Abimelech, who
carried with him the fame and influence of a great father, must have
been welcome to the cities as a leader and chief in such wild times.
Abimelech spoke to the men of Shechem: "Consider that I am your bone and
your flesh; which is better, that 70 men rule over you or I only?" Then
the citizens of Shechem and the inhabitants of the citadel assembled
under the oak of Shechem and made Abimelech their king, and gave him 70
shekels of silver from the temple of Baal Berith, "that he might be able
to pay people to serve him." With these and the men of Shechem who
followed him he marched and slew all his brethren at Ophra in his
father's house (one only, Jotham, escaped him), and Israel obeyed him.
Abimelech seemed to have reached his object. Perhaps he might have
maintained the throne thus won by blood had he not, three years
afterwards, quarrelled with the cities which helped him to power. The
cities rose against him. Abimelech with his forces went against the
chief city, Shechem. The city was taken and destroyed, the inhabitants
massacred. About 1000 men and women fled for refuge into the temple of
Baal Berith in the citadel; Abimelech caused them to be burned along
with the temple. Then he turned from Shechem to Thebez, some miles to
the north. When he stormed the city the inhabitants fled into the strong
tower, closed it, and went up on the roof of the tower. Abimelech
pressed on to the door of the tower to set it on fire, when a woman
threw a stone down from above which fell on Abimelech and broke his
skull. Then the king called to his armour-bearer, "Draw thy sword and
slay me, that it may not be said, A woman slew him." The youthful
monarchy was wrecked on this quarrel of the citizens with the new king.
After this time Eli the priest at the sacred tabernacle, a descendant of
Ithamar, the youngest son of Aaron,[204] is said to have been in honour
among the Israelites. Not only was he the priest of the national shrine,
but counsel and judgment were also sought from him. But Eli's sons,
Hophni and Phinehas; did evil, and lay with the women who came to the
sacred tabernacle to offer prayer and sacrifice.[205]
FOOTNOTES:
[181] Judges v. 10, 14; x. 4.
[182] Judges x. 1-5; xii. 8-15.
[183] _e.g._ Judges ix. 27.
[184] Judges xxi. 19; 1 Sam. i. 3; ii. 13.
[185] Judges xx. 1; vol. i. 410.
[186] 1 Sam. x. 3; vol. i. 390, 411.
[187] Judges xvii. 5, 10; xviii. 30; 1 Sam. vii. 1; 2, vi. 3.
[188] Judges xvii. ff.
[189] 1 Sam. xix. 13-16; xxi. 9; Gen. xxxi. 34; Judges xvii. 5; xviii.
14, 17; 2 Kings xxiii. 24.
[190] _e.g._ Judges vi. 36-40; xviii. 5; xx. 18 ff. The priests wore a
pocket with lots (apparently small stones) on the breast. The Urim and
Thummim of the High Priest was originally nothing but these lots.
[191] On the composition of the Book of Judges, cf. De Wette-Schrader,
"Einleitung," 325 ff.
[192] In David's time only 270,000 are given: below, chap. 7.
[193] Judges xx. 8; xxi. 7-18.
[194] Gen. xlix. 27; Judges xx. 16; 1 Chron. viii. 39; xii. 2; 2 Chron.
xiv. 7.
[195] These events belong, according to Judges xx. 27 ff., to the period
immediately after the conquest: as a fact, the war against Benjamin is
not to be placed long after this, _i.e._ about 1200 B.C. Cf. De
Wette-Schrader, "Einleitung," S. 326.
[196] Judges iii. 12 ff.
[197] Judges iv., v.
[198] Judges vi. 2-5.
[199] Judges viii. 19.
[200] The observation that Gideon was the least in the house of his
father, and his family the weakest in Manasseh (Judges vi. 15), is due
no doubt to the tendency of the Ephraimitic text to show how strong
Jehovah is even in the weak. From similar motives it is said that Gideon
himself reduced his army to 300 men (Judges vii. 2-6). In the presence
of the Ephraimites Gideon speaks only of the family of Abiezer.
[201] What is meant in Judges viii. 27 by an ephod is not clear. The
words which follow in the verse--that all Israel went whoring after
Gideon--are obviously an addition of the prophetic revision.
[202] Judges viii. 22.
[203] Gideon's date can only be fixed very indefinitely. He and the
generations after him must have belonged to the second half of the
twelfth century B.C.
[204] Joseph. "Antiq." 5, 11, 5.
[205] 1 Sam. ii. 22-25.