19 And the Lord was with Judah; and he drave out the inhabitants of
the mountain: but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley,
because they had chariots of iron.
Judges ii.
6 And when Joshua had let the people go, the children of Israel went
every man unto his inheritance to possess the land.
7 And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the
days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great
works of the Lord, that he did for Israel.
8 And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, being a
hundred and ten years old.
This book, supposed to have been written by Samuel the Prophet, covers
a period of 300 years. During all of this time the children of Israel
are in constant friction with the Lord and neighboring tribes, never
loyal to either. When at peace with the Lord, they are fighting with
their neighbors; when at peace with them, worshiping their gods and
giving them their daughters in marriage, then the Lord is angry, and
vents His wrath on them. Thus, they are continually between two fires;
now repenting in sackcloth and ashes, and now, with the help of the
Lord, blessed with victories.
Life with them was a brief period of success and defeat. It seems that
the Lord, according to their ideas, had His limitations, and could not
fight tribes who had iron chariots.
What could iron chariots be in the way of that Great Force which
creates cyclones, hurricanes and earthquakes, or the pyrotechnics of a
thunderstorm. How little these people knew of the Great Intelligence
behind the laws of the universe, with whom they pretended to talk in
the Hebrew language, and from whom they claimed to have received
directions as to their treatment of women?
In the opening of this book Joshua still governs Israel. After his
death, the Lord raised up a succession of judges, remarkable for
their uprightness and wisdom; but they found it impossible to keep the
chosen people in the straight and narrow path. The children of Israel
did not learn wisdom by experience. They tired of a rigid code of
morals, of a mystical system of theology, and of the women of their own
tribe. There was a fascination in the manners and the appearance of a
new type of womanhood which they could not resist. There should have
been some allowance for these human proclivities. If the Jews of our
day had followed this tendency of their ancestors and intermarried with
other nations, there would have been by this time no peculiar people to
persecute.
The most important feature of this book is the number of remarkable
women herein described; six in number, Achsah, Deborah, Jael,
Jephthah's daughter, Delilah, and two whose names are not mentioned--
she who slew Abimelech, and the concubine of a Levite, whose fate was
terrible and repulsive. There are many instances in the Old Testament
where women have been thrown to the mob, like a bone to dogs, to pacify
their passions; and women suffer to-day from these lessons of contempt,
taught in a book so revered by the people.
E. C. S.
The writer of the Book of judges is unknown. Professor Moore, of
Andover Theological Seminary, supposes that the author used as a basis
for his work an older collection of tales wherein the heroes of Israel
and the varying fortunes of the people were related, and which, like
all good tales, pointed a moral. In all Jewish literature is to be
found the same moral--namely, that the prime cause of all of the evils
which befell the Jewish people was unfaithfulness to Jehovah.
"Adherence to the written law brings God's favor, while disobedience is
followed by God's wrath and punishment."
It is not obedience to the inner truth of the individual soul that is
made the spring of action, but obedience to an external authority, to a
book, to a prophet, to a judge or to a king. In judges, to woman in
various ways is given an exalted position; she is not the abject slave
or unclean vessel, the drudge, the servile sinner, the
nonentity, as depicted in other parts of the Bible.
Woman has at no time of the world's history maintained the high
position which she commands to-day in the hearts of the best and most
enlightened; but there were stages when her independence was an assured
fact. With Christianity came the notion of man's dual nature; the
physical was looked upon as sinful; this earth was merely preparatory
for a life beyond. Woman, as the mother of the race, was not honored
and revered as such, the monastic idea being considered more God-like,
she was made the instrument of sin. To be born into this life was not a
blessing so long as ascetism ruled supreme.
The Bible has been of service in some respects; but the time has come
for us to point out the evil of many of its teachings. It now behooves
us to throw the light of a new civilization upon the women who figure
in the Book of judges. We begin with Achsah, a woman of good sense.
Married to a hero, she must needs look out for material subsistence.
Her husband being a warrior, had probably no property of his own, so
that upon her devolved the necessity of providing the means of
livelihood. Great men, heroic warriors, generally lack the practical
virtues, so that it seems befitting in her to ask of her father the
blessing of a fruitful piece of land; her husband would have been
satisfied with the south land. She knew that she required the upper and
the nether springs to fertilize it, so that it might yield a successful
harvest.
C. B. N.
CHAPTER II.
Judges iv.
4 And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, judged Israel at
that time.
5 And she dwelt under the palm tree of Deborah, between Ramah and Beth-
el in Mount Ephraim; and the children of Israel came up to her for
judgment.
6 And she sent and called Barak, the son of Abinoam, out of Kedesh-
naphtali, and said unto him, Hath not the Lord God of Israel commanded,
saying, Go and draw toward Mount Tabor, and take with thee ten thousand
men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun?
7 And I will draw unto thee, to the river Kishon, Sisera the captain
of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his multitude; and I will
deliver him into thine hand.
8 And Barak said unto her, If thou wilt go with me, then I will go;
but if thou wilt not go with me, then I will not go.
9 And she said, I will surely go with thee; notwithstanding the
journey that thou takest shall not be for thine honor; for the Lord
shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. And Deborah arose, and went
with Barak to Kedesh.
10 And Barak called Zebulon and Naphtali to Kedesh; and he went up
with ten thousand men at his feet; and Deborah went up with him.
Some commentators say that Deborah was not married to a man by the
name of Lapidoth, that such a terminology is not customary to the name
of a person, but of a place. They think that the text should read,
Deborah of Lapidoth. Indeed, Deborah seems to have had too much
independence of character, wisdom and self-reliance to have ever filled
the role of the Jewish idea of a wife.
"Deborah" signifies "bee;" and by her industry, sagacity, usefulness
and kindness to her friends and dependents she fully answers to her
name. "Lapidoth" signifies "lamps." The Rabbis say that Deborah was
employed to make wicks for the lamps in the Tabernacle; and having
stooped to that humble office for God's service, she was afterward
exalted as a prophetess, to special illumination and communion with God
--the first woman thus honored in Scripture.
Deborah was a woman of great ability. She was consulted by the
children of Israel in all matters of government, of religion and of
war. Her judgment seat was under a palm tree, known ever after as
"Deborah's Palm." Though she was one of the great judges of Israel for
forty years, her name is not in the list, as it should have been, with
Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah. Men have always been
slow to confer on women the honors; which they deserve.
Deborah did not judge as a princess by any civil authority conferred
upon her, but as a prophetess, as the mouthpiece of God, redressing
grievances and correcting abuses. The children of Israel appealed to
her, not so much to settle controversies between man and man as to
learn what was amiss in their service to God; yet she did take an
active part in the councils of war and spurred the generals to their
duty.
The text shows Barak hesitating and lukewarm in the last eventful
battle with Sisera and his host. He flatly refused to go unless Deborah
would go with him. She was the divinely chosen leader; to her came the
command, "Go to Mount Tabor and meet Sisera and his host." Not
considering herself fit too lead an army, she chose Barak, who had
already distinguished himself. He, feeling the need of her wisdom and
inspiration, insisted that she accompany him; so, mounted on pure white
jackasses, they started for the field of battle. The color of the
jackass indicated the class to which the rider belonged. Distinguished
personages were always mounted on pure white and ordinary mortals on
gray or mottled animals.
As they journeyed along side by side, with wonderful insight Deborah
saw what was passing in Barak's mind; he was already pluming himself on
his victory over Sisera. So she told him that the victory would not be
his, that the Lord would deliver Sisera into the hands of a woman. It
added an extra pang to a man's death to be slain by the hand of a
woman. Fortunately, poor Sisera was spared the knowledge of his
humiliation. What a picture of painful contrasts his death presents--a
loving mother watching and praying at her window for the return of her
only son, while at the same time Jael performs her deadly deed and
blasts that mother's hopes forever! What a melancholy dirge to her must
have been that song of triumph, chanted by the army of Deborah and
Barak, and for years after, by generation after generation.
We never hear sermons pointing women to the heroic virtues of Deborah
as worthy of their imitation. Nothing is said in the pulpit to rouse
their from the apathy of ages, to inspire them to do and dare great
things, to intellectual and spiritual achievements, in real
communion with the Great Spirit of the Universe. Oh, no! The lessons
doled out to women, from the canon law, the Bible, the prayer-books and
the catechisms, are meekness and self-abnegation; ever with covered
heads (a badge of servitude) to do some humble service for man; that
they are unfit to sit as a delegate in a Methodist conference, to be
ordained to preach the Gospel, or to fill the office of elder, of
deacon or of trustee, or to enter the Holy of Holies in cathedrals.
Deborah was a poetess as well as a prophetess, a judge as well as a
general. She composed the famous historical poem of that period on the
eventful final battle with Sisera and his hosts; and she ordered the
soldiers to sing the triumphant song as they marched through the the
{sic} land, that all the people might catch the strains and that
generations might proclaim the victory.
Judges iv.
18 And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said unto him, Turn in, my
Lord, turn in to me: fear not. And when he had turned in unto her into
the tent, she covered him with a mantle.
19 And he said unto her, Give me, I pray thee, a little water to
drink: for I am thirsty. And she opened a bottle of milk, and gave him
to drink, and covered him.
20 Again he said unto her, Stand in the door of the tent, and it shall
be, when any man doth come and inquire of thee, and say, Is there any
man here? that thou shalt say, No.
21 Then Jael, Heber's wife, took a nail of the tent, and took a hammer
in her hand and went softly unto him, and smote the nail into his
temples, and fastened it into the ground; for he was fast asleep and
weary. So he died.
22 And behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and
said unto him, Come, and I will show thee the man whom thou seekest.
And when he came into her tent, behold, Sisera lay dead, and the nail
was in his temples.
The deception and the cruelty practised on Sisera by Jael under the
guise of hospitality is revolting under our code of morality. To decoy
the luckless general fleeing before his enemy into her tent, pledging
him safety, and with seeming tenderness ministering to his wants, with
such words of sympathy and consolation lulling him to sleep, and then
in cold blood driving a nail through his temples, seems more like the
work of a fiend than of a woman.
The song of Deborah and Barak, in their triumph over Sisera, has been
sung in cathedrals and oratorios and celebrated in all time for its
beauty and pathos. The great generals did not forget in the hour of
victory to place the crown of honor on the brow of Jael for
what they considered a great deed of heroism. Jael imagined herself in
the line of her duty and specially called by the Lord to do this
service for his people.
Nations make their ideal gods like unto themselves. At this period He
was the God of battles. Though He had made all the tribes, we hope, to
the best of His ability; yet He hated all, the sacred fabulist tells
us, but the tribe of Israel, and even they were objects of His
vengeance half the time. Instead of Midianites and Philistines, in our
day we have saints and sinners, orthodox and heterodox, persecuting
each other, although you cannot distinguish them in the ordinary walks
of life. They are governed by the same principles in the exchanges and
the marts of trade.
E. C. S.
Judges v.
Then sang Deborah and Barak, the son of Abinoam, on that day, saying,
2 Praise ye the Lord for the avenging of Israel, when the people
willingly offered themselves.
3 Hear, O ye kings; give ear, O ye princes; I, even I will sing unto
the Lord; I will sing praise to the Lord God of Israel.
4 Lord, when thou wentest out of Seir, when thou marchedst out of the
field of Edom, the earth trembled, and the heavens dropped, the clouds
also dropped water.
5 The mountains melted from before the Lord even that Sinai from
before the Lord God of Israel.
6 In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the
highways were unoccupied and the travellers walked through byways.
7 The inhabitants of the villages ceased, they ceased in Israel, until
that I, Deborah, arose, that I arose a mother in Israel.
The woman who most attracts our attention in the Book of judges is
Deborah, priestess, prophetess, poetess and judge. What woman is there
in modern or in ancient history who equals in loftiness of position, in
public esteem and honorable distinction this gifted and heroic Jewish
creation? The writer who compiled the story of her gifts and deeds must
have had women before him who inspired him with such a wonderful
personality. How could Christianity teach and preach that women should
be silent in the church when already among the Jews equal honor was
shown to women? The truth is that Christianity has in many instances
circumscribed woman's sphere of action, and has been guilty of great
injustice toward the whole sex.
Deborah was, perhaps, only one of many women who held such high and
honorable positions. Unlike any modern ruler, Deborah dispensed justice
directly, proclaimed war, led her men to victory, and glorified the
deeds of her army in immortal song. This is the most glorious tribute
to woman's genius and power. If Deborah, way back in ancient Judaism,
was considered wise enough to advise her people in time of need and
distress, why is it that at the end of the nineteenth century, woman
has to contend for equal rights and fight to regain every inch of
ground she has lost since then? It is now an assured fact that not only
among the Hebrews, but also among the Greeks and the Germans, women
formerly maintained greater freedom and power.
The struggle of to-day among the advanced of our sex is to regain and
to reaffirm what has been lost since the establishment of Christianity.
Every religion, says a modern thinker, has curtailed the rights of
woman, has subjected her to man's ruling; in emphasizing the life
beyond, the earthly existence became a secondary consideration. We are
learning the great harm which comes from this one-sided view of life;
and by arousing woman to the dignity of her position we shall again
have women like Deborah, honored openly and publicly for political
wisdom, to whom men will come in time of need.
Genius knows no sex; and woman must again usurp her Divine prerogative
as a leader in thought, song and action. The religion of the future
will honor and revere motherhood, wifehood and maidenhood. Asceticism,
an erroneous philosophy, church doctrines based not upon reason or the
facts of life, issued out of crude imaginings; phantasms obstructed the
truth, held in check the wheel of progress. Let our church women turn
their gaze to such characters as Deborah, and claim the same
recognition in their different congregations.
The antagonism which the Christian church has built up between the
male and the female must entirely vanish. Together they will slay the
enemies--ignorance, superstition and cruelty. United in every
enterprise, they will win; like Deborah and Barak, they will clear the
highways and restore peace and prosperity to their people. Like
Deborah, woman will forever be the inspired leader, if she will have
the courage to assert and maintain her power. Her aspirations
must keep pace with the demands of our civilization. "New times teach
new duties."
God never discriminates; it is man who has made the laws and compelled
woman to obey him. The Old Testament and the New are books written by
men; the coming Bible will be the result of the efforts of both, and
contain the wisdom of both sexes, their combined spiritual experience.
Together they will unfold the mysteries of life, and heaven will be
here on earth when love and justice reign supreme.
C. B. N.
Judges viii.
30 And Gideon had three score and ten sons: for he had many wives.
31 And his concubine that was in Shechem, she also bare him a son,
whose name he called Abimelech.
Judges ix.
52 And Abimelech came unto the tower, and fought against it, and went
hard unto the door of the tower to burn it with fire.
53 And a certain woman cast a piece of a millstone upon Abimelech's
head, and all to break his skull.
54 Then he called hastily unto the young man, his armour-bearer, and
said unto him, Draw thy sword, and slay me, that men say not of me, A
woman slew him. And his young man thrust him through, and he died.
Abimelech destroyed the city of Thebez, drove all the people into a
tower and then tried to set it on fire, as he had done in many places
before in his war on other tribes; but here he lost his life, and at
the hand of a woman, which was considered the greatest disgrace which
could befall a man. Commentators say that as Sisera and Abimelech were
exceptionally proud and lofty, they were thus degraded in their death.
Sisera was spared the knowledge of his fate by being taken off when
asleep; but Abimelech saw the stone coming and knew that it was from
the hand of a woman, an added pang to his death agony. He had no
thoughts of his wicked life nor his eternal welfare, but with his dying
breath implored his armor-bearer to thrust him through with his sword,
that it might not be said that he was slain by the hand of a woman.
Abimelech had three score and ten brethren. It is said that his mother
roused his ambition to be one of the judges of Israel. To attain this
he killed all his brethren but one, who escaped. He enjoyed his
ill-gotten honors but a short space of time. We find many such stories
in the Hebrew mythology which have no foundation in fact.
Judges xi.
30 And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the Lord, and said, If thou shalt
without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands,
31 Then it shall be that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my
house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon,
shall surely be the Lord's, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.
33 And he smote them from Aroer, even till thou come to Minnith, even
twenty cities, and unto the plain of the vineyards, with a very great
slaughter. Thus the children of Ammon were subdued before the children
of Israel.
34 And Jephthah came to Mizpeh unto his house, and, behold, his
daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances; and she
was his only child; beside her he had neither son nor daughter.
35 And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he rent his clothes, and
said, Alas, my daughter! thou has brought me very low, and thou art one
of them that trouble me: for I have opened my mouth unto the Lord, and
I cannot go back.
36 And she said unto him, My father, if thou hast opened thy mouth
unto the Lord, do to me according to that which hath proceeded out of
thy mouth; forasmuch as the Lord hath taken vengeance for thee of thine
enemies, even of the children of Ammon.
37 And she said unto her father, Let this thing be done for me: let me
alone two months, that I may go up and down upon the mountains, and
bewail my virginity, I and my fellows.
A woman's vow, as we have already seen, could be disallowed at the
pleasure of any male relative; but a man's was considered sacred even
though it involved the violation of the sixth commandment, the
violation of the individual rights of another human being. These loving
fathers in the Old Testament, like Jephthah and Abraham, thought to
make themselves specially pleasing to the Lord by sacrificing their
children to Him as burnt offerings. If the ethics of their moral code
had permitted suicide, they might with some show of justice have
offered themselves, if they thought that the first-born kid would not
do; but what right had they to offer up their sons and daughters in
return for supposed favors from the Lord?
The submission of Isaac and Jephthah's daughter to this violation of
their most sacred rights is truly pathetic. But, like all oppressed
classes, they were ignorant of the fact that they had any natural,
inalienable rights. We have such a type of womanhood even in our day. If
any man had asked Jephthah's daughter if she would not like to have the
Jewish law on vows so amended that she might disallow her father's vow,
and thus secure to herself the right of life, she would no doubt have
said, "No; I have all the rights I want," just as a class of New York
women said in 1895, when it was proposed to amend the constitution of
the State in their favor.
The only favor which Jephthah's daughter asks, is that she may have
two months of solitude on the mountain tops to bewail the fact that she
will die childless. Motherhood among the Jewish women was considered
the highest honor and glory ever vouchsafed to mortals. So she was
permitted for a brief period to enjoy her freedom, accompanied by young
Jewish maidens who had hoped to dance at her wedding.
Commentators differ as to the probable fate of Jephthah's daughter.
Some think that she was merely sequestered in some religious retreat,
others that the Lord spoke to Jephthah as He did to Abraham forbidding
the sacrifice. We might attribute this helpless condition of woman to
the benighted state of those times if we did not see the trail of the
serpent through our civil laws and church discipline.
This Jewish maiden is known in history only as Jephthah's daughter--
she belongs to the no-name series. The father owns her absolutely,
having her life even at his disposal. We often hear people laud the
beautiful submission and the self-sacrifice of this nameless maiden. To
me it is pitiful and painful. I would that this page of history were
gilded with a dignified whole-souled rebellion. I would have had
daughter receive the father's confession with a stern rebuke, saying:
"I will not consent to such a sacrifice. Your vow must be disallowed.
You may sacrifice your own life as you please, but you have no right
over mine. I am on the threshold of life, the joys of youth and of
middle age are all before me. You are in the sunset; you have had your
blessings and your triumphs; but mine are yet to come. Life is to me
full of hope and of happiness. Better that you die than I, if the God
whom you worship is pleased with the sacrifice of human life. I
consider that God has made me the arbiter of my own fate and all my
possibilities. My first duty is to develop all the powers given to me
and to make the most of myself and my own life. Self-development is a
higher duty than self-sacrifice. I demand the immediate abolition of
the Jewish law on vows. Not with my consent can you fulfill yours."
This would have been a position worthy of a brave woman.
E. C. S.
The ideal womanhood portrayed by ancient writers has had by far too
much sway. The prevailing type which permeates all literature is that
of inferiority and subjection. In early times Oriental poets often
likened woman to some clear, flawless jewel, and made them serve simply
as ornaments, while, on the other hand, they were made subordinate by
the legislation of barbarous minds; and men, because of their selfish
passion, have inflicted woe after woe upon them. Ancient literature is
wholly against the equality of the sexes or the rights of women, and
subordinates them in every relation of life.
The writings of the Bible, especially the Old Testament, are no
exception to this rule. The reference, "The sons of God and daughters
of men," while it admits of many interpolations, legendary or mythical
as it may be, portrays the real animus of the Scriptures. To what
extent the sentiment of the Hebrews favored sons rather than daughters,
and the injustice of this distinction is fully exemplified by the
stories of Abraham and Isaac, and of Jephthah and his daughter. Abraham
was commanded by his God to sacrifice his son Isaac, after the manner
of the Canaanites, who often slew their children and burnt them upon
their altars in honor of their deities. But when all was made ready for
the sacrifice an angel of Jehovah appeared, the hand of Abraham was
stayed, and a ram was made a substitute for the son of promise.
The conditions were quite different in the case of Jephthah and his
daughter. The Israelites had been brought very low in their contest
with the Ammonites, and they chose the famous warrior, Jephthah, to
lead them against their foe, who with warlike zeal summoned the hosts
to battle. The risk was enormous, the enemy powerful, and the general,
burning for victory, intent on securing the assistance of the Deity,
made a solemn and fatal vow.
In the first case it was a direct command of God, but means were found
to revoke this explicit command with regard to a son; in the second
case it was only a hasty and unwise promise of a general going to war,
and the prevailing sentiment of the age felt it unnecessary to evade
its fulfillment--the victim was only a girl. The unhappy father must
sacrifice his daughter!
What a masculine coloring is given to the rest of the narrative: "A
maiden who did not mourn her death, but wandered up and down the
mountain mourning her virginity." So much glamor has been thrown by
poetry and by song, over the sacrifice of this Jewish maiden, that the
popular mind has become too benumbed to perceive its great injustice.
The Iphigenias have been many and are still too numerous to awaken
compassion. We must destroy the root of this false and pernicious
teaching, and plant in its place a just and righteous doctrine.
What women have to win for the race is a theory of conduct which shall
be more equitable. The unalterable subserviency of woman in her natural
condition can never be overcome and social development progress so long
as there is a lack of distributive justice to every living soul without
discrimination of sex.
L. S.
CHAPTER III.
Judges xiii.
And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites,
whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren.
3 And the angel of the Lord appeared unto the woman, and said unto
her, Behold now, thou art barren; but thou shalt conceive, and bear a
son.
4 Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong
drink, and eat not any unclean thing:
5 For, lo, thou shalt bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head:
for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God; and he shall begin to
deliver Israel out of the hands of the Philistines.
6 Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, A man of God came
unto me, and his countenance was like the countenance of an angel of
God, very terrible: but I asked him not whence he was, neither told he
me his name:
7 But he said unto me, Behold, thou shalt bear a son; and now drink no
wine nor strong drink, neither eat any unclean thing: for the child
shall be a Nazarite to God to the day of his death.
8 Then Manoah entreated the Lord, and said, O try Lord, let the man of
God which thou didst send come again unto us, and teach us what we
shall do unto the child that shall be born.
9 And God hearkened to the voice of Manoah: and the angel of God came
again unto the woman as she sat in the field: but Manoah her husband
was not with her.
10 And the woman made haste, and ran, and shewed her husband, and said
unto him, Behold, the man hath appeared unto me, that came unto me the
other day.
11 And Manoah arose, and went after his wife, and came to the man, and
said unto him, Art thou the man that spakest unto the woman? And he
said, I am.
12 And Manoah said, Now let thy words come to pass. How shall we order
the child, and how shall we do unto him?
13 And the angel of the Lord said unto Manoah, Of all that I said unto
the woman let her beware.
We come now to a very interesting incident, giving proof of the
remarkable knowledge which the writers had of some intrinsic laws and
the power of transmission which, even to-day, are known and adhered to
only by a very small minority of wise, thoughtful mothers. However, the
wife of Manoah, the future mother of Samson, is visited by an angel,
giving her instructions as to her way of living during pregnancy. It
appears that the writer was acquainted with some pre-natal influences
and their effect upon the unborn.
We are just now beginning to investigate the important problem of
child culture. Many good thoughts have been given on this subject by
earnest thinkers. A knowledge of these important laws of life will
do away with the most harassing evils and sins which human flesh is
heir to. Intelligent, free mothers will be enabled to forecast not only
the physical, but also the psychical, traits of their offspring. How
and why this once recognized knowledge was lost we know not. We may,
however, rightly infer that so long as woman was not the arbiter of her
own destiny she had no power to make use of this knowledge. Only the
thoughful, {sic} independent wife can administer the laws and the rules
necessary for her own wellbeing and that of her offspring. Freedom is
the first prerequisite to a noble life.
Observe how simple and trustful the relation is between this husband
and wife. Manoah is thoughtful and ready to unite with his wife in all
that the angel had commanded. There is no trace of disunion or of
disobedience to the higher law which his wife had been instructed to
follow. To her the law was revealed, and he sustained her in its
observance. Mark, however, one difference from our interpretation of
to-day, and how the omission of it worked out the destruction of the
child. All the injunctions received were of a physical nature; strength
of body and faith in God were to be the attributes through which Samson
was to serve his people. The absence of moral traits is very evident in
Samson; and this is the reason why he fell an easy prey to the wiles of
designing women. It was not moral, but physical heroism which
distinguished Samson from his combatants. Vengeance, cruelty, deceit,
cunning devices were practised not only by the Philistines, but
likewise by the Nazarite.
The angel who appeared to Manoah's wife was probably her own inner
sense, and the appearance is to be understood rather as a figure of
speech than as an actual occurrence, although there may have been, as
there are to-day, people who were so credulous as to believe that such
things actually occurred. The angel who whispers into our ears is
knowledge, foresight, high motive, ideality, unselfish love. A
conscious attitude towards the ideal still unattained, a lofty standard
of virtue for the coming offspring, an intelligent, pure fatherhood,
and a wise, loving motherhood must take the place of a mysterious,
instinctive trust--the blind faith of the past. C. B. N.
One would suppose that this woman, so honored of God, worthy to
converse with angels on the most delicate of her domestic relations,
might have had a name to designate her personality instead of being
mentioned merely--as the wife of Manoah or the mother of Samson. I
suppose that it is from these Biblical examples that the wives of this
Republic are known as Mrs. John Doe or Mrs. Richard Roe, to whatever
Roe or Doe she may belong. If she chance to marry two or three times,
the woman's identity is wholly lost. To make this custom more
ludicrous, women sometimes keep the names of two husbands, clinging
only to the maiden name, as Dolly Doe Roe, ignoring her family name,
the father from whom she may have derived all of her talent. Samson's
wife had no name, nor had the second woman on whom he bestowed his
attentions; to the third one is vouchsafed the name of Delilah, but no
family name is mentioned. All three represented one type of character
and betrayed the "consecrated Nazarite," "the canonized judge of
Israel."
It would be a great blessing to the race, if parents would take heed
to the important lesson taught in the above texts. The nine months of
ante-natal life is the period when the mother can make the deepest
impression in forming future character, when she has absolute power for
weal or for woe over the immortal being. Locke, the philosopher, said,
"Every child is born into the world with a mind like a piece of blank
paper, and we may write thereon whatever we will;" but Descartes said,
"Nay, nay; the child is born with all its possibilities. You can
develop all you find there, but you cannot add genius or power."
"Nascitur, non fit," although our learned blacksmith, Elihu Burritt,
always reversed this motto. E. C. S.
No body of ecclesiastics has taught the message of the angel of the
Lord to Manoah's wife as a message of direction from the Lord to save
the race from the disastrous results of strong drink and impure food.
And although the degree of enlightenment attained shows that science
and the instructions of the angel to Manoah's wife agree, this
knowledge does not protect the unborn child from the effects of the
use by the mothers of to-day of wine, strong drink and
unclean food.
Could the light which reveals to the mother what would be a saving
power to her child, be followed carefully by both herself and the
father during ante-natal life, the race would more rapidly be brought
to the full stature of its destined perfection. Not only is physical
endowment available to the child through the wholesome sustenance of
the mother, but the qualities of the higher nature may also be
transmitted, and moral grandeur be an inheritance equally with grand
physical powers.
The theological teaching that has made human nature depraved and cut
off from the divine source of all perfection, has hindered the
development of the higher faculties of understanding. It has led to a
misapprehension of the creative power of parenthood. From the idea that
the creation of humanity was finished "in the beginning," and that man
fell from his high estate as the image of God, has resulted a
demoralized race. The instruction of the angel to Samson's mother, was
in accord with the dominant spirit that wrought the victories of Israel
over enemies, and the reign of physical force that characterized the
people of that age.
The woman, having had no experience of motherhood, had not been
subject to the deep soul-stirring that belongs to the mystery of life
in a developed womanhood. Nor did that experience evidently transmit to
Samson a high degree of moral strength. He was but a well developed
physical organism, which the spirit of life could act through without
limitation. He consorted with the harlot, but it was the woman whom he
loved who succeeded in wringing from him the secret of his strength,
and thus the possibility of delivering him to his enemies.
In the relation of women to this man of might there is illustrated the
dominant characteristics of the purely animal man. The father of
Samson's first wife gave her to another man after Samson had gone in
anger to his father's house, and when he returned and proposed to
resume his conjugal relations, this father proposed that he should take
the younger sister, who "was fairer than she."
It is a significant suggestion of the quality of the relation that
Samson's first wife (who had also no name of her own) and Delilah,
whom he loved, were both more loyal to their own people, and had more
regard for them, than for the man to whom they had been "given."
L. B. C.
Judges xiv.
1 And Samson went down to Timnath, and saw a woman in Timnath of the
daughters of the Philistines.
2 And he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have
seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines: now
therefore get her for me to wife.
3 Then his father and his mother said unto him, Is there never a woman
among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou
goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? And Samson said
unto his father, Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well.
So the father and the mother, much against their wishes, went down to
Timnath and secured for Samson the desired wife. He conformed to the
custom of the Philistines; and on the occasion of the nuptial
solemnities he made a great feast, and invited thirty young men to join
in the festivities, which lasted seven days. These feasts were
enlivened with interesting discussions, stories and riddles. Samson
propounded one, with promises of valuable gifts to those who guessed
the riddle: "Out of the eater came forth meat, out of the strong came
forth sweetness."
It seems that on one occasion, being attacked by a lion, Samson,
without any weapon of defense, tore the lion to pieces. Passing the
vineyard some time after, he went in to see if the lion still rested
there; and lo! the skeleton was a hive of bees. He partook freely of
the honey and carried some to his parents. Being proof against the
lion's paws, he had no fear of the bees. Day after day passed, and the
young men could not guess the riddle. So they persuaded the wife to
coax him for the answer, with promises of silver if she succeeded, and
threatenings of wrath if she failed. So, with constant weeping and
doubts of his love, she at last worried the answer out of him, with
promises of secrecy.
As soon as Samson saw that he was betrayed he sent his wife back to
her father's house, who gave her at once to one of the leaders at the
festivities. As Samson loved the woman, he forgave her, and sought to
bring her back to his own home. The father informed him that he had
already given her to another, and that he might have the younger
daughter, if he chose, who had far more grace and beauty.
The commentators say that it was very generous in Samson to make this
concession, as he was the party offended. But Samson was himself a
riddle and a paradox of a man. "He saw something in her face which
pleased him well." "He that in the choice of a wife is guided by his
eye, and governed by his fancy, must afterwards blame himself if he
find a Philistine in his arms." It is a great calamity that even able
men are so easily influenced by weak and wicked women to do what they
know is dangerous; and yet they feel it a disparagement to follow the
advice of a good wife in what is virtuous and praiseworthy.
Samson was most unfortunate in all his associations with women. It is
a pity that the angel who impressed on his parents the importance of
considering everything that pertained to the physical development of
the child, had not made some suggestions to them as to the formation of
his moral character. Even his physical prowess was not used by him for
any great purpose. To kill a lion, to walk off with the gates of the
city, to catch three hundred foxes and to tie them together by their
tails two by two, with firebrands to burn the cornfields and the
vineyards--all this seems more like the frolics of a boy, than the
military tactics of a great general or the statesmanship of a judge in
Israel.
Samson does not seem to have learned wisdom from experience in his
dealings with women. He foolishly trusted another woman, "whose face
pleased him," with the secret of his great strength, which she, too,
worried out of him with tears and doubts of his affection. For the
betrayal of his secret the Philistines paid her eleven hundred pieces
of silver.
In the last act of this complicated tragedy, it is said that Samson at
his death killed more people than in all his life before. After Delilah
betrayed him into the hands of the Philistines, they put out his eyes,
and left him to grind in the prison house. As was their custom, they
brought him out to make sport for the people assembled in a spacious
building. As his hair had begun to grow, he braced himself against the
door posts, overturned the building, and killed all of its occupants,
and himself, gladly ending his own sad life.
The name Delilah is fitly used to describe those who with flattery
bring destruction on those whom they pretend to love. Many a strong man
has been slain by this type of designing woman. Commentators do not
agree as to whether Delilah was an Israelite or a Philistine, probably
the latter, as Samson seemed to be more pleased with the women of that
tribe than with those of his own. One hesitates to decide which is most
surprising--Samson's weakness or Delilah's wickedness.
E. C. S.
The writer of the Book of Judges would fail in his endeavor to present
a complete picture of his time, did he omit the important
characteristic of a woman and her influence upon man therein portrayed.
In Delilah, the treacherous, the sinister, the sensuous side of woman
is depicted. Like Vivian, in the Idyls of King Arthur, Delilah uses--
nay, abuses--the power which she had gained over Samson by virtue of
her beauty and her personal attractions. She uses these personal gifts
for a sinister purpose. They serve her as a snare to beguile the man
whose lust she had aroused.
What a lesson this story teaches to men as well as to women! Let man
overcome the lust of his eyes and prostitution will die a natural
death. Let woman beware that her influence is of the purest and
highest; let her spiritual nature be so attractive that man will be
drawn toward it. Forever "the eternal womanly draweth man" onward and
upward. Soul unity will become the rule when the same chastity and
purity are demanded of the sexes alike. Woman's chastity is never
secure as long as there are two standards of morality.
C. B. N.
"Colonial days" is the felicitous term given by Rev. Dr. Lyman Abbott to
the period of nearly three centuries following the campaign against the
inhabitants of Canaan, when the Israelites took possession of their
land. The Book of, Judges is a record of those "colonial days;" and they
are described also in the first part of the book which bears the name of
the prophet Samuel. During those Hebrew "colonial days," as Dr. Abbott
states, "there was no true Capital--indeed, no true Nation. There were a
variety of separate provinces, having almost as little common life as
had the American colonies before the formation of the Constitution of
the United States. In war these colonies united; in peace they separated
from each other again."
But in one thing they were united. They clung to the teachings of
their great law-giver, Moses, and emphasized a belief in one righteous
God. Whether expressed by priestly ritual or in prophetic declaration,
the truth was clearly revealed that the Jews were a people who
worshiped one God, and that they accorded to Him the attribute of
righteousness. He was a sovereign, but a just one. And to this belief
they clung tenaciously, believing themselves justified in conquering
the nations about them, because their God was the only ruler.
The Book of Judges contains the record of many harrowing events; but
what besides savagery can be expected of a warring people whose Deity
is invoked as the "God of battles," and who believed themselves
Divinely commissioned to drive other tribes from off the face of the
earth! The book is as sensational as are our newspapers; and if each
chapter and verse were illustrated as are the papers of what is termed
the "New journalism," they would present an appearance of striking and
painful similarity.
The fate of Adoni-besek, an example of retributive justice; the
treacherous act of the left-handed Ehud, causing the death of the fat
King Eglon of Moab; the inhospitable cruelty--or cruel inhospitality--
of Jael, the wife of Heber, whose hammer and nail are welded fast in
historical narration with the brow of the sleeping guest, Sisera, the
captain of Jabin's army; the famous exploits of Gideon who, if he was a
superior strategist and warrior, gave little evidence, by his seventy
sons, of his morality according to Christian standards; the death of
Abimelech, which was half suicidal lest it should be said that a
woman's hand had slain him; these, and more also of the same sort,
leave the impression on the mind that those "colonial days" of the
Hebrew nation were far from days of peace or of high morality; and the
record of them is certainly as unfit for the minds of children
and of youth as are the illustrated and graphic accounts of many unholy
acts which are to found in our daily newspapers.
General Weyler, in his Cuban warfare, has, in many respects, a
prototype in General Gideon, and also in General Jephthah, "a mighty
man of valor" and "the son of a harlot," as the author of the Book of
Judges declares him to have been. We deprecate the savage butchery of
the one--what ought we to say of the renown of the others? War is
everywhere terrible, and "deeds of violence and of blood" are sad
reminders of the imperfections of mankind. The men of those "colonial
days" were far from being patterns of excellence; and the women
"matched the men," in most instances. Deborah, as a "mother in Israel,"
won deserved renown, so that her song of victory is even now rehearsed,
but it is a query that can have but one answer, whether her anthem of
triumph is not a musical rehearsal of treacherous and warlike deeds,
unworthy of a woman's praise?
In the Book of judges Delilah appears, and if the mother of her strong
lover, Samson, was not a perfect woman, in the modern sense, she has
helped to make some readers feel that the law of heredity is a revealer
of secrets, and that the story of the angel of the Lord may be received
with due caution. The name "Delilah" has become a synonym for a woman
tempting to sin, and the moral weakness and physical strength of Samson
show the power of heredity. But whether the stories should be in the
hands of our youth, without sufficient explanation and wise
commentaries, is a question which coming days will solve to the extent
of a wise elimination. Solemn lessons, and those of moral import, are
given in the Book of Judges; yet, as a whole, the book does not leave
one with an exalted opinion of either the men or the women of those
days. But it certainly gives no evidence that in shrewdness, in a wise
adaptation of means to ends, in a persistent effort after desired
objects, in a successful accomplishment of plans and purposes, the
women were the inferiors of the men in that age. They appear to have
been their equals, and occasionally their superiors.
P. A. H.
THE BOOK OF RUTH.
Ruth i.
1 Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled, that there
was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem--Judah went to
sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons.
2 And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife
Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion. And 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 the one
was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they dwelt 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 from
the country of Moab; for she had heard in the country of Moab how that
the Lord had visited his people in giving them bread.
7 Wherefore she went forth out of the place where she was, and her two
daughters in law with her.
8 And Naomi said unto her daughters in law, Go, return each to her
mother's house;
The Lord deal kindly with you, as ye have dealt with the dead, and
with me.
10 And they said unto her, Surely we will return with thee unto thy
people.
14 And they lifted up their voice, and wept: and Orpah kissed her
mother in law; but Ruth clave to her.
15 And he said, Behold, thy sister in law is gone back unto her
people, and unto her gods: return thou after thy sister in law.
16 And Ruth said, Entreat me not to leave thee: for whither thou
goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people
shall be my people, and thy God my God:
19 So they two went until they came to Beth-lehem. And it came to
pass, when they were come to Beth-lehem, that all the city was moved
about them, and they said, Is this Naomi?
20 And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the
Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me.
21 I went out full, and the Lord hath brought me home again empty: why
then call ye me Naomi, seeing the Lord hath testified against me, and
the Almighty hath afflicted me.
22 So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter in law,
with her.
Commentators differ as to the exact period when this book was written
and as to the judge who ruled Israel at that time.
It must have been, however, in the beginning of the days when the
judges ruled, as Boaz, who married Ruth, was the son of Rahab, who
protected the spies in Joshua's reign. Some say that it was in the
reign of Deborah. Tradition says that the "Messiah was descended from
two Gentile maidens, Rahab and Ruth, and that Ruth was the daughter of
Eglon, King of Moab; but this is denied, as Boaz, whom Ruth married,
judged Israel two hundred years after Eglon's death. However widely the
authorities differ as to Ruth's genealogical tree, they all agree that
she was a remarkably sincere, refined, discreet maiden, a loving
daughter and an honored wife."
Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, is severely criticised by Biblical
writers for leaving his people and his country when in distress and
seeking his fortune among the heathen Moabites, thus leading his sons
into the temptation of taking strange wives. They say that the speedy
deaths of the father and the sons were a proof of God's disapprobation.
Naomi manifested such remarkable goodness and wisdom as a widow, that
one wonders that she did not use her influence to keep her husband in
his native land to share the trials of his neighbors.
The tender friendship between Ruth and Naomi, so unusual with a mother-
in-law, has been celebrated in poetry, in prose and in art the world
round. The scene between Naomi and her daughters in parting was most
affectionate. As soon as Naomi decided to return to her own country,
her daughters assisted her in making the necessary preparations. Ruth
secretly made her own, having decided to go with Naomi to the land of
Judea.
When the appointed day arrived, mounted on three gray jackasses, they
departed. A few miles out Naomi proposed to rest by the roadside and to
say farewell, and, after thanking them for all the love and kindness
they had shown her, advised them to go no farther, but return to their
home in that land of plenty. She told them frankly that she had no home
luxuries to offer, life with her would for them be poverty and
privation in a strange land, and she was not willing that they should
sacrifice all the pleasures of their young lives for her. Sad and
lonely with the loss of their husbands, parting with Naomi seemed to
intensify their grief. United in a common sorrow, the three women stood
gazing in silence into each other's faces, until Naomi, with her usual
self-control and common sense, again pointed out to them all the
hardships involved in the change which they proposed.
Her words made a deep impression on Orpah. She hesitated, and at last
decided to abide by Naomi's advice; but not so with Ruth. Naomi had a
peculiar magnetic attraction for her, a charm stronger than kindred,
country or ease. Her expressions of steadfast friendship in making her
decision were so tender and sincere that they have become household
words. She said: "Entreat me not to leave thee; for whither thou goest
I will go, and where thou lodgest I will lodge; thy people shall be my
people, and thy God my God; where thou diest will I die, and there will
I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more also, if aught but death
part thee and me." (These words are on a bronze tablet on the stone
over the grave of Robert Louis Stevenson at Samoa.)
Having bade farewell to Orpah, they journeyed together and made a home
for themselves in Bethlehem. Naomi owned a small house, lot and spring
of water on the outskirts of the town. After a few days of rest, Ruth
said to Naomi, I must not sit here with folded hands, nor spend my time
in visiting neighbors, nor in search of amusement, but I must go forth
to work, to provide food and clothes, and leave thee to rest. As it was
the season for the wheat and barley harvests, Ruth heard that laborers
were needed in the fields. It was evident that Ruth believed in the
dignity of labor and of self-support. She thought, no doubt, that every
one with a sound mind in a sound body and two hands should earn her own
livelihood. She threw her whole soul into her work and proved a
blessing to her mother. So Naomi consented that she might go and glean
in the fields with other maidens engaged in that work.
When Naomi was settled in Bethlehem she remembered that she had a rich
kinsman, Boaz, whose name means strength, a man of great wealth as well
as wisdom. Ruth was employed in the field of Boaz; and in due time he
took note of the fair maiden from Moab. In harvest time he needed many
extra hands, and he came often among the reapers to see how the work
went forward. He heard such good accounts of Ruth's industry, dignity
and discretion that he ordered his men to make her work as easy as
possible, to leave plenty for her to glean and to carry home in the
evening. This she often sold on the way, and bought something which
Naomi needed.
Naomi and Ruth enjoyed their evenings together. Naomi did not spend
the day in idleness either. She had her spinning-wheel and loom to
make their garments; she worked also in her garden, raising vegetables,
herbs and chickens; and they talked over their day's labor as they
enjoyed their simple supper of herb tea, bread and watercresses. Their
menu was oft times more tempting, thanks to Ruth's generous purchases
on her way home. Being busy, practical women, their talk during the
evening was chiefly on "ways and means;" they seldom rose to the higher
themes of pedagogics and psychology, subjects so familiar in the clubs
of American women.
E. C. S.
Ruth ii.
1 And Naomi had a kinsman of her husband's, a mighty man of wealth, of
the family of Elimelech; and his name was Boaz.
2 And Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi, Let me now go to the field,
and glean cars of corn after him in whose sight I shall find grace. And
she said unto her, Go, my daughter.
4 And, behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem . . .
7 And she said, I pray you, let me glean and gather after the reapers
among the sheaves: so she came.
8 Then said Boaz unto Ruth, Hearest thou not, my daughter? Go not to
glean in another field, neither go from hence, but abide here fast by
my maidens: . . . . It hath fully been shewed me, all that thou hast
done unto thy mother-in-law since the death of thine husband; and how
thou hast left thy father and thy mother.
19 And her mother-in-law said unto her, Where hast thou gleaned
to-day? and where wroughtest thou? blessed be he that did take knowledge
of thee . . . . And Ruth said, the man's name is Boaz . . . . And Naomi
said unto her, The man is near of kin unto us, one of our next kinsmen.
It was a custom among the Israelites, in order to preserve their own
line, that the nearest kinsman should marry the young widow on whom
their hopes depended. So when Naomi remembered that Boaz was her
kinsman, and that as age made marriage with her undesirable, Ruth would
be the proper person to fill her place. With great tact on their part
Naomi's wishes were accomplished.
Boaz was the son of Salmon and Rahab, and according to the Chaldee was
not only a mighty man in wealth but also in wisdom, a most rare and
excellent conjunction. Boaz was of the family of Elimelech, of which
Ruth, by marriage, was a part also. Moreover, as she had adopted the
country of Naomi and was a proselyte to her faith, her marriage with
Boaz was in accordance with Jewish custom. Naomi was told by the spirit
of prophecy, says the Chaldee, that from her line should descend six
of the most righteous men of the age, namely, David, Daniel, his three
compeers and the King Messiah.
Commentators say that Boaz was probably himself one of the elders, or
the aldermen, of the city, and that he went up to the gates as one
having authority, and not as a common person. They say that Ruth was
neither rich nor beautiful, but a poor stranger, "whose hard work in
the fields" had withered her "lilies and roses." But Boaz had heard her
virtue and dignity extolled by all who knew her. The Chaldee says,
"house and riches are the inheritance from fathers; but a prudent wife
is more valuable than rubies and is a special gift from heaven." Boaz
prized Ruth for her virtues, for her great moral qualities of head and
heart. He did not say like Samson, when his parents objected to his
choice, "her face pleaseth me."
In narrating the story of Ruth and Naomi to children they invariably
ask questions of interest, to which the sacred fabulist gives no
answer. They always ask if Ruth and Naomi had no pets when living
alone, before Obed made his appearance. If the modern historian may be
allowed to wander occasionally outside of the received text, it may be
said undoubtedly that they had pets, as there is nothing said of cats
and dogs and parrots, but frequent mention of doves, kids and lambs, we
may infer that in these gentle innocents they found their pets. No
doubt Providence softened their solitude by providing them with
something on which to expend their mother love.
Ruth iv.
1 Then went Boaz up to the gate, and sat him down there; and, behold,
the kinsman of whom Boaz spoke came by; unto whom he said, He, such a
one! turn aside, sit down here. And he turned aside, and sat down.
2 And he took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, Sit ye down
here.
3 And he said unto the kinsman, Naomi, that is come again out of the
country of Moab, selleth a parcel of land, which was our brother
Elimelech's:
4 And I thought to advertise thee, saying, Buy it before the
inhabitants, and before the elders of my people. If thou wilt redeem
it, redeem it; but if thou wilt not redeem it, then tell me, that I may
know; for there is none to redeem it beside thee; and I am after thee.
And he said, I will redeem it.
5 Then said Boaz, What day thou buyest the field of the hand of Naomi,
thou must buy it also of Ruth the wife of the dead, to raise up the
name of the dead upon his inheritance.
6 And the kinsman said, I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I mar mine
own inheritance; redeem thou my right to thyself; for I cannot.
Boaz was one of the district judges, and he held his court in the town
hall over the gates of Bethlehem. The kinsman who was summoned to
appear there and to settle the case readily agreed to the proposal of
Boaz to fill his place, as he was already married. He was willing to
take the land; but as the widow and the land went together, according
to the Jewish law of inheritance, Boaz was in a position to fill the
legal requirements; and as he loved Ruth, he was happy to do so. Ruth
was summoned to appear before the grave and reverend seigniors; the
civil pledges were made and the legal documents duly signed. The
reporter is silent as to the religious observances and the marriage
festivities. They were not as vigilant and as satisfying as are the
skilled reporters of our day, who have the imagination to weave a
connected story and to give to us all the hidden facts which we desire
to know. Our reporters would have told us how, when and where Ruth was
married, what kind of a house Boaz had, how Ruth was dressed, etc.,
etc., whereas we are left in doubt on all of these points.
The historian does vouchsafe to give to us further information on the
general feeling of the people. They all joined in the prayer of the
elders that the Lord would "make the woman that is come into thine
house like Rachel and like Leah, which two did build the house of
Israel;" they prayed for Boaz that he might be more famous and
powerful; they prayed for the wife that she might be a blessing in the
house, and the husband in the public business of the town; that all of
their children might be faithful in the church, and their descendants
be as numerous as the sands of the sea.
In due time one prayer was answered, and Ruth bore a son. Naomi loved
the child and shared in its care. But Ruth said: "The, love of Naomi is
more to me than that of seven sons could be." Naomi was a part of
Ruth's household to the day of her death and shared all of her luxuries
and her happiness.
The child's name was Obed, the father of Jesse, the father of David.
The name Obed signifies one who serves. The motto of the Prince of
Wales is (ich dien) "I serve." It is to be hoped that Obed was more
profoundly interested in the problems of industrial economics than the
Prince seems to be, and that he spent a more useful and practical life.
If the Bethlehem newspapers had been as enterprising as our journals
they would have given us some pictorial
representations of Obed on Naomi's lap, or at the baptismal font, or in
the arms of Boaz, who, like Napoleon, stood contemplating in silence
his firstborn.
Some fastidious readers object to the general tenor of Ruth's
courtship. But as her manners conformed to the customs of the times,
and as she followed Naomi's instructions implicitly, it is fair to
assume that Ruth's conduct was irreproachable.
E. C. S.
BOOKS OF SAMUEL.
CHAPTER I.
1 Samuel i.
1 Now there was a certain man of Ramathaim-zophim, of mount Ephraim,
and his name was Elkanah.
2 And he had two wives; the name of the one was Hannah, and the name
of the other Peninnah; and Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no
children.
3 And this man went up out of his city yearly to worship and to
sacrifice unto the Lord of hosts in Shiloh.
4 And when the time was that Elkanah offered, he gave to Peninnah his
wife, and to all her sons and her daughters, portions:
5 But unto Hannah he gave a worthy portion; for he loved Hannah; but
Peninnah mocked her.
7 And as he did so year by year, when she went up to the house of the
Lord; so she provoked her, therefore she wept, and did not eat.
8 Then said Elkanah her husband to her, Hannah, why weepest thou? and
why eatest thou not? and why is thy heart grieved? am not I better to
thee than ten sons? Now Eli the priest sat upon a seat by a post of the
temple of the Lord.
10 And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the Lord, and
wept sore.
11 And she vowed a vow, and said, O Lord of hosts, if thou wilt indeed
look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and wilt give unto me a man
child, then I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life.
17 Then Eli answered and said, Go in peace; and the God of Israel
grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of him. And she bare a
son, and called his name Samuel, saying, Because I have asked him of
the Lord.
26 And she said, O my lord, as thy soul liveth, I am the woman that
stood by thee here, praying unto the Lord.
27 For this child I prayed; and the Lord hath given me my petition
which I asked of him.
28 Therefore also I have lent him to the Lord, as long as he liveth.
These books contain the history of the last two of the judges of
Israel. Eli and Samuel were not as the rest, men of war, but priests.
It is uncertain who wrote these books. Some say that Samuel wrote the
history of his times, and that Nathan the Prophet continued it.
Elkanah, though a godly man, had sore family trials, the result of
having married two wives, just as Abraham and Jacob did before him. It
is probable that Elkanah married Hannah from pure love; but she had no
children, and as at that time every man had great pride in building up
a family, he married Peninnah, who bare him children, but in other
respects was a constant vexation.
Peninnah was haughty and insolent because she had children, while
Hannah was melancholy and discontented because she had none, hence
Elkanah had no pleasure in his daily life with either. He had a
difficult part to act. Hoping much from the consolations of religion,
he took his wives and children annually up to the temple of the Lord in
Shiloh to worship. Being of a devout spiritual nature, he thought that
worshiping at the same altar must produce greater harmony between his
wives. But Penninah {sic} became more peevish and provoking, and Hannah
more silent and sorrowful, weeping most of the time. Elkanah's love and
patience with Hannah was beautiful to behold. He paid her every
possible attention and gave her valuable gifts.
Appreciating his own feelings, he said to her one day in an exuberant
burst of devotion, "Am I not more to thee than ten sons?" He made peace
offerings to the Lord, gave Hannah the choice bits at the table, but
all his delicate attentions made Hannah more melancholy and Peninnah
more rebellious. He and Hannah continued to, pray earnestly to the Lord
to remove her reproach, and their prayers were at last answered.
Eli was presiding at the temple one day when he noticed Hannah in a
remote corner wrestling in prayer with the Lord. Though her manner was
intense, and her lips moved, he heard no sound, and inferred that she
was intoxicated. Hannah, hearing of his suspicion, said, that naught
but the debauchery of his own sons could have made such a suspicion
possible. But Eli made atonement for his rash, unfriendly censure by a
kind of fatherly benediction. With all these adverse winds in this
visit to Shiloh, Elkanah must have felt as if his family had been
possessed by the spirit of evil. When the sons of God come "to present
themselves before the Lord, Satan will be seen to come also." Peninnah
behaved worse during these religious festivities because she saw more
of Elkanah's devotion to Hannah. Hannah became more sad because she was
losing faith in prayer. "Hope deferred maketh the heart sick."
An endless discord in the harmony of the family joys was a puzzling
problem for the sweet tempered Elkanah. But the ever-turning wheel of
fortune brought peace and prosperity to his domestic altar at last.
Hannah bore a son and named him Samuel, which signifies
"heard of the Lord," or given by the Lord. Hannah was very modest in
her petition; she said, "O Lord, give me a son," while Rachel said,
"give me children."
The one sorrow which overtopped all others with these Bible women was
in regard to children. If they had none, they made everybody miserable.
If they had children, they fanned the jealousies of one for the other.
See how Rebekah deceived Isaac and defrauded Esau of his birthright.
The men, instead of appealing to the common sense of the women, join in
constant prayer for the Lord to do what was sometimes impossible.
Hannah in due time took Samuel up to the temple at Shiloh. In
presenting Samuel to Eli the priest she reminded him that she was the
woman on whom he passed the severe comment; but now she came to present
the child the Lord had given to her. She offered three bullocks, one
for each year of his life, one for a burnt offering, one for a sin
offering and one for a peace offering. So Hannah dedicated him wholly
to the Lord and left him in Shiloh to be educated with the sons of the
priests. Although Samuel was Hannah's only child and dearly loved, she
did not hesitate to keep her vow unto the Lord.
I. Samuel ii.
11 And Elkanah went to Ramah to his house. And the child did minister
unto the Lord before Eli the priest.
18 But Samuel ministered before the Lord, being a child, girded with a
linen ephod.
19 Moreover his mother made him a little coat, and brought it to him
from year to year, when she came up with her husband to offer the
yearly sacrifice.
20 And Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife. And they went unto their own
home.
21 And Hannah bare three sons and two daughters. And the child Samuel
grew before the Lord.
The historians and commentators dwell on the fact that Hannah made her
son "a little coat," and brought one annually. It is more probable that
she brought to him a complete suit of clothes once in three months,
especially trousers, if those destined to service in the temple were
allowed to join in any sports. Even devotional genuflections are severe
on that garment, which must have often needed Hannah's care. Her virtue
and wisdom as a mother were in due time rewarded by five other
children, three sons and two daughters.
And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. Saul was made king
at the request of the people. The ark of the Lord fell into the hands
of the Philistines. This event, with the death of Eli and his sons, had
most tragic results, viz., in the killing of thirty thousand people and
the death of the wife of Phinehas, who was said to have been a woman of
gracious spirit, though the wife of a wicked husband. Her grief for the
death of her husband and father-in-law proved her strong natural
affection, but her much greater concern for the loss of the ark of the
Lord was an evidence of her devout affection to God. Her dying words,
"the glory has departed from Israel," show that her last thought was of
her religion. She named her son Ichabod, whose premature birth was the
result of many calamities, both public and private, crowning all with
the great battle with the Philistines. Samuel was the last judge of
Israel. As the people clamored for a king, Saul was chosen to rule over
them. The women joined in the festivities of the occasion with music
and dancing.
1 Samuel xviii.
6 And it came to pass when David was returned from the slaughter of
the Philistines that the women came out of all the cities of Israel,
singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with tabrets and instruments of
music.
7 And the women answered one another a--, they played, and said, Saul
hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.
8 And Saul was very wroth, and the saying displeased him; and he said,
They have ascribed unto David ten thousands, and to me they have
ascribed but thousands; and what can he have more than the kingdom?
It was the custom among women to celebrate the triumphs of their
warriors after a great battle in spectacular performances. Decked with
wreaths, they danced down the public streets, singing the songs of
victory in praise of their great leaders. They were specially
enthusiastic over David, the chorus, "Saul hath killed his thousands,
but David his ten thousands," chanted with pride by beautiful maidens
and wise matrons, stirred the very soul of Saul to deadly jealousy, and
he determined to suppress David in some way or to kill him outright. It
is not probable that any of these battle hymns, so much admired,
emanated from the brain of woman; the blood and thunder style shows
clearly that they were all written by the pen of a warrior, long after
the women of their respective tribes
were at rest in Abraham's bosom.
David was a general favorite; even the Philistines admired his courage
and modesty. The killing of Goliath impressed the people generally that
David was the chosen of the Lord to succeed Saul as King of Israel.
But on the heels of his triumphs David's troubles soon began. Saul was
absorbed in plotting and in planning how to circumvent David, and
looked with jealousy on the warm friendship maturing between him and
his son Jonathan.
17 And Saul said to David, Behold my elder daughter Merab; her will I
give thee to wife: only be thou valiant for me, and fight the Lord's
battles. For Saul said, Let not mine hand be upon him, but let the hand
of the Philistines be upon him.
18 And David said unto Saul, Who am I? and what is my life, or my
father's family in Israel, that I should be son-in-law to the king?
19 But it came to pass at the time when Merab, Saul's daughter, should
have been given to David, that she was given unto Adriel, the
Meholathite, to wife.
20 And Michal, Saul's daughter, loved David: and they told Saul, and
the thing pleased him.
21 And Saul said, I will give him her, that she may be a snare to him,
and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him. Wherefore Saul
said to David, Thou shalt this day be my son in law in the one of the
twain.
22 And Saul commanded his servants, saying, Commune with David
secretly, and say, Behold the king hath delight in thee, and all his
servants love thee: now therefore be the king's son-in-law.
24 And Saul's servants spake those words in the ears of David. And
David said, Seemeth it to you a light thing to be a king's son-in-law,
seeing that I am a poor man, and lightly esteemed?
28 And Saul saw and knew that the Lord was with David, and that
Michal, Saul's daughter, loved him.
Saul thought if he could get David to marry his daughter he would make
her a snare to entrap him. He promised David his daughter, and then
married her to another to provoke him to some act of violence, that he
might have an excuse for whatever he chose to do. But when Saul offered
to give him Michal, David modestly replied that he belonged to a humble
shepherd family and was not worthy to be the son-in-law of a king.
In due time David did marry Michal, who loved him and proved a
blessing rather than a snare. On one occasion when Saul had made secret
plans to capture David, Michal with her diplomacy saved him. Saul
surrounded his house with guards and ordered them to kill David the
moment he appeared in the morning. Michal, seeing their preparations,
knew their significance, and at night, when all was still, she let
David down through a window and told him to flee. In the morning, as
David did not appear, they searched the house. Michal told them that
David was ill and in bed. She had covered the head of a wooden image
with goat's hair and tucked the supposed David up snug and warm. The
guards would not wake a sick man in order to kill him, and they
reported what they saw to Saul, but he ordered them to return and to
bring David, sick or well.
When Saul found that he had escaped, he was very wroth and upbraided
Michal for her disrespect to him. Though she had saved the man she
loved, yet she marred her noble deed by saying that David would have
killed her if he suspected she had connived with her father to kill
him. But alas! the poor woman was between two fires--the husband whom
she loved on one side, and the father whom she feared on the other.
Most of the women in the Bible seem to have been in a quandary the
chief part of the time.
Saul made a special war on the soothsayers and the fortunetellers,
because they were divining evil things of him. But losing faith in
himself and embittered by many troubles, be went to the witch of Endor
to take counsel with Samuel, hoping to find more comfort with the dead
than with the living. The witch recognized him and asked him why he
came to her, having so cruelly persecuted her craft. However, she
summoned Samuel at his request, who told him that on the morrow, in the
coming battle with the Philistines, he and his sons would be slain by
the enemy. When the witch saw Saul's grief and consternation she begged
him to eat, placing some tempting viands before him, which he did, and
then hastened to depart while it was yet dark, that he might not be
seen coming from such a house. Commentators say it was not Samuel who
appeared, but Satan in the guise of the prophet, as he especially
enjoys all psychical mysteries. Josephus extols the witch for her
courtesy, and Saul for his courage in going forth to the battle on the
next day to meet his doom.
The poet says that the heart from love to one grows bountiful to all.
This seems to have been the case with David as he adds wife to wife,
Michal, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the Carmelitess. His
meeting with Abigail in the hills of Carmel was quite romantic.
She made an indelible impression on his heart, and as soon as her
husband was gathered to his fathers David at once proposed and was
accepted. Though the women who attracted David were "beautiful to look
upon," yet they had great qualities of head and heart, and he seemed
equally devoted to all of them. When carried off captives in war he
made haste to recapture them. Michal's steadfastness seems questionable
at one or two points of her career, but the historian does not let us
into the secret recesses of her feelings.
David's time and thoughts seem to have been equally divided between
the study of government and social ethics, and he does not appear very
wise in either. His honor shines brighter in his psalms than in his
ordinary, everyday life.
E. C. S.
CHAPTER II.
1 Samuel xxv.
2 And there was a man in Maon, whose possessions were in Carmel; and
the man was very great, and he had three thousand sheep, and a thousand
goats: and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.
3 Now the name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail;
and she was a woman of good understanding, and of a beautiful
countenance: but the man was churlish and evil in his doings.
4 And David heard in the wilderness that Nabal did shear his sheep.
5 And David sent out ten young men, and David said unto the young men,
Get you up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name:
6 And thus shall ye say to him that liveth in prosperity, Peace be
both to thee, and peace be to thine house, and peace be unto all that
thou hast.
8 . . . Give, I pray thee, whatsover cometh to thine hand unto thy
servants.
10 And Nabal said, Who is David? and--who is the son of Jesse?
11 Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my flesh that I have
killed for my shearers, and give unto men, whom I know not whence they
be?
12 So David's young men came and told him all these sayings.
13 And David said unto his men, Gird ye on every man his sword; and
David also girded on his sword: and there went up after David about
four hundred men; and two hundred abode by the stuff.
14 But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, saying,
Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to salute our
master; and he railed on them.
18 Then Abigail made haste, and took two hundred loaves, and two
bottles of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of
parched corn, and a hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cases
of figs, and laid them on asses.
23 And when Abigail saw David, she hasted, and lighted off the ass,
and fell before David on her face, and bowed herself to the ground.
25 Let not my lord, I pray thee, regard this man of Belial, even
Nabal: for as his name is, so is he; Nabal is his name, and folly is
with him: but I thine handmaid saw not the young men of my lord, whom
thou didst send.
32 And David said to Abigail, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, which
sent thee this day to meet me:
35 So David received of her hand that which she had brought him, and
said unto her, Go up in peace to thine house;
38 And it came to pass about ten days after, that the Lord smote
Nabal, that he died.
39 . . . And David sent and communed with Abigail, to take her to him
to wife.
41 And Abigail hasted, and arose, and rode upon an ass, with five
damsels of hers that went after her; and she went after the messengers
of David, and became his wife.
The chief business of the women in the reigns of Kings Saul and David
seems to have been to rescue men from the craft and the greed of each
other. The whole interest in this story of Nabal centres in the tact of
Abigail in saving their lives and possessions from threatened
destruction, owing to the folly and the ignorance of her husband. His
name, Nabal, signifying folly, describes his character.
It is a wonder that his parents should have given to him such a name,
and a greater wonder that Abigail should have married him. He inherited
Caleb's estate; but he was far from inheriting his virtues. His wealth
was great; but he was a selfish, snarling cynic. Abigail's name
signifies "the joy of her father;" but he could not have promised
himself much joy in her, caring more for the wealth than for the wisdom
of her husband. Many a child is thus thrown away--married to worldly
wealth and to nothing else which is desirable. Wisdom is good with an
inheritance; but an inheritance without wisdom is good for nothing.
Many an Abigail is tied to a Nabal; but even if they have her
understanding they will find it hard enough to fill such a relation.
David and his men were returning from Samuel's funeral through the
wilderness of Paran and were in sore need of provisions, and knowing
that Nabal had immense wealth, and, moreover, that it was the season
for sheep shearing, David thought that he would be happy to place the
king under obligations to him, and was surprised to find him so
disloyal. Abigail, however, appreciated the situation, and by her
courtesy and her generosity made amends for the rudeness of her
husband. She did not stop to parley with him, but hastened to meet the
king with the needed provisions. She wasted no words of excuse for
Nabal, but spoke of him with marked contempt. Her conduct would have
shocked the Apostle who laid such stress on the motto, "Wives, obey
your husbands." "What little reason we have to value the wealth of this
world," says the historian, "when such a churl as Nabal abounds in
plenty, while such a saint as David suffers want."
David sent to him most gracious messages; but he replied in his usual
gruff manner, "Who is David, that I should share with him my riches?
What care I for the son of Jesse?" The servant did not return to Nabal
with David's outburst of wrath nor his resolution of vengeance; but he
told all to Abigail, who made haste to avert the threatened danger. She
did what she saw was to be done, quickly. Wisdom in such a case was
better than weapons of war.
Nabal begrudged the king and his retinue water; but Abigail gave them
two casks of wine and all sorts of provisions in abundance. She
met David on the march big with resentment, meditating the destruction
of Nabal. But Abigail by her humility completely disarmed the king.
With great respect and complaisance she urges him to lay all of the
blame on her; and to attribute Nabal's faults to his want of wit, born
simple, not spiteful. Abigail puts herself in the attitude of a humble
petitioner.
David received all that Abigail brought him with many thanks. It is
evident from the text that she gave to him many of the delicacies from
her larder. Ten days after this Nabal died. David immediately sent
messengers to Abigail asking her to be his wife. She readily accepted,
as David had made a deep impression on her heart. So, with her five
damsels, all mounted on white jackasses, she accompanied the messengers
to the king and became his wife.
The Hebrew mythology does not gild the season of courtship and
marriage with much sentiment or romance. The transfer of a camel or a
donkey from one owner to another, no doubt, was often marked with more
consideration than that of a daughter. One loves a faithful animal long
in our possession and manifests more grief in parting than did these
Hebrew fathers in giving away their daughters, or than the daughters
did in leaving their family, their home or their country.
We have no beautiful pictures of lovers sitting in shady groves,
exchanging their tributes of love and of friendship, their hopes and
fears of the future; no temples of knowledge where philosophers and
learned matrons discussed great questions of human destiny, such as
Greek mythology gives to us; Socrates and Plato, learning wisdom at the
feet of the Diametias of their times, give to us a glimpse of a more
exalted type of womanhood than any which the sacred fabulists have
vouchsafed thus far.
2 Samuel iii.
2 And unto David were sons born 'n Hebron: and his firstborn was
Amnon, of Ahinoam the Jezreelitess:
3 And his second, Chileab, of Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite;
and the third, Absalom the son of Maacah the daughter of Talmai king of
Geshur:
4 And the fourth, Adonijah the son of Haggith; and the fifth,
Shephatiah the son of Abital;
5 And the sixth, Ithream, by Eglah David's wife. These were born to
David in Hebron.
The last is called David's wife, his only rightful wife, Michal. It
was a fault in David, say the commentators, thus to multiply wives
contrary to Jewish law. It was a bad example to his successors. Men who
make the laws should not be the first to disobey them. None of his sons
was famous, but three were infamous, due in part to their father's
nature and example.
14 And David danced before the Lord with all his might; and David was
girded with a linen ephod.
15 So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord
with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet.
16 And as the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Michal
Saul's daughter looked through a window, and saw king David leaping and
dancing before the Lord; and she despised him in her heart.
20 Then David returned to bless his household. And Michal the daughter
of Saul came out to meet David, and said, How glorious was the king of
Israel to-day, who uncovered himself in the eyes of his servants, as
one of the vain fellows.
21 And David said unto Michal, It was before the Lord, which chose me
before thy father.
Michal, like Abigail, does not seem to have been overburdened with
conjugal respect. She was so impatient to let the king know how he
appeared in her sight that she could not wait at home, but went out to
meet him. She even questions the wisdom of such a parade over the ark,
and tells the king that it would have been better to leave it where it
had been hidden for years.
Neither Michal nor Abigail seem to have made idols of their husbands;
they did not even consult them as to what they should think, say or do.
They furnish a good example to wives to use their own judgment and to
keep their own secrets, not make the family altar a constant
confessional.
2 Samuel xi.
2 And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his
bed, and walked upon the roof of the king's house, and saw a woman
washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon.
3 And David sent and inquired after her. And one said, Is not this
Bath-she-ba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?
4 And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in unto him.
6 And David sent to Joab, saying, Send me Uriah the Hittite. And Joab
sent Uriah to David.
7 And when Uriah was come unto him, David demanded of him how Joab
did, and how the people did, and how the war prospered.
9 And Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all the
servants of his lord, and went not down to his house.
14 And it came to pass in the morning, that David wrote a letter to
Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah.
15 And he wrote in the letter saying, Set ye Uriah in the forefront of
the hottest battle, and retire ye from him, that he may be smitten, and
die.
16 And it came to pass, when Joab observed the city, that he assigned
Uriah unto a place where he knew that
valiant men were.
26 And the men of the city went out, and fought with Joab: and there
fell some of the people of the servants of David; and Uriah the Hittite
died also.
16 And when the wife of Uriah heard that her husband was dead, she
mourned for her husband.
27 And when the mourning was past, David sent and fetched her to his
house, and she became his wife, and bare him a son. But the thing that
David had done displeased the Lord.
This book contains but little in regard to women. What is worthy of
mention in the story of Bath-sheba is finished in the following book.
David's first vision of her is such a reflection on his honor that,
from respect to the "man after the Lord's own heart," we pass it in
silence.
David's social ethics were not quite up to the standard even of his
own times. It is said that he was a master of his pen as well as of his
sword. His poem on the death of Saul and Jonathan has been much praised
by literary critics. But, alas! David was not able to hold the Divine
heights which he occasionally attained. As in the case of Bath-sheba,
he remained where he could see her; instead of going with his army to
Jerusalem to attend to his duties as King of Israel and general of the
army, he delegated them to others. Had he been at his post he would
have been out of the way of temptation. He used to pray three times a
day, not only at morning and evening, but at noon also. It is to be
feared than on this day he forgot his devotions and thought only of
Bath-sheba.
Uriah, the husband of Bath-sheba, was one of David's soldiers, a man
of strict honor and virtue. To get rid of him for a season, David sent
him with a message to one of the officers at Jerusalem, telling him
that in the next battle to place Uriah in the front rank that he might
distinguish himself. Uriah was a poor man and tenderly loved his wife.
He little knew the fatal contents of the letter which he carried. When
Joab received the letter, he took it for granted that he was guilty of
some crime and that the king wished him to be punished. So Joab obeyed
the king and Uriah was killed. In due time all this was known, and
filled the people with astonishment and greatly displeased the Lord.
It is to be hoped that he did not commune with God during this period of
humiliation or pen any psalms of praise for His goodness and mercy. He
married Bath-sheba, and she bore him a son and called his name Solomon.
But this did not atone for his sin. "His heart was sad, his soul," says
a commentator, "was like a tree in winter which has life in the root
only."
2 Samuel xii.
And the Lord sent Nathan unto David. And he came unto him, and said
unto him: There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other
poor.
2 The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds;
3 But the poor man had nothing, save one little ewe lamb, which he had
bought and nourished: and it grew up together with him, and with his
children: it did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay
in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter.
4 And there came a traveller unto the rich man, and he spared to take
of his own flock and of his own herd, to dress for the wayfaring man,
but took the poor man's lamb and dressed it.
5 And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said
to Nathan, As the Lord liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall
surely die:
6 And he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing.
7 And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. Thus saith the Lord God
of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out
of the hand of Saul;
9 Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil
in his sight? Thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and
hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword
of the children of Ammon.
10 Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house;
because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the
Hittite to be thy wife.
And the Lord said unto Nathan the Prophet, David's faithful friend,
"Go thou and instruct and counsel him." Nathan judiciously gives his
advice in the form of a parable, on which David gives his judgment as
to the sin of the chief actor and denounces him in unmeasured terms,
and says that he should be punished with death--"he shall surely die."
David did not suspect the bearing of the fable until Nathan applied it,
and, to David's surprise and consternation, said, "Thou art the man."
Uriah the Hittite had but "one little ewe lamb," one wife whom he
loved as his own soul, while King David had many; yet he robbed Uriah
of all that he had and made him carry his own message of death to Joab,
the general of the army, who gave to him the most dangerous place in
the battle, and, as the king desired, he was killed.
When the king first recalled Uriah from the field, Uriah went not to his
own house, as he suspected foul play, having heard that Bath-sheba often
appeared at court. Both the king and Bath-sheba urged him to go to his
own house; but he went not. Bath-sheba had been to him all that was pure
and beautiful in woman, and he could not endure even the suspicion of
guilt in her. He understood the king's plans, and probably welcomed
death, as without Bath-sheba's love, life had no joy for him. But to be
transferred from the cottage of a poor soldier to the palace of a king
was a sufficient compensation for the loss of the love of a true and
faithful man.
This was one of the most cruel deeds of David's life, marked with so
many acts of weakness and of crime. He was ruled entirely by his
passions. Reason had no sway over him. Fortunately, the development of
self-respect and independence in woman, and a higher idea of individual
conscience and judgment in religion and in government, have supplied
the needed restraint for man. Men will be wise and virtuous just in
proportion as women are self-reliant and able to meet them on the
highest planes of thought and of action.
No magnet is so powerful as that which draws men and women to each
other. Hence they rise or fall together. This is one lesson which the
Bible illustrates over and over--the degradation of woman degrades man
also. "Her face pleaseth me," said Samson, who, although he could
conquer lions, was like putty in the hands of women.
E. C. S.
BOOKS OF KINGS.
CHAPTER I.
1 Kings i.
11 Wherefore Nathan spake unto Bath-sheba the mother of Solomon,
saying, Hast thou not heard that Adonijah the son of Haggith doth
reign. Go . . . unto King David, and say unto him, Didst thou not swear
unto thine handmaid, saying, Assuredly Solomon thy son shall reign
after me, and he shall sit upon my throne? Why then doth Adonijah reign?
15 And Bath-sheba went in unto the king. . . . And the king said, What
wouldst thou?
17 And she said unto him, Thou swarest unto thine handmaid, saying,
Assuredly Solomon thy son shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon
my throne.
18 And now, behold, Adonijah reigneth.
22 And lo, while she yet talked with the king, Nathan the prophet also
came in.
21 And Nathan said, My lord, O king, hast thou said, Adonijah shall
reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne?
28 Then King David answered and said, Call me Bath-sheba. And she came
and stood before the king.
29 And the king sware, and said, As the Lord liveth, that bath
redeemed my soul out of all distress,
30 Even as I sware unto thee by the Lord God of Israel, saying,
Assuredly Solomon thy son shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon
my throne in my stead; even so will I certainly do this day.
31 Then Bath-sheba bowed with her face to the earth, and did reverence
to the king, and said, Let my lord, King David, live for ever.
32 And King David said, Call me Zadok the priest, and Nathan the
prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada. And they came.
33 The king also said unto them, Take with you the servants of your
lord, and cause Solomon my son to ride upon mine own mule, and bring
him down to Gihon:
34 And let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him there
king over Israel: and blow ye with the trumpet, and say, God save King
Solomon.
These books give an account of David's death, of his successor
Solomon, of the division of his kingdom between the kings of Judah and
of Israel, with an abstract of the history down to the captivity.
Neither the king nor Bath-sheba knew that Adonijah was making
preparations to be crowned king the moment when he heard of David's
death. He made a great feast, inviting all the king's sons except
Solomon. He began his feast by a show of devotion, sacrificing sheep and
oxen. But Nathan the Prophet warns the king and Bath-sheba. In his
anxiety he appeals to Bath-sheba as the one who has the greatest concern
about Solomon, and can most easily get an audience with the king. He
suggests that Solomon is not only in danger of losing his crown, but
both he and she of losing their lives.
Accordingly, Bath-sheba, without being announced, enters the presence
of the king. She takes no notice of the presence of Abishag, but makes
known the object of her visit at once. She reminds the king of his vow
to her that Solomon, her son, should be his successor to his throne.
Nathan the Prophet is announced in the audience chamber and tells the
king of the preparations that Adonijah is making to usurp the crown and
throne, and appeals to him to keep his vow to Bath-sheba. He reminds
him that the eyes of all Israel are upon him, and that David's word
should be an oracle of honor unto them. He urged the king to immediate
action and to put an end to all Adonijah's pretensions at once, which
the king did; and Solomon was anointed by the chief priests and
proclaimed king.
Adonijah had organized a party, recognizing him as king, as if David
were already dead; but when a messenger brought the news that Solomon
had been anointed king, in the midst of the feast their jollities were
turned to mourning.
Nathan's visits to the king were always welcome, especially when he
was sick and when something lay heavy on his heart. He came to the
king, not as a petitioner, but as an ambassador from God, not merely to
right the wrongs of individuals, but to maintain the honor of the
nation.
As David grew older he suffered great depression of spirits, hence his
physicians advised that he be surrounded with young company, who might
cheer and comfort him with their own happiness and pleasure in life. He
was specially cheered by the society of Abishag, the Shunammite, a
maiden of great beauty and of many attractions in manner and
conversation, and who created a most genial atmosphere in the palace of
the king. Bath-sheba's ambition for her son was so all absorbing that
she cared but little for the attentions of the king. David reigned forty
years, seven in Hebron and thirty-three in Jerusalem.
1 Kings ii.
Now the days of David drew nigh that he should die; and he charged
Solomon his son, saying,
2 I go the way of all the earth: be thou strong therefore, and show
thyself a man.
It is a great pity that David's advice could not have been fortified
by the honor and the uprightness of his own life. "Example is stronger
than precept."
1 Kings iii.
16 Then came there two women unto the king, and stood before him.
17 And the one woman said, O my lord. I and this woman dwell in one
house: and I was delivered of a child.
19 And it came to pass the third day after, this woman was delivered
also:
19 And her child died in the night; because she overlaid it.
20 And she arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me, while
thine handmaid slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child
in my bosom.
21 And when I rose in the morning it was dead; but when I had
considered it, behold, it was not my son.
22 And the other woman said, Nay; but the living is my son, and the
dead is thy son. And this said, No; but the dead is thy son, and the
living is my son. Thus they spake before the king.
24 And the king said, Bring me a sword. And they brought a sword
before the king.
25 And he said, Divide the living child in two, and give half to the
one, and half to the other.
26 Then spake the woman whose the living child was unto the king, and
she said, O my lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it.
But the other said, Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it.
27 Then the king answered and said, Give her the living child, and in
no wise slay it: she is the mother thereof.
28 And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged; and
they feared the king for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to
do judgment.
This case was opened in court, not by lawyers, but by the parties
themselves, though both plaintiff and defendant were women.
Commentators thing that it had already been tried in the lower courts,
and the judges not being able to arrive at a satisfactory decision,
preferred to submit the case to Solomon the King. It was an occasion of
great interest; the halls of justice were crowded, all waiting with
great expectation to hear what the king would say. When he said, "bring
me my sword," the sages wondered if he intended to kill the parties, as
the shortest way to end the case; but his proposition to kill only the
living child and give half to each, showed such an intuitive knowledge
of human nature that all were impressed with his wisdom, recognizing at
once what the natural feelings of the mother would be. Solomon won
great reputation by this judgment. The people feared his piercing eye
ever after, knowing that he would see the real truth through all
disguises and complications.
E. C. S.
In Bath-sheba's interview with David one feature impresses me
unfavorably, that she stood before the king instead of being seated
during the conference. In the older apostolic churches the elder women
and widows were provided with seats--only the young women stood; but in
the instance which we are considering the faithful wife of many years,
the mother of wise Solomon, stood before her husband. Then David, with
the fear of death before his eyes and the warning words of the prophet
ringing in his ears, remembered his oath to Bath-sheba. Bath-sheba, the
wife of whom no moral wrong is spoken, except her obedience to David in
the affairs of her first husband, bowed with her face to the earth and
did reverence to the king.
This was entirely wrong: David should have arisen from his bed and
done reverence to this woman, his wife, bowing his face to the earth.
Yet we find this Bible teaching the subservience of woman to man, of
the wife to the husband, of the queen to the king, ruling the world
to-day. During the recent magnificent coronation ceremonies of the Czar,
his wife, granddaughter of Victoria, Queen of England and Empress of
India, who changed her religion in order to become Czarina, knelt
before her husband while he momentarily placed the crown upon her brow.
A kneeling wife at this era of civilization is proof that the
degradation of woman continues from the time of Bath-sheba to that of
Alexandria.
In 1 Kings ii. 13-25, we have a record of Solomon's treatment of that
mother to whom he was indebted not only for his throne, but also for
life itself. Adonijah, who had lost the kingdom, requested Bath-sheba's
influence with Solomon that the fair young Abishag should be given to
him for a wife. Having lost his father's kingdom, he thought to console
himself with the maiden.
19 So Bath-sheba therefore went unto King Solomon to speak unto him
for Adonijah. And the king rose up to meet her, and bowed himself unto
her, and sat down on his throne and caused a seat to be set for the
king's mother; and she sat on his right hand.
All very well thus far; and the king, in his reception of his mother,
showed to her the reverence and the respect which was due to her. Thus
emboldened, Bath-sheba said:
20 I desire one small petition of thee; say me not nay. And the king
said unto her, Ask on, my mother; for I will not say thee nay.
21 And she said, Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah, thy
brother, to wife.
But did King Solomon, who owed both throne and life to his mother,
keep his word that he had just pledged to her, "Ask on, my mother; for
I will not say thee nay?"
No indeed, for was she not a woman, a being to whom it was customary
to make promises for the apparent purpose of breaking them; for the
king, immediately forgetting his promise of one moment previously,
cried out:
22 And why dost thou ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? ask for
him the kingdom also: for he is mine elder brother.
23 Then King Solomon sware by the Lord, saying, God do so to me, and
more also, if Adonijah have not spoken this word against his own life.
24 Now therefore, as the Lord liveth, who hath established me, and set
me on the throne of David my father, and who hath made me an house, as
he promised, Adonijah shall be put to death this day.
Solomon was anxious to give credit to the Lord instead of his mother
for having set him on the throne, and also to credit him with having
kept his promise, while at the very same moment he was breaking his own
promise to his mother. And this promise-breaking to women, taught in
the Bible, has been incorporated into the laws of both England and the
United States--a true union of Church and State where woman is
concerned.
It is only a few years since that a suit was brought in England by a
wife against a husband in order to compel the keeping of his ante-
nuptial promise that the children of the marriage should be brought up
in the mother's religious faith. Having married the woman, this husband
and father found it convenient to break his word, ordering her to
instruct the children in his own faith, and the highest court in
England, that of Appeals, through the vice-chancellor, decided against
her upon the ground that a wife has no rights in law against a husband.
While a man's word broken at the gaming table renders him infamous,
subjecting him to dishonor through life, a husband's pledged word to
his wife in this nineteenth century of the Christian era is of no more
worth than was the pledged word of King Solomon to Bath-sheba in the
tenth century before the Christian
era.
The Albany Law journal, commenting upon the Agar-Ellis case, declared
the English decision to be in harmony with the general law in regard to
religious education--the child is to be educated in the religion of its
father. But in the case of Bath-sheba, Solomon's surprising acrobatic
feat is the more remarkable from the reception which he at first gave
to his mother. Not only did Solomon "say her nay," but poor Adonijah
lost not only wife, but life also, because of her intercession.
This chapter closes with an account of Solomon's judgment between two
mothers, each of whom claimed a living child as her own and the dead
child as that of her rival. This judgment has often been referred to as
showing the wisdom of Solomon. He understood a mother's boundless love,
that the true mother would infinitely prefer that her rival should
retain her infant than that the child should be divided between them.
However, this tale, like many another Biblical story, is found
imbedded in the folk-lore-myths of other peoples and religions. Prof.
White's "Warfare of Science and Theology" quotes Fansboll as finding it
in "Buddhist Birth Stories." The able Biblical critic, Henry Macdonald,
regards the Israelitish kings as wholly legendary, and Solomon as
unreal as Mug Nuadat or Partholan; but let its history be real or
unreal, the Bible accurately represents the condition of women under
the Jewish patriarchal and the Christian monogamous religions.
M. J. G.
CHAPTER II.
1 Kings x.
1 And when the Queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning
the name of the Lord, she came to prove him with hard questions.
2 And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels that
bare spices, and very much gold, and precious stones: and when she was
come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart.
3 And Solomon told her all her questions.
4 And when the Queen of Sheba had seen all Solomon's wisdom, and the
house that he had built,
5 And the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the
attendance of his ministers, and their apparel, and his cup-bearers,
and his ascent by which he went up unto the house of the Lord; there
was no more spirit in her.
6 And she said to the king, It was a true report that I heard in mine
own land of thy acts and of thy wisdom.
7 Howbeit I believed not the words, until I came, and mine eyes had
seen it; and, behold, the half was not told me; thy wisdom and
prosperity exceedeth the fame which I heard.
9 Blessed be the Lord thy God, which delighteth in thee, to set thee
on the throne of Israel.
10 And she gave the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold, and of
spices very great store, and precious stones: . . .
13 And King Solomon gave unto the Queen of Sheba all her desire,
whatsoever she asked. So she turned and went to her own country.
In the height of Solomon's piety and prosperity the Queen of Sheba
came to visit him. She had heard of his great wealth and wisdom and
desired to see if all was true. She was called the Queen of the South,
supposed to be in Africa. The Christians in Ethiopia say to this day
that she came from their country, and that Candace, spoken of in Acts
viii., 27, was her successor. She was queen regent, sovereign of her
country. Many a kingdom would have been deprived of its greatest
blessing if the Salic law had been admitted into its constitution.
It was a great journey for the queen, with her retinue, to undertake.
The reports of the magnificence of Solomon's surroundings, the temple
of the Lord and the palace for the daughter of Pharaoh, roused her
curiosity to see his wealth. The reports of his wisdom inspired her
with the hope that she might obtain new ideas on the science of
government and help her to establish a more perfect system
in her kingdom. She had heard of his piety, too, his religion and the
God whom he worshiped, and his maxims of policy in morals and public
life. She is mentioned again in the New Testament ill Matthew xii., 42.
She brought many valuable presents of gold, jewels, spices and precious
stones to defray all the expenses of her retinue at Solomon's court, to
show him that her country was worthy of honor and of respect.
The queen was greatly surprised with all that she saw, the reality
surpassed her wildest imagination. Solomon's reception was most cordial
and respectful, and he conversed with her as he would with a friendly
king coming to visit from afar. This is the first account which we have
in the Bible of a prolonged rational conversation with a woman on
questions of public policy. He answered all her questions, though the
commentators volunteer the opinion that some may have been frivolous
and captious. As the text suggests no such idea, we have a right to
assume that her conduct and conversation were pre-eminently judicious.
Solomon did not suggest to the queen that she was out of her sphere,
that home duties, children and the philosophy of domestic life were the
proper subjects for her consideration; but he talked with her as one
sovereign should with another.
She was deeply impressed by the elegance of his surroundings, the
artistic effect of his table, and the gold, silver and glass, the skill
of his servants, the perfect order which reigned throughout the palace,
but more than all with his piety and wisdom, and his reverence when he
went up to the temple to worship God or to make the customary offering.
She wondered at such greatness and goodness combined in one man. Her
visit was one succession of surprises; and she rejoiced to find that
the truth of all that she had heard exceeded her expectations. She is
spo
ken of in Psalms lxxii., 15, as a pattern for Solomon.
E. C. S.
1 Kings xi.
1 But King Solomon loved many strange women, together with the
daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites,
Zidonians and Hittites:
2 Of the nations concerning which the Lord said unto the children of
Israel, Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto
you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods:
Solomon clave unto these in love.
3 And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred
concubines:
4 It came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away
his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the Lord
his God.
This is a sad story of Solomon's defection and degeneracy. As the
Queen of Sheba did not have seven hundred husbands, she had time for
travel and the observation of the great world outside of her domain. It
is impossible to estimate the ennui a thousand women must have suffered
crowded together, with only one old gentleman to contemplate; but he
probably solaced their many hours with some of his choice songs, so
appreciative of the charms of beautiful women. It is probable that his
little volume of poems was in the hand of every woman, and that Solomon
gave them occasional recitations on the imaginative and emotional
nature of women. We have reason to believe that with his wisdom he gave
as much variety to their lives as possible, and with fine oratory,
graceful manners and gorgeous apparel made himself as attractive as the
situation permitted.
E. C. S.
There have been a great number of different views held in regard to
the Queen of Sheba, both in reference to the signification of the name
"Sheba," and also in relation to the country from which this famous
personage made a visit to Solomon. Abyssinia, Ethiopia, Persia and
Arabia have each laid claim to this wise woman. Menelik, the present
king of the former country, who so effectually defeated Italy in his
recent war with that country, possesses the same name as, and claims
descent from, the fabled son of this wise woman and of the wise king
Solomon, one of whose numerous wives, it is traditionally said, she
became. Ethiopia, the seat of a very ancient and great civilization,
and whose capital was called Saba; Persia, where the worship of the sun
and of fire originated; and Arabia, the country of gold, of
frankincense and of myrrh, also claim her. It is to the latter country
that this queen belonged.
Whether we look upon the Bible as a historical work, a mythological
work, or, as many now do regard it, as "A Book of the Adepts, written
by Initiates, for Initiates," a record of ancient mysteries hidden to
all but initiates, the Queen of Sheba is a most interesting character.
The words Sab, Saba, Sheba, all have an astronomical or astrological
meaning, signifying the "Host of Heaven," "The Planetary System." Saba,
or Sheba, was especially the home of astronomical wisdom; and all words
of this character mean wise in regard to the stars. The wisdom of Saba
and of the Sabeans was planetary wisdom, the "Sabean language" meaning
astronomy, or astrology, the latter being the esoteric portion of the
science. At the time of the mysteries, astrology was a sacred or secret
science, the words "sacred" and "secret" meaning the same thing. Among
the oldest mysteries, when all learning was confined to initiates, were
those of Sabasia, whose periodic festivals of a sacred character were
so extremely ancient that their origin is now lost.