m :m Digitized by the Internet Arciiive in 2008 with funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/bookofjudgesinreOOcookuoft r as ; THE -TTT BOOK OF JUDGES '^ in the Revised Version with introduction and notes G. A. COOKE, D.D. Hon. D.D., Edin.; Oriel Professor of the Interpretation of Holy Scripture, Oxford, and Canon of Rochester Hon. Canon of St Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh Cambridge : at the University Press 1913 : ^rt I505 CTambriligc PRINTED BY JOHN CLAY, M.A. AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS 31 PREFACE BY THE GENERAL EDITOR FOR THE OLD TESTAMENT The present General Editor for the Old Testament in the Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges desires to say that, in accordance with the policy of his predecessor the Bishop of Worcester, he does not hold himself responsible for the particular interpreta- tions adopted or for the opinions expressed by the editors of the several Books, nor has he endeavoured to bring them into agreement with one another. It is inevitable that there should be differences of opinion in regard to many questions of criticism and interpretation, and it seems best that these differences should find free expression in different volumes. He has endeavoured to secure, as far as possible, that the general scope and character of the series should be observed, and that views which have a reasonable claim to consideration should not be ignored, but he has felt it best that the final responsibility should, in general, rest with the individual contributors. A. F. KIRKPATRICK. \H CONTENTS PAGE List of Principal Abbreviations ^ viii Introduction : § I. Name and Contents xi §2. Sources and Literary Structure: A. The Deuteronomic Redaction xiii B. The pre-Deuteronomic Book of Judges xvii C. The post-Deuteronomic additions ... xxi § 3. The Chronology of the Book xxiv § 4. The History and Religion of the Period : A. The occupation of Canaan ... ... xxviii B. The History of Israel during the period xxxi C. The Religion of Israel during the period xxxvi Text and Notes i Index 198 Map Palestine At the end LIST OF PRINCIPAL ABBREVIATIONS Ber. Rab. The Midrash Rabbah, Bereshith (Genesis). Bertheau E. ^ertheau, Das Buck der Richter und Rtith, 2nd edn., 1883. Budde K. Budde, Das Buck der Richter, 1897, in Marti's Kurzer Hand-Commentar zum Alten Testament. Buhl F. Buhl, Geographic des Alten Paldstina, 1896. CIS Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum. COT? E. Schrader, The Cuneifor7n Inscriptions and the Old Testament, 2nd edn., 1885. D Deuteronomy (7th cent. B.C.) and Deuteronomist. Driver, Introd.^ S. R. Driver, An Introduction to the Literature oj the Old Testament, 8th edn., 1909. Driver, Schweich Lectures. S. R. Driver, Modern Research as illus- trating the Bible, 1909. The Schweich Lectures for 1908. E Elohist, Hexateuchal source, written probably in the Northern Kingdom, 9th—8th cent. B.C. Encycl. Bibl. Encyclopaedia Biblica, edited by T. K. Cheyne and J. Sutherland Black, 4 vols., 1899— 1903. EV. English Version or Versions (AV. and RV.). HDB. or DB. Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible, 5 vols., 1898— 1904. J Jehovist, Hexateuchal source, written probably in Judah, 9th cent. B.C. KA T? Die Keilinschriften und das Alte Testament, 3rd edn., 1903, by H. Zimmern and H. Winckler. KB. E. Schrader, Keilinschriftliche Bibliothek (translitera- tions and translations of Babylonian and Assyrian texts, by various scholars), 6 vols., 1889— 1900. LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ix Kimhi The commentary of David Kimhi of Narbonne (a.D. 1160— 1235), printed in Rabbinic Bibles. Lagrange M.-J. Lagrange, Le Livre desjttges, 1903. LXX. The Septuagint in Swete's edition, The Old Testa- ment in Greek, vol. i., 1887. (3rd edn., 1901.) Two Greek versions of Judges exist; the one repre- LXX. cod. B sented by codex B (Vaticanus) and a considerable LXX. Mss. group of cursives designated N by Moore; the LXX. cod. A other represented by codex A (Alexandrinus) and the majority of mss. both uncial and cursive. Codex B is printed as the text of Swete's edition, with the readings of codex A below ; the latter has been edited separately by Brooke and McLean, 1897. Among the cursive MSS. which belong to the version represented by codex A is a group which furnishes the text published by Lagarde, Libi'orum Veteris LXX. Luc. Testamenti Canonicorum pars prior, 1883, and is thought to give the recension of Lucian. Another set of cursives, belonging also to the version of LXX. MSS. codex A, forms a second group, designated M by Moore. Moore George F. Moore, A O'itical and Exegetical Com- mentary on Judges, in the International Critical Commentary series, 1895. Also Judges in the Polychrome Bible, English translation and notes, 1898; Hebrew Text and critical notes, 1900. Nowack W. Nowack, Richter uiid Ruth, 1900, in Nowack's Handkommentar zum Alten Testament. JVSL G. A. Cooke, A Text-book of North-Semitic Inscrip- tions, 1903. Onoin. or OS. Paul de Lagarde, Onomastica Sacra, 1870; written in Greek by Eusebius, and translated into Latin by Jerome. This edition is cited by pages and lines. OT/C^ W. Robertson Smith, The Old Testament in the Jewish Church, 2nd edn., 1892. Pesh. or Syr. Peshitto, the Syriac Version of the Bible. LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Rashi The commentary of R(abbi) Sh(el6moh) Y(ishaki) of Troyes, a.D. 1040— 1 105, printed in Rabbinic Bibles. Rd The Deuteronomic Redactor. RVm The Revised Version marginal notes. Syro-Hex. The Syriac version, ascribed to Paul of Telia, of the Septuagint column in Origen's Hexapla, repre- senting the Hexaplaric LXX. as it was read at Alexandria in the beginning of the 7th cent. A.D. Vulg. Vulgate, Jerome's Latin Version of the Bible. ZDPV. Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palaestina- Vereins. A small 'superior' figure attached to the title of a book (e.g. Introd.^) indicates the edition of the work referred to. In citations, e.g. Jud. ii. i b, 5 a, the letters a, b (sometimes c, d) denote respectively the first and second (or third and fourth) parts of the verse cited. The citations always refer to the English Version; occasionally, where the Hebrew numbering differs from the English, attention is called to the fact. In the transliteration of Hebrew and Arabic words or proper names the following equivalents are used ' = ^ : = 9-', X ^ ~V'' S^~ P'^ t H, kh (in Arabic words) = ^; dh='^', k = p, J; s = Af, ^ja; INTRODUCTION § I. Name and Contents In the Hebrew Bible the Book of Judges {skophetim) stands second in the division of the Former Prophets, between Joshua and Samuel. In the Greek Bible, followed by the Vulgate and English Versions, it holds the same position, but Ruth comes immediately after it, because the scene of the story is laid in the time of the Judges. The title is probably taken from ii. i6 — 19, a passage which sums up the characteristics of the period covered by the Book, and describes X\\q judges as men raised up by God to save Israel in the days of calamity and humiliation which invari- ably succeeded each act of national apostasy. The word is used in a special sense of the heroes of this age. TYiQ judge was not a magistrate, but 2^ deliverer and ruler : when he had delivered his people he ruled them for the rest of his life ; his authority extended over the whole nation ; he was a king in all but the name and the right to transmit his office ; and he formed one of a succession lasting from Othniel and Ehud to Eli and SamueP. 1 The following references to this period illustrate the usage : for judges in the special sense mentioned above see Jud. ii. 16— 19, Ruth i. I, 2 Sam. vii. it, 2 Kings xxiii. 22, i Chr. xvii. 6, 10; forjudge in the sense of deliver (lit. vindicate the honour, or establish the rights of the oppressed), Jud. ii. 16, 18, iii. 10, iv. 4«., i Sam. vii. 6, viii. 20; ioxjudge in the sense of rule, followed by a note of the. duration of the rule, and implying an authority over all Israel, Jud. x. 2, 3, xii. 7— 14, XV. 20, xvi. 31, I Sam. iv. 18; iox judge in the sense of magistrate, Jud. iv. 4«., I Sam. vii. 15 — 17, viii. i, 2. All these functions were JUDGES b INTRODUCTION Now this representation of the Judges is due, not to the ancient sources preserved in the Book, but to the later historian who collected and interpreted them. From the older sources we learn that the heroes of the period, so far from exercising authority over all Israel and fighting battles on a national scale, were rather local leaders who won a victory for their particular district with such forces as they could muster. Israel had not yet outgrown the tribal stage, and a nation of Israel did not yet exist ; but some kind of leadership was needed in a time of incessant conflict. It was the prowess and faith of the tribal heroes which saved the Hebrew colonies from being overwhelmed by the native population, and the way was thus prepared for the growth of a national life organized under a central authority. Whether or not the name of judge was derived by the compiler from tradition we do not know ; in xi. 6 Jephthah is invited to become not a judge but a chief {kdstn) ; at any rate the title of our Book is derived from a conception of the history which is not borne out by the older documents. Nevertheless, the title conveniently suggests the transitional character of the period, and the position which its leaders filled.