ADNOTATIUNCULAE IN LIBRUM JUDICUM

87AThe Book of Judges, which in Hebrew is called Sopthim, is placed seventh, after the five books of Moses and the book of Joshua. It describes the times of the judges, who after Joshua, down to Eli the priest, judged the people of Israel. In the surface of the letter it appears more open than the rest.

(JUD. I.) Judah shall go up. By Judah in this place we ought to understand not the person, but the people — namely the tribe of Judah — just as by Simeon [we understand] the tribe of Simeon, whom the tribe of Judah, about to fight against the Canaanites, calls to its aid. Whom they followed and seized, the tips of his hands and feet having been cut off. Certain men thought it more properly interpreted from the Hebrew truth: "the thumbs having been cut off," because, the thumb being cut off, a man is thereafter 87Bnot fit to bear arms. They brought him to Jerusalem. Since the Jebusites are read to have held Jerusalem down to the times of David, how are the children of Israel said to have brought Adonibezek into Jerusalem, as though into their own city? But what follows — The children of Judah, therefore, assaulting Jerusalem, took it, and smote it with the edge of the sword — solves the question. For it is to be understood thus: that first they took the city, then to the city, captured and subjected to their dominion, they brought the captured king. Caleb, therefore, gave her the upper watered land and the lower watered land. By "upper" and "lower" we understand the mountainous and the level regions. And the children of the Kenite, the kinsman of Moses, went up from the city of Palms with the children of Judah into the wilderness of his lot, which is to the south of Arad, and they dwelt with him. The Kenite is Jethro himself, 87Cand Raguel, the father of Sephora, the wife of Moses, from whom the Kenites are named, who here are said to have gone up to the children of Judah and to have dwelt with them. But the children of Benjamin did not destroy the Jebusite, the inhabitant of Jerusalem; and the Jebusite dwelt with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem unto the present day. Since above the children of Judah are read to have assaulted and taken Jerusalem, and to have given the whole city over to burning, how is it in this place recorded that the children of Benjamin did not destroy the Jebusite, the inhabitant of Jerusalem, but rather that the Jebusite himself dwelt with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem unto the present day? It is understood, therefore, that the children of Benjamin — whose possession lay wholly next to the tribe of Judah, and touched Jerusalem — after the children of Judah 87Dhad taken and laid waste the city, began to dwell in it, and allowed the Jebusite himself, the inhabitant of the place, subdued by the children of Judah, to dwell with them; and in this way Jerusalem, down 88Ato the times of David, was the dwelling of the Jebusites and of the children of Israel alike, until at last, by David himself, the Jebusite being fully cast out, Jerusalem was called to the lot of the children of Judah, and was named the city of David.

(JUD. II.) And the angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to the place of weepers: by anticipation it is now called the place of weepers. For the name was given afterward. Joshua, therefore, dismissed the people. How is it that, when he has already said that Joshua was dead, and that after his death Judah went up to battle before the children of Israel, and the rest that has been said up to this point, he now afterward records that Joshua dismissed the people? But the narrative returns to what precedes, as if it said: in that, after the death of Joshua, the children of Israel preserved those nations which the Lord 88Bhad commanded to be destroyed, it is clear, after Joshua dismissed them, how, left to themselves, they scorned to keep the commandments of God. For after Joshua dismissed the people, and died, and the other elders who had known the law of God departed, the following generation, the worship of God being abandoned, began to serve idols and to provoke the wrath of God against themselves by depraved works. Thus what he says — Joshua, therefore, dismissed the people — is to be referred to what precedes.

(JUD. III.) Who raised up for them a savior, Aioth, the son of Gera, the son of Jemini. Jemini is Benjamin himself. For Benjamin is interpreted son of the right hand. The "ben," therefore, being removed — which is interpreted son — what remains, "jamini," makes "jeminum," that is, "of the right side," 88Cor "right-hand," or "right" — however else it be formed — named from the right hand: whence "Jeminus" is not to be written with a g, like "geminus," which means "double," but with a j and an e, so that it be "jeminus," said from "jemin" or "jamin," as "dexter" [right] from "dextera." Hence the sons of Jemini are called the sons of Benjamin.

(JUD. IV.) But he himself dwelt in Haroseth of the nations. This region is called "of the nations" for this reason: that it was inhabited not by one people alone, but by many nations. And she sent and called Barak, the son of Abinoem. This Barak is thought to be the same as Lapidoth; and we believe this opinion arose from the fact that each name is found to have one and the same interpretation. For Barak, or Lapidoth, is interpreted laughter and lightning. Barak, therefore, 88Dis himself Lapidoth, her husband, whom the woman, about to go to battle, calls as being her husband. But Aber the Kenite had formerly withdrawn from the other Kenites, his brethren, the sons of Hobab, the kinsman of Moses. We read in Exodus how 89AJethro, the father-in-law of Moses, came to him in the wilderness, bringing to him Sephora his wife, and his sons; then, when Jethro himself returned to his own land, Moses kept with him his son Hobab, his kinsman — the brother, namely, of his wife — that he might set out together with the children of Israel to the land of promise. From the progeny of this Hobab, then, this Aber, descending from his other brethren, the sons of Hobab dwelling among the children of Israel — as we read above in this book of Judges, that the children of the Kenite went up from the city of Palms with the children of Judah into the wilderness of the lot, and dwelt with them — departing to another place of that same region, that is, to the valley of Sennim, dwelt in it; whose wife slew Sisera.

(JUD. V.) And Deborah and Barak, the son 89Bof Abinoem, sang in that day, saying: You who of Israel have willingly offered your lives to danger, bless the Lord. This canticle Deborah and Barak sang after the victory, in praise of God. Lord, when thou wentest out from Seir, and passedst through the regions of Edom, the earth was moved, and the heavens and the clouds dropped down water. The mountains flowed away before the face of the Lord, and Sinai before the face of the Lord, the God of Israel. She recalls to memory the past marvels of God, for the increase of the present ones. And she signifies that once, when God, about to lead his people out of Egypt, went before them, furnishing guidance through the wilderness which is joined to the land of Edom and Seir, even the mute elements felt the presence of the Creator, and, as though terrified and disturbed by the majesty near at hand, by that very motion rendered [homage] to the present divine power of the Godhead. The earth was moved. Behold the sign of the present 89CGodhead. He who founded it was alone able to move it. We read in Exodus (cap. XIX) how Mount Sinai, when the Lord descended upon it, wholly smoked: and the whole mountain was terrible, and there went up from it as it were smoke from a furnace, and a most dense cloud covered the mountain. There, then, from the presence of the Creator, the moved earth smoked; there the heavens, dropping down water in a most dense cloud, attested their dread and reverence by a kind of sweat of their own; and the mountains, covered by the very overshadowing of the clouds, flowed away in the fluctuation of the flitting clouds and the descent of the waters. "Sinai before the face of the God of Israel" — by this one clause she comprehends all that precedes. Sinai was moved before the face of the Lord. Sinai dropped down water. Sinai flowed away before the face of the Lord. For what she had set forth, as it were generally, on account of 89Dthe excellence of the miracle — the earth was moved, the heavens and the clouds dropped down water, the mountains flowed away — she determines, specially adding where all this was fulfilled, saying: Sinai before the face of the Lord. But what she says — The mountains flowed away — can be understood as said by hyperbole, as though melted by excessive terror. And what she says — the earth was moved — can fittingly be referred to the disturbance of the men dwelling in the land, who, on hearing such great marvels, were moved and troubled. There follows: In the days of Samgar, the son of Anath, in the days of Jahel, the paths rested; and they that went in through them walked through byways. After the ancient marvels she proceeds to narrate new miracles. And she signifies that the children of Israel, before her times, were so hemmed in on every side by the terror of enemies 90Athat the paths rested, no one walking through them; and if any were perchance compelled to go by them, they would avoid the assaults of enemies by going secretly, not by the public road, but through byways. And this happened even in the days of Samgar, who, though he was of such strength that he laid low six hundred men with a single ploughshare, nevertheless could not reach so far as to establish in the land so great and such a peace as God has now given to his people through this victory. This is what follows: The strong men of Israel ceased and were at rest, namely, not being able to resist their enemies. Until Deborah arose: arose, I say, a mother in Israel. Therefore the Lord chose new wars, destroying strong things through weak, laying low proud enemies through a woman. And that the miracle of God might be the greater, this was done not only with a woman as leader, but also 90Bwith a small band fighting. For there follows: If a shield and a spear should have appeared among forty thousand of Israel. There was not among so many thousands one who lifted the shield of Israel or a spear against the enemies, except a few, that is, ten thousand, who gave themselves to danger for the salvation of their people, of whom she adds: My heart loves the princes of Israel; to whom again: You who of your own will have offered yourselves to danger, bless the Lord. You who ride upon sleek asses, and sit in judgment, and walk on the road. You who now, the enemies having been laid low by the aid of God, are both in glory, and have power and peace, do not forget the works of the Lord by which these things have been bestowed on us. Speak where the chariots were dashed together, and the army of the enemies was choked. By the sleek asses she signifies glory; 90Cby the sitting in judgment, power; by the walking on the road, peace. There, then, let the justices of the Lord be told, as regards the choking of the enemies; and his clemency toward the strong men of Israel, as regards the deliverance of his own; Then the people of the Lord went down to the gates — they who before, through fear of enemies, did not dare to go out, once the enemies were laid low not only went out, but even held dominion. Hence the joy and rejoicing that follows: Arise, arise, Deborah; the Lord has fought among the strong: out of Ephraim, or "in Ephraim," he has destroyed them in Amalek, and after him; or (as some think it more rightly interpreted from the Hebrew) and after thee in Benjamin, against thy peoples, O Amalek. The sense is this: for the increase of the present joy, she reckons up the past and future marvels of God 90Dalongside those at hand. "The Lord, fighting among the strong, out of Ephraim." The Lord fought among the strong out of Ephraim; and through them he destroyed those who were in Amalek. Or: the Lord fought among the strong who were in Ephraim, and through them destroyed those who were in Amalek — so that the sense is: "I destroyed those who were in Amalek," as above. She notes how, in the time of Moses, Joshua (who was of Ephraim), the Lord fighting through him and in him, overcame Amalek; and this concerns the past. But concerning the future she adds, signifying that the Lord will yet, through Saul who is to be born of Benjamin, destroy Amalek; this is what follows: And after him, that is, Ephraim, or "after thee, O thou Ephraim," the Lord fought among the strong in Benjamin, that is, through the strong who will be in 91ABenjamin — namely, through Saul, who will be born of Benjamin; he will fight, I say, "against thy peoples," that is, against thy peoples, O Amalek. There follows: From Machir princes came down, and from Zabulon those who would lead the army to make war. This pertains to the present history. For she praises those who, from Machir, or from Zabulon, or from Issachar, did not hesitate to undergo the peril of war for their people. On the contrary she reproaches those who withdrew themselves, that is, Reuben and Gad, or Gilead, and Dan, and Asher, and marks them as worthy of derision for their dissembling. This is what follows: Reuben being divided against himself, the contention of the great-hearted was found. In the Hebrew it stands thus: Biflagoth ruben gotholib helchiche lem בפלגות ראובן גדלים חקקי־לב ; that is, the divisions of Reuben, a great cunning of heart. Which they think is 91Bto be understood thus. Out of a great cunning of heart Reuben divided himself from the others, and set his borders far from the frequency of wars, in such a division on either side that, from wherever, whether on this side or that, wars might arise, to him resting securely there would come, not the weight of battle, but only the whisper of a slight report. Whence she adds: Why dost thou dwell, namely, O thou Reuben, between two borders? — that is, so that thou mayest hold to neither side; and thou doest this for this reason, that thou mayest hear the whistlings, that is, only a slight report, secure from afar; the whistlings, I say, of the flocks, that is, of the camps and armies — that thou mayest hear, I say, and do nothing; whence again she repeats, to his derision: the divisions of Reuben, a great cunning of heart. But if it be read thus: The division of Reuben against himself is the found contention of the great-hearted — it can be understood 91Cin this way. When Reuben was divided against himself — that is, when he wavered, and fluctuated within himself with various thoughts and contrary desires, and quarreled with himself whether he should go to war or not, and made delay in this hesitation — the great-hearted of Zabulon and Nephthalim were found ready for the contest and the struggle. Or: Reuben being divided from the others, and withdrawing lest he go to battle — which nevertheless was against himself, that is, against his honor — the contention of the great-hearted was found. Afterward she turns her derision to others also: Gilead, Dan, Asher. These were idle, but Zabulon and Nephthalim offered their lives to death in the region of Romae [Merome ]. She notes the place where the battle was to be fought. In the Hebrew it stands: Romae Zachae, which is interpreted upon the height 91Dof the field. And it is signified that in the field where the battle was fought they were made superior to their enemies, where they gave themselves to danger. So, then, "Romae" is not to be understood as the name of a place, but signifies a height — in which the translation erred. The stars, remaining in their order and course, fought against Sisera. Scripture does not affirm, as the astrologers think, that Sisera was conquered by the fate of a constellation, but figuratively says that the heavenly bodies themselves, as it were, bent their effort to his overthrow; because the Lord of heaven, by his providence, arranged that he be conquered. Just as, therefore, on earth the mountains, or valleys, or any other earthly things are blamed or praised when, by the men remaining in them and presiding over them, something blameworthy 92Aor praiseworthy is done, and these very places are said to have done what was done in them by men; so the stars too are said to have done from heaven what God, presiding over them in heaven, did. The stars, remaining in their order, fought. She shows [their] intention and reason in that she says: Remaining in their order. For they remain where they make delay and strongly bend their effort. And they remain in order, where in what they do they do not forsake reason. Curse the land of Meroth [Meros seu Merotz], said the angel of the Lord. Either a messenger of God, coming to me, said [it], or I myself, being an angel of God, say to you on his behalf, that you curse the land of Meroth. It is the name of a region, or of the man its possessor, from whom the land was called Meroth. Curse its inhabitants. She adds the cause: because they came not to the help of the Lord, 92Bthat is, to the aid of the most valiant

(JUD. VI.) Joas, the father of the family of Ezri [Ozri ]. Here he calls "father" the greater, the elder, the more honorable among the others of that family, of which he himself also was.

(JUD. IX.) From the temple of Baalberith. Berith is interpreted a conspiracy; hence Baalberith, the idol of conspiracy. He slew his brethren, the sons of Jerobaal, seventy men. If he slew all seventy, how did one of them remain? But it is said thus: he slew seventy, and one remained — as if it were said: he slew seventy except one, who remained. My wine, which gladdens God, when it is sacrificed, and men, when it is drunk. What is this Abimelech? As if he should say: he is of no worth. And yet another thing: that he set his servant Zebul, a certain abject and vile man, as prince 92Cover noble men.

(JUD. XI.) Jephte spoke all his words before the Lord in Maspha. By "words" he means the words which had passed between him and the princes of Gilead concerning his princedom. These he spoke before the Lord, for the confirmation of the covenant which was between them. Unless perhaps thou art better than Balak, the son of Sophor — thou who, namely, claimest back this which seemed rather to be of his right; for this land was his, which we took from him, our God granting it — which, once taken, he nevertheless is known never to have claimed back: unless perhaps thou canst teach and show that he ever quarreled, to reclaim this land, against Israel, or fought against him; namely, against Israel, in all that time 92Dwhen Israel dwelt in Hesebon, and in its bonds, etc., which is now for three hundred years. If thou wilt deliver the children of Ammon into my hands, whoever shall have first come forth, I will offer him as a holocaust to the Lord. Following the rite of the gentiles, he vowed human blood, just as afterward we read that the king of Moab sacrificed his own son upon the walls. This, therefore, [was] against the law, unless perhaps it be excused by a hidden divine prompting, so that he is rightly numbered by the Apostle among the saints (Hebr. XI).

(JUD. XII.) And the men of Gilead smote Ephraim; because he had said: Gilead is a fugitive from Ephraim, and dwells in the midst of Ephraim and Manasseh. In the Hebrew it stands thus, Atem Galaad, which is interpreted you, Gilead — which is pronounced with indignation. As if it were said: You, who are you? or what sort of men are you who dwell among 93Aus? Atem Galaad, between Ephraim and Manasseh.

(JUD. XIII.) And the Spirit of the Lord began to be with him in the camps of Dan. Either it is to be understood thus, what is said "in the camps of Dan," as if it were said "in the army or in the columns of Dan." Or by "the camps of Dan" the name of a place is signified, where Samson first stayed. And perhaps it is said by anticipation, because afterward we read that the place where six hundred men of the tribe of Dan stayed, in Cariathiarim of Judah, received from that the name of the camps of Dan. Unless perhaps for this reason we cannot fittingly understand that place here: that the former is named in Cariathiarim of Judah, the latter between Saraa and Esthaol.

(JUD. XIV.) They could not for three days solve the riddle. 93BAnd when the seventh day was at hand, they said to Samson's wife: Coax thy husband. And she poured out tears before Samson, and for the seven days of the feast she wept before him. This is the order of the narration. But something incongruous seems to arise from this. For if the limit for solving the riddle had been set at the seventh day, and they, having taken up the riddle, laboring for three days to solve it, at length accomplishing nothing — as it is read — when the seventh day was at hand, spoke to Samson's wife. But she, moved as much by their entreaties as by their threat, then at last extorted with tears from Samson himself that the riddle be solved for her: how can it stand that for the seven days of the feast she wept before him? For how did she weep for the seven days of the feast, demanding the solution 93Cof the riddle, she who first began to ask on the seventh day? But if, after the three days in which they had labored in vain at solving the problem, they spoke to Samson's wife on the fourth day. But not even then can it stand that she is read to have wept for seven days for the solution of the riddle. And so, if, as it is written, having taken up the riddle, laboring for three days, they tried to solve it, but on the fourth day spoke to her: how is it true, what was said — that when the seventh day was at hand they spoke to Samson's wife that she might search out its solution, and she, in the four days that remained, being importunate with her husband, at last on the seventh day extorted the solution, and announced it to her fellow citizens? 93DIt is true, then, what is said, that for three days they could not solve the riddle; but what follows — "And when the seventh day was at hand" — is to be read by itself, and set off, so that it not be joined to the following clause thus: for three days they could not solve the riddle. "And when the seventh day was at hand" — here pause, so that it be understood: then they solved it. And how they found its solution, he adds: because they spoke to Samson's wife; they spoke, namely, after the third day, when they had failed. And she, having received their entreaties, wept before her husband: for the seven days of the feast, yet not for all seven days, but for the four days that remained of the seven after the three. She wept, therefore, for seven days — that is, within those seven days she wept. 94AShe wept for seven days — that is, she wept up to the completion of the seven days.

(JUD. XV.) Samson, the son-in-law of the Thanmathite. Thanmatha is a place, whence "Thanmathite" is said — a gentilic name, not a proper name. Although you have done these things: although you have carried out this vengeance upon my father-in-law, to avenge my injury, nevertheless you have not yet so appeased me that I should not still demand vengeance from you. And he smote them with a great slaughter, so that, astonished, they laid the calf upon the thigh. Scripture wished to set forth the type of the astonished, by the calf laid upon the thigh. For the astonished and the weary are wont sometimes to lay the shin, bent back, upon the other thigh, and, the calf of that shin — as being the lower part — fixed to the thigh, so to sit, as though having no counsel and not knowing whither they might 94Bmove themselves. In the Hebrew it stands thus: Sogal ghereth, עַל־יָרֵךְ, that is, shin upon thigh, so that it be said: he smote them with a great slaughter, shin upon thigh. Which, nevertheless, can be referred to the same sense. There is another sense: He smote them with a great slaughter, namely thus, that he smote the shin upon the thigh — that is, the thigh being smitten, he smote the shin upon it as well. But because those standing or walking lean upon their shins, but those sitting upon the thigh, we can, not unfittingly, understand by the shin foot-soldiers, and by the thigh horsemen. What, then, is it to smite the shin upon the thigh, if not, the greater being smitten, to destroy the lesser also? In the place which afterward was called Lechi, that is, jawbone, where their army was poured out, that is, spread out or poured forth, or expanded, occupying the ground with a huge multitude. As flax is wont to be consumed at the 94Csmell [ardorem] of fire. "Lina" without a g, whence "linen garment"; not "ligna" with a g, whence "wooden house." But by "smell" understand the first heating of the fire, because light material is burned up with an easy kindling. With the jawbone of an ass, with the jaw of the colt of she-asses, I destroyed them, and smote a thousand men. In the Hebrew it stands thus: With the jawbone of an ass, homor hemor, הַחֲמֹר חֲמוֹר with the jawbone of an ass I smote a thousand men. And homor hemor is interpreted a heap of heaps, as if he should say, that is, a pile from the corpses of the dead whom I laid low with the jawbone of an ass. But what he says — a heap of heaps — is to be understood thus: because he had laid them low in different places, and had made many heaps; and out of them all there was made, as it were, one 94Dpile, and a huge heap. Therefore the name of that place was called: The spring of him that invokes, from the jawbone. Lest perhaps it seem to be contradictory: that above this place is said to be called Lechi, that is, jawbone; but here it is declared to be named not "jawbone" simply, but The spring of him that invokes, from the jawbone. For just as in Genesis Abraham is read to have named a place The Lord sees; and Scripture at once added, it is said unto this day: On the mountain the Lord will see (Gen. XXII). So here too the name of the place is said [to be] Lechi, that is, jawbone, and yet the name of that place afterward is declared to be not "jawbone," but The spring of him that invokes, from the jawbone. The name of that place was called jawbone. It was also called The spring of him that invokes, from the jawbone, so that, for different events, there is one name of the place, that is, of the field, for the slaying 95Aof men; another of the spring, for the flowing-out of waters. The spring, then, is called the spring from the jawbone, namely as brought forth [from it]; and that same spring is called the spring "of him that invokes," namely of Samson, who, invoking God, brought it forth from the jawbone. But the Hebrew says that what is said "of him that invokes" is to be referred not to prayer, but to the calling of a name, so that the sense is [this]. It is the name of the place of him that invokes, that is, of him that names or calls, "spring from the jawbone" — that is, whoever wishes to call the place by its name says that it is to be called the spring from the jawbone, that is, Lechi. If, then, it is the name of the place, of him that invokes or calls, the spring from the jawbone. The name, then, is both of him that invokes and of the place: of him that invokes, because he himself speaks it; and of the place, because he speaks it of the place. And he speaks it, because he wishes to name that place or that spring, 95Bthat that place or that spring is to be named "from the jawbone," and to be named "jawbone." For from the cast-away jawbone, he who invokes calls the place or the spring "Lechi," that is, "jawbone."

(JUD. XVI.) With an ambush lying hidden about her. Let it not seem a wonder that the Philistines, seeking to kill Samson, dared to attack him neither sleeping nor bound, until they had taken a true test of his strength. For so great a terror was in them that they did not even dare to approach him, lest perhaps, if they should suddenly rush upon him while sleeping or bound, before they could destroy him he might be roused, and, his bonds being broken, slaughter them all — just as when someone dreads even a sleeping lion, and does not dare to approach to touch it, lest, suddenly waking, it rush 95Cupon the author of its wound, raging the more cruelly the more it is angered.

96A(JUD. XVII.) And he filled the hand of one of his sons, and he became a priest to him. What he says — he filled the hand of his sons — is either to be referred to the gifts by which he hired him, as it seems to be more expressly said from the Hebrew: He invested the hand of one of his sons, granting that he might discharge the priesthood. There was also at that time another young man of Bethlehem of Judah, of his kindred, namely of Judah: and he himself was a Levite, as much by office as by race; from his father of one tribe, from his mother of another; and he dwelt there, that is, in Bethlehem. He had a boy with him. He calls him "boy" either for his age, because he was a young man, or for his service, because he was a servant.

(JUD. XVIII.) And using his lodging. By "lodging" he means a private conversation or chamber, in 96Bwhich he stayed apart.

(JUD. XIX.) They were the sons of Jemini, the sons of Benjamin. Now we are going to the house of God. By "the house of God" he means the tabernacle in Shiloh, or the shrine which Micah had built, with the graven image that he had made.

(JUD. XX.) Wishing to kill me, and vexing my wife with an unbelievable fury of lust. Modestly he keeps silent about himself as to what they wished to do, mentioning something else in place of it.