_Instruct. The original is translated try, ver. 4, and chap. ii. 22. --- And all. Hebrew, "as many of Israel as had not," &c. (Haydock) --- Those who had served under Josue, were so strongly impressed with a sense of the divine power and severity, that they never forgot them: but there was a danger... [ Continue Reading ]
_And be. Hebrew, "at least, such as before knew nothing thereof." Though war be in itself an evil, the passions of men render it necessary, and God makes use of it as a scourge, to punish the wicked, and at the same time to keep all under due restraint. (Haydock) --- Too long a peace has proved some... [ Continue Reading ]
Princes, ( satrapas) a Persian word. (Menochius) --- These heads of the five great cities of the Philistines, are called Seranim, (Haydock) but never kings, whether they were governors of so many petty states, united in the same form of republican or aristocratical government, or independent of each... [ Continue Reading ]
_Not. Various reasons are assigned, on the part of God, for not exterminating these nations at once. But their being spared so long, must be imputed to the disobedience of the Israelites, otherwise they would surely never have been tolerated with their idol-worship in the land of promise, to contami... [ Continue Reading ]
_Gods. This was the fatal consequence which God had foretold, Deuteronomy vii. 4. (Haydock)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Astaroth. Hebrew Asheroth, Septuagint, "the groves," (Menochius) of which Astaroth was the goddess, (Calmet) like Diana, chap. ii. 11. Various trees were sacred to idols. (Menochius)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Chusan. This name leads us to conclude that this prince was of Scythian extraction, a descendant of Chus: (Calmet) it signifies "black," or an Ethiopian." (Menochius) --- Rasathaim was perhaps the place of his nativity. As it means "of two sorts of malice," Arias thinks that the Syrian kings took t... [ Continue Reading ]
_Saviour. "We must remark, that the man by whom God grants us safety, is styled a saviour," (St. Augustine, q. 18,) though Christ is the proper and principal Saviour. (Worthington) --- Caleb. Septuagint, "the younger son of Cenez, who was the brother of Caleb." (Haydock) --- Othoniel was one of the... [ Continue Reading ]
_In him, to instruct and enable him both to rout the enemy, and to govern the people with prudence. (Haydock) --- Chaldean, "the spirit of prophecy." The oracle excited him to attack Chusan. (Josephus, [Antiquities?] v. 3.) He was entrusted with an extraordinary authority, in a wonderful manner, and... [ Continue Reading ]
Died, "forty years after Josue, according to the chronology of Usher, which we follow," (Calmet) or rather Usher translates the land began to rest "in the fortieth year" from the peace of Josue. He places the death to that leader in the year of the world 2570, and the end of Chusan's dominion 2599;... [ Continue Reading ]
_Eglon, signifies "a calf." (Calmet) --- God made use of this prince to scourge his people, with the assistance of the neighbouring nations. He took Engaddi, in the plains of Jericho, and was thus enabled to keep an eye both upon his own subjects and the conquered Israelites. (Calmet) --- Here he pr... [ Continue Reading ]
Aod, signifies "praise," whence perhaps Josephus calls him Judes which has the same import. (Menochius) --- He was a descendant of Jemini or Benjamin, by his son Gera, Genesis xlvi. 1. --- Right. Septuagint and many interpreters agree, that Aod was "Ambidexter," a quality which Plato exhorted those... [ Continue Reading ]
_He made, or procured, though it was formerly honourable for a person to do such things himself. (Calmet) --- Hand. Hebrew gomed, is translated by the Protestants, "of a cubit length," (Haydock) though the term is never used elsewhere for that measure. Septuagint have spithame, a measure of 12 finge... [ Continue Reading ]
_Fat. The ancient version used by St. Augustine had, "lean," which he justly took in an ironical sense. Septuagint asteios, signifies "beautiful and genteel." (Calmet) --- Serarius explains it in the same sense as the Vulgate. (Menochius)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Him; or according to the Hebrew, Septuagint, and Chaldean, "he sent away the men who had brought the presents." (Calmet) --- But is seems he followed after them as far as Galgal, (Haydock) whence he returned, as if he had been consulting the oracle, and had orders to communicate something of import... [ Continue Reading ]
_Idols. Hebrew pesilim. Some take these to be only heaps of stones. Protestants, "quarries." (Haydock) --- But the Septuagint, &c., represent them as "carved" idols. The same expression is used [in] Exodus xx. 4., &c. The Moabites had probably placed idols here, to profane that sacred place, which w... [ Continue Reading ]
Alone. Hebrew, "Aod approached unto him, and he was sitting in a summer parlour, which he had for himself, alone." It seems to have been a private closet, to which he retired for greater secrecy, as his officers concluded that he was there only to ease nature. (Haydock) --- It might be rendered, "a... [ Continue Reading ]
CHAPTER III. _ With, &c. Hebrew [and] Protestants, "And the haft also went in after the blade, and the fat closed upon the blade, so that he could not draw the dagger out of his belly, and the dirt came out." By the word belly, the Jews mean all the vital parts. (Calmet) ---- The wound was so deep,... [ Continue Reading ]
Door. Lyranus would prefer porticum, "the porch," as the Chaldean explains the Hebrew by exedra, a portico highly ornamented with pillars and seats, where the princes formerly used to administer justice. Homer give a grand description of the portico of Alcinous. (Odessey) (Haydock) --- See that of S... [ Continue Reading ]
_Ashamed, perceiving that their hopes had been vain, (Calmet) and not knowing what to do, (Menochius) they began to fear the worst. (Haydock)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Confusion. Hebrew, "tarrying," as they waited a long time before they ventured to open the door._... [ Continue Reading ]
_Seirath seems to have been on the road from Galgal to Mount Ephraim. Some conjecture that Josephus speaks of it under the name of Syriad, (Calmet) where he saw the inscriptions, which he asserts were left by the children of Seth before the deluge. (Haydock) --- They might perhaps be the idols which... [ Continue Reading ]
_Fords. That none, from the other side, might come to the assistance of the Moabites, (Menochius) who were at their prince's court, in the territory of Jericho, and that none of these might make their escape. (Haydock)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Strong. Hebrew literally, "the fatness," denoting what is most excellent, Psalm xxi. 30., and lxxvii. 31. (Calmet) --- Eglon would have his chief nobility and most valiant soldiers round his person. (Haydock)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Eighty. The Hebrews use the letter p to express this number; and, as it is very like their c, which stands for 20, Houbigant suspects that he first number is a mistake of the transcribers. Usher confesses that it is "extremely improbable" that Aod should have governed so long, after he had slain Eg... [ Continue Reading ]
Samgar. His reign seems to have been short, and only perhaps extended over the tribes of Juda, Simeon, and Dan, while Debbora governed in another part. Some exclude him from the list of judges. But Josephus, Origen, &c., allow his title, with most of the moderns. (Calmet) --- The Alex.[Alexandrian?]... [ Continue Reading ]