A Complete History and Mystery of the Old and New Testament, Biblical tract · Volume 2 · Commentary on the book of Judges · Chapter 12
Judges CHAP. XII.
JƲdges the Twelfth contains, (1.) Jephtah's War with the Ephraimites, with its Cauſe and Event, and then his Death from, ver. 1. to 7. (2.) His Three Succeſſors from ver. 8. to the end.
The Remarks upon the firſt part are; Firſt, Such was the Pride of Ephraim, that they were Drunk with it, Iſa. 28.1, 3. as being deſcended of Joſeph the moſt Honourable of all the Patriarchs, and therefore out of Vain-glory and Envy, they pick a Quarrel with Jephtah and his Gileadites, as they had done before with Gideon, Judg. 8.1, 2.3. and with his few Followers, for Monopolizing the Glory of a great Victory to themſelves without their Aſſiſtance.
N. B. Though Gideon was a Meek Man, and with a ſoft Anſwer pacified their proud Rage; yet Jephtah (a more Moroſe Man) would not do ſo, for they gave him greater Provocations, calling him and his Followers a Company of Fugitives, that for Carnal ends had choſen their Habitations on the wrong ſide of Jordan, far from Shilo, and the whole Body of Iſrael, and they upbraid him for not calling them to be his Auxiliaries, that they might have ſhared with him in the Honour of his Conqueſt; and hereupon they threaten to burn his Houſe with five. ver. 1.
N. B. Here good Jephtah is involv'd into another Calamity, Fluctus fluctum trudit, a Succeſſion of Sorrows attended him, Velut unda ſupervenit undae, one Wave follows another. He was but newly returned from his Expedition againſt the Ammonites, and but newly alſo after that, made miſerable by his Raſh Vows Execution upon his only Child and Daughter; and now muſt he be neceſſitated to fight with his own Implacable Brethren of Ephraim: Croſſes ſeldom come ſingle: However Jephtah reſolves to be Innocent on his part, and labours to appeaſe them by his Apology, ver. 2, 3. wherein he ſtoutly tells them, they made little of a Lye, for he had call'd them to aid him (though they denied it) and out of either neglect, or fear of danger, failed to come at his call, though he call'd them by Authority, as then the Judge of Iſrael; and upon your failure (ſaith he) I did put my Life in my Hand, and hazarded that pretious Jewel, upon great Diſadvantages; yet the Lord ſtood with my few againſt the Ammonites many, and hath delivered not only us, but alſo your ſelves from their Slavery; wherefore ye ought with all thankfulneſs to have Congratulated the Conqueſt, and not Quarrel with the Conquerour for preventing your Danger in War, and for procuring your Liberty in Peace; forgive me this Wrong, in running ſuch Hazards to preſerve you and yours, &c.
N. B. This Speech prevails not now with Ephraim, as Gideon's had done before, not becauſe this was leſs prevalent in it ſelf, and not back'd with as Cogent Arguments, but becauſe they were now deeplier prick'd with Pride and Envy, having no ſhare at all in Jephtah's Victory, as they had ſome in Gideon's, by taking the two Kings Z…eb and Oreb; and now thoſe two Helliſh Furies, Pride and Envy aforenamed, do ripen them for their ruine, as Prov. 16.18.
The Second Remark is, The Event of this Civil War, when Jephtah found thoſe Ephraimites irreconcileable, paſſing over Jordan to fight him in his own Countrey, even in the Countrey of Gilead, with a vaſt Army, and giving him and his Army (whom God had honoured with Victory over the Ammonites, though exceeding numerous) moſt Opprobius Nick Names, as Fugitives, and the very Scum, or Dr…ggs of Iſrael; he will not be ſo Mealy Mouth'd with them, as Gideon had been before him, Judg. 8. but reſolves to fight them, Immedicabile vulnus enſe recidendum eſt, &c. When he had nô hopes of Curing, he falls upon Cutting, and Corrects their Notorious Inſolency with the Edge of the Sword.
N. B. And the ſame Lord of Hoſts that had given him Victory over the Oppreſſing Ammonites, gives him Victory likewiſe over thoſe Arrogant Ephraimites, that durſt ſo Seditiouſly Rebel againſt their Supreme Magiſtrate whom God had extraordinarily call'd to be a Judge over Iſrael; inſomuch as he ſlew Forty two Thouſand of them, ſlaying not only theſe that ſtood in the Battel, but alſo all ſuch as fled from it, diſcovering themſelves to be Ephramites by their Liſping Language; for when they could not pronounce Shibolath (which ſignifies fluxus fluminis, the Ford of Jordan, (which they deſired to over homeward,) they cryed [Sibboleth] and could not pro…ounce the Word with its Aſpiration; ſo their Dialect diſcover'd them, and expos'd them to the Slaughter.
N. B. Jephtah might have offered many Hebrew words that had [ſh] double in them, a Shomeſh the Sun, Sheliſhah Three, or Sha…ſhelch a Chain, &c. in ſignification; but the word propoſed was Shiboleth, becauſe (ſaith Dr. Lightfoot) of the preſent occaſion, for the word ſignifies a Stream, and the Ephraimites (denying themſelves to be of Ephraim, having a wicked Principle of Liberty to Lye, rather than to Die) are required to call the Stream which they would have Waded thorough to Mount Ephraim, by the right name, and they could not name it aright with a breathing Pronounciation, like the French that cannot pronounce Aſpirates, but call [Third] a Tird: Therefore ſeeing thoſe Fuguives (a Name they had branded Jephtah with) could not breath a-right, are ſlain, and muſt breath no more, &c.
N. B. Not…well. How many diſcover themſelves to be Naughty by their Liſping Language in Religious Matters, ſpeaking the language of Aſhdod, Nehm. 13.24. Their Speech doth bewray them, as Matth. 26.73. By our words we ſhall be juſtified, or condemned, &c. Matth. 12.36.37.
The Third Remark upon the ſecond part of this Twelfth Chapter is, The Succeſſors of Jephtah, who after his two famous Victories Foreign and Domeſtick, in his ſix Years of Judgeſhip, then died; and was ſucceeded,
Firſt, By Ibzan, ver. 7, 8.9, 10. He Judged Iſrael Seven years in peaceable times (as did his two Succeſſors after him) and therefore nothing of ſpecial note acted againſt Forreign or Domeſlick Enemies is Recorded of them, in the time of their Judgeſhip, ſave only that this Judge Ibzan was Renowned both for the Number, and for the Equality of the number of his Sons and Daughters, having Thirty of each, whereby he linked himſelf into a large Affinity, and ſo was much ſtrengthened in his Government. According to the Duty of a good Father, he ſent his Daughters out of his Family abroad, where he had found fit Matches for them all, and he took Thirty Daughters out of other Families to be Wives for his Thirty Sons, and ſo to live with them in their Father's Family. And,
N. B. Thus on both hands, the Husband went not to the Wife, but the Wife ment to the Husband, as to her Lord and Head.
N. B. And thus likewiſe, the Man miſſeth his Rib, ſo maketh out to recover it; and the Woman (made of the Rib taken out of Man's ſide) inclineth to be in her old place again, under the Man's Arm, or Wing; therefore an Husband is call'd a Reſt for the Woman, Ruth 3.1. And hence ariſes that Natural Propenſity in moſt People to a Marriage Ʋnion, both in Males and in Females of Mankind, in all Ages, &c.
Secondly, The next Succeſſor was Edon, of whom nothing is recorded, ſave that he Judged Iſrael Ten Years, ver. 11, 12. maintaining the purity of God's true Worſhip, and adminiſtring Juſtice among the People in thoſe peaceable times, and therefore is he thought worthy to be reckon'd among the Judges, not Dying in his Iniquity for not having done good among his People, Ezek. 18.18.
N. B. Only Samſon's Birth is ſuppoſed to be about the beginning of Elon's Judgeſhip, God then being about to raiſe up a Remedy againſt Iſrael's Malady, by the Oppreſſing Philiſtines, whoſe Forty Years Oppreſſion of Iſrael probably began about this time. And,
Thirdly, After Ibzan the Tenth Judge, and after Elon the Eleventh Judge, ſucceeds Abdon the Twelth Judge, who Judged Iſrael Eight Years, ver 13, 14, 15. where he hath a moſt Renowned Character for his Numerous Sons and Nephews, the Noble Number of Seventy.
N. B. Enow to make up a whole Sanhedrim, and himſelf the Judge: Theſe are all ſaid to ride upon Seventy Aſs-Colts, to ſet forth their Gallantry and Grandeur, which at leaſt argueth, that this Abdon was a Man both of a vaſt Eſtate, and of a moſt high Honour; in whom the Ephraimites (himſelf being of Ephraim) began to recover themſelves from that low Eſtate into which they had been reduced by Jephtah, &c. So Joſeph's Glory ſhone forth again in him, as it had done in Joſhua, &c.