Verses 15 to 26. The Douay says, that 'what Ehud, who was judge and chief magistrate of Israel, did on this occasion, was by a special inspiration from God; but such things are not to be imitated by private men.' There is no statement in the Book that God specially inspired Ehud to kill Eglon; yet if Eglon was a tyrant who deserved death, and if the act of Ehud was a praiseworthy act in him, why should it not be so in another? Verger doubtless was equally inspired when he killed the Archbishop of Paris, Felton when he killed the Duke of Buckingham, and Pianori when he tried to kill Louis Napoleon. The question is two-fold—1st. Is it lawful to destroy tyrants? 2nd. If a man is almost unanimously accursed, and accused as a tyrant (as Louis Napoleon for example), is it lawful for one man to constitute himself judge, jury, and executioner?
Verses 29 and 31. These round numbers betray the fallibility of the writer. A revelation from Deity would have been more precise. Shamgar must have been an extremely valiant warrior. To kill 600 men with only an ox-goad is no trifle. The record does not say whether or not they were all killed in one day, or during a lone period; or whether in a mass together, or separately. They could scarcely have been all killed in one day, and tne probability is, that Shamgar did not attack the 600 men in a mass. I can only hope that Shamgar did not waylay the Philistines, simply killing them unawares. The Douay says, that the weapon used was a 'plough-share,' not an 'ox-goad.'
Chapter iv. Voltaire thus comments on this chapter:—
'We have no intention here to inquire at what time Baruch was chief of the Jewish people; why, being chief, he allowed his army to be commanded by a woman; whether this woman, named Deborah, had married Lapidoth; whether she was the friend or relative of Baruch, or, perhaps, his daughter, or his mother; nor on what day the battle of Thabor, in Galilee, was fought between this Deborah and Sisera, Captain-General of the armies of King Jabin, which Sisera commanded in Galilee, an army of three hundred thousand foot, ten thousand horse, and three thousand chariots of war, according to the historian Josephus.
'We shall at present leave out of the question this Jabin, King of a village called Hazor, who had more troops than the Grand Turk. We very much pity the fate of his grand vizier Sisera, who, having lost the battle of Galilee, leaped from his chariot and four that he might fly more swiftly on foot. He went and begged the hospitality of a holy Jewish woman, who gave him some milk, and drove a great cart-nail through his head while he was asleep. We are very sorry for it; but this is not the matter to be discussed. We wish to speak of chariots of war.
'The battle was fought at the foot of Mount Thabor, near the river Kishon. Mount Thabor is a steep mountain, the branches of which, somewhat less in height, extend over a great part of Galilee. Betwixt this mountain and the neighbouring rocks there is a small plain covered with great flint stones, and impracticable for cavalry. The extent of this plain is four or five hundred paces. We may venture to believe that Sisera did not here draw up his three hundred thousand men in order of battle; his three thousand chariots would have found it difficult to manoeuvre on such a field.
'We may believe that the Hebrews had no chariots of war in a country renowned only for asses; but the Asiatics made use of them in great plains.
'Confucius, or rather Confutze, says positively that from time immemorial each of the viceroys of the provinces was expected to furnish to the emperor a thousand war chariots drawn by four horses.
'Chariots must have been in use long before the Trojan war, for Homer does not speak of them as a new invention: but those chariots were not armed like those of Babylon; neither the wheels nor the axles were furnished with steel blades.
'This invention must at first have been very formidable, in large plains especially, when the chariots were numerous, driven with impetuosity and armed with long pikes and scythes; but when they became familiar it seemed so easy to avoid their shock, that they fell into general disuse.'