Then in triumph the conqueror returned down the long defiles leading to the Jordan, followed by his cavalcade of captives mounted on their gaily decked camels (Judg. viii. 21). As he passed Penuel he razed to the ground its lofty watchtower, and slew the men of the city. Reaching Succoth he obtained from a young man of the place a description of its 77 head-men, and showed them the captive kings, and then “with the thorny branches of the neighbouring acacia-groves” he beat them to death. Then pushing westwards he reached his native Ophrah. There turning to the captive kings[204] and at length revealing the secret of this long pursuit, he enquired what manner of men they were whom they had murdered on the green slopes of Tabor. As thou art, so were they, was the reply, each one resembled the children of a king. The remembrance of his brethren, the sons of his own mother, filled the warrior with wrath. Had they shown mercy to them, he would have spared his prisoners, but now that could not be. Summoning, therefore, his firstborn Jether, he bade him draw his sword and slay them. But the boy quailedbefore those mighty kings, and at their request Gideon himself took the sword and slew them, and gathered up the golden chains and crescent-shaped collars and trappings of their camels (Judg. viii. 18–21).
The immediate effect upon the nation of this deliverance was greater than that of any other. Not only had the country quietness for 40 years (Judg. viii. 28), not only did Gideon’s Altar, and the Spring of Trembling, and the rock Oreb (or the Raven’s Crag), and the winepress of Zeeb remain standing monuments of this great day, when God made like a wheel[205], and drove over the uplands of Gilead as stubble before the wind (Ps. lxxxiii. 13, 14), like clouds of chaff blown from the summer threshing-floors, the proud people which had said, Let us take to ourselves the pastures of God in possession (Ps. lxxxiii. 12), but for the first time the Israelites offered hereditary royal dignity to the great conqueror. Rule thou over us, said they, both thou, and thy son, and thy son’s sons also. Gideon had the rare self-control to decline the flattering request. I will not rule over you, said he, neither shall my son rule over you; Jehovah shall rule over you. One request only and a strange one did he make of the grateful tribes, that they would give him the golden earrings and other ornaments they had taken from theconquered foe. Willingly into his cloak the people flung the ornaments, jewels, and chains from the camels’ necks to the weight of 1700 shekels, and with these Gideon made an ephod, and put it in his native Ophrah, and all Israel went a whoring after it, which thing became a snare unto Gideon and to his house. Though he declined the royal dignity, he was addicted to a royal failing. He multiplied wives and begat 70 sons, and after living to a good old age descended in peace to the tomb of his father Joash in Ophrah of the Abi-ezrites[206] (Judg. viii. 32).
CHAPTER V.
ABIMELECH AND JEPHTHAH.
Judg. ix.–xii. B.C. circ. 1249–1188.
AFTER the death of Gideon, Jehovah, whose minister he had been for the deliverance of the people, was again forgotten by the Israelites. Forgetting Gideon, forgetting Him who had sent Gideon, they made Baal-Berith, Baal of the Covenant, their god, and set up his sanctuary even in Shechem, though hallowed by the memories of the patriarchs[207] and the solemn ratification of the Law[208].
Meanwhile Gideon’s 70 sons appear to have exercised authority over some portion of the country. One of them, whose name was Abimelech, the son of a slave a Canaanite native of Shechem, after consultation with his mother’s brethren and her relatives (Judg. ix. 1), suggested that in place of the divided authority of his numerous brothers, he, their bone and their flesh (Judg. ix. 2), should be vested with the supreme authority.The spirit of clanship was strong. He is our brother, whispered the family to the Shechemites, who at length fell in with the scheme, and lent Abimelech seventy pieces of silver from the sanctuary of Baal-Berith.
With the money he hired a body of men, and going to his father’s house at Ophrah, murdered all his brethren, save Jotham the youngest, who managed to escape. He was now left alone, and was solemnly anointed king by the men of Shechem, who thus formally signified their revolt from the Hebrew commonwealth. Tidings of what was going on reached the ears of Jotham. Emerging from his hiding-place, he stationed himself on one of the rocky inaccessible spurs of Mount Gerizim[209], and taking up his parable from the variegated foliage of the valley below and the neighbouring forest, bade the men of Shechem listen while he addressed to them the earliest Parable, that of the Bramble-King. Once, he said, the Trees went forth to anoint a king over them. The Olive, the Vine, the Fig were each asked to accept the royal dignity, but each declined;the Olive could not leave his fatness, or the Fig-tree his sweetness, or the Vine the juice of his grapes. Recourse was then had to the Bramble, which not only accepted the proffered honour, but bade the other trees put their trust in its shadow, and threatened, if they did not, that fire should come forth from it and devour even the cedars of Lebanon. Jotham then reminded the Shechemites of the services his father had rendered to the nation, and rebuked them for their gross ingratitude to his family. If they thought they had done well in electing Abimelech, the Bramble-King, he bade them rejoice in him; if not, he hoped a fire might come forth from the king, in whose shadow they had placed their trust, and destroy him and all who had joined in electing him. With these words the speaker fled.
In a short time his words were fulfilled. For three years Abimelech maintained his supremacy, residing himself at Arumah (Judg. ix. 41), not far from Shechem, while that place was entrusted to Zebul, his viceroy. During the joyous season of the vintage[210] (Judg. ix. 27) Gaal the son of Ebed, a leader of a body of freebooters tried to persuade the people of Shechem to transfer their allegiance from Abimelech, who was but half a kinsman, to the Hivite tribe of Hamor. Intelligence of this movement reached the ears of Zebul, who without delay sent word to Abimelech, bidding him levy his forces and surprise the plotters in the city. After a desperate battle Abimelech captured the place, put the entire population to the sword, and sowed the ruins of the city with salt (Judg. ix. 45). A remnant, however, of the insurgents took refuge in the temple of Baal-Berith. Thither Abimelech pursued them at the head of his followers, whom he commanded on their way to cut down boughs from the trees on the wooded eminenceof Zalmon (Ps. lxviii. 14) close to the city. These he piled against the hold, set them on fire, and suffocated and burnt the refugees. From Shechem he repaired to Thebez[211] (Tûbas) and speedily captured the town; but again the inhabitants took refuge in one of its strong towers, and there held out. Forcing his way up to it, Abimelech was about to repeat the stratagem he had found so successful at Shechem (Judg. ix. 52), when a woman flung a fragment of millstone at his head[212]. Unwilling to die thus ingloriously, he bade his armour-bearer thrust him through with his sword, and so expired.
Other judges now succeeded, of whom Tola, of the tribe of Issachar, governed Israel for a space of 23 years at Shamir in Mount Ephraim (Judg. x. 1, 2); he was succeeded by Jair of Gilead, who during 22 years shared his almost regal honours with his thirty sons (Judg. x. 3, 4).
Invasion of the Ammonites; Jephthah.