A Class-Book of Old Testament History

Footnotes.

G. F. Maclear @63528@63528-h@63528-h-4.htm.html#p083_55" class="pginternal">55–	Called also Jether “excellence,” Ex. iv.18 (marg.The Passover was eminently an Historical Festival. Year after year, from generation to generation, it was to recall, as in “a living drama,” the great facts of the national deliverance, the awful night when there was not a house in Egypt where there was not one dead, when the Destroying Angel passed over the houses of the Israelites, and the people were delivered, not by their own might or by their own strength, but by the uplifted hand of Jehovah. It was the nation’s annual Birth-day Feast, the Festival of Redemption. Its chief features were (i)the offering of a single victim for each Paschal company; (ii)the Paschal Meal with which the Festival began; (iii)the eating of unleavened bread during the whole time it lasted. No other Festival was so full of typical meaning, or pointed so clearly to good things to come (Heb. x.1). (i)It was a Feast of Redemption foreshadowing a future and greater Redemption (Gal. iv. 4,5); (ii)The Victim, a lamb without blemish and without spot, was a striking type of the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world (Jn. i.29; 1 Cor. v.7; 1 Pet. i.19); (iii)Slain not by the priest but by the head of the Paschal company, its blood shed and sprinkled on the Altar, roasted whole without the breaking of a bone, it symbolized Him who was put to death by the people (Acts ii.23), whose Blood during a Paschal Festival was shed on the Altar of His Cross, whose side the soldier pierced, but brake not His legs (Jn. xix. 32–36); (iv)Eaten at the sacrificial meal (peculiar to the peace-offering) with bitter herbs and unleavened bread (the symbol of purity) it pointed to that one Oblation of Himself once offered, whereby Christ has made us at peace with God (Eph. ii. 14,15), in which whosoever truly believes must walk in repentance, and sincerity and truth (1 Cor. v. 7,8); (v)It was at a Paschal Supper that its Antitype the Christian Eucharist was instituted by our Lord. (Matt. xxvi.17; Mark xiv.12.)
101–	Though nowhere mentioned in Scripture, the later Jews saw in this Festival a commemoration of the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai, which is made out from Ex. xix. to have taken place on the fiftieth day after the departure from Egypt, and may possibly be hinted at in Deut. xvi.12. Certainly Christians in the early ages of the Church observed the coincidence between the bestowal of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles at Pentecost (Acts ii.1), and the giving of the Law on the same day. “It may have been on this account that Pentecost was the last Jewish Festival (as far as we know) which StPaul was anxious to observe (Acts xx.16; 1 Cor. xvi.8), and that Whitsunday came to be the first annual Festival instituted in the Christian Church.”—Art. Pentecost in Smith’s Bib. Dict.
102–	Other customs are alluded to in the New Testament in connexion with this Feast. (a) On the evening of the first day the Court of the Women at the Temple was illuminated with golden candelabra (Jn. viii.12), accompanied by the chanting of eleven Psalms, cxx–cxxxi, and the same joyous ceremony was renewed on each of the seven days. (b) Every day, at the time of morning sacrifice, the Israelites in festive attire, and bearing branches in their hands, repaired to the Temple, and the priest having drawn water in a golden vessel from the fountain of Siloam, advanced to the Brazen Altar amidst the sound of trumpets, and poured it into a vessel on the western side furnished with small openings at the bottom, and wine into a similar vessel at the eastern side, whence by pipes it was conveyed to the Kidron (comp. Jn. vii. 37–39 with Isai. xii.3).
103–	Browne’s Hebrew Antiquities.
104–	Æschylus, Choeph. 271.
105–	Archbp. Trench On the Miracles, pp. 210–214.
106–	See p.74.
107–	Milman’s History of the Jews, I.171.
108–	The same respect for the sacredness of human life marked other regulations. If an ox gored a man to death, it was to be killed, and if its owner, conscious of its ferocity, did not keep it in, he was also liable to death, but in this case a compensation was allowed to be assessed by the Avenger (Ex. xxi. 29–32). For other offences, such as cutting, maiming, wounding, assault, the lex talionis, an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth, was enforced, and, in certain cases, compensation for loss of time, and the expenses of the cure (Ex. xxi.24,&c. Lev. xxiv. 19,20; Deut. xix.21).
109–	For subsequent traces of the descendants of Hobab in connection with the Israelites, see Judg. i.16; iv.11; 1 Chron. ii.55; 2Kings x.15; Jer. xxxv.2. See Blunt’s Coincidences, Pt. I. xxii.
110–	See note 68.
111–	See Robinson, II.175; Stanley, S. and P. 81,82; Article Hazer in Smith’s Bib. Dict.
112–	See Article Kadesh in Bib. Dict. See Map.
113–	See Calendar, p.155.
114–	See p.30, and note 21.
115–	See pp. 115,116.
116–	Kurtz, History of the Old Covenant, p.293. See Blunt’s Coincidences, Pt. I. 75–79.
117–	See Kurtz’s History of the Old Covenant, III.310.
118–	A recurrence also to idolatry was not uncommon, and especially the worship of the heavenly bodies. (Comp. Ezek. xx.16, with Amos v. 25–29, and Acts vii. 42,43.)
119–	Even now called Jebel Nebi-HaroÛn, the “Mount of the prophet Aaron.” Robinson, Bib. Res. II.125.
120–	Drew’s Scripture Lands, p.84.
121–	“The snakes against which the Brazen Serpent was originally raised as a protection, were peculiar to the eastern portion of the Sinaitic desert. There and nowhere else, and in no other moment of their history, could this symbol have originated.”—Stanley, Lectures,182. “The sand on the shore (of the Gulf of Akaba) showed traces of snakes on every hand. They had crowded there in various directions. Some of the marks appeared to have been made by animals which could not have been less than two inches in diameter. My guide told me that snakes were very common in these regions, and that the fishermen were very much afraid of them, and put out their fires at night before going to sleep, because the light was known to attract them.”—Burckhardt’s Travels, II.814, quoted in Kurtz, History of the Old Covenant, III.343.
122–	Comp. Deut. ii. 13,18; Isai. xv.7; Amos vi.14.
123–	“The well of the Hebrew and the Arab is carefully distinguished from the spring. The spring (ain) is the bright, open source—the eye of the landscape, such as bubbles up among the crags of Sinai, or rushes forth in a copious stream from En-gedi or from Jericho. But the well (beer) is the deep hole bored far under the rocky surface by the art of man.... Such wells were the scenes of the earliest contentions of the shepherd-patriarchs with the inhabitants of the land; the places of meeting with the women who came to draw water, ... the natural halting-places of great caravans, or wayfaring men, as when Moses gathered together the people to the well of Moab, which the princes dug with their sceptered staves.”—Stanley, S. and P.147.
124–	See p.32, note.
125–	Porter’s Syria and Damascus, II.220; Handbook, II.506; Article Argob, Dictionary of the Bible, p.42.
126–	Article Edrei, Smith’s Bib. Dict. “Ibrahim Pasha, flushed with victory, and maddened by the obstinacy of a handful of Druzes, attempted to follow them into the Lejah, but scarcely a soldier who entered it returned. Every rock concealed an enemy. From inaccessible nooks death was dealt out; and thousands of the bravest of the Egyptian troops left their bones amid the defiles of the Lejah. The Turks were still less successful in 1852.”—Porter’s Handbook, p.504.
127–	Probably one of the common flat beds used at times on the housetops in Eastern countries, and made of bars of iron instead of the usual palm-sticks, Kitto’s Bib. Illustrations, II.210. Others, however, suppose it was “sarcophagus of black basalt.”—Smith’s Bib. Dict. Stanley’s Lectures on Jewish History, p.216.
128–	Stanley, S. and P. p.298. Porter’s Handbook, I.198.
129–	“Even at the present day the pagan Orientals, in their wars, have always their magicians with them to curse their enemies, and to mutter incantations for their ruin. In our own war with the Burmese, the generals of the nation had several magicians with them, who were much engaged in cursing our troops; but as they did not succeed, a number of witches were brought for the same purpose.”—Kitto’s Bible Illust. II.214, where he also quotes such a formula of imprecation from Macrobius. Comp. also Butler’s Sermon on the Character of Balaam. Blunt’s Script. Coincidences, Pt. I.xxiv.
130–	Article Kirjath-huzoth, in Smith’s Bib. Dict.
131–	Porter’s Handbook, p.300.
132–	Keble’s Christian Year, 2nd Sunday after Easter; Stanley’s S. and P. p.299.
133–	Num. xxiv.17 Margin.
134–	Article Sheth in Smith’s Bib. Dict.
135–	For the version here adopted, and on this early prophecy of the future rise of the power of Greece and of Europe, see DrPusey’s Lectures on the Prophet Daniel, pp. 58,59.
136–	Stanley, S. and P. p.324. “It is still the favourite tract of the Bedouin shepherds.”
137–	See p.78.
138–	“And the eastern side of the Jordan valley up to the lake of Chinnereth, or Gennesareth” (Num. xxxii. 34–38), Article Gad in Bib. Dictionary.
139–	Article Manasseh in Smith’s Bib. Dict.; Stanley, S. and P. p.327.
140–	Milman’s History of the Jews, p.211.
141–	On the expressive figure of the Rock, as applied to God six times in this Song, xxxii. 4, 15, 18, 30, 31,37, see Stanley, Lectures,198.
142–	Stanley’s Lectures on Jewish History, pp. 199,200; Comp. also S. and P. p.301.
143–	See p.32, note.
144–	Stanley, S. and P. p.307; Lectures, p.235. Its modern name is ErÎha, or, as it is more commonly pronounced, RÎha, “a degenerate shoot, both in name and character, of the ancient Jericho.” One single solitary palm now timidly rears its head where once stood the renowned “City of Palm-trees,” Deut. xxxiv.3; Judg. i.16; Rob. Bib. Res. I.552.
145–	Stanley, S. and P. p.307. Comp. 2Kings ii.7.
146–	See the Calendar, p.155.
147–	By some the Captain of the Lord’s Host is supposed to have been a created being, by others an uncreated Angel, the Son of God.
148–	Never again did Jericho become a fortified city: as a town, it was assigned to the tribe of Benjamin (Josh. xviii.21), and as such was inhabited (Judg. iii.13; 2 Sam. x.5); but not till the time of Ahab was the attempt made by the Bethelite Hiel (1Kings xvi.34), to make it once more a fortified city. In his case the curse of Joshua was fulfilled: his eldest son Abiram died at its foundation, and his youngest, Segub, when the gates were set up.
149–	Probably a stiff embroidered robe, made in the loom with the needle and of several colours. See Layard’s Nineveh, II.319, quoted by Kitto, Bib. Illustrations, II.204. This seems to indicate the existence of a trade between Canaan and Mesopotamia.
150–	See Keil’s Commentary on Joshua, p.208. And for the situation of Ai, Smith’s Bib. Dict., Article Ai.
151–	Stanley’s S. and P. p.203.
152–	See p.196.
153–	“Such writing was common in ancient times: I have seen numerous specimens of it certainly more than two thousand years old, and still as distinct as when they were first inscribed on the plaster.” Thomson’s Land and the Book, p.471, Mill’s Modern Samaritans.
154–	The acoustic properties of this valley are interesting, the more so that several times they are incidentally brought to our notice in Holy Writ (comp. Josh. viii.33; Judg. ix.7). It is impossible to conceive a spot more admirably adapted for Joshua’s purpose than this one, in the very centre of the newly acquired land, nor one which could more exactly fulfil all the required conditions.... A single voice might be heard by many thousands, shut in and conveyed up and down by the enclosing hills. In the early morning we could not only see from Gerizim a man driving his ass down a path on Mount Ebal, but could hear every word he uttered as he urged it on; and in order to test the matter more certainly, on a subsequent occasion two of our party stationed themselves on opposite sides of the valley, and with perfect ease recited the commandments antiphonally.” Tristram’s Land of Israel, pp. 149,150.
155–	It was probably on this occasion that the Egyptian coffin containing the embalmed body of their great ancestor was laid by the two tribes of the house of Joseph in the parcel of ground near Shechem, which Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor (Gen. xxxiii.19; l.25).
156–	Or another place of the same name now called Jilgilia, situated near Bethel in the direct route from Shechem to Ai.
157–	They became “slaves of the Sanctuary,” = Deo donati. Comp. Ezra viii.20; 1 Chron. ix.2; Num. viii. 16,19. On the subsequent breaking of this compact by Saul, see 2 Sam. xxi. 1–5.
158–	In this same locality Judas MaccabÆus won his first great victory over the forces of Syria (1 Macc. iii. 16–24), and later the Roman army under Cestius Gallus was totally cut up by the insurgent Jews (Joseph. B. J. II. 19, 8,9). See Stanley’s S. and P. p.212; S mith’s Bib. Dict., Article Beth-horon.
159–	See Keil on Joshua, p.219; and Article Makkedah in Smith’s Bib. Dictionary.
160–	“As the British chiefs were driven to the Land’s End before the advance of the Saxon, so at this Land’s End of Palestine the kings were gathered for this last struggle.” S. and P. p.391.
161–	See Keil on Joshua, x.39. The etymology, however, is not certain. It was also called Kirjath-sannah, city of palms (Josh. xv.49). See Wilton’s Negeb, 212n.

="ft_text">See pp. 158,Jesse.
+-----------------+
Eliab.
Abinadab.
Shammah. Zeruiah.
+

+ Abishai.
Joab.
Asahel.
Nethaneel.
Raddai. Abigail. - Amasa.
Ozem.
[One not given. 1 Chr. ii.15.]
David.
[Comp. 1 Sam. xvi. 7–10 with 1 Chr. ii. 13–17.]

245–

Article David in Smith’s Bibl. Dict.

246–

Identified by Robinson with the Wady es-Sumt. “It took its name Elah of old from the terebinth, of which the largest specimen we saw in Palestine still stands in the vicinity; just as now it takes its name es-Sumt from the acacias which are scattered in it.”—Bibl. Dict. II.21.

247–

In all ages the favourite weapon of the shepherds of Syria. See Thomson, The Land and the Book, p.572.

248–

“We do not know how long a period intervened between the return of David to his father’s house and his appearance before the king on the morning of the duel with Goliath. If it were two or three years, it is possible that David had, in the meanwhile, suddenly shot up from boyhood to youth, tall and robust, and his personal appearance might have so changed as to bear little resemblance to the ruddy lad who played skilfully on the harp. It is a fact that lads of this country, particularly of the higher classes, are often very fair, fullfaced, and handsome, until about fourteen years of age, but during the next two or three years a surprising change takes place. They not only spring into fullgrown manhood as if by magic, but all their former beauty disappears; their complexion becomes dark, their features harsh and angular, and the whole expression of countenance stern, and even disagreeable. I have often been accosted by such persons, formerly intimate acquaintances, but who had suddenly grown entirely out of my knowledge, nor could I, without difficulty, recognize them.” Thomson’s Land and the Book, p.569.

249–

Used as a protection from gnats.

250–

See Naioth in Smith’s Bib. Dict. It was now, probably, that he became acquainted with the prophets Nathan and Gad.

251–

See Matt. xii.3; Mark ii.23; Luke vi. 3,4.

252–

Compare the histories of Coriolanus and Themistocles.

253–

See titles of Psalms xxxiv. and lvi.

254–

Thomson, The Land and the Book, p.148.

255–

See Robinson, I. 481,2; Van de Velde, II.156.

256–

Comp. the story of Alexander in the Desert of Gedrosia.

257–

Compare Psalms cxl., cxlii.

258–

Robinson, Bib. Res. I.492.

259–

See Psalm liv.

260–

Its original name was Hazazon-Tamar (the pruning of the palm), on account of the palm-groves which surrounded it (Gen. xiv.7; 2 Chr. xx.2). Wilton’s Negeb,120. “We were now in the ‘wilderness of Engedi,’ where David and his men lived among ‘the rocks of the wild goats’.... The whole scene is drawn to the life. On all sides the country is full of caverns, which might then serve as lurking-places for David and his men, as they do for outlaws at the present day.”—Robinson, Bib. Res. I. p.500.

261–

See Psalm lvii.

262–

Psalms liv., lvii., lxiii. by their titles relate to this period, and it has been remarked that “probably these Psalms made the Psalter so dear to Alfred and to Wallace during their like wanderings.”—Smith’s Bib. Dict., Art. David.

263–

See Smith’s Bib. Dict., Article Hachilah.

264–

“I noticed, at all the encampments which we passed, that the sheikh’s tent was distinguished from the rest by a tall spear stuck upright in the ground in front of it; and it is the custom, when a party is out on an excursion for robbery or for war, that when they halt to rest, the spot where the chief reclines is thus designated.... The cruse of water is in exact accordance with the customs of the people at this day. No one ventures to travel over these deserts without his cruse of water, and it is very common to place one at the ‘bolster,’ so that the owner can reach it during the night. The Arabs eat their dinner in the evening, and it is generally of such a nature as to create thirst, and the quantity of water which they drink is enormous. The cruse is, therefore, in perpetual demand.”—Thomson’s L. and B. 367.

265–

Compare the story of the Persian king and Themistocles.

266–

Wilton’s Negeb, p.207.

267–

“A lasting memorial of this battle was the law, which traced its origin to the arrangement made by David, formerly in the attack on Nabal (1 Sam. xxv.13), and now again more completely, for the equal division of the plunder amongst the two-thirds who followed to the field, and the one-third who remained to guard the baggage” (1 Sam. xxx. 21–25). Smith’s Bib. Dict.

268–

See Robinson, Bib. Res. II.325. “Shunem (Sulem) afforded an admirable camping-ground for a large army, Jebel ed DÛhy rising abruptly behind, and the top of it commanding a perfect view of the great plain in every direction, so that there could be no surprise, nor could their march be impeded, or their retreat cut off.”—Thomson’s Land and the Book, 451.

269–

Probably the same as the Spring of Harod or Trembling, at which Gideon’s three hundred lapped (see p.247), and “identical with the fountain of JalÛd, a few miles to the east of the modern village of Jezreel.” Hewitt’s Scripture Geography, p.33.

270–

“The rock on which Endor is built has been hollowed out by the hand of nature into large caverns, whose dark and gloomy entrances brought involuntarily to my mind the witch of the days of Saul.” Van de Velde, II.383.

271–

Beth-shan (now Beisan) was one of the Canaanite strongholds which the Israelites had never taken. (See p.225.) Situated on a tell or hill, about 200ft. high, on the slope of the range of Gilboa, it was a very strong position, with nearly perpendicular sides, and was abundantly supplied with water. Thomson,455. Stanley, S. and P.346.

272–

Jabesh-gilead “was on the mountain-range east of the Jordan, in full view of Beth-shan, and these brave men would creep up to the tell, without being seen, while the deafening roar of the noisy cascades leaping through the deep ravines dividing the city would render it impossible for them to be heard.” Thomson, The Land and the Book, p.445. Van de Velde, II. p.360.

273–

See pp. 283, 284.

274–

See p. 44.

275–

See p. 215.

276–

See p. 53.

277–

Compare the combat of the Horatii and Curiatii. Livy, I. xxiv., xxv.

278–

See p. 210, and Art. Ishbosheth in Smith’s Bib. Dict.

279–

See p. 219.

280–

“The situation of Jerusalem is in several respects singular amongst the cities of Palestine. Its elevation is remarkable, occasioned, not from its being on the summit of one of the numerous hills of JudÆa, like most of the towns and villages, but because it is on the edge of one of the highest table-lands of the country. Hebron, indeed, is higher still, by some hundred feet; and from the south, accordingly, the approach to Jerusalem is by a slight descent. But from every other side, the ascent is perpetual; and, to the traveller approaching Jerusalem from the west or east, it must always have presented the appearance, beyond any other capital of the then known world—we may add, beyond any important city that has ever existed on the earth—of a mountain city, enthroned on a mountain fastness.” (Comp. Ps. lxviii. 15,16; lxxxvii.1; cxxv.1; lxxvi. 1,2; lxvi.4.) But besides being thus elevated, Jerusalem was separated from the rocky plateau of which it forms a part by deep and precipitous ravines on its south-eastern, southern, and western sides, out of which the rocky slopes of the city “rose like the walls of a fortress out of its ditches, so that from them it must have appeared quite impregnable.” “Something of the same effect is produced by those vast rents which, under the name of ‘Tago,’ surround or divide Ronda, Alhama, and Granada, on the table-lands which crown the summits of the Spanish mountains. But in Palestine, Jerusalem alone is so entrenched, and from this cause derived, in great measure, her early strength and subsequent greatness.” Stanley’s Sinai and Palestine, p.172. Robinson’s Bib. Res. I. 258–260.

281–

Stanley’s Sinai and Palestine, p.176.

282–

See p. 225, and Kitto’s Daily Bible Illustr. III.340.

283–

Joseph. Ant. VII. 3. §1. See Article Jerusalem in Smith’s Bib. Dict. Kurtz’s Sacred History, p.183.

284–

“It was necessary for the commerce of Phoenicia that she should enjoy the friendship of whatever power commanded the great lines of inland traffic, which ran through Coele-Syria and Damascus, by Hamath and Tadmor, to the Euphrates.” Rawlinson’s Bampton Lectures, p.97. Kenrick’s Phoenicia, pp. 201–205. Heeren’s Researches, II. pp. 116,117.

285–

See p. 124. Blunt’s Coincidences, p.130.

286–

i. The Army. In early times all males above twenty and under fifty years of age were required to serve in the wars, and formed a kind of national militia (Deut. xx. 5–9). A standing army, as we have already seen, was first formed at the early part of Saul’s reign (1 Sam. xiii.2; xiv.52). Under David the national forces were divided into twelve divisions of 24,000 men, each division commanded by its own officer, and liable to be called on to serve in their respective months (1 Chr. xxvii. 1–15). Unlike the armies of the surrounding nations, that of the Israelites was composed only of infantry, and but few chariots were as yet introduced (2 Sam. viii.4). Over the entire force of the nation Joab was commander-in-chief by right of his services before Jebus, and whenever the king was absent, he led the troops to battle.

ii. The Royal Body-guard, or the Cherethites and Pelethites. To defend the person of the king a force was now for the first time organized, consisting of foreign mercenaries, the command of which was entrusted to the Levite Benaiah, the son of the high-priest Jehoiada. (For whose exploits, see 2 Sam. xxiii. 20,21; 1 Chr. xi. 22–25.)

iii. The Heroes or Mighty Men. Round the king when a fugitive in the cave of Adullam had gathered, as we have seen, a body of six hundred men. This number David always preserved, but elevated it to a sort of military Order, with the special title of the Gibborim, Heroes or Mighty Men. This body was divided into 3 divisions of 200 each, and 30 divisions of 20 each. The lowest rank in this order consisted of the captains of the 30 divisions, who were known as the Thirty; then came the captains of the three larger divisions, who were known as the Three; and lastly, the commander of the whole force, who was known as the Captain of the Mighty Men, and was at this time Abishai, David’s nephew (2 Sam. xxiii. 8–39; 1 Chr. xi. 9–47). See Articles David and Army in Smith’s Bibl. Dict. Kitto’s Bibl. Illustr. III. pp. 301–304.

287–

See note 215.

288–

See pp. 49, 50.

289–

See p. 304.

290–

See p. 192.

291–

See p. 256.

292–

Already mentioned as the place where the bedstead of the giant Og was deposited (see p.186). It was on the road between Heshbon and Bosra, on the edge of the desert, near one of the sources of the Jabbok. Afterwards from Ptolemy Philadelphus (B.C. 285–247) it received the name of Philadelphia, and in the Christian era became the seat of a bishop and one of the 19 sees of “Palestina Tertia.” Smith’s Bib. Dict., Article Rabbah.

293–

See p. 271.

294–

See p. 165.

295–

To this sad period belong Psalms xxxii. li.

296–

“The ruins which now adorn the ‘royal city’ are of a later Roman date; but the commanding position of the citadel remains, and the unusual sight of a living stream, abounding in fish, marks the significance of Joab’s song of victory—I have fought against Rabbah, and have taken the city of waters.” Sinai and Palestine, p.323.

297–

See Kitto’s Daily Bibl. Illustr. III.395.

298–

A village about six miles to the south of Bethlehem, the birthplace of the prophet Amos (Am. i.1).

299–

See p. 238.

300–

See the dates in margin, 2 Sam. xv.

301–

What was Ahithophel’s motive for this defection is not stated; but it is to be remembered that he was the grandfather of Bath-sheba (Comp. 2 Sam. xx.3 and xxiii.34), and was doubtless well aware of the sad fate of Uriah, his son Eliam’s brother-officer. See Blunt’s Coincidences, p. II. x. pp. 136,137. Art. Ahithophel, Smith’s Bib. Dict.

302–

See Ps. xli.9; lv. 12, 13,20.

303–

Probably an inhabitant of Erech, a place of uncertain site. See Smith’s Bib. Dict.

304–

Compare the account of Abner and Rizpah, p.320.

305–

To this period belong Psalms iii., iv., xlii.

306–

Thomson, The Land and the Book, p.490.

307–

Ibid.

308–

“Now for the first time called Israel, as distinct from Judah. But it is likely that, although it now first appears, this distinction had actually grown up while David reigned over Judah only, and Ishbosheth over the other tribes.” Kitto, Bibl. Illustr. III.424.

309–

Sometimes called Abel-maim, Abel on the waters (2 Chr. xvi.4). “Taking advantage of an oblong knoll of natural rock that rises above the surrounding plain, the original inhabitants raised a high mound sufficiently large for their city. With a deep ‘trench’ (2 Sam. xx.15) and strong wall, it must have been almost impregnable. The country on every side is most lovely, well watered, and very fertile. The neighbouring fountains and brooks would convert any part of this country into a paradise of fruits and flowers; and such, no doubt, was Abel, when she was called a ‘mother in Israel.’” (2 Sam. xx.19.) Thomson, The Land and the Book, p. 217.

310–

See Calendar, p. 155, and Article Rizpah, in Smith’s Bib. Dict.

311–

See Rawlinson’s Five Great Monarchies, II.333, n.

312–

Jahn’s Hebrew Commonwealth, p.76.

313–

The life of David admits of a fivefold division. (i)His shepherd life at Bethlehem; (ii)His courtier life with Saul at Gibeah; (iii)His life as an outlaw; (iv)His Kingly life at Hebron during 7½ years, and (v)at Jerusalem during 33 years, in all 40. His history will be ever memorable, whether we regard the work he achieved, or his own personal character.

(i) His work. “He had succeeded to a kingdom distracted with civil dissension, environed on every side, or occupied by powerful and victorious enemies, without a capital, almost without an army, without any bond of union between the tribes. He left a compact and united state, stretching from the frontier of Egypt to the foot of Lebanon, from the Euphrates to the sea. He had crushed the power of the Philistines, subdued or curbed all the adjacent kingdoms; he had formed a lasting and important alliance with the great city of Tyre. He had organized an immense disposable force: every month 24,000 men, furnished in rotation by the tribes, appeared in arms, and were trained as the standing militia of the country. At the head of his army were officers of consummate experience, and, what was more highly esteemed in the warfare of the time, of extraordinary personal activity, strength, and valour314.” He had also given especial attention to the management of public worship, as the most efficacious means of promoting religion and morality, and, consequently, obedience to the Invisible, Supreme Monarch. The solemn transfer of the Ark of the Covenant, at which almost all the people were present, had made a deep impression on their minds, and had awakened them to a sincere adoration of Jehovah. These favourable dispositions he had upheld and strengthened by suitable regulations in the service of the priests and Levites, and especially by the instructive and animating Psalms, which were composed partly by himself, and partly by other poets and prophets315. “In comparison with the hymns of David, the sacred poetry of all other nations sinks into mediocrity. They have embodied so exquisitely the universal language of religious emotion that they have entered, with unquestioned propriety, into the ritual of the holier and more perfect religion of Christ. The songs which cheered the solitudes of the desert caves of Engedi, or resounded from the voice of the Hebrew people as they wound along the glens or the hill-sides of Judea, have been repeated for ages in almost every part of the habitable world, in the remotest islands of the ocean, among the forests of America or the sands of Africa316.”

(ii) His character. Obedience to the Divine commands was ever with David the axiom of his life, and in every step he took he shewed the greatest anxiety to act as God’s servant (2 Sam. ii.1; 1 Sam. xxiii. 2,4). All deliverance from danger, and all victories from first to last, he ascribed to the Divine aid, and neither in the hour of danger, nor the more trying hour of prosperity, did he go after “strange gods,” or introduce any idolatrous rites. It was, probably, to this feature of his administration that God referred, when He described him as a man after His own heart (1 Sam. xiii.14, Comp. Acts xiii.22), rather than to his private virtues. And yet these were of no mean order. “Shepherd, soldier, poet, king, the romantic friend, the chivalrous leader, the devoted father,” he was eminent alike for his exalted piety, and his noble patriotism. “During a war of seven years he never lifted his sword against a subject, and at the end of it he punished no rebels, and remembered no offence but the murder of his rival (2 Sam. iv. 10–12).” The adultery with Bath-sheba, the murder of Uriah, the numbering of the people, with a view, probably, to foreign conquests, are the deep blots on his fame, and the chief instances in which he forgot alike himself and his God. “And yet when we look at the piety of his youth, the depth of his contrition, the strength of his faith, the fervour of his devotion, the loftiness and variety of his genius, the largeness and warmth of his heart, his eminent valour in any age of warriors, his justice and wisdom as a ruler, and, above all, his adherence to the worship and will of God, we may well regard him as a model of kingly authority and spiritual obedience317.”

Moreover, not only was he the ancestor of Christ after the flesh, not only was the blessing of the Promise expressly transferred to his family, but in his humiliation and exaltation, as the king of the people of God, and as the vanquisher of heathen nations, he was a type of Him whose coming he foretold in many of the Psalms, and who is not called the son of Abraham, or of Jacob, or of Moses, but the “Son of David.” Kurtz’s Sacred History, p.189; Article David, in Smith’s Bib. Dict.

314–

Milman’s History of the Jews, I.305.

315–

Jahn’s Hebrew Commonwealth, p.75.

316–

Milman’s History of the Jews, I.307.

317–

Angus, Bible Handbook, p.437; Jahn’s Hebrew Commonwealth, p.76; Chandler’s Life of David, pp. 582–587.

318–

See Table of Weights and Measures in the Appendix, pp. 492, 493. “Each country needed what the other could supply. The wheat of the plains of Galilee and the oil of the hill-country of Judah maintained the royal household of Hiram (Comp. Acts xii.20); the skill of the Phoenician artists supplied the want of it among the Israelites.”—Kenrick’s Phoenicia, p.355.

319–

See p. 346. Milman’s History of the Jews, I.311.

320–

Milman’s History of the Jews, I.315.

321–

“These successive terraces were an imitation of the Assyrian style of architecture, which at this time prevailed more or less all over Syria, and particularly at Tyre.” Lewin’s Jerusalem, p.255; Art. Palace in Smith’s Bib. Dict.

322–

The chief architect of the Temple was Hiram (1 K. vii. 13,40), called also Huram in 2 Chr. ii.13; iv. 11,16, an Israelite on his mother’s side, of the tribe of Dan or Naphtali, by birth a Tyrian.

323–

In 2 Chron. iii.4, the height is said to have been 120 cubits. See Milman’s History of the Jews, I. p.313.

324–

See p. 122.

325–

“Such a copious use of gold was a practice known to the Phoenicians, the Assyrians, and the Babylonians.” Rawlinson’s Bampton Lectures, p.107.

326–

The functions of the priests and Levites had already been duly arranged by David. (i)The Priests were divided into 24 courses (1 Chr. xxiv. 1–19; 2 Chr. xxiii.8; Luke i.5), each of which served in rotation for one week, the special services of the week being assigned by lot (Luke i.9). (ii)Of the Levites 24,000 were over the work of the temple; 6,000 were officers and judges; 4,000 were porters or sentries, and as such bore arms (1 Chr. ix.19; 2 Chr. xxxi.2); 4,000 formed the choir of singers and musicians. See Arts. Priests and Levites in Smith’s Bib. Dict.

327–

Comp. Psalms xxiv, xlvii, xcvii, xcviii, cvi.

328–

See p. 153.

The disunion of the kingdom of Solomon, though apparently sudden, had been brought about by many pre-disposing causes. From the earliest period there had been a jealous rivalry between the powerful tribes of Ephraim and Judah, like that between the houses of York and Lancaster in our own history.

For upwards of 400 years the leadership of the nation had been practically in the hands of Ephraim. From this tribe had come the great hero Joshua; to it belonged, at least by his place of birth, the great prophet Samuel; and though from “little Benjamin” had come the first king, yet hereditary ties as well as geographical position had united it to the house of Joseph. Within the boundaries, moreover, of Ephraim had been the sanctuaries of Shechem and Shiloh, which would naturally make it the resort of numbers from all parts of the country. Hence the spirit of jealousy this tribe was ever ready to evince if any exploit was performed or advantage gained in which it had not the lion’s share. Hence its complaints against Gideon340, against Jephthah341, against David342.

But its influence, hitherto so great, began to wane when the victories of the latter prince exalted the tribe of Judah to its proud pre-eminence. For seven years Ephraim supported Ishbosheth’s rival throne at Mahanaim, but when he died, and David captured Jebus, gave to the nation a fortress and a capital, and transferred thither the Tabernacle, the glories of Shechem and of Shiloh began to vanish away. For a time David’s personal influence preserved the semblance of union, and many Ephraimites were in high favour about his person (1 Chr. xii.30; xxvii. 10,14), but the restoration of the king after the rebellion of Absalom was the signal for an outburst of the old rivalry, which well-nigh precipitated a disruption (2 Sam. xx.1), and when the smouldering feelings of jealousy were fanned into exasperation by the oppressive taxation of Solomon and the insane folly of his son, a leader only was required, like Jeroboam, to make the separation complete. See Blunt’s Script. Coincid. 164–175.

Before passing on, a few remarks may here be subjoined respecting the kingdoms of Judah and Israel, which now came to an end.

I. Their respective duration. The kingdom of Israel lasted from B.C.975 to B.C.721, or 254 years. The kingdom of Judah lasted from B.C.975 to B.C.588, or 387 years, thus outliving her more populous and powerful rival by 133 years.

II. Their mutual relations. These, as we have seen, were dictated by three different lines of policy:—

The first three kings of Judah, Rehoboam, Abijah, and Asa, persisted in the hope of regaining their authority over the Ten Tribes, and for nearly 60years there was war between the two kingdoms.

With the accession of Jehoshaphat there sprang up an alliance between the two kingdoms, cemented by intermarriage, and prompted probably by the necessity of joint action in resisting the encroaching power of Syria.

(iii) Fresh animosity, and the gradual decline of both kingdoms before the advancing power of the Assyrian Empire, B.C. 884–588.

The alliance between the kingdoms was rudely shattered by the accession of Jehu to the throne of Israel. He put Ahaziah to death, and the hostility thus begun reached its highest pitch under Amaziah, Jehoash, and Pekah.

1. In the kingdom of Judah, (a) There was always a fixed capital and a venerated centre of religion; (b) the army was always subordinate; (c) the succession was interrupted by no revolution; (d) the priests remained faithful to the crown.

2. In the kingdom of Israel, (a) There was no fixed capital, and no real religious centre; (b) the army was often insubordinate; (c) the succession was constantly interrupted, so that out of 19kings there were no less than 9dynasties, each ushered in by a revolution; (d) the authorized priests left the kingdom in a body, and the priesthood established by Jeroboam had no Divine sanction and no promise; it was corrupt in its very source. Hence in the kingdom of Israel the prophets were the regular ministers of God, and, especially during the second of the two periods above mentioned, their ministry was distinguished by far more extraordinary events than in the kingdom of Judah, whose annals offer no prophetical deeds like those of Elijah and Elisha. See Arts. Kingdom of Judah and Israel in Smith’s Bib. Dict.; Jahn’s Hebrew Commonwealth. For the Table of Kings and Prophets, see the Appendix.