Книга седьмая. Завоевание Ханаана и времена судей

Chapter 56. Promised Land The Promised Land, on the border of which the Israelites now stood, was that small mountainous strip which is now known as Palestine. Stretching along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea from the spurs of the Lebanese Mountains in the north to the Arabian Desert in the south, it is only about 30 geographical miles in length and up to twelve miles in width (including the Trans-Jordanian lands). But, despite its outward insignificance, it occupied a highly advantageous and important position in the ancient world. This country was essentially secluded; nowhere did she come into direct contact with large idolatrous nations, and yet she was not so far removed from them as not to have any information about them. On the contrary, thanks to its unique position, it was located right in the middle of the most powerful monarchies, fighting among themselves for dominance, but in such a way that this struggle did not inevitably affect its existence. The roads of merchants and warriors, both by land and by sea, passed along its borders; caravans and regiments moving from the banks of the Euphrates to the banks of the Nile and back came into contact with its outskirts, but no important route passed through the country itself. The natural barriers that separated it from the surrounding world separated it from this world, giving its population the freedom to enter into relations with foreign countries at will or to maintain their alienated and complete independence and identity. It seemed to be in contact with all three parts of the world of that time. Near it, Asia, Africa and Europe met each other. It was a center from which, at a certain time, light could spread to all surrounding countries. Its safety was ensured by nature itself: the waterless desert in the south, impassable mountain ranges in the north, the vast and inhospitable sea along these shores in the west, and the deep Jordan Valley with the adjoining great Syrian Desert in the east - made it, with some prudence and vigilance, almost inaccessible to conquest. There, true religion, far from all foreign influences, could flourish unhindered among the chosen people, who, however, themselves had every means to enter into relations with the outside world and thus share with it the treasure entrusted to them. Since the Promised Land occupied precisely the middle position in the ancient historical world, and it was around it that the great paths along which the historical life of this world flowed and gradually moved from east to west, to the great basin of the Mediterranean Sea converged and diverged, the people who fell to own this land not only became observers of the entire course of the historical life of the surrounding world, but at the same time became the heir to all the historical wealth of the old peoples of the east and together with this he held in his hands the best hopes of the young emerging world - in the west. No other country on the globe could have imagined a more advantageous situation for the people, whom Providence destined to be “a light for the nations.” In terms of its external character, Palestine is a predominantly mountainous country. Starting from the northern border, from the group of mountains of Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon, chains of mountains in continuous and regular ridges descend in parallel to the very south of the country and stretch on both sides of the Jordan River. Leaning to the west, the mountain ranges turn into lowlands, from which the Jordan River flows along one, and the other adjoins the very shore of the Mediterranean Sea and was known in ancient times as the Philistine and Sharon plains. The western range of mountains, stretching across Palestine in the proper sense of the word, is interrupted in the middle by the large plain of Esdrilon, which divides the country into two parts - northern and southern. In both of these parts, the mountain range is scattered into many hills interspersed with valleys, and among the hills in some places mountains rise up, outstanding in their height above the surrounding area. These are Hermon, Tabor, and Carmel in the north, and Gerizim, Ebal, Zion, and the Mount of Olives in the south. The most majestic of them is Mount Hermon, which, rising 9,300 feet above sea level, with its snowy peak looks over the entire promised land and is itself visible one and a half hundred miles away from every more or less elevated place in the country. Other mountains do not exceed a third of this height and are more famous for the historical memories associated with them than for their external grandeur 670. The intermediate valleys and plains are those flat heights, sometimes rising to three thousand feet above the level of the sea (such as the plain of Hebron, lying at an altitude of 3,029 feet), or deep depressions, sometimes lying below the level of the sea, like the Valley of the Jordan, lying almost five hundred feet below the level of the Mediterranean Sea. As a result of this unique structure, Palestine amazes with features that are not found anywhere else on the globe. In the small space it occupies, the most striking contrasts occur. The snowy peaks of Lebanon and Hermon look, so to speak, upon the valleys and deserts of the south, where the scorching heat at times burns all vegetation. In close proximity grow the most diverse trees - a slender palm tree that loves the heat, and a stately oak tree that requires a more moderate and humid climate. On the western and eastern sides, Palestine is bordered by water: from the west by the Mediterranean Sea, and from the east by the Jordan River, which, originating in the bowels of Hermon, flows almost in a straight direction from north to south, slightly meandering along the valley. On its way, the Jordan flows through two lakes - Merom and Gennesaret - and flows into the Dead Sea, thus having a length of up to one and a half hundred miles, with a width of 10-12 fathoms and a depth of 1-2 fathoms in the summer. Of the two lakes it flows, Lake Gennesaret is especially remarkable, so named due to its harp-shaped shape (kinneref, harp). It is about 20 versts long and 10 versts wide, and is distinguished by the extreme transparency of its waters, filled with fish of all kinds. The surrounding area amazes with its picturesqueness and fertility. Palm trees, fig trees, grapes and fruit trees of all kinds grow successfully along its banks. The extremely warm and well-dissolved air contributes to the fact that all the fruits on its banks ripen a month earlier than at the surrounding heights. It was not for nothing that the Jews said that if heaven still exists on earth, then here is the door that leads to it. The exact opposite is the Dead Sea, into which the Jordan flows. It has up to 70 v. in length and up to 20 in. in width. Lying gloomily in a deep hollow, it produces a heavy and overwhelming impression. Its yellow-turbid waters are so saturated with salt and bitterness that almost no life can exist in them. The very air around him is saturated with salty bitterness, and the surrounding soil, with its sulfur-salted blocks, represents a terrible desert. The flinty banks, rising in steps from its surface to more than 1,700 feet and devoid of any vegetation, complete the gloomy picture, which in its entirety recalls the terrible judgment of God that once befell the lawless and wicked cities of the flowering valley. Traces of former fertility are only small oases, on which rare balsam plants and various palm trees still grow. The position of Palestine at the transitional stage from the temperate zone to the hot zone (between 31 and 33° north latitude and 34 and 36° east) gives its climate a certain regularity that is unique to it. The length of days and nights is almost always equal to 12 hours, and only in the hottest summer months and the coldest winter months there is a difference of two hours between days and nights. The transition from day to night and vice versa occurs with extraordinary speed. Night comes almost suddenly after a clear day, and the dawn of the day with the same speed disperses the darkness of the night. The seasons change with the same regularity. In Palestine there are actually only two seasons - dry and wet. At the beginning of autumn, the so-called early rains arrive, which fall with such regularity that if they slow down, the population begins to seriously worry about the future harvest. For several months, rainy days alternate with sunny ones; thunder and lightning herald and accompany the fall of rain, which sometimes turns into snow flakes and hail. Towards the end of the wet season, the rain begins to fall even more heavily and is called the late rains, which sometimes make up for the insufficiency of the early ones. This regular distribution of rain is directly dependent on two main sources of moisture: the Lebanese Mountains in the north and the Mediterranean Sea in the west. The melting snow on these mountains during the summer fills the autumn atmosphere with moisture, forms rain clouds, which are driven south by air currents formed at sea in the autumn, where they fall as rain. During the dry season, i.e. in the summer, lasting from April to October, the sky becomes completely cloudless and not a drop of rain falls to refresh the earth or man. But the vegetation does not die, since the rich dew that forms at night sufficiently compensates for the lack of rain, and the north-west wind, blowing from the sea throughout the summer, significantly moderates the heat of the day. Occasionally, a scorching east wind (kadim) rages, which drives caustic dust into all pores of clothing and body. But this wind in Palestine is not as destructive as the African simoom. As a result of the prevailing regularity, the climate of Palestine is very healthy and contributes to the high growth and physical strength of the population. There are absolutely no rotten swamps in it that poison the atmosphere. Diseases are generally rare, and those that sometimes rage in it are mostly of an imported nature. Currently, Palestine seems deserted and barren. But she was not like that in ancient times. When it was given into the possession of the chosen people, it was like an artificial garden, carefully planted among the surrounding deserts, and was distinguished by amazing fertility, which gave it the full right to be called a country “where milk and honey flow” (Ex. 3:8), “the beauty of all lands” (Ezek. 20:6). It was, as described by Moses, “a good land, where there is wheat, barley, vines, fig trees and pomegranate trees, olive trees and honey, a land in which the people will eat bread and lack nothing” (Deut. 8:7–9). even now the valleys in it are distinguished by extreme fertility and, with some hard work, produce two harvests a year. Even the area lying north of the Ezdrilon plain is very generously endowed with nature, and in ancient times there were so many olive trees that the tribe that inherited it, so to speak, was drowned in oil 671. The middle of the country, lying south of this plain, was also distinguished by its abundance of everything and generously rewarded labor. Streams gurgle from the rocks everywhere, irrigating the land and providing power for the mills. This area, given to the possession of Joseph’s sons Ephraim and Manasseh, was distinguished by “the desired gifts of heaven, the dew, the desired fruits of the sun and the desired products of the moon, the most excellent products of the ancient mountains and the desired gifts of the eternal hills” (Deut. 33:13-15). Along the slopes of the mountains there were luxurious gardens and vineyards everywhere, and the mountains themselves, now striking in their desolation, were covered with dense forest - terebinth, beech, ash, chestnuts, oak and many other deciduous trees. In especially warm places, slender palm trees rose up, bearing sweet fruits and often pouring their juices onto the ground from excess. Towards the south, fertility decreases as the valleys give way to continuous limestone hills; but there were also good pastures for herds. Only to the south of Hebron does the area acquire a completely deserted character, and only in places do you come across oases irrigated by spring water, in which the vegetation is even more luxurious and rich. But the entire coastal strip was amazingly fertile, and even now, despite the general desolation of the country, grain plants produce an abundant harvest with the slightest cultivation of the land, and all kinds of palm trees, olives, almonds, lemons and bananas grow luxuriously from the trees, although unfortunately, in the absence of a hardworking population, the coastal sand increasingly fills up this fertile strip of land every year. With its extraordinary fertility and all the amenities for the body, the promised land provided healthy food for the soul. It was insignificantly small in comparison with the vast spaces occupied by such states of the ancient world as Egypt, India, Assyro-Babylonia. From some points on the mountain peaks in the middle of the earth you can immediately see its border both in the east and in the west, on one side the waves of the Mediterranean Sea and on the other the darkly sparkling surface of the Dead Sea with the Jordan and the mountains of Gilead towering beyond them. From Mount Hermon, the eye takes in an even larger space, and before it opens a marvelous panorama of the most beautiful landscapes, which in the amazingly transparent air are drawn before the eyes like a series of wonderful pictures drawn by the hand of the divine Artist. How much healthy food such species provided for the soul and how many sublime feelings and thoughts they awakened! In this blessed land, every hill and every valley was capable of awakening in a responsive soul feelings of boundless reverence and gratitude to the Creator, whose finger was felt everywhere. Only under the impressions of such wondrous divine beauty could those wondrous psalms pour out from the soul of the Israeli king-poet, the divinely inspired psalmist David, in which all animate and inanimate nature, the sun and moon, animals and birds, mountains and hills, youths and maidens, elders and youths - all are called to praise the name of the Lord, whose glory is in heaven and on earth (Ps. 148 ). It is not surprising that this blessed country did not remain deserted. Since ancient times, it was densely populated by various tribes, and precisely by the descendants of Canaan, the son of Ham, as a result of which the land itself was called Canaan. Canaan had eleven sons, who became the founders of eleven separate tribes. Four of them settled in Syria and Phenicia, and the remaining seven (Hittites, Jebusites, Amorites, Gergesites, Hivites, Canaanites and Perizzites) occupied and settled Palestine. The southern part of the coastal plain was occupied by the Philistines, with whom Abraham and Isaac came into contact, and who subsequently achieved such power that after them the country itself began to be called Palestine (Philistines - Pelestin, hence Palestine). Among them, in places, there were also remnants of the gigantic primitive tribe of Rephaim, traces of which remained until later times. All these peoples, with particular differences, spoke a language very close to Hebrew, so that the Israelites could freely understand them and speak with them. In any case, in all relations with them, both the patriarchs and the later Israelites, the matter was done completely without translators, and the very names of the kings of these tribes and the names of the cities sounded completely Jewish (such as Abimelech, Melchizedek, Shechem, Kiriath-Sepher, etc.). Along with the language, true religion was preserved in some places among them, as we see in the person of Melchizedek, who was a priest of the Most High God, and even in the person of the Philistine king Abimelech. who also revealed the knowledge of the true God - Elohim, the same one in whom Abraham believed (Gen. 21:22 and 23). But besides these traces of true religion, in general these peoples were immersed in the darkest idolatry. It was in its most developed form among the Phoenicians, who, as the most enlightened among them, served as a model for them in religious terms. Both the Phoenicians and all the other Canaanite peoples idolized the forces of nature, which were personified in the divine couple under the names of Baal and Astarte. Baal personified the sun, and Ashtoreth the moon, but not as the purest heavenly bodies, but as the productive forces of nature, insofar as they stimulate the earth, animals and people to bear fruit. In addition, the Canaanites revered seven more lower gods, personifying the seven planets known at that time, and with them a special eighth god named Asmun, who was personified as a serpent and was considered a healing god. The service to these gods was distinguished by an extreme degree of crude sensuality. In this case, women played the main role. Altars and churches were built on the tops of mountains, under trees, and were dedicated to Baal and Ashtoreth. In each church of Baal there was a cone-shaped stone, as an image of the fertilizing organ, which served as the main object of religious honor. At the end of autumn there was a festival of sadness, ending in the grossest debauchery. During the seven days of tribulation, the women searched for the missing Baal, i.e. His wooden or stone image, out of frenzied grief, they tore out their hair and hit themselves in the chest. The priests, to the irritating sounds of sad music, cut their hands and bodies with knives and stabbed them with spears. But towards the end of the festival of sorrows, everyone frantically exclaimed: “Baal lives!” and out of this ecstatic joy the girls shamelessly sacrificed their honor for the money that was intended as a sacrifice to Astarte. At the churches there were special church harlots who indulged in debauchery both in the churches and on the streets for a whole year, and were called “dedicated” (kedeshot). In honor of Astarte, men and youths castrated themselves and dressed in women's clothes, in order to thereby become like God, who was both Baal and Astarte, the masculine and feminine principles. These fanatical eunuchs, who begged for alms for the churches, were also called initiates (kedeshim). It is clear that such a religion made the entire life of these peoples unclean and disgusting, already incurring the terrible wrath of God - in the punishment of Sodom and Gomorrah 672. As a result, Moses expressly forbade the Israelites from entering into an alliance with the Canaanite peoples. In order to liberate and cleanse the Promised Land from such desecration, they had to completely destroy or expel them, as tribes who had incurred the righteous judgment of God for the fact that, for the blessed gifts of the fertile land they inhabited, they not only did not glorify the true God, but, on the contrary, found in them the source of disgusting idolatry and wickedness. Civilly, the Canaanite peoples were already at a fairly high degree of civilization. Not to mention the Phoenicians, who at that time were already conducting extensive maritime trade and were familiar with all aspects of civilized life, and other Canaanite peoples, following them, knew how to extract metals from mines, forged gold and silver things for decoration, made weapons and chariots for war, built churches and palaces, knew how to fortify cities with walls, conducted trade and were familiar with bookkeeping and writing. The high development and prevalence of writing is indicated by the remarkable circumstance that one of the cities in southern Palestine was called Kiriath-sefer, i.e. the city of books, which name suggests the existence of an entire library or book house in it. The development of civil life was facilitated by the very density of the population. The country was filled with cities and villages, among which lay the most luxurious fields and pastures. The cities, most of them heavily fortified, were built primarily on the heights of the mountains, which made them even more impregnable to enemy attack and which, by the way, especially frightened the Israeli spies. Despite this, however, the Canaanite peoples could not provide insurmountable opposition to the Israelites, since there was no state unity between them. Not only individual tribes, but also individual cities considered themselves completely independent of each other, ruled by their own kings, who constantly competed with each other and mutually exhausted their strength in continuous wars. Even the common danger that threatened them all could not unite them among themselves, and each city defended itself with its own forces. Only later were alliances formed from several cities, which together tried to defend their existence. But even with this political disunity of the Canaanite tribes, in order to conquer the promised land with its numerous strongholds, which required for the capture of their high military art and siege engines, which such a shepherd people as the Israelites naturally could not possess, and to defeat the kings who had a battle-tested army and terrible iron destruction chariots - this required not only extraordinary courage on the part of the leader and his people, but also the special help of God. And this help was promised to the new leader of the people of Israel - the valiant and experienced warrior Joshua. Chapter 57. Conquest of the Promised Land The glorious successor of Moses came from the tribe of Ephraim, and was one of those two courageous and devoted people to Moses, to whom alone out of the entire people brought out of Egypt was given the opportunity to see the Promised Land. When Joshua left Egypt, he was about 45 years old, and thus, by the time he entered the Promised Land, the weight of 85 years of age was already on his shoulders. But, like his great predecessor, Joshua, even at this age, was still full of strength and undaunted courage, and fully corresponded to the height of his position. As the closest companion of Moses, he was completely familiar with everything related to governing the people, and therefore did not need detailed instructions. For him, one divine word was enough: “be strong and courageous” in order to completely devote himself to the fulfillment of the task entrusted to him - the conquest of the promised land. Lately the Israelite camp was in Shittim, near the mountain on which Moses rested. The area around was distinguished by luxurious, purely tropical vegetation, supported by many streams murmuring everywhere. The Israelites were separated from the Promised Land only by the Jordan, behind which, in all its splendor, stood the mountains and hills of the land flowing with milk and honey. But she was not completely open to them. First of all, it was necessary to cross the Jordan itself, and then, 12 versts from it, rose the formidable strongholds of Jericho, which seemed to hold in its hands the keys to the promised land. Therefore, it was necessary to explore both the place of crossing the Jordan and especially the state of Jericho. For this purpose, Joshua sent two spies who were supposed to secretly penetrate Jericho and scout out the state of both it and the surrounding country. Making their way to Jericho, the spies were probably amazed at the luxury and richness of the surrounding area, which even now amazes with the generosity of the gifts of its nature. Palm groves and balsam gardens filled the air with a wonderful aroma, and the whole area rang with the chirping of many different and rare birds. In Jericho itself, a lot of wealth, both natural and industrial, was collected, and its capture promised rich booty. But the city was one of the strongest in the country, and its citizens were on their guard. In order not to incur suspicion, the spies, having secretly entered the city, stopped at its very outskirts and found shelter with a certain Rahab, who kept on the outskirts of the city, in the city wall itself, something like an inn, but so dirty and dubious that the owner herself had the bad reputation of a harlot in the city. Despite all the precautions of the spies, the people of Jericho, apparently in terrible anxiety and vigilantly watching for all suspicious persons, learned of their presence and reported to the king, who immediately demanded their extradition from Rahab. But she, amazed by the stories of miracles that accompanied the procession of the Israelites to the Promised Land, and recognizing the superiority of their God, hid them in sheaves of flax on her roof, 673 and secretly released them through the window of the wall outside the city, directing them along a completely different road than along which, according to her instructions, the Jerichoites set out in pursuit of them. Anticipating the imminent fall of the city, she made the spies promise to spare her and her relatives during the capture of the city, having agreed that the sign of her house, unlike others, would be the same scarlet rope on which she lowered the Israelites. behind the wall. Having safely returned to the camp, the spies reported that both the inhabitants of Jericho and other nations were struck with horror by the victories of the Israelites, and the very next morning Joshua ordered them to move across the Jordan. This was in the month of Abib, when barley and flax ripen. The Jordan at this time usually overflows its banks, thanks to the melting of the snow on Hermon, so that it floods those coastal hills that are completely covered with reeds and reeds, making it even difficult to access the river bed itself. How high the water was at that time is not stated in the biblical account, but a recent explorer who recently visited the Jordan at this particular time testifies that the water stood 14 feet above its usual level 674. In view of this, crossing the Jordan at this time was more difficult than at any other time. But this particular moment was chosen for the transition with the purpose of instilling in the people that they continue to use supernatural help to this day and therefore must be courageous in overcoming all obstacles that may arise on their way to the Promised Land. And so, indeed, when, by a special revelation, the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant, at the head of the people, entered the river, the waters in it divided: the upper part became a wall, and the lower part flowed into the Dead Sea, so that a land passage to the other side was formed. The priests moved with the ark to the middle of the riverbed and stood there, as if holding back the water, until all the Israelites had crossed the river. To commemorate this miracle, 12 chosen men took 12 stones from the riverbed, from which a monument was later erected in Gilgal, in front of Jericho, where the Israelites camped after crossing the Jordan, and from the other 12 stones taken on land, a monument was erected on the very spot where the priests stood with the Ark of the Covenant. A fortified camp was set up in Gilgal, which became not only a place for a long stay, but also a stronghold for conquest. Currently, the very place that served as the first camp of the Israelites in the Promised Land has been found. The word Galgal can still be heard in the local name of Jil-Jula, which still denotes the mound, located about five miles southeast of the place where, apparently, ancient Jericho stood - near an excellent spring, known as the “spring of the Sultan,” near the steep base of the limestone hills of Judea. The army of Israel in the camp thus chosen for him was 500 feet above the Jordan basin. The river they crossed lay below them about eight miles to the east. An open plain stretched out on all sides, giving freedom of movement, and the wall of the Judean hills, rising 1000 feet above the level of the camp, was located four miles to the west. Galgal, by its literal meaning, means “circles” and indicates the very shape of the arrangement of those stones from which the monument was built. Many similar stone circles still exist in Moab and other places, and in general such stone buildings or dolmens indicate a primitive form of religiosity. Gilgal became the basis for future military operations and remained the main quarters of the army and the entire Israeli people for several years; a tabernacle was erected in it as a public sanctuary, until it was subsequently transferred to Shiloh. By the way, it was here that the Israelites, for the fortieth time after leaving Egypt, celebrated the Passover, and since during their wanderings in the desert, due to constant worries and disasters, the law of circumcision was often left unfulfilled, then, before the Passover, on the soil of the Promised Land, the people had to fulfill this law, and the entire male sex was subjected to circumcision. It was necessary that, on the threshold of such a great enterprise, which in reality required Jehovah to fulfill the promise He had given to their fathers, namely, the promise to bring them into the land of Canaan as conquerors, they should, on their part, fulfill the condition imposed by Him as a guarantee and dedication of them to Him as a special chosen people. It was also absolutely necessary that among the Israelites there should be strengthened a feeling of their complete contrast to those nations that they were to conquer, and of their complete superiority over them, as the chosen people of God. Finally, the manna on which the people had hitherto fed stopped, and now they had to feed on the fruits of the promised land itself. Finally, it was necessary to begin to capture the terrible strongholds of Jericho. This city stood at the very beginning of the main roads leading into the interior of Palestine, and thus held in its hands the key to the whole country. Until it fell, the Israelites could not move forward, since their rear would be constantly in danger, and they could move forward freely only after the capture of this fortress. The city itself, with the luxurious countryside surrounding it, presented a particularly great temptation for the Israelites, since it represented a striking contrast with their many years of hardship in the desert. From the camp in Gilgal, a vast grove of majestic palm trees, almost 5 versts wide and 12 versts long, opened before the eyes of the people - a grove that, in places, was interspersed with ripening grain fields. The gray mountains rising behind only enhanced the charm of this landscape with their gloomy desolation. At the foot of the mountains, in the very center of a luxurious area, Jericho with its magnificent churches and palaces was visible. This city was the center of that idolatry which has left such a bitter memory among the Israelites since their fall at Baal-peor. It was the local seat of the cult of Astarte, the concubine of Baal, and the very name Jericho means “city of the moon,” which was the symbol of this goddess. Hence, in Jericho, everything that was most dirty and outrageous in the paganism of the Canaanites was concentrated, which the Israelites were to look upon as an abomination to Jehovah and, as such, were to destroy with the sword of divine truth, now entrusted to their hands. The only thought that they had to harbor in relation to the city that flaunted before their eyes was extreme disgust, expressed in the command that they received from Joshua, namely the command to destroy everything in it, with the exception of only some metal objects that could be cleansed of defilement by fire. The very manner of taking Jericho, that strongly fortified city, was to serve as a new lesson to the Israelites that their strength lay not in their own weapons, but in the power of God. When Joshua was inspecting the fortifications of the enemy city, he suddenly saw in front of him a man with a drawn sword in his hand. “Are you one of ours, or one of our enemies?” the brave leader asked him. “No, I am the leader of the army of the Lord,” answered the stranger. Joshua fell on his face in reverence and received a revelation of how Jericho could be taken. According to this supreme order, Joshua ordered the priests to come out with the ark of the covenant and carry it around the walls of Jericho, with seven priests walking in front of the ark and blowing the trumpets, and armed soldiers moving silently in front and behind the ark. For six days they walked around the city once at a time, to the great amazement of the people of Jericho, who, of course, expected an attack on the city. On the seventh day the procession was repeated seven times. At the end of the last round, a stunning cry of the hitherto silent people was suddenly heard, and the terrible strongholds of Jericho fell from a miraculous shaking, leaving the city completely defenseless against the Israelis. All the inhabitants, except Rahab and her relatives, were exterminated, the city itself was destroyed, and a curse was pronounced on anyone who tried to build it again. Rahab, for her faith in the omnipotence of the true God, was rewarded by her acceptance into the society of the chosen people. And this branch from the wild olive tree bore good fruit. Having married Salmon, she became the mother of Boaz, David's great-grandfather, and her name, along with three other women, is included in the genealogy of Christ. The terrible severity with which Joshua subjected the entire population of the city to extermination and even the livestock in it, according to some, is in strange contradiction with the love of mankind that is preached everywhere in the Bible and even with the natural feeling of compassion. The Israelites were expressly commanded to “smite every male with the edge of the sword, and leave not one soul alive” (Deut. 20:13, 16); and from the subsequent history it appears that Joshua carried out this general command literally. Not only in Jericho, but throughout Palestine, wherever the Israeli army passed, he “left no one who would survive, and he consigned every living thing to destruction, as the Lord God of Israel commanded” (Joshua 10:40). Although it is hardly possible to understand these expressions in a literal sense, since it is known that many Canaanites lived in the Promised Land and subsequently, who had a highly harmful influence on the Israelites themselves, but in any case, the fact remains undoubted that the extermination of the entire people was really meant when the Israelites entered the Promised Land, and that the insufficiently strict execution of this command turned out to be extremely unfavorable and harmful for them. In order to understand the meaning of this command, one must bear in mind, on the one hand, the very character of the religion of the Canaanites, and on the other, that divine purpose for which it was intended to create in the Israeli state a pure and sublime theocracy, through which subsequently the highest manifestation of the kingdom of God on earth could spread among all mankind. The paganism of Palestine and Syria was so vile and corrupting in every respect that even at the present time there is no state that would not exterminate it, subjecting such idolaters, if necessary, to the most severe punishments. Fifteen hundred years later this idolatry, with its accompanying abominable rites, penetrated into Rome, and the Roman satyrists of that time rebelled against it as a pestilence that served as the main cause of decay. Therefore, it was necessary that the land in which the chosen people were to be educated in the true religion with the goal of becoming the disseminator of the true faith throughout the world, should be completely cleansed of everything that in one way or another contradicted the sublime plans of the Almighty. It is also not surprising that in order to eradicate such vile immorality and depravity, the Israeli legislator or conqueror did not imagine any other means than the extermination of vile idolaters with the edge of the sword. And subsequent historical life fully proved how divinely just such a command was and how sad the results were that the Israelites did not fulfill this command in all its accuracy. Trying to take advantage of the newly given land as quickly as possible, the Israelis soon lost their former religious fervor, and began to prefer vile alliances with native idolaters to military exploits. But the frequent and deep falls into idolatry throughout their subsequent lives fully proved how great the danger was for them, to avert which they were given the command to exterminate the Canaanites. We must also not forget that the peoples of Palestine have repeatedly received warnings about correction. Forty years have passed since the news of the crossing of the Red Sea and the miracles in Egypt should have shown all nations the greatness of Jehovah over all gods. The recent defeat of the kings of Gilead and Bashan showed no less strikingly that an omnipotent, invincible force stood on the side of the Israelites and righteously demanded universal worship. Some punishment for debauchery was given by Almighty Jehovah and in the defeat that the chosen people themselves experienced for participating in the abominations of Baal-Peor. Rahab in Jericho heard about these events, and undoubtedly the conviction of all the people in general in the whole land of Canaan, although it was suppressed by attachments to their old cult, was the same as hers, namely, that “the Lord, the God of Israel, is God in heaven above, and on the earth below” (Joshua 2:11). When judging these events, one must not then lose sight of the customs of that distant time, because that image of the execution of divine judgment on the Canaanites, which might seem cruel in our time, was only an expression of the customary law of war in ancient times. Beating up all the men or even the entire population of a conquered city was a common rule of war at the time. “I fought against the city (Ataroth, in the tribe of Gad),” says the Moab king Mesa on the famous Moabite stone, “and I took it and destroyed all the men, to please Chemosh, the god of Moab”; “And I settled in it, in their place, men from Shiran and Shaharaf, so that they would dwell in it.” “I took the city of Nebo (from the Israelites), and destroyed with the sword all its inhabitants, the seven heads of the tribes... women and children, because Chemosh pronounced a curse against it.” In view of this evidence, which dates back to a comparatively later time, precisely to the time of the division of the Israelites into two kingdoms, the war of extermination of Joshua turns out to be completely in the spirit of those customs that guided the Canaanites themselves in their wars and which they undoubtedly would have carried out on the Israelites if they had remained victorious, so that it finds justification even in this historical circumstance, not to mention the fact that it also had another higher goal, namely punishment for that the moral evil that these nations introduced into the land of Canaan. But even if we take these events by themselves, without their relation to a higher goal, it still turns out that the severity of Joshua towards the conquered peoples revealed more humanity than was the case with other conquerors of that time. To verify this, you only need to compare, for example. the way the Assyrian king Assur-Nazirpal dealt with captives. The inscriptions on monuments dating back to his time contain the following evidence: “They brought me news (say this monarch), That the city of Suri was indignant. I gathered chariots and troops. From the indignant nobility I skinned them and made a trophy out of them Some I left on the heap to rot, I impaled some on the top of the hill, Some I laid next to the heap of the dead in order on stakes, I have fleeced many in sight of my land And he hung their skins on the walls. I brought Agiyababa to Nineveh. I skinned him and nailed his skin to the wall... I laid siege to this city and made an attack I captured many warriors alive I cut off the arms and legs of some, I cut off the noses and ears of others and gouged out the eyes of many. I made a mound of bodies while they were still alive And I raised another hill of heads on the heights in their city itself. I dishonored their youths and their maidens and 675. That the Israelites, during this war of extermination, did not lose sight of that higher destiny, which was the main purpose of introducing them into the Promised Land, is shown by one majestic event that happened shortly after the capture of Jericho, namely the solemn proclamation of blessing on the doers of the law and the curse on its violators (Joshua 8:33, 34). Simple bloodthirstiness or savage ferocity cannot be attributed to a people capable of such a majestic task, no matter what thoughts may be aroused when considering the activity of conquest itself. In Jericho, as has already been said, they saw only the abomination that had once brought upon themselves the terrible punishment at Baal-peor, and their cruelty was only the cruelty of a people who showed zeal to act as servants of Jehovah, with a view both to preventing the repetition of so terrible and great a temptation, and to bring terror upon the country generally in the sense of preparing for its conquest. “The sword of the Israelites,” says one interpreter, “in its most bloody acts, performed a work of mercy for all the countries of the earth and to the very end of the world. Now these constant battles with the Canaanites, Midianites, Ammonites and Philistines, these wars with which the books of Joshua, Judges and Kings are almost filled, seem very insignificant to us. We are almost surprised that God would intervene in such dissensions, or even change the course of nature, for the purpose of giving one of these nations of Palestine victory over the other. But in these wars the happiness of the entire human race depended on the fate of one of these peoples of Palestine. The Israelites fought not only for themselves, but for all humanity. From the outside it could even seem that they were the enemies of all mankind, and their very distinctiveness gave them a reason to despise all other peoples. And yet, with these very actions of theirs, they did the work of God, they invariably retained within themselves the seed of eternal life and were mediators of blessing for all other peoples, although they themselves were unable to take advantage of it” 676. The fall of such a strong city as Jericho was very important for the Israelites, since the art of proper siege of cities at that time was generally in its infancy, and even more so among such a shepherd people as the Israelis were. Cities east of Jericho were taken in battles on the open field, and some fortified cities in Palestine itself are known to have held out long after the Israelites settled there. Encouraged by this success, Joshua sent a force of 3,000 men against the neighboring city of Ai, which, according to the testimony of the spies, was too weak to bother the entire army. The road from Jericho led along a deep gorge, at the upper end of which stood the city of Ai, which commanded the road to Jebus or Jerusalem and, in general, the roads leading deep into Palestine. Next to it, on another hill, stood Bethel, and in order to make further movement into the interior of the country possible, it was necessary to take both of these cities. Since the Israelis treated these cities with some arrogance, their arrogance was punished by the fact that the Gayans defeated the Israeli detachment and put it to flight. This failure struck fear into the entire people, and Joshua and the elders, tearing their clothes, fell on their faces before the tabernacle. Then the leader of the people had a revelation that the cause of this misfortune was an Israeli, who, out of self-interest, withheld part of the spoils of Jericho. The lot was cast, and he pointed to Achan, from the tribe of Judah, who was stoned, and his corpse with all his property was burned, as a warning to others who would want to be carried away by self-interest and appropriate something from the common property of the people. After this, the Israelites again set out against Ai, and, taught by experience, took all precautions, using military stratagem to capture him. This entire district is filled with deep ravines and basins, and in some of them a detachment of 30,000 Israelis hid near the city, while another smaller detachment of 5,000 people appeared on the plain on the other side and called the Gai army behind them with a feigned flight. Since the pursuing Gayans, celebrating their imaginary victory, left the city gates open and unprotected, then, at the sign given by Joshua by raising a spear towards Gai, the ambush army unexpectedly rushed into the city, set it on fire and at the very city gates met the Gayans, who were now rushing back to the city. Tired of persecution, they were no longer able to withstand the meeting with a strong Israeli army and were put to flight. In a few hours, Guy was completely destroyed, and nothing remained of it except destroyed, smoky stones. The king of the city was hanged on the same day from one of the trees neighboring the city, and the inhabitants were exterminated, although the Israelites were allowed to keep the spoils and livestock for themselves for the present time 677. Bethel, located three miles west of Ai, also now fell from the hand of Joshua, although it was apparently later recaptured by the Canaanites. The capture of the first two fortified cities placed a vast area of ​​the promised land at the disposal of the Israelites and served to ensure further successes of the conquest. But before continuing their aggressive activities, the people of Israel had to solemnly accept the obligation to sacredly preserve the law of God entrusted to them. The divine purpose in transferring the Promised Land to the Israelites was not simply to replace its former inhabitants with new ones, but to destroy the pagans and settle in their place a chosen and consecrated people, so as to establish the kingdom of God on the ruins of the kingdom of this world. As evidence of this, the people had to take an oath in the most solemn atmosphere. The main provisions of the Sinai legislation were engraved on stone blocks, and abundant sacrifices were made on Mount Ebal. Then the priests with the Ark of the Covenant occupied the valley between Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal, and the people, divided into two halves, six tribes each, were to camp on the mountains themselves. And so, when the priests proclaimed a certain position of the law, the people responded to its blessing from Mount Gerizim and its curse from Mount Ebal with a loud and unanimous “Amen,” thereby confirming the truth and inevitability of both the blessing for fulfilling the law and the curse for breaking it. The place where this solemn act was performed was capable, at the same time, of infusing new courage into the people and inspiring them with the most sublime feelings. All around were undulating hills, green on the slopes with vineyards and fields; Among them, an emerald stripe lay the valley of Shechem, the same one where Abraham once erected his first altar to God, and Jacob built his first headquarters in the Promised Land (Gen. 12:7; 33:19), and at both its ends the mountains Gerizim and Ebal rose like giants, the loud “Amen” from which echoed like thunder throughout the valley, fading in the distant hills. And from these mountains, before the amazed eyes of the people, a wonderful picture of the whole of central Palestine unfolded. In the north, Gelbua, Tabor, Carmel and the snow-white northern guardian of the earth, Hermon, rose in succession, with green valleys and plains between them. To the east the clear waters of Lake Gennesaret sparkled, with the blue ribbon of the Jordan stretching from it, and to the west one could see the wonderful blue of the Mediterranean Sea with a strip of sand bordering it. Thus, it was as if the whole promised land was a witness to the great oath of Israel, and the whole of it, with its mountains, lakes, rivers, hills and valleys, was solemnly dedicated to the Lord. Regarding this event, among other things, doubt is expressed regarding the possibility that the voice of the reading of the law could be heard by the people located on two opposite mountains. But the latest researcher says that a single voice could be clearly heard by whole thousands of people located above and below the surrounding hills. “Early in the morning,” says Tristram, we could not only see from Gerizim a man driving his donkey along the path from Mount Ebal, but we could even hear every word that he uttered while driving the donkey. To make sure of this even more, the next time two of our company deliberately stood on opposite sides of the valley, and with perfect clarity for us, one after another, they pronounced the commandments” 678. Thus, once again dedicating themselves to Jehovah and taking possession of Palestine in His name, the people again returned to Gilgal, which still remained the main camp of the people. Meanwhile, a hundred thousand rumors about the victories and self-confident behavior of the Israelites, who ruled Palestine as if they were their own land, spread throughout the entire country and brought even more horror to the Canaanite tribes. Residents of neighboring settlements fled in horror to the mountains and sought refuge in gorges and caves. Some of them even decided to finally move out of the promised land, and traces of them were subsequently found even in Africa. So, if you believe the testimony of Procopius 679, in the Numidian city of Tigis one could subsequently see two marble pillars with a Phoenician inscription that read: “we are from those who fled from the face of Jesus the robber, the son of Nun.” Svida also confirms this by conveying the inscription in the words: “we are the Canaanites whom the robber Jesus drove out.” According to the Talmud, the Gergesites, expelled by Joshua, actually moved to Africa 680. Residents of some cities, not hoping to withstand the conquerors, even began to resort to tricks. Ambassadors arrived in the Israeli camp, who, judging by their dusty and worn-out clothes and shoes, were from afar. They told the elders that they had indeed come from a distant country, where, however, rumors had reached about the great victories of Israel, and they asked for a peace treaty. The Israelis agreed to a treaty with them, but then it turned out that these were ambassadors from the inhabitants of the nearby city of Gibeon and the villages belonging to it. The treaty was considered sacred, and therefore its inhabitants were spared from beating, but turned into slaves to perform religious duties in the tabernacle, in which position they are found in subsequent times. Meanwhile, other nations, seeing that each of them individually could not withstand the Israelis, concluded a defensive alliance among themselves. Namely, five kings united under the leadership of Adonizedek, king of Jerusalem, and they first of all decided to punish the Gibeonites for their betrayal of the common cause. The Gibeonites turned to Joshua for help, who moved against the combined forces of the enemy. Having overtaken the enemy with a quick night march, he suddenly attacked him, defeated him and put him to flight. The defeated enemy rushed in disarray towards the passage opening onto the plain. This narrow passage itself presented all sorts of inconveniences for those running, since this path was extremely uneven, rocky, and constrained by overhanging rocks. It was in this way that the Philistines subsequently attacked the Israelites during the time of Saul. Here Judas Maccabee defeated the Syrian military leader Nicanor, and it was along this same road that the apostle had to pass. Paul as a prisoner on his night journey to Caesarea. The fleeing enemy, naturally crowding along this narrow passage, was caught by another new disaster, namely an unexpected storm that burst out on the Canaanites with a hail of stones 681. The sun was already setting towards evening, and yet the pursuit was not yet over. Then Joshua, strong in faith in the omnipotence of God, exclaimed commandingly: “Stay, sun, over Gibeon, and moon, over the valley of Aijalon! And the sun stood still and the moon stood while the people took revenge on their enemies. And there was no such day, neither before nor after that, on which the Lord listened so much to the voice of man, for the Lord fought for Israel.” This new extraordinary miracle again showed the Israelites what a strong helper and patron they had, and at the same time even more frightened the Canaanites, who now saw that their gods themselves (the Sun and the Moon) had taken the side of the conquering people. The allied kings, having fled from the battlefield, tried to hide in a cave, from which, however, they were taken and put to death. Before following the further course of the aggressive activity, let us dwell on the consideration of this extraordinary miracle. Since this miracle concerns the astronomical field, where the existence of correct and unchangeable laws is recognized with particular certainty, it is not surprising that it meets with many objections. First of all, they point out the incorrectness of the expression itself: stop the sun, since in order to lengthen the day it was necessary to stop the earth, which, by its movement around its axis, produces the phenomenon of day and night. But to this it must be said that I. Navin did not mean to observe the accuracy of astronomical expressions in the heat of battle, but expressed his command in an ordinary colloquial term, which fully allows such an expression. This solstice resulted in a lengthening of the day so much that this day was completely extraordinary, “it was like two days.” Some interpreters, in order to avoid both the above and other objections to the miracle, try to explain this length of the day by the subjective impression of I. Joshua and the Israelites, precisely in the sense that the defeat they inflicted on the enemy was so complete that apparently one ordinary day would not have been enough for him, and therefore that day seemed to actually be twice as long. In support of this, they cite the fact that the very narrative of the miracle is taken from the “book of the Righteous,” i.e. a collection of heroic songs in which various events and exploits of Israeli heroes were sung with the usual poetic license. But to this it must be said that the quote from the “book of the Righteous” is not cited as the source of the event itself, but only to confirm the story of I. Navin himself, in the sense that this great event by the time I. Navin wrote his book (at the end of his life), had already become the subject of folk art, was glorified in the “book of the Righteous,” and thus was a well-known event that did not require special certification of its reality. As for the length of the day itself, due to the lack of certainty of expressions in the narration of the miracle, it is impossible to determine it. The day was apparently already setting to the west, since the crescent moon was visible in the sky. Therefore, one can only assume that from the moment of the miraculous stopping of the sun, night did not come for so long that the Israelis had every opportunity to complete the task of defeating the enemy and the day itself became, as it were, double compared to the usual one. But how could such a miracle happen without disrupting the entire orderly flow of world order? To this question asked by astronomers, the Bible does not answer in a single word, leaving the decision to the own powers of the mind. In this case, two assumptions are possible: 1) either God really stopped the globe in its daily movement around its axis, or 2) without stopping the earth, he made the sun visible to Joshua during the entire time required for victory. It is objected to the first assumption that a sudden stop of the earth would cause a terrible shock to all objects on its surface, as well as significant disorder among the celestial bodies, since the earth would leave its orbit and would disrupt the regular movement of the moon. But this objection is not difficult to resolve. The One who could stop the earth in its movement is so wise and omnipotent as to prevent the disastrous consequences of such a stop. Moreover, the objection suggesting the possibility of a violation of order in the very relationship of celestial bodies is untenable in itself, because the annual movement of the earth around the sun and the movement of the moon around the earth are independent of the rotation of the globe around its axis; As a result, even when its rotation around its axis stopped, its movement in space around the sun and the movement of the moon could not receive any strong shock or modification. As for the second assumption, namely, allowing for the apparent stopping of the sun without the actual stopping of the earth, those who prefer such an explanation of the miracle in question must allow for the miraculous deflection of the sun's rays directed towards the illumination of Palestine. And this deviation could have occurred either through the direct action of the omnipotence of God, who was pleased to give the rays of the sun exactly the direction that was needed to lengthen the day; or through natural means of reflection or refraction of rays, which would also make it possible to see the sun at such hours when it would normally be completely hidden from view. Another objection is made against the historical authenticity of the miracle, namely, that it would certainly have struck other nations due to its extraordinary nature; Meanwhile, we find absolutely no evidence of it in the chronicles of ancient peoples. To this it must be said that from this time very few chronicles of peoples who could have witnessed this miraculous event have reached us. Although the Chinese have evidence of one day being longer than usual, it can generally be assumed that the miraculous length of the day could hardly have been noticeable anywhere else except Palestine. In addition to its purely physical significance, this miracle also had a very important religious and moral significance. It showed the Canaanite peoples, who idolized the sun and moon under the guise of Baal and Astarte, that Jehovah, the God of Israel, is the one true God and at His almighty disposal are those luminaries that the pagans madly idolized. The latter, therefore, in addition to a cruel physical defeat from the Israelis, suffered an equally strong moral defeat, which should have finally taken away from them all courage in the fight against the aliens. After this miraculous victory, the conquest began to be accomplished easily and quickly. The cities fell one after another and along with them the peoples who owned them were exterminated or expelled. So the entire southern half of the Promised Land was conquered, with the exception of a few fortresses, such as. Jerusalem, and Joshua returned to Gilgal with rich spoils. The whole of the middle and south of Palestine had now been conquered, and the Israelites had secured for themselves a secure residence in the Promised Land. But opposition still continued because the northern part of the country had not yet been conquered, and there were still Canaanite cities and communities in various parts that continued to maintain independence. The destruction of Jericho, the plunder and burning of Ai and Bethel, the subjugation of Gibeon with its villages, the occupation of central Palestine due to the flight of its inhabitants, the complete defeat of the southern kings and the seizure of their possessions showed that the conquest of the Israelites threatened to spread throughout the entire country. Seeing the approaching thunderstorm, the kings of the northern tribes began to prepare for defense and entered into a defensive alliance among themselves. The head of this alliance was Jabin, king of the fortified city of Hazor, located in the northern hills halfway between Lake Merom and the shore of the Mediterranean Sea. This warlike king, in order to increase his forces, sent out invitations to enter into a general defensive alliance to the leaders of all the surrounding communities - namely, to Jobab, king of Madon 682, to the king of Shimron, the present village of Simunye, west of Nazareth, to the king of Ahsapha, a remnant of which still exists in the village of El-Jasif, in the tribe of Asher; to all the northern leaders in the mountains stretching towards Lebanon; to all the tribes who lived in the Jordan Valley south of Lake Galilee, as well as to those who lived in the lowlands and other places as far as Dor, a coastal city located near Mount Carmel; to all the Canaanites to the east and west, to the Amorites, Hittites and Perizzites, to the Jebusites who lived on the hill of the future Jerusalem in the south, and to the Hivites who lived at the foot of Mount Hermon in the north. Among all these tribes, which of course were already trembling for their originality, the call found a quick echo, and they all took advantage of the opportunity to crush their common enemy with their common forces. For them, this was a matter of life and death, and they decided to use all their strength to protect their existence. And so a huge army really gathered, “which in multitude was equal to the sand on the seashore,” and its special strength was its numerous cavalry with numerous and formidable chariots, against which the Israelites could only field poorly armed infantry. The rallying point for this large army was the plain east of Lake Merom, present-day El-Gule, halfway between Lake Galilee and the mountains of Lebanon. And this plain quickly filled with hordes. Such an alliance really required an enormous effort on the part of the Israelis, since they had to fight against the united forces of the enemies, who had hitherto been defeated piecemeal. But Joshua, although already bearing the weight of almost ninety years of age on his shoulders, stood at the height of his position. He immediately called to arms all the warriors of the tribes who were encamped in Gilgal and ready for battle at any moment, and, having quickly reached the enemy's rallying point in a secret march, unexpectedly attacked him, as is constantly done in eastern wars, and plunged him into extraordinary confusion and flight. Then the fierce pursuit and merciless beating of the fleeing enemy began once again. The pursuit continued over an area of ​​45 versts to the north, and this entire area, over which the defeated enemy scattered, seeking salvation in the gorges of the hills all the way to Sidon, was covered with dead. The persecution stopped only in the Mitzvah Valley at the foot of Lebanon, when the triumphant Israelis themselves were finally exhausted. An ordinary army, after such a victory, of course, first of all, would not fail to use the horses and chariots captured from the enemy, which the Israelis themselves did not have. But, trusting in divine guidance, the Israelites did not attach any importance to such human help. They believed that their invincible strength was the invisible chariots of God. Their divinely inspired psalmist in later times, expressing the feelings that animated the army of Joshua, sang enthusiastically: “When the Almighty scattered the kings of this land, They turned white as snow on Selmon 683. The Mountain of God is Mount Bashan; The mountain is high, Mount Vasanskaya! Why are you looking enviously, the mountains are high, To the mountain where God deigns to dwell, And will the Lord dwell forever? The chariots of God's darkness, thousands of thousands, Among them is the Lord at Sinai in the sanctuary" 684 This hope for higher help animated all the Israeli soldiers, as the same psalmist speaks of this in significant words: “Some boast of chariots, others of horses, But we glory in the name of the Lord our God” 685. Thus one battle decided the fate of this part of the country. The enemies were completely defeated, the cavalry was captured and destroyed, the city of Hazor, as “the head of all these kingdoms,” was burned, the inhabitants were exterminated and all their wealth became the spoils of the victors. This decisive victory gave the entire promised land into the hands of the conquerors. They could no longer encounter strong opposition, although there were still fortified cities that held out thanks to the strength of their walls. The war lasted about seven years; During it, seven nations were conquered, although not completely exterminated, and thirty-one kings fell in battle. Finally, the Israelis were tired of the war and wanted to take advantage of the fruits of their victories. The warriors of the Trans-Jordanian tribes, long separated from their families, began to ask for leave to return to their possessions. As a result, the war was suspended, although the conquest was not over and many Canaanites remained within the promised land, subsequently becoming a source of terrible evils and all kinds of disasters for the Israelites. Finally, the division of the land followed. Apart from the two and a half Trans-Jordanian tribes, which received allotments for themselves even before crossing the Jordan, the entire conquered land was divided between nine and a half tribes. The division was carried out according to a special lot, which indicated to each tribe a plot of land commensurate with its number. The first lot fell to the tribe of Judah, which received a vast district with Hebron in the center. Next to it, even further south, the tribe of Simeon, which formed the southern border of the land, received an inheritance, and then, starting from the north, the inheritances were distributed as follows: the northernmost part of the land was allocated to the tribe of Nepheali, precisely in the beautiful valleys of Anti-Lebanon. The tribe of Asher was assigned the seaside coast, a long and narrow strip of land, from the borders of Sidon to Mount Carmel. The tribe of Zebulun occupied a transverse strip of land between Lake Gennesaret and the Mediterranean Sea. To the south of it, one after another, the tribes of Issachar, the second half of Manasseh and Ephraim were located, occupying the space between the Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea. The tribe of Ephraim thus occupied the very middle of the Promised Land and, thanks to this happy position, as well as its large number, it received special significance in the fate of the Israeli people, since the main centers of the religious and political life of the people were located precisely within this tribe. In the southern half of the country, the sea coast and the western part of the mainland fell to the lot of the tribe of Dan. The tribe of Benjamin was located along the plain of Jericho and along the Jordan Valley to the Dead Sea, reaching west to the unconquered fortress of Jerusalem. And then the rest of the southern half of the country, as said before, went to the inheritance of the tribes of Judah and Simeon. In general, the Trans-Jordanian plots were distinguished by rich pastures, the northern and middle ones were the most convenient for agriculture, and the southern ones abounded in vineyards and olive trees. After the division of the land, according to a special revelation, an allotment was given to the leader of the people Joshua himself, namely the city of Timnath-Sarai in the tribe of Ephraim. Since the tribe of Levi, due to its special service, was left without a land allotment, forty-eight cities with land belonging to them were allocated to it among the various tribes; of these, thirteen cities were designated specifically for priests and six special cities with the right of refuge for innocent murderers. “Thus the Lord gave to Israel all the land that he had sworn to give to their fathers, and they received it as an inheritance and settled in it. And the Lord gave them rest on all sides, as he swore to their fathers; and none of all their enemies stood against them; The Lord delivered all their enemies into their hands. Of all the good words that the Lord spoke to the house of Israel, not one word remained unfulfilled; everything came true” (Joshua 21:43–45). The Trans-Jordanian tribes also returned to their inheritance, whose soldiers Joshua, with an expression of gratitude for their assistance in the common cause and with an exhortation to hold on to the faith in the one true God, finally found it possible to release. With rich booty that fell to their lot from the riches of Canaan, they went beyond the Jordan and erected a large altar at the place where the Israelites crossed the river. But this circumstance extremely alarmed the remaining tribes, who saw in this the desire of the Trans-Jordanian tribes to separate from their brothers in religious terms. The indignation was so great that a fratricidal war was ready to break out. But fortunately prudence prevented this disaster. A special deputation appointed for this matter, consisting of the priest Phinehas and ten selected elders, found out the essence of the matter and, from the explanations of the Trans-Jordanian tribes, came to the conviction that, by creating the altar, they not only did not think of separating from the religion of their fathers, but, on the contrary, with this visible altar they wanted to clearly confirm their connection with the other tribes and for their future generations. The common connection for all tribes was the Tabernacle with the Ark of the Covenant; but in order to make this national shrine accessible to all tribes, Joshua moved it to Shiloh, in the tribe of Ephraim, as it occupied the middle position in the country. And from here Joshua continued to rule the people peacefully until his death. His entire administration lasted twenty-five years. Finally, “he entered old age.” Feeling the approach of death, he called representatives and leaders of all tribes to his deathbed and addressed them with a strong exhortation to fulfill everything commanded in the book of the law of Moses. At the same time, he reminded them of everything that God had done to the Canaanite peoples for their sake, as well as of His promise that if they remained faithful to Him, the whole earth would become their complete possession, all the pagans would be driven out of it. He repeated the same admonition in Shechem, the sacred dwelling of Abraham and Isaac, and ended his dying conversation with the words: “Therefore fear the Lord and serve Him in purity and sincerity; put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the river and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. If it does not please you to serve the Lord, then choose for yourself now whom to serve... but I and my house will serve the Lord, for He is holy.” “And the people answered and said: No, it will not happen that we will leave the Lord and begin to serve other gods!” The dying leader wrote these words in the book of the law, took a large stone and placed it under the oak tree at the sanctuary, saying to the people: “Behold, this stone will be a witness for you; let him be a witness against you in the days to come, so that you do not lie before the Lord your God” (Joshua 24:19–27). Having then released the people to their destinies, Joshua died peacefully and with the consciousness of fulfilled duty at the age of 110 and was buried in his hereditary allotment in Timnath-Sarai. Modern times have had the happy fate of discovering the very tomb of the great successor of Moses. Victor Guerin, to whom this discovery belongs, writes the following about it: 686 “2 1/2 hours northwest of Jufna, ancient Gofna, are the ruins of Tibne. They cover the slopes and ridge of the hill, which is surrounded on the north and east by a deep hollow. On the south side, the hill descends in terraces into a valley, which in former times was partly covered with houses and shaded by a majestic, ever-green oak tree, one of the most beautiful in Palestine. Further to the south there are more slopes of the hill facing Tibna: on their rocky sides there are several tombs, the remains of an ancient necropolis. At the top of the hill is a small Muslim village with several ancient cisterns, as well as many beautifully carved stones left over from ancient buildings and used to build new houses. The tombs are carved at various levels along the northern slopes of the hill, of which eight are more remarkable than the rest. But what is especially remarkable is the oblong porch, carved into the rock, supported by four columns, two of which on one side are semi-separated from the hill, and the others in the center are completely separated from it. They have no capitals and their tops are decorated only with a few simple shapes. Immediately behind them is the front wall of rock, forming the front wall of the tomb, cut by no less than 288 small holes in 8 rows; some of them are squares, others are triangles, but most are semicircles. On the right side of this rocky wall is a low, narrow door of the tomb, leading to a room with 15 compartments, of which, however, only 14 were apparently intended for corpses. A place of honor in this sad assembly was apparently reserved for the one to whom a small room was intended just before the entrance, while other rooms were apparently intended for members of this family. At the first glance at this tomb, one cannot help but conclude that it was intended for some very famous person, whose resting place, from time to time, was given special honor through the solemn illumination of it with lamps placed in numerous small niches of the vestibule. In the interior of tombs one can often see similar devices for lamps, but there is no example anywhere where devices for lighting were made from the outside. It is difficult not to think that such a special honor would have been awarded to someone other than the person who was the subject of public veneration, and who could be such a person buried in that place, which, without any doubt, is the ancient Timnath-Sarai (or Timnath-Sarai), if not Joshua? This tomb bears signs of extreme antiquity, since it is similar to those tombs that the Canaanites made for themselves before the arrival of the Israelites in their country. The very measurements used in its construction, upon careful examination, turn out to be similar to the ancient Egyptian system, which the Israelites, as we know, brought with them from the banks of the Nile.” This miraculous discovery was subsequently confirmed by other researchers, so there is no doubt that this tomb is precisely the tomb of Joshua. Thus, Abbot Richard, exploring the ruins of Gilgal, where Joshua commanded the children of Israel to be circumcised with stone knives, actually found in this place many small flint knives, partly scattered on the ground, and partly buried in it. Since the Greek translation of the Bible says that the Israelites, when burying Joshua, placed with him the flint knives they used for circumcision in Gilgal, Richard decided to investigate whether there were still such knives left in the tomb, which, according to Guerin, was precisely his tomb in Timnath-Sara 687. And one can imagine his joy when, when visiting this tomb, accompanied by a priest from Jerusalem and the sheikh of the village of El-Birzeit, he actually found many flint knives in it, precisely in the soil of individual rooms of the tomb 688. Soon after Joshua, the high priest Eleazar, son of Aaron, also died. The remains of Joseph, carried by the Israelites from Egypt, were duly interred in Shechem, on the site that Jacob had once purchased and given to his beloved son. “And Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders whose lives were prolonged after Joshua, and who saw all the works of the Lord that he did to Israel.” Forty years of upbringing in the desert obviously had a very beneficial effect on the people. We almost never encounter such devoted faith in God in any of the subsequent periods in the history of the Israeli people. Chapter 58. Social and political condition of the Israelis in Palestine After the death of Joshua, the Israelites were left without a leader. The period had come when the government of God, which lay at the basis of the Mosaic legislation on the state administration of the Israeli people, should have been fully realized. Each tribe was to be governed by its own elders, with a separate prince or chief of the tribe at its head, and the connecting link for them, in addition to natural kinship and common historical memories, was to serve as their common faith in the one true God, as the only King and Judge of the people - a common living consciousness that all tribes constitute one indivisible kingdom of Jehovah. A visible sign of this religious-state unity was a national shrine - a tabernacle, erected for this purpose in the middle of the country, in Shiloh, in the tribe of Ephraim. But such a government presupposes a truly high degree of religious and moral state of the people, and therefore the first years of the life of the Israelites in the Promised Land, when Israel served the Lord, that is, was faithful to His covenant and obedient to His laws, were a time of general peace and prosperity, and each Israeli lived peacefully under his own fig tree. This state continued as long as the generation that witnessed the great blessings of God and miracles performed for the sake of the chosen people was still alive. During this time, some tribes (Judah, Simeon) managed to continue the conquest of the promised land, but since the final conquest had not been made earlier through joint efforts, the Israelites had to come to terms with this circumstance and, tolerating the hated and cursed Canaanites around them, had to defeat them by the power of their religious and moral superiority and thus introduce them to the common property of the kingdom of God on earth. Unfortunately, the people of Israel, even in those cases when they had the opportunity to defeat the Canaanites by force of arms, did not always expel and exterminate them, but often preferred to leave them as tributaries for themselves, thus violating the direct command of God out of self-interest. But by doing this, the Israelites prepared themselves for a terrible disaster, because, as the Angel of the Lord predicted to them, these remaining nations became a snare for them and many of them became a snare for them. The younger generation, taking the place of the previous one, which had seen all the great benefits and miracles of God for the people, did not know and did not want to know the Lord and His works that He did to Israel, and deviated from the true religion, falling into idolatry of the Canaanite deities, accompanied by the most vile wickedness and debauchery. The deviation from true religion was followed by a general weakening of morality among the people, the reign of untruth, unbridled tyranny, disobedience to authorities was established, which in turn was followed by a complete breakdown of state and social order and a complete weakening of the political power of the people. Alien and neighboring peoples, of course, took advantage of this state; they attacked, robbed and killed the Israelis with impunity, forcing them to pay tribute to themselves; so that that period, which should have served as the implementation of true government of God, due to the inconstancy and infidelity of the people of Israel, became for them a time of terrible trials, a new school of religious and moral education. As punishment for apostasy and lawlessness, God gave them into the hands of local enemies, but, out of pity for the ill-fated people, he raised up special deliverers for them, the so-called judges, who, with the help of God, freed the people from oppressors and foreign yoke. Of these judges, the most famous are Othniel, Ehud, Deborah with Barak, Gideon, Jephthah, Samson, Eli and Samuel. The reign of the Israelite judges covered a period of about 350 years and constituted a very significant period, during which many of the principles were developed that formed the basis of the chosen people in later life. This period itself is so important and interesting that it requires more detailed consideration; but in order to understand the historical phenomena that occur at this time, it is necessary to take a general look at the social and political state of the people. In the socio-political state, the Israeli people at the time of the judges represented a completely unique phenomenon that did not fit into the political forms known to us. It was neither a monarchy, because there was no supreme head at the head of the people of Israel, nor a republic as it is currently understood. Although the Mosaic legislation indicated the norm for the social structure, the people were not yet sufficiently educated to implement these lofty laws, and therefore their socio-political life took shape in a form that has an almost exclusively primitive and patriarchal character. And this patriarchal government is a characteristic feature of the period of judges. To understand the essence of this government, one must keep in mind that patriarchal government is completely primitive: this is society, so to speak, in its infancy; This is the power of the father of the family, continuing and extending over generations to his descendants, in the person of the eldest son and firstborn. Such government, therefore, is based entirely on the family, on the right of primogeniture, and has no other organization than the family. The head of the family gives orders as a boss, and the children obey. His power is limited only by custom and the obedience or opposition of those who are subject to him. This such a simple organization was completely alien to those artificial complications that are noticeable in our society, and it explains all the features of the life of the Israelis at that time. The complex mechanisms of modern government were still completely unknown at that time; one might add that they were even completely useless, since at that time there was no one except the father and his children. The Israelis did not have not only what we now call international relations, diplomatic representation (the ancient peoples did not have all this), but they were not even engaged in trade or industry in the proper sense of the word; they had no external relations, and there was not even a political connection between the individual tribes. Hence, it should not be imagined that from the time of Joshua to Saul, the Israelis always had someone at the head of their government, commanding the entire Israeli people. It is difficult for us to imagine a people who would not have any central power and would not have connecting threads; Meanwhile, a careful study of the sacred narrative proves that the Israelites at that time really did not have any government, understood in our sense. It had no government head, because there was essentially no board or administration. There was no evidence for the existence of such a government, since each tribe was independent, all local authorities were hereditary and there was no legislative power at all; the people made no new laws; everything was governed by custom and the law of Moses; no public works were undertaken, since this type of enterprise was completely unknown. Thus, strictly speaking, the Israelites had no executive power, and, consequently, there was no one who could distribute offices or appoint to certain places; there was no public treasury, no taxes. The Israelites, however, were obliged to pay tithes, but it was not a tax in the proper sense of the word, but a simple religious offering to God and the Levites, who did not receive a portion when dividing the Promised Land. The Israelites could be regarded as tenants of the estates of Jehovah and His priests: they paid tithes, as a tenant pays rent to a landowner, and each performed this duty according to his own conscience, since there were no tithe collectors or publicans at all to enforce payment. This simplicity of public organization was also noticed in private life. Just as each city was completely independent and governed itself, independently of all others, except perhaps for a certain authority, more nominal than real, on the part of the head of the tribe; so every family, every home in general, took care of the satisfaction of its daily life. Many things that seem necessary to us were completely useless and even unknown to the Israelis of that time, as to the Bedouins of the present time. All our artificial needs, all the refinements of luxury and table did not exist for these simple people. Between them there was not even a special class of artisans, and if artisans appeared in the genus of foundries and goldsmiths at the time of the exit from Egypt, then they were few in number, and they represented an exceptional phenomenon. Each lived by income from his field and from his herds: the bread that he collected himself, the milk and meat from his herds, the fruits from his vineyard and his fig tree - were the only food for the Israelites. The housewives not only prepared bread and food, but also weaved and sewed clothes and prepared shoes themselves. They had no special crafts or artisans: no shoemakers, no bakers, no shopkeepers, no butchers; there were only farmers or pastoralists 689. It was only by chance that the surplus of the produce of the harvest or herds was exchanged with the industrial Phoenicians or with the caravans passing through Palestine for some rich materials or some ornaments, weapons or some precious metals. Thus, the people were as independent in their needs as they were independent in government. Just as the people managed without the help of others in public and private life, so at the same time they managed without any special organization to maintain order and peace. He did not have special judges to establish the truth, there were no police to oversee the implementation of laws and respect for property, and there were not even judicial chambers. When it was necessary to settle disputes, controversial matters, according to custom, were discussed by the elders of the people, that is, the heads of families, at the city gates. When the elders pronounced their sentence, the interested parties themselves had to carry it out, since there were no special executive powers for this. Everyone had to take care himself that his property rights did not suffer any violation. Transactions between individuals were also carried out at the city gates without the intervention of notaries and without any writing, but simply before the residents of the area, who appeared as witnesses 690. The social structure of the Israelites was thus extremely simple and there was no central authority. The very need for supreme power could be felt only in two cases: in important legal cases and in the event of war. Moses in his legislation provided for the first case, but did not specify anything for the second. If the judges could not agree among themselves, or if one of the parties refused to accept their verdict, then Moses ordered that the matter be referred to the decision of the priests 691. Apart from religious unity, this is the only trace of unity, the only thread linking all 12 tribes together that can be discovered in the Mosaic legislation. In case of war, as we said, there were no special provisions. In such a society there was no standing army. As a matter of fact, there were not even any troops at all in the sense as we understand it now, that is, people who made a special craft out of war. When the people settled in the promised land, all they thought about was living in peace. He had no desire to expand his possessions beyond Palestine by an offensive war, and only in cases of extreme necessity did he wage defensive wars. In view of this, the military side was the most insufficient under patriarchal governance. At that time there was no military training or discipline. If it was necessary to defend against the enemy, everyone armed himself as best he could with what fell into his hands. The military leaders were none other than the heads of families, and in the hastily assembled troops, in which only those who wanted to go, there was no strict sequence of power, no discipline, no strict order; there were no personnel, no military uniforms, no provisions, no strategy. Strength and cunning - that was all the military science of that time consisted of. A serious campaign in this way obviously could not be waged with an army that did not have strict bearing and did not even receive either pay or provisions. Each soldier was required to bring his own provisions (1 Sam. 17:17 et seq.), or to obtain it by robbery, or in any other way whatsoever (Judges 8:5 et seq.). Thus, in order not to die of hunger, it was necessary either to defeat the enemy with unexpected attacks, or to make predatory raids, as the Bedouins still do now, having exactly the same structure as the Israelis had at that time, that is, to devastate the enemy’s country and enrich themselves at its expense. In the absence of a military organization, the people preferred more than once to submit to the tribute imposed on them by a stronger enemy than to overthrow the yoke with weapons (Judges 3:8, 14, etc.). The part of the people who submitted in this way paid what was required of them, and either the winner himself determined how much each settlement had to pay, or the elders of the country agreed among themselves to determine how much each had to pay. From this it is easy to understand that each settlement was in fact almost completely independent, each place “did whatever it wanted,” as the biblical narrative says (Judges 17:6; 18:1, 31). It is also easy to understand that this form of government especially contributed to the development of egoism and gave predominance to the stronger. No one had the right to become the head of the population, make a call to arms against the common enemy and impose his power on him. Everyone thought only about themselves. Individuals cared for nothing other than their own city, their patriotism did not extend beyond their own vineyards and olive trees. Only when the oppression became too heavy and the yoke too unbearable did some of the most courageous and enterprising people emerge from among the population and issue a call to arms. Not every head of a family or village, of course, was a brave and courageous warrior. Therefore, the most courageous and the bravest always became the head of such movements. Such a person then became a judge of Israel (Judges 10:18). Hence those heroes of the Israeli people, who are known as judges, achieved this dignity in completely different ways, but mainly their performance was determined by completely random circumstances. When such a judge issued a call to arms, anyone who wanted to came under his authority. There were no special recruitments, just as there was no forced service. Anyone who wanted and was capable became a warrior; but he went to fight only when he himself felt the desire to do so, or, at least, when the head of the village decided to take part in this war. The judge had only as much power over the army as he himself could acquire by personal authority or as much as it was given to him. He could also be an unconditional ruler, like a Roman dictator, if he was capable of it; but everything depended on his own abilities and on his ability to control people and make them obey. If he was the winner, then the victory gave him the right to command imperiously and punish the guilty; but he did not have the right to impose his will by force before the battle; his only source of power was persuasion on his part (Judges 8:1–3). When the public danger that placed the judge at the head of the armed people had passed, when the necessity had ceased, forcing everyone to obey him, then the Israelites and their liberator himself returned to their fields and to their inheritances (Judg. 8:29) and indulged in their own affairs, completely unconcerned with the public good, about which no one had an exact idea and which did not even exist in the form as we understand it now. The judge did not govern because there was no administration: he had no state interest, and outside of periods of oppression he had no other interests than his own, private ones. Each judge undoubtedly enjoyed great respect, was surrounded, as it were, by a halo of victory, and the reflection of his glory, so to speak, spread to the entire people. His glory provided inner peace with the saving fear which he inspired in external enemies, and he thus continued to be the benefactor and liberator of all Israel; but, contrary to popular belief, he did not rule in the proper sense of the word: he was, as we have already said, an honorary judge rather than an actual judge with full power. He naturally enjoyed great respect and legitimate influence; he may have been consulted in difficult cases, but he had no definite and legitimized power; he was only the first citizen of the country, the most revered and most respected by all 692. The idea of the unconditional power of an individual over the twelve tribes was so alien to the morals and customs of the people in these primitive times that, judging by the testimony of the sacred books, Joshua, after the completion of the conquest of the Promised Land and the division made, despite his exceptional power, which he enjoyed for so long, despite the extraordinary services rendered to the Israelites and the brilliant miracles with which God exalted his activities, retired from business. to his hereditary inheritance in Timnath-Saray and lived there as a simple private person, dealing exclusively with his household affairs and not claiming any other authority over the tribes, except the right to remind them in a dying conversation about the benefits that the people had experienced from God, and to exhort them to firmly hold on to their faith in Jehovah. He did not even have the thought of appointing a successor for himself, and did not transfer any power to his offspring, about whom the Bible tells us absolutely nothing. An even more striking example of this is provided by the first king of Israel, Saul. The tribes determined to have a king at their head; but the ancient customs were still so alive that Saul did not see in his new dignity anything other than the leadership of an army, and at the end of the war in which he defeated the Ammonites, he thought that he had nothing left to do but return to his plow and cultivate his fields (1 Sam. 10:26; 11:5). During the first years of his reign, he was nothing more than a simple judge, without a standing army, without an administration, without royal income, without a capital - in a word, without all the other royal advantages and duties, except for the defense of the country from external enemies. Only little by little he started a court for himself, formed a knot of troops and forced the people of Israel little by little to transform and move from patriarchal rule to monarchical rule. It is possible to point out only one exception to this general order, namely the example of Jephthah, who, becoming the head of the Trans-Jordanian tribes to overthrow the yoke of the Ammonites, expressively demanded the right to remain the head of the allies even after the defeat of the enemy; but even this demand, like the offer made to Gideon to retain his power, shows that here it was a matter of deviating from established customs (Judges 8:22; 11:9 et seq.). The only exception is actually Abimelech, but he was not a judge in the proper sense of the word, but was simply a usurper and tyrant. It is not uninteresting to note that neither Abimelech nor Jephthah are called sophetims, that is, judges in the proper sense of the word. Abimelech is called melek, that is, “king,” and Jephthah is called rosh or katsit, that is, “head,” “prince” (Judges 9:6; 11:6, 9, 11). Judges in general were leaders, so to speak, temporary, random authorities, which God established in exceptional cases, according to the needs of his people. As a result of this, the power of each of them was very different, both in its actual significance and in its territorial distribution: everything depended on the circumstances and on the individuals themselves. The title of judge, therefore, should not be understood in the sense that this word has for us; it means a boss rather than a judge in the proper sense of the word: the first and main position of the judges of Israel was military, not judicial. This latter could only be secondary and an appendage for them, at least until the time of Elijah and Samuel 693. The Book of Judges expressively says that the position of judges or sophetims was military and liberating 694; she does not ascribe to them any other office. The judge was the liberator of his people; According to the true meaning, sofet is “deliverer.” The Israeli judges were thus by no means government leaders in our sense of the word; their power was not hereditary and did not even extend to the entire people, but for the most part had only a local and limited character. At first glance, it might seem that each of the judges known to us extended his power to the entire land of Israel, but upon more careful examination and when comparing individual evidence with each other, one cannot help but notice that this was not so. None of the judges, with the exception of Othniel, apparently extended his authority to the tribes of Judah and Simeon 695. Deborah was the heroine and prophetess of her northern countrymen; Gideon was the liberator of central Palestine; Jephthah - the liberator of the Israelites living east of the Jordan; Samson, apparently, never had any other power than over his own tribe, the tribe of Dan; the tribe of Judah recognized him so little as their leader that they treated him almost as an enemy, and handed him over to the Philistines (Judges 15:10–13); he defended Israel solely through his personal exploits. Without extending their authority to all the tribes, at least until Elijah and Samuel, the judges at the same time did not inherit correctly from one another. Due to the very nature of history, as it is presented in the book of Judges, we are not able to formulate a strict chronology of this time, but it is possible that there was a significant break between the judges mentioned in it, just as on the other hand it is also possible that there were several judges at the same time in different parts of the Promised Land. From all that has been said, one can see how unfounded are the rapprochements that were sometimes made between the judges of Israel and the heads of other nations. They were compared to the Carthaginian suffets; but the latter were regular leaders who received power by right election on the part of the communities, and had a certain authority; therefore, there is nothing in common between them and the Israeli judges, except for the consonant name. Israeli judges were also compared with Roman consuls, but also without sufficient reason. With greater justice they were equated with the dictators whom Rome appointed in moments of great public danger and to whom it entrusted all powers. The power of the Israeli judges was almost limitless, since they had the right to everything they wanted, and became the head of the people in exceptional critical circumstances 696; nevertheless, the way in which they assembled their army and controlled it had nothing in common with the Roman one. As for the political state of the people at the time of the judges, it can only be compared with the state of the Swiss cantons, but with the exception of the central authority of the Swiss confederation and with the replacement of the elected leaders of each canton and each village by elders and heads of families. The only type of government that most closely matches that of the Israelites at this time can be seen among the Bedouins 697 . Each Arab tribe has its own special sheikh. But, being at the head of his fellow tribesmen, he, strictly speaking, has no power over individual members; with his personal qualities he can acquire significant influence; if he enjoys the reputation of a wise and intelligent person, then the people follow his advice and instructions; but his orders would be immediately rejected if he wanted to rule imperiously. In all controversial cases, his conviction is not able to establish good agreement; Only force, not authority, can end disagreement. Sometimes he is chosen as a mediator, but he does not have the right to enforce the sentence by force. The Bedouin considers himself free and boasts that he does not recognize any other master than the master of the universe 698. The advantage of the sheikh is that he has the right to become the head of the tribe in times of war and to direct the course of affairs in times of peace, but he can neither declare war nor make peace without consulting the main members of his tribe. He receives no tribute from those whom he is considered to be superior; on the contrary, he himself is subject to many costly responsibilities, such as reception of guests. The various families that make up the tribe are independent of each other; their heads constitute a kind of permanent council of the sheikh, which cannot take any important decision without their consent. This, in general, as can be seen from a careful study of the biblical narrative, was the state of the tribes of Israel before the establishment of the monarchy among them. But why did God leave his people for so long in such a primitive and apparently so imperfect social state? Several reasons can be given to explain this. God wanted His people to live in a patriarchal state. When, in the course of time, all the twelve tribes came to realize how much this system had paralyzed their energies, when they felt the need for a serious unity, which would make of all the separate tribes one strong people, capable of successfully resisting the enemies who wanted to destroy it, even then God considered it necessary to present them with objections to this desire through the prophet Samuel 699. These objections clearly show why God wanted His people to remain under this imperfect form of government. The Israelites sacrificed everything to the religious mission, which was their main purpose. Having settled them in Palestine, as if enclosing them in a fence in order to protect them from any contact with foreigners, God did not at all want this people, who once had to show such an ability for trade, to indulge in trade and industry until captivity, because their relations with neighboring peoples could damage the purity of their faith. From the south and east it was surrounded by a belt of deserts; in the north the impassable mountains of Lebanon rose before him. He was not even allowed to touch the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, this great route of communication between ancient peoples; God settled on the shores of this sea strong warriors with whom the Israelites were constantly at war and whom they could never completely subjugate. From here the Israelites, by the force of things, were forced to live completely alienated in the land of Canaan, for the most part inaccessible to foreigners. But having separated them from the rest of the world, God, in order to make them feel more fully how completely they were at His disposal, did not even want them to have a king at first 700 . Not having a person above them who would be able to protect them against their enemies, they felt all the more strongly their dependence on God. Jehovah, although invisible, was for them the same as a king for other nations, and since they never doubted His omnipotence, they resorted to Him in their needs; they justly attributed their misfortunes to the righteous wrath of the Lord for their unfaithfulness; they promised Him to better fulfill the laws in the future, and Jehovah, taking pity on them, fought at their head and delivered them from their oppressors 701. Therefore, nothing could so deeply impress upon the souls of the Israelites the concept of the true God and the true religion, as this patriarchal mode of government, which placed them, so to speak, in a tangible manner on the mercy of Jehovah and gave them no other protection and no other help than God. But in order to better understand how this social structure was consistent with the main goal that God had in calling His people, and which was entirely to preserve the true religion, it is interesting to inherit what would have happened if, from the very moment they entered the Promised Land, this people had a king at their head. It’s easy to get an idea of ​​this from what happened after the establishment of royal power. The lack of political centralization had important disadvantages that cannot be denied; but would not the establishment of royal power have had them even more immediately? The lessons flowing from the book of Judges, these blows of Providence, with which the people were punished or rewarded, depending on their deeds - all this would undoubtedly have been obscured under the rule of one king: responsibility would have fallen on the head of the king, and not on the people themselves. In addition, the people, perhaps, would have irrevocably given themselves over to their inclination towards idolatry, which later, as we know, was encouraged by the kings. Representing the political strength of Israel, these latter were at the same time a source of constant danger to the purity of its faith. One has only to uncover history and we will see how many kings were faithful to their duty: no more than three or four of those forty who reigned in the kingdom of Judah and Israel. The first of them violated the law so much that the Lord rejected him; the one whose reign gave special shine to the people of Israel, namely Solomon, also fell into idolatry. Under his successor, Rehoboam, the ten tribes split and generally maintained idolatry until the destruction of the kingdom. If, after a few centuries, the Israelites were still inclined to follow their kings in the worship of Baal and Ashtoreth, how much more danger would have been presented in this respect soon after leaving Egypt, when the Israelites first came into contact with the Canaanite peoples, who bore so much resemblance and even kinship with them, and who were so devoted to the cult of false gods. This inclination was so strong among the Israelites that they succumbed to it several times during the time of the judges; but the lack of unity between the tribes, the fragmentation and disunity of Israel, made the evil less serious and more easily remedied, since it always remained local. Disloyalty to Jehovah was usually not common. Individual local leaders did not have the same influence as the tsar. When the northern tribes had the weakness to obey the Phoenician deities, the southern ones did not imitate them in this. If at that time there had been a king at the head of the people who had given himself over to idolatry, then, possessing the power of an eastern despot, he would have passed on his wickedness to all the tribes, and there would hardly have been at least a few people so strong and courageous who would have dared to resist him. From this it is clear what danger could threaten true religion in such a state. As a result of this, it was God who allowed that at first there was no complete unity between the individual tribes of the Israeli people and that the only connection for them was the common sanctuary, which was the embodiment of true religion. The lack of centralization had other benefits as well. The separation was necessary for the chosen people to fulfill their religious mission. The people of Israel had to remain without intercourse with neighboring nations, so as not to be absorbed or at least spoiled from them. But this lack of relations could exist only under the condition that the Israelites not only did not indulge in trade, but also did not undertake any aggressive enterprises, because nothing changes the morals and character of peoples to such an extent as conquest. In great monarchies, in addition to the danger of idolatry and the struggle between the priesthood and state power, there is always a passion for expansion. This is, as it were, an inevitable disease of the great monarchies from the time of Nimrod to Napoleon I. If you take a look at the ancient history of Chaldea, Egypt, Assyria and Media, what are they like? Already during the time of Abraham, Chedorlaomer raided the southern regions of Canaan. The reign of the pharaohs, especially starting from the 18th dynasty, constantly took place in offensive or defensive wars. Assyria constantly waged wars, just as the Persians and Romans later waged them. Even the Bedouins, who lead a completely nomadic life and do not have a settled life in cities and villages, constantly wage inter-tribal war and live by robbery. Meanwhile, this life, consisting of constant turmoil, robbery and war, which would have been the life of the Israelites if they had had royal power from the very beginning, was contrary to the intentions of God regarding this people, since this latter could strengthen in its faith, in its religious traditions and preserve in all its purity the pledge of revelation entrusted to it, only by avoiding contact with foreigners. Nevertheless, it cannot be thought that there was absolutely no connection between the twelve tribes. If in the socio-political life of the Israelis the main feature of the Israelis was disunity, established, one might say, by God himself in the interests of religion, then on the other hand, in the picture of this era there is an essential feature that is especially capable of showing us the outstanding significance of religion in the life of the sons of Israel, and at the same time showing how God found a way to separate the tribes of his people and at the same time give them a real thread of unity. The twelve tribes, independent in their government, often divided in their socio-economic interests, due to their position in different parts of the country, at the same time had religious unity. The thing in which nationality was most expressed in ancient times, not only among the Israelis, but among all peoples, was religion. Each country had its own religion, and each religion, so to speak, also had its own special country. When Jeroboam separated the ten northern tribes from the house of David, he immediately gave them a new religion, since this ambitious king understood very well that if he did not destroy religious unity, he would not be able to destroy political unity for a long time. If it is generally true that religion in these distant times was the strongest cement of nationality, then this can especially be said about the Mosaic religion, which had more strength and exclusivity in itself than all pagan religions. Without reason, God would not repeat so often that He is a jealous God 702. Moreover, beside this internal religious organization, God, as a more external means, gave certain instructions for the purpose of renewing every year between the children of Israel the connection that otherwise might have weakened among them. In the Old Testament religion, as is known, everything was arranged according to the law of strict unity. As a consequence of this law, sacrifice to God could only be offered in one place, and in order to participate in the solemn sacrifice and festivals in honor of Jehovah, all Israelites were required to visit the sanctuary where the ark of the covenant was located at least once a year. These annual meetings, of necessity, reminded the Israelites that they were all one people, as they worshiped God alone. Simultaneously with the fulfillment of the duties of religion, the public interests of the whole people were usually discussed (Judges 20:1), and thus these meetings, due to the very circumstances, became as if a large deliberative meeting of the whole people, which in the course of time was supposed to lead to a closer union between the individual tribes and finally prepare the establishment of a monarchy, as indeed happened subsequently. It cannot be said that the law which commanded all the Israelites to be present at least once a year at the great festivals celebrated in the place where the tabernacle was, was always strictly observed. It was violated more than once not only by individuals, but perhaps by entire tribes when they fell into idolatry. The book of Judges, which is not a coherent history but a simple collection of historical events, does not tell us all the details of this period. Meanwhile, we happen to know that religious meetings 703 took place in Shiloh, as Moses prescribed, and important decisions were made there. The sacred writers, who so often had occasion to reproach the Israelites for their idolatry, say nothing about this violation, and perhaps because it was not actually committed. However, we must not forget that if the cult of Jehovah did not tolerate any other gods next to it, then this was completely different from the cult of other gods. It is very likely that the majority of the Israelites, who fell into the crime of idolatry, nevertheless continued to revere Jehovah and wanted only to combine the religions of their fathers with the religion of the lands in which they lived; In this case, they shared the common belief of the polytheists of that time, namely the belief that each land had its own special gods, and from here they concluded that each, next to the God of his fathers, had to also worship the gods of the land where he lived. Jeroboam, erecting altars to the golden calf for the separated tribes, considered himself not only obliged to force this cult, which, however, apparently was only an illegal form of serving Jehovah, but even considered himself entitled to prohibit travel to Jerusalem, which was the place of the sanctuary of the one true God. Thus, the people annually gathered for holidays near the Tabernacle of the Lord, where through Urim and Thummim they addressed questions to Jehovah. At Shiloh, near the Ark of the Covenant, it was Joshua who began the division of the Promised Land. There the priests received cities assigned to them to inhabit; there Joshua, no doubt, addressed his last exhortations to the people. In Mizpah and Shiloh at the Ark of the Covenant, the tribes of Israel decided to punish the crime of the Benjamites (Judges 22:1; 20:18). Samuel's father, as the biblical historian says, went annually to Shiloh on certain days, and all Israel did the same as he did (1 Sam. 1:3; 2:22). These periodic meetings accustomed the people and their leaders to mutual consultation and discussion of their common interests. So the heads of the people gathered and went to Samuel in Ramah to ask him for a king (1 Samuel 8:4). Religious unity thus supported a certain political unity, until in the course of time it led to monarchical unity, which was prepared under the high priest Elijah, and completed by the prophet Samuel. Finally, it can also be noted that the establishment of Levitism also greatly contributed to the maintenance of religion in Israel and could have an influence much stronger under patriarchal government than under monarchical government, where the power of the king could completely destroy this influence; this influence, in fact, became so weakened in the course of time that God had to continually raise up prophets to support the cause of religion against royal power. Whatever the similarity between the patriarchal government of the Israelites and the tribal government of the Bedouins, there is a very noticeable difference between them, namely, the priestly institution. This establishment has nothing like it among the Eastern peoples. The Israeli priesthood formed a separate corporation, which the nomads did not have; At the same time, it was not a ruling and governmental caste, as was the case in Egypt and Chaldea. It is a very curious fact that among such a theocratic people as the Israelites, the tribe of Levi did not even have participation in the division of the Promised Land. His ministry was entirely spiritual and it was devoid of all political power; it could not even think about using the fullness of its influence, which was ensured by its priestly duties, because it did not represent any cohesion. Even where it could at least make its influence felt most of all, namely in the sanctuary, its influence was paralyzed by the fact that the sanctuary was not in the city that belonged to the priestly tribe, but in Shiloh, in the tribe of Ephraim, and later in Jerusalem, the capital of Benjamin and Judah. In addition, thanks to a special order, the cities given to the priestly tribe for residence were scattered throughout Palestine, and this scattering of the Levites throughout all the tribes contributed extremely much to the universal maintenance of the law and a constant reminder to the Israelites that they were children of the same Father. Thus, religion made up for the shortcomings of patriarchal governance. After examining the political structure of the people of Israel during the time of the judges, it is necessary to inherit the religion of the surrounding peoples before proceeding to a detailed account of the history of this period, which otherwise would not be sufficiently intelligible and clear. Chapter 59. Religion of the Canaanites By the time of the period of the judges, the Israelites had already firmly and definitively settled in Palestine, but they did not succeed in completely expelling the ancient inhabitants of the country. In the north of the country, at the foot of Hermon and along the Phoenician border, there were still Canaanites, temporarily upset and defeated, but ready to raise their heads at the first favorable opportunity. In the west - the Mediterranean coast, the luxurious plain of Sharon, to the south of Carmel - the rich plain of Shephelah, stretching to Gaza, did not completely come under the rule of the Israelis. On the plain of Shephelah, the five princes of the Philistines, with their iron chariots, maintained their independence, and therefore often attacked their neighbors. To the east of the lower Jordan and the Dead Sea, Lot's descendants continued to live: the Ammonites and Moabites; the descendants of Abraham respected their territorial right, by the command of God, but these nomads, nevertheless, more than once became dangerous and terrible neighbors for the Israelites. Even further, beyond Moab and Ammon, to the east, wandered Arab tribes, Bedouins, Amalekites and Midianites. But even within Canaan itself, not all the former inhabitants were exterminated or expelled. Not only some cities, like Jebus, which later became, under the name of Jerusalem, the capital of the people of Israel, still remained in the hands of the Amorites, but even in the cities occupied by the Israelites, in Bethsan, Taanach, Dar, Megiddon, Gezer and many others, 704 there remained remnants of the former population, and this cohabitation of the Israelites with their ardent enemies more than once turned out to be detrimental to the servants of the true God. This situation exposed the Israelites to a double danger: political danger and religious danger. If they had had more courage to defeat their enemies, more obedience to the commands of God, who commanded them to completely destroy the Canaanites, then the situation in Palestine would have made them completely secure from all attacks. If they had driven out all the Canaanites who lived along the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, then the sea would have served as their complete protection from the west. Even if they had left the Phoenicians alone in the north, they would have been protected on this side, partly by the mountains, partly by the very character of the merchants of Sidon, who by no means sought to expand their land holdings, being entirely occupied only with the multiplication of their trading offices, in order to sell their goods and carry out trade exchanges. From the east and south, the desert protected Israel from the attacks of nomads, and if these latter had a desire to attack the Israelites, they could easily block their access: to the Bedouins - by strengthening the protection of the mountains of Gilead, and to the Moabites, together with the Ammonites, by occupying a few fords on the Jordan, this natural and very strong border of the land of Canaan in the proper sense of the word. Meanwhile, the Israelites, due to their cowardice and weakness, allowed by God for the reasons stated above, were deprived of the advantages that this wonderful situation of Palestine gave them: they left enemies along all their borders, and what is even worse - they left them in their midst, and these latter, during wars, usually united with their opponents and, together with the latter, attacked the Israeli people. But next to this political danger, there was another, even more serious danger, which stood in direct contradiction to the very purpose of the people of God: namely, the danger of religious seduction. The proximity of idolatrous nations could and did become destructive to the religion of the Israelites. The peoples surrounding them, the Canaanites, whom they allowed to live among them, became for them a source of constant religious apostasy. The sons of Abraham could not always resist even the temptations of the polytheism of the Egyptians, despite the fact that the latter differed from them in their morals, customs, upbringing and general worldview. How could they resist the temptation of a cult, which, in addition to the sad advantage of indulging passions, was at the same time the cult of a people who had so much affinity with them in language, morals, very customs and ways of life? How could they, above all, resist the fatal influence of the marriages that they inevitably had to enter into with the Canaanites who lived in the very places where they themselves lived? The writer of the book of Judges expressively points to these marriages as one of the main reasons for the idolatry into which the Israelites so often fell (Judges 3:6). In the conditions in which they found themselves, everything actually led them to this: both the prevailing ideas then and human passions, which manifested themselves even more strongly in the relaxing climate of the East. Despite all the efforts of Moses and Joshua to instill in the people of Israel the idea of ​​the unity of God, despite all the measures provided by the law for the purpose of reminding all the sons of Jacob of this basic teaching, this truth was then generally so little known that it had not yet deeply entered the spirit of the majority of the people. Hence it was so easy to evade it among nations that did not accept it. It is known what influence the environment in which he lives has on a person, and how difficult it is for him to avoid being infected by prevailing habits and ideas. Canaanite polytheism was all the more dangerous because it was not like Greek or Roman polytheism, or even Egyptian or Chaldean. Although we do not yet know completely about him, we already know much more than we did several years ago, and familiarization with him will most clearly show how easily he could seduce the Israelis. The main Canaanite god was Baal 705. According to its literal meaning, the word Baal means “Lord”, “Lord”, and this name was one of the original names of the true God 706. Until later times, he retained the properties of supreme omnipotence. One Phoenician column of a late era and rough workmanship, now preserved in the Louvre Museum, depicts him with a shining head; on the sides of the column are depicted Peruns, as signs of his divine power. Baal became a polytheistic name only when, having acquired a local character, it lost its general meaning, and was given a local epithet or a local name. Just as Chaldean and Assyrian polytheism had its original source in the personification of various divine names, which at first designated the one true God in His various properties, so Canaanite polytheism had its source in the personification of the properties of Baal or the localization of his cult. Considered as the administrator of treaties and alliances, he was made Baal Verith (Judg. 9:4); as a king, he received from the Ammonites the names of Moloch, Milcom and Malcom; as the god of flies, these insects that are so countless and unpleasant in Palestine, he was called Beelzebub (2 Kings 1:2). On Mount Hermon he was called Baal-Hermon, in Gazor he became Baal-Gazor, in Peor or Pegor - Baal-Pegor; as the god of the sun, he was called Baal-Sala, the god of spreading rays, or Baal-Aman, the radiant god 707. Baal, as the father of other minor Baals, when the memory of the original unity of the Baals was erased, was called with the member Ha-Baal, that is, “Baal par excellence” 708. He seemed to exert his influence on the fruits of the earth, and other Baals, considered younger, depicted the particular influence of the sun on the earth. “As the supreme Egyptian God Baal,” says one recent researcher, “he was certainly distinct from created nature, at least in those eras of history that are accessible to our research; As far as we can penetrate into the annals of the Canaanite peoples, we find that his cult was combined with the cult of certain trees and certain stones, considered as the dwellings of the deity, Beit-El; in other words, the people idolized in this god the hidden power of nature, the beginning of life that animates matter. This cult ended here by taking on an astronomical character. The Asian peoples, like wandering shepherds and, as a result, of necessity, contemplatives of the sky, amazed by the wonders of stellar harmony and the influence of the sun on the phenomena of plant life, came to the conclusion that everything began to be attributed to the stars and to the most brilliant among them. They came to the very thought that Jehovah wanted to prohibit the Israelites when He forbade them to admire the beauty of the stars too much (Deut. 4:19): they worshiped them not simply as the most brilliant manifestation of the deity, but as the deity itself. Baal became the solar god; as such, he acquired the special name of Baal-Samina; but this character extended more or less to all the various forms of the Asiatic god, who was known under the various names of Baal, Medcarth, Moloch, Adad, and Tammuz.” We do not have ancient images of the Phoenician Baal. In later times he was depicted under human form. One small silver medallion, minted at Tarsus and attributed to Dernes, satrap of the Phoenicians, depicts him seated on a throne, adorned with an ox's head. In his left hand he holds an ear of corn and a grape branch to indicate that he gives the earth its products and fruits. Another Baal, almost identical to the former, is also depicted on the medallion of the national library, also minted in honor of the satrap Dernes in Phenicia or Cilicia. In the churches dedicated to him, Baal was depicted as a conical stone dedicated to the Sun. Under this form, his image can be seen on some Roman coins from the time of the emperors. The main place of his cult was in Phenicia and Tyre, but before the conquest of the Promised Land by Joshua he was revered throughout the entire territory of Canaan. High places were primarily chosen for dedication to him. The mountains, where one could find fresh air and shade, so dear in this scorching country of the East, always attracted a crowd of his admirers. There they sang, played musical instruments, burned incense and indulged in all kinds of debauchery. The mountain usually belonged to Baal, and the grove belonged to Asherah, the goddess of pleasure. His cult was performed with great pomp and had numerous priests, so that the Bible mentions 450 priests of Baal and 400 priestesses of Asherah (1 Kings 18:19–40). The altars to him were numerous. Entire lots of oxen and even human sacrifices were offered to him (Jer. 19:5). The sacrificers performed frenzied dances around the altar, accompanied by wild cries; they scourged themselves and cut off pieces of their bodies with sharp instruments in order to attract the attention of the bloodthirsty god with the sight of their bloody bodies. Nature and the sun were revered by the Moabites and Ammonites under the name of Molech. The Ammonites also revered Chemosh 709. But despite all these different names, it was all one and the same Baal. From this it is clear that Canaanite polytheism, less developed and less complex, was not as crude as the polytheism of the Greeks and Romans, who worshiped many gods at once. Each Canaanite city did not have a pantheon at all, like the Latins; In general, he only had his own special god, although he usually did not separate him from his goddess. The idea associated with these local religions was, as one can easily imagine, the most disastrous and dangerous for the Israelis. The general view admitted by the Canaanites was, more or less clearly and emphatically, that every nation, like every place, has its own special god, who protects, blesses, and preserves his worshipers against their enemies. According to this view, every people forced to leave the land of their ancestors must take with them the cult of their native god in order to maintain the favor of the patron of their family; but at the same time he must also honor the god of his new country, where he is staying, because to neglect worshiping him would only mean depriving himself of his protection and at the same time exposing himself to inevitable troubles from his vengeance 710. From this it is easy to understand how disastrous the influence of such views, so rooted among the Canaanites, could be for the weak minds of the Israelites, not yet sufficiently established in the truths of monotheism. These errors did not concern Jehovah directly, so to speak. They admitted the possibility of believing that He was the Supreme God, the Creator of heaven and earth, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who freed his people from the yoke of Egypt; they did not even prevent us from continuing to worship Him; this was the God of the ancestors and therefore He must be served as Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were served. But it was possible to add to His worship the worship of the gods of the new country in order to ensure the protection and patronage of the gods of Canaan and not subject oneself to their vengeance. In order to receive the mercy of these local gods and not die under their blows, it was necessary, for example. in Baal-Peor or Baal-Hermon to worship Baal, the god of Peor or Hermon. In view of the dominance of such views, it becomes clear why St. Scripture so emphatically warns against worshiping the gods of the Amorites. They fully explain, for example. why in the books of Moses God often repeats that He is a jealous God, and why He always compares idolatry not with divorce, but with adultery or fornication (Judges 2:17; 8:27, 33, etc.). In fact, the Israelites never completely abandoned Jehovah. They were only unfaithful to Him, adding to His worship the worship of the gods of the Amorites or the gods of Canaan in general 711. The second lure, which, no less than the prevailing general views at that time, carried the Israelites into idolatry, was the indulgence that base passions found in the Canaanite cult. This cult was distinguished by two special features that corresponded to two very different but very strong inclinations of the human heart - namely, sensuality and fear. As much as the religion of Jehovah was pure and humane, the cult of the Canaanite deities was dirty and cruel, sensual and bloodthirsty. When the primitive concepts of the true being of God were lost, man little by little began to imagine the Creator in his own image. People forgot what God was and confused him with the sky or, more often than not, with the sun, whose brilliance struck the eyes and whose warmth produced fertility and life. With the further coarsening of religious views, a thought naturally appeared that forced us to imagine God inseparable from his companion, the goddess. This idea, most contrary to the true concept of God, was so universal that of all the ancient religions it is absent only in one religion, the Old Testament, where even the boldest rationalists are unable to discover or imagine the slightest trace of it. Terror was inspired by the god, sensuality was mainly indulged on the part of the goddess. Although the cult of Baal was often accompanied by shameful scenes of human debauchery, its main feature was bloodthirsty and cruel rituals. We have already seen how the priests of Baal, in a frenzy, cut their bodies until they bled, but they did even worse by making human sacrifices to their gods. The monstrous sacrifices of the Carthaginians are known. Those sacrifices that were made to Molech, one of the forms of Baal, were of the same kind, and they especially interest us here. Moloch, the god of fire, the scorching sun, was depicted, according to Jewish tradition, under the form of a copper ox with an empty inside. He held out his hands like a man who wants to receive something. This monster was heated white-hot and then whole masses brought innocent victims to it, namely children, who were immediately burned. To prevent their screams from tearing the hearts of their parents too much, at this time they usually beat tambourines, which drowned out these screams. This god aroused such horror in some people that there were parents who were capable of exposing their own children to flames in this way, especially during times of great disasters or threatening great dangers (2 Samuel 3:2). But for the Israelites, even more disastrous than the influence of Moloch was the influence of the goddess Astarte. The idea of ​​a female deity has been an inexhaustible source of the wildest mythological fabrications and corruption of religions. The Canaanites did not derive from this a whole religious history, as did the Hindus, Greeks and Romans, nor even like the Egyptians and Chaldeans; they did not even always divide the deity into two separate persons and did not separate the male element from the female element, but combined both in one person. Meanwhile, one way or another, the difference still existed, and special worship was offered to the female deity. In the Book of Judges he is often mentioned together with Baal; it is called Astorete, Astarte of the Greeks 712 . There were naturally several Astartes, just as there were several Baals: each Baal was assigned his own special Astarte, so that with the multiplication of individual types of god, individual types of goddess also multiplied. Just as Baal, in a sense, represented the sky, so Astarte represented the earth, fertilized by the sky. But many signs show that at the same time she often represented the moon, a worthy symbol of tenderness and feminine beauty, especially in those eastern countries where she amazes with beauty and pleasantness, just as the sun, producing plants and scorching them, was the only symbol of the power of creation and destruction; she was the passive and fruitful principle, the mother, just as Baal was the active and productive principle, that is, the father. One alabaster figure in the Louvre Museum depicts Astarte with a golden crescent on her head, which specifically points to her as a symbol of the moon. The same thing is indicated by one Assyrian hymn, which is a form of dialogue addressed to the new moon. This hymn reads like this: The light of heaven, appearing like a flame in the country, Fertilizer of the earth, your disappearance is like a journey, What you are doing by country. A decision of truth awaits you as you enter the next sign. You are a leopard waiting for its prey on the run; You are a lion walking in a circle. Bride's day, bring it, oh heaven! Day of the bride of Istara, bring it, O heaven! The day whose return governs the ebb and flow of the tide, bring it, O heaven! And the changes of the sun, bring them, O heaven! For the sake of the changing seasons, I disappear, disappear alternately; For my father Sin (month), I change the seasons, I disappear alternately. My father Nadpar made me disappear; For the sake of the change of season, I disappear. In the renewed sky, for the sake of the changing seasons, I disappear; alternately I disappear. For the sake of my brother Samas (the sun that changes the seasons) I disappear alternately 713 The Bible, especially the book of Judges, mentions the goddess Asherah, the "good and happy" goddess, several times. Asherah, no doubt, is only another name for Asherah; at least she is the inseparable companion of Baal 714. Where there was an altar to Baal, there was certainly an image of Asherah, which symbolically represented a cone, which was the subject of dissolute worship. As for the depiction of Astarte, later she was most often depicted in human form, as can be seen on her statues and medals found in various museums. But sometimes she, as a sign of her supremacy, depicted a female figure with a cow's head. Usually it had the head of a woman. In the ruins of a small church built in the Corinthian style, at some distance from Kunavat 715, in Avran, one can still see a colossal figure of Astarte, executed in high relief. Although it has undergone very significant damage, it nevertheless has a very impressive appearance. Her eyes are pleasant and well-educated; eyebrows are high and fused; the forehead is low, decorated with a crescent moon, casting its rays upward onto a face framed by thick hair. Since Astarte represented the moon, she was depicted with a crescent and rays, as emblems of this goddess, which can also be seen on Phoenician and Roman coins. Hence the name Astarath-Karnaim, that is, Astarte with two horns, was given to one of the cities where her worship was especially developed (Gen. 14:5; Deut. 1:4; Josh. 12:4). Hence also her name “queen of heaven,” which is given to her by the prophet Jeremiah, as the queen of the starry sky (Jer. 7:18; cf. 2 Sam. 23:4). The Phoenicians of later times loved to depict the goddess Astarte, so dear to their ancestors, on their coins. The Canaanite Astarte was a reflection of the Assyro-Chaldean Istara. Istara plays a large role in the mythology of these countries. The inscriptions especially often refer to Istara, the goddess of Nineveh and Arbel. Istara of Arbela differs from Istara of Nineveh in that it is predominantly of a warlike character - Istara is the “goddess of battles”; while Istara of Nineveh, whose history is told in the epic of Izdubar, had in itself partly the sensual character of Asherah. During Saul's time, the Philistines revered Ashtoreth and stored the spoils taken from the vanquished, as well as Saul's weapons, in her church (1 Sam. 31:10). The Israelites were unable to escape the dangers of temptation presented to them by the sensual cult of Asherah and the bloodthirsty cult of Asherah. Throughout the entire period of the judges and often later during the time of the kings, idolatry was like a chronic disease among them, from which they were cured only for a while, only to soon fall under it again. They always returned to the Baals, just as a person devoted to wine, unable to recover from drunkenness, constantly returns to the intoxicating drink. They were too rude to understand all the greatness of their religion, all that was pure, great, sublime in the concept that their law gave about Jehovah as God, who created heaven and earth, who created man himself and cared for him, like a father; about God, who chose Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, their ancestors, from among mankind, performing miracles to free them from the slavery of Egypt, giving them victories over all their enemies, and brought them into possession of a blessed land that flowed with milk and honey. The feeling of gratitude, as well as the power of truth, should make them unwaveringly devoted to the worship of the true God. They promised the dying Joshua to serve his Lord steadfastly and faithfully, but they all forgot about it. These were the children of those Israelites who said to Aaron at the foot of Sinai: “Make us gods so that we can see them.” They needed gods who were tangible to their senses. Jehovah spoke to them only in the Spirit, and did not show himself to them in a sensual form, and they forgot Him. The Baals and Ashtoreth appeared to them in a tangible form, and they began to worship them. Already during the conquest, contrary to the commands they received (Ex. 34:13; Deut. 7:5; 12:3), they did not overthrow all the altars of false deities (Judges 2:2). This first disobedience became the source of many others. They became guilty of unfaithfulness to God after they were blessed in every possible way, but for this they were punished by this very sin. They received a command from God to expel all the Amorites from the Promised Land 716. Due to their weakness, cowardice and selfishness, they did not fulfill this command, and as a result, they created a great political danger for themselves. At the same time, they created for themselves a source of constant decline and subjected their faith to severe tests. Meanwhile, Providence, even in these cases, turned one evil to correct another. Whenever the Israelites fell into the crime of idolatry, their enemies became stronger and, having first subjugated them religiously, then subjugated them politically, making them their tributaries. It is this wonderful activity of providence that is depicted with such amazing clarity in the book of Judges, where the fall of the people is described in detail, and at the same time the victories that they won upon returning to the worship of the true God. The religious enthusiasm of the Israelite people, kindled by Moses during his life in the wilderness and excited by the miraculous events of the conquest of the Promised Land, continued to a certain extent during not only the last years of the life of Joshua, but even those elders who survived him and “saw all the works of the Lord that he had done to Israel,” through his second great leader. Gradually, however, as the generation passed away from the historical scene, which had seen the great deeds of this first time in the Promised Land and the miraculous help bestowed upon the people by God, lower influences began to penetrate among the people, and the high tone of the past began to weaken. The high priest Eleazar, the son of Aaron and his successor, died at approximately the same time as Joshua 717 and was buried, apparently, about six miles from the valley of Shechem, on the spur of one of the hills of Ephraim, known as the hill of Phinehas 718, and the name of the famous son, apparently, supplanted the name of his father. Having been ordained as the third in order of high priest and, according to the testimony of the rabbis, being the son of a Midianite mother, he became to some extent the successor of Joshua. Burning with fiery jealousy and distinguished by stern inflexibility in his devotion to Jehovah, he already in his youth glorified himself with a feat that put an end to the criminal debauchery of the people in Baal-peor and thereby stopped the plague that was then destroying the Israelites. From that time on, he became a famous and outstanding person among the people, especially as the heir to the high priesthood, which was promised to him by special revelation from Jehovah 719. Being as much a priest as a warrior, he led the Israeli army to take revenge on the Midianites, and took with him the ark of the covenant (Numbers 31:6). Although nominally in a lower position before the death of his father, he was nevertheless, more than Eleazar, the main zealot for maintaining the ancient religious animation and devotion to the law during the beginning of the weakening of religious and moral strength among the people. Thus, he was the chief of the Levitical guard at the tabernacle and in the camp, and when the Benjamites committed an act of outrageous immorality, he gave the command to start a war against them, which ended in their almost complete extermination (Judges 20:28). Even earlier, when members of the Trans-Jordanian tribes had built a large altar on one of the heights on the western bank of the Jordan, Phinehas was at the head of the deputation to consider this matter, and only their ardent assurance that they had no intention of leaving Jehovah kept him from declaring war on them. So great was his courage, says I. Flavius, and so remarkable was his physical strength that he never weakened in any undertaking, no matter how difficult and dangerous it was, without achieving complete victory 720. Despite all his zeal, however, already during his lifetime a noticeable and strong degeneration of religious and moral meaning began among the Israeli people and the covenant with Jehovah began to be frequently broken. Tired of years of struggle, satisfied with what they had acquired, feeling the temptation to enter into friendly relations with the Canaanites, supported by the similarity of language, the possibility of profitable relations, the temptations of the neighborhood, the lack of their own military knowledge and the weakness of tribal divisions, the people finally abandoned military activity and wanted to somehow settle down in the promised land more comfortably and calmly. Humanly speaking, this was to be expected. The Phoenicians and other Canaanites undoubtedly could have been completely suppressed if the Israelite tribes had remained united among themselves under the leadership of a strong and experienced leader and if they had taken advantage of the fiery animation when they first entered the Promised Land in order to continue the war until the complete subjugation of the land. But when Joshua left his supreme position as leader and the tribes scattered across their allotted inheritances, the favorable conditions for completing the conquest disappeared and never returned. In the first impulse of the conquest, the strength of the people was already significantly exhausted, and now those rods that could not even be bent when they were together were easy to break each separately 721. The strength of the Phoenicians was really no match for the strength of the Israelites. At the time of Joshua they were still paying tribute to Egypt, as they had done 400 years earlier, enjoying in return the monopoly of Egyptian trade, which they developed with great success. Their activities in the Aegean Sea were constrained by the growing power of the Greeks and other peoples, but they still retained various islands as their external trading ports. They had already settled in Sicily, Malta and the remote northern coast of Africa, and everywhere they had established their trading offices, like the offices of the European nations of modern times in India, and these colonies were probably further strengthened by the intensified eviction from Palestine of the people who fled from the terrible sword of Joshua. But even these scattered settlements in distant countries did not mark the limits of their trading enterprises, since this was the time when, in the words of Humboldt, “the flag of the Phoenicians once waved in Britain and on the Indian Ocean” 722. The enormous wealth of Sidon and other Phoenician cities probably greatly stimulated the greed of the Israelites, but it was beyond their reach. They could not withstand the long spears of this coastal people and were afraid of their terrible iron chariots. Having therefore abandoned the hope of possessing a rich seashore, they stuck to the hills; but since the routes by which trade was conducted between Egypt, Arabia, Babylon and Assyria passed through these hills, the Phoenicians could not help but want to live peacefully with those in whose possession these routes were. From here the Israelites were able to settle in their cities (Judges 1:27-36), perhaps under conditions of some dependence, although they continued to live apart, adhering mainly to their own laws and customs. Then the inner Canaanite population, remaining after the terrible conquest of Joshua, soon recovered from the defeat they had suffered and in turn went on the offensive. The disaster suffered, as it were, generally contributed to the revival of the remaining population of the Canaanite people and awakened in them a desperate determination, before which the Israelites soon had to bow. Even the usually non-warlike Sidonians, after some time, began to oppress them, capturing them, selling them into slavery and treating them at home as serfs 723 . Such a state naturally had a strong influence on the decline in the religious and moral spirit of the people, and soon the chosen people so succumbed to the influence of the neighbors who surrounded them and were hostile to them that they violated allegiance to Jehovah and began to worship the native gods. Such infidelity had to be punished, and it was not slow in coming true. The Canaanite peoples, struck by Joshua, did not yet have enough strength to serve as an instrument for such punishment, and therefore one distant people served as its instrument. To the east of Palestine, beyond the desert, where the nomadic Bedouin tribes roamed, there was one warlike Mesopotamian people, one king of which made an invasion of Palestine. This king was called Khusar-Safem, the leader of just one Mesopotamian tribe 724. This king made an invasion of Palestine and imposed tribute on the people. The power of this king, which enabled him to penetrate with arms so far into the heart of the land of Canaan, was to make his invasion one of the most terrible from which the Israelites of the time of the judges had ever suffered. It probably extended over the whole of Palestine. Coming from the banks of the river Chebar, where his kingdom was probably located, the winner probably entered Palestine from the north, and everything makes us think that he passed Palestine to the very south and subjugated even the tribe of Judah, since the head of the Israelites who sought to overthrow this yoke was Othniel, who belonged to this tribe and lived completely in the south of the country, precisely in Hebron. The tribute imposed by the winner consisted, of course, in kind, as was generally the custom in ancient times 725. It is not possible to determine in more detail what exactly this tribute consisted of. What is known is that the Israelis paid it for eight years. It was probably collected by the elders of cities and villages, in accordance with the distribution that was made in the assembly of the leaders of the people, and since the conquerors did not leave tax collectors in the conquered countries, the Israelis themselves had to take the taxes to Khusar-Sathem in the capital of his state. We will see how the Israelites themselves brought taxes to the king of Moab in his capital. In a similar way, all Assyrian monuments depict how the subject princes, and especially Jehu, the king of Israel, carried natural products to Nineveh, of which the tribute imposed on them by the victors consisted. Not to bring this tribute at the appointed time meant rebelling against the winner and declaring war, and at the same time meant being exposed to the danger of a new invasion: this was the case before, when it was the kings of Sodom and the cities of the valley of Siddim who refused to pay the tribute imposed on them by Chedor-Laomer and his allies. The same thing happened later during the times of Sennacherib and Nebuchadnezzar, when the Israelites stopped paying the tribute they imposed. The same thing probably happened now: when the Israelis stopped sending their gifts to Hussar-Saphem, he again invaded Palestine. After eight years of such slavery, the people of Israel finally came to the conviction that they had been justly punished for their unfaithfulness and, as a result, turned again to their Lord. A little time has passed since the death of Joshua: the memories of the miracles performed for God’s chosen people, as well as the memories of the great instructions of Joshua, have not yet been completely erased. And so, when the people repented, God raised up a deliverer for them in the person of Othniel. This was the nephew of Caleb, Joshua's companion in exploring the Promised Land; he was still full of strength and courage, although he was already leaning towards old age. Being at the same time the son-in-law of Caleb, precisely the husband of his daughter Aksa, an extremely energetic and intelligent woman, he enjoyed general respect among the people for his courage and intelligence. With his influence, he should have contributed no little to the return of the people to the true God, remembering to them everything that Jehovah had done for the Israelites, and everything that Joshua had promised to their fathers. Taking advantage of their encouragement, he became the head of the people, assuring them that as soon as they rejected idolatry, God would provide him with his protection and deliver him from submission to the idolatrous king. And indeed, the revival of the religious spirit awakened political courage among the people, and Othniel was able to boldly oppose Husar-Saphem when the latter again invaded Palestine to reconquer the indignant people. God gave strength to His chosen people, and they triumphed over their enemy. We do not know any details regarding this victory, we do not even know where it took place. But in any case we know that the Mesopotamian yoke was overthrown, and the people again received freedom and enjoyed peace for forty years until the death of Othniel. While Othniel was alive, with his influence he supported religious zeal among the people; but after his death, this unfaithful people again did not hesitate to deviate into idolatry. This crime was quickly followed by punishment again, and this time the instrument of punishment was Israel's closest neighbors. The Canaanites did not yet have sufficient strength to rebel against the Israelites, but in the southeast of Palestine there lived a people who suffered less than the Canaanites from the weapons of Moses and Joshua, namely the Moabites 726. This people were spared by the command of God out of respect for the blood of Lot. The horror that was widespread throughout the exploits of the Israelites during the conquest of the Promised Land kept the Moabites in peace for a long time. They were generally weak and occupied at that time only a very small area east of the Dead Sea, south of the Arnona River. However, little by little, they became bolder and decided to attack at least the neighboring tribes of Israel. Considering their own strength insufficient, they called for help the Ammonites, who also descended from Lot and lived to the northeast of their possessions, as well as the Amalekites, a predatory tribe that roamed the desert east of Moab and was always inclined to robbery, like the Bedouins, who still live in these places and retain the same customs. Supported by these allies, the Moabites, under the leadership of their king Eglon, crossed the Jordan. The Israelis wanted to stop their invasion, but were defeated and defeated. The Moabites, too constrained in their own area, intended not only to impose tribute on the Israelites, as Husar-Safem did, but even wanted to take away part of their land altogether and settle in their place. Eglon captured the city of Palms, which probably means Jericho, and made this city his residence. For 18 years he oppressed the Israelites of the surrounding tribes from there. Every year they were forced to bring him tribute to his new capital. In the eighteenth year, tribute was brought to Eglon by an Israelite from the tribe of Benjamin, named Edom. The tribe of Benjamin, whose region the Moabites occupied, was the one that suffered most from their oppression and was perhaps the only tribe west of the Jordan that paid them tribute. Be that as it may, it was finally brought to its senses by the disaster, rejected idolatry and prayed to God for a liberator. God heard his prayer and sent him a deliverer in the person of Ehud, who was chosen to pay the tribute. Ehud was left-handed, that is, or rather, a man who controlled his left hand with the same dexterity as his right 727. And so, he had the idea to use this quality of his to deliver his brothers from the hated yoke of the Moabites. Not hoping to overthrow this yoke by force of arms, he decided to resort to cunning, a means that in the East is valued no less than force. The sacred historian describes in detail how he carried out his intention. With the secret characteristic of Eastern people, which they know how to keep well under such circumstances, he prepared everything in advance and foresaw all the smallest circumstances of the undertaking. He prepared himself a double-edged knife, very wide, which could be used like a dagger. Going to Jericho, in order to better eliminate all suspicion, he hid his weapon not on the left side, but on the right, where no one could suspect a weapon. He was accompanied by several Israelis, who were entrusted with carrying those items with which the tribute was paid to Eglon 728. But he did not want to carry out his planned plan in front of them, since by doing so he would have doomed them to death and at the same time could have died himself, because in the event of an attempt to kill his enemy, he, of course, would have been immediately killed himself along with his Moabite companions, who could have been witnesses to his deed. As a result, he calmly handed over the tribute to the king and returned with the other Benjamites to Gilgal, near Jericho. But from there he suddenly turned back, and in order to get a new audience with the king, declared that he had something to tell him. To be successful in his intention, he needed to be admitted alone into the presence of Eglon, and therefore he asked permission to tell him without witnesses a very important secret, namely, the “Word of God” (Judges 3:20). Of those around him, of course, no one could suspect a man who had already paid tribute and again appeared with an important message without a weapon. The king ordered everyone to leave 729. At this time, he was in a special room of the house on the top floor, taking advantage of the coolness there; all his companions went down and left him alone with Ehud. In the east, due to the scorching heat of the country, there were always high rooms built solely for the purpose of having some coolness. These premises, both now and always, were called the same as they are called in the Hebrew text of the book of Judges, namely aliyah. One traveler gives a description that makes it easier to understand the event that took place. “Near most of the houses,” he says, “a small building is built, usually rising to a floor higher than the house to which it belongs; sometimes it has no more than two rooms and a roof; in other cases it is even placed above the main gate, and then, with the exception of the lower floor, which this room usually does not have, it has all the amenities of a house in the proper sense of the word. These two houses, small and large, have one connecting door, which leads from the first to the gallery of the second and can be opened or closed at the request of the owner of the house. The small house also has another door that leads directly to the main entrance gate or even to the street, so that one can go in and out without disturbing those who live in the main house. This last one is called dar or bayit, and the small house is called aliyah, and in this latter one usually shows hospitality to strangers. The sons of the house are also allowed to have their concubines in these premises; men retire there when they want to do serious business or generally take advantage of a vacation away from the noise of home; Finally, there is a wardrobe and all provisions” 730. The king of Moab was in just such an upper room, and it was there that Ehud remained alone with him to tell him the supposed secret. “I have for you, king, the word of God,” Ehud addressed him. With these words he wanted to encourage the king to rise from his seat in order to better strike him. The king actually immediately stood up from his seat - apparently out of reverence for the word of God that Ehud wanted to communicate to him, because religious feeling has always been highly developed among these eastern peoples. And so, when Eglon stood up, the Benjamite, instantly drawing with his left hand a knife hidden on his right, with extraordinary strength and speed thrust it into the stomach of the king of Moab. Eglon was extremely obese and fat, and as a result, even the hilt of the sword entered his body so much that it was completely hidden in the folds of his body, and Eod did not even want to remove it back. Having accomplished this terrible deed, he then only thought about finishing the plan he had drawn up for the liberation of the Israelis. The death of Eglon was only the first act of the tragedy: to liberate the oppressed people, it was not enough to deal only with the king of Moab; it was also necessary to expel the Moabites, his subjects, from the possession of Israel. Aod thought about everything in advance. He knew all the ins and outs very well; therefore, he carefully locked the door leading to Eglon’s room in order to have time and opportunity to escape. When he left and disappeared, Eglon's entourage, perplexed about the reason for the too long duration of the audience, came to see and inquire about the state of the matter and were surprised to see that the doors of the upper room were closed; but even then they did not yet have any suspicion, and they simply thought: “probably he needed a cool room.” But then, after waiting for quite a long time and seeing that no one was unlocking the doors of the upper room, they finally took the key and unlocked it, and a terrible sight was presented to their eyes: their king was lying half dead, and while they were in horror wondering what this meant, Ehud had already managed to hide and, arriving in Sekrath, an unknown area in the mountains of Ephraim, he solemnly blew the trumpet and called all the people to arms. When he told about his feat, it was not difficult for him to convince his compatriots that it was now easy to triumph over the enemies, plunged into despondency and sorrow by such an unexpected death of their king. The Israelites immediately occupied the crossings of the Jordan and thereby closed the route of retreat for those Moabites who crossed to the western side of the Jordan to settle in the promised land. The frightened Moabites wanted to flee to their former country, but now they were unable to do so, and they were all beaten. Thus, although the Moabites were not destroyed (the Moabite kingdom itself was not affected by this defeat and subsequently the Moabites again acted among the enemies of Israel), they were humbled and weakened, since under the blow of the Israelis up to ten thousand people among them fell, and the most powerful and courageous ones at that. Among all peoples and at all times, composure, courage, courage and bravery were highly valued, and therefore such feats as those performed by Edom were always glorified, although at the same time they were not considered absolutely impeccable. The Athenians laudably glorified Armodius and Aristogeiton, the Romans glorified Mucius Scaevola. Therefore, when discussing the moral merit of the feat accomplished by Ehud, one must keep in mind the general view of antiquity. “Singing nothing,” Herder rightly says, “is more pitiful than those objections that are expressed against the book of Judges and against the exploits narrated in them; because the authors of these objections apparently do not consider it their duty to remember the time when this book was written. The ancient peoples allowed themselves the most refined tricks during their wars; the same thing is still noticed today among savage peoples (and also, we add, among the eastern ones), who, despite their courage, which cannot be doubted, love to use cunning more than force. Such weapons have always been necessary for a people oppressed from without, constantly agitated within and among a people where the national spirit still existed only among a few individuals; since one man, whatever his courage and his strength, of course, could not flatter himself with the hope of withstanding entire hordes, especially when peoples did not yet have the advantages of those inventions that make science and art out of war. However, do these same inventions amount to anything other than cunning? And is it possible to indicate a cunning more insane and a courage more cowardly than that which comes from the muzzle of a cannon? 731. In the east, feats similar to the one performed by Ehud are still in use. When Layard was consul in Mesopotamia, one of the most famous leaders of the country, Ibrahim Agha, became famous for a bold feat very similar to the feat of Ehud. One Kurdish Bey lived several years ago in an impregnable fortress on the island of Zakko, formed by the Khovar River. From there he boldly rejected all authority of Mohammed Pasha, the representative of the Porte in these countries, and plundered the surrounding area with impunity. “Is it really possible that I don’t have anyone who would strangle this Kurdish dog?” cried Mohomet Pasha one day in his salamlek, after one fruitless attempt to take Zakko. “In the name of God and the prophet, the richest robe of honor will belong to the one who brings me his head.” Ibrahim Agha heard this desire of his master. He soon left the ward, gathered several determined people and went with them to the mountains. Arriving at the destination of his journey, he hid all his men, with the exception of five or six, in the gardens surrounding the town of Zakko, and when night fell he entered the fortress of the warlike Kurd. This one received him as his guest, and, in accordance with the customs of Eastern hospitality, offered him a treat. When Ibrahim finished his dinner, he calmly stood up from his sofa and walked towards the bey, who was sitting on cushions on the opposite side of the room. Approaching him, he calmly took out his pistol and shot him straight in the chest, then, drawing his saber, cut off his head. The Kurds, puzzled by such unprecedented courage, were unable to offer any resistance. Ibrahim Agha robbed the entire castle, seized all its treasures and brought them to Mosul along with the head of the Zakk Bey, for which he received the promised reward 732. The result of Ehud's feat was that the Promised Land rested for eighty years. But even during this long period of peace, there were isolated cases of Canaanite raids on the Israelites, who, however, had worthy defenders. It was around this time that in the southwestern part of Palestine, on the coastal plain, the Philistines began to noticeably strengthen, and they began to raid the Israelites. To get rid of these predators, Judge Samegar led the people. He became famous for one remarkable feat, namely, he personally exterminated an entire party of 600 Philistines who had come for predation and robbery. Moreover, it is remarkable that Samegara’s only weapon for this victory was an ox goad, which is still used in Palestine and could be a terrible weapon in the hands of a strong man. “When ploughing, the inhabitants of Palestine use special plows of extremely large size. In measuring some of them, I found (says one investigator) that they were about 8 feet in length, and at the thicker end even 6 inches in circumference. At the thinner end, a sharp thorn is usually attached to them in order to drive oxen, and at the other end - a small iron shovel, strong and massive, for cleaning the plow from clay that sticks to it during work” 733. With such a primitive weapon, Samegar brought such horror to the Philistines that they did not disturb the Israelites for a long time. During the long peace that followed the brilliant defeat of the enemies by the first judges, the Israeli people began to rapidly prosper in all respects of public life. Prosperity began to rise noticeably among them, and quite a few people appeared who knew how to appreciate the comforts of a rich and, in part, even luxurious life. The leaders of tribes and tribes made ceremonial rides on white donkeys, while rich people arranged expensive saddles for themselves, and carpets for sitting in their houses (Judges 5:10). The tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half-Manasseh had huge herds that multiplied in the vast steppes east of the Jordan (Judges 5:16). The tribe of Dan entered into close relations with the Philistines of the city of Joppa, and itself was engaged in maritime trades and navigation. Asher in the north in the same way took up coastal trades in the area that he nominally owned, from the Gulf of Acre to Tire (Judges 5:17). The welfare of the people developed so much that women and girls wore multi-colored clothes and embroidered scarves on their necks, and in the cities there were many treasures that could irritate the predatory instincts of enemies. At the same time, trade began to develop, so that goods began to move along the previous caravan routes in the valleys or plains (Judges 5:6), and in general the people became richer and stronger every year. Unfortunately, along with the development of this external prosperity, religious self-awareness did not develop among the people, but, on the contrary, it seemed to gradually weaken. The people, carried away by external benefits, began to forget their main Benefactor, Jehovah, and, submitting to the external cultural influence of the surrounding idolatrous peoples, they themselves began to fall into idolatry and worship the native deities Baal and Astarte. When this unfaithfulness had already become very noticeable and the religion of Jehovah was in great danger, God again resorted to the saving means of correcting the unfaithful people through external disaster, in order to again remind the people of their spiritual purpose with a harsh lesson. And so, when the people “did what was evil in the sight of the Lord,” then they had to bear a heavy yoke. Taking advantage of the weakness of the Israelites, the Canaanites in the north of Palestine became extremely powerful. The Canaanite king Jabin, probably the successor of that Jabin of Hazor, whose power was once crushed by Joshua, having formed a strong alliance from the surrounding small tribes, went on the offensive. His commander, the cruel Sisera, made a devastating invasion of the northern tribes, which could not withstand his terrible cavalry, which consisted of 900 chariots 734. Suppressed by force, the northern tribes, feeling their complete helplessness, for a whole 20 years had to endure the most severe oppression from the triumphant enemy, who, having at his disposal such strong fortresses as Taanach, Megiddo and Bethsan, south of the Ezdrilon plain, positively cut off their communication with the south and deprived them of any opportunity to wait for help from there. As a result, all trade and even all industrial movement ceased in the country. The people hid in the elevated valleys or took refuge within the strong walls of their cities; the elders of the cities and tribes also lost heart, and feeling their helplessness, no one dared to resist. The people, for communication with each other, could only use secret mountain paths and open roads were abandoned. The entire population was generally struck by horror and fell into complete despondency and inactivity, since against the overwhelming forces of the Canaanites they, at best, could only put up an almost unarmed crowd, in which, instead of swords, oxen rods served as weapons, and there were few warriors who were armed with spears or shields. But when the people were already losing hope of deliverance, and the bravest men did not dare to think about overthrowing the yoke of the formidable enemy, a woman acted as the deliverer of the oppressed tribes. Burning with patriotism and sublime religious spirit, she felt so deeply the misfortunes of her brothers that her heroic soul was inflamed with uncontrollable jealousy for the overthrow of their oppressor and indignation at the cowardice of the people who did not dare to rise up for their freedom. The most remarkable thing is that she herself did not belong to the oppressed tribes, since she lived in the south, in the mountains of Ephraim, between Ramah and Bethel, on the central route of Palestine, in an area in which it was easiest for her to learn about the grave disaster of the northern tribes. It was Deborah, the "bee." She was a married woman and was married to Lapidof, about whom, unfortunately, nothing is known. Possessing naturally high spiritual gifts, she embodied her sublime thoughts in inspired poems, which delighted her fellow tribesmen. Her songs were heard far and wide, throughout the whole country, awakening courage in the fallen knees - since they undoubtedly depicted the glory of past times, as well as the great deeds of God, accomplished for the people by the hands of the leaders whom God raised among them, and at the same time, perhaps, reproached the ignominy to which the Israelites condemned themselves by slavishly submitting to their enemies. The fame of her wisdom thundered throughout the country, so that she became the center of moral and even administrative power over an ever-expanding district. Sitting under the shade of a palm tree, which later bore her name and was probably not far from Baal-Tamara, i.e. Baal of palms, she spoke her wisdom with inspiration, “and the children of Israel came to her there for judgment” 735. The great prophetess, judging the people, at the same time inspired them with the feelings that animated her. And so, under her influence, the whole country, from the tribe of Benjamin to the distant northern tribe of Nephalim, became agitated with a common desire for national freedom and with a courageous determination to return it. Secret preparations for the uprising began everywhere, and, in place of ordinary elders, stronger and more energetic people everywhere became the leaders of the people. But for the success of the entire movement, a common leader was needed, which did not yet exist, and Deborah took care to find such a leader. On the shores of Lake Galilee, south of the later Tiberias, in the very center of the oppressed country, in the city of Kedesh, in the tribe of Nephealim, lived a certain Barak, whose very name, “lightning,” seemed to indicate his courageous spirit. The name Barak or Barak is of Canaanite origin, and it is remarkable that the famous Carthaginian surname Barca, from which the brilliant commander Hannibal later emerged, bore the same name. He had already, apparently, managed to gain fame for his courage, and was known not only in his tribe, but throughout the whole country, to the borders of the tribe of Benjamin. Then the choice of Deborah fell on him, who, turning to him, commanded him, on behalf of Jehovah, to become the head of a ten-thousand-strong detachment of warriors from the tribes of Neophalimov and Zebulun and move with him to Mount Tabor, to the plain of Esdraelon, promising that God would deliver the cruel Sisera, with all his chariots and army, into his hands. But even the courageous Barak was embarrassed by such an assignment, and he did not dare to take up the matter until Deborah herself personally came to him. In response to Deborah’s call, Barak said to her: “If you go with me, I will go, but if you don’t go with me, I will not go.” Then the courageous Deborah answered: “to go - I will go with you; just know that it is not you who will receive the glory on this path that you are going on; But the Lord will deliver Sisera into the hand of a woman.” And so, hastening north, she actually appeared in person among the oppressed people, and her appearance not only encouraged Barak, but also awakened the spirit of the people, who began to gather under her banner. The news of her arrival quickly spread throughout the surrounding tribes, and 10,000 armed men actually gathered at the appointed assembly point near Mount Tabor. The Issachar tribe, which lived in the very plain of Ezdrilon, immediately threw off the yoke of slavery and sent out detachments of volunteers. The Ephraimites also began to gather from their mountains, which were the dwelling of the Amalekites, the cruelest enemy of the Israelites, and after them came the courageous troops of the Benjamites, the most warlike Israelite tribe, whose warriors were famous for shooting and were such skilled slingers that they threw stones from a sling with amazing dexterity, acting in addition with equal skill and strength with both their right and left hands. Members of both halves of the tribe of Manasseh also took part in the common cause, and they also sent out soldiers. Since the conquest, this was the first time that the national spirit was captured by such enthusiasm, prompting the individual tribes to act together with such unanimity. But there was no lack of cold attitude towards the common cause. The inhabitants of the city of Meroz, apparently located at the entrance to the Bethsan pass, at the eastern end of the plain, could have provided good services to the people's cause, but they refused to go to the aid of their oppressed brothers and for this brought upon themselves a general curse, which apparently led to their complete extermination and the destruction of their very homes. The tribe of Reuben did not take part in the common cause either, which, leaving its brothers to defend their freedom on their own, preferred to calmly graze their flocks, especially since there were great internal strife among them at that time (Judges 5:16, 16). The tribe of Gad also refused to come to the rescue; Dan did not want, for the sake of the common cause, to part with his ships in Joppa, and Asher with shameful indifference went about his trades at his piers. Nothing is known about the southern tribes, Judah and Simeon, and this circumstance makes it possible to conclude that they also did not take part in the national cause. Therefore, the main role in the approaching battle fell to the tribe of Zebulun, which most zealously gathered liberating warriors and decided to lay down their lives for the great cause, and in this regard, it found an active assistant in the tribe of Nephalem. Mount Tabor was designated as a gathering point for the liberating soldiers. Rising 1,500 feet above the plain of Esdraelon at its north-eastern extremity, it is extremely steep on the north, but bare and shapeless on the south, and stands alone except on the west side, where a narrow chain connects it with the hills of Nazareth. Even now it is covered with oaks, pistachios and other trees, and bushes in which chamois find refuge; but its top is completely treeless and represents a relatively flat area, for half an hour's journey offering a wide view of the plain from one end to the other 736. It was difficult to choose a more convenient place for the gathering of the Israelites, since, due to its steepness, this mountain could not be attacked by the chariots of the Canaanites, and its top was like a magnificent watchtower, from which Deborah and Barak could monitor all the movements of the enemy. News of the rebellious gathering of the Israelites soon reached Sisera, the chief commander of the military forces of Jabin and his allies. The Kenites, the inhabitants of Zaannim, reported this to him, a place that still bears the same name and stands on a hill above Lake Galilee, east of Tabor. This was an Arab tribe, which, although temporarily on peaceful terms with Jabin, was always friendly to the Israelites, owing to the memory of Moses' marriage to the daughter of their chief Jethro. Part of this tribe remained in the desert south of the tribe of Judah, while another branch moved north and temporarily pitched their tents under the terebinth of Zaannim, “the place of wanderings.” With Arab double-mindedness, they now changed in favor of the strongest of the opponents, in order to, after waiting for a decisive clash, then take the side of the winner. The very name of the Canaanite commander Sisera means “leader,” and he apparently was a vassal king of Harosheth, so called because of the beautiful forest growing along the banks of the Kishon. At that time it was undoubtedly a strong fortress dominating the country, which Jabin subjugated; but now it is a miserable village, located in the place where a stream, hidden among the oleander bushes, makes its way through a narrow neck, emerges onto the plain of Acre 737. And so, with the news of the uprising, Sisera quickly equipped his deadly chariots and occupied the plain of Esdraelon, this is the main battlefield of Palestine. He established his headquarters at Faanach, a Canaanite fortified city in the southwestern part of the plain, on a long spur of the Carmel ridge, now covered with olive trees, where a village now stands, bearing the ancient name of Taanak. Favor, like a huge tower, rose in the distance 25 miles to the northeast; its peak is clearly visible from behind the hills of small Hermon, occupied by the two villages of Endor and Nain and closing this great plain, at the head of which stands Tabor. The entire surface of Esdrilon is cut by dry water channels, which receive moisture from all the surrounding mountains and, after rain storms, turn into streams. All these streams in the northwestern part unite into one river, known in the time of Sisera under the name Kishon, that is, a winding stream that rushes rapidly along a deep winding bed, up to 2 fathoms deep and 7–10 fathoms wide, heading towards the Mediterranean Sea. The most dangerous part of its course is just near Tabor, where the springs from which the Kishon emerges form a whole network of ponds and streams, which, being bordered by reeds and bushes, quickly after the rain turned into a vast and dangerous swamp. Here, in Endor, the army of Sisera was doomed to destruction. The Ezdrilon Plain has at all times been the main battlefield of Palestine. Thotmes III, Ramses II and Ramses III once fought here. Here Pharaoh Necho won the victory in that sad Battle of Megiddon, in which King Josiah was killed during such a terrible massacre that this very battle became in subsequent centuries the image of the most terrible defeats 738. Here the armies of the Assyrian conquerors, the crusaders and Napoleon I alternately fought, and it was on the mountains of Gilboa, at its eastern end, that Saul and Jonathan subsequently died. And so, when the two hostile troops took their positions, it was necessary to begin military operations. The Israelites on their own could hardly have dared to oppose their terrible enemy, but with them was the courageous Deborah, who gave the sign to attack. “Get up,” she said commandingly to Barak, “for this is the day on which the Lord will deliver Sisera into your hands; The Lord himself will go before you.” Having said this, she gave a sign to Barak to rush at the enemy with unexpected speed. Proud of his power and iron chariots, Sisera probably disdained the Israeli army, which, moreover, along with Barak, as he of course knew, was the woman Deborah. But this should have given even more significance to Barak’s lightning-fast onslaught. Struck by such an unexpected and bold attack of a ten-thousand-strong detachment, Sisera’s army wavered, fell into confusion and fled in disarray. This defeat of the enemy was obviously facilitated by higher help, since the sky itself seemed to be fighting for Israel and the stars in their course turned against Sisera. A terrible storm broke out on the plain, which hit the Canaanites directly in the face. The Kissop stream, which may have already dried up at that time, instantly foamed with stormy waters. The soldiers of Sisera, seeing that the very elements rebelled against them, were convinced that the God of Israel was stronger than them; they were seized with horror, complete disorder reigned among their chariots, in terrible confusion they beat each other and in horror threw themselves into the stream, the waters of which instantly carried away their corpses towards the sea 739. Portraying this glorious victory, Deborah sang it in ecstatic verse: Then the kings of Canaan fought In Taanach, by the waters of Megiddon, But they did not receive any glory. The stars fought with Sisera from their ways. Stream Kedumim, Stream Kishon. Then the horse's hooves broke from running away, From the flight of his mighty ones” (Judges 5:19–22). The carnage was so great that a century later the psalmist spoke of how the corpses of those beaten served as manure and fertilizer for the earth (Ps. 82:11). The Canaanite cause was obviously lost, and there was nothing left to do but seek salvation. Leaving his chariot, Sisera rushed to run on foot to the northeast, hiding behind the slopes of Tabor, through a large lava-covered clearing, on which stood the black tents of Heber the Kenite, an ally of Jabin, near the new Bessum. Since the lightning-fast Barak was overtaking him, Sisera, seeing no more salvation, wanted to hide in the tent of the Kenite woman Jael, hoping to find temporary refuge with her. The tents of the Arabs at all times were of exactly the same design. They are usually extensive and supported by nine pillars in three rows, on which rests a cover of coarse camel-hair material, or sewn oxhide, often reaching down to the floor. The ropes by which this canopy is supported are attached to stakes driven into the ground with a huge wooden hammer, and this rude structure is hung all around with various curtains, which can be drawn or lowered, if desired, to shut off the access of outside air. The tent is usually divided into two parts, separated by a carpet hanging from the middle row of posts: one on the left at the entrance is provided for the men, and the other on the right forms the women's section. This latter usually contains all household kitchen utensils, water bottles, vessels with milk, butter, etc. The bed, as usual in the East, consists of only one or two mats, spread on the ground or on an earthen bench raised on the sides of the tent; The blanket at night is the same cloak that is worn as clothing during the day. This was undoubtedly Heber's tent. At the entrance to it, Sisera met Jael, the wife of the sheikh, and, relying on the peace that existed between Jabin and this tribe, asked her for temporary refuge. Whether she had any idea from the very beginning of doing what she did is unknown; in any case, by kindly inviting Sisera, Jael not only offered him the protection that he asked for, but took him to her own section of the tent, where no one could imagine his presence and no one would look there, since no outsider had the right to enter the women's section without a special invitation. But her next step clearly betrayed her secret intention. The Arabs know how to prepare a wonderful drink from sour milk called lebben, which is offered to guests for refreshment. But while acting extremely refreshingly on the tired and heat-stricken traveler, it at the same time acts as a strong and quick soporific. In response to Sisera's request for water to quench his terrible thirst, Jael immediately brought him the drink lebben in a special cup, which was considered a special treasure in her tent, and invited him to refresh himself with this drink, perhaps not without a second thought regarding its soporific effect. Tired Sisera happily took advantage of this kind offer from the hostess, fortified himself with plenty of drink and, being extremely tired, lay down to rest and quickly fell into a deep sleep. Taking advantage of the hospitality, he was fully confident that he would find the right refuge in this tent. But seeing how the great enemy of Israel slept helplessly in the tent, Jael involuntarily had the thought of how easy it would be to now deliver the people of Israel from this enemy so terrible for them. Under the influence of this thought, she immediately made a plan to kill Sisera. And so, taking the stake from the tent and together the hammer with which these stakes were driven in, she quietly approached him and with all her might drove the stake into his church, so that she pinned him to the ground. The blow was fatal, and Sisera, after several convulsive movements, was a lifeless corpse. When Barak, pursuing Sisera, arrived in Shinnim, Jael ran out to meet him and told him. “come in, I will show you the man you are looking for.” “He went in to her, and behold Sisera lay dead, with a stake in his church” 740. Thus, the victory over the Canaanites was complete, and the glory of it spread to all directions of the country. The victory was so complete that the Israelites no longer had to fight with the Canaanites, and they themselves understood the advantages of that national unity, which now gave them this brilliant victory. Their mutual assistance then increased enormously, since this was their first great victory since the time of Joshua, and, moreover, they won it over an enemy who was so terrible for them in his strength. This victory could not but have a strong influence in the religious history of the people, since they saw that their misfortunes ceased as soon as they abandoned idolatry and sought help and protection from Jehovah. That the people owed this victory not to themselves, but to God, this was not only clearly recognized by everyone, but also found echoes in folk songs and was especially expressed in the famous song of Deborah, which begins directly with sincere gratitude to God. This song begins with the words: “Israel has been avenged, the people have shown zeal; Listen kings, listen nobles: I am to the Lord, I sing, I jingle to the Lord, the God of Israel, When You, O Lord, left Seir, When I walked from the field of Eden, Then the earth shook and the sky dripped, The mountains melted at the presence of the Lord, Even this Sinai, from the presence of the Lord, the God of Israel.” A striking parallel to the victory of Deborah is told by Plutarch in his Life of Timoleon. This commander in the battle on the river. Krimese made an attack on the Carthaginians; the latter, however, with their heavy weapons and impenetrable shields, easily repelled the Greek attack. But suddenly, when it came to hand-to-hand combat with swords, strong peals of thunder thundered, lightning burst from the mountains and dark clouds that had hitherto covered the ridges of the surrounding hills descended onto the battlefield and burst into a storm of rain and hail, hitting the backs of the Greeks, but right in the faces of the Carthaginians. Such an unexpected storm, together with blinding lightning, led the Carthaginians into confusion, and at the same time the peals of thunder, the noise of falling rain and hail hitting weapons and shields prevented them from hearing the command of their commanders. In addition to this, mud soon formed, which served as a great obstacle to the movement of the Carthaginians, burdened with their heavy weapons; their lower clothes were wet, the folds near their chests were filled with water, which further aggravated the combatants, so that it was easy for the Greeks to throw them to the ground, despite the fact that they had weapons in their hands, and they were no longer able to rise again. The Krimes River also swollen, partly from the rain, and partly from the entire masses of Carthaginian troops crossing through it, and as a result overflowed its banks, and the entire surrounding plain was filled with streams and streams that had no definite flow, as a result of which the situation of the Carthaginians worsened even more, and they died in droves. While Deborah and Jael rejoiced in their triumph, the other women experienced completely different feelings. The song of Deborah, by the way, describes what the Canaanite women could feel at that time: “He looks out the window and screams Mother of Sisera, through the bars: That his cavalry does not go for a long time, Why are the wheels of his chariots slow? The smartest of her women answer her, And she herself answers her words: Surely they have found, they are dividing the spoils, One girl, two girls for each warrior, Sisera received the multi-colored robe as spoils; The multi-colored clothes obtained as loot, Embroidered on both sides, taken from the captive’s shoulders.” The Song of Deborah ends with these triumphant words: “So let all Your enemies perish, O Lord!” Let those who love him be like the sun, Rising in all its strength." Jabin, having lost his army and his commander, could no longer resist the Israelites. The victory was complete, the power of the king of Hazor and all the Canaanites was crushed forever, and they never again acted as enemies of Israel. This is the best indication of the greatness of the victory that Deborah and Barak won. Israel's loyalty, and at the same time its prosperity, after such a glorious triumph, continued for forty years, so that the Israeli people again had the opportunity for the comprehensive development of their external and internal forces. Although the miraculous deliverance performed by Deborah and Barak from the foreign yoke established peace and prosperity in the promised land for forty years, the very state of the people in religious and civil terms was such that similar disasters could threaten in the future. Living among idolaters, the people of Israel, at the sight of the voluptuous forms of their idolatry, were themselves carried away by them, their moral strength weakened, the divisions between the tribes intensified within, which finally led to the fact that each tribe began to consider itself a separate, completely independent state. When this state fragmentation completely weakened the people, the surrounding nomadic tribes, who were constantly attracted to the wealth and luxury of the promised land, did not fail to take advantage of this. And so, when “the children of Israel began again to do evil in the sight of the Lord, the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Midianites” and the nomadic tribes related to them. The Midianites constantly appeared at the head of similar invasions of Palestine. Although descendants of Abraham through Keturah 741, they were considered among the most implacable enemies of the Israelites. They had already fought against them in the army of Sihon, king of the Amorites, and their daughters, together with the Moabite women, enticed the Israelites with the temptations of dissolute idolatry in Shittim, inclining them to the cult of Baal-Peor. Moses, to punish them, waged a bloody war against them; but their defeat only increased their hatred against their victors. Living at first east of the Gulf of Elani, they little by little moved north to graze their numerous herds in the vast pastures that stretched east of Ammon, Moab and the Trans-Jordanian tribes of Israel 742. Almost two hundred years have passed since the blow that Moses dealt them; they had enough time to recover. Now aroused by their hereditary hatred and out of love for robbery, uniting with the Amalekites who lived next to them, to the north of the Arabian Peninsula, as well as with the Bedouins of the desert, they, forming a huge horde of 120,000 people “drawing the sword,” headed for the fords of the Jordan, crossed it and, breaking all resistance that the fragmented forces could offer them Israelites, flooded the entire country from the Ezdrilon plain in the north to Gaza in the very south, and this invasion was repeated from year to year. As soon as the Israelis were sowing the fields, this wild horde appeared again, which covered all the hills and valleys with its wagons, stole all the livestock they encountered and poisoned all vegetation with their herds. Nothing could be harder and more destructive than such invasions, since after them there was no grain or livestock left. Fire and sword spread terror throughout the country; the desperate resistance of individual detachments of Israelis only led to the merciless beating of the brave defenders of their fatherland, and finally the only salvation was the complete flight of the population to the mountains, where they hid in caves. Such an invasion of Palestine by a predatory horde is by no means an unprecedented phenomenon and has been repeated most recently, albeit on a smaller scale. Several years ago, the entire Mountain, that is, the deep Jordan Valley, was in the hands of the fellahs or local peasants and was sown with grain. Now this entire area is in the possession of the Bedouins, who have destroyed all agriculture, with the exception of a few patches cultivated here and there by their slaves. The same thing happened throughout the Saron Plain, where both in the northern and southern parts the land returned to its primitive state and entire villages completely disappeared from the face of the earth. Since 1838, no less than twenty of them have disappeared with their entire meager population. With the exception of the eastern part, in the entire plain of Ezdrilon there is now not a single inhabited village, and in the entire plain no more than one-sixth of its soil is cultivated. The villagers prefer to seek refuge somewhere in the surrounding hills than to live in the open plain, where the wild Arabs constantly raid on their fast, whirlwind horses for the purpose of plunder. The same raids, but in a much more intensified form, were carried out during the time of Gideon, spreading horror and destruction everywhere. War is always cruel, but it was infinitely crueler in ancient times. A striking illustration of such hostile relations between the two peoples is provided by the story of Sinekh, who, being approximately a contemporary of Abraham, tells how the matter was conducted in small raids of one tribal leader against another. This immigrant from Egypt, who found refuge with a certain king of southern Palestine, talking about the attack on him by a neighboring tribal leader, says: “He wanted to take away my cats, dogs, cows, Take bulls, goats, oxen from me, use them...” Sinekh managed to repel the enemy, he took him prisoner and, according to his story, acted in the following way: “I dedicated his wives to Mentu (the Egyptian god of war). I took his property, divided his flock into several parts; Everything I set out to do, I did to him. I used things that were in his house, I captured treasures and riches, I bought a lot of livestock" 743. As it was in the time of Sinekh, so it was in the time of the Judges, it was repeated in the time of David, and it is repeated even now. “In the spring of 1857, in this very place,” says one recent traveler, “I had the opportunity to see something similar to the invasion of the Midianites, when the Bedouin chief Akeil Agha gathered his people and his allies, after the defeat of the Kurds in Hattin, to divide the spoils. They gathered on the plain as many as locusts, and they had countless camels, like the sand on the seashore. When I looked at these wild and ferocious crowds of this disorderly army, looked at the spoils they plundered, it seemed as if before me was the spectacle of that great invasion of the Midianites, which took place in the time of Gideon" 744 . “Everyone,” says Dean Stanley, “who has ever passed through the plain of Esdrilon in our time, has had to see or at least hear about the attacks of the Bedouins when they flood this plain, arriving from the neighboring desert. Here and there, on the banks of springs or in the middle of the bush, on the mountains, you can always see their tents or their wild figures, terrifying both these calm areas and peaceful travelers. What we now see only on a small scale is only a reduced image of that great invasion of the Israelites 745 . The Bedouins of today are remarkably similar to the ancient Midianites. Everything, even their clothes, resembles these latter: their costume is the same as 3000 years ago. Chiefs always wear a purple cloak; their horses and their camels wear gold and silver chains around their necks with crescent-shaped decorations; their women are also decorated with necklaces, in addition to having earrings in their ears and special rings in their noses - everything is exactly as it was among the ancient Midianites (Judges 8:24-26). “The tribe of Beni-Sakrov,” says Tristram, “represents the true Midianites with all their customs” 746. The Ezdrilon Plain always had an irresistible attraction for these sons of the desert. From time immemorial, at the beginning of spring, they usually crossed the Jordan and headed to Bethsan, which for them is like a gateway to heaven. The plain of Ezdrilon is really like a small paradise, so that, according to one rabbi, “if paradise can be found in Palestine at all, then its gates are in Bethsan.” It charms all travelers with the richness of its soil and the abundance of its vegetation. The latter is so luxurious and abundant that the rider is almost completely hidden among the tall grasses. In April, there are vast yellowing fields, intersected here and there by olive trees. But at any time of the year, palm trees, like an umbrella, shade the villages and cities that are usually surrounded by them. And so, just such devastating invasions of the wild horde lasted for seven whole years. “And Israel became very poor.” In such distress, he again cried out to the Lord. Then the Lord again took pity on his unfaithful and fickle people and sent them a deliverer in the person of Gideon. Gideon came from the city of Ofra, which lay in the hills of central Palestine, the very district of Palestine that was subjected to the greatest devastation of the savage horde. He was, as his very name shows, a “brave warrior”, distinguished by royal grandeur in his appearance. He was the youngest member of a family that had already produced several brave warriors and defenders of the fatherland from foreigners, and his two older brothers had already laid down their lives in the fight against these very predators in a desperate battle at Tabor. Living among a disheartened people, he alone did not lose hope for deliverance and waited for the awakening of the spirit of repentance and revival among the people. At this time, a prophet appeared among the people, who with a fiery speech called for repentance, reproaching the Israelites for forgetting all the good deeds of God since the time of their exit from Egypt (Judges 6:8–10). This naturally awakened the spirit of the people, who began to ask even more fervently for deliverance from the heavy yoke. And then it was Gideon who received the highest calling to the work of delivering the suffering people. It was about mid-May, and apparently rumors were spreading that a wild horde was approaching, wanting to take advantage of the Israeli harvest. Gideon, stealthily and hastily, threshed wheat in order to quickly hide from the approaching enemies. He performed this work in a grape press. The winepresses in Palestine usually consisted of two vats of unequal depth, as can still be seen where they are carved into the rocks and preserved to this day 747. The grape bunches were crushed in the upper vat, and the juice flowed through a trench made in the stone into the lower vat, which was usually larger, so that supplies could be hidden in it and people could even find shelter 748 . In order not to be noticed by the Midianites, who, perhaps, were already scouring around, Gideon threshed the ears of grain not in the open air, but in a winepress, and probably poured the grain threshed in this way into a vat intended for wine. Next to the rock where the winepress was carved, stood a majestic terebinth or oak tree, which also belonged to Gideon’s family and now gave Gideon protection from the scorching sun. Busy with his loud work, Gideon did not notice how a traveler appeared under the oak tree. But it was the “Angel of the Lord” who said to him: “The Lord is with you, a strong man!” This greeting strangely struck Gideon and painfully affected in him the feeling of the oppressed situation in which both he and the entire people found themselves. Is this not evil irony on the part of a stranger? "Mister"! Gideon answered him, “If the Lord is with us, then why has all this disaster befallen us? And where are all His miracles, which our fathers told about, saying: The Lord brought us out of Egypt? “Now the Lord has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites,” Gideon concluded with sadness and despair. But the Lord, “looking at him, said: Go with your strength and save Israel from the hands of the Midianites. I am sending you." Such an assignment involuntarily embarrassed Gideon, who, like all great people, was least aware of his greatness and never had a thought about his great destiny. Therefore, he answered embarrassedly: “Lord! How can I save Israel? Behold, my tribe in the tribe of Manasseh is the poorest, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.” But the angel gave him an encouraging assurance: “I will be with you, and you will smite the Midianites as one man.” In confirmation of this calling, Gideon was given a miraculous sign, in the form of the miraculous appearance of fire in the sacrifice; then Gideon was convinced of his highest destiny for the deliverance of the people, and in his soul that slightest shadow of doubt and despair, which began to creep into his courageous and believing spirit, disappeared. But in order to have greater success in the task entrusted to him, Gideon had first of all to arouse the spirit of true religion among the people, suppressed by the invasion of idolatry. Idolatry even manifested itself in the family itself, of which Gideon was the youngest member. His father, Joash, despairing of Jehovah's help, succumbed to idolatry and, on the top of the rock where the winepress was located, erected an altar to Baal, the sun god of his Canaanite neighbors; the tree standing next to the altar was also dedicated to Astarte. Gideon received a divine inspiration to destroy this church and thereby express open protest against idolatry. And he, burning with zeal for faith in the true God, immediately fulfilled this suggestion. Taking ten of his slaves and a couple of bulls, he destroyed the church at night, cut down the sacred tree, in the place of the overthrown altar to Baal, he erected an altar to the true God and sacrificed one of the bulls, using the very tree of Astarte for firewood. All this was done at night, since during the day it would have aroused superstitious horror and an uprising of his household and the inhabitants of the city. But these latter were seized with even greater amazement and indignation when, with the onset of day, they saw what had been done to the church and the shrine. Popular rumor was quick to attribute this supposed “sacrilege” to Gideon, and furious voices were heard among the inhabitants of the city demanding the death of the culprit, but he was saved by the courageous determination and resourcefulness of his father, Joash. The latter, before anyone else, was convinced from the feat of his son of the pitiful insignificance of Baal, and to the demand of the crowd for the extradition of Gideon he boldly answered: “Should you stand up for Baal? Should you protect him? If he is God, he will stand up for himself.” This bold and enlightened speech truly shamed the crowd and made them realize their error, and Gideon received the name Jerubbaal, that is, the opponent of Baal. The fame of this feat quickly spread throughout the country, Gideon’s name was on everyone’s lips, and he could now act as a deliverer from external enemies. “The Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon, and he sounded the trumpet.” The sounds of this trumpet found a quick echo in the surrounding tribes, and 32,000 warriors gathered under the banner of Gideon, ready to lay down their lives for the true faith and their fatherland. Meanwhile, the wild horde had already begun to advance on Palestine, and as it approached, even Gideon’s courageous spirit was involuntarily embarrassed. In order to once again be confident in his destiny, he again asked for confirmation, which was given to him by two miraculous signs, namely the appearance of dew on the wool, when it was absent on the surrounding earth, and another time by the absence of it on the wool, when there was an abundance of it all around 749. These signs seemed to reflect Gideon’s own character: he was hot and zealous, when everything around him was indifferent and cold; he was calm and cool-blooded when everything around him was in extraordinary excitement from the impending invasion of the horde. Having received such assurance, Gideon marched against the enemy. But deliverance had to be accomplished not by the people’s own strength, but by the power of God, and therefore Gideon was commanded to reduce his army, releasing all the fearful and timid. Only ten thousand men remained, but even this was too many for the victory in which Jehovah was to demonstrate his power. At the foot of Mount Gilboa, in the northwestern part of Ezdrilon, there still flows an abundant spring known as Ain Jalut, formerly called Ain Gairot, the “spring of awe,” apparently receiving its name from the event that took place on it. It flows from under a huge rock, which is a cave inside, and forms a large pond of the purest water, in the form of a semicircle, from which one could freely drink water. Now it contains many small fish, and its bottom was once paved, but many of the stones have now fallen out. Coming from here, the water runs in two streams, which are partly lined with stone, feed two nearby mills and then flow to the east, heading down the steep Wadi El-Jalut to the Jordan. It was to this pool that Gideon led his men to drink, and at the same time noticed which of them was sufficiently cool-blooded and self-controlled, even in view of the approaching enemy, to calmly grab handfuls of water. From these he chose those on whom he could fully rely, sending away all the rest, who, in visible fear of the enemy, hastily bowed down to the water and drank from the source directly with their mouths. But there were only three hundred cold-blooded warriors. With this handful of soldiers, Gideon decided to march against the enemies, who, in a huge horde of 135,000 people, were located on the plain of Esdrilon. Before moving against the enemy, Gideon secretly entered the enemy camp at night, and there he learned about the anxious mood of the enemies, who had apparently already heard rumors about the movement among the Israelites. And so, then Gideon decided to hit them with a surprise attack, resorting to a special strategic technique, often used in ancient times. Dividing his detachment into three parts, he gave each soldier a trumpet and a lamp in a jug, ordering these parts to march out at night to bypass the enemy, and, at the given signal, all the soldiers had to immediately blow the trumpets, break the jugs and loudly exclaim: “the sword of the Lord and Gideon.” This particular military technique, surprisingly, was repeated in one Arab battle in the middle of the last century, as described by Niebuhr, and in Egypt the use of jugs or pots for the purpose of hiding lamps is still known. “The Zabit or police official,” says the latest traveler, “when making his night rounds, usually carries a torch, which burns without flame, except in those cases when he quickly waves it in the air and when light instantly appears from it. The end of the torch is sometimes hidden in a small clay jug or covered in some other way when it is not desirable for anyone to notice the fire.” When everything was ready, the soldiers set out against the enemy, and at this sign, at about 11 o’clock at night, the surrounding hills suddenly lit up with many lamps and the sound of three hundred horns was heard along them, accompanied by the courageous military cry of the attackers. Such a surprise immediately plunged the enemy into terrible confusion. The troops of the eastern nomadic tribes are more likely to be a disorderly mass than an army in the proper sense of the word; this is a heterogeneous crowd without any connection or discipline, and therefore is most easily susceptible to panic, during which the leaders are unable to restore any order and avert its most terrible consequences. Therefore, the Midianites, struck by horror, killed each other in the confusion and, without thinking at all about resistance to the Israelites, rushed into disorderly flight. The first thought of the terror-stricken Midianites was to flee as quickly as possible. Those who did not become victims of the first massacre that took place among the camp fled with all their might, emitting their characteristic piercing screams, which all travelers testify to; in disarray, they headed towards the city of Bethsan along the present Nar-Jalud valley, which led from the Ezdrilon plain to this city, and then tried in every way to reach the fords of the Jordan in order to escape on the other side of this river. It is not easy to imagine the confusion that must have reigned in this broken crowd, heaped together with horror, weighed down by herds and camels. Gideon's three-hundred-strong detachment, reinforced by the tribes of Nepheali, Asher and Manasseh, energetically pursued the enemies and carried out a cruel beating among them. Meanwhile, Gideon, during this persecution, sent messengers to the Ephraimites so that they would occupy all the crossings of the Jordan, from its very mouth, at the confluence with the Dead Sea in the south, and along its entire course to the north; but before this order was carried out, part of the Midianites, under the command of their two main leaders, Ziva and Salman, had already managed to cross the river, probably at the place where the Jabbok River flows into the Jordan opposite Succoth. But when other masses of the enemy surged towards the Jordanian fords known to them, they were met by the Ephraimites, and here, on the banks of the river, a fierce battle took place between the Israelites and their enemies, who fled under the command of two Midian kings, Oreb and Ziba. The Midianites were defeated, and such a terrible massacre took place here that the prophet Isaiah subsequently speaks of the defeat inflicted on them here as one that could only be equaled by the death of the Egyptians in the Red Sea, or with the death of Sennacherib’s army (10:26). Gedeonov’s victory was subsequently glorified by other sacred writers. The psalmist, depicting this triumph of his people, describes that the enemy was scattered like dust in a whirlwind, like stubble before the wind, like a forest burned with fire, like mountains scorched by flames (Ps. 82:14, 15); Among the beaten enemies, both of his leaders fell: one on the rock, which from that time began to bear his name, Orib, and the other in the grape press, where he wanted to hide and which from that time also began to be called by his name, Ziva. Meanwhile, Gideon decided to see the victory to the end and take advantage of all its possible results. He had already won two victories, but wanted to inflict an even more decisive defeat on the enemy, and for this purpose he crossed the Jordan, where, despite the exhaustion of his soldiers, he continued to pursue the fleeing Midian leaders Ziva and Salman, and finally, having overtaken them, defeated their entire army, and captured the princes themselves alive. Thus, the victory was complete. From this time on, the Midianites, who had hitherto been such terrible enemies, were no longer considered among the enemies of the people of God: “so the Midianites humbled themselves before the children of Israel, and did not lift up their heads any more” (Judges 8:28), so that apparently they even disappeared from history 750. If the name of the winner of the Midianite horde acquired such fame in posterity, then the brilliance of his glory was no less great among his contemporaries. His fame was so great that the Israelis even offered him supreme power. The misfortunes they endured for want of a leader who could organize a defense and stand at their head, as well as the courage, fearlessness, dexterity, wisdom and firmness of Gideon, gave them the opportunity to understand the benefits of close unity between the different tribes under the command of a man who, uniting their scattered forces, could make them invincible. From here, as we will see, the idea of ​​central power and the founding of a monarchy in Israel first arose. Gideon would truly be worthy to be the first king of his people. He was not only a brave warrior and hero, but also a skillful politician. When, upon returning from the campaign, the Ephraimites, who always revealed their arrogance and imperiousness, boldly reproached him for not calling them earlier to fight the Midianites, he answered them in a tone that completely disarmed them: “Have I done anything like you today,” he said to them; “Wasn’t Ephraim happier when he picked grapes than Abiezer when he picked them? God delivered the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zibah, into your hands, and what could I do like you?” that is, he wanted to say: “I let Oreb and Zibah ​​escape from the plain of Esdraelon, and you captured them and killed them; thus your victory is greater than mine.” With this political tact he combined, where necessary, unshakable firmness. The inhabitants of the cities of Succoth and Penuel, instead of joining him, even denied him vital supplies when he needed them during the pursuit of the remnants of the Midianite army. This refusal proved that they were completely indifferent to the misfortune of the rest of the Israelites, or rather that they were cowardly afraid that the Midianites, in whose defeat they did not believe, would make them pay dearly for the help that they could provide to their brothers. What actually served as their motivation is unknown, but in any case, it was now necessary to remind the various tribes of the ties that were supposed to unite them among themselves, severely punishing for this indifference and this criminal egoism of those who did not want to make the slightest sacrifice in favor of the common good. Gideon really punished them cruelly: he destroyed the tower of Penuel and exterminated its inhabitants; He also put the most important representatives of the families of Succoth to a painful death, subjecting them to the punishment of “desert thorns and jagged threshing boards” 751. The fame of Gideon’s victory spread throughout the country, and the grateful Israelites said to Gideon: “Own us, you, and your son, and your son’s son; for you have saved us from the hand of the Midianites.” But the courageous liberator of the country was pleased with the knowledge of his duty fulfilled and modestly refused the hereditary power offered to him, answering the Israelites: “Neither I will rule you, nor my son will rule you; The Lord rule over you,” He was content with only part of the spoils of war (1,700 gold shekels, besides the buckles, buttons and purple garments from the Midian kings, and besides the gold chains from the necks of their camels). Unfortunately, he had the imprudence to make an ephod or priestly robe out of this booty, and the superstitious people, giving it a magical meaning, “began to go there prodigally after him,” committing something like idolatry. However, the earth rested for forty years, and Gideon himself lived peacefully to a ripe old age, leaving seventy sons from his many wives and, most importantly, that good fame that later gave him the great honor of being recorded among the most glorious heroes of the faith (Heb. 11:32). The noble fidelity with which Gideon rejected the royal crown, because he believed Jehovah to be the one true King of Israel, found an echo in the breasts of some at least of those whom he had so gloriously served. It is not surprising, however, that among his many sons, as time went on, some sense of ambition should have stirred. The rich spoils of every kind acquired during the great victory over the Midianites undoubtedly contributed greatly to the enrichment of the people and spread among them a taste for a certain pomp, which became especially noticeable in the cities. One of the results of this was closer communication with the lively traders of Phenicia; large cities increasingly became markets for Canaanite goods and homes for pagan settlers. Obviously, in order to ensure the safety of their persons and property and to protect their trade caravans, constantly moving with goods, the foreigners formed alliances under the auspices of their god Baal-Berith, and even achieved that they were allowed to build a church in Shechem, and perhaps also in other cities. With such an increase in prosperity, unfortunately, rivalry between individual cities and localities began to become more pronounced. The city of Ophrah, the birthplace of Gideon, apparently began to overshadow this ancient capital of the tribe of Ephraim, precisely thanks to the residence of the sons of Gideon in it, who, in general, supported the dignity of their great father. But among them there was one unworthy member, namely Abimelech, the son of the Shechem concubine Gideon, who decided to take advantage of the emerging rivalry for ambitious purposes. Considering the current state of affairs favorable for himself, he, together with his mother, drew up a bold plan so that Shechem, with its surrounding cities, would proclaim him king and thus finally rise above Ophra. It was better for them, he made them understand, to be ruled by one than by the seventy sons of Gideon, which, perhaps, included his grandchildren. Moreover, he, Abimelech, was “of their bone and flesh.” This bold step of Abimelech was a success. Foreigners who settled in Shechem also took part in it, so that they even gave him financial assistance from the church of Baal, and he immediately began recruiting warriors from various idle people, of whom there were many in these troubled times. With an army recruited, he immediately declared war on his brothers, whom he finally defeated and mercilessly put to death, apparently beheading them on one “stone,” which, perhaps, enjoyed particular fame due to the fact that Gideon had once made his sacrifice on it. Only Jotham, the youngest son of Gideon, escaped from this massacre. He fled to Mount Gerizim, rising above the valley of Shechem, and from there he saw that the inhabitants of the city and surrounding areas had gathered below in the valley with the goal of proclaiming Abimelech king. This sight immediately inspired Jotham, who was distinguished by the courage and dexterity of his brilliant father and grandfather, with the idea of ​​​​addressing the assembly with a speech. Having climbed onto one rocky spur jutting out from Gerizim into the valley, and being inaccessible to Abimelech’s soldiers due to the very steepness of the rocks, he boldly announced his presence to the astonished people and addressed them with an accusatory parable, the first ever told in the Bible. He took the image for her from the surrounding scene. In the fables of India and Greece, animals and birds usually speak or act; but in Palestine the comparison was usually taken from the vegetable kingdom, and it was the valley below that presented the most luxurious images of vegetation. “Lifting up his voice, Jotham shouted and said to the people: Listen to me, people of Shechem, and God will listen to you! One day the tree went to anoint a king over itself, and they said to the olive tree: Reign over us. The olive tree said to them: Shall I leave my fat and go to wander among the trees? And the trees said to the fig tree, Come and reign over us. The fig tree said to them, “Shall I leave my sweetness and my good fruit and go to wander among the trees?” And the trees said to the vine, Come and reign over us. The vine said to them: Shall I leave my juice, which makes glad gods and men, and go to wander among the trees? Finally, all the trees said to the thorn tree: Come and reign over us. The thorn tree said to the trees: if you truly make me king over you, then go and rest under my shadow; if not, then fire will come out of the thorns and consume the cedars of Lebanon. So, look, did you act with truth and justice when you made Abimelech king? And have you dealt well with Jerubbaal (Gideon) and his house, and have you acted according to his good deeds? My father fought for you, did not value his life, and delivered you from the hand of the Midianites, but now you have rebelled against my father’s house, and killed seventy of my father’s sons on one stone, and made Abimelech the son of his maidservant king over the inhabitants of Shechem, because he is your brother. If you have now dealt truthfully and justly with Jerubbaal and his house, then let the blessing be upon you, and rejoice in Abimelech, and let him rejoice in you. If not, then let fire come out from Abimelech and consume the inhabitants of Shechem, and the whole house of Millo, and let fire come out from the inhabitants of Shechem and from the house of Millo, and let it consume Abimelech” (Judges 9:8-20). Having finished this bold and expressive speech, Jotham immediately disappeared, leaving the inhabitants of Shechem to reflect on the consequences of their unwise, so vividly depicted act. But the Shechemites, carried away by the benefits of their leadership among the people, did not listen to good advice and actually proclaimed Abimelech king; soon, however, they were to see how fair the warning Jotham gave them was. Abimelech turned out to be exactly the thorn tree that invited him to rest under his shadow. To ensure his position, he did not limit himself to killing his brothers, but continued the same bloodthirsty policy, exterminating all those who in one way or another might seem to him dangerous to his power. Such a policy in the east is by no means unprecedented. Subsequently, Jehu resorted to her when he destroyed the Ahab family, as well as Athaliah when she beat the children of Ahaziah. Such barbarism has always been the custom in the east. In Turkey it existed until very recently, and in Persia there is still a custom of blinding the Shah's brothers and all other collateral heirs to the throne at the beginning of each new reign 752. This beginning of Abimelech's reign fully revealed his character, and he remained faithful to it throughout his reign. Callously selfish, unprincipled and shameless, as a result he soon had to force his subjects to revolt. Playing the role of king, he had an army, collected revenues and organized an administration, finding himself a governor in the person of Zebul, to whom he entrusted the administration of Shechem, and he himself moved to Aruma, on the top of a mountain, about five miles to the north-west. Meanwhile, his tyranny became so unbearable that gangs of rebels formed in Shechem, who began to plunder everything that belonged to Abimelech and even tried to capture him himself. To pacify the Shechemites, Abimelech sent Gaal, a Canaanite from Shechem, with a detachment of troops. But Gaal himself fraternized with the Sichemites. At one cheerful feast during the grape harvest, which took place in the church of Baal, things came to the point that Gaal addressed those gathered with a rebellious, treacherous speech, in which he proposed to deprive Abimelech of the throne and himself become the head of his brothers. Zebul immediately reported this betrayal to Abimelech, who showed that he inherited from his father, if not moral dignity, then at least energy. He immediately came to the city with a detachment, defeated Gaal and his followers, drove them out of the city, and then in the second battle the next day defeated the Shechemites, who fell into the cruel hands of Abimelech; all those who were alive after the beating were thrown from their houses. The enraged impostor mercilessly destroyed the city and sowed it with salt as a sign that the very location of Shechem would be forgotten. The rest of the population, however, fled to the church of Baal, in the tower of which they hoped to find refuge, but Abimelech now knew neither compassion nor reverence. Having gone to the adjacent Mount Selmon, he himself, together with his detachment, chopped up tree branches and then, bringing them to the city, they placed them near the tower and set it on fire, so that up to a thousand men and women were burned alive in the tower 753. From Shechem Abimelech went to another rebellious city of Tebez, the present Tubas, on the main road half an hour between Shechem and Bethsan, and resorted to the same method to exterminate its inhabitants, who fled to the strong city tower after the first defeat. But the curse of Jotham now haunted Abimelech's heels, and here he met his doom. When he, in order to place flammable material on the tower, approached its wall, one woman threw a millstone on top of him and broke his skull. Ashamed to die at the hands of a woman, Abimelech ordered his armor bearer to pierce him with a sword. “This is how God rewarded Abimelech for the crime that he did to his father, killing seventy of his brothers,” and thus the first attempt to arbitrarily establish royal power in the people of Israel ended ingloriously. After the overthrow of Abimelech, a fairly long period of time ensued during which the Israelites enjoyed peace and prosperity. The previous trials were so instructive for the people that they apparently came to realize the need to streamline their social and civil relations, and for this purpose, even in peacetime, they recognized individuals who were their judges. Judges Tholas and Jairus are mentioned as such after Abimelech. Since it was a time of calm and peace, the existence of these judges was completely civil in nature. They were judges in the full sense of the word, that is, their main goal was the establishment of internal civil order among the people. But this prosperity, during which the trials of earlier times were little by little forgotten, again turned out to be harmful for such a fickle and frivolous people as the Israelites were. Forgetting the trials and lessons of former times, they again began to incline towards idolatry; Among them, the usual corruption increased. Taking advantage of the prosperity, the people began to enter into even closer relations with the surrounding idolatrous tribes, and it came to the point that the people, who should have served as a teacher of faith in the one true God for all the surrounding nations, themselves began to slavishly imitate them in their idolatrous cults and began indiscriminately “to serve the Baals, the Astartes, and the gods of the Amorites, and the gods of Sidon, and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the Ammonites, and the gods of the Philistines,” forgetting only the one true Lord God. “And the wrath of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he delivered them into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the Ammonites. They oppressed and tormented the children of Israel for eighteen years.” This disaster was all the more severe because the enemies were pressing the people simultaneously from two sides, from the east and the west. The Western enemies, that is, the Philistines, had hitherto been only insignificant peaceful shepherds, but now they apparently began to act as those formidable warriors who later brought such terror to the Israelites. But their present attack, apparently, was some kind of insignificant raid, which served only as a temporary warning to the people of Israel. The main enemy was the Ammonites, descendants of Lot. The Ammonites had already threatened the Israelites during the time of Ehud, but at that time they only supported the Moabites, apparently showing no hostility towards the Israeli people; now they alone were strong enough to invade Palestine. Their cruel and predatory nature made them especially scary. They led a nomadic life and were completely devoted to the passion for war and predation that is characteristic of all Bedouins. The Israelites, since their exit from Egypt, had never encountered more cruel enemies. During the exodus, these descendants of Lot denied the descendants of Abraham the provisions of life in the wilderness; they even tried to seduce the Israelites from the path of moral duty, following, together with the Moabites, the insidious advice of Balaam (Deut. 23:4). Where they actually lived at the time when they invaded the Israelites is unknown, but it is certain that they lived east of the country of Gilead. No matter how difficult it was to penetrate this last country, the mountains of which seemed to form an insurmountable fortress for it, the Ammonites in any case managed to make an invasion of it, and from there they, having crossed the Jordan, began to make their predatory raids and extended their predation deep into the tribes of Ephraim, Benjamin and Judah. As usual, this disaster again forced the Israelites to turn to their forgotten Lord with a plea for help; but this time the Lord, in his righteous anger, answered them: “You left Me and began to serve other gods; therefore I will no longer save you. Go, call on the gods whom you have chosen: let them save you in your time of need.” This was a terrible lesson for the Israeli people, who had to learn how the surrounding pagan gods, serving for them as a source of criminal pleasure in times of peace, turn out to be completely powerless for them during disasters, and on the contrary, serve for them only as a noose for bringing on these disasters. But God's mercy is limitless. When the Israelis in repentance turned to Him again and rejected foreign gods, beginning to serve only the Lord, then “His soul did not tolerate the suffering of Israel,” and He sent them a deliverer in the person of Jephthah. It was, even in its origin, completely the son of its dissolute time. His mother was a harlot from Gilead, in the Trans-Jordanian tribe of Manasseh, and he, deprived of his inheritance in the house of his illegitimate father by his half-brothers, retired to the free land of Tob, it is not known exactly where it was located, but probably located on the borders of the kingdom of the Ammonites, if not even forming part of it. There he, having gathered around him idle and homeless people, became the leader of a gang of robbers. But with his freemen, Jephthah did not forget his patriotic duty, and therefore he made invasions against the enemies of his country, taking away their herds and caravans. His courage and courage attracted the attention of the elders of Gilead, which especially suffered from the attacks of the Ammonites, and they invited him to lead them to fight the enemies. It was difficult for Jephthah to accept the invitation from the elders of the city, where he suffered a terrible insult and injustice, but his love for his homeland prevailed and he accepted the offer, however, stipulating for himself the condition of leadership among the people as a judge. Here we thus see a new step towards consolidating power, so that the position of judge clearly sought to gradually secure it for individuals. This condition was accepted by the elders and it was solemnly confirmed before the Lord. Acting as a leader, Jephthah soon formed a detachment around himself, ready to march to liberate his country from cruel enemies; but before setting out on a campaign, Jephthah first tried to settle the matter peacefully and entered into negotiations with the Ammonites to determine the rights of the two warring peoples to the regions beyond the Jordan. At the same time, Jephthah discovered a keen knowledge of the entire previous history of the conquest of the land by the Israelites and, based on historical data, demanded the removal of the Ammonites. The latter justified their attack on the Trans-Jordanian tribes by claiming that the land located between the Arnon and Jabbok rivers constituted their hereditary possession. Through his messengers, Jephthah proved to them the groundlessness of these claims. This country, at the time of the Israelite conquest, belonged to Sihon, king of the Amorites. True, the Amorites were not its original owners, since they themselves took this land from the Moabites (Num. 21:26). Therefore, Balak could lay claim to it; but although he invited Balaam to defend what remained of his kingdom against the possible attack of the Israelites, whom he feared, he never attempted to return what the Israelites had taken from the Amorites, although the land originally belonged to him. Moreover, even in relation to the Amorites, as previously in relation to the Edomites and Moabites, whose possessions the Israelites actually bypassed in a large circular movement, the latter at one time showed extraordinary leniency. If the Amorites were deprived of their possessions, it was because they themselves made an unprovoked attack on the Israelites, who at first only asked permission to pass through their land. Finally, if three hundred years of undisputed possession of land did not yet give a positive right to own land, then it is difficult to imagine by what right one could still own it. Finally, Jephthah was not embarrassed even to shift the question to a religious point of view. Addressing the Ammonites and summarizing all the previous negotiations, he said to them: “And so, the Lord, the God of Israel, drove out the Amorite from the presence of His people Israel, and you want to take his inheritance? Do you not possess what Chemosh your God has given you? And we possess all that the Lord our God has given us as an inheritance” (Judges 11:23–24). When all these negotiations did not lead to any desired goal and all peace proposals were proudly rejected by the Ammonites, who laid claim to all the regions beyond the Jordan, Jephthah was forced to seek his right with arms. “And the spirit of the Lord was upon Jephthah.” Strong in his own courage and inspired by the people who began to gather under his banner from everywhere, Jephthah finally moved towards the enemy; but before that, according to the custom of ancient times, he made a vow to the Lord, saying: “If you deliver the Ammonites into my hands, then when I return in peace from the Ammonites, whatever comes out from the gates of my house to meet me will be to the Lord, and I will offer it as a burnt offering.” The campaign was successful. Jephthah defeated the enemy, pursued him from Aroer to Minith, and took twenty cities as far as Abel-keramim, so that the Ammonites humbled themselves before the children of Israel. The topography of the region east of the Jordan is still too little known to give an accurate idea of ​​the area that witnessed Jephthah's exploits. The low security of these countries, flooded now, as then, by Bedouins, prevented researchers from making a proper search. One English traveler, Tristram, however, visited the land of Moab in 1872, and one of the most interesting results of his journey was the discovery of Abel-keramim. “Within 20 minutes of leaving the Divan,” he says, “our path brought us into a valley so shallow that it scarcely deserves the name. There may still be seen traces of the walls and terraces, which have now become mere heaps of earth, covered with turf, and placed regularly along the hill at a distance of nearly three hundred feet. When we asked what it was, they could not give us any explanation, but only said that this valley was called Khurm-Divan, that is, Divan vineyards. This low-lying clearing is almost three English miles in length (4 1/2 versts). This name was preserved by people who probably never saw a vineyard and who do not even have any idea of ​​​​the original purpose of these ancient ditches, as they could be called. This is an interesting example of the stability of Semitic names. But that's not all: this is an interesting illustration of a famous saying in the Book of Judges. When Jephthah, in his war against the Ammonites, defeated them in this plain, we read: “and he struck them with a very great defeat, from Aroer to Minith, twenty cities, and to Abel-keramim, that is, the plain of vineyards, and dealt them a great defeat” (Judges 11:33). Thus, here on this road, along which the defeated army of the Ammonites, heading from the east after the defeat at Aroer, naturally had to flee, the ancient name remains to this day, although expressed in a different language, but with the same meaning. But where was the Minif? We don't know this. It was assumed that this could be Menya, a place that is located seven miles east of Eshvon; but we could not find the slightest trace, nor the name, nor the place itself, neither where it is indicated, nor in another place. Here, at least, we have remains that testify to the accuracy of the name of the plain of grapes" 754. The fact that Jephthah wanted at first to avoid war by a peaceful settlement of the matter shows that he had a high opinion of the power of the Ammonites. The siege of Thabes of Gilead, which these latter undertook soon, precisely in the time of Samuel (1 Sam. 11:13 et seq.), shows that the defeat inflicted on them by Jephthah did not completely crush their power. Having completed the work of liberation, Jephthah triumphantly returned to his city of Mizpah and headed towards his home. Under the influence of triumph and the general approval of the people, who praised the exploits of their liberator, Jephthah could already forget about the vow that he had made before the war. But when he was already approaching his house, “here his daughter comes out to meet him with timbrels and faces,” his only daughter, who wanted more than anyone else to celebrate the victory of her victorious father. The unfortunate father was thunderstruck, only then remembering all the imprudence of the rash vow he had made. When he saw her, “he tore his clothes and said: Oh, my daughter! you struck me down; and you are among the disturbers of my peace! I have opened my mouth for you before the Lord, and I cannot deny.” Having learned the terrible secret, the courageous daughter of the brave father, however, did not give in to helpless despair and asked him only for two months to go to the mountains and mourn her virginity with her friends. “After two months had passed, she returned to her father, and he fulfilled his vow to her, which he had made, and she did not know her husband” (Judges 11:34-39). But how should we understand the fulfillment of this vow? Due to the mysterious obscurity of the biblical text, it is understood in different ways. Some interpreters, mostly the ancients, understand it in the literal sense, that it was the maiden who was actually sacrificed as a burnt offering; but in modern times another interpretation has become increasingly important, that Jephthah’s daughter was only dedicated to serving God. To better understand this circumstance, two questions need to be resolved: what did Jephthah actually mean when he made his vow? And did he feel obligated, by the literal meaning of his vow, to offer his daughter as a burnt offering? At the outset we meet here with the following two facts, namely, that up to this time Jephthah acted and spoke as a true servant of Jehovah, and that his name occupies an honorable place in that list of heroes of the faith, which is written by the apostle in the epistle to the Hebrews (11:32). From here it becomes almost impossible to think that a true servant of Jehovah could ever vow to make a human sacrifice, much less that he would actually offer one, much less that the subject of this sacrifice could be his own and only daughter. Such sacrifices were extremely alien and contrary to the whole spirit and letter of the law of God, 755 and we do not find any mention of them until the reign of the wicked Ahaz and Manasseh. Even Jezebel did not dare bring them in; and we know with what horror the Israelites were seized when they saw how the pagan king of Moab offered his son as an atoning sacrifice on the walls of his capital (2 Kings 3:26, etc.). But the difficulty becomes almost insurmountable when we subsequently encounter the name of Jephthah in the New Testament list among the heroes of the faith. The perpetrator of such an illegal crime would certainly not find a place there! But these considerations, although important, go beyond the narrative itself, and for a true understanding of the matter it is necessary to more accurately examine the narrative of the Bible itself. In doing this, we must first of all reject as irrelevant all such arguments as the barbarity of those times, the imperfection of religious concepts, or religious ignorance on the part of such an adventurer as Jephthah was at first, who spent most of his life away from the Israelites. The biblical narrator, however, portrays Jephthah as a wild and brave Gilead mountaineer who was engaged in predatory raids on the surrounding residents. But, on the other hand, Jephthah constantly acts and speaks exactly like a true servant of Jehovah; and his vow, which in the Old Testament always reveals the highest religious feeling 756, was all the more sacred for him because it was given to Jehovah. Then, in the embassy to the king of Ammon, Jephthah discovers his closest acquaintance with the Pentateuch, and more than once his arguments constitute an almost literal quotation from the book of Numbers (20). A person who knew sacred history so well and in detail could not but know the basic principles of the true faith. With all this in mind, we can begin to examine in detail the biblical account of the vow he made, and from it the following emerges. The very expressions in which Jephthah made his vow do not, in any case, exclude the possibility that some human being would come out of the door of his house to meet him upon his return. The original text involuntarily arouses such a thought, and the obvious probabilities of the case spoke strongly in favor of such an accident. In fact, the expressions of Jephtha's vow seem to have been deliberately made in such general terms as to cover all possible contingencies. But even in this case, it is impossible to assume that Jephthah could deliberately make a vow in which he had in mind specifically human sacrifice; It is even more impossible to imagine that Jephthah would ever have the idea that Jehovah would want to connect his liberating victory with such a terrible crime. The expression used by Jephthah when making his vow is remarkable in another respect. It says: “Whatever comes out from the gate of my house to meet me will be to the Lord, and I will offer it as a burnt offering.” The great Jewish commentators of the Middle Ages, in contrast to the Talmud, argued that these last two sentences are not identical. The law never says about an animal offered as a burnt offering that it “will be to the Lord,” and this is for the simple reason that by every burnt offering it is meant to be offered to the Lord. But when human beings were offered to Jehovah, then this expression was used, as for example. at the offering of the firstborn among the Israelites and the tribe of Levi (Num. 3:12, 13). But in such cases, of course, it was never intended that an actual human sacrifice be performed on them. Then we must remember that according to the rule of the Mosaic Law, only male creatures were sacrificed as burnt offerings (Leviticus I, 3), and this in itself already excludes the possibility of the assumption on the part of Jephthah that his daughter could become the subject of such a sacrifice. But even if we assume that his daughter, who loved him so much, actually dedicated herself to death, it is almost completely incredible that she would want to spend the two months of her remaining life not with her grief-stricken father, but in the mountains with her peers. Then, in this solitude, she mourns not her youth, but her “virginity,” not that she must die, but that she must die celibate. The Hebrew expression in the first case would be completely different from that used here in St. Scripture and which can only mean the latter. The fact that an only child had to die in celibacy and thus doom the father's name to disappear in Israel was, in the light of Old Testament times, truly considered a great misfortune and a heavy blow. Childlessness was one of the punishments prescribed for great sin (Leviticus 20:20), and one of the great punishments for the apostasy of the people was, in the words of the psalmist, that “the fire consumed their young men, and they did not sing marriage songs to their maidens” (Ps. 77:63). This test is all the more difficult for Jephthah when we imagine that it fell on him and his only daughter in the hour of their highest triumph, when all prosperity was apparently at their disposal. The greatest and happiest man in Israel immediately becomes the most pitiful and unhappy because even according to this meaning of the vow, Jephthah was deprived of the highest happiness that was considered the property of an Old Testament man, namely the happiness of continuing his family. Finally, it is very significant that the very certificate of the vow only says that Jephthah “fulfilled the vow that he had made to her,” without any further details; it is not said that he actually offered her as a burnt offering, and on the contrary, it is only added that “she did not know a husband,” as if to hint that a burnt offering was not made over her, but she remained a virgin and was dedicated to serving God. All these reasons are so serious that in modern times interpreters are increasingly inclined to understand Jephtha’s vow that its fulfillment consisted not in bringing his daughter as a burnt offering, but in dedicating her to God to serve at the tabernacle for life. Indeed, it was the custom of the Jews to make similar vows. This can be seen already from the book of Leviticus, where the value of the ransom for a human soul dedicated to God is precisely defined (Leviticus 27:1 et seq.). Both men and women, old and young, slaves and free were dedicated. It was allowed to pay a ransom specified by law for the person being initiated, but some did not want to use this right. So, Anna dedicated Samuel to God for the rest of her life (1 Samuel 1:11, 22). Judge Jephthah made the same vow and fulfilled it over his daughter, and in remembrance of Jephthah’s courageous daughter, “it became a custom among Israel that every year the daughters of Israel went to mourn the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days a year” (Judges 11:40). A remarkable echo of this biblical event is the custom that still persists in the Sinai Peninsula. When it is announced to a girl that she is to get married, then, according to ancient custom, she usually runs away to the mountains for a while. For many this flight is only feigned, apparent, but among one of the four tribes now living on this peninsula, namely the Emzenechs, this flight is real: the bride goes to the mountains for three days and hides there all the time, as if mourning her virginity 757. Corresponding to this is a curious custom that persisted among the Jews even in the time of the Savior. Twice a year, precisely on the fifteenth day of the month of Abib, when the collection of gifts for the sanctuary ended, and on the day of general repentance, the maidens of Jerusalem, in white dresses, deliberately given to them for this purpose, so that everyone, rich and poor, would be dressed alike, went to the vineyards near the city, where they danced and sang. Was this interesting custom also a distant echo of the maidens’ praise of Jephthah’s daughter? Be that as it may, the whole event must have been a heavy burden on Jephthah's darkened spirit, but another test awaited him. He had to witness a sad event, which showed to what extent the separation between the tribes had reached at this time. The proud Ephraimites, arrogantly treating the Trans-Jordanian tribes and especially the Manasseh half-tribe, which they considered part of their tribe, refused to recognize the right to a separate independent existence, and even more so the right to have themselves as a judge of the people, and brought the matter to civil strife. However, the people's enthusiasm was still strong: the Ephraimites suffered a terrible defeat in the battle and tried to escape by fleeing to the opposite bank of the Jordan. But the irritated Gileadites intercepted the fords and, recognizing the Ephraimites by their peculiar pronunciation of the word “shibboleth” (they pronounced “sibboleth”), they beat 42,000 of them, thus subjecting the disturbers of public peace to cruel punishment. This sad event must have further burdened the soul of such an ardent patriot as Jephthah was. He was a judge of Israel only six years after this and died, being buried in one of the cities of Gilead. He lived alone, and died alone, without leaving in his posterity even a memory of the exact place of his burial. Towards the end of the turbulent period of the judges, the most active and powerful people in Palestine were the Philistines. Their existence in Palestine was mentioned as early as the time of Abraham. They apparently moved from Fr. Cyprus were of Pelasgian origin, although they subsequently succumbed to the Semitic influence of the Canaanite peoples. Forming an alliance of five cities, by this time they had acquired special influence in the country and were the only Canaanite people who not only remained completely independent of the Israelites, but also constantly kept them in fear with their unexpected attacks. Strong in their military organization, courageous in their warlike spirit, and enriched by the advantageous position of their cities on the great trade route to Egypt, they even threatened the ancient commercial supremacy of the Phoenicians. Their cities were busy centers of all kinds of industry. Azoth and Gaza, as the keys to Egypt, commanded all trade heading to and from Egypt, and served as the main storage points for import and export goods. All these cities, moreover, traded slaves with Edom and southern Arabia, and their trade flourished in other directions, so that when applied to them the very name of the Canaanites became synonymous with the name of the traders 758. They were also famous for their blacksmithing and weaponry; the fortress of their cities testified to the success of their building art, and their idols and the various things and figures they made from gold show that they were skilled in objects of peaceful industry. But most of all they were devoted to war, both on land and at sea. With their deadly iron chariots, they continually raided the surrounding tribes and brought terror to everyone, the influence of which was felt even to the land of the pharaohs. Egypt had only recently been attacked by their fleet, and soon afterwards, apparently while Jephthah was fighting the Ammonites on the heights of Gilead, their ships, setting out from the harbors of Gaza and Ascalon, made an attack on Sidon, the great city of northern Phenicia, defeated its fleet and took the city itself, which from that time lost its importance. Its entire aristocracy found itself forced to flee to Tire, and even many of the inhabitants of this city soon had to seek refuge on a nearby island in order to be safer from these terrible lords of the sea. Sidon henceforth lost its significance as a capital and disappeared from the pages of history for several centuries, and its fall was undoubtedly met with inexpressible joy on the part of the northern tribes of Israel, who could finally breathe freely, freed from their formidable oppressor. Already several centuries earlier, precisely during the time of Samegar, the tribes of Dan and Judah suffered from raids by Philistine gangs that invaded their mountain valleys and carried out robberies, so the evictions of so many inhabitants of the first tribe were apparently caused by these raids. But these individual raids little by little aroused the courage of the Philistines so much that at last they attempted to finally conquer the adjacent country of Israel, which was done by the time of Samson's birth. This conquest was one of the greatest disasters for the people of Israel, and the yoke of the Philistines was so heavy that it seemed to decisively deprive everyone of all hope of deliverance. The Philistines completely crushed the forces of the Israelites, who, as an agricultural people, were unable to withstand the pressure of a people whose main craft was war. Even the brave tribe of Judah had to lay down their weapons before them and submit to a heavy and shameful yoke, to ensure which the Philistines, moreover, completely disarming the vanquished, took captive all their blacksmiths and armorers, so that the Israelites were forced to turn to their cruel oppressors for all blacksmith and plumbing work. It is not surprising that under such circumstances the Philistine yoke could linger for as long as forty years, without even causing attempts to free itself from it. The people lost heart and, in complete despondency, despaired of any hope of any deliverance; but the deliverer had already appeared in his midst and was ready to come to the defense of his people. It was an extraordinary hero named Samson. On the edge of this mountainous region, about thirty miles from Azot, on the slope of a hill overlooking the green Wadi Surar (ancient Sorek), among vineyards and fig trees, nestled the village of Tsora. This district lies 2000 feet above sea level and is known as Arqub or "ridge" - a long spur of mountains with numerous smaller ridges branching from it, in the northern and southern folds of which lie two valleys: Sorek and Elah. The first of them, half a mile wide, in the summer is filled with luxurious fields, through which a flint bed of a stream meanders in the middle; with low white hills stretching on both sides. On a hill surrounded by olive groves, exactly where these two valleys connect, lie the ruins of Bethshemesh - the “house of the sun”; in the southern part of Sorek lies Timna, and in the northern part there are two small dirty villages - Tsora and Estaol. Starting from the slopes of Shephelah, towards the Philistine plain, stretches a beautiful, wide valley, sown with grain, which presents an excellent picture both from the surrounding heights and from the lowlands, with a view of the rich plain on one side and the high and rocky hills lying beyond it on the other. This small district was the scene of Samson’s famous exploits. In one of the settlements located here, namely in Tzor, lived one of those few families who, amid the ever-increasing apostasy of this time, remained faithful to Jehovah, and he had a son, destined from childhood to attract the attention of the entire surrounding population. Samson was the son of the hitherto childless couple Manoah and his wife from the tribe of Dan, neighboring the Philistine land and therefore suffering the most from cruel enemies. His very birth was announced by an angel who announced to Manoah’s wife that “she will conceive and bear a son, and no razor will touch his head, because from the very womb this child will be a Nazarite of God, and he will begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.” The same news was repeated to Manoah himself, confirmed by a special vision of an angel rising in the flames of the altar. At a certain time, a son was actually born to them, who was given the name Samson. The tribe of Dan, to which Samson belonged, was always relatively small and was not even able to conquer the plain allotted to it from the Philistines, who completely cut it off from the coastal plain and confined it in the mountains. Its position was so cramped that subsequently it was even forced to evict a significant part of itself, leaving it to seek a place of residence on the northern border of the country. But he had a fortified camp on the mountains, dominating the Philistine plain, and it was there that Samson grew up. Being a Nazarite, that is, a man wholly devoted to the service of God and His kingdom, and presenting the living lesson that the strength and salvation of the chosen people lay only in their invisible King, who gave his help only for the fulfillment of His holy laws, Samson grew in sight of the cities and villages of his oppressors. Seeing the oppressed position of his people, who suffered all kinds of oppression from the inhabitants of these idolatrous cities, and suffered for the honor of their fatherland and their God, the young Nazarite was indignant in spirit, and rumors were already circulating among the people about how the “spirit of the Lord” was at times active in the long-haired youth, who was already beginning to display extraordinary strength. Being dedicated to God from birth, Samson grew up precisely as a Nazirite. The very vow of Nazirites existed for a long time, and regarding it there were certain regulations in the Mosaic Law (Num. 6:1-21). But a personal example of Nazariteism appears for the first time in Samson. The distinction between pure and unclean actions had already been established several centuries before, but the whole ritual system seems to have suffered considerable oblivion during the turmoil and idolatry that have continually more or less reigned since the death of Joshua. In view of this, wherever this young Nazirite appeared, he was thus in himself a living reproach to the people, reminding them of their duties and their apostasy. As he grew in age, it was increasingly found that this devotion to Jehovah developed in him special gifts which provided hope for that which Israel had long needed, precisely that unyielding strength and energy which in itself might have been the guarantee of national independence, had such gifts been similarly received by many. The Spirit of the Lord, which invested Jephthah with courage and determination, also manifested itself in young Samson, giving him wonderful strength and unshakable fearlessness. What if Israel, returning to the service of the one true God, all acquired the possession of such gifts, so invaluable in their present situation? Religious revival under Samuel, who was himself a Nazarene from birth, undoubtedly received its first excitement precisely in the stories of this hero, who was so powerful precisely because he was dedicated to Jehovah and lived only a few years before the birth of the great prophet. One can form a correct idea of ​​his influence only by bearing in mind the position to which the Israelites were reduced in his time. The Philistines even imposed their heavy yoke on the great tribe of Judah and so humbled its spirit that it not only did not dare to speak out against its rulers, but groveled before them and was ready to hand over to them even the only hero who fought for the freedom of the people. Only the exploits of Samson alone supported a sense of hope for deliverance under such circumstances. His example inflamed the spirit and courage of the people so much that in subsequent years, under all kinds of oppression, the people constantly made new attempts to overthrow the yoke of the hated uncircumcised foreigners. The unequal struggle was maintained with amazing tenacity for entire generations amid frequent defeats from the time of Eli to the time of David, who finally finally broke the horn of the Philistines (Sir. 47:7). During all this long period, even when the Israelites were in the most oppressed state and were forced to hide in the caves and gorges of the mountains or flee beyond the Jordan, individual heroes, like Saul and Jonathan, inflamed by the story of the past, rose up among their unarmed brothers with sword in hand, in order to once again enter into the struggle for freedom. The long reign of the Philistines was, precisely thanks to Samson, a kind of heroic period for Israel. Under the influence of his exploits, the people did not despair, but more and more hoped that Jehovah would eventually help them. This was the time when independence and the free use of their institutions were won by them with the help of God through the brave efforts of the people and individual patriots. Later generations looked with pride at the time when their courageous ancestors went out to fight against the gigantic Hivites who mocked Israel, against Goliath and Jesbiah, with his terrible spear, and against the giant with twenty-four fingers and toes (2 Samuel 21, 23). The fascinating tales of the deeds of these heroes undoubtedly excited the spirit of each new generation and were proudly passed down by the chroniclers who related such a story of the glory of their people. Unfortunately, however, over time these stories were lost and only a few short comments about them have reached us. In this list of noble freedom fighters, the first was undoubtedly Samson, who at the same time surpassed them all with his brilliant exploits. Gifted with superhuman strength, he alone undertook the difficult task of opposing the oppressor, when the Israelites had already completely submitted to the yoke. He never had any help from the people around him. Indifference, lack of courage or fear deprived him of the help of even one knee. His very name characterizes his exploits and the horror that he aroused in the enemy, because his name means “destroyer” and not “solar hero”, as others thought 759. In all his exploits, he is a truly heroic servant of God, since the feeling that animated him in all these exploits was exclusively a feeling of hatred for the enemies of Jehovah and his people. Having reached manhood, Samson did not immediately set out to save his people from their enemies. but at first he discovered the same weakness that all Israelis suffered from. In moral terms, he was like a mirror of his people. Being, like all the people, dedicated to God, he embodied in his life both the virtues and vices of his people, and therefore at first he became attached to a Philistine woman and asked his parents to allow him to marry her. Seeing how in vain their resistance would be to the unreasonable act of their ardent youth son, they agreed and together with him went for marriage to Timnapha, the residence of his bride, Timnapha was one hour's journey west of Bethshemesh, but was closed by a chain of hills. On the way there from Bethshemesh, perhaps in the neck that leads to Timnatha, along the bank of the stream, he met a young lion. This area in former times abounded in wild animals, as the very names of the surrounding villages show, namely Levafe, that is, “lionesses” 760, Shaalavvin, that is, “jackals”. These two names are especially interesting in the sense of confirming the existence in the tribe of Dan of two kinds of those wild animals mentioned in the story of Samson. Now lions have disappeared from these mountains, but jackals are still numerous. The city of Timnafa or Tamna still exists today in the form of a small village known as Tibne. The surrounding hills were completely occupied by vineyards, famous throughout Palestine. In this particular area was the Sorek Valley, the vegetation of which was proclaimed by the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah to be the best in the Promised Land. Among these vineyards, in the depths of undoubtedly one of the necks or hollows of the streams cutting this area in different directions, Samson met a young lion. Feeling extraordinary strength within himself, he not only was not embarrassed by the attack of this king of the deserts, but boldly grabbed him with his mighty hands and strangled him, like some kid, and moreover, so quickly and with such composure that his parents, who were traveling with him, but apparently somewhat behind him, did not even suspect what had happened to their son 761. Samson himself also did not tell anyone about this feat, which perhaps surprised him for the first time; but, passing the same road another time, he was curious to look at the object of his miraculous victory and saw that a swarm of bees had started up in the corpse of the lion he had killed. This circumstance has long provided material for the most common objections to the truth of the story of Samson. Namely, rationalists deny the possibility that a swarm of bees could start in the corpse of a killed lion. But before making this objection, they should first have taken into account that the Israelite historian described the life of Samson on the very scene of the events, and therefore should have known better than them how much the event he related was possible and could seem plausible to his readers. But apart from this, the objection is not difficult to resolve. “It is known, says Stolberg, that bees avoid corpses, but they do not avoid dried skeletons. The expression “after several days” is used more than once in St. Scripture to designate a fairly significant space of time and even several years. Samson could remain his bride's groom for several months, since his bride could still be too young. Herodotus then says that the bees made a honeycomb in the skull of Onesilus, the tyrant of the island of Cyprus, whose head was hung up by the inhabitants of Amophon." 762 But there is no need to even allow a significant period of time between the death of the lion and the appearance of honey in its corpse. It is known that in these countries, at certain times of the year, the heat in just 24 hours dries out the corpses of dead camels so much, preventing them from decomposing, that their corpses are preserved for a long time as mummies without any rotting or bad smell. The same undoubtedly happened to the lion killed by Samson, and since the forests of Palestine have always abounded in countless swarms of wild bees, which live not only in the hollows of trees, but, for lack of other places, find refuge even in the gorges of rocks and in underground caves, then in view of all this, the narrative of the biblical historian eliminates any possibility of serious objection 763. And so, seeing what happened to the lion he had killed, Samson took honey with him and, arriving again at Timnatha, as a groom, he arranged a seven-day feast, to which he invited thirty Philistines as marriage friends. Being in a cheerful mood, he decided to invite them to guess the riddle, under the condition, if successful, to pay them thirty sindons (shirts made of woven fabric) and thirty changes of clothes, saying the same to himself if they were unable to guess it. The love of the Easterners for riddles and playing with words is one of the outstanding features of their character, and therefore it is not surprising that Samson wanted to have fun in such a way that, having in mind to prove his physical strength, at the same time show his wit. When the marriage friends agreed to the proposal, he told them: From the strong came the sweet. For three days his marriage friends struggled fruitlessly over this mystery, mysterious to them; finally, seeing that they were unable to solve it, they turned to his newlywed wife and began to pester her so that she would get a solution from Samson, threatening otherwise to burn her and her father’s house. “Did you call us to rob us?” the puzzled marriage friends approached her rudely. With tears and prayers, the newlywed persuaded Samson to guess the riddle for her and, having obtained a solution from him, she passed it on to her marriage friends, who triumphantly guessed it to Samson. “What is sweeter than honey and what is stronger than a lion!” They said to the indignant Samson, who immediately realized his wife’s betrayal and remarked to them: “If you had not screamed at my heifer, you would not have guessed my riddle!” However, it was necessary to pay according to the condition, and here Samson for the first time took the opportunity to take revenge on the Philistines. Arriving at the Philistine city of Ascalon, he killed thirty people there, took off their clothes and gave the changes of their clothes to those who had solved the riddle. In anger, he left his unfaithful wife, and she married one of his marriage friends. Tormented by jealousy, he wanted to get back together with his wife, but was refused by his former father-in-law. Irritated by this, Samson left Timnatha, uttering a terrible threat: “Now I will be right before the Philistines if I do them harm” (Judges 15:3). And he kept his word. The five cities of the Philistines were located on a vast plain called in the Bible Shephelah or "low country" 764 . Along the coastal sea stretches a wide strip of barren sand, but the rest of the plain is an immense, amazingly fertile grain field, only crossed here and there by small hills covered with green gardens and rich vineyards. This fertile plain was the pride and at the same time the source of wealth of the Philistines: it was like a small Egypt, a granary, where in times of famine everyone sought refuge to escape death by starvation. Even now, the fertility of this area often attracts predatory Bedouins. When Samson was so shamefully deprived of his wife by her Philistine father, Shephelah was in all the splendor of her luxurious vegetation, and the people were already preparing for the harvest of barley, which was ripening by that time. It was at the beginning or in the middle of May, that is, in Palestinian terms, already in the summer - a period when not a drop of rain falls. The Israeli hero, having decided to take revenge on the Philistines, wanted precisely to devastate this rich plain and destroy the already ripening cornfield. To do this, he used three hundred foxes, or rather jackals. The word shual used here in Hebrew does not actually mean a fox, but a jackal. Although this latter has many similarities with the fox, it differs from it in several important features and especially in its herd behavior. The jackal occupies the middle between the wolf and the fox. It is dark brown in color on the upper part of its body and has a white belly. It does not live alone, like a fox, but lives in whole packs, reaching up to two or three hundred. It can be found throughout the east and especially in Palestine, in the vicinity of Jaffa, Gaza and Galilee. Jackals are extremely voracious. They have a special penchant for devouring corpses, and during the night, when they prowl for prey, their shrill and mournful cries can often be heard. One recent traveler, who recently visited the plain of Shephelah, says the following: “After dinner, the beauty of the clear moon forced us to leave the tent in order from the height of the hill on which the village was located to admire the view of the vast plain from the Philistines, illuminated by the pale light of the night luminary. The stray dogs were still awake and barking, but wisely avoiding us; the jackals answered them in the surrounding fields with their plaintive and drawn-out howls” 765. Another traveler also says: “When night came, the jackals gave us the most disharmonious concert that I have ever heard in my life. These howls, coming out of all the caves, from all the crevices of the rocks, heard only during the night and in the most terrible places in terms of their solitude, produce an extremely strange feeling... I don’t know if there were exactly three hundred of them, but I am sure that if the new Samson wanted to set fire to all the fields of the ancient country of the Philistines, he would still find in this one valley more foxes than he would need. On the same day I found the very plain where Samson released three hundred foxes into the fields of the Philistines, and the very next night the descendants of these same foxes, with their drawn-out cries, proved to me that they had outlived all the peoples who once lived on this land and, having fallen under the edge of the sword, became the prey of jackals" 766 . With their cries, jackals themselves give away their location, as a result of which they are not difficult to catch. Therefore, Samson did not need special efforts to catch three hundred jackals and, with their help, carry out the revenge he had planned. “However,” says Herder, “he could not have lacked comrades ready to help him in such enterprises, for which Samson took full responsibility” 767 . Samson tied the caught jackals with their tails two at a time, then tied resinous torches to them and, having lit them, released all these animals into the fields of the Philistines. During the summer months, the entire Shephelah plain is like a sea of ​​ripening bread, and, moreover, devoid of all moisture. This entire plain is a continuous area, uninterrupted by either walls or fences. One part of the bread was already compressed and lay in stacks, while the other was still standing 768. The frightened animals instantly spread the flames across the entire plain, and everything burned, not only the grain, but also the vineyards and even the olive trees. From the heights of Zorah there is a distant view of the entire plain of Shephelah, and it is very possible that Samson could have watched the devastating spread of the fire from there and enjoyed the results of his vengeance. Some find it incredible that the whole field could be set on fire by these animals. But we must not forget that Samson was an Israeli judge, so in any case it was not difficult for him, with the help of his subordinates, to catch these animals in large numbers and take all measures to inflict the most sensitive harm on his enemies. He obviously wanted to create a famine among his enemies and thereby humble their pride. The Israelites themselves could hardly have done much harm to the Philistines if they had set fire to their fields with their own hands, since in any case they could have encountered resistance from the Philistines. Therefore, the idea of ​​tying the jackals two by two with their tails represented the best means to achieve the intended goal. Single animals, running fast, would soon extinguish the torches tied to them; on the contrary, two tied animals not only made it difficult for themselves to move, but also could not find a gorge large enough to penetrate there together; As a result, they were forced to run wildly through the fields, spreading fire everywhere among the sheaves and still unharvested ears of corn, as well as among the vineyards and fig trees. At the same time, the Philistines had no way to capture all the perpetrators of evil. The torches themselves undoubtedly consisted of resinous bunches of pine, which light up immediately and go out with difficulty. This method of fighting the enemy, namely through the destruction of his harvests, has been known since ancient times. In the Egyptian inscription of Una, dating, according to Shab, 28 or 30 centuries BC, we read the following: It overthrew fortified posts. It destroyed the country's olive orchards and vineyards. In other texts that refer to the southeast of Palestine, perhaps specifically about Shephelah, it is also said that the grain and harvest were set on fire. Likewise, the inscription that Osortesen III ordered to be inscribed at Semna, on the banks of the Nile, says: “These people are not worthy of respect (he is talking about the blacks of Nubia). I captured their population that went to the wells, I devastated their harvests with fire" 769. The very idea of ​​setting fire to the harvest by releasing foxes with lighted torches was not the exclusive invention of Samson. Various passages of ancient writers prove that what Samson did, others also did. Cassander, in the poem Lycophron, calls Ulysses “a fox carrying a burning torch in his tail,” because wherever he appeared, all kinds of disasters followed him 770. Ovid also describes a festival that took place in Rome in the month of April called "caerealia", and which consisted of foxes being forced to run around in the circus, with lighted torches tied to their tails. According to some interpreters, this holiday itself traces its origins to the story of Samson, but more accurately, the reason for the origin of this holiday was some local event. Ovid says that this was in memory of the fox who burned the harvest at Carceol, and the tradition he conveys may be exactly true 771. Be that as it may, it is known that the Arabs consider the act of an enemy who sets fire to the harvest to be a mortal insult to themselves. The Philistines, of course, in this regard held the same views as the present-day Bedouins. As a result, it is not difficult to imagine how furious they were when their entire harvest was destroyed. When they found out who exactly was the culprit of their disaster, and also learned the reason that prompted Samson to this devastating deed, they, according to terrible customs quite common in the east, set fire to his father-in-law’s house in revenge and at the same time burned his wife 772. Hearing about such vengeance of the Philistines, Samson himself came out against them and, having carried out a significant beating among them, disappeared into the gorge of the Etoma rock. This gorge was probably one of those numerous caves that are located at the eastern end of the Shephelah plain in the last spurs of the Judean mountains, near Lekiah and Deir Dubban. The surface of the rocky area occupied by Deir Dubban is cut in places by round-shaped openings, in which there are several underground rooms. All the surrounding areas abound equally in similar caves, the ancient dwellings of the troglodytes, of whom the Bible preserves a memory under the name of gorims or cave-dwellers 773 . They are usually dug in tuff, which is very soft and yet very strong, since it hardens in the air and is shiny white. The cave, now known as Arak Ed Deir Dubban, contains three different groups of rooms. The most significant of them contains no less than fifteen rooms, communicating with each other and ending in the form of domes or overturned funnels. They receive light through a special hole. Their height varies from 4 to 6 fathoms; their diameter averages up to 3 fathoms. These magnificent underground galleries have existed, at least for the most part, since the time of Samson, and it was easy for him to find refuge there from the persecution of his enemies. After the disaster he inflicted on the Philistines, he, of course, had to expect terrible retribution from them. And he was not mistaken in this. The Philistines decided to take it personally, and for this purpose they attacked the tribe of Judah with an army. Since the time of Othniel, the Lion of Judah has never appeared in battle. And now, in order to avoid a military clash with terrible enemies, the tribe of Judah not only did not come to the defense of their national hero, but saw in him a disturber of public peace and decided to hand over Samson to their enemies. The hero voluntarily agreed to surrender into the hands of his brothers, under one condition, that they themselves tie him up and take him to the Philistine camp. Samson was indeed bound with new ropes and in such a helpless position was taken to the Philistines. But when they, seeing their sworn enemy in this position, filled the camp with cries of triumph, the Spirit of the Lord descended on Samson: he moved his mighty hands, and the new ropes tore apart like half-burnt threads, and he, grabbing a fresh jawbone of a donkey that came across him right away, rushed with it at the astonished Philistines and beat up a thousand of his enemies. This and similar exploits of Samson may seem fabulous, but to judge them, first of all you need to remember that Samson was endowed with miraculous strength, and in these exploits he was helped by the Spirit of the Lord, which always supported him in such cases. But besides this, for a proper understanding of Samson’s feat, it is not superfluous to keep in mind some features from the military life of both ancient and modern Arabs. Arab wars are usually not bloody; two tribes may be at war for a whole year without losing more than thirty or forty men on either side. But when an Arab is faced with a national enemy, he often displays amazing heroism. Among them even now there are warriors whose names are famous throughout the desert. The feats of bravery attributed to them may seem fabulous if we do not remember that the wars of the Arabs represent a vast field for personal courage. Thus, in the history of Antar we read that this courageous Arab, sitting on his horse Gabar, killed 800 people with his spear during one battle. If this figure is an exaggeration, then there is nothing incredible in the fact itself, since similar heroes were known in modern times, whose exploits can be witnessed by eyewitnesses. Thus, the Arab hero Gedda-Ibn-Geyan-El-Shamsi personally killed thirty enemies in one skirmish and was famous for the fact that he never fled in the face of the enemy and acquired rich booty. Sherif-Gamud, the ruler of the Yemeni coast, was repulsed with his detachment of 24 horsemen by one Shammer. Amadzey and Jilmay, two Arab warriors, according to Arab legends, once together resisted an entire armed army of 500 people and killed them all 774. In view of such facts, Samson's exploits, even considered from a natural point of view, eliminate all possibility of objection to their plausibility. The massacre left Samson extremely tired, and he felt an unbearable thirst, which he quenched from a miraculously formed source. After this, Samson returned home, and since the fame of his exploits spread among the people, he was a judge of Israel in the days of the Philistines for twenty years. Over time, however, the depravity inherent in all people more and more overpowered the hero - the judge, and the wonderful winner of the brave warriors succumbed to a sensual passion for treacherous women. Once caught in Gaza, a Philistine city, spending the night with a harlot, Samson was surrounded by enemies who decided to kill him in the morning. But he, getting up at midnight, tore out the city gates along with the jambs and, putting them on his mighty shoulders, carried them to the top of the mountain, half an hour from the city. To understand this circumstance, one must bear in mind the very structure of the city gates in Palestine. The city gates there are usually vaulted; at night they are guarded and locked. They are large, massive, with two doors made of durable wood lined with iron. A strong iron pole, ending at one end with a hook, usually hangs on a thick iron ring, which is attached to the doorpost and passed into the wall on both sides of the gate. If the gate is closed, then the pole is passed through another iron ring, so that the gate is able to withstand the strongest onslaught from the outside. The lock is made of massive wrought iron, and the key, which has a long handle, is carried by the guard in his belt or hangs somewhere right there in a special place designated for him. To tear out the gate at Gaza, together with its two jambs, beams and other accessories, lift it from its hinges and carry it to the top of the neighboring hill, truly required the strength of Samsonov. A tower, and often two, was usually built next to the gate. On both sides of the entrance there were benches, on which guards often sit, usually living in the premises located nearby. The area in front of the gate serves as a favorite gathering place for residents, especially the rich, who are attracted here by the fresh current of air passing under the shadow provided by the gate, as well as the entertainment provided by the picture of people and livestock passing and entering here. Judges and even mayors often visit this place to discuss important matters. Civil and criminal cases are often discussed here. The city gates close at sunset. Some of them have a small gate on the side, which remains open for several hours even after sunset, to allow pedestrians who happen to be late to enter or exit the city. It can be opened later if a special baksheesh is paid for it. But animals are not allowed through, and late travelers are often forced to spend the night outside the walls if they do not reach the gate before sunset. As for the hill to which Samson carried the city gate, tradition still points it to the southeast of the city 775. Thus Samson once again escaped the vengeance of the Philistines; but the hour of his fall was already close. He violated his Naziriteship with shameful debauchery, and therefore, even wearing long hair, he no longer carried the Spirit of God, and his death was soon completed by a new woman, the insidious Delilah, who carried him into her snare. She was a famous beauty who abused her beauty, and she lived in the valley of Sorek, that very throat that lies at the foot of Saraa and heads towards the west. Knowing Samson’s voluptuous disposition, the Philistine princes decided to use this woman to destroy their terrible enemy, and, as was often done in ancient times, they bribed her so that with her caresses she would persuade him to reveal to her what the secret of his wonderful supernatural power was. In order to pacify and destroy their enemy, the Philistines spared no expense and promised to pay Delilah enormous money for her service; each of the Philistine rulers promised to give her 1,100 shekels of silver. The temptation was great, and Dalida promised to achieve what she wanted. And so, she began to pester Samson with insidious questions: “Tell me, what is your great strength, and how can I bind you to pacify you?” Samson, of course, immediately understood the purpose of this question, and jokingly answered her: “if they tie me with seven gray bowstrings that are not dried, then I will become powerless and will be like the others.” When Delilah secretly conveyed this to the Philistine princes, they immediately delivered her the required bowstrings, with which Samson allowed himself to be tied. One of the Philistine princes, meanwhile, was secretly sitting in Delilah’s bedroom to give a sign, in case of need, for other Philistines to come here and capture the exhausted hero. But when Delilah said to Samson: “Samson, the Philistines are coming at you,” he, moving his mighty hands, “teared the bowstrings, as one breaks a thread of tow when the fire has burned through it.” Thus, this time the Philistines failed to achieve their goal, and Delilah saw herself deceived. Two more times after this, Samson avoided revealing the secret of his extraordinary strength, but Delilah’s cunning finally won. Dalida persistently pestered him, saying: “How can you say: I love you, but your heart is not with me? So you deceived me three times and did not tell me what your great strength is.” And when she, with the persistence of an insidious woman, weighed and tormented him with such words every day, “then his soul became heavy to the point of death,” and he, in order to finally get rid of these constant reproaches, decided to reveal the truth to her, hoping that she, out of love for him, would not reveal this secret to his worst enemies. “And he opened his whole heart to her and said to her, “No razor has touched my head; for I am a Nazarite of God from my mother’s womb. If you shave me, then my strength will depart from me; I will become weak and be like other people.” Having learned this secret and seeing the sincerity of Samson's statement, Delilah immediately decided to take advantage of this discovery in order to receive the promised payment. She immediately sent word to the Philistine princes that she now knew the secret of Samson’s strength, and was ready to weaken him if the princes brought her the promised silver. They, of course, did not hesitate to secretly appear with their bribe, and waited for the hero to become weak. “And she (Delilah) put him to sleep on her knees, and called a man, and ordered him to shave the seven braids of his head, and he began to weaken, and his strength departed from him.” When she, having completed her treacherous deed, woke up Samson and, according to custom, exclaimed to him: “The Philistines are coming at you, Samson!” then the hero, awakening from sleep and not yet aware of his helpless position, jumped up cheerfully, expecting to meet his enemies; but when the enemies appeared, it turned out that his former strength had completely left him, and he was the same as other people. Then the Philistines, convinced of the reality of Samson's powerlessness, triumphantly seized him and, with cruel barbarity, showing to what extent they hated Samson, they immediately gouged out his eyes, then took him to the city of Gaza, chained him with two copper chains and forced him to grind bread in the house of prisoners, that is, for the sake of mockery, they assigned him to work that was provided only to women and slaves. Sacred writers often talk about hand mills, which were used in their time in Palestine and which are still used today in various areas of the East 776. The noise of mills grinding grain is a characteristic feature of inhabited places in the East, just as the noise of carriages is a characteristic feature of large cities of the West. Walking through the streets of Gaza, this noise can still be heard now, as it was heard in the time of Samson. “One of the pleasant coincidences,” says the newest researcher, was that here in Gaza, in connection with which in the Bible, namely in the story of Samson, we read about the grinding at the mill, we heard the noise of the same work resounding in our ears... I saw during my walk through the city how this work was going on in various places, and we heard its sharp, ringing sound resounding until late at night... The reason lies in that this city does not have any streams nearby suitable for a mill; there are no windmills or watermills, and from here this primitive device is found on every street” 777. The same learned investigator makes the following interesting description of this peculiar mill noise. “When,” he says, “I accidentally turned into Lydda, a beautiful illustration of St. Scriptures. Two women were sitting in front of the door of their house, on a wide canvas, and were grinding bread in a hand mill. I had already heard the peculiar noise of this device more than once before before seeing it, and from here I understood the place where Ecclesiastes says: “And remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before difficult days come, when... the doors to the street will be locked, when the sound of the millstone will fall silent, and a man will rise at the crowing of a rooster, and the daughters of singing will be silent” (Eccl. 12:1-4). The prophet Jeremiah, drawing a picture of the devastation of Israel by Nebuchadnezzar, also adds that at that time the sound of the mill will not be heard (25:10). In the New Testament, St. ap. John, speaking of Babylon, whose king silenced the millstones in Jerusalem, in the threats of his Apocalypse, when describing this devastation, says: “and the noise of the millstones will no longer be heard in you” (Rev. 18:22). From these various places it is clear that the noise of the millstone on which the grain of grain was ground is depicted as a sign of an inhabited place: this noise is constantly heard where people live. Heading from here to the south, through the entire country of the Philistines, Thomson continues, we did not meet water mills anywhere, and we constantly heard the same noise of hand mills in the morning and evening, and sometimes even very late at night, in all the villages and in all the Arab camps." 778 The English traveler depicts the actual threshing operation. Two women usually sat on the sides of the mill, one opposite the other 779. Each of them makes a half-turn with her hand, and the work is done with her right hand. Taking hold of the wooden handle on the upper stone, each of them turns the upper stone on the lower one. The upper millstone is called in Arabic rekkab, that is, the horseman, as the Jews themselves once called it. A hole was made in the middle of it, into which an iron pin was passed, fastening it to the lower millstone, which lay completely on the floor. One of the women pours grain, as needed, into this hole. The upper millstone has a concavity, with which it is connected to the lower millstone, which, on the contrary, has a corresponding convexity. This last one is finally fixed on the floor. Both millstones are round in shape. Now these millstones in Palestine are usually made from porous Avran lava. This stone has special advantages due to its lightness and makes work less difficult and tiring. The lower millstone is usually made of a harder material. The coarsely ground grain is thrown out between the millstones during work and falls onto the canvas, which is spread under the millstone. Since the inhabitants of the east had neither public mills nor bakers, each family had to have its own hand mill 780, and since new bread was baked every day, ground flour had to be prepared every day. That is why in the Law of Moses it is forbidden to take a handmill as collateral, for fear that those who are deprived of this necessary tool may be subject to starvation 781. Work in a millstone, usually entrusted to women and slaves, was at the same time considered such a difficult and tedious task that in popular thought there was a general idea that those who worked in these mills were considered the most unfortunate of people 782 . Among ancient peoples, those who were imprisoned were often sentenced to mill labor, as the Philistines did with Samson. Hence, for the hero of the Israelites there could be nothing more humiliating than this female and slave work. Depicting this position of the Israeli hero, the famous poet Milton, among other things, says: “What a misfortune to grind in copper fetters under blows, blind in Gaza to work in a mill with slaves! Could he who once tore a lion as a lion tears a kid could bear this?” 783. It was possible for Milton, as a blind man, to imagine the misery of this situation even more vividly than anyone else, and this is precisely what aroused in him such a deep interest in the heroic judge, who was deprived of sight by his cruel enemies. What heavy thoughts must have swept through the soul of the once glorious hero, who was now humiliated to the state of the most pitiful slave! “I do not remember,” says Thomson, “a single instance of men working at hand mills”; This hard work is still considered humiliating for a man 784! It is unknown how long the great hero languished in this humiliating, slavish work. But one day the Philistines, in honor of their national god Dagon, organized a magnificent feast, combining with him a celebration in memory of the victory over their terrible enemy. To amuse the helpless hero, they also brought Samson to the feast, where they subjected him to all kinds of bullying and beatings. Meanwhile, his hair had already grown back. Having again felt the strength in himself, the blinded hero ordered his counselor to lead him to the columns on which there was a house of entertainment, crowded with merry Philistines. Relying now more on God than on his returned strength, he turned to the Lord with a touching prayer, which, in its humble tone, is doubly touching in the mouth of this chained lion: “Lord God,” Samson prayed touchingly, “remember me and strengthen me only now, O God! so that I can take revenge on the Philistines once for my two eyes.” Then he grabbed the two middle pillars of the building and exclaimed: “My soul die with the Philistines!” - Samson shook the columns, and the whole house, with everyone having fun in it, collapsed on Samson, burying him under its ruins, along with thousands of Philistines who avenged him for their reproach. This part of Samson's story has always been the most difficult to explain and has given the greatest scope to the imagination of interpreters. But the latest research carried out in relation to Gaza and the life of the ancient Philistines in general significantly clarifies this story and confirms its plausibility. This is how the newest researcher (Stark) explains this whole story: “A great sacrifice was made to Dagon, and it was before the princes of the Philistines, in the presence of a large assembly of people. Bayit (that is, a house or church, in the strict sense of the word) was filled with people, both men and women. In addition, up to three thousand people who wanted to see Samson mocked gathered on the eider, that is, the flat roof of the building 785. These features already explain to us that here we are talking about a large church, which stood in an open space, surrounded by a spacious courtyard, which at the same time formed part of the church, as it was later during the construction of the Temple of Jerusalem. The solemn sacrifice, as well as the mockery of Samson, accompanied by songs and dances, took place in this particular courtyard. The people looked at this whole spectacle from the gaga, that is, from the gallery or stage, which surrounded the courtyard and towered above it. Here we are not talking about the eider that served as the roof for the sanctuary in the proper sense of the word, where the image of Dagon was actually located. This sanctuary was undoubtedly small, since it was considered an exclusively sacred place and the uninitiated did not dare enter it. Samson therefore also could not enter there to serve as an object of amusement for the spectators. The gallery or platform we are talking about was supported by special columns and wooden pillars, similar to those columns that were later built in the vestibules of Solomon's Temple. To destroy the Philistines, Samson ordered his leader to place himself precisely between the two main columns that stood in the middle, and overthrew them both. The building collapsed and buried under its ruins all the Philistines who were in the gallery, as well as those who stood under the gallery. The overthrow of the upper room and the stage to one side could easily lead to the fall of the entire building, especially due to the many people who fell on top of each other. The church discussed in this part of Samson's story also contained the church of the idol of Dagon, along with an open courtyard, which, if not on all sides, still ended on one side with a gallery or semicircular room on which a kind of stage or amphitheater was built for spectators. But in general, it is difficult to say what the actual shape of this entire building was, whether it was round, like the church in Malta, or quadrangular, like the churches in Marathon and Paphos” 786. The horrified Philistines did not prevent Samson’s relatives from taking his body, which was buried in his homeland, between Zorah and Estaol, in the tomb of his father, Manoah. Guerin recently discovered the very site of Samson's tomb. “We stopped,” he says, “for a while in the middle of Khirbet Aselin. I had already passed through this district once, to visit which I returned again, but at that time I completely lost sight of many interesting ruins without subjecting them to exploration. When I returned to Beit Atab, many residents, from whom I made inquiries regarding the antiquities and traditions of the area known to them, asked me whether I had already explored this district in the vicinity of Saraa and Artuf. There, they told me, there is a sanctuary, which is usually called Vali Sheikh Gherib and which they also worship under the name Kabr-Shamshum (Samson’s tomb). This instruction was like a ray of light for me. Residents added to this that the town of Ashua was previously called Ashual or Agitual, a name in which it is easy to hear an echo of the name Estaola. This second message made me again visit the shore of Ked-es-Serar and especially Khirbet-Aselin, in the hope that there, through these completely unexpected instructions just given to me, it would be possible to find the tomb of that extraordinary man who for so long made the Philistines tremble before him. Arriving from here in the above-mentioned Khirbet, where you can see the ruins of almost forty small houses, I hastened to penetrate the Sheikh Gherib Wali, but found there only one Muslim sanctuary, rectangular on the outside and vaulted on the inside, shaded by old fig trees. Inside, in one of the corners, one could see a stone sarcophagus, on which lay a lid in the shape of a donkey's ridge, as can often be found in such tomb rooms. I myself doubt whether this tomb comes from ancient Jewish times, but the wall surrounding the tomb could have been erected on the site of that ancient Jewish tomb, which is now destroyed, or hidden under a Muslim building, and which, according to the tradition communicated to me by the inhabitants of Beit Atab, cannot be anything other than the tomb of Samson: his very name is preserved behind the name of this wall, in which he is also buried Sheikh. In any case, it can be noted that this tradition is in complete agreement with verse 31 of the 15th chapter of the book of Judges. This verse specifically says that Samson was buried between Zorah and Estaol, in the tomb of his father Manoah. This latter, coming from the first of these two cities, which is identical with the present Saraa and lies almost two miles south of Khirbet-Aselin, had his own field and his own family tomb between Zorah and Estaol in a place called Magane-Dan or the camp of Dan (Judges 13:24). Tsora, as recognized by all researchers, is identical with the present town of Saraa, which, with a slight modification, retained the ancient name of this city. As for Estaol, who in the Bible is always mentioned together with her and, therefore, should have been located close to her, tradition identifies him with Ashua, the former Ashual or Ashtual. Since Khirbet-Aselin lies between Saraa in the south and Ashua in the east-northeast, I conclude from this that Wali Sheikh Gherib can rightfully appropriate to himself the honor attributed to him by tradition, and that in it one can see precisely the site of Samson’s tomb. Rabbi Ishak Helo, who traveled to Palestine around 1333, in his description called “The Paths of Jerusalem,” says the following: “from Jerusalem to Sarai, to the tomb of Samson. Now they call it Sarah, and they show Samson's tomb there. This is a very ancient monument, decorated with the jawbone of a donkey, with which Samson beat the Philistines.” This place is quite consistent with the tradition about which I spoke, which places the tomb of Samson not far from Saraa. Unfortunately, the monument described by Ishak Helo no longer exists, and probably on the site of this very coffin the Vali Sheikh Gherib was subsequently built. Thus, all the details given by the biblical narrative regarding the life of Samson and the places where he lived, acted and died, amazingly prove how true, even, one might say, down to the smallest detail, the account of the book of Judges regarding this extraordinary man. To understand and appreciate the greatness of Samson, one must take into account the circumstances of his time. Truly great and strong in his faith in the immutability of the divine promise about the highest destiny of the chosen people was the man who alone, amid general despondency and depression, dared to speak out against the cruel oppressors. And this was at such a dark time of moral decline, when even the tribe of Judah completely lost heart and was ready to hand over the Israeli hero to his mortal enemies, making him an insulting reproach: “Don’t you know,” his servile and cowardly brothers said to him, “that the Philistines are our masters? What have you done to us by incurring the vengeance of the Philistines?” The people had already come to terms with their difficult situation and agreed to live in slavery to idolaters, and for such and such a people Samson, having no support from them, had to wage a desperate struggle against the enemies. He himself fell hard and often morally, but, despite all these falls, he retained the most touching loyalty to Jehovah, which became even stronger in him under the influence of the difficult trials of his subsequent life. Despite the apparent abandonment of him by the God of his fathers, when he was captured by the Philistines and blinded and condemned to hard labor, his faith did not weaken even there, and he irrefutably proved it when he shook the pillars of the building in which idolaters were having fun, celebrating the victory of their god Dagon over the champion of Jehovah. And it is not surprising that the memory of him was sacredly preserved from century to century, and from this memory the people drew new courage and new vitality. But besides personal greatness, Samson’s story was deeply instructive for the entire people. The whole point of it is that he was a Nazirite. He owed his extraordinary strength to his Naziriteship, as dedication to God; but his weakness lay in his devotion to sensual, carnal lusts, indulging in which he violated his vow. In both respects, he was not only a type of his people, but also a mirror in which Israel could see both itself and its history with its own eyes. Israel was also a kind of Nazirite, as a people dedicated to God, and as long as it kept its covenant with God, it was irresistible in its power; but when he violated his covenant, indulged in sensuality and dirty idolatry, this spiritual adultery, then his strength weakened, he became a miserable slave and plunged into the abyss of spiritual and civil fall. Thus, the story of Samson is, as it were, the personification of the history of the Israeli people themselves, and it showed that the strength of the people lies only in maintaining their covenant with God. With his life, Samson taught all the people an amazing and profound lesson that Israel, breaking its covenant, will inevitably find its insidious Delilah, who, having deprived him of his Naziriteship, will give it to his enemies to trample and mock. Chapter 65. The internal state of the people - Ruth The life of Samson, as well as some other Israeli judges, clearly shows to what religious and moral decline the people of Israel had reached in the Promised Land. The whole history of the period of the judges is a sad story of constant errors, iniquities and idolatry with the disasters that inseparably followed them. Even in the lives of the judges themselves, vices often take precedence over virtues, and evil lusts drown out the timid voice of conscience and consciousness of duty. Among the chosen people, true religion was almost completely forgotten and in its place were pitiful superstitions, spread by various wandering, dissolute Levites. Immorality became so universal that adulterous cohabitation was considered commonplace and, as it were, replaced marriage, and in some cities even such vile vices developed that once brought the terrible wrath of God upon the Sodom Pentacity. Internal anarchy and general arbitrariness complete the picture of the life of the Israeli people “in those days when they had no king and when everyone did what seemed fair to him.” In support of all this, the Book of Judges, which sets out the history of the time of the judges before the death of Samson, concludes with several striking cases and events that clearly characterize the religious, moral and social-state state of the people at that time. In the tribe of Ephraim lived Neni Micah, who stole one thousand one hundred shekels of silver 787 from his mother. The mother cursed a thief unknown to her, but the son, frightened by the curse, confessed his guilt, returned the money, and the superstitious mother used this money to merge the idol and the idol, which were placed in the house, which as a result became, as it were, “the house of God.” To complete the semblance of the sanctuary, Micah made an ephod and teraphim and voluntarily ordained one of his sons as a priest. But seeing the illegality of his act, he soon took advantage of one idle young Levite from Bethlehem in Judea for this purpose and hired him to serve himself as a priest for an annual salary of ten shekels of silver with ready-made clothing and food. But here the sons of Dan happened to pass through in search of new possessions for themselves. Having once entered the house of Micha, they stole his shrines and lured a young Levite to them, and then, having conquered the city of Laish, which they renamed Dan, they made their own special sanctuary from the image of Micha, which they worshiped throughout the time when the true shrine of the people, the “House of God,” was in Shiloh. Another incident reveals even more clearly the terrible moral and social disorder of the Israeli people during the period of the government of the judges. One Levite, who was traveling to Bethlehem for his concubine who had run away from him, returning home, on the way he stopped with her for the night in the city of Gibeah, in the tribe of Benjamin. But when he, having found shelter in the house of an old man, enjoyed his hospitable treats, the depraved inhabitants of the city attacked this house and demanded the Levite himself, a wanderer, to satisfy their vile lusts. The elder stood up for his guest. “Here I have a daughter, a maiden, and he has a concubine,” he said to the depraved crowd: “I will bring them out, humble them, and do with them what you please; But don’t do this crazy thing to this person. But they didn't want to listen to him." However, the Levite, fearing for his honor and life, actually took his concubine out into the street and the dirty mob “cursed at her all night until the morning,” and in the morning she was found dead at the threshold of the house. Then the Levite cut the corpse of the unfortunate woman into twelve pieces and sent them to all the tribes with the news of the atrocity that had happened. And “everyone who saw this said: nothing like this has happened or been seen since the day the children of Israel came out of the land of Egypt until this day.” Terrible indignation spread throughout the land and warriors began to gather from everywhere to punish the vile villains. Gathering in the city of Mizpah, they demanded that the tribe of Benjamin hand over the criminals in order to put them to death and thus “eradicate evil from Israel.” But the Benjamites refused this, and then civil war became inevitable. Twice the Israelites failed in a clash with the army of the tribe of Benjamin, but then, through military cunning, they captured the city of Gibeah, destroyed the criminal city to the ground, destroying all the neighboring cities with all their population and wealth. 50,100 of the sons of Benjamin fell in the battle, and only 600 remained, fleeing to the deserted Mount Rimmon, where they remained for four months. Meanwhile, when the feeling of vengeance was satisfied and the ardor of indignation cooled down in the Israelis, they involuntarily were horrified by everything that had happened and, having gathered in the House of God, began to cry bitterly: “O Lord God of Israel! Why did this happen in Israel, that now Israel has no one tribe!” Burnt offerings were made as a sign of reconciliation, and then it was decided to take care of the restoration of the destroyed tribe. But in their anger they swore not to give their daughters in marriage to the criminal tribe. To get out of the difficulty, they took advantage of the infidelity of the inhabitants of the city of Jabesh-Gilead, who refused to take part in the nationwide task of punishing the guilty, and as punishment for this they beat them, except for four hundred maidens, whom they gave in marriage to the surviving Benjamites. The remaining two hundred people had to get wives for themselves by kidnapping the maidens of Shiloh during festive round dances in the vineyards, as they did with the consent of the elders of Israel. Then, having calmed down for the fate of the twelfth tribe, the Israelites went home, each to their own inheritance. “Israel had no king then,” the narrator concludes this sad story; each one did what seemed fair to him” (Judges 17–21:25). No matter how dark this era was in the history of the Israeli people, there are also bright sides in it, showing that the light of true religion and virtue still shone in this terrifying darkness, although its rays, to the shame of the Israelites themselves, sometimes came even from the hated Canaanites. The story of one woman, who later acquired enormous significance for the history of the people and all of humanity, dates back to this exact time, towards the end of the period of the judges. This is exactly the story of Ruth. During the reign of the judges, despite all the licentiousness of the people, there were still some families who retained faith in the true God and adhered to the good moral principles of the old days. Such a family lived in Bethlehem, and it consisted of four persons - Elimelech (“my God is the King”) with his wife Naomi (“pleasant”) and two sons, Mahlon and Chileon. The life of this family flowed peacefully and smoothly. But then there was a famine in the area, which brought them to the point where they were deprived of all means of subsistence and were forced to move somewhere to more fertile land. They actually went to the richly watered hills of Moab, where the people spoke the same language, although they were of different faiths. But the disaster that this pious family wanted to avoid haunted him in a foreign country, and in an even worse form. Some time after moving there, Elimelech died, so Naomi was left a widow with two sons. However, this family became so accustomed to local circumstances that it decided to stay in the land of Moab, and Naomi’s two sons married Moabite women, one of whom was named Orpah, and the other was Ruth. The daughters-in-law turned out to be kind and modest, and the family lived there for about ten years. But then both of Naomi’s sons, Mahlon and Chileon, died, so Naomi was left alone with her two daughters-in-law. Being completely alone in a foreign land, Naomi naturally remembered her native country, where she had relatives, and hearing that fruitful years had come in the land of Israel, she decided to return to her native land and began to say goodbye to her daughters-in-law. Going out with them onto the road that led to the land of Judea, she addressed them with the following words: “Go, return each to your mother’s house: may the Lord show mercy to you, as you did to the dead and to me! May the Lord grant you that you may find refuge, each in her husband’s house!” and kissed them. But both daughters-in-law had already become so accustomed to their kind mother-in-law that they could not part with her, they began to cry bitterly and resolutely answered her: “No, you and I will return to your people.” Naomi, believing that it would be difficult for her daughters-in-law, as Moabites, to live among the Israelites, given their prejudice towards foreigners, again began to exhort them in every possible way to return to their land, but they continued to insist on their own and cried. Finally, Orpah said goodbye to her mother-in-law and returned, but her other daughter-in-law, Ruth, remained. Turning to her, Naomi said: “Behold, your daughter-in-law has returned to her people and to her gods, return you too after your daughter-in-law.” But Ruth had already become too attached and became close to the mother of her late husband and answered with tears: “Do not force me to leave you and return from you; but where you go, there I will go, and where you live, there I will live. Your people will be my people, your God my God, and where you die, there I will die and be buried. May the Lord do this and that for me, and do even more; death alone separates me from you! Then Naomi, seeing that Ruth was determined to go with her, stopped persuading her, and they actually set off for the land of Israel and arrived in Bethlehem. The arrival of Naomi in Bethlehem set into motion all the inhabitants who knew her well before, and everyone said in surprise: “Is this Naomi”? Such a joyful meeting, however, struck Naomi’s heart even more with sorrow, especially when she had to remember her former life in Bethlehem, in a contented family, and her present loneliness, and she answered the inhabitants of Bethlehem: “Do not call me Naomi (pleasant), but call me Mara (bitter), because the Almighty has sent me great sorrow. I left here richly, but the Lord returned me empty-handed. Why call me Naomi when the Lord made me suffer and the Almighty sent me misfortune”? Naomi and her daughter-in-law settled in Bethlehem itself, somewhere on the outskirts of the city, as was appropriate for her widowhood. Their arrival in Bethlehem coincided with the time of the barley harvest. Bethlehem was located on a mountain ridge of white limestone and lay 2,500 feet above sea level, the slopes of the ridge were like hanging gardens with long rows of fig trees and vines, a beautiful valley lying below, on three sides of which springs gurgle loudly, with its eastern end almost touching the terrible desert of Judea. All of it at that time was covered with yellowing barley and rich greening wheat, which was already beginning to ripen for the harvest. Work was already in full swing in the barley fields, and the reapers were busy harvesting the grain. In order to feed herself and her mother-in-law, Ruth, not having any other occupation yet, decided to go at least to gather the ears of corn left after the reapers in the harvest field, as was allowed to the poor inhabitants according to the Law of Moses. The field where she had to gather grain turned out to belong to a rich and noble man, Boaz, a relative of her late father-in-law, Elimelech. When Ruth was gleaning, Boaz himself from Bethlehem came to the field and addressed the reapers with a good-natured greeting: “The Lord be with you!” to which they unanimously answered him: “God bless you!” Looking around his workers and noticing Ruth, he asked the reaper supervisor whose young woman it was. The servant answered that this young woman was a Moabite woman who had come with Naomi from the steppes of Moab, and that, due to her poverty, she had come to glean the ears of grain between the sheaves behind the reapers, and was working so hard that she rarely even went home. The name Naomi, called to him by the servants, reminded him of his family relationship with her, and since he had already heard in part about Ruth, he turned to her with kindred cordiality, saying: “Listen, my daughter, do not go to glean in another field and do not move from here, but be here with my maids; Let the field where they reap be in your sight, and follow them. So I ordered my servants not to touch you when you are thirsty; Go to the vessels and drink from where my servants draw.” Ruth was extremely pleased with such attention and, bowing to the good master, said to him: “How have I gained favor in your eyes that you accept me, although I am a foreigner?” Boaz answered her: “I have been told everything that you did for your mother-in-law after the death of your husband, that you left your father and your mother and your homeland, and came to a people whom you did not know yesterday, and the third day. May the Lord reward your deed for this, and may you have a full reward from the Lord, the God of Israel, to whom you have come to rest under His wings!” “May I be favored in your sight, my lord,” answered Ruth. “You, comforting me, spoke according to the heart of your servant, while I am not worthy of any of your servants.” When it was time for lunch, Boaz even invited her to a common meal, in which he, along with other workers, dined. With the kindness of the good owner, he himself gave her bread and, moreover, so much that not only she herself was satisfied, but she also had some left over for her mother-in-law. After dinner, Boaz ordered his servants not to interfere with Ruth's gathering between the sheaves, and even ordered them to throw some away from the sheaves as well, in order to give her the opportunity to gather more. As a result, by evening she gathered quite a few ears of grain, immediately threshed them, and she got about an ephah of barley 788 . Taking the threshed bread and putting it on her strong young shoulders, she went to the city and brought the barley home, along with the leftover food she had grabbed after dinner for her mother-in-law. Both the amount of barley harvested and the supply of bread were all so unexpected to Naomi that she asked her in amazement: “Where did you gather today and where did you work? Blessed be he who received you!” When Ruth told in detail everything that happened to her, and that she worked in the field of a certain Boaz, Naomi exclaimed with joy: “Blessed is he of the Lord because he did not deprive his mercy from either the living or the dead! This man is close to us; he is one of our relatives.” Ruth, taking advantage of Boaz's permission, continued to gather ears of corn in the following days, until the barley harvest and the subsequent wheat harvest were over, so that all this time she could comfortably feed both herself and her elderly mother-in-law. But when the harvest was over, Naomi, thinking that everything that happened to Ruth had happened according to the special intention of God, began to tell Ruth that now it was time for her to think about looking for shelter for herself, since it was not always possible for her to live with her elderly mother-in-law and spend her young strength in hard work. At the same time, Naomi explained to Ruth that since Boaz is her husband’s closest relative and, by law, must restore the seed of her deceased childless husband, then it is best for her to take advantage of the right to marry this rich man. To achieve this, Naomi advised Ruth to take appropriate measures. “Behold,” she said, Boaz, whose maids you were with, is a relative of us. Behold, this night he winnows barley on the threshing floor. Wash, anoint yourself, put on your smart clothes and go to the threshing floor, but do not show yourself to him until you have finished eating and drinking. When he goes to bed, find out the place where he will lie down; then you will come and open it at his feet and lie down. He will tell you what to do." Ruth, obeying Naomi's instructions, did everything as she was told. “Boaz ate and drank, and made his heart merry, and went and lay down to sleep beside the stack. And she came quietly, and opened it at his feet, and lay down. At midnight he shuddered, rose up, and behold, a woman lay at his feet. And Boaz said to her: Who are you? She said: I am Ruth, your servant, spread your wing over your servant, for you are a relative. Boaz said: Blessed are you from the Lord God, my daughter! You made this last good deed of yours even better than the previous one, because you did not go looking for young people, neither poor nor rich. And so, my daughter, do not be afraid, I will do to you everything that you said, for at all the gates of my people they know that you are a virtuous woman. Although it is true that I am a relative, there is also a relative closer to me. Spend the night; tomorrow, if he accepts you, then fine, let him accept you, and if he does not want to accept you, then I will accept you. The Lord lives! Sleep until morning. And she slept at his feet until the morning, and arose before they could recognize each other.” In the morning, Boaz ordered the servants not to tell anyone that a woman had come to the threshing floor, and he said to Ruth herself: “Give me your outer garment that you are wearing; hold her." And when she held her robe, Boaz measured out six measures of barley for her and, putting it on it, he himself went into the city. Returning home, Ruth told her mother-in-law about everything, and she joyfully answered: “Wait, my daughter, until you find out how the matter will end; for that man will not remain in peace until he finishes his work today.” The physical beauty and spiritual virtue of young Ruth had already completely enchanted Boaz, and he, upon returning to the city, immediately set about arranging the wedding. Going out to the city gate, the usual place for the resolution of all public affairs, Boaz sat down there and, seeing the relative about whom he had spoken to Ruth passing by, he called him to him, saying: “Come here and sit here.” He also called ten more people from the elders of the city, whom he also invited to sit down. Then, turning to his relative, Boaz began to negotiate with him about the matter. “Naomi,” he explained to him, “has returned from the fields of Moab and is selling part of the field belonging to your brother Elimelech. I have decided to bring it to your ears and say: buy it in front of those who sit here and in front of the elders of my people. If you want to redeem, redeem, and if you don’t want to redeem, tell me, and I will know, for there is no one else to redeem except you, and for you, I am.” The relative answered: “I’m buying it.” Then Boaz continued: “When you buy a field from Naomi, you must also buy from Ruth the Moabite, the wife of the deceased, and must marry her in order to restore the name of the deceased to his inheritance.” To this the relative replied: “I cannot take her for myself, so as not to upset my destiny; accept it, for I cannot accept it.” To confirm any business, the Israelites had the following custom during ransom and exchange: one took off his boot and gave it to another, who accepted the right of a relative, and this was considered sufficient evidence of the concluded transaction. And so, indeed, the relative took off his boot and gave it to Boaz, and Boaz, turning to the elders and all the people, said: “You are now witnesses that I am buying from Naomi all Elimelek, and all Hileon, and Mahlon. Likewise, I take Ruth, the Moabite, as my wife, so that the name of the deceased may be left as his inheritance, and so that the name of the deceased will not perish among his brothers and at the gate of his sojourn. Today you are witnesses to this.” Both the elders and all the people gathered at the gate unanimously answered: “We are witnesses; May the Lord make the woman who comes into your house like Rachel and like Leah, who both built the house of Israel; acquire wealth in Ephrath, and let your name be glorified in Bethlehem, and let your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore from Judah, from the seed that the Lord will give you from this young woman.” And this is how the marriage was concluded. Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. This marriage was blessed by God, and Boaz and Ruth had a son, which was a common joy for both the parents and especially for the elderly Naomi. Expressing their joy to her, the women of Bethlehem said to her: “Blessed is the Lord that He has not left you today without an heir! And may his name be glorious in Israel, He will be your joy and nourisher in your old age; for he was born by your daughter-in-law, who loves you, who is better to you than seven sons.” Naomi herself did not know the limits of her joy; she carried the child in her arms and was his loving nurse. This child was named Obed, and he was later the father of Jesse, the father of King David. And thus this pious Moabite woman, who discovered a faith rare in Israel, and whose husband was a descendant of Rahab, the believing harlot of Jericho, became one of the ancestors of Christ, the son of David. The story of Ruth represents a ray of light of true virtue and legality amid the darkness of prevailing corruption and lawlessness, and this darkness becomes even darker as a result. The religious, moral and social state of the people of Israel had already reached a sad fall during the judgment of Samson; but after it, an event soon happened that threatened the final death of the people, although at the same time it also served as the salutary beginning of a religious-moral and state-social revival. Of these, Favor has 1,865 feet. heights, Carmel - 1,720 ft., Gerizim 2,650 ft., Ebal - 2,700, Zion - 610, Olivet - 2,720 ft., above sea level. Pointing to this, Moses in his blessing to the tribe of Asher said that it would “dip its foot in oil” (Deut. 33:24). The religion of the Canaanites will be discussed in more detail below. This reference to the spies hiding under sheaves of flax lying on the ceiling of Rahab's house to dry is one of the unintentional coincidences that strikingly confirms the biblical narrative. It was the time of the barley harvest, and flax and barley ripen at the same time in the Jordan Valley, so that it was natural for Rahab's sheaves to dry at that time. That Rahab had similar sheaves of flax, this then proves that the women of this country themselves were engaged in the preparation of linen, themselves producing the material for this. Flax grows in the Jordan Valley more than three feet in height, and has a trunk as thick as a reed. Tristram. Land of Israel, p. 223. Records of the Past, vol. III, pp. 39–50. Cuneiform lnscrip. of Western Asia, vol I, pp. 17–27. Arnold, Sermons, V, pp. 35–37. The location of Ai is still marked by a mound of ruins, which is called a mound or “tell” in Arabic. Tristram, Land of Israel, p. 152. In Masada, according to the testimony of the same Tristram, he and his companion could carry on a conversation with a third person at a distance of more than 200 fathoms, and even some of the remarks that Tristram and his friend made among themselves were clearly audible. Land of Moab, r. 33. De Bello Vandalico, II, 10. Ewald denies this testimony of Procopius, but Graetz recognizes its historical accuracy. In any case, this evidence strikingly coincides with the biblical narrative. It is remarkable that even recent history has witnessed a completely similar phenomenon. In 1859, exactly the same disaster befell the Austrians at the Battle of Solferino. Porter describes a stone hail on the Bosporus in 1831, when he crossed it by boat. One of the boatmen had one arm literally crushed, another received a wound in the shoulder, and all the others were more or less wounded. One hailstone broke the end of the oar. Two people were killed on the shore, and many had their limbs broken. Some of the hailstones found afterward turned out to be over a pound in weight and many weighed 3/4 of a pound. See Geikie, Hours, vol. II, p. 416 (American ed. 1882). The remains of the city of Madona can probably be seen in the ruins of Madina, west of the Lake of Galilee. In an abstract he read at the Academy of Inscriptions and Letters, in Paris, October 28, 1864. This is stated in the translation of the seventy in two places: for example, in Nav. 21:42 reads: "When Joshua had finished dividing the land according to its borders, then the children of Israel gave a portion to Joshua, but at the commandment of the Lord, they gave him the city that he asked - Timnath - they gave Sarah to him on Mount Ephraim. And Joshua built the city that he asked for, and lived in it. And Joshua took the stone knives with which he circumcised the children of Israel who were born on the way in the wilderness, for they were not circumcised in the wilderness and laid them in Timnath-sara." The second evidence of the same is found in 24:30: “And they laid there with him in the tomb in which they kept him the stone knives with which Joshua had circumcised the children of Israel at Gilgal, when he brought them out of Egypt, as the Lord commanded: and they are there unto this day.” Guerin, Descrip, de la Palestine; Samarie, vol. II, pp. 100–104. By the way, this discovery serves as a striking refutation of the fantastic conclusions that paleontologists make regarding the antiquity of stone tools. On this occasion, Guerin, by the way, notes: “this discovery proves how risky, not to say false, the theories of those who attribute a fantastic antiquity to flint tools and rely on this uncertain basis in order to subvert the truth of Holy Scripture, placing the origin of man on earth infinitely further than that comparatively recent era indicated by the Bible.” It goes without saying that when necessary, knowledgeable people appeared to prepare agricultural tools or weapons. Without a doubt, there were no special establishments of carpenters or joiners among the Israelites; no one acted exclusively as a blacksmith or mechanic, but everyone either himself was partially familiar with these crafts, or, in case of need, resorted to a more capable person, either in his own village or in a neighboring one, since it is known that among the Israelites there were people who, if necessary, could make carts or weapons. See Deut. 16:18; Life 23:3ff; Ruf. 4:7ff. Deut. 17:8, 9. Some argue that the matter in such a case was referred to the decision of the Sanhedrin; but the Sanhedrin was established only several centuries later. It is in this sense that the saying of the Book of Judges must be understood: such and such judged Israel for so many years - the Judgment. 12:7, 9, 11, 14; 14:31 ; the exact translation would be: so-and-so saved, was the liberator of Israel while he lived. The glory he acquired during the liberation of the people served as security for Israel. His enemies, terrified by the victories of the judge, did not dare to attack his people while he lived, and he thus continued to be the judge and deliverer of Israel. So, about the judgment of Othniel, for example. It says: “And the earth rested forty years, and Othniel the son of Kenaz died” - Judgment. 3:11 is a phrase often repeated about other judges: Judgment. 3:30; 5:32; 8:28. Even Eli and Samuel were primarily concerned with the defense of the country. Eli sent his sons to war (1 Sam. 4:4), and Samuel participated in the battle of Mizpah (1 Sam. 8:5–13). Meanwhile, Samuel and his sons, and probably also Eli, held office and judges in the proper sense of the word, the latter by virtue of his high priestly dignity, and the former as a prophet (1 Sam. 7:16; 13:2; 4:18). “And the Lord raised up judges for them, who saved them from the hands of their robbers” (Judges 2:16). These two tribes are not even mentioned in the song of Deborah, Judgment. 5 For this reason Josephus calls them voluntary monarchs, and their power “monarchy” (Antiq. XI, 4, § 8), in contrast to the priestly aristocracy or royal power. “Their power over the people,” Ewald rightly notes, “follows from internal necessity and therefore in its origin is the most arbitrary that can be imagined.” Geschichte, II, 507. “The system of patriarchal government still exists in the desert, just as it existed 4,000 years ago.” Layard, Nineveh and its Remains, vol. I, p. 95. Burckhardt, Notes on the Bedouins, v. I, pp. 115–119. The position of sheikh can be passed on from one member to another in the same family, but at the same time it is not hereditary. Wed. Layard, v. I, pp. 95–6. "One might suppose," says Ewald, "that the Israelites did not have a king in these early times because royal power was not needed at all in these times of simplicity, as was the case with some of the ancient Germanic tribes and among the Arabs. But this assumption would be completely false. The Egyptians and Canaanites, against whom the Israelites had most of all to fight, had kings from a long time ago; and so did the Moabites, The Ammonites and Edomites, who were closest in kinship to the Israelites, like most Arab tribes, apparently did not have kings. But the main and only thing unique to Israel was that it did not, in fact, reject royal power, but had it in the same way as any other people; it only wanted to have an invisible King." Geschichte, 1865, II, 214. Wed. Court. 8:23. Gideon responded to the Israelites who offered him sovereignty: “Neither will I rule over you, nor will my son rule over you; let the Lord rule over you.” Court. 5:13. The confidence that God's help inspired then appears throughout the history of Israel. See Ps. 67:2; 43:2, 10, 11; 109:1; 17:48. Ref. 34:14; Deut. 4:24; 5:9; 6:15; Nav. 24:19 and so on. Mention of such meetings is found in Judges 2, 1–5. Court. 1:27–33. The Phoenician coast remained, at least for the most part, in the hands of the natives. We must not forget this circumstance to explain why the great Egyptian campaigns that took place in the 15th – 13th centuries BC did not involve the Israelis. The armies of the pharaohs passed along the road along the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, without penetrating the country occupied by the tribes of Israel. Baal was also an Aramaic god and a Syro-Chaldean god. The Phoenician colonies carried the worship of this God with them everywhere, and he was especially famous in Carthage, as even such famous names as Azdrubal, that is, “Baal is help,” and Hannibal, that is, “Baal is mercy,” show. “Baal,” says Mowers, was the supreme deity common to all the Syro-Phoenician peoples.” Religion der Phönizier. 69 Because of the abuse that the Canaanites made of the name Baal, the Bible never applies this name to the true God, and to express the idea that God is Lord, the Master, it uses the word Adon, Adonai. She uses the name Baal only in the sense of a common noun, to designate a false god. Court. 3:3; 2 Sam. 13:23 ; see Gesenius, Thesaurus, p. 490. Court. 2:13 ; Jer. 19:5; 32:35. Chemosh or Chemosh is mentioned on the famous Moabite stones, monuments of the king of Mesa. The name Chemosh is probably reproduced in the name Kar Khamis, which must mean the city of Chemosh. Moloch was not an exclusively Ammonite or Moabite god. Some of its own Phoenician names prove that it was revered by the traders of Tire and the Phoenician coast, for example. Malmatan - “Moloch gave”; Bodmalk – “servant of Moloch” and so on. The name Melkart also refers to this cult. Melkart is only an abbreviation of the words Melek-kerat, i.e. the king of the city, and this king of the city is none other than Baal. This misconception is especially often refuted in the Bible, where God often says to his chosen people: “I am the Lord your God; do not honor (or rather fear) the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live.” Court. 6:10. Wed. 1 Sam. 26:19. This idea, characteristic of national religions, was also in use among the Greeks and Romans. “Remove foreign gods and Ashtoreth from among you, and set your heart towards the Lord, and serve Him alone.” “And the children of Israel removed Baal and Ashtaroth, and began to serve the Lord alone.” 1 Samuel 7:3, 4. The Israelites thus added to the cult of false gods the worship of the true God, even when they were unfaithful, since Samuel admonished them from now on to serve only Jehovah alone. Classical authors call her Astarte, Aphrodite and the Syrian goddess. Layard, Recherches sur le culte de Venus, pl. IV, II. 12. Oppert, Fragments mythol. Paris, 1882, pp. 28–29. Asherah, whose wooden statue once desecrated the church of Jehovah (4 Gifts 21:7; 23:6), was essentially the same as Astarte, sometimes called Ashtareth in the Old Testament. One of these goddesses was to the other what Baal was to Moloch. The human sacrifice that was offered to her did not consist in slaughter, but in the fornication of women, in the church itself or in the sacred groves that surrounded it. Kanathah of the Greeks, Kenathah of the Bible, 1 Chron. 2:23. Wed. Court 2:1–4 with Ex. 34:12–15. This is what I. Flavius ​​testifies (Antiq. V, 1, § 29). Eleazar was the third person, besides Joshua and Caleb, of that old generation that came out of Egypt and entered the Promised Land. Perhaps he was awarded this high happiness as a high priest and direct heir to the great spiritual gifts of his great father. According to the newest explorer, Conder, the “hill of Phinehas” is the place on which the present village of Averta stands, on the plain outside the valley of Shechem, on the eastern side of the chain of hills of which Ebal and Gerizim form a part. The tomb of Eleazar is a rough stone building in a courtyard, completely open to the air. It is 18 feet long, covered with lime and shaded by a magnificent terebinth. The tomb of Phinehas appears to be an older structure, and the walls of its courtyard have an arcade of round arches, now supporting a trellis covered with vines, and the building itself has a paved floor." Tent Work. p. 41. God promised that the high priesthood would never cease in his family, and this was literally fulfilled. True, it was violated for some time when Eli from the family of Ithamar was high priest, but the family of Phinehas again entered into this dignity in the person of Zadok, the high priest of the time of Solomon, and continued to retain this dignity until the fall of Jerusalem. 1 Par. 16:39, 40 . Phinehas's mother was the daughter of Futiel - a remarkable name in that it is composed of the Egyptian words Futi or Puti, which means “dedicated,” and the Hebrew word El - “God.” God promised from the very beginning that He would drive out the natives “little by little,” and not “in one year,” “lest the land become desolate and the beasts of the field multiply,” to the detriment of Israel (Ex. 23:30, 29). Wilkins. Phenicia, p. 45. Court. 10:16, See also Movers, Die Phönizier, vol. II, pp. 302–315. In the Assyrian inscriptions no more or less approximate correspondence to the name of this king has yet been found, but Rawlinson in his “Herodotus” finds it possible to compare it with Assur-Ris-Elim. The same assumption is accepted by Professor Says, who says that Assur-Ris-Elim was the grandson of Assur-Diana and the father of Tiglath-Thalassar I. Even now the Bedouins pay tribute in kind. In the ancient country of the Moabites, the Kerak tribe pays the Beni-Sakkru tribe an annual tribute of oats, wool, etc., so that this powerful tribe will give protection to them and their herds against robbery by other tribes. Tristram, Land of Moab, p. 18, 1873. The Moabites were in frequent contact with the tribe of Judah. Unfortunately, we know about most of these relationships only from random and unclear hints. 1 Par. 4:22 ; Ruf. 1:2. Ehud was not the only Israelite who could operate with equal dexterity in battle with both hands. The Benjamites, to whose tribe Ehud belonged, were generally famous as archers and slingers, who knew how to act equally dexterously with their left and right hands and were able, according to biblical testimony, to hit hair from a sling. Court. 20:16 ; 1 Par. 12:2. Mucius Scaevola, famous among the Romans for a similar feat, was left-handed, and this is precisely the meaning of his nickname Scaevola. Current customs of the East and numerous Assyrian images representing the bringing of tribute to rulers show that tribute was usually brought with great solemnity and always accompanied by a large retinue. Usually each person carried some object, no matter how small it was. Therefore, a significant number of porters were always required. One traveler, speaking about gifts made in the east, says that in this case, for show, four or five horses are usually used, although all the gifts could easily be carried on one horse, and valuable items are laid out in as many as five vessels, although they could easily be placed in one. Maillet, Description de l'Egypt. Paris, 1735, lettre x, p. 86. Judging by these customs, Ehud must have had quite a few companions. Eglon should have immediately sent away everyone around him, since this is precisely the custom of the East in such circumstances: servants usually leave when they bring some message to their master. "I was drinking a cup of coffee with a sheikh in the east (says Bruce), and told him that I had confidential news to convey from Ali Bey of Cairo, and therefore I would like to convey this news to him without witnesses, wherever he wished. As a result, everyone immediately left the room." Tgavels V. I, r. 153. Shaw, Travels, Oxford, 1738, p. 280; Rosenmüller, Morgenland, v. III, pp. 19, 20. Cp. 2 Kings 4:10 ; 2 Sam. 18:33: 2 Kings 23:12; 9:2. Herder, Geschichte der Hebräischen Poesie, p. 436. Layard. Nineveh and its Remains (v. I, pp. 97–98). Maundrell, Journey, p. 149. There is nothing incredible about such a large number of chariots. Ramzss II in the poem Pentaura assures that the Hittites at the Battle of Ezradon had 2,500 war chariots; and Egyptian monuments show that Ramses III captured 994 Canaanite chariots in this same plain. Thothmes III, after his victory on this same field, took no less than 2,041 horses and 924 chariots. Cavalry in our sense was not yet used then. Astarte was considered the patroness of military chariots. Some Canaanite chariots, as Egyptian monuments show, were drawn by oxen, which, for this purpose, were tamed to run very fast; but the chariots taken by Joshua were all drawn by horses (Joshua 2:6). Canaanite chariots did not have scythes or knives on their sides, as was originally thought. "Thousands of palm trees still raise their noble heads in the air in almost all parts of the country, especially along the seashore from Gaza to Beirut. Even in high-lying Jerusalem they grow in the open air, and in the neighborhood of Nazareth I saw a whole grove of them." Schenkel, Lex. V. I, r. 580. One village on the slopes of Tabor still bears the name Devora. The tell or mound of Harosheth is of vast dimensions and is located just near the point where Kishon, at one of its turns, directly strikes the rocky base of Carmel, leaving no room even for a path. The castle standing there could well have commanded the passage through the Kishon valley to the Ezdrilon plain. Thomson, Land and Book, p. 436. The location of Megiddon was apparently found by Conder in Migedda at the foot of Mount Gilboa, in the mound from which five springs flow, the so-called “waters of Megiddon.” Conder, Tent Work., p. 232. Court V, 21, 22. The Kishon stream is now called Nar-El-Mukatga, that is, the river of slaughter. This feat of Jael, sung in the song of Deborah, was often exciting. bewilderment, since it is, as it were, a betrayal. But when judging him, one must keep in mind the conditions and customs of that time. "I agree," Herder rightly says, "that Jael would not have deserved the order given as a reward for great military exploits in our time; but the popular praise contained in the song of Deborah rightly belongs to her. Before applying to the Israelites the morals and laws of modern wars, it would be necessary first to reform those savage hordes with which they had to fight as regular and disciplined troops; the main thing is to was to give this distant time the spirit and morals of our time.” See also the justification of Jael in the work: Thomson, Land and Book, 1870, pp. 438 et seq. Life 25:2, From the subsequent story (Judges 7:13) it is clear that the Midianites in the time of Gideon still spoke a language similar to the language of the Jews. In Arabia, in the northwest, even during the time of Abulfeda, there were the ruins of a Midianite city near Tebuok. It was located on the Arabian Gulf, opposite the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula to the east. Since the Midianites at the same time carried out caravan trade and together engaged in predatory raids, the position of this city was extremely favorable for their trade. For their trade, see Gen. 37: 28, 26. For the riches that she brought to them, see Judgment. 8:24, 26. Records of the Past. Goodwin, Story of Saneha, V.VI (1876), pp. 140–1, lines 175–6, 208–12. Porter, Handbook for Palestine, p. 346. Stanley, Sinai and Palestine, 1868, p. 340. Land of Moab, 1873, preface, pp. IV. Robinson describes two sharpening stones that still survive: one located in Gablea, in central Palestine, and the other in Lebanon. The upper vat was called gat proper (Rev. 14:20), the lower one was called yekeb (Mark 12:1; see Joel 3:13). Gideon threshed bread, apparently in a gath or upper vat (Judges 6:11). Ziva, killed in the winepress, as we will see later, was hiding in the lower vat - yekeb (Judges 7:25). The dew in Palestine is extremely abundant. "We had a great deal of trouble," says Irwin, "to protect ourselves from the dew at night, as well as from the heat of the day. The dew is so heavy that in the morning our blankets under which we slept were as wet as if they had been dipped in the sea." Rosenmüller, Morgenland, vol. III, page 32. “Often,” says Furrer, “the dew is so heavy that in the morning the tents seem as if they were drenched in the heaviest rain.” Bib. Lex., vol. V, p. 496. This day of the Midianites, as the prophet Isaiah calls it (9:4), was their last. The Midianites are mentioned only in the book of Judith 2:16, where it is said that the sons of Midian were defeated by Holofernes. Then the Midianites are mentioned by later prophets. What kind of punishment this actually is is not known exactly. But David subjected the Ammonites to the same punishment, 2 Sam. 12:31 ; 1 Par. 20:3. Diodorus Siculus says that in Egypt parricides were punished by being rolled over thorny bushes until they breathed their last. Mrs. M'Neill, wife of the former English. envoy to Persia, once saw one of the princes, a ten-year-old boy, blindfolded with a handkerchief, wandering around the room. When asked what he was doing, the boy replied that since he knew that after the death of the king, his father, his eyes would be gouged out, he was now trying out what it meant to be blind. His father secured the throne for himself with the help of the uncle of the former king, having destroyed all the “royal seed.” Recently, the Burmese king Thibo did the same to secure his throne. House of Millo, mentioned in the Court. 9:20, was probably the name for this fortified tower in which refuge was sought at Shechem; she was probably on Mount Gerizim. Tristram, Land of Moab, pp. 139–40. Leviticus. 18:21; 20:2–5; Deut. 12:31; 18:10. Life 28:20 ; 1 Sam. 1:11; Ps. 115:14; Ref. 19:21. It is worth noting at the same time that in the Hebrew text itself it is used in the Court. 11:40 the verb does not mean “mourn,” but “praise.” Soph. 2:5 This name, however, was first given in this sense to the Phoenicians. The word Palestine comes from the Philistines (Pelishtin). Dean Stanley, together with earlier German interpreters, understood the word Samson in the sense of “solar hero,” but the newest interpreters, and especially Berto and Schenkel, apparently more correctly translate this word in the sense of “destroyer.” Nav. 15:32. In the tribe of Simeon there was also the city of Beth-Lebaoth. Nav. 19:6. There are no longer lions in Palestine, but in former times there were quite a lot of them. In St. Scripture mentions lions in many places, such as Court. 14:8; 1 Sam. 16:34 ; 1 Kings 12:24; 20:36 ; 2 Kings 17:25 ; Song 4:8; Jer. 5:6; 12:8; Amos, 3:12, etc. They especially lived everywhere along the banks of the Jordan, the tall bushes of which provided them with a convenient shelter. They existed there at least until the twelfth century, as evidenced by one Greek pilgrim of that time, namely John Phocas (De Locis Sanctis, XXIII). The Lion of Palestine was probably an Asiatic variety, described by Aristotle as a common sight in Syria. Compared to an ordinary lion, it had a shorter mane, a shorter tail and generally a stockier shape, like the lion discovered by Layard in the tombs of Arban and reproduced above. Stolberg, Geschichte der Religion, II, 292. As for the abundance of honey in Palestine, all travelers testify to it. Here's what for example. says explorer and expert on the Holy Land Thomson: “recently there were so many bees in the forest not far from this particular place that honey dripped from the trees to the ground, and I explored the densely forested gorges on Hermon and southern Lebanon, where wild bees still exist, both in the trees and in the gorges of the rocks.” The name Shephela appears to be reproduced in the Spanish city of Ispalis, the newest Seville, which was so named by the first Phoenician colonists due to its position on the plain of Guadalquivir. A. H. Fünf Philister Stadte (Das Heilige Land) VI Heft, p. 1876, p. 181. Mislin, Les Saints Lieux, 1858, II, 156. Porter also relates that the howling of jackals often disturbed his sleep in Palestine. Kitto. Biblical Ciclopedia, 1866, III, 843. See also Thomson, Land and Book, I, VIII, 93-4; III, XXXVI, 552. Herder, “History of Jewish Poetry,” in French translation, 1845, p. 439. In the same place, Herder rightly says: “the story of three hundred jackals and lighted torches in their tails is completely in the character of Samson, and the ridicule to which they tried to subject this story does not even deserve to be refuted.” From comparison Court. 15:1 and Judges. 15:5, it can be seen that from the time Samson visited his wife until he carried out his vengeance, several days passed. During this period, part of the field was already compressed. Lepsius, Denkmäler, II, 136. Chabas, Etudes sur l'antiquités, 1st med., pp. 122, 123, 138. Fastes, IV, V, 681 et seq. Other similar cases are known from history. Hannibal let loose oxen with lighted torches tied to their horns (Titus Livy, XXII, 16 et seq.). The Greeks declared war by throwing lit torches onto the enemy's land. Court. 15:6, Wed. Court. 12:1; 14:15. The Arabs are so afraid of fires during the harvest that they even now punish with death anyone who sets fire to a grain field, even by accident. Thomson, Land and Book, 553. The Gorims probably derived their name from the word Horus, “cave.” Even now, in the vicinity of Petra, you can see the caves in which they lived. Burckhardt, Notes on the Bedouins, I, 133 135. Palmer, The desert of the Exodus, II, 415. This hill is called Ed-Montar, after the name of a mosque built on its top. Number 11, Deut. 24:6 etc. Water or windmills were invented quite late. The most primitive method of molonia was to grind grains between two stones, one of which served as a mortar (medaka), and the other as a pestle. One Egyptian bas-relief depicts two people pounding grain in a mortar. Lennep, Bible Lands, II, 417; Wed Eneid, 1, 179. The hand mill existed already in the time of Abraham, since there is news of ground flour, not crushed or pounded. Life 18:6. Thomson, Land and Book, III, XXXIV, ed. 1870, pp. 550, 551. 552. Thomson, Land and Book, p. 526. This is also indicated in the New Testament in the famous saying of the Savior: “two grinders in millstones” (Matthew 24:41). This is the most common method of lightning. Sometimes, however, when the mill is very small, only one woman does the grinding. But usually there are two, because this work is tiring. Both of them hold on to the top stone with their hands, because otherwise it would be too difficult to take hold of the millstone again each time, which would naturally produce jumps in the very movement of the stone, harmful to the lightning. At the time of Christ there were already mills that worked with the help of donkeys, as indicated by the expression of St. Matthew 18:6: such mills were already found among the Egyptians. Deut. 24:6; I. Flavius, Antiq. IV, 8, 26. The Jews, when leaving Egypt, took with them such hand mills as necessary household supplies, which they used in the same way as stupas. Number 11:8. In the book of Exodus, when calculating the various states and positions in life, it says: “from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sits on his throne, to the firstborn of the slave girl who is at the millstones” (11:5), and the slave girl at the millstones occupies the lowest social level, after which comes the draft animals. Milton, Samson Agonistes. Thomson, Land and Book, 527. It is not uninteresting to note that in the East, blind beggars often still work at hand mills to earn a piece of bread. Moving from house to house, the blind man turns a millstone and thus feeds himself. Ibid., page 38. The roofs in Gaza are still as flat as ever, says Thomson. Stark, Gaza und die philistäische Küste, I, III, 332. By the way, there are interesting indications of the prevalence of theft, all kinds of robbery and self-will in Palestine of this time in one Egyptian document, namely, a description of the journey to Palestine of an Egyptian from the time of Ramses II. Thus, an Egyptian traveler tells how one day, during an overnight stay, a thief climbed into his room and stole his clothes, and his servant not only did not help his master in catching the thief, but fled with him into the desert and joined a nomadic tribe. In Joppa, an Egyptian was also robbed, and his bow, quiver and dagger were stolen. During his further journey, his reins were cut at night and his horses were stolen. In a word, here we see the same moral and social decay that is outlined in terrible terms in the final chapters of the book of Judges. See Travels of an Egyptian, trans. Goodwin, 1858; the same in French. translation by Shaba, 1866