History of the Jews, Vol. 1 (of 6). Graetz Heinrich

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СКАЧАТЬ poor Levite, a grandson of the great Law-giver, took priestly service at the shrine of a newly manufactured idol, in order to obtain food and raiment. The further spread of such worship was favoured among the Israelites by the force of sensuality, by habit, and by the love of imitation.

      At this time the marvellous occurrences in Egypt and in the desert were still vividly remembered by the several tribes, and formed a link of fellowship among them, notwithstanding the disintegrating effect of idolatry. The ancestral history continued to be handed down from father to son, and nursed the sentiment of a common nationality. An individual or an entire family immersed in affliction would then ask, "Where are all his miracles of which our fathers told us, saying, Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?"10

      The events witnessed on Mount Sinai remained engraven upon the hearts of thoughtful men; nor were warning voices wanting to recall the olden days of divine mercy, and to rebuke the people on account of their idolatry. It appears that the utterances of reproof came from the Levites. They, as custodians of the tables of the covenant, and as servants in the Sanctuary of Shiloh, stood up in days of national misfortune, and on other occasions, to expose the corruption of their people. Sometimes they may have succeeded in making a deep impression, when they described past glories or present sorrows; but the effect of such addresses was only evanescent. The people were always predisposed to fraternise with strangers and to imitate their practices. One adverse condition produced another. The selfishness of the men of Ephraim induced their brother tribes to care only for self-preservation. The chances of uniting the Israelites under one commander were neglected. This again drove the divided tribes to confederacies with the pagans, and they became more closely united with them through the ties of family and of superstitious worship; hence came internal disunion and national degeneracy. The indigenous population of Palestine no sooner discovered the influence they were able to exercise, than they began to treat the Israelites as intruders, who should be humbled, if not crushed altogether.

      Sorrowful days befell the Israelites after Joshua had closed his eyes. One tribe after another was reduced to servitude. At length, when the sufferings of the people became unendurable, public-spirited men came to the rescue, and performed deeds of remarkable valour. These heroic deliverers were commonly known as "judges" (Shofetim). In an emergency they would lead one tribe, or several tribes to battle; but they were incapable of uniting the entire people of Israel, or of keeping the collected tribes under permanent control. It was altogether beyond the ability of these deliverers to bring order into this national disorganisation, or to abolish the abuse of idolatry, and enforce a strict observance of religion. They, in fact, shared the failings of their age, and had only a faint comprehension of the Sinaitic doctrines.

      CHAPTER IV.

      THE JUDGES

      Animosity of the Idumæans – Othniel, a Deliverer – Eglon, King of Moab – The Canaanite King, Jabin – Sisera, his General – The Prophetess and Poetess Deborah – Barak – Victory near Tabor – Early Hebrew Poetry – Sufferings through Nomads – The Hero Gideon (Jerubbaal) – Victory in the Plain of Jezreel – Commencement of Prosperity – Abimelech – Feud with the Shechemites – Jair the Gileadite – Hostilities of the Amalekites and the Philistines – Jephthah – Samson – Zebulunite Judges.

      Othniel, the son of Kenaz, a brother, and at the same time the son-in-law of Caleb, was the first warrior-judge. Having collected a brave band of combatants, he advanced against an Idumæan11 king, and delivered the southern tribes of Judah and Simeon. But his enterprise did not bring the least advantage to the rest of the tribes, and remained almost unknown on the other side of Mount Ephraim. The daring act of the Benjamite, Ehud, the son of Gera, was of greater significance. The Israelites being oppressed by the Moabites, Ehud did not immediately invite his injured companions to make an open attack upon the foe. He first sought to put the hostile king, Eglon, out of the way. One day he presented himself before the king under the pretext that he was the bearer of a gift from his people in token of their submission. Being alone with Eglon, he thrust a double-edged sword into the body of his victim, and fled after having locked the door of the audience chamber. He then summoned the men of Ephraim and Benjamin, and occupied the fords of the Jordan so as to cut off the retreat of the Moabites, who had established themselves on the west side of that river. The Moabites were then totally routed. After this victory, the western tribes of Israel remained for a long time unmolested by the people of Moab.

      From another quarter, the Israelites were harassed by the Philistines. Shamgar, the son of Anath, probably of the tribe of Benjamin, chastised the assailants with a weapon extemporised out of an ox-goad. Such sporadic acts of bravery, inadequate to improve the situation of the Israelites, tended only to aggravate their troubles. Jabin, a Canaanite king, joined by some of the neighbouring rulers, seemed bent upon exterminating the Israelites. The high-roads became insecure, and wayfarers had to seek devious byways. At that juncture, Israel was without a leader, or a man of tried courage. A woman, a poetess and prophetess, Deborah, the wife of Lapidoth, then came forward as "a mother in Israel." With her inspiriting speech she animated the timorous people, and changed them from cowards into heroes. Urged by Deborah, Barak, the son of Abinoam, reluctantly undertook to lead the Israelites against the enemy; and, at her bidding, the most valiant men in Israel joined the national army. Meeting near Mount Tabor, they discomfited the Canaanites, who were commanded by Jabin's general, the hitherto unvanquished Sisera. The power of Jabin was henceforth broken. The commander himself now had to flee for his life, and was slain by Jael, the wife of Heber, a member of the Kenite tribe, which maintained an amicable alliance with the Israelites. In a hymn known as "The Song of Deborah," the praises were sung of this unexpected victory, and of the mercy which God had bestowed upon His people. But these hostilities had not yet reached their end. The restless nations of the neighbourhood continued to inflict heavy blows upon the Israelites, who either were too weak or too disunited to resist such attacks. The roving Midianites periodically ravaged Palestine. At harvest time, they would cross the Jordan with their irresistible hordes, bringing with them their tents, their camels, and their herds. They came "like a flight of locusts," emptied the barns, led off the flocks, the herds and the asses, and then quitted the impoverished and despoiled land. The rich and fertile plain of Jezreel, with the adjacent northern and southern territory, was especially exposed to these incursions. To save their scanty means of subsistence, the owners of the land concealed their provisions in caverns and other hiding places. The insignificant gleanings of wheat had to be threshed in caves intended for wine-presses. In their severe trials the tribes prayed unto the God of their fathers, and assembled at Shiloh, where they were reproved for their sinfulness by "a man of God" – probably a Levite – who reminded them that their misfortunes were the consequence of their iniquities. Exhortations of this kind seem to have made a deep impression upon at least one man of note. This man was Jerubbaal, also named Gideon, of the tribe of Manasseh. In Ophrah, his native place, in a grove consecrated to Baal or to Astarte, there was an altar, which Jerubbaal destroyed, and he then raised another in honour of the God of Israel. The men of Ophrah, enraged at this sacrilege, were about to stone Jerubbaal, but he gathered round him tribesmen of Manasseh, Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali, and encamped at Endor to the north of Mount Moreh; there he dismissed the timid and faint-hearted, retaining only a picked force of 300 warriors. In the dead of night he fell upon the sleeping enemy, whom he terrified with the shrill blast of horns, the brandishing of burning torches, and the war-cry, "For God and for Gideon." The unprepared Midianites were utterly routed, and were forced to retreat across the Jordan. During many ages "the day of Midian" was remembered as a triumph which a handful of brave Israelites had accomplished.

      Gideon then pursued the two fugitive Midianite kings, Zebah and Zalmunna, on the other side of the Jordan, chastised those Israelites who refused him and his famishing warriors the needful provisions, and inflicted a crushing defeat upon the Midianites, from which they never recovered. The people thus delivered offered to make him their king, an honour which he declined, both for himself and his descendants. It appears that he made Ophrah a centre for pilgrims, to the detriment of the less conveniently situated sanctuary of Shiloh. СКАЧАТЬ