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that, while actual events gave rise to much of its narrative, the form in which these events are related is that of the story-teller and religious teacher and not that of the sober historian. The narratives were composed primarily to entertain, and then later were edited to teach religous lessons. The imagination had free play in their composition, and they abound in the marvels which belong to all such early literature. To some this view of a book of the Bible may come as a shock, and yet no one ought thereby to be disturbed. Morality can be taught by fable, the Gospel by parables, and so likewise legend has its place in the teaching of religion. The supreme value of the Bible lies in its revelation of God, or the introduction of God into the sphere of human life. This revelation or introduction required the use of the imagination, hence legend became its appropriate vehicle. A bare chronicle of events has never produced such results and never can. Hence modern scholarship, in showing the legendary character of much of the Scripture, has confirmed this principle of knowledge. The historical books are now intelligible to all thinking men. They speak of God through human experience.

But in the legends of the judges lie embedded historical facts. In the introduction to our book (1-2:5) an accurate outline of the conquest of Canaan is given. The tribes obtained a foothold in the South and then in Central and Northern Palestine, and the Canaanites retained possession of a large number of cities as mentioned. This continued until the reigns of David and Solomon, during which these Canaanite cities were absorbed into Israel. Behind the story of the first great judge, Othniel, it is

barely possible that there may have been a struggle with Edom; but if such history is there, it has been entirely distorted, and a narrative really unhistorical has taken its place.

The story of Ehud rests not unlikely upon a real occurrence. There is nothing improbable in the oppression of a portion of Israel by the Moabites and the deliverance through the crafty assassination of the king.

The deliverance through Barak and Deborah, as far as it relates a great victory over Sisera, a Canaanitish king of the plain of Esdraelon, is undoubtedly historical, and interwoven with it is a reminiscence of an earlier actual struggle with Jabin, King of Hazor. That the elements favored the Israelites in battle and that Sisera was treacherously slain are no doubt real events. The details of the muster for battle given in the poem are probably authentic.

Behind the long and complex story of Gideon we find a decisive defeat by that hero of troublesome Bedouin marauders. We believe also that he set up an image of Jehovah and that he ruled over a district of the region of Shechem as a petty king. The story of the short-lived kingdom of Abimelech even in its detail is also essentially historic.

The same is true of the story of Jephthah. He was a real warrior who delivered the land of Gilead from the encroachment of either the Ammonites or the Moabites. The sacrifice of his daughter actually took place.

In the stories of Samson we find little of real history. There may have been an Israelitish hero of that name that harassed the Philistines, but the Samson of the Book of

Judges is certainly half mythical, and his exploits are not inaptly compared with those of the Greek Hercules.

The story of the founding of the sanctuary of Dan as far as it relates to the plundering of a sanctuary in Mt. Ephraim and the enticement therefrom of a priest is certainly plausible and on no good grounds can its historicity be denied.

What lies in the story of Gibeah is entirely obscure. Real history, however, is there; but the original events, beyond some crime and some summary vengeance upon a number of the tribe of Benjamin, are no longer recognizable; and conjectures, though interesting, cannot give the real facts.

VI. CHRONOLOGY

The following chronological data are found in the Book of Judges:

3:8 Israel serves Cushan-rishathaim

3:11 Peace after the deliverance by Othniel 3: 14 Israel serves Eglon.

3:30 Peace after the deliverance of Ehud 4:3 Oppression by Jabin . .

5:31 Peace after the deliverance by Barak. 6:1 Oppression by Midian.

8:28 Peace after the deliverance by Gideon 9:22 Reign of Abimelech

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This total of 410 years is too long to fit into any scheme either of biblical or actual chronology covering the period of the judges. It is evident then that the periods of foreign service or oppression should be eliminated and only the periods of rest or judgeship be retained. This is after the common method of reckoning, in which years of insurrection or illegitimate sovereignty are omitted in giving the length of dynasties. No English royalist, for example, would give the period of the Commonwealth in reckoning the length of the rule of the House of Stuart, but those years would be included under the reign of Charles the Second. Omitting then the periods of foreign service and oppression and the reign of Abimelech, we have for the period of judgeship or peace in the land, Othniel 40 years, Ehud 80 years, Barak 40 years, Gideon 40 years, Samson 20 years, and Jephthah and the minor judges taken together 76 years, or a total of 296 years. If now to these years are added the 40 years of the sojourn in the wilderness, 20 years as the period of the conquest under Joshua and of the life of the elders of his generation, 40 years the judgeship of Eli (1 Sam. 4:18), 20 years as the judgeship of Samuel, and 20 years as the reign of Saul, and the 40 years of the reign of David (1 Kgs. 2:11) and the 4 of the reign of Solomon to the laying of the foundation of the Temple (1 Kgs. 6:1), the total is 480 years: or the exact period said to have elapsed from the Exodus to the found

ing of the Temple (1 Kgs. 6: 1). This result shows that this reckoning of the Book of Judges was made to fit into that scheme of chronology which placed the period from the Exodus to the founding of the Temple at exactly 480 years or twelve periods of 40 years each. The actual period of Israel's history covered by the Book of Judges is probably about 150 years, beginning in the first half of the twelfth century.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

A BRIEF SELECTED LIST OF WRITINGS ON THE BOOK OF JUDGES FOR THE ENGLISH READER

Bible Dictionaries, articles on Judges (Book of), Othniel, Ehud, etc. BLACK, J. S. Judges (in Smaller Cambridge Bible for Schools). 1892. Cassel, Paulus. The Book of Judges (in Lange's Commentary). 1872. Translated from the German with additions.

COOKE, G. A. The History and Song of Deborah. 1892.

DRIVER, S. R. An Introduction to the Literature of the Old Testament, sixth and following editions, pp. 160-172.

DRIVER, S. R. The Book of Judges, in The Expositor, eighth series, Vol. II, pp. 385-404, 520–530 (Nov. and Dec., 1911); Vol. III, pp. 24-38, 129-136 (Jan. and Feb., 1912).

DUMMELOW, J. R., Editor. A Commentary on the Holy Bible, by various writers, pp. 155-172.

HERVEY, A. C. Judges (in Speaker's Commentary, 1872, and in Pulpit Commentary, 1881).

KEIL, C. F. Judges (in Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament). Translated from the German, 1868.

KENNEDY, A. R. S. The Book of Judges (in The Temple Bible). KENT, CHARLES FOSTER. Narratives of the Beginnings of Hebrew

History (in The Student's Old Testament), pp. 271-310. 1904. Text printed according to sources in parallel columns. Also brief notes.

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