prodigal to arise and go to his father; yet He does not re our prayers, but delivers us from wrath, and draws us Himself by His Son, our Saviour. (5) The saviour so ra up, Othniel. It was the same bold warrior who in the day Joshua had won the hand of the daughter of his lion-hea brother Caleb by smiting Kirjath-Sepher. He then was you but now is old. But age cannot disqualify for service him w God calls to it: "For they that wait upon the Lord shall re their strength" (Isa. xl. 31; compare xlvi. 4; Ps. xcii. He was of the old stock that knew experimentally the se of war with Canaan, namely, faith in Jehovah. (5) His paration for the work by God: "The Spirit of Jehovah e upon him." The Holy Spirit is the Giver of life, light, love. No man can know and serve God, except by inward teaching of the blessed Spirit (1 Cor. ii. 10, xii. 3). But a special gift of the Holy Ghost is needed the minister who would rightly guide the flock of the I The sevenfold fulness of the Spirit rested on Messiah: " Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lo and the Spirit that made him "of quick understanding in fear of the Lord," so that He judged "not after the sigh His eyes" (Isa. xi. 2, 3). He gives a measure of this S to His servants. (6) Othniel's mode of procedure: "He ju Israel" first; then he "went out to war." He who w fight successfully with foes abroad, must first overcome worst foe, sin, at home (compare 1 Sam. vii. 3-14). Lord must be owned as our Lawgiver and our Judge, if would have Him to save us (Isa. xxxiii. 22). (7) issue. The Lord delivered Chushan-rishathaim into Othr hand. So "the land had rest forty years," the same pe as that of Israel's wandering in the wilderness. rest in spirit during our earthly pilgrimage? commit ourselves to Him whom "God hath exalted with right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour" (Acts v. 31). will 'give' us 'rest' on our first coming to Him; He will en us to "find rest unto our souls," in taking His easy yoke light burden upon us, and learning of the meek and l

Do we d
Then le

Lamb of God all our earthly days. He will at last bring us home to the eternal "rest which remaineth for the people of God" (Heb. iv. 9), "where the wicked cease from troubling, and where the weary be at rest" (Job iii. 17; Matt. xi. 28-30).

EGLON AND EHUD, SHAMGAR AND THE PHILISTINES.

(12) And the children of Israel did evil [a characteristic phrase throughout this book (ch. ii. 11, iii. 7, 12, iv. 1, vi. 1, xiii. 1), marking identity of authorship] again [Heb. "they added to do evil"] in the sight of the Lord; and the Lord strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against [so as to conquer and oppress] Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the Lord [1 Sam. xii. 9]. (13) And he gathered unto him the children of Ammon and Amalek [the foe of Israel from the first, and therefore doomed by God to final destruction (Exod. xvii. 8-16; Numb. xxiv. 20; Deut. xxv. 17-19; 1 Sam. xv. 2-33). What a humiliation to Israel to be under such an unrelenting foe (ch. vi. 3-6, x. 7, 11, 12). Ammon and Amalek similarly joined against Judah under Jehoshaphat (2 Chron. xx. 1; Ps. lxxxiii. 7)], and went and smote Israel, and possessed the city of palm-trees [Jericho, destroyed by Joshua sixty years before, but partially rebuilt afterwards. As no Israelite dared to fortify it through fear of Joshua's curse, it was easily taken by Moab, and made a base for subjugating Israel (ch. i. 16). Josephus states that Eglon built here a palace (Josh. vi. 26). The curse on it caused the name 'Jericho' to give place to "the city of palm-trees "]. (14) So the children of Israel served [compare Gen. xiv. 4, 'served' as vassals. The period of the Judges is divided between "the times of servitude" and "the times of rest"] Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years [the same length of time as Israel's oppression by Ammon lasted (ch. x. 8)]. (15) But when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, the Lord raised them up a deliverer [so ver. 9, ch. ii. 16, 18; Neh. ix. 27], Ehud the son of Gera, a [Heb. the] Benjamite [these names recur in the tribe of Benjamin (1 Cor. vii. 10, viii. 3, 6; 2 Sam. xvi. 5, xix. 16)], a man left-handed [Hebrew, shut as to his right hand, viz., owing to want of use from childhood. It is a coincidence

indicating the veracity of the narrative, that the 700 Benja slingers were similarly left-handed as the Benjamite F (compare 1 Chron. xii. 2)]; and by him the children of I sent a present unto Eglon the king of Moab [viz., tribute 'present' means in 2 Sam. viii. 2, 6; 1 Kings iv. 21; brought presents, and served Solomon" (Ps. lxxii. 10). must have held a high place among the Israelites; for employed him as their tribute-bearer to the Moabite 1 and assigned him a numerous retinue as his escort (ver. (16) But Ehud made him a dagger ["made him," for, as u the Philistines (1 Sam. xiii. 19), so now under Moab, the n ing of iron weapons publicly was forbidden] which had two [typifying "the sword of the Spirit, the word of God" cxlix. 6; Rev. i. 16, ii. 12; Heb. iv. 12] of a cubit length; he did gird it under his raiment upon his right thigh [com the Antitype (Ps. xlv. 3). Its presence on Ehud's right t would never be suspected, the left being the sword side; at same time it would be convenient on his right thigh to left hand, which was the hand that he used.

He may been one of the 600 Benjamites who escaped to the Rimmon, only that the date of that event must have been after Joshua's death, whereas the oppression of Eglon cl more than sixty-six years after Joshua (see my remarks or ii. 6, iii. 11, the close), (ch. xx. 47)]. (17) And he brough present unto Eglon king of Moab; and Eglon (was) a very man [probably living in luxury, and the pleasures of appetite. Sudden destruction often comes upon such in midst of their self-indulgence (Luke xxi. 34-36); so Belsha (Dan. v.; Rom. xiii. 12, 13; 1 Thess. v. 6-8; Ezek. xvi. (18) And when he had made an end to offer the present had returned some distance from Jericho homewards (ver. he sent away the people [the Hebrew implies a consider number (Deut. xxxii. 30). The Lord saves not by a multi (1 Sam. xiv. 6; 2 Chron. xiv. 11; Judg. vii. 4, 7). Ehud being alone, was the more free to act; and if he failed alone would suffer, without imperilling the rest] that bar present. (19) But he himself turned again from the qua [Pesilim: so the Chaldee and Syriac versions and most Je

commentaries explain it. But Jerome and the Septuagint take the usual meaning of the Hebrew, "the graven images." The Moabites probably set up these images as a token of their supremacy, and to put the conquered Israelite territory under the tutelage of their gods, at the place of Israel's first encampment five miles west of Jordan after their passage of that river (Josh. iv. 3, 19, 20): here by circumcision the Israelites rolled off the reproach of Egypt, whence the place was called Gilgal (ver. 2, marg. 9). How humiliating that the reproach of the heathen should be rolled back on them here! The sight of these images set up to vex and to tempt Israel fired Ehud's zeal against Eglon] that (were) by Gilgal [on the north side of Wady Kelt, one mile and a third from Eriha, the modern Jericho, stood Gilgal. Toward the east is a tamarisk, the traditional site of Jericho; 150 yards south-east of the tree is a pool built of uncemented pebbles. South-east of this are twelve small mounds, Tel ayla't Jiljulich, ten feet in diameter and three or four high, possibly remains of Israel's first encampment. So Josephus (Antiq., v. 1, 4, 11) states that Gilgal lay between Jericho and the Jordan, one and a half miles east of Jericho, and five and a half west of Jordan. But "the graven images ('quarries') by Gilgal lay on Ehud's way from Jericho to Mount Ephraim; whereas the Gilgal of Josh. iv. 19 lay in the opposite direction towards Jordan; therefore the Gilgal here may be Geliloth, west of Jericho, on the border of Judah and Benjamin: unless Ehud fled the opposite way to elude pursuit], and said [Ehud said the words to the attendants, for he did not come' before the king till ver. 20; Ehud bade say to the King], I have a secret errand unto thee, O king, who said, Keep silence [Let there be quiet, i.e., Let me be left alone]. And all that stood by him went out from him. (20) And Ehud came unto him; and he was sitting in a summer parlour, which he had for himself alone [rather "was sitting alone in an upper chamber of cooling which he had;" generally such chambers were upon the flat roofs, open to the currents of air]. And Ehud said, I have a message from God unto thee [Ehud was commissioned by God to save Israel; but the mode of saving them, assassination by a lie and treachery, was of his own devising.

Alloy is mixed with obedience even of men employed by Death was the message Ehud meant. Eglon understood in a different sense]. And he [the king] arose out of (his [from reverence toward the expected message from God (N xxiii. 18; 1 Kings ii. 19). Ehud, in addressing a heathen used not the covenant name Jehovah,' Israel's God, Elohim, the general name for the God of the universe]. And Ehud put forth his left hand [his moving his left toward the hilt of the dagger on his right thigh did not Eglon's suspicion, such as moving his right hand would created], and took the dagger from his right thigh, and thr into his belly. (22) And the haft also went in after the and the fat closed upon the blade, so that he could not dra dagger out of his belly; and the dirt came out [rather, "i dagger) came out at the part between the legs," parsedonah, an Arabic root, "to part the legs "]. (23) Then Ehud forth through the porch, and shut the doors of the parlour upo [Eglon], and locked them [and took away the key which h found inside, and with which he locked the door from of when he went out]. (24) When he [Ehud] was gone or [Eglon's] servants came, and when they saw that, behold, the of the parlour (were) locked, they said, Surely he covereth h [for sleep, or else for performing the necessities of natur margin here, 1 Sam. xxiv. 3)], in his summer chamber. And they tarried till they were ashamed [of their long ta (2 Kings ii. 17, viii. 11)], and, behold, he opened not the do the parlour; therefore they took a key [a second key, b the one taken by Ehud. A piece of wood with pegs, sponding to small holes in a wooden bolt within; whe through the door-hole, the key drew the bolt (Song Sol. The key could lock from without or within. The chief over the king's house held the palace key, as his bad office (Isa. xxii. 15, 20-22; Rev. iii. 7)], and opened (them) behold, their lord (was) fallen down dead on the earth. And Ehud escaped while they tarried, and passed beyon quarries [note ver. 19], and escaped unto Seirath [meani hairy, a continuation of the rugged, bushy hills which str to Judah's northern territory from Mount Ephraim (Jos