THAT THE JUDGES WHO SUCCEEDED GIDEON MADE WAR WITH THE ADJOINING NATIONS FOR A LONG TIME. FJAJ 5.69
1. NOW Gideon had seventy sons that were legitimate, for he had many wives; but he had also one that was spurious, by his concubine Drumah, whose name was Abimelech, who, after his father's death, retired to Shecbem to his mother's relations, for they were of that place: and when he had got money of such of them as were eminent for many instances of injustice, he came with them to his father's house, and slew all his brethren, except Jotham, for he had the good fortune to escape and be preserved; but Abimelech made the government tyrannical, and constituted himself a lord, to do what he pleased, instead of obeying the laws; and he acted most rigidly against those that were the patrons of justice. FJAJ 5.70
2. Now when, on a certain time, there was a public festival at Shechem,
and all the multitude was there gathered together, Jotham his brother,
whose escape we before related, went up to Mount Gerizzim, which hangs
over the city Shechem, and cried out so as to be heard by the multitude,
who were attentive to him
He desired they would consider what he was going
to say to them: so when silence was made, he said, That when the trees
had a human voice, and there was an assembly of them gathered together,
they desired that the fig-tree would rule over them; but when that tree
refused so to do, because it was contented to enjoy that honor which belonged
peculiarly to the fruit it bare, and not that which should be derived to
it from abroad, the trees did not leave off their intentions to have a
ruler, so they thought proper to make the offer of that honor to the vine;
but when the vine was chosen, it made use of the same words which the fig-tree
had used before, and excused itself from accepting the government: and
when the olive-tree had done the same, the brier, whom the trees had desired
to take the kingdom, (it is a sort of wood good for firing,) it promised
to take the government, and to be zealous in the exercise of it; but that
then they must sit down under its shadow, and if they should plot against
it to destroy it, the principle of fire that was in it should destroy them.
He told them, that what he had said was no laughing matter; for that when
they had experienced many blessings from Gideon, they overlooked Abimelech,
when he overruled all, and had joined with him in slaying his brethren;
and that he was no better than a fire himself
So when he had said this,
he went away, and lived privately in the mountains for three years, out
of fear of Abimelech. FJAJ 5.71
3. A little while after this festival, the Shechemites, who had now
repented themselves of having slain the sons of Gideon, drove Abimelech
away, both from their city and their tribe; whereupon he contrived how
he might distress their city
Now at the season of vintage, the people
were afraid to go out and gather their fruits, for fear Abimelech should
do them some mischief
Now it happened that there had come to them a man
of authority, one Gaal, that sojourned with them, having his armed men
and his kinsmen with him; so the Shechemites desired that he would allow
them a guard during their vintage; whereupon he accepted of their desires,
and so the people went out, and Gaal with them at the head of his soldiery.
So they gathered their fruit with safety; and when they were at supper
in several companies, they then ventured to curse Abimelech openly; and
the magistrates laid ambushes in places about the city, and caught many
of Abimelech's followers, and destroyed them. FJAJ 5.72
4. Now there was one Zebul, a magistrate of the Shechemites, that had
entertained Abimelech
He sent messengers, and informed him how much Gaal
had irritated the people against him, and excited him to lay ambushes before
the city, for that he would persuade Gaal to go out against him, which
would leave it in his power to be revenged on him; and when that was once
done, he would bring him to be reconciled to the city
So Abimelech laid
ambushes, and himself lay with them
Now Gaal abode in the suburbs, taking
little care of himself; and Zebul was with him
Now as Gaal saw the armed
men coming on, he said to Zebul, That some armed men were coming; but the
other replied, They were only shadows of huge stones: and when they were
come nearer, Gaal perceived what was the reality, and said, They were not
shadows, but men lying in ambush
Then said Zebul, "Didst not thou
reproach Abimelech for cowardice? why dost thou not then show how very
courageous thou art thyself, and go and fight him?" So Gaal, being
in disorder, joined battle with Abimelech, and some of his men fell; whereupon
he fled into the city, and took his men with him
But Zebul managed his
matters so in the city, that he procured them to expel Gaal out of the
city, and this by accusing him of cowardice in this action with the soldiers
of Ahimelech
But Abimelech, when he had learned that the Shechemites were
again coming out to gather their grapes, placed ambushes before the city,
and when they were coming out, the third part of his army took possession
of the gates, to hinder the citizens from returning in again, while the
rest pursued those that were scattered abroad, and so there was slaughter
every where; and when he had overthrown the city to the very foundations,
for it was not able to bear a siege, and had sown its ruins with salt,
he proceeded on with his army till all the Shechemites were slain
As for
those that were scattered about the country, and so escaped the danger,
they were gathered together unto a certain strong rock, and settled themselves
upon it, and prepared to build a wall about it: and when Abimelech knew
their intentions, he prevented them, and came upon them with his forces,
and laid faggots of dry wood round the place, he himself bringing some
of them, and by his example encouraging the soldiers to do the same
And
when the rock was encompassed round about with these faggots, they set
them on fire, and threw in whatsoever by nature caught fire the most easily:
so a mighty flame was raised, and nobody could fly away from the rock,
but every man perished, with their wives and children, in all about fifteen
hundred men, and the rest were a great number also
And such was the calamity
which fell upon the Shechemites; and men's grief on their account had been
greater than it was, had they not brought so much mischief on a person
who had so well deserved of them, and had they not themselves esteemed
this as a punishment for the same. FJAJ 5.73
5. Now Abimelech, when he had aftrighted the Israelites with the miseries
he had brought upon the Shechemites, seemed openly to affect greater authority
than he now had, and appeared to set no bounds to his violence, unless
it were with the destruction of all
Accordingly he marched to Thebes,
and took the city on the sudden; and there being a great tower therein,
whereunto the whole multitude fled, he made preparation to besiege it.
Now as he was rushing with violence near the gates, a woman threw a piece
of a millstone upon his head, upon which Abimelech fell down, and desired
his armor-bearer to kill him lest his death should be thought to be the
work of a woman: - who did what he was bid to do
So he underwent this
death as a punishment for the wickedness he had perpetrated against his
brethren, and his insolent barbarity to the Shechemites
Now the calamity
that happened to those Shechemites was according to the prediction of Jotham,
However, the army that was with Abimelech, upon his fall, was scattered
abroad, and went to their own homes. FJAJ 5.74
6. Now it was that Jair the Gileadite, (16)
Our present copies of Josephus all omit Tola among the judges, though the
other copies have him next after Abimelech, and allot twenty-three years
to his administration, Judges 10:1, 2; yet do all Josephus's commentators
conclude, that in Josephus's sum of the years of the judges, his twenty-three
years are included; hence we are to confess, that somewhat has been here
lost out of his copies.
of the tribe of Manasseh, took the government
He was a man happy in other
respects also, but particularly in his children, who were of a good character.
They were thirty in number, and very skillful in riding on horses, and
were intrusted with the government of the cities of Gilead
He kept the
government twenty-two years, and died an old man; and he was buried in
Camon, a city of Gilead. FJAJ 5.75
7. And now all the affairs of the Hebrews were managed uncertainly,
and tended to disorder, and to the contempt of God and of the laws
So
the Ammonites and Philistines had them in contempt, and laid waste the
country with a great army; and when they had taken all Perea, they were
so insolent as to attempt to gain the possession of all the rest
But the
Hebrews, being now amended by the calamities they had undergone, betook
themselves to supplications to God; and brought sacrifices to him, beseeching
him not to be too severe upon them, but to be moved by their prayers to
leave off his anger against them
So God became more merciful to them,
and was ready to assist them. FJAJ 5.76
8. When the Ammonites had made an expedition into the land of Gilead,
the inhabitants of the country met them at a certain mountain, but wanted
a commander
Now there was one whose name was Jephtha, who, both on account
of his father's virtue, and on account of that army which he maintained
at his own expenses, was a potent man: the Israelites therefore sent to
him, and entreated him to come to their assistance, and promised him the
dominion over them all his lifetime
But he did not admit of their entreaty;
and accused them, that they did not come to his assistance when he was
unjustly treated, and this in an open manner by his brethren; for they
cast him off, as not having the same mother with the rest, but born of
a strange mother, that was introduced among them by his father's fondness;
and this they did out of a contempt of his inability [to vindicate himself].
So he dwelt in the country of Gilead, as it is called, and received all
that came to him, let them come from what place soever, and paid them wages.
However, when they pressed him to accept the dominion, and sware they would
grant him the government over them all his life, he led them to the war. FJAJ 5.77
9. And when Jephtha had taken immediate care of their affairs, he placed
his army at the city Mizpeh, and sent a message to the Ammonite [king],
complaining of his unjust possession of their land
But that king sent
a contrary message; and complained of the exodus of the Israelites out
of Egypt, and desired him to go out of the land of the Amorites, and yield
it up to him, as at first his paternal inheritance
But Jephtha returned
this answer: That he did not justly complain of his ancestors about the
land of the Amorites, and ought rather to thank them that they left the
land of the Ammonites to them, since Moses could have taken it also; and
that neither would he recede from that land of their own, which God had
obtained for them, and they had now inhabited [above] three hundred years,
but would fight with them about it. FJAJ 5.78
10. And when he had given them this answer, he sent the ambassadors
away
And when he had prayed for victory, and had vowed to perform sacred
offices, and if he came home in safety, to offer in sacrifice what living
creature soever should first meet him, (17)
Josephus justly condemns Jephtha, as do the Apostolical Constitutions,
B. VII. ch. 37., for his rash vow, whether it were for sacrificing his
daughter, as Josephus thought, or for dedicating her, who was his only
child, to perpetual virginity, at the tabernacle or elsewhere, which I
rather suppose. If he had vowed her for a sacrifice, she ought to have
been redeemed, Leviticus 27:1-8; but of the sense of ver. 28, 29, as relating
not to things vowed to. God, but devoted to destruction, see the note on
Antiq. B. V. ch. 1. sect. 8.
he joined battle with the enemy, and gained a great victory, and in his
pursuit slew the enemies all along as far as the city of Minnith
He then
passed over to the land of the Ammonites, and overthrew many of their cities,
and took their prey, and freed his own people from that slavery which they
had undergone for eighteen years
But as he came back, he fell into a calamity
no way correspondent to the great actions he had done; for it was his daughter
that came to meet him; she was also an only child and a virgin: upon this
Jephtha heavily lamented the greatness of his affliction, and blamed his
daughter for being so forward in meeting him, for he had vowed to sacrifice
her to God
However, this action that was to befall her was not ungrateful
to her, since she should die upon occasion of her father's victory, and
the liberty of her fellow citizens: she only desired her father to give
her leave, for two months, to bewail her youth with her fellow citizens;
and then she agreed, that at the forementioned thee he might do with her
according to his vow
Accordingly, when that time was over, he sacrificed
his daughter as a burnt-offering, offering such an oblation as was neither
conformable to the law nor acceptable to God, not weighing with himself
what opinion the hearers would have of such a practice. FJAJ 5.79
11. Now the tribe of Ephraim fought against him, because he did not
take them along with him in his expedition against the Ammonites, but because
he alone had the prey, and the glory of what was done to himself
As to
which he said, first, that they were not ignorant how his kindred had fought
against him, and that when they were invited, they did not come to his
assistance, whereas they ought to have come quickly, even before they were
invited
And in the next place, that they were going to act unjustly; for
while they had not courage enough to fight their enemies, they came hastily
against their own kindred: and he threatened them that, with God's assistance,
he would inflict a punishment upon them, unless they would grow wiser.
But when he could not persuade them, he fought with them with those forces
which he sent for out of Gilead, and he made a great slaughter among them;
and when they were beaten, he pursued them, and seized on the passages
of Jordan by a part of his army which he had sent before, and slew about
forty-two thousand of them. FJAJ 5.80
12. So when Jephtha had ruled six years, he died, and was buried in his own country, Sebee, which is a place in the land of Gilead. FJAJ 5.81
13. Now when Jephtha was dead, Ibzan took the government, being of the
tribe of Judah, and of the city of Bethlehem
He had sixty children, thirty
of them sons, and the rest daughters; all whom he left alive behind him,
giving the daughters in marriage to husbands, and taking wives for his
sons
He did nothing in the seven years of his administration that was
worth recording, or deserved a memorial
So he died an old man, and was
buried in his own country. FJAJ 5.82
14. When Ibzan was dead after this manner, neither did Helon, who succeeded him in the government, and kept it ten years, do any thing remarkable: he was of the tribe of Zebulon. FJAJ 5.83
15. Abdon also, the son of Hilel, of the tribe of Ephraim, and born
at the city Pyrathon, was ordained their supreme governor after Helon.
He is only recorded to have been happy in his children; for the public
affairs were then so peaceable, and in such security, that neither did
he perform any glorious action
He had forty sons, and by them left thirty
grandchildren; and he marched in state with these seventy, who were all
very skillful in riding horses; and he left them all alive after him
He
died an old man, and obtained a magnificent burial in Pyrathon. FJAJ 5.84