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| Chapter XXIV.
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Chapter XXIV.
After the death of
Joshua, the people acted without a leader. But a necessity of making
war with the Canaanites having arisen, Judah was appointed as general
in the war. Under his guidance, matters were successfully conducted:
there was the greatest tranquillity both at home and abroad: the people
ruled over the nations which had either been subdued or received under
terms of surrender. Then, as almost always happens in a time of
prosperity, becoming unmindful of morals and discipline, they began to
contract marriages from among the conquered, and by and by to adopt
foreign customs, yea, even in a sacrilegious manner to offer sacrifice
to idols: so pernicious is all alliance with foreigners. God,
foreseeing these things long before, had, by a wholesome precept
enjoined upon the Hebrews to give over the conquered nations to utter
destruction. But the people, through lust for power, preferred (to
their own ruin) to rule over those who were conquered. Accordingly,
when, forsaking God, they worshiped idols, they were deprived of the
divine assistance, and, being vanquished and subdued by the king of
Mesopotamia, they paid the penalty of eight years’ captivity,
until, with Gothoniel as their leader, they were restored to liberty,
and enjoyed independence for fifty years. Then again, corrupted by the
evil effect of a lengthened peace, they began to sacrifice to idols.
And speedily did retribution fall upon them thus sinning. Conquered by
Eglon, king of the Moabites, they served him eighteen years, until, by
a divine impulse, Aod slew the enemies’ king by a stratagem, and,
gathering together a hasty army, restored them to liberty by force of
arms. The same man ruled the Hebrews in peace for forty years. To him
Semigar succeeded, and he, engaging in battle with the
Philistines,289
secured a
decisive victory. But again, the king of the Canaanites, Jabin by name,
subdued the Hebrews who were once more serving idols, and exercised
over them a grievous tyranny for twenty years, until Deborah, a woman,
restored them to their former condition. They had to such a degree lost
confidence in their generals, that they were now protected by means of
a woman. But it is worthy of notice, that this form of deliverance was
arranged beforehand, as a type of the Church, by whose aid captivity to
the devil is escaped. The Hebrews were forty years under this leader or
judge. And being again delivered over to the Midianites for their sins,
they were kept under hard rule; and, being afflicted by the evils of
slavery, they implored the divine help. Thus always when in prosperity
they were unmindful of the kindnesses of heaven, and prayed to idols;
but in adversity they cried to God. Wherefore, as often as I reflect
that those people who lay under so many obligations to the goodness of
God, being chastised with so many disasters when they sinned, and
experiencing both the mercy and the severity of God, yet were by no
means rendered better, and that, though they always obtained pardon for
their transgressions, yet they as constantly sinned again after being
pardoned, it can appear nothing wonderful that Christ when he came was
not received by them, since already, from the beginning, they were
found so often rebelling against the Lord. It is, in fact, far more
wonderful that the clemency of God never failed them when they sinned,
if only they called upon his name.290
| 290 Many of the proper
names occurring in this and other chapters are very different in form
from those with which we are familiar in the O.T. But they have
generally been given as they stand in the text of our author, and they
can easily be identified by any readers who think it worth while to do
so. | E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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