Commentaria in Judices
This book is called the Book of Judges, of the people of Israel, who, namely, were to deliver it when it was afflicted and oppressed in servitude by the Philistines, Moabites, Ammonites, Madianites, and so on, and to assert it from their injuries into liberty. For God, on account of idolatry and other crimes, handed the people over to these nations to be chastised, that it might return to its heart and to God; and while it did so, He sent them a Judge who should free them from the tyranny and from the tyrants who oppressed them. Hence in chapter 3, verse 9, it is said: “He raised up a saviour for them, and delivered them,” Othoniel, namely. Wherefore to judge, in this book, as elsewhere often, signifies to punish, to defend, to vindicate. In Hebrew this book is called Sophetim, that is, Judges. From this the highest magistracy among the Carthaginians took its name, which is called Suffetes, as Livy says, book VIII, Decade 3. For St. Augustine teaches that the Carthaginians and Phoenicians took many words from the Hebrews, in his book Against the Letter of Petilian, chap. 104. There was, however, a difference between Judges and Kings, which Lactantius assigns, book IV On Wisdom, chap. 10: “First,” he says, “the Jews were not subject to the dominion of kings, but civil Judges presided over the people and the law. Yet they were not appointed for a year, like the Roman consuls, but were supported by perpetual jurisdiction.”
This book, therefore, follows the deeds of these Judges of the people, that is, deliverers, and it does so to this end, that the liberality of God toward the faithful and pious may be manifest, and His vengeance upon the unfaithful and impious. Hence Procopius notes that from this book it is clearly seen that the whole welfare and greatness of commonwealths depend on the true faith and religion being retained and diligently cultivated; whereas, on the contrary, when it is forsaken and neglected, their foul destruction, ruin and disgrace follow. St. Augustine, book XVI On the City of God, chap. 41: “In the times of the Judges,” he says, “according as the sins of the people stood, by the mercy of God the prosperous and adverse events of wars alternated.” And book XVIII, chap. 11: “After the death of Jesus Nave the people of God had judges, in whose times there alternated among them the humiliations of their labours for their sins, and the prosperities of consolations on account of the mercy of God.” St. Celestine, in his letter to the Emperor Theodosius: “The cause of the faith,” he says, “ought to be of greater concern to you than your kingdom, and your clemency ought to be more solicitous for the peace of the Churches than for the security of all lands. For all prosperous things follow, if first those things that are dearer to God are preserved.”
You will ask first, what were the offices of these Judges?
I answer, the first was to free the people from servitude, as I have already said. The second, to preside over wars; for these Judges were as it were war Leaders and Commanders. Hence Josephus calls them strategoi, that is, Commanders, and hypostrategoi, that is, sub-commanders, under God, namely, the supreme Leader of the people and of war. The third, properly to judge, that is, to dispense justice to the people, and to settle their disputes by a just sentence, as Samuel and Heli did. Hence some Judges, as Thola, Abesan, Ahialon, Abdon, are not read to have waged any wars, but only to have presided over the people and given judgment. Hence, although they did not have the absolute right of death and life, yet they adjudged culprits to death according to the law and punished them.
You will ask secondly, what was the government of these Judges? It is known that there are three kinds of government of a Commonwealth: the Democratic, with demos, that is, the people governs itself, in which the plurality of votes prevails and decides a doubtful matter, as is done among the Swiss; the Aristocratic, in which the aristoi, that is, the best men, rule, as the Consuls and Senators once did at Rome, and as they still do at Venice and Genoa; the Monarchic, in which one alone rules, as Monarchs in their kingdoms, kings and absolute Princes, and Caesars.
I say, therefore, that these Judges had a government that was neither Democratic nor Aristocratic, but Monarchic. For one Judge alone presided over the people in his time; he held, therefore, a monarchy, but not a royal one such as kings have; for he could neither make new laws nor impose taxes on the people, as kings can, nor did he use diadem and sceptre, nor use a royal bodyguard, nor was he anointed, as kings are anointed, nor did he succeed by hereditary right, as the sons of kings do, but was created by the election of God or of the people. Yet once chosen, he remained Judge, that is, prince, for his whole life; wherefore he was not lord, but only the preserver and curator of the Commonwealth. So Abulensis. The power of the Judges was therefore very limited and restricted. This magistracy among the Hebrews was thus like the magistracy of the Dictators among the Romans; in this, however, unlike it, that this was temporary, while that was perpetual. Moreover, this monarchy of the Judges was mixed with the Aristocratic. For the Judges had to seek the opinion of the supreme council, which was called the Sanhedrim, in the more difficult matters, and to abide by its decrees, and in other matters to follow the law of God and govern the people according to it; whence it was not so much they as God, and the law of God, that ruled the people. This is what God said to Samuel the Judge: “They have not rejected thee, but me, that I should not reign over them,” 1 Kings 8. Like the Judges were the archons among the Athenians, and now the Doges among the Venetians.
You will ask thirdly, how many Judges were there, and for how many years did they rule? I answer that there were fifteen, and that they ruled for 356 years, if we give Samuel only eighteen years, according to the chronology which I prefixed to the Pentateuch; but if with Salianus and others you give Samuel twenty-two years, the years of the Judges will be 360. For the first Judge was Othoniel, who ruled forty years; the second Aod, eighty years; the third Samgar, for a few months; the fourth Barac with Debbora, forty years; the fifth Gedeon, likewise forty; the sixth Abimelech, three years; the seventh Thola, twenty-three years; the eighth Jair, twenty-two years; the ninth Jephte, six years; the tenth Abesan, seven years; the eleventh Ahialon, ten years; the twelfth Abdon, eight years; the thirteenth Samson, twenty years; the fourteenth Heli, forty years; the fifteenth Samuel, twenty-two years. The last Judge, therefore, was Samuel; for after him the people asked for a king, and by God’s command Samuel created Saul king for them; in this book, however, the acts of the last two, namely Heli and Samuel, are not narrated, but in the first book of Kings, because the sons of Heli by their wickedness gave the people occasion to ask for a king and a kingdom, and Samuel in fact gave them a king. Hence there remain the thirteen first, whose deeds are narrated in this book. This book therefore embraces the chronology of their deeds for 298 years, namely from the year of the world 2512, in which Josue died, and Othoniel, the first of the Judges, soon succeeded him, up to the year of the world 2810, in which Samson died, whom Heli and Samuel succeeded, whose deeds are recounted not in this book, but in the first book of Kings.
You will ask fourthly, whether all these Judges were Saints. I answer that they were, except Abimelech, who was not a Judge but a tyrant; for he seized the rule by force, having slain all his brothers, who were the sons of Gedeon. For a Judge was appointed by God; but if this were not done, the people chose and created a Judge for themselves, now from one tribe, now from another. That these Judges were Saints is plain from St. Paul, who celebrates them as Saints, Heb. 11: “For the time would fail me,” he says, “to tell of Gedeon, Barac, Samson, Jephte, David, Samuel and the prophets, who by faith conquered kingdoms, wrought justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, extinguished the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, recovered strength from weakness, became valiant in battle, put to flight the armies of foreigners.” And Ecclesiasticus, chap. 46, verse 13: “And the judges,” he says, “every one by his name, whose heart was not corrupted, who have not turned away from the Lord, that their memory may be blessed, and their bones may spring up out of their place, and their name continue for ever, the glory of the holy men remaining unto their children.”
You will ask fifthly, who wrote this book?
I answer that this is uncertain. It is likely that Esdras, or some later Prophet, or rather Samuel, collected it from the ancient diaries and annals which each Judge, or another in his time, wrote, and reduced it to writing in this book; so Theodoret here, Question 1. I say the same of the book of Ruth, and I have said something similar of the book of Josue.
Finally, the authors who have written commentaries on the book of Judges are these: Origen, St. Augustine, Theodoret, Procopius, Isidore, Hugh of St. Victor, Lyranus, Hugh the Cardinal, Dionysius the Carthusian, Abulensis, Cajetan, John Forus, Arias Montanus, and of our Society Nicolas Serarius, Cosmas Magalianus, and James Bonfrerius.