Commentaria in Judices
He did this, however, first, by increasing in Eglon, Cyrus, etc., strength and courage, counsel and skill in fighting, likewise allies in league, arms, soldiers, strengthened by which they invaded the Jews or other nations. Second, on the other hand, by weakening the strength, soldiers and arms of the Hebrews, and snatching away their courage, and sending in terror and dread. So St. Augustine, On Grace and Free Will, chap. 20, and he proves it from that of Josue 7:12: “Israel cannot stand before his enemies, but shall flee from them.” Third, by sending into the mind of King Eglon the thought that the land of Israel was fertile and rich, and unarmed and forsaken by God, and that God willed to punish their grievous crimes. Fourth, by removing all the hindrances of war, and giving him prosperous successes of battles and victories, all of which Eglon could use well or ill. For these are indifferent goods, which one can use well or ill at his own choice; God, however, foresaw that King Eglon, from his evil will, and from the ambition of empire and the desire of domination, would use them ill, and would unjustly bring on and pursue war against the Hebrews from lust of ruling, which He Himself decreed to permit, that by him He might chastise the sinning Hebrews. See what was said on Exod.
Further, God could not directly incite King Eglon to make war on the Hebrews unless the king had a just cause of war, which clearly here he had none; or unless He Himself made known to the king His will, namely that He willed to punish the crimes of the Hebrews, and to use the king for this as an agent and chastiser, which Abulensis thinks God indicated to Nabuchodonosor from that of Isaias 5:26: “He will lift up a sign to the nations afar off, and will whistle to them from the ends of the earth”; and if Eglon had conformed himself to this will and impulse of God, he would certainly have waged a just war against the Hebrews by divine authority: for he would have been as it were a lictor, executioner, and executor of the vengeance and just sentence passed by God against the Hebrews. But because the minds of tyrants attend more to wealth, glory and domination than to the will of God, their wars are for the most part unjust; nor does God reveal His will to them, to give them power to invade the faithful, but uses their pride and tyranny, permitting it for the chastisement of the faithful.
13. AND HE JOINED (namely God the avenger, as is plain from the Hebrew and the Septuagint) TO HIM THE CHILDREN OF AMMON.
AND POSSESSED THE CITY OF PALMS,—namely Jericho: for this was most fertile and wealthy, and was near the Jordan, so that from Moab, situated beyond the Jordan, there was an easy passage into Jericho; and that by occupying the Jordan he might separate the three tribes situated beyond the Jordan from the other nine, situated on this side of the Jordan, so that they could not bring help to one another.
14. AND THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL SERVED EGLON KING OF MOAB EIGHTEEN YEARS.—Note: In this book several years of oppression and servitude of the Hebrews are frequently recounted; but all these are included within the years of the preceding or following Judges. Melchior Canus denies this, book 1 On Places, in the twelfth argument, but the Hebrews, Greeks and Latins constantly with one voice affirm it, and by name Eusebius, St. Augustine, Orosius, Isidore, Bede in his Chronicle, Lyranus, Abulensis, Dionysius, Adrichomius, Genebrardus, Salianus, Torniellus, Ribera, book 1 On the Temple, chap. 1, and others passim; and this is sufficiently gathered from chap. 15, last verse, where Samson is said to have judged Israel twenty years in the days of the Philistines, during which, namely, the Philistines oppressed the Hebrews for forty years, as was said in chap. 13, verse 1. Therefore at the same time at which the Hebrews were delivered by God to the Philistines, at least in the later years, Samson was raised up by God to free them from them, as is narrated in chap. 13, verse 2 and following. Wherefore of those forty years the later twenty are contained within the twenty years of Samson; the former twenty, however, among the years of the Judges who preceded Samson.
Secondly, the same is clear from 3 Kings 6:1, where from the entrance of the Hebrews out of Egypt to the fourth year of Solomon, in which he began to build the temple, precisely 480 years are numbered; therefore the years of servitude are not to be reckoned. For if you reckon them, you will find one hundred and eleven more, namely 591, not 480; and although Melchior Canus concedes this, and our Serarius inclines the same way, as though those 480 years were only the years in which the Judges presided, not those in which the Hebrews, oppressed by tyrants, served them (for these, he says, were 591), yet this directly opposes Scripture, which, numbering the whole time from the going out of Egypt to the fourth year of Solomon, precisely sets down 480 years. Hear its words: “In the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of the reign of Solomon over Israel, in the month of Zio (which is the second month), the house of the Lord was begun to be built.” For so uniformly have the Hebrew, Chaldee, Greek and Latin. Wherefore Josephus errs, or at least there is a fault in Josephus, when he numbers 592 years.
Moreover, although various authors number these 480 years variously, yet the most probable is the reckoning of Arias Montanus on Daniel, whom Adrichomius, Salianus, Torniellus and others almost follow: namely, the Hebrews, going from the departure out of Egypt to Chanaan, wandered in the desert forty years.
From Josue to Othoniel, the first Judge, seventeen years flowed by.
To Othoniel Scripture here assigns forty years.
To Aod, who succeeded Othoniel, it attributes here, verse 30, eighty years.
To Samgar, who followed Aod, all give a few months, and this is sufficiently indicated in verse 31.
To Barac and Debbora, chap. 5, last verse, forty years are recorded.
To Gedeon likewise, chap. 8, verse 28, forty years are reckoned.
To Abimelech the son of Gedeon, chap. 9, verse 22, three years are given.
To Thola, chap. 10, verse 2, twenty-three years are given.
To Jair, chap. 10, verse 3, twenty-two years.
To Jephte, chap. 12, verse 7, six years.
To Abesan, chap. 12, verse 9, seven years.
To Ahialon, chap. 12, verse 11, ten years.
To Abdon, chap. 12, verse 14, eight years.
To Samson, chap. 15, last verse, twenty years.
To Heli, 1 Kings 4:18, forty years.
To Samuel and Saul, Acts 13:21, forty years are attributed.
To David, 3 Kings 2:11, forty years.
Add all these years, and you will find precisely the aforesaid number of 480 years.
Moreover, about all these the matter is certain, except Josue, to whom some give not seventeen years but twenty-seven; and Samson, whose twenty years some include in the forty years of Heli, but wrongly: for it is plain that Samson was a Judge (for it is said in chap. 15, verse 20, that he judged Israel) distinct from Heli who succeeded him; wherefore, since Scripture assigns Samson twenty years, chap. 15, last verse, and chap. 16, last verse, these must be given to him separately from Heli. From this reckoning gather that seventeen years are to be given to Josue, and not twenty-seven.
You will ask, how many are the years of the servitude of the Hebrews recounted in this book, or how often, when, and how long the Hebrews served other nations? I answer, that they served one hundred and eleven years, as is plain from the enumeration which I subjoin. The Hebrews served Chusan king of Mesopotamia, as is plain chap. 3, verse 8, eight years.
Eglon king of Moab, as is plain chap. 3, verse 14, eighteen years.
Jabin king of Chanaan, as is plain chap. 4, verse 3, twenty years.
The Madianites, as is plain chap. 6, verse 1, seven years.
The Philistines and Ammonites, as is plain chap. 10, verse 8, eighteen years.
Again the Philistines, as is plain chap. 13, verse 1, forty years.
Add all these years, you will find one hundred and eleven years of servitude, which are not to be reckoned in the Chronology; because they are included in the years of the Judges, as I said.
15. AND AFTERWARDS THEY CRIED TO THE LORD.—Learn here how useful affliction is: for it teaches, indeed compels, to call upon God near at hand, and therefore God sends it, to compel us wandering among creatures to return to Him. Again, tribulations and scourges, as to the good and upright of heart they are consolations and the matter of heavenly rewards, so to the wicked they are the first-fruits of the torments of hell, says Blessed Peter Damian, book VIII, epistle 6, who therefore adds: “While, then, you are beset with stripes, while you are chastised, let not despair depress the mind, let not the complaint of murmuring break forth, let not sadness and delay swallow you up, let not faint-heartedness make you impatient, but let serenity always shine in the face, cheerfulness in the mind, thanksgiving in the mouth.” For as it is a sign of divine love and predestination if He chastises the sinner, because He wills to save him; so conversely it is a sign of divine wrath and reprobation that He lets him act with impunity, because He wills to destroy him and torment him in hell.
WHO RAISED THEM UP A SAVIOUR CALLED AOD.—This was the second Judge of Israel; for the first was Othoniel. Aod in Hebrew is the same as I shall glory, or glorious; for hod is glory: such was Aod, because he triumphed with great glory over Eglon, that is, over the calf (for this Eglon signifies), that is, over the calf-like and wanton king.
THE SON OF GERA, THE SON OF JEMINI.—Hugh Victorinus takes Jemini for Benjamin. Others better take it as an illustrious man sprung from Benjamin: for Semei too, who cursed David, was a son of Jemini of the tribe of Benjamin, as was Saul, as is plain 2 Kings 16:5, and chap.
WHO USED THE LEFT HAND AS WELL AS THE RIGHT.—Whom accordingly the Septuagint, both here and chap. 20, verse 16, call amphoterodexion, that is, ambidextrous. For the Hebrew is iter yad yemino, which Vatablus, Arias, Pagninus, Cajetan and others render, shut, or bound as to the right hand, namely one who had his right hand maimed, or contracted and powerless, and therefore used the left in place of the right, such as the Latins call scaevus, that is, left (for skaia is the left). Hence that Roman Mutius who bravely burned his right hand before Porsena king of Etruria, and therefore thereafter used the left in place of the right, was surnamed Scaevola, that is, left-handed, whom the Italians call mancino, the French gaucher, the Flemings slincks.