Verse 30. " thousands of Israel." See verses 14 and 21. - Verse 31.-" now ye have delivered the children of Israel out of the hand of the Lord;" rather, "on the contrary, ye have," &c. namely, by the measures you have taken to prevent such criminal quarrels in future times between you and the other branches of the nation, as might draw down the divine judg ments upon the whole community. Verse 34." Ed." The word should certainly be restored in the original. See Kennicott's Collations. CHAP. xxiii, 6. 66 "very couragious;" rather, very resolute," or very firm." Verse 9. "For the Lord hath driven"- rather, "Then will Jehovah drive”— "but as for you no man hath been able to stand before you unto this day." unto this day." Fory, I would read, with Vulgate, and one MS. of Kennicott's, Dy; and at the end of the verse I would omit, with Vulgate, the words, which seem to have crept in by repetition from the preceding verse. -" and as for you, no man shall stand before you." CHAP. XXIV, 1. " and presented themselves before God," namely, at Shiloh. See chap. xviii, 1. I see no sufficient reason to suppose that Shiloh was at this time a town. It was the name of the place where the tabernacle was erected. By the mention of the daughters of Shiloh, Judges xxi, 21, it should seem that it was the name of a district, rather than a town. And the situation of the spot, where the tabernacle stood, is described, Judges xxi, 19, by its bearings with respect to other towns, as if there were no town upon the spot itself. If there was no town there, Shechem might be of all the neighbouring towns the most convenient at this time for a general assembly of the people, and the site of the tabernacle might be much nearer to this antient town of Shechem, than the town of Shiloh was `to the Shechem of St Jerome's time. Bethel was another of the three towns mentioned Judges xxi, 19, so near to Shiloh, that it is sometimes mentioned as the place of the ark, when the ark was unquestionably at Shiloh. And persons going to consult the divine oracle at Shiloh are said to go up for that purpose to Bethel. See Judges xx,18, 26, 27. Mizpeh of Benjamin was another town, though not one of the three mentioned in Judges xxi, 19, so near to Shiloh, that the people are said to be as sembled at Mizpeh before Jehovah (Judges xx, 1, and xxi, 5), when the tabernacle and the ark were certainly at Shiloh. And a religious ceremony performed before Jehovah, that is, at the tabernacle at Shiloh, is said to have passed at Mizpeh, where the people were at the time assembled, Judges xi, 11. Bethel, however, was so much nearer to Shiloh, than Mizpeh, that persons going from Mizpéh to consult the divine oracle at Shiloh, are said to go up for that purpose to Bethel. See Judges xx. lens It is remarkable that at the time the ark was at Shiloh, though we read that individuals went up thither to worship or consult the oracle, yet we never read of any public assembly of the people at that place, but either at Shechem or Mizpeh; except indeed the stated feast mentioned in Judges xxi, 19. Verse 4. "Egypt." The LXX add, α byɛνοντο ἐκεῖ εἰς ἔθνος μέγα και πολυ και κραταιὸν, καὶ ἐκακω σαν αὐτοὺς οἱ Αἰγυπτιοι. Verse 13. " for which ye did not labour;" rather, with Queen Elizabeth's translators," wherein ye did not labour;" i. e. which ye had not tilled. Verse 20. “If ye forsake then he will turn” rather, "For ye will forsake-and he will turn." Verse 32. σε of Gaash.” The LXX add, και ἔχει ἔθηκαν μετ ̓ αὐτου εἰς τὸ μνημεῖον, ἐν ᾧ έθαψαν αὐτον έκει, τας μαχαίρας τας πέτρινας, ἐν οἷς περιετέμεν τους νέους Ισραηλ, ἐν Γαλγάλοις, ὅτε ἐξηγαγεν αὐτοὺς ἐξ Αἰγυπτού, καθασυνέταξεν Κυριος· και έκει εἰσιν ἕως της σημερον ἡμερας. 66 Verse 33. — Ephraim.” The LXX add, —Ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἡμερα λαβοντες οἱ υἱοι Ισραηλ την κιβωτον της διαθη κης του Θεου, περιέφερον ἐν ἑαυτοις. και Φινεες ἱερατευσεν ἀντι Ελεαζας του πατρος αὐτου ἕως ἀπεθανε, και κατωρυχθη ἐν Γαβααρ τη ἑαυτου. Οἱ δε υἱοι Ισραηλ ἀπῆλθοσαν ἕκαστος εἰς τον τοπον ἑαυτων, και εἰς την ἑαυτων πολιν. Και έσεβοντο οἱ υίοι Ισραηλ την Αστάρτην, και την Ασταρωθ, και τους θεους των έθνων των κυκλῳ αὐτων· και παρεδωκεν αὐτους Κυριος εἰς χειρας Εγλωμ τω βασιλει Μωαβ, και κατεκυρίευσεν αὐτων έτη δεκαοκτω. Houbigant esteems this addition, as well as what we find subjoined to the 4th and to the 32d verse, an original part of the sacred text, which was extant in the copies used by these translators. But this last addition is, in my judgment, entirely discredited by the very first part of it, about the removal of the ark from place to place; which is false. For the ark was never moved from Shiloh, till the time of Eli, when it was carried to the camp at Ebenezer, in hopes that its presence might secure the victory to the |