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thou over us, both thou, and thy son, and thy son's son also: for thou hast delivered us from the hand of Midian." But Gideon refused an honor, which he considered to be a violation of their sacred law; "I will not rule over you," he replied, "neither shall my son rule over you; the LORD shall rule over you." Yet was Gideon at the same time guilty of a violation of a law the most important, which had been reiterated with the most solemn threatening and warnings. He requested the Israelites to give him the golden earrings which they had taken from their slaughtered enemies, and of these and the splendid garments of the Midian princes he made an ephod, and placed it in his own city of Ophrah. The exact nature of this trophy it is rather difficult to determine: but the most probable suggestion is, that Gideon having once been commanded to erect an altar and offer a sacrifice upon it, now took upon himself the office of a priest, or acted in that capacity occasionally, and in so doing set up a worship distinct from that of Shiloh, and thus violated a fundamental law of their religion.

Gideon lived to an advanced age in honor, and the nation prospered; but after his death "the children of Israel remembered not the LORD their God, who had delivered them out of the hands of all their enemies on every side; neither showed they kindness to the house of Jerubbaal, namely Gideon, according to all the goodness which he had shewed unto Israel."

Then Abimelech, one of Gideon's numerous sons, formed the horrible design of slaying all his brethren, and seizing upon the crown which his father Gideon had rejected. He drew into his party the men of Shechem, where his mother's family lived, and, accompanied by a band of vain and light persons, he went unto his father's house at Ophrah, and slew his brethren on one stone; Jotham alone, the youngest son of Gideon, hid himself and escaped.

"And all the men of Shechem gathered together, and all the house of Millo, and went, and made Abimelech king, by the plain of the pillar that was in Shechem."

"And when they told it to Jotham, he went and stood in the top of Mount Gerizim, and lifted up his voice and cried, and said unto them, Hearken unto me, ye men of Shechem, that God may hearken unto you: The trees went forth on a time to anoint a king over them: and they said unto the Olive tree, Reign thou over us. But the olive tree said unto them, Should I leave my fatness, wherewith by me they honor God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees? And the trees said to the fig tree, Come thou, and reign over us. But the fig tree said unto them, should I forsake my sweetness, and my good fruit, and go to be promoted over the trees? Then said the trees unto the vine, Come thou and reign over us. And the vine said unto them, Should I leave my wine, which cheereth God and Man, and go to be promoted

over the trees? Then said all the trees unto the bramble, Come thou and reign over us. And the bramble said unto the trees, If in truth ye anoint me king over you, then come and put your trust in my shadow; and if not, let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon. Now therefore, if ye have done truly and sincerely, in that ye have made Abimelech king, and if ye have dealt well with Jerubbaal and his house, and have done unto him according to the deserving of his hands, (For my father fought for you, and adventured his life for, and delivered you out of the hand of Midian. And ye are risen up against my father's house this day, and have slain his sons, threescore and ten persons, upon one stone, and have made Abimelech king over the men of Shechem, because he is your brother.) If ye then have dealt truly and sincerely with Jerubbaal and with his house this day, then rejoice ye in Abimelech, and let him also rejoice in you. But if not, let fire come out from Abimelech, and devour the men of Shechem, and from the house of Millo, and devour Abimelech."

"And Jotham ran away, and fled, and went to Beer, and dwelt there, for fear of Abimelech his brother."

The parable of Jotham is the oldest parable, or fable, extant. It has always been a favorite method of conveying instruction and reproof in the East, where the existence of despotic power

and violent passions, render direct admonition dangerous, and likely to be little attended to.*

The iniquitous reign of Abimelech was not of long duration. At the expiration of three years, the inhabitants of Shechem were weary of their king, and revolted against him. Abimelech quelled the insurrection, and slew great numbers of the Shechemites; but soon afterwards going to attack Thebez, a city of the tribe of Ephraim near to Shechem, which had joined in the revolt, a woman cast a piece of millstone from the top of a tower upon his head, and killed him.+ Thus did the inhuman cruelty of Abimelech gain for him the misery of about three years of disputed dominion; a name remembered in his country with execration, and a soul polluted with the blackest crimes which Ambition can perpetrate.

Addison refers to this parable in the 183rd paper of the Spectator, in which he gives an account of Fables and their antiquity.

To avoid the disgrace of dying by the hand of a woman, Abimelech commanded his armour-bearer to draw his sword and slay him.

TOLA. JAIR.

CHAPTER VI.

JEPHTHAH'S RASH VOW. IBZAN.

ELON. ABDON.

Two successive Judges arose in Israel, after the death of Abimelech, of whom nothing remarkable is recorded. Tola, of the tribe of Issachar, governed for twenty-three years; and Jair, a Gileadite, judged Israel twenty-two years. During the continuance, or at the close of their government, the Israelites again forsook the worship of the true God, and fell into idolatry. For this sin they were punished by being given up into the power of the Philistines on the south, and the Ammonites on the east, who oppressed them during eighteen years. On their repenting, they prayed to God to forgive their sin, and deliver them from their enemies. Their prayer was at first rejected; but on their putting away the strange gods from among them, and serving the LORD in sincerity, He again listened to their cry, and raised them up a deliverer in the person of Jephthah, the Gileadite.

Jephthah, having been deprived of a share in the inheritance of his father by his brethren, had fled from them, and dwelt to the east of Gilead, in the land of Tob. But when the Ammonites invaded the country, the elders of

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