Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Argumentum
This is called the Book of Judges of the people of Israel — those, namely, who vindicated the people afflicted and oppressed in servitude by the Philistines, Moabites, Ammonites, Midianites, etc., delivering them from their injuries and restoring them to liberty. For God, on account of idolatry and other crimes, would hand the people over to these nations for chastisement, so that they might return to their heart and to God. And as often as they did this, He would send them a Judge who would free them from tyranny and from the tyrants oppressing them. Whence in chapter 3:9 it is said: "He raised up a savior for them, and delivered them, namely Othniel." Therefore "to judge" in this book, as often elsewhere, means to punish, defend, and vindicate. In Hebrew this book is called Sophetim, that is, Judges. From this the highest magistracy among the Carthaginians received its name — they are called Suffetes, as Livy says in Book 8, Decade 3. For St. Augustine teaches, in his book Against the Epistle of Petilian, chapter 104, that the Carthaginians and Phoenicians received many words from the Hebrews.
Now there was a difference between the Judges and Kings, which Lactantius assigns in Book 4 of On Wisdom, chapter 10: "First," he says, "the Jews were not subjected to the rule of kings, but civil Judges presided over the people and the law. Yet they were not appointed for a year, as the Roman consuls were, but were supported by a perpetual jurisdiction."
This book, then, recounts the deeds of these Judges of the people — that is, their vindicators — and this to the end that God's generosity toward the faithful and pious, and likewise His vengeance upon the unfaithful and impious, may be made clear. Whence Procopius notes that from this book it can be clearly seen that the welfare and greatness of all commonwealths depends on true faith and religion being retained and diligently cultivated; but on the contrary, when these are abandoned and neglected, a foul ruin, destruction, and disgrace of those same commonwealths follows.
St. Augustine, Book 16 of The City of God, chapter 43: "In the times of the Judges," he says, "as the sins of the people stood, by the mercy of God, prosperity and adversity alternated in wars." And Book 18, chapter 13: "After the death of Joshua the son of Nun, the people of God had judges, during whose times there alternated among them both the humiliations of their labors on account of their sins, and the prosperity of consolations on account of God's mercy."
St. Celestine, in his letter to the Emperor Theodosius: "The cause of faith," he says, "ought to be of greater concern to you than that of your kingdom, and your clemency ought to be more concerned for the peace of the Churches than for the security of all your lands. For all prosperity follows, if what is dearest to God is first preserved."
One may ask first, what were the offices of these Judges? I respond: the first was to free the people from servitude, as I have already said. The second was to preside over wars; for these Judges were, as it were, military 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 was properly to judge, that is, to declare the law to the people and to settle their disputes with a just verdict, as Samuel and Eli did. Hence some Judges, such as Tola, Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon, are not recorded as having waged any wars, but only as having presided over the people and administered justice. However, although they did not have the absolute power of life and death, they nonetheless condemned criminals to death according to the law and punished them.
One may ask second, what kind of government did these Judges have? It is well known that there are three types of commonwealth: the Democratic, where the demos, that is, the people governs itself, in which a plurality of votes prevails and decides doubtful matters, as is done among the Swiss; the Aristocratic, in which the aristoi, that is, the nobles rule, as formerly at Rome the Consuls and Senators did, and as is still the case in Venice, Genoa, and other places; and the Monarchic, in which monos, that is, one alone rules, as Monarchs in their kingdoms are absolute Kings and Princes, and Emperors.
I say therefore that these Judges had a government that was not Democratic, nor Aristocratic, but Monarchic. For one Judge alone presided over the people in his time: he thus held a monarchy, but not the royal monarchy of kings. For he could neither make new laws, nor impose taxes on the people, as kings can; nor did he use a diadem and scepter, nor employ 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. Once elected, however, he remained Judge, that is, prince, for his entire life; hence he was not a lord, but merely a conservator and curator of the commonwealth. So says Abulensis. The power of the Judges was therefore very limited and restricted.
This magistracy among the Hebrews was therefore similar to the magistracy of Dictators among the Romans; yet dissimilar in this, that the latter was temporary, while the former was perpetual. Moreover, this monarchy of the Judges was mixed with Aristocracy. For the Judges were required in more difficult matters to seek the opinion of the supreme council, which was called the Sanhedrin, and to abide by its decrees; in other matters they were to follow the law of God and govern the people according to it. Hence not so much they themselves, as God and God's law, ruled the people. This is what God said to Samuel the Judge: "They have not rejected you, but Me, lest I reign over them" (1 Samuel 8). Similar to the Judges were the archontes among the Athenians, and now the Doges among the Venetians.
One may ask third, how many Judges were there, and for how many years did they rule? I respond that there were fifteen, and they ruled for 356 years, if we grant Samuel only eighteen years, according to the chronology I prefixed to the Pentateuch; but if with Salianus and others we grant Samuel twenty-two years, the years of the Judges will be 360. For the first Judge was Othniel, who ruled for forty years; the second, Ehud, for eighty years; the third, Shamgar, for a few months; the fourth, Barak with Deborah, for forty years; the fifth, Gideon, likewise forty; the sixth, Abimelech, for three years; the seventh, Tola, for twenty-three years; the eighth, Jair, for twenty-two years; the ninth, Jephthah, for six years; the tenth, Ibzan, for seven years; the eleventh, Elon, for ten years; the twelfth, Abdon, for eight years; the thirteenth, Samson, for twenty years; the fourteenth, Eli, for forty years; the fifteenth, Samuel, for twenty-two years. The last Judge, therefore, was Samuel; for after him the people requested a king, and by God's command Samuel made Saul king over them. Yet in this book the deeds of the last two, namely Eli and Samuel, are not narrated, but in the first book of Kings, because the sons of Eli by their wickedness gave the people occasion to seek a king and a kingdom, and Samuel actually gave them a king. Therefore there remain the first thirteen whose deeds are narrated in this book.
This book therefore encompasses the chronology of their deeds over 298 years, namely from the year of the world 2512, when Joshua died and Othniel, the first of the Judges, soon succeeded him, up to the year of the world 2810, when Samson died and was succeeded by Eli and Samuel, whose deeds are recounted not in this book but in the first book of Kings.
One may ask fourth, whether all these Judges were Saints. I respond that they were, except for Abimelech, who was not a Judge but a tyrant; for he seized power by force, having killed all his brothers who were the sons of Gideon. For a Judge was appointed by God; and if this did not happen, the people would choose and create a Judge for themselves — now from one tribe, now from another. That these Judges were Saints is clear from St. Paul, who celebrates them as Saints in Hebrews 11: "Time fails me," he says, "in telling of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the Prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, recovered from weakness, became mighty in war, and put foreign armies to flight." And Sirach 46:13: "And the Judges," he says, "each by his own name, whose heart was not corrupted, who did not turn away from the Lord — so that their memory might be blessed, and their bones might flourish from their place, and their name might endure forever, the glory of holy men continuing to their children."
One may ask fifth, who wrote this book? I respond that this is uncertain. It is probable that Ezra, or some later Prophet, or rather Samuel, collected it from ancient diaries and annals which each Judge or someone else of his time was writing, and reduced it by writing into this book. So says Theodoret here, Question 1. I say the same of the book of Ruth, and I said the same of the book of Joshua.
Finally, the authors who have written commentaries on the Book of Judges are these: Origen, St. Augustine, Theodoret, Procopius, Isidore, Hugh of St. Victor, Lyra, Hugo the Cardinal, Dionysius the Carthusian, Abulensis, Cajetan, Johann Ferus, Arias Montanus, and from our Society Nicolas Serarius and Cosmas Magalhaes, and Jacques Bonfrere.
Canones Proper to the Book of Judges
First. Frequently in this book there are numbered at various times the various years of servitude and oppression of the Hebrews — the years, that is, in which they were harassed and oppressed by Eglon, Jabin, the Midianites, Philistines, and other kings and nations. But all these years are not to be placed and computed separately in the chronology, but are included within the times and years of the immediately preceding or following Judges. I shall show this to be so at chapter 4, verse 3.
Second. Sacred Scripture, when recording a number of years, sometimes means their terminus — not that they were entirely spent in such a place or action, but that the action was terminated there. Thus in Exodus 12:40 it is said: "The dwelling of the sons of Israel in Egypt was 430 years," that is, it was terminated in the 430th year, says St. Augustine, Book 16 of The City of God, chapter 24; for they dwelt in Egypt for only 215 years. Similarly, in Judith, last chapter, verse 28, she is said to have remained in her husband's house 105 years, that is, up to the 105th year of her life; for she spent her girlhood years in the house of her parents, not her husband. Likewise, in Judges 14:17, Delilah is said to have wept for seven days of the feast, that is, up to the seventh day; for she began to weep after the third day of the feast.
Third. The Hebrew commonwealth (like many others) changed its form and constitution every 400 years, from Aristocracy to Monarchy or Democracy; for this is the cycle of many commonwealths. This is clear from the chronological table which I prefixed to the Pentateuch.
Fourth. In this book certain things are narrated which were not done by the Judges, but happened during the time of the Judges. For this reason this book has two parts. In the first, the deeds of the Judges are narrated, with their preambles added at the beginning. This extends from chapter 1 to chapter 16, inclusive. In the second, certain histories are recounted that happened under some Judge who is not named. This extends from chapter 16 to the end of the book. For in chapters 17 and 18, the story of Micah and the idol placed in Dan is narrated; and in the last three chapters the story of the Levite's wife is recounted, on account of whose violation the entire tribe of Benjamin was nearly annihilated.
Fifth. All these Judges were types and figures of Christ. For just as they were saviors of Israel, so Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, about which more at chapter 3, verse 9.
Sixth. The Spirit of the Lord is said to have clothed Gideon, and to have rushed upon Samson, whenever he was about to undertake something difficult. By this phrase is signified, first, that the Spirit of God had anticipated him and impelled him to so great a work; second, there is signified the abundance and plenty of spirit and strength bestowed upon him, by which he accomplished everything beyond the powers of nature easily and successfully.
Seventh. In this book there are certain notable symbols and hieroglyphics, such as the dew on the fleece of Gideon in chapter 6, and the stratagem of Gideon's soldiers striking their jars together with torches flashing forth, by which the Midianites were terrified and prostrated in chapter 7, and the seven locks of Samson's hair in chapter 16.
Likewise Fables, such as that of the trees choosing the Bramble as their king in chapter 9, verse 8.
Likewise Riddles, such as that of Samson about the lion having a honeycomb: "Out of the eater came forth food, and out of the strong came forth sweetness" (chapter 14, verse 14).