Antiquities of the Jews — Book 5, Chapter 7

1. Now Gideon had seventy sons that were legitimate, for he had many
wives; but he had also one that was spurious, by his concubine Drumah,
whose name was Abimelech, who, after his father's death, retired to
Shechem to his mother's relations, for they were of that place: and when
he had got money of such of them as were eminent for many instances of
injustice, he came with them to his father's house, and slew all his
brethren, except Jotham, for he had the good fortune to escape and be
preserved; but Abimelech made the government tyrannical, and constituted
himself a lord, to do what he pleased, instead of obeying the laws; and
he acted most rigidly against those that were the patrons of justice.

2. Now when, on a certain time, there was a public festival at Shechem,
and all the multitude was there gathered together, Jotham his brother,
whose escape we before related, went up to Mount Gerizzim, which hangs
over the city Shechem, and cried out so as to be heard by the multitude,
who were attentive to him. He desired they would consider what he was
going to say to them: so when silence was made, he said, That when the
trees had a human voice, and there was an assembly of them gathered
together, they desired that the fig-tree would rule over them; but when
that tree refused so to do, because it was contented to enjoy that honor
which belonged peculiarly to the fruit it bare, and not that which
should be derived to it from abroad, the trees did not leave off their
intentions to have a ruler, so they thought proper to make the offer of
that honor to the vine; but when the vine was chosen, it made use of the
same words which the fig-tree had used before, and excused itself from
accepting the government: and when the olive-tree had done the same, the
brier, whom the trees had desired to take the kingdom, [it is a sort of
wood good for firing,] it promised to take the government, and to be
zealous in the exercise of it; but that then they must sit down under
its shadow, and if they should plot against it to destroy it, the
principle of fire that was in it should destroy them. He told them, that
what he had said was no laughing matter; for that when they had
experienced many blessings from Gideon, they overlooked Abimelech, when
he overruled all, and had joined with him in slaying his brethren; and
that he was no better than a fire himself. So when he had said this, he
went away, and lived privately in the mountains for three years, out of
fear of Abimelech.

3. A little while after this festival, the Shechemites, who had now
repented themselves of having slain the sons of Gideon, drove Abimelech
away, both from their city and their tribe; whereupon he contrived how
he might distress their city. Now at the season of vintage, the people
were afraid to go out and gather their fruits, for fear Abimelech should
do them some mischief. Now it happened that there had come to them a man
of authority, one Gaal, that sojourned with them, having his armed men
and his kinsmen with him; so the Shechemites desired that he would allow
them a guard during their vintage; whereupon he accepted of their
desires, and so the people went out, and Gaal with them at the head of
his soldiery. So they gathered their fruit with safety; and when they
were at supper in several companies, they then ventured to curse
Abimelech openly; and the magistrates laid ambushes in places about the
city, and caught many of Abimelech's followers, and destroyed them.

4. Now there was one Zebul, a magistrate of the Shechemites, that had
entertained Abimelech. He sent messengers, and informed him how much
Gaal had irritated the people against him, and excited him to lay
ambushes before the city, for that he would persuade Gaal to go out
against him, which would leave it in his power to be revenged on him;
and when that was once done, he would bring him to be reconciled to the
city. So Abimelech laid ambushes, and himself lay with them. Now Gaal
abode in the suburbs, taking little care of himself; and Zebul was with
him. Now as Gaal saw the armed men coming on, he said to Zebul, That
some armed men were coming; but the other replied, They were only
shadows of huge stones: and when they were come nearer, Gaal perceived
what was the reality, and said, They were not shadows, but men lying in
ambush. Then said Zebul, "Didst not thou reproach Abimelech for
cowardice? why dost thou not then show how very courageous thou art
thyself, and go and fight him?" So Gaal, being in disorder, joined
battle with Abimelech, and some of his men fell; whereupon he fled into
the city, and took his men with him. But Zebul managed his matters so in
the city, that he procured them to expel Gaal out of the city, and this
by accusing him of cowardice in this action with the soldiers of
Ahimelech. But Abimelech, when he had learned that the Shechemites were
again coming out to gather their grapes, placed ambushes before the
city, and when they were coming out, the third part of his army took
possession of the gates, to hinder the citizens from returning in again,
while the rest pursued those that were scattered abroad, and so there
was slaughter every where; and when he had overthrown the city to the
very foundations, for it was not able to bear a siege, and had sown its
ruins with salt, he proceeded on with his army till all the Shechemites
were slain. As for those that were scattered about the country, and so
escaped the danger, they were gathered together unto a certain strong
rock, and settled themselves upon it, and prepared to build a wall about
it: and when Abimelech knew their intentions, he prevented them, and
came upon them with his forces, and laid faggots of dry wood round the
place, he himself bringing some of them, and by his example encouraging
the soldiers to do the same. And when the rock was encompassed round
about with these faggots, they set them on fire, and threw in whatsoever
by nature caught fire the most easily: so a mighty flame was raised, and
nobody could fly away from the rock, but every man perished, with their
wives and children, in all about fifteen hundred men, and the rest were
a great number also. And such was the calamity which fell upon the
Shechemites; and men's grief on their account had been greater than it
was, had they not brought so much mischief on a person who had so well
deserved of them, and had they not themselves esteemed this as a
punishment for the same.

5. Now Abimelech, when he had affrighted the Israelites with the
miseries he had brought upon the Shechemites, seemed openly to affect
greater authority than he now had, and appeared to set no bounds to his
violence, unless it were with the destruction of all. Accordingly he
marched to Thebes, and took the city on the sudden; and there being a
great tower therein, whereunto the whole multitude fled, he made
preparation to besiege it. Now as he was rushing with violence near the
gates, a woman threw a piece of a millstone upon his head, upon which
Abimelech fell down, and desired his armor-bearer to kill him lest his
death should be thought to be the work of a woman:—who did what he was
bid to do. So he underwent this death as a punishment for the wickedness
he had perpetrated against his brethren, and his insolent barbarity to
the Shechemites. Now the calamity that happened to those Shechemites was
according to the prediction of Jotham, However, the army that was with
Abimelech, upon his fall, was scattered abroad, and went to their own
homes.

6. Now it was that Jair the Gileadite, 16 of the tribe of Manasseh, took
the government. He was a man happy in other respects also, but
particularly in his children, who were of a good character. They were
thirty in number, and very skillful in riding on horses, and were
intrusted with the government of the cities of Gilead. He kept the
government twenty-two years, and died an old man; and he was buried in
Camon, a city of Gilead.

7. And now all the affairs of the Hebrews were managed uncertainly, and
tended to disorder, and to the contempt of God and of the laws. So the
Ammonites and Philistines had them in contempt, and laid waste the
country with a great army; and when they had taken all Perea, they were
so insolent as to attempt to gain the possession of all the rest. But
the Hebrews, being now amended by the calamities they had undergone,
betook themselves to supplications to God; and brought sacrifices to
him, beseeching him not to be too severe upon them, but to be moved by
their prayers to leave off his anger against them. So God became more
merciful to them, and was ready to assist them.

8. When the Ammonites had made an expedition into the land of Gilead,
the inhabitants of the country met them at a certain mountain, but
wanted a commander. Now there was one whose name was Jephtha, who, both
on account of his father's virtue, and on account of that army which he
maintained at his own expenses, was a potent man: the Israelites
therefore sent to him, and entreated him to come to their assistance,
and promised him the dominion over them all his lifetime. But he did not
admit of their entreaty; and accused them, that they did not come to his
assistance when he was unjustly treated, and this in an open manner by
his brethren; for they cast him off, as not having the same mother with
the rest, but born of a strange mother, that was introduced among them
by his father's fondness; and this they did out of a contempt of his
inability [to vindicate himself]. So he dwelt in the country of Gilead,
as it is called, and received all that came to him, let them come from
what place soever, and paid them wages. However, when they pressed him
to accept the dominion, and sware they would grant him the government
over them all his life, he led them to the war.

9. And when Jephtha had taken immediate care of their affairs, he placed
his army at the city Mizpeh, and sent a message to the Ammonite [king],
complaining of his unjust possession of their land. But that king sent a
contrary message; and complained of the exodus of the Israelites out of
Egypt, and desired him to go out of the land of the Amorites, and yield
it up to him, as at first his paternal inheritance. But Jephtha returned
this answer: That he did not justly complain of his ancestors about the
land of the Amorites, and ought rather to thank them that they left the
land of the Ammonites to them, since Moses could have taken it also; and
that neither would he recede from that land of their own, which God had
obtained for them, and they had now inhabited [above] three hundred
years, but would fight with them about it.

10. And when he had given them this answer, he sent the ambassadors
away. And when he had prayed for victory, and had vowed to perform
sacred offices, and if he came home in safety, to offer in sacrifice
what living creature soever should first meet him, 17 he joined battle
with the enemy, and gained a great victory, and in his pursuit slew the
enemies all along as far as the city of Minnith. He then passed over to
the land of the Ammonites, and overthrew many of their cities, and took
their prey, and freed his own people from that slavery which they had
undergone for eighteen years. But as he came back, he fell into a
calamity no way correspondent to the great actions he had done; for it
was his daughter that came to meet him; she was also an only child and a
virgin: upon this Jephtha heavily lamented the greatness of his
affliction, and blamed his daughter for being so forward in meeting him,
for he had vowed to sacrifice her to God. However, this action that was
to befall her was not ungrateful to her, since she should die upon
occasion of her father's victory, and the liberty of her fellow
citizens: she only desired her father to give her leave, for two months,
to bewail her youth with her fellow citizens; and then she agreed, that
at the forementioned time he might do with her according to his vow.
Accordingly, when that time was over, he sacrificed his daughter as a
burnt-offering, offering such an oblation as was neither conformable to
the law nor acceptable to God, not weighing with himself what opinion
the hearers would have of such a practice.

11. Now the tribe of Ephraim fought against him, because he did not take
them along with him in his expedition against the Ammonites, but because
he alone had the prey, and the glory of what was done to himself. As to
which he said, first, that they were not ignorant how his kindred had
fought against him, and that when they were invited, they did not come
to his assistance, whereas they ought to have come quickly, even before
they were invited. And in the next place, that they were going to act
unjustly; for while they had not courage enough to fight their enemies,
they came hastily against their own kindred: and he threatened them
that, with God's assistance, he would inflict a punishment upon them,
unless they would grow wiser. But when he could not persuade them, he
fought with them with those forces which he sent for out of Gilead, and
he made a great slaughter among them; and when they were beaten, he
pursued them, and seized on the passages of Jordan by a part of his army
which he had sent before, and slew about forty-two thousand of them.

12. So when Jephtha had ruled six years, he died, and was buried in his
own country, Sebee, which is a place in the land of Gilead.

13. Now when Jephtha was dead, Ibzan took the government, being of the
tribe of Judah, and of the city of Bethlehem. He had sixty children,
thirty of them sons, and the rest daughters; all whom he left alive
behind him, giving the daughters in marriage to husbands, and taking
wives for his sons. He did nothing in the seven years of his
administration that was worth recording, or deserved a memorial. So he
died an old man, and was buried in his own country.

14. When Ibzan was dead after this manner, neither did Helon, who
succeeded him in the government, and kept it ten years, do any thing
remarkable: he was of the tribe of Zebulon.

15. Abdon also, the son of Hilel, of the tribe of Ephraim, and born at
the city Pyrathon, was ordained their supreme governor after Helon. He
is only recorded to have been happy in his children; for the public
affairs were then so peaceable, and in such security, that neither did
he perform any glorious action. He had forty sons, and by them left
thirty grandchildren; and he marched in state with these seventy, who
were all very skillful in riding horses; and he left them all alive
after him. He died an old man, and obtained a magnificent burial in
Pyrathon.