Kitabı oku: «The History of Antiquity, Vol. 2 (of 6)», sayfa 6

Without unity and connection in their political and religious life, amid the quarrels and feuds of the tribes, families and individuals, when every one helped and avenged himself, and violence and cruelty abounded, – in the lawless condition when "every one in Israel did what was right in his own eyes," – the Israelites were in danger of becoming the prey of every external foe, and it was a question whether they could long maintain the land they had won. It was fortunate that there was no united monarchy at the head either of the Philistines or the Phenicians, that the latter were intent on other matters, as their colonies in the Mediterranean, while the cities of the Philistines, though they acquired a closer combination as early as the eleventh century B.C., or even earlier (I. 348), did not, at least at first, go out to make foreign conquests. But it was unavoidable that the old population, especially in the north, where they remained in the greatest numbers amongst the Israelites, should again rise and find strong points of support in the Canaanite princes of Hazor and Damascus; that the Moabites who lay to the east of the Dead Sea, the Ammonites, the neighbours of the land of Gilead, that the wandering tribes of the Syrian desert should feel themselves tempted to invade Israel, to carry off the flocks and plunder the harvests and, if they found no vigorous resistance, to take up a permanent settlement in the country. Without the protection of natural borders, without combination and guidance, as they were, the Israelites could only succeed in resisting such attacks when in the time of danger a skilful and brave warrior was found, who was able to rouse his own tribe, and perhaps one or two of the neighbouring tribes, to a vigorous resistance, or to liberation if the enemy was already in the land. It is the deeds of such heroes, and almost these alone, which remained in the memory of the Israelites from the first two centuries following their settlement; and these narratives, in part fabulous, must represent the history of Israel for this period.

Eglon, king of Moab, defeated the Israelites, passed over the Jordan, took Jericho, and here established himself. With Gilead the tribe of Benjamin, which dwelt nearest to Jericho, at first must have felt with especial weight the oppression of Moab. For 18 years the Israelites are said to have served Eglon. Then Ehud, of the tribe of Benjamin, a reputed great grandson of the youngest son of Jacob, the father of the Benjamites, came with others to Jericho to bring tribute. When the tax had been delivered Ehud desired to speak privately with the king. Permission was given, and Ehud went with a two-edged sword in his hand, under his garment, to the king, who sat alone in the cool upper chamber. Ehud spoke: "I have a message from God to thee;" and when Eglon rose to receive the message Ehud smote him with the sword in the belly, "so that even the haft went in, and the fat closed over the blade, for the king of Moab was a very fat man. But Ehud went down to the court, and closed the door behind him." When the servants found the door closed they thought that the king had covered his feet for sleep. At last they took the key and found the king dead on the floor. But Ehud blew the trumpet on Mount Ephraim, assembled a host, seized the fords of Jordan, and slew about 10,000 Moabites, and the Moabites retired into their old possessions.¹⁹⁶

Another narrative tells of the fortunes of the tribes of Naphtali, Zebulun, and Issachar, which were settled in the north, under Mount Hermon. Jabin, king of Hazor, had chariots of iron, and Sisera his captain was a mighty warrior, and for 20 years they oppressed the Israelites.¹⁹⁷ Deborah, the wife of Lapidoth, of the tribe of Issachar, dwelt in the land of Benjamin, between Bethel and Ramah, under the palm-tree; she could announce the will of Jehovah, and the people came to her to obtain counsel and judgment. At her command Barak, the son of Abinoam, assembled the men of the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali; assistance also came from Issachar, Manasseh, Ephraim and Benjamin. Sisera went forth with 900 chariots and a great host and the Israelites retired before him to the south of the brook Kishon. Sisera crossed the brook and came upon the Israelites in the valley of Megiddo; he was defeated, leapt from his chariot, and fled on foot and came unto the tent of Heber the Kenite. Jael, Heber's wife, met him and said, "Turn in, my lord, to me; fear not." When in his thirst he asked for water, she opened the bottle of milk and allowed him to drink, and when he lay down to rest she covered him with the carpet. Being wearied, he sank into a deep sleep. Then Jael softly took the nail of the tent and a hammer in her hand, and smote the nail through his temples so that it passed into the earth. When Barak, who pursued the fugitive, came, Jael said, "I will show thee the man whom thou seekest," and led him into the tent where Sisera lay dead on the ground.

Israel's song of victory is as follows: "Listen, ye kings; give ear, ye princes; I will sing to Jehovah, I will play on the harp of Jehovah, the king of Israel. There were no princes in Israel till I, Deborah, arose a mother in Israel. Arise, Barak; bring forth thy captives, thou son of Abinoam. Shout, ye that ride on she-asses, and ye that sit upon carpets, and ye that go on foot, and let the people come down into the plain, to the gates of the cities. Then I said, Go down, O people of Jehovah, against the strong; a small people against the mighty. From Ephraim they came and from Benjamin, from Machir (i. e. from the Manassites on the east of the lake of Gennesareth) the rulers came, and the chiefs of Issachar were with Deborah, and Zebulun is a people which perilled his life to the death, and Naphtali on the heights of the field. On the streams of Reuben there was taking of counsel, but why didst thou sit still among the herds to hear the pipe of the herdsmen? Gilead also remained beyond Jordan, and Asher abode on the shore of the sea in his valleys, and Dan on his heights. The kings came, they fought at the water of Megiddo; they gained no booty of silver. Issachar, the support of Barak, threw himself in the valley at his heels. The brook Kishon washed away the enemy: a brook of battles is the brook Kishon. Go forth, my soul, upon the strong. Blessed above women shall Jael be, above women in the tent. He asked for water, she gave him milk; she brought him cream in a lordly dish. She put forth her hand to the nail, and her right hand to the workman's hammer, and she smote Sisera, she shattered and pierced his temples. Between her feet he lay shattered. The mother of Sisera looked from her window; she called through the lattice: 'Why linger his chariots in returning? why delay the wheels of his chariot?' Her wise maidens answered her; nay, she answered herself: 'Will they not find spoil and divide it; one or two maidens to each, spoil of broidered robes for Sisera?' So must all thine enemies perish, O Jehovah, but may those who love him be as the sun going forth in his strength." Whether this song was composed by Deborah, or by some other person in her name, it is certainly an ancient song of victory and contemporary with the events it celebrates.

The tribes of Israel also which were settled in the land of Gilead remembered with gratitude a mighty warrior who had once delivered them from grievous oppression. The Ammonites, the eastern neighbours of the land of Gilead, oppressed "the sons of Israel who dwelt beyond Jordan" for 18 years, and marched over Jordan against Judah, Benjamin and the house of Ephraim. Then the elders of the land of Gilead bethought them of Jephthah (Jephthah means "freed from the yoke"), to whom they had formerly refused the inheritance of his father because he was not the son of the lawful wife, but of a courtezan. He had retired into the gorges of the mountain and collected round him a band of robbers, and done deeds of bravery. To him the elders went; he was to be their leader in fighting against the sons of Ammon. Jephthah said, "Have ye not driven me out of the house of my father? now that ye are in distress ye come to me." Still he followed their invitation, and the people of Gilead gathered round him at Mizpeh and made him their chief and leader. "If I return in triumph from the sons of Ammon," such was Jephthah's vow, "the first that meets me at the door of my house shall be dedicated to Jehovah, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt-offering." When he had asked the tribe of Ephraim for assistance in vain he set out against the Ammonites with the warriors of the tribes of Reuben, Gad and Manasseh, and overcame them in a great battle on the river Arnon. The Ephraimites made it a reproach against Jephthah that he had fought against the Ammonites without them; they crossed the Jordan in arms. But Jephthah said, "I was in straits, and my people with me; I called to you, but ye aided me not." He assembled the men of Gilead, defeated the Ephraimites, and came to the fords of the Jordan before the fugitives, so that more than 42,000 men of Ephraim are said to have been slain.

When he returned to his home at Mizpeh his only daughter came to meet him joyfully, with her maidens and timbrels and dancing. Jephthah tore his garments and cried, "My daughter, thou hast brought me very low; I have opened my mouth to Jehovah and cannot take it back." "My father," she answered, "if thou hast opened thy mouth to Jehovah, do to me as thou hast spoken, for Jehovah has given thee vengeance on thine enemies, the Ammonites. But first let me go with my companions to the mountains, and there for two months bewail my virginity." This was done, and on her return Jephthah did to her according to his vow. And it was a custom in Israel for the maidens to lament the daughter of Jephthah for four days in the year. After this Jephthah is said to have been judge for six years longer beyond Jordan, i. e. to have maintained the peace in these districts.

Grievous calamity came upon Israel in this period from a migratory people of the Syrian desert, from the incursions of the Midians, who, like the Moabites and Ammonites, are designated in Genesis as a nation kindred to the Israelites, with whom Moses was said to have entered into close relations (I. 449, 468). Now the Midianites with other tribes of the desert attacked Israel in constant predatory incursions. "Like locusts in multitude," we are told, "the enemy came with their flocks and tents; there was no end of them and their camels. When Israel had sowed the sons of the East came up and destroyed the increase of the land as far as Gaza, and left no sustenance remaining, no sheep, oxen and asses. And the sons of Israel were compelled to hide themselves in ravines, and caves, and mountain fortresses."¹⁹⁸ For seven years Israel is said to have been desolated in this manner. Beside the tribes of Issachar and Zebulun, between Mount Tabor and the Kishon, dwelt a part of the tribe of Manasseh. The family of Abiezer, belonging to this tribe, possessed Ophra. In an incursion of the Midianites the sons of Joash, a man of this family, were slain;¹⁹⁹ only Gideon, the youngest, remained. When the Midianites came again, after their wont, at the time of harvest, and encamped on the plain of Jezreel, and Gideon was beating wheat in the vat of the wine-press in order to save the corn from the Midianites, Jehovah aroused him. He gathered the men of his family around him, 300 in number.²⁰⁰ When Jehovah had given him a favourable sign, and he had reconnoitred the camp of the Midianites, together with his armour-bearer Phurah, he determined to attack them in the night. He divided his troop into companies containing a hundred men; each took a trumpet and a lighted torch, which was concealed in an earthen pitcher. These companies were to approach the camp of the Midianites from three sides, and when Gideon blew the trumpet and disclosed his torch they were all to do the same. Immediately after the second night-watch, when the Midianites had just changed the guards, Gideon gave the signal. All broke their pitchers, blew their trumpets, and cried, "The sword for Jehovah and Gideon!" Startled, terrified, and imagining that they were attacked by mighty hosts, the Midianites fled. Then the men of Manasseh, Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali arose, and Gideon hastily sent messengers to the Ephraimites that they should seize the fords of Jordan before the Midianites. The Ephraimites assembled and took two princes of the Midianites, Oreb (Raven) and Zeeb (Wolf). The Ephraimites strove with Gideon that he had not summoned them sooner. Gideon replied modestly, "Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer? Did not Jehovah give the princes of Midian into your hand? Could I do what ye have done?" He pursued the Midianites over the Jordan in order to get into his power their princes Zebah and Zalmunna, who had previously slain his brothers. When he passed the river at Succoth he asked the men of Succoth to give bread to his wearied soldiers. But the elders feared the vengeance of the Midianites, and said, "Are Zebah and Zalmunna already in thine hand, that we should give bread to thy men?" Gideon replied in anger, "If Jehovah gives them into my hand I will tear your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers." The inhabitants of Penuel on the Jabbok also, to which Gideon marched, refused to feed their countrymen; like those of Succoth, they feared the Midianites. Gideon led his army by the way of the dwellers in tents far away to Karkor. Here he defeated and scattered the 15,000 Midianites who had escaped, and captured the two princes. Then he turned back to Succoth and said to the elders, "See, here are Zebah and Zalmunna, for whom ye mocked me." He caused them to be seized, seventy-seven in number, and tore them to death with thorns and briers. The tower of Penuel he destroyed, and caused the inhabitants of the place to be slain. To the captured princes he said, "What manner of men were they whom ye once slew at Tabor?" And they answered, "As thou art, they looked like the sons of a king." "They were my brethren, the sons of my mother," Gideon answered. "As Jehovah liveth, if ye had saved them alive I would not slay you. Stand up," he called to his first-born son Jether, "and slay them." But the youth feared and drew not his sword, for he was yet young. "Slay us thyself," said the prisoners, "for as the man is, so is his strength." This was done. When the booty was divided Gideon claimed as his share the golden ear-rings of the slain Midianites. They were collected in Gideon's mantle, and the weight reached 1700 shekels of gold, beside the purple raiment of the dead kings, and the moons and chains on the necks of the camels.

Gideon had gained a brilliant victory; no more is heard of the raids of the Midianites. Out of the booty he set up a gilded image (ephod) at Ophra.²⁰¹ He overthrew the altar of Baal and the image of Astarte in his city; and this, as is expressly stated, in the night (from which we must conclude that the inhabitants of Ophra were attached to this worship); and in the place of it he set up an altar to Jehovah on the height, and in the city another altar, which he called "Jehovah, peace." "Unto this day it is still in Ophra."

After the liberation of the land, which was owing to him, Gideon held the first place in Israel. We are told that the crown had been offered to him and that he refused it.²⁰² But if Gideon left 70 sons of his body by many wives, if we find that his influence descended to his sons, he must have held an almost royal position, in which a harem was not wanting. He died, as it seems, in a good old age, and was buried in the grave of his fathers (after 1150 B.C.²⁰³).

The same need of protection which preserved Gideon in power till his death had induced some cities to form a league, after the pattern of the cities of the Philistines, for mutual support and security. Shechem, the old metropolis of the tribe of Ephraim, was the chief city of this league. Here on the citadel at Shechem the united cities had built a temple to Baal Berith, i. e. to Baal of the league, and established a fund for the league in the treasury of this temple. One of the 70 sons of Gideon, the child of a woman of Shechem, by name Abimelech, conceived the plan of establishing a monarchy in Israel by availing himself of Gideon's name and memory, the desire for order and protection from which the league had arisen, and the resources of the cities. At first he sought to induce the cities to make him their chief. Supported by them, he sought to remove his brothers and to take the monarchy into his own hands as the only heir of Gideon. A skilful warrior like Abimelech, who carried with him the fame and influence of a great father, must have been welcome to the cities as a leader and chief in such wild times. Abimelech spoke to the men of Shechem: "Consider that I am your bone and your flesh; which is better, that 70 men rule over you or I only?" Then the citizens of Shechem and the inhabitants of the citadel assembled under the oak of Shechem and made Abimelech their king, and gave him 70 shekels of silver from the temple of Baal Berith, "that he might be able to pay people to serve him." With these and the men of Shechem who followed him he marched and slew all his brethren at Ophra in his father's house (one only, Jotham, escaped him), and Israel obeyed him. Abimelech seemed to have reached his object. Perhaps he might have maintained the throne thus won by blood had he not, three years afterwards, quarrelled with the cities which helped him to power. The cities rose against him. Abimelech with his forces went against the chief city, Shechem. The city was taken and destroyed, the inhabitants massacred. About 1000 men and women fled for refuge into the temple of Baal Berith in the citadel; Abimelech caused them to be burned along with the temple. Then he turned from Shechem to Thebez, some miles to the north. When he stormed the city the inhabitants fled into the strong tower, closed it, and went up on the roof of the tower. Abimelech pressed on to the door of the tower to set it on fire, when a woman threw a stone down from above which fell on Abimelech and broke his skull. Then the king called to his armour-bearer, "Draw thy sword and slay me, that it may not be said, A woman slew him." The youthful monarchy was wrecked on this quarrel of the citizens with the new king.

After this time Eli the priest at the sacred tabernacle, a descendant of Ithamar, the youngest son of Aaron,²⁰⁴ is said to have been in honour among the Israelites. Not only was he the priest of the national shrine, but counsel and judgment were also sought from him. But Eli's sons, Hophni and Phinehas; did evil, and lay with the women who came to the sacred tabernacle to offer prayer and sacrifice.²⁰⁵

CHAPTER V
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE MONARCHY IN ISRAEL

More than a century and a half had passed since the Israelites had won their land in Canaan. The greater part of the tribes, beside the breeding of cattle, were occupied with the cultivation of vines and figs, and regular agriculture; the minority had become accustomed to life in settled cities, and the earliest stages of industry; but the unity of the nation was lost, and in the place of the religious fervour which once accompanied the exodus from Egypt, the rites of the Syrian deities had forced their way in alongside of the worship of Jehovah. The division and disorganisation of the nation had exposed the Israelites to the attacks of their neighbours; the attempt of Abimelech to establish a monarchy in connection with the cities had failed; the anarchy still continued. Worse dangers still might be expected in the future. The forces of the Moabites, Midianites, and Ammonites were not superior to that of the Israelites, the attacks of the tribes of the desert were of a transitory nature; but what if the cities of the coast, superior in civilisation, art, and combined power, should find it convenient when the affairs of Israel were in this position to extend their borders to the interior, and Israel should be gradually subjugated from the coast? From the Phenicians there was nothing to fear: navigation and trade entirely occupied them; from the beginning of the eleventh century their ships devoted their attention to discoveries in the Atlantic Ocean, beyond the straits of Gibraltar (p. 83). The case was different with the warlike cities of the Philistines. If the Philistines were behind the Israelites in the extent of their territory and dominion, their forces were held together and well organised by means of the confederation of the cities. Bounded to the west by the sea, and to the south by the desert, the only path open to them for extending their power was in the direction of the Hebrews. For a long time they had been content to put a limit upon the extension of the tribes of Judah and Dan, but in the first half of the eleventh century B.C. the condition of Israel appeared to the federation of the Philistines sufficiently inviting to induce them to pass from defence to attack. Their blows fell first on Judah, Simeon, and the part of Dan which had remained in the south on the borders of the Philistines; tribes which had hitherto been exempted from attack, whose territory had been protected by the deserts on the south, and the Dead Sea on the east. But now they were attacked from the direction of the sea. The struggle with the Philistines was not a matter of rapine and plunder, but of freedom and independence. The aim of the five princes of the Philistines (I. 348) was directed towards the extension of their own borders and their own dominion, and the war against the Israelites was soon carried on with vigour. The tribes of Judah and Dan were reduced to submission.²⁰⁶ If the Israelites did not succeed in uniting their forces, if they could not repair what was neglected at the conquest, and had since been attempted in vain, the suppression of their independence, their religious and national life, appeared certain. The question was whether the nation of Israel, accustomed to an independent and defiant life in small communities, and corrupted by it, possessed sufficient wisdom and devotion to solve the difficult task now laid upon it.

It was a melancholy time for Israel when the Philistines ruled over the south of the land. Later generations found some comfort for this national disgrace in the narratives of the strong and courageous Samson, the son of Manoah, of the tribe of Dan, whose deeds were placed by tradition in this period. He had done the Philistines much mischief, and slain many of them; even when his foolish love for a Philistine maiden finally brought him to ruin, he slew more Philistines at his death than in his life – "about 3000 men and women."²⁰⁷ Whatever be the truth about these deeds, no individual effort could avail to save Israel when the Philistines seriously set themselves to conquer the northern tribes, unless the nation roused itself and combined all its forces under one definite head.

The Philistines invaded the land of Ephraim with a mighty army, and forced their way beyond it northwards as far as Aphek, two leagues to the south of Tabor. At Tabor the Israelites assembled and attempted to check the Philistines, but they failed; 4000 Israelites were slain. Then the elders of Israel, in order to encourage the people, caused the ark of Jehovah to be brought from Shiloh into the camp. Eli, the priest at the sacred tabernacle, was of the age of 98 years. Hophni and Phinehas, his sons, accompanied the sacred ark, which was welcomed by the army with shouts of joy. In painful expectation Eli sat at the gate of Shiloh and awaited the result. Then a man of the tribe of Benjamin came in haste, with his clothes rent, and earth upon his head, and said, "Israel is fled before the Philistines, thy sons are dead, and the ark of God is lost." Eli fell backwards from his seat, broke his neck, and died. About 30,000 men are said to have fallen in the battle (about 1070 B.C.).²⁰⁸

At the sacred tabernacle at Shiloh Samuel the son of Elkanah had served under Eli. Elkanah was an Ephraimite; he dwelt at Ramah (Ramathaim, and hence among the Greeks Arimathia²⁰⁹). Samuel was born to him late in life, and, in gratitude that at last a son was given to her, his mother had dedicated him to Jehovah, and given him to Eli to serve in the sanctuary. Thus even as a boy Samuel waited at the sacrifices in a linen tunic, and performed the sacred rites. He grew up in the fear of Jehovah and became a seer, who saw what was hidden, a soothsayer, whom the people consulted in distress of any kind, and at the same time he announced the will of Jehovah, for Jehovah had called him, and permitted him to see visions, "so that he knew how to speak the word of God, which was rare in those days," and "Jehovah was with him and let none of Samuel's words fall to the ground."²¹⁰ After the crushing defeat at Aphek it devolved on Samuel to perform the duties of high priest. He summoned the people to Mizpeh in the tribe of Benjamin and prayed for Israel. Large libations of water were poured to Jehovah. When the Philistines advanced Samuel sacrificed a sucking lamb (no doubt as a sin-offering), and burned it. "Then on that day Jehovah thundered mightily out of heaven over the Philistines, and confounded them so that they were defeated."

This victory remained without lasting results. On the contrary, the slavery of the Israelites to the Philistines became more extensive and more severe. In order to bring the northern tribes into the same subjection as the tribes of Dan, Judah, and Simeon, the Philistines established fortified camps at Michmash and Geba (Gibeah) in the tribe of Benjamin, as a centre from which to hold this and the northern tribes in check. The men of the tribes of Judah and Simeon had to take the field against their own countrymen. These arrangements soon obtained their object. All Israel on this side of the Jordan was reduced to subjection. In order to make a rebellion impossible, the Israelites were deprived of their arms; indeed, the Philistines were not content that they should give up the arms in their possession, they even removed the smiths from the land, that no one might provide a sword or javelin for the Hebrews. The oppression of this dominion pressed so heavily and with such shame on the Israelites that the books of Samuel themselves tell us, if the plough-shares, bills, and mattocks became dull, or the forks were bent, the children of Israel had to go down into the cities of the Philistines in order to have their implements mended and sharpened.²¹¹

At this period Samuel's activity must have been limited to leading back the hearts of the Israelites to the God who brought them out of Egypt; he must have striven to fill them with the faith with which he was himself penetrated, and the distress of the time would contribute to gain acceptance for his teaching and his prescripts. The people sought his word and decision; he is said to have given judgment at Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpeh. He gathered scholars and disciples round him, who praised Jehovah to the sound of harp and lute, flute and drum, who in violent agitation and divine excitement awaited his visions, and "were changed into other men."²¹² From the position which tradition allots to Samuel, there can be no doubt that he brought the belief in and worship of the old god into renewed life, and caused them to sink deeper into the hearts of the Israelites. The oppression of his people by the Philistines he could not turn away, though he cherished a lively hope in the help of Jehovah.

The tribes on the east of the Jordan remained free from the dominion of the Philistines; yet for them also servitude and destruction was near at hand. The Ammonites were not inclined to let slip so favourable an opportunity. As the land on the west of the Jordan was subject to the Philistines, the tribes on the east would prove an easy prey. The Ammonites encamped before Jabesh in Gilead, and the inhabitants were ready to submit. But Nahash, the king of the Ammonites, as we are told, would only accept their submission on condition that every man in Jabesh put out his right eye. Then the elders of Jabesh sent messengers across the Jordan and earnestly besought their countrymen for help.

The tribe of Benjamin had to feel most heavily, no doubt, the oppression of the Philistines. In their territory lay the fortified camps of the enemy. Here, at Gibeah, dwelt a man of the race of Matri, Saul the son of Kish, the grandson of Abiel. Kish was a man of substance and influence; his son Saul was a courageous man, of remarkable stature, "higher by a head than the rest of the nation." He was in the full strength of his years, and surrounded by valiant sons: Jonathan, Melchishua, Abinadab, and Ishbosheth. One day, "just as he was returning home from the field behind his oxen," he heard the announcement which the messengers of Jabesh brought. Himself under the enemy's yoke, he felt the more deeply what threatened them. His heart was fired at the shame and ruin of his people. Regardless of the Philistines, he formed a bold resolution; assistance must be given to those most in need. He cut two oxen in pieces, sent the pieces round the tribes,²¹³ and raised the cry, "Whoso comes not after Saul, so shall it be done to his oxen." The troop which gathered round him out of compassion for the besieged in Jabesh, and in obedience to his summons, Saul divided into three companies. With these he succeeded in surprising the camp of the Ammonites about the morning watch; he dispersed the hostile army and set Jabesh free.

Whatever violence and cruelty had been exercised since the settlement of the Israelites in Canaan, however many the feuds and severe the vengeance taken, however great the distress and the oppression, the nation, amid all the anarchy and freedom so helpless against an enemy, still preserved a healthy and simple feeling and vigorous power. And at this crisis the Israelites were not found wanting; Saul's bold resolution, the success in setting free the city in her sore distress, the victory thus won, the first joy and hope after so long a period of shame, gave the people the expectation of having found in him the man who was able to set them free from the dominion of the Philistines also, and restore independence, and law, and peace. When the thank-offering for the unexpected victory, for the liberation of the land of Gilgal, was offered at Gilgal on the Jordan, as far as possible from the camp of the Philistines, "all the people went to Gilgal, and there made Saul king before Jehovah, and Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly" (1055 B.C.).