Here it is manifest that to human vision the sun, and with it the shadow, went backward ten degrees. How this was accomplished we need not attempt to determine.  We are not shut up to the supposition that the earth was turned back on her axis ten degrees, nor that the rays of the sun were miraculously deflected ten degrees (which would change his apparent position in the heavens ten degrees), nor to any other particular hypothesis.  If God chose that the sun should to human vision go backward ten degrees, he could accomplish it by means inscrutable to us; and so also if he chose that it should stand still in the midst of heaven about a whole day.

II.  JUDGES AND RUTH.

6.  The book of Judges is so called because it is occupied with the history of the Israelites during the period when they were under the general administration of Judges.  These men are not to be confounded with the ordinary judges under the Theocracy, of the appointment of which we have an account in Exodus, chap. 18.  They were men specially raised up by God and endowed by him with extraordinary qualifications for their office, which was general and political rather than municipal.  Many of them were military leaders, called to their work in times of national calamity.  In times of peace they stood at the head of public affairs, although with regard to some of them it is generally thought that their jurisdiction extended to only a part of the Israelitish people.  Thus Jephthah and the three succeeding judges seem to have exercised their office in northeastern Israel, while the scene of Samson’s exploits was southwestern Israel, and he was, in the opinion of many, contemporary with Eli, who judged Israel at Shiloh.  The condition of the nation during the period of the Judges is described as one in which “there was no king in Israel.”  Chap. 18:1; 19:1.  There was no regularly organized central power which could give unity to the movements of the people.  The tribes seem to have acted in a great measure independently of each other, as in the expedition of the Danites.  Chap. 18.  It was only on special occasions, like that of the sin and punishment of the Benjamites (chaps. 19-21), that there was a general concert among them.  This state of affairs was not favorable to the development of the military power of the nation, but it was well suited to the high moral and religious ends which the Theocracy had in view; for it compelled the people to feel their constant dependence on God’s presence and help for defence against their enemies.  Sin, and oppression by the surrounding nations; repentance, and deliverance by God’s immediate interposition—­this is the oft-repeated story of the book of Judges.  All this was in accordance with the promises and threatenings of the Law, and it illustrated alike the perverseness of the nation and God’s faithfulness in the fulfilment of his covenant.  The incidents recorded in this book are of a peculiarly checkered character, and many of them are full of romantic interest.  In the history of redemption, the book of Judges has a well-defined place.  It unfolds to our view the operation of the Theocracy in the first stage of the nation’s existence, and under its first outward form of government.