Judges 1:14

And it came to pass, when she came [to him], that she moved him to ask of her father a field: and she lighted from off [her] ass; and Caleb said unto her, What wilt thou?] [See comments on Joshua 15:18].

And it came to pass, when she came to him, that she moved him to ask of her father a field: and she lighted from off her ass; and Caleb said unto her, What wilt thou?

14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, Ver. 14. And Enoch also] Enoch foretold the day of judgment before Noah the deluge. That day is longer before it comes, but shall be more terrible when it is come. Behold] One calleth this word a starry note; another compares it to a hand in the margin of a book pointing to some notable thing; another compares it to the sounding of a trumpet before some proclamation, to procure attention; and it is no more than need, so heedless we are of our soul’ s health. Hence the heathen’ s hoc agite, Well this. in their sacred services. And the deacons in Chrysostom’ s time were appointed to call often upon the people in these words, Oremus, attendamus, Let us pray, let us pay attention. I am afraid, saith a divine, most of us do believe the predictions of Scripture but as we believe the predictions of an almanac, which tells you that such a day will be rain, and such a day will he wind; you think it may come to pass, and it may not. So here; such a threatening may be fulfilled, and it may not; let us venture it; it may be "the Lord will deal" with us not according to his present menaces, but "according to all his wondrous works," as those rebellious Jews suggested to Jeremiah 21:2. The Lord cometh] Syr. Maranatha. Hence the Jews say that the great excommunication Maranatha was instituted by Enoch. With ten thousand of his saints] Or, with his holy myriads; sc. of saints and angels; he shall not leave one of them behind him in heaven, Matthew 25:31. And whereas it is said, The Lord cometh, it shows that he is already on his way, and will be with us shortly. Where St Jude had this prophecy of Enoch it much matters not. The Jews have yet to this day some relics of it in their writings. And Tertullian tells us (de Habitu Mulierum), (but who told him I know not), that the book of Enoch’ s prophecies were preserved by Noah in the ark, and that they continued and were read until the times of the apostles. But because they contained many famous testimonies concerning Jesus Christ, the Jews out of malice suppressed and abolished the whole book.

(14) When she came to him.—When she first reached his house as a bride. She moved him.—He was too modest to ask for himself, and he declined her request; but she will not enter till she has gained her way. A field.—Rather, the field. In the passage in Joshua 15:18 there is no definite article, but by the time this book was written the field then obtained by Achsah had become historical. Lighted.—Not merely in sign of reverence (like Rebecca in Genesis 24:64, and Abigail in 1 Samuel 25:25), but “leaped off” with eager impetuosity. The Hebrew verb tsanach here used occurs in Judges 4:21, where it is rendered “fastened,” i.e., “drove it firmly by a blow.” The LXX. render it “screamed” or “shouted from the ass;” the Vulg., “sighed as she was sitting on the ass;” but they probably had a different reading. “Suddenly,” says Ewald, “as if some accident had happened to her, she fell from her ass, and on being embraced by her anxious father, she adjured him as if in words of inspiration” (Hist. Isr. ii. 366). What wilt thou?—Caleb was unable to understand her conduct in refusing to enter the house of her bridegroom.

Verse 14. See Clarke on Jude 1:12.

14. when she came] into her husband’s house (Rth 4:11), or from the place where she had been kept in safety during the campaign (Moore). she moved him to ask] Joshua 15:18; but since Achsah herself asks the favour Judges 1:15, it is more natural to read he moved, instigated, her to ask. The LXX and Vulgate give this sense, but their evidence as to the original reading is not very decisive; nor is it easy to see why ‘he instigated her’ should have been altered to the present text. she lighted down from off her ass] to shew respect (Genesis 24:64; 2 Kings 5:21) and to beg a favour (1 Samuel 25:23). The meaning of the verb lighted, descended, only again in Judges 4:21 (‘it pierced through’ RV.) and Joshua 15, is inferred from the context. To this day in the East the traveller who begs hospitality, for instance, in a Bedouin camp is required to dismount and approach the sheikh on foot.

OF HEBRON, AND EXPLOIT AND REWARD OF OTHNIEL, Judges 1:10-15. This passage is nearly identical with Joshua 15:14-19. It may have been copied from the Book of Joshua, or from some older work.