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 former denotes the operations of the Divine Spirit in overcoming the resistance of the natural will of man, whilst the latter represents the Spirit of God as a power which envelopes or covers a man. The recipients and bearers of this Spirit were thereby endowed with the power to perform miraculous deeds, in which the Spirit of God that came upon them manifested itself generally in the ability to prophesy (vid., 1Sa 10:10; 1Sa 19:20, 1Sa 19:23; 1Ch 12:18; 2Ch 20:14; 2Ch 24:20), but also in the power to work miracles or to accomplish deeds which surpassed the courage and strength of the natural man. The latter was more especially the case with the judges; hence the Chaldee paraphrases “the Spirit of Jehovah” in Jdg 6:34 as the spirit of might from the Lord;” though in the passage before us it gives the erroneous interpretation נבוּאה רוּח, “the spirit of prophecy.” Kimchi also understands it as signifying “the spirit of bravery, under the instigation of which he was able fearlessly to enter upon the war with Chushan.” But we are hardly at liberty to split up the different powers of the Spirit of God in this manner, and to restrict its operations upon the judges to the spirit of strength and bravery alone. The judges not only attacked the enemy courageously and with success, but they also judged the nation, for which the spirit of wisdom and understanding was indispensably necessary, and put down idolatry (Jdg 2:18-19), which they could not have done without the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. “And he judged Israel and went out to war.” The position of ויּשׁפּט before למּלחמה ויּצא does not warrant us in explaining ויּשׁפּט as signifying “he began to discharge the functions of a judge,” as Rosenmüller has done: for שׁפט must not be limited to a settlement of the civil disputes of the people, but means to restore right in Israel, whether towards its heathen oppressors, or with regard to the attitude of the nation towards the Lord. “And the Lord gave Chushan-rishathaim into his hand (cf. Jdg 1:2; Jdg 3:28, etc.), and his hand became strong over him;” i.e., he overcame him (cf. Jdg 6:2), or smote him, so that he was obliged to vacate the land. In consequence of this victory, and the land had rest from war (cf. Jos 11:23) forty years. “And then Othniel died:” the expression ויּמת with ו consec. does not necessarily imply that Othniel did not die for forty years, but simply that he died after rest had been restored to the land.