And he went from year to year in circuit
As judges do; or "from the year in the year" F18 from
the time of the year in the year, as the Targum, from the middle
of it, that is, every half year; and so Josephus says F19, that
he went twice a year in circuit: and the places he went to, and
where he held his courts of judicature, were
Bethel, and Gilgal, and Mizpeh;
by Bethel is not meant Shiloh, as Abarbinel, for that was now
destroyed; nor Kirjathjearim, where the ark was, for it would
have been called by its name; but the same Bethel that was near
to Ai, and not far from Shiloh, and was in the tribe of Benjamin,
as all those places were. Gilgal was where the tabernacle, ark,
and camp of Israel were first pitched, when they came over
Jordan, and Mizpeh where the people used to be assembled on
occasion, see ( 1 Samuel 7:5
1 Samuel
7:6 ) ,
and judged Israel in all those places;
who came from all parts hither with their causes, and for advice
and counsel in all cases, at the returning periods.
F18 (hnvb hnv ydm) "ex anno in anno".
F19 Antiqu. l. 6. c. 3. sect. 1.