The Book of Judges
The book of Judges contains the history of Israel in the land of Canaan before Israel had kings.
Judges was written during the time of the kings.
The book of Judges is presented as a downward spiral.
Its outlook on Israel’s entry into the Promised Land is quite different than the book of Joshua.
1:1-2:5 – Unfinished Conquest
2:6-12:15 – A Succession of Judges
13:1-16:31 – Samson the Lone Hero
17:1-21:25 – Disorder and Infidelity
Themes
Leadership
Deborah holds court
The other major judges are deliverers of the people
The minor judges usually govern in times of peace
Kingship is at first seen as negative because God should be Israel’s king
Later, kingship is seen as a good thing in light of the disasters Israel experienced without one.
The Spirit of the Lord
God’s spirit comes upon certain people and allows them to perform great feats
God’s spirit does not come upon everyone
Holy War
“In Holy War, the LORD alone wins victory.”
Israel can only defeat her enemies because God fights on her behalf.
There is a sense of a spiritual battle taking place on top of the physical battles.
Unfinished Conquest (1:1–3:6)
Chapter one shows the Israelites continuing to conquer the land of Canaan.
However, they begin to have great difficulties in doing so.
Caleb offers his daughter to anyone who will attack a certain region.
Othniel leads the way.
In chapter two, the Israelites are portrayed as settling among the Canaanites instead of driving them out.
God says that Israel has violated their covenant and He will no longer assist them in driving out the nations.
Othniel (3:7-12)
Israel’s first judge is Othniel.
Othniel is from the tribe of Judah.
Othniel was Caleb’s nephew.
Othniel married Caleb’s daughter.
Othniel is the model judge.
The Israelites worshiped Baal and Asherah.
The Israelites were oppressed by Cushan-Rishathaim of Aram Naharaim.
Cushan-Rishathaim of Aram Naharaim literally means, “one of double-wickedness from land of double-rivers.”
Othniel rescues the Israelites after they have been oppressed for eight years.
Yahweh is given credit for the victory (3:10).
Othniel rules Israel for forty years.
The Israelites continued in their disobedience (v. 12).
God allowed them to be oppressed by the Moabites.
Ehud comes to the rescue.
Ehud is from the tribe of Benjamin. In Hebrew, Benjamin means “son of my right hand.” Ironically, Ehud is a left-handed man.
Ehud kills King Eglon, Israel’s oppressor.
Eglon is described as being very fat (v. 17).
The name “Eglon” sounds a lot like the word for “calf.” This is a pun, comparing Eglon to “a fattened calf ready for slaughter.”
Ehud saves the Israelites by assassinating Eglon with his left hand by thrusting a “double-edged” or “double-mouthed” dagger into his belly.
This is fitting for a king described tongue-in-cheek as having a “double-mouth” with which he gorged himself.
Even his belly is described as “swallowing” up the dagger.
After this the text reads, “and the dirt fell out,” or in other words “he pooped himself.”
Ehud escapes via the sewer system (i.e., he jumps down the king’s poop chute to escape).
The king’s attendants thought Eglon was just taking a long time in the bathroom.
Ehud then leads Israel in victorious battle against the Moabites and there was peace for 80 years.
“After Ehud came Shamgar son of Anath, who struck down six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad. He too saved Israel.”
-- Judges 3:31
Judges 1:33 refers to a town named “Beth Anath,” or “House of Anath” that was in the territory of Naphtali.
Perhaps Shamgar was from the tribe of Naphtali.
Deborah and Barak (4:1-5:31)
King Jabin of Hazor and General Sisera oppress Israel because the Israelites have once again done evil.
Note that Joshua had already defeated a “King Jabin.”
Deborah was a prophetess and the “wife of Lappidoth,” meaning “woman of fire.”
There is hesitation on the part of Barak to go into battle, so Deborah tells him the victory will be given to “a woman.”
Both of the women in the story, Deborah and Jael, show more courage than the leading man.
Deborah’s name means “honeybee.” Barak’s name means “lightning.” Yet in the story… “honeybee” is brave and “lightning” is chicken.
God throws Sisera’s army into a panic near the Kishon River and Sisera flees the battle.
Sisera seeks refuge in the tent of Jael.
Jael’s husband is a Kenite.
Jael’s name means “Yahweh is God.”
“Sisera” means “snake.”
Jael gives Sisera milk to drink and he falls asleep.
While he is sleeping, Jael drives a tent peg through Sisera’s head, or “temple.”
The word used here as “temple” is in Hebrew “berragato,” which is related to “baraq.”
When Jael crushes Sisera’s “temple,” she also crushes Barak with embarrassment, because a woman had to do what he had failed to do.
The Song of Deborah (5:1-31)
The song of Deborah is thought to be the oldest section of the book of Judges.
In this song, Deborah praises God for giving them victory in battle.
She also praises Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, for her violence against Sisera.
The song also records some interesting details of the battle, such as that God had sent giant hailstones upon the armies of King Jabin and General Sisera.
The song also provides us with a look at what Sisera’s own mother might have thought about his violent death.
The text also says that there are forty years of peace after this successful battle.
Gideon (6:1–8:35)
Deborah was successful, but the cycle of disobedience starts again.
Israel is impoverished by Midianite oppression.
God sends a leader to them in a man named Gideon.
Gideon was from the weakest clan in Manasseh, and he was the lowest-ranked person in his family.
Gideon is hiding in a winepress, threshing wheat, when an angel appears to him.
The angel says, “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.” He tells Gideon to go save Israel from the Midianites.
However, Gideon is very unsure of everything.
Gideon responds to God’s messenger with:
Defiant questions
Pointing out the insignificance of his own roots
Repeatedly requesting signs, such as the fleece incidents.
Gideon’s name comes from “gada,” which means “cut down.”
Gideon’s name fits him because he cuts down the idols of his father Joash.
The name of Joash is, ironically, a Yahwistic name, even though Joash is an idolater.
His father renames him “Jerub-Baal,” meaning “one who contends with Baal,” still refusing to acknowledge Gideon as Yahweh's servant, but only as Baal's enemy.
God tests Gideon by reducing the size of his army.
People who are afraid are told to go home.
People who get down on their knees to drink water instead of lapping it with their tongues are told to go home.
Gideon's army is reduced from 32, 000 to 300 men.
Gideon is only reassured of victory after listening to a Midianite conversation instead of listening to God.
The army uses trumpets and water pitchers to create noise confusion at night surrounding the Midianite campl
The Midianites panic and slaughter themselves.
Gideon is victorious in battle!
The people cry out “The sword of the LORD and of Gideon!”
Gideon gets trigger-happy and wipes out several other groups of people along with the Midianite army.
The people try to make Gideon king, but he refuses, insisting that God is Israel’s king.
He rules Israel for forty years.
Overtime, the quality of Gideon’s leadership becomes less and less.
There is still idolatry in the land.
Gideon even makes a golden ephod that the people worship, hearkening back to Aaron and the golden calf.
Gideon begins by cutting down idols, and ends by setting them up.
Previously, Gideon refused to be made king over Israel; now, he is living like a luxurious king.
Gideon also has a son named Abimelech.
“Abimelech” means “father is king.”
Abimelech’s Rebellion (9:1-57)
Abimelech was the son of Gideon and Gideon’s concubine.
Abimelech had seventy half-brothers.
He got them to support his kingship cause.
He used the money they gave him to hire a bunch of thugs.
Abimelech killed all but one of his half-brothers by crushing their heads against a large stone.
Gideon’s youngest son, Jotham, escaped by hiding.
Abimelech proclaimed himself king of Israel.
Jotham decided to resist his half-brother.
He climbed to the top of Mount Gerizim and shouted a parable to the people of Shechem.
Parable of the trees:
Olive tree rejected kingship
Fig tree rejected kingship
Vine rejected kingship
So the people made the Thorn Bush king
The Shechemites got the message and rebelled by robbing Abimelech’s allies.
A guy named Gaal moves to Shechem and tries to get the people to follow him.
Abimelech finds out and slaughters the rebels.
The next day, Abimelech slaughters the farmers in their fields.
He then enters the city to kill everyone else.
The people hide in a temple-tower.
As Abimelech is preparing to burn the tower, a woman from above drops a large millstone on his head.
As he is dying, he tells his men to quickly stab him so that he won’t be remembered as the one who was killed by a woman... even though that's what we remember him for today...so that plan worked out great.
Tola and Jair (10:1-5)
Tola
He was from the tribe of Issachar
He lived in Shamir in the hill country of Ephraim.
His father was Puah and his grandfather was Dodo.
“He rose to save Israel.”
He led Israel 23 years
Jair
He was from Kamon in the region of Gilead
He had thirty sons who rode thirty donkeys and who controlled thirty towns in Gilead
He led Israel 22 years
Jephthah (10:6–12:7)
Again, Israel was evil in the LORD’s sight and began to be oppressed.
However, they began to cry out and confess to Him and they “put away their gods.”
Yahweh’s response is “impatient” for he could bear their misery no longer.
Enter Jephthah.
After rejecting him, the people then try to bring him back so that he may lead them in victory over their enemies and save them.
Jephthah is the son of a prostitute.
He is referred to as the son of Gilead, which is a territory.
In other words, nobody knew who his father was.
The oppression present at this time was by the Philistines and the Ammonites.
Jephthah promises a child-sacrifice to God in exchange for victory, and he ends up killing his own daughter, showing that Israel has mixed the sacred with the perverted.
Three Minor Judges (12:8-15)
Ibzan
He was from Bethlehem in the land of Judah
He had thirty sons and thirty daughters
He led Israel for seven years
Elon
He was from Aijalon in the land of Zebulun
He led Israel for ten years
Abdon
He was from Pirathon in the land of Ephraim
He had forty sons and thirty grandsons who rode on seventy donkeys
He led Israel for eight years
The Birth of Samson (13:1-25)
A strange man appears to a woman and says she will have a son.
He tells her that her son will be a Nazirite from birth and gives her specific instructions.
She tells her husband Monoah about the strange man.
Manoah comes to see the strange man later on and offers him a meal.
The man does not need food and tells them to use it to make a sacrifice to God.
Monaoh asks what the man’s name is and the man says, “Why do you ask my name? It is beyond understanding.”
As they make their sacrifice the man ascends in the flames.
Monoah freaks out and says they are going to die because they just had an encounter with God and didn’t know it.
His wife reassures him that God wouldn’t have given them such good news if He had wanted to kill them.
She gives birth to a son and names him “Samson.”
Samson (13:1-16:31)
At this point, the Philistines have become prominent in the narrative.
Samson is a Nazirite from birth, but he is constantly breaking his covenant.
He does so secretly by eating honey out of a dead lion’s carcass.
He also gets drunk for seven days and marries a Philistine woman, saying “she is right in my eyes.”
Samson is weak towards women and loses a bet/riddle/game with the Philistines because he gives in to the nagging of his wife.
He leaves his wedding in a rage and the Philistines give his wife to another man.
Later he comes back to patch things up with his bride by bringing her a goat, only to hear from his father-in-law "I gave her to the best man because I thought you hated her."
In revenge, Samson sets 300 foxes on fire and sets them loose in the Philistines’ crops, and they retaliate by burning his wife.
In revenge, Samson sets 300 foxes on fire and sets them loose in the Philistines’ crops, and they retaliate by burning his wife.
The people of Judah hand Samson over to the Philistines because he is out of control.
However, Samson breaks the ropes that bind him and slaughters 1,000 men with a donkey’s jawbone.
He's quite pleased with himself and makes up a little ditty, singing, "With an ass's jawbone I've made asses out of them."
He's quite pleased with himself and makes up a little ditty, singing, "With an ass's jawbone I've made asses out of them."
We also learn that Samson sleeps with prostitutes.
Once, he only spends half the night with a prostitute because he knows people are coming to arrest him.
He gets up in the night and walks off with the city gates on his shoulders.
Later, he meets and falls in love with Delilah.
Delilah’s name literally means “of the night.”
Samson’s name, in contrast, means “sunshine.”
What does light have in common with darkness?
The Philistines pay Delilah 1,100 pieces of silver to betray Samson.
Samson is so stupid that he falls for Delilah’s trick and lets her cut his hair.
He is humiliated before Dagon, the god of the Philistines.
Samson falls further into darkness when the Philistines poke out his eyes.
However, Samson’s final act of suicidal terrorism brings about a partial deliverance to the people.
Summary of Israel’s Judges
Micah and the Danite Migration (17:1-18:31)
The character of Micah is introduced.
Micah’s mother may have been Delilah.
Micah returns 1,100 pieces of silver to her which had been stolen.
She uses 200 of these 1,100 pieces of silver to build an idol in order to honor Yahweh.
This is very twisted in nature and shows the backwardness of the time-period.
Micah makes an ephod and appoints his own son as priest of his illegitimate shrine.
He hires a Levite as a priest, but everything about the arrangement is illegitimate.
Micah is from Ephraim, but his association with the Danites may be implying that Micah was Samson’s illegitimate son.
The Danites move north and take Micah’s priest and idol with them.
Later, Moses’ own grandson becomes the idolatrous priest of the Danites.
The Climax of the Downward Spiral (19:1–21:25)
Later, a second Levite arrives on the scene in order to retrieve his wife who has fled from him to the house of her father in Bethlehem.
On their way back, they spend the night in the town of Gibeah in the territory of Benjamin.
The men of Gibeah come out to commit “sodomy” with the Levite, but instead the Levite offers them his wife/concubine and they brutally rape her all night.
In the morning, the Levite sees her lying on the doorstep and cuts her body up into twelve pieces.
He sends a piece of her to each of the twelve tribes.
A civil war then erupts against Benjamin, with Judah leading the way in battle, and all but 600 men of Benjamin are killed.
The end of the book deals with the eleven tribes attempting to avoid the complete extinction of Benjamin by providing the remaining 600 men with wives.
They do so by staging a giant kidnapping of several hundred girls from the towns that refused to participate in the civil war.
They do so by staging a giant kidnapping of several hundred girls from the towns that refused to participate in the civil war.
The book closes by echoing the words of Samson, saying, “At that time, there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in their own eyes.”
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