Introducing Judges

Judges 1

            The book of Judges has been a source of fascination for me for a long time. It is a deeply disturbing book, graphic in its violence and unflinching about the shortcomings of its so-called heroes. Yet, it is expertly crafted and its current location in the Bible is genius. (The books of the Bible have been ordered differently in different eras: the Hebrew Old Testament is quite different from our current arrangement. The order Joshua, Judges, Ruth, seems to come from the very influential translation of the Old Testament into Greek called the Septuagint, from about 250 years before Jesus.)

            Briefly, the book has three parts: a prologue (chs. 1-2), focusing on the incomplete nature of the conquest and Israel’s faithlessness; the main part of the book (chs. 3-16) about the so-called judges; and a sort of epilogue (chs. 17-21), in which everything just falls apart for Israel. I say “so-called” judges because in contemporary parlance judge doesn’t really do it. These are not people who sit around in black robes and preside over dry cases of law. They are, by and large, warriors, leaders, rallying points. What do they judge? I’m not exactly sure. Maybe it has to do with the judgments of the Lord against Israel, in response to which he Lord raises judges. Maybe in some way they are “judging” the nation who have oppressed Israel. Interestingly, only Othniel is actually ever called a judge, and in chapter 11, Jephthah says that the Lord is Judge. Whatever the reason for the name, there are twelve judges: six with extended stories (Othniel, Ehud, Deborah, Gideon, Jephthah, and Samson)) and six that are mentioned in passing (Shamgar, Toa, Jair, Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon), reflecting the twelve tribe of Israel.

            Today’s reading sets the stage by showing the incompleteness of the conquest. Judah and Simeon do pretty well but can’t drive the Canaanites from the plains due to a technological disadvantage. (The Canaanites have chariots; the Israelites don’t. That’s like trying to defeat a column of tanks with a platoon of infantry.) From there it’s downhill. The Benjaminites accomplish some goals but are unable to drive the Jebusites from Jerusalem. (Have you noticed that Jerusalem is a real thorn? In Joshua, they killed the king of Jerusalem; earlier in this chapter, the Judahites set the city on fire. But here are the Jebusites, still hanging on…) Likewise the tribes of Joseph (Manasseh and Ephraim) take Bethel, but Manasseh cannot finish the job. Ephraim, Zebulun, Asher, Naphtali, and Dan all cannot finish their work. The result: Israel is surrounded by idolaters, a constant source of temptation, which has catastrophic results, as we’ll read about tomorrow.