Copyright 1997MWSC/Jeanie C. Crain All
rights reserved.
Judges:
the Stuff of Epics
- Conquest
of Canaan 1.1-2.5
- Moralizing
Introduction 2.6-3.6
- Adventures
of Individual Judges 3-16
- Appendix:
Migration of Dan and Sins of the Benjamites
Moral: loyalty to
God = success; disloyalty = disaster (Dt. 28)
Individualism
and Heroism
- Short
chronology: 1290-1224, thirteenth century BCE; late Bronze, early Iron Age
- Chief
external force: Egypt (period of Rameses II)
- Transjordan
peoples: Edomites, Moabites, Amorites, Ammonites, Canaanites (and later,
Phoenicians); Philistines (1190)
Organization
- Prologue
1.1-3; -6
- Transition
between ages of Joshua and judges
- Pattern:
rebellion, defeat, deliverance, renewed rebellion
(Joshua: era of
successes)
"In
those days, there was no king in Israel."
- Epilogue:
Depths to which people sink
- Micah’s
ephod and Levite; theft by Danites
- Rape
of city of Laish
- Rape
of Levite’s concubine
- Decimation
of tribe of Benjamine
1.
Othniel 3.7-11
- Caleb’s
younger brother’s son 3.9
- Spirit
of the Lord moved him to judge. 3.10
- King
of Mesopotamia given into his hands 3.10
- Land
rested for forty years, then Othniel died. 3.11
2.
Ehud 3.12-30
- God
raised Ehud as a deliverer from the Moabites 3.15
- Ehud
stabs Eglon, king of Moab, to death after presenting him with a sword as
tribute. 3. 15-26; Eglon is known as a very fat king.
- Ehud
and Israel kill ten thousand Moabites. 3.29
- Israel
has rest for eighty years. 3.30
3.
Shamgar 3.31
- Shamgar
killed 600 Philistines with an oxgoad and delivered Israel.
(Philistines--a
non-semitic people probably from Crete; settle on coastal plain about the same
time the Hebrews enter Canaan.)
4.
Deborah 4-5
- Deborah,
a prophetess, judged Israel oppressed for twenty years by Jabin, king of
Canaan. 4.1-4
- Sisera,
Jabin’s general, who flees to tent of Jael; Jael, however, drives a tent
peg into his head, through his head, and into the ground--so he died
(macabre humor) 4.
Deborah’s
Song
- 5-song
of Deborah: oldest Hebrew literature
- Contains
plaintive picture of mother of Sisera looking out her window and waiting
for her son’s return . 5. 28-30
- Israel
has rest for forty years. 6.1
5.
Gideon 6-8
- Tribe of Manasseh
- Angel appears to Gideon, who is beating out wheat in a wine press
6.1-13
- Gideon makes excuses, like Moses: fire jumps up and consumes bread
and meat 6.21; altar of Baal broken down 6.28; fleece and dew 6.36-40.
Gideon
Refuses Rule 8.23
- Gideon conquers Midianites. 6.22
- People want him to rule: his reply, "the Lord will rule over
you." 8.23
- Gideon makes ephod of gold and places it in his city; it becomes a
snare to him. 8.27
Gideon:
Father of Seventy--and Abimelech
- Gideon has seventy sons. 8.30
- Abimelech, his son by a concubine, becomes judge after Gideon.
8.31
- Pulls down Baal’s altar; name changed to Zerubbaal 6.32 (combined
oral traditions account for baal in name?)
- Gideon dies 8.33
6.
Abimelech: Rule of Seventy or One? 9
- Son
of Jerubbbaal (7.1 Gideon)
- Slays
seventy brothers, except for Jothan 9.5
- Shechemites
make Abimelech king (Shechemite is place of Covenant renewal in Joshua;
evidence is it is a center of Baal worship.)
Treacherous
Rebellion
- Jotham
denounces Abimelech in parable of olive tree and bramble. 9.7-21
- Abimelech
rules three years before Shechemites, in part, turn against him; Gael
leads rebellion 9.22-49; Abimelech slays a thousand in the Tower of
Shechem 9.49.
King
Killed by a Woman
- Abimelech
seeks to take Thebez; is killed by a woman who drops a mill stone on his
head. 9.53
- Crime
of Abimelech is requited. 9.56
7 and
8. Two Minor Judges 10. 1-5
Civil Judges
- Tola--judged twenty-three years
- Jair--judged twenty-two years; had thirty sons who rode on thirty
asses
9.
Jepthah 10.6-12.7
- Robin
Hood-like 11.3 (son of prostitute, flees from brothers, gathers worthless
fellows around him)
- Fights
Ammonites; judges six years
- Makes
rash vow: given Ammonite victory, he will give God the first who comes
forth from the doors of his house (his daughter) 11. 34
10,
11, 12 Three Minor Judges 12.8-15
- Ibzan 12.8
- had thirty sons
- ruled seven years
- Eglon
- judged ten years
- Abdon
- had forty sons
- seventy asses
- judged eight years
13.
Sampson 13-17
- Miracle child: Manoah’s wife was barren
- Angel conveys to Manoah’s wife she will conceive and bare a son.
13.3
- Angel’s name is wonderful: incommunicable. 13.18
- Philistines have dominion over Israel; Sampson chooses a
Philistine for a wife. 14. 1-7
Spirit
of God
- Spirit of God imparts physical strength; later to become moral and
spiritual 15.14
- Sees a harlot 16.1
- Loves Philistine Delilah 16.4
- Eyes gouged out by Philistines 16.21
- Delilah cuts his hair; Sampson loses strength
Reverse
Golden Rule
- "As they do to me, so have I done to them." 17.12
- Sampson pulls pillars down on heads of three thousand men and
women 16.27
- Sampson torches fields with three hundred foxes tied tail to tail.
15.4 ff.
Micah
Builds a Shrine
- Young man of Bethlehem, a Levi, serves as priest for Micah. 17.7
- Danites later capture Levite priest and take the graven image, the
ephod, the teraphim, and the molten image 18.17
- Gershom, son of Moses, is priest to Danites 18.30.
- Danites and Gershom set up graven image 18.31
Israel
Wars with its Own
- Fellow
countryman living in Gibeah offers hospitality to Ephramite Levite going
to Bethlehem to bring back his concubine 19. 2
- Benjamites
come to man’s house and ask for visitor to be sent out to them; man sends
concubine, who is abused sexually until she dies. 19. 22-30
Hot
Anger and Vengeance
- Danites avenge death of concubine; tribe defeats Benjamites. 20
- Israel refused to allow its daughters to marry Benjamites but
relents , realizing Benjamin is facing extinction 21
- Find wives for Benjamites
Familiar
Refrain
- Israel did evil 3.7 Othniel
- Israel again did evil. 3.12 Ehud
- Israel did what was evil. 4.1 Deborah
- Israel did what was evil. 6.1 Gideon
- Israel plays harlot. 8.33 Abimelech
- Israel again did what was evil 10.6 Jepthah
- Israel again did what was evil 13. 1 Sampson
"In those days there was no king in Israel;
every man did what was right in his own eyes." 21.25
Canaanite
Religion
- Altar of Baal 6.25-32: Asherah represented by a wooden pole.
- Ahab of Northern Israel followed the Baals I Kings 18.17-46; 450
prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah:
- "How long will you go limping with two
different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal, then
follow him" 18.21
- Struggle between Baal and the Lord is struggle
between life and death.
Baals
and Ashtaroth
- 10.6-17
Israel serves Canaanite gods Baals and Astharoth, gods of Syria, Sidon,
Moab, Ammonites, and Philistines.
Nations
Fought
- Mesopotamia-Othniel
- Moabites-Eglon
- Philistines-Shamgar
- Canaanites-Deborah
- Midianites and Amalekites-Gideon
- Philistines and Amonites-Jepthah