Judges: ‘The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.’

 The whistle goes and the game starts.  Early on things go according to plan.  It is not long before they are a couple of goals up and the team seems to be cruising to victory.  But then they begin to argue among themselves.  As the opposition starts to dominate the game, they ignore the advice the coach is shouting from the dug-out.  They let in one goal, and soon afterwards another. It now seems they are staring defeat in the face—how things have gone terribly wrong!

Joshua told of the entry into the land, we see them take Jericho and they seem to go from strength to strength.  But then in Judges things go sour, we read of civil war, continued disobedience, defeats at the hands of their enemies—the conquest stalls. 

Structure:

Judges deals with the period following Joshua’s death (1:1), and before Israel had a king (21:25).  The book divides into three sections:

                The Introduction; which happens to be in two parts (1:1-3:6).

                The main body of the book; where we are going to encounter some of the most colourful characters in the Bible (3:7-16:31).

                And, an epilogue; which happens to be in two parts (17:1-21:25).

Introduction: (1:1-3:6) 

                A. A good start? (1:1-2:5)

                Things look good at the start of chapter 1—we read of victories achieved by the tribe of Judah[1].  However as we read on we see that none of the other tribes enjoyed similar success.[2]

                By the end of the chapter we read first of the Israelites refusing to drive the Canaanites out of the land, then of the Israelites living among the Canaanites, and finally of the Canaanites forcing the tribe of Dan out of their allotted land and into the hills.

                The stage is set to hear God’s word on this.  That word comes at the beginning of chapter 2 when the angel of the LORD spells out the problem.  Look at chapter 2, verses 1-2, I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you, and you shall not make a covenant with the people of the land, but you shall break down their alters.’(NIV)  God had been faithful to the covenant but Israel had not.  They had not lived up to their covenant obligations, they had not kept God’s commands, and so they would not enjoy all the covenant blessings.  

Because of their disobedience the LORD would stop driving out the Canaanites before them, the Canaanites will be a thorn in their side and the Canaanite gods a snare to them.  The conquest stalls!

                B. Snapshot-The Four R’s (2:6-3:6)

The second part of the introduction provides a snapshot of the entire history of the period of the Judges.  It begins at the time of Joshua and ends with the outcome of this period.

                We see a cycle that will occur again and again during the main section of the book: the people rebel—doing ‘evil in the eyes of the LORD’; God acts in retribution—handing them over to their enemies; the people repent—calling out to their LORD in their distress; and then God raises up judges to rescue them.

                Despite God’s mercy in sending them the judges, they stubbornly persist in their evil[3].  

Chapter 3 verse 5 shows that the period of the judges ends with Israel living among the Canaanites, intermarrying with them, and serving their gods.

The Main Body of the Book:  The Judges[4] (3:7-16:31)[5]

                When we think of ‘judges’ we tend to think of people with wigs who hear cases in court.  The Hebrew word that is translated ‘judge’ is something a little different.  While part of the function of the ‘judge’ in the ancient world was to hear cases and make decisions in disputes, the judge was also a leader and a ruler.  And as we shall see the ‘judges’ of this period were also military commanders-in-chief who were responsible for rescuing the people from their enemies.

                 The first judge Othniel is a model of what a judge should be.[6] 

The next is a sinister figure—Ehud the left-handed assassin, who conceals a double-edged sword and stabs the fat king Eglon while they are alone.

Ehud is followed by Shamgar—who strikes down Philistines with an ox-goad.

The next deliverance focuses on three characters, Deborah, Barak, and Jael.[7]  The song of chapter 5 reminds us that no matter who he uses in the process it is God who is the deliverer.

Gideon starts well—tearing down his father’s alter to Baal, and so given the name Jerub-Baal meaning ‘let Baal contend’.  In chapter 7 God gives Gideon victory over the Midianites.[8] However, in chapter 8, there is a change in Gideon—he acts ruthlessly in pursuing a personal vendetta.  Indeed Gideon ends up leading Israel into idolatry.[9]

After the death of Gideon[10] we read of his son Abimelech.  He is introduced as son of Jerub-Baal, however rather than contending against Baal, Abimelech appears to contend for Baal.[11] This story marks a low point in Judges, with Israel needing to be delivered from one of its own.

We then have brief accounts of Tola and Jair.

                In our cycle of R’s I hesitated in using the word repent, for Israel’s crying out to God seems to fall short of what true repentance is.  In chapter 10 when they cry out to God he points out that he has saved Israel many times before, but each time the crisis is over they go back to serving other gods.  He tells them to go and cry out to those gods, let them save them—of course they can’t!  However, the LORD is torn, verse 16, he could not bear Israel’s misery any longer (NIV).

The elders of Gilead turn to Jephthah to deliver them.[12]  He may be the people of Gilead’s choice but we are not told if he is God’s choice of deliverer.  We are left uncertain.[13]

In chapter 12 we see that the deliverance that Jephthah achieved over the Ammonites led not to peace but to infighting among the Israelites.[14]

                Following Jephthah we get brief accounts of Ibzan, Elon and Abdon.  Then we come to perhaps the most famous character in the book: Samson. 

When we read of preparation for Samson’s birth there is a great sense of promise—he is dedicated to be God’s deliverer even before he is born.  However, as we read on, we see that Samson seems more interested in marrying Philistines than delivering Israel from them.[15]

Again and again his relationships with Philistine women leave him vulnerable, the Philistines then think they have power over him, however, each time the Philistines come off worse than they were before they tried to ensnare him.

Samson’s reminds us of Israel in these stories.  Though chosen and privileged, he never embraced his calling.  As Samson chased after Philistine women, Israel chased after their gods.

The story of Samson is not all negative.  He does give an illustration of true faith.  Twice we see him sincerely calling out on the LORD (15:18; 16:28).  On both occasions placing his life in the LORD’s hands, not presuming on God, but confessing that his life and death lie in God’s control, and entrusting himself to the LORD.

Finally, in the Samson story, we see a pattern of deliverance.  There is the apparently defeated Samson, having been betrayed by Delilah, alone, forsaken and being mocked by the crowd—he stretches out his arms, defeats the enemy and delivers his people through his own death.  We seem to be seen a shadow of a greater deliverance that is to come.

Epilogue[16]: Doing what is right in your own eyes!

                In chapter 14 verse 3, Samson tells his father why he wants to marry a Philistine woman, he says, she is the right one for me.  More literally this reads: she is right in my eyes.  The thing that was wrong in God’s eyes was right in Samson’s eyes.

                This leads us into the epilogue.  Two troubling stories carefully crafted around the phrase, in those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit (NIV) (more literally everyone did what was right in his own eyes). 

                In these chapters we don’t read the refrain, Israel did evil in the eyes of the LORD—that gave us God’s perspective on Israel’s behaviour; now the focus is on Israel’s perspective—what was right in their eyes.        

The first centres on idolatry—false religion is right in their eyes.[17]

In the second we see the extent of Israel’s moral decay[18], we see them presume upon God, and wriggling to escape the implications of a vow they foolishly made.  In these chapters we might think that they appear to want to do the right thing, but behind their piety ‘lay the belief that they could manipulate God by going through the right motions’ (Baddeley, p. 84).[19]

By the end of Judges one might wonder if there is any hope for Israel.  Despite God’s grace in sending judges to deliver them they have gotten worse.  They seem incurably idolatrous.  Repeatedly they do what is evil in the eyes of the LORD, the evil that is right in their eyes.

But the book does not end on an entirely negative note.  Look at the last two verses. 

First of all verse 24.  Despite the questionable way in which Israel has gone about things, the breach is healed, the tribe of Benjamin continues.  The crisis is over.  Life returns to normality.  And note that word ‘inheritance’.  It reminds us that behind all we have witnessed in this book stand God’s promises to bless and to save.  ‘Even the worst excesses of Israel’s sin have not been able to overturn God’s commitment to fulfil his promises’.[20]   

Then verse 25, in those days there was no king; everyone did as he saw fit (NIV).  This points to how God will fulfil his promises despite the problem of our sin.  Everyone did as they saw fit [‘what was right in their own eyes’] because they had no king.

In time Israel had kings.  Then people no longer did as each person saw fit but followed their ruler.  The problem was the kings turned out just as disobedient as Israel had been—they led Israel away from God to idols and immorality.  If God’s promise was going to be fulfilled a different king was needed—one who would obey God.  A king who would deal with the problem of the sin of God’s people!

That king is Jesus!  Luke 23 tells us of the great work that Jesus has done to deal with the problem of our sin, the cross.  And what was written above his head? ‘This is the king of the Jews’.  Through his death Jesus has opened the way for every person who turns from doing what is right in their own eyes and submit to king Jesus’ rule to inherit God’s promised blessing.  Judges presents us with the problem: the cross is the answer.  That is the good news of the Gospel, God’s promises are fulfilled in Jesus.

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[1] In verses 19-20, although God is with them, Judah is unable to defeat the people of the plains, who have iron chariots.  The reason why they do not have victory is unexplained, but it prepares us for the reports of the lack of progress made by the other tribes.

[2] In verses 23-26 spies from the house of Joseph make a deal with a man from Luz.  They spare his life in order to get information to help take the city.  The man then moves away a distance and rebuilds Luz.  Their compromise meant that Canaanite idolatry was preserved in the middle of the Promised Land.

[3] So in judgement the LORD leaves the remaining nations in the land.  This will provide Israel with a test—to see whether they will keep the way o the LORD.  Chapter 3 verses 5 and 6 show us the outcome of this test.  It will also teach warfare to the generations after Joshua.  In chapter 3, verse 2, ‘only’ probably means ‘especially’, according to the NIV Study Bible.

[4] Though we read such terms as ‘led Israel’ and ‘the Israelites’ regularly appear, we should not imagine that and of these judges was leader of all Israel in the same way as Joshua or Moses were.  ‘In fact, as the stories unfold, you will recognise that part of the concern of the narrator is that precisely the opposite is true—that one or several tribes are oppressed and call on the other tribes for help, which sometimes comes and sometimes doesn’t, often resulting in inter-tribal strife.’  Fee and Stuart, How to read the Bible Book by Book.

[5] ‘The central series appears to be carefully constructed, presenting twelve “judges” corresponding to the number of Israelite tribes’ (Fee and Stuart, How to read the Bible Book by Book’).

[6] He is from the tribe of Judah (the most successful in chapter 1), related (through birth and marriage) to the great Caleb, and leads Israel to victory in battle.  He is the judge that the following judges are to be compared to.

[7] In chapter 4 Deborah a prophetess leading Israel, gives Barak a command form God concerning the deliverance.  However, Barak puts down a condition on his obedience, so the honour went to a woman, Jael—who was not an Israelite.  Again the deliverance is scandalous—Jael gets the army commander off guard, and slays him with a tent peg as he lay sleeping. 

[8] we are left in no doubt that God was responsible for this victory—the LORD instructs Gideon to reduce his army to a miniscule 300, the LORD calms Gideon’s fears on the night of the battle, and it is the LORD who causes the enemy soldiers to turn on each other with their swords. 

[9] At the end of chapter 8 Gideon dies.  Verses 33-35, No sooner had Gideon died than the Israelites again prostituted themselves to the Baals.  They set up Baal-Berith[9] as their god and did not remember the LORD their God, who had rescued them from the hands of all their enemies on every side.  They also failed to show kindness to the family of Jerub-Baal (that is Gideon) for all the good things he had done for them (NIV).

The use of the name Jerub-Baal for Gideon reminds us of Gideon’s role as God’s champion and chosen deliverer.  This name been associated with the worship of the LORD as opposed to Baal!  The story-teller wants us to see Israel’s treatment of Jerub-Baal’s family in connection with their treatment of the LORD.

[10] Israel had offered to make Gideon king—and he had responded I will not rule over you.  The LORD will rule over you.  However, despite these honourable words, Gideon’s actions told a different story.  We are told that he had seventy sons by ‘many wives’, typical behaviour for kings of that time, and behaviour explicitly prohibited by God (see Duet. 17:17).  Even more telling is the name of one of his sons, ‘Abimelech’, which means, ‘my father is king’.

[11] In the story of Abimelech things seem twisted.  This is seen in the role of the citizens of Shechem.  It had been at Shechem that Joshua had renewed Israel’s covenant with the LORD (Joshua 24:25), but here Shechem is the support base for Abimelech’s grasp for power.  Instead of being a centre of the covenant of the LORD, Shechem uses money from the temple of ‘Baal of the Covenant’ to support Abimelech.   Shechem strengths Abimelech to kill his brothers—Jerub-Baal’s sons!    

                In the end Shechem’s evil is turned back on them.  They had used Baal’s money to enable Abimelech to hire a mercenary force but in the end that same mercenary force that kills them—while they take refuge in the very temple they got the money from.

                As for Abimelech—twice it is mentioned that he killed his brothers on one stone (9:5, 18); he himself is killed by one stone—an unnamed woman dropping a milestone on his head as he approached the entrance of a tower to set it on fire (9:53).

                The result of God’s judgement on Abimelech is good for Israel.  After his death they went home (9:53).  As if they had woken up from a nightmare.  

[12] Jephthah replied, “Didn’t you hate me and drive me from my father’s house? Jephthah was the son of Gilead and a prostitute, his brothers had driven him away because he was the son of another woman.  Why do you come to me now when you are in trouble?” They are treating him like they have treated God—running to the one they have rejected because they are in trouble.

[13] In the previous episodes the LORD clearly chose the deliverer, however her we are given no indication the Jephthah is anything other than a human choice.

While he brings God into his conversation, and credits him with victory, we know that Jephthah has a vested interest in the outcome—he will only be confirmed as head over Gilead if he has victory.

In chapter 11 Jephthah’s ambition costs him dearly.  He tries to guarantee victory from the LORD through a vow.  The irony is that this vow was needless—the previous verse (11:29) informed us that the Spirit of the LORD had come upon him, empowering him to deliver Israel—he is trying to buy what has already been given to him freely. 

[14] In this Jephthah identifies himself with Gilead (‘I and my people’), not Israel.  Jephthah appears only concerned for his own interests as the leader of Gilead.  The outcome of the battle of chapter 12 is that he increases his rule to all Israel (12:7).  ‘Most troubling of all, by taking the fords, Gilead treats their brother Israelites in the same way that Israel had treated her oppressors in previous episodes (3:27-30), 7:24-28).  Jephthah’s pursuit of his own goals has lead to a tragic and destructive disunity among the people of God’ (Mark Baddeley, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, p.59).      

[15] With regards chapter 14 verse 4 the NIV Study Bible says, ‘The LORD uses even the sinful weaknesses of men to accomplish his purposes and bring praise to his name.’  See for example, Genesis 45:8 and 50:20.

Judah, which was the great conquering tribe of chapter 1, is now only a shadow of its former self.  In chapter 15 verse 11 they rebuke Samson with the question, ‘Don’t you realise that the Philistines are rulers over us?’

[16] The events in these stories evidently took place fairly early in the book of Judges.  It is highly probable that the events of the second story (19-21) took place before the first (17-18).  However, the events of chapter 17-18 are recorded first because their subject matter corresponds with chapters 13-16 (the Samson narrative), inasmuch as both are connected with the Philistine pressure on the tribe of Dan.  ‘Frequently in the Old Testament it may be observed that connection of subject-matter takes preference over chronological sequence’ (Morris).

[17] 18:1-31, this is the first time since chapter 1 we hear mention of Israel continuing its mandate of conquest.  However scratch beneath the surface and we see that things are not right: (1) Despite the spies’ pious talk of God giving them the land, we see that their confidence of being able to take the land depends on the vulnerability of its inhabitants—a fact that is stressed three times.  This is no heroic conquest; this is no example of dependant faith. (2) As the army travels towards Laish they stop off at Micah’s house to steal his idols. (3) When the Danites take the land we read that they set up idols there.

[18] Chapter 19 reminds us of that notorious evil city in Genesis, Sodom.  However, this time the culprits are the people of God.  Things have gotten terribly wrong in Israel.

[19] 20:4-7, The Levite is not entirely honest in his report of the incident.  He re-tells the event to his own advantage.  He maximises the threat to himself, and neglects to mention that he had sent out his concubine to satisfy the men’s lust.    

20:18, Judges began with Israel enquiring of the LORD, ‘Who will be the first to go up and fight against the Canaanites?’  And the LORD answered ‘Judah’.  Now at the end of this period, this downward spiral of sin and rebellion, Israel again asks who go up first into battle, but this time the battle is not against the Canaanites but one of their own tribes.  The LORD again answers that the first to go will be Judah. 

20:21-28, The tribe of Benjamin defeats the rest Israelites twice.  This seems confusing because the LORD had been on Israel’s side.  However they had presumed upon him, initially there only question was one of procedure—‘who should go first?’; it was only after their first defeat that they asked the LORD if they should actually engage in this battle; and it was not until after their second defeat that they fast and sacrifice to God—placing the whole decision in his hands.

[20] Baddeley, p 85.