Judges

Judges

After Joshua’s death, the Israelites asked YHWH:

“Who shall go up for us first against the Canaanites?”

YHWH said:

“Judah shall go up—I have given the land into his hand.”

Victories and Partial Success

Judah, with Simeon, struck the Perizzites at Bezek.

They captured Jerusalem and Hebron, and defeated several Canaanite kings.

Caleb offered his daughter Achsah in marriage to whoever took Debir—

Othniel did, and she became his wife.

Failure to Drive Out the Inhabitants

Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites from Jerusalem.

Manasseh failed to take Beth-shean and surrounding cities.

Ephraim did not remove the Canaanites from Gezer.

Zebulun, Asher, Naphtali, and Dan likewise failed to dispossess the nations.

“So the Canaanites persisted in dwelling among them.”

———

The angel of YHWH went up from Gilgal to Bochim and said:

“I brought you out of Egypt…

But you have not obeyed My voice.

Why have you done this?”

“I will not drive them out before you—they shall be thorns in your sides.”

The people wept and offered sacrifices. The place was named Bochim (“Weeping”).

The Generation That Knew Not YHWH

“After Joshua and his generation died, another generation arose

who did not know YHWH or the works He had done for Israel.”

“They forsook YHWH and served the Baals and Ashtoreths.”

The Cycle Begins

Israel sinned

YHWH gave them into enemy hands

They cried out

YHWH raised up judges

But they quickly returned to sin after each judge died

“They were stiff-necked, worse than their fathers.”

———

Nations Left to Test Israel:

Philistines, Canaanites, Sidonians, Hivites.

“They were left to test whether Israel would walk in YHWH’s ways.”

1. Othniel (Judah)

Israel served Baals

YHWH gave them into the hand of Cushan-rishathaim, king of Mesopotamia

Israel cried out

YHWH raised up Othniel, Caleb’s nephew

He delivered them. The land had rest for 40 years

2. Ehud (Benjamin)

Israel again did evil

YHWH strengthened Eglon, king of Moab

Israel cried out

YHWH raised up Ehud, a left-handed man

Ehud made a double-edged sword, hid it on his right thigh, and went to Eglon.

“I have a secret message from God.”

He stabbed Eglon—so fat the sword disappeared into his belly.

Ehud escaped, led Israel to victory, and the land had rest 80 years.

3. Shamgar

Struck down 600 Philistines with an oxgoad

He too saved Israel

———

Israel again did evil.

YHWH gave them into the hand of Jabin, king of Hazor.

His commander was Sisera, who had 900 iron chariots.

Deborah the Prophetess

Deborah judged Israel from beneath the palm between Ramah and Bethel.

She summoned Barak and said:

“Has not YHWH commanded: ‘Go to Mount Tabor with 10,000 men’?”

Barak said:

“If you go with me, I will go.”

She replied:

“I will go—but the glory will not be yours.

YHWH will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.”

Victory at Kishon

YHWH threw Sisera’s army into confusion.

Barak pursued them.

Sisera fled on foot to the tent of Jael, wife of Heber the Kenite.

She welcomed him, gave him milk, and covered him.

While he slept, she took a tent peg and drove it through his temple.

Barak came in pursuit. Jael said:

“Come—I will show you the man you seek.”

“So God subdued Jabin king of Canaan that day.”

———

“That the leaders took the lead in Israel, that the people offered themselves—bless YHWH!”

The song recounts:

The trembling of the earth

The call of Deborah

The valiant tribes (Ephraim, Benjamin, Zebulun, Issachar)

The absent tribes (Reuben, Dan, Asher)

Jael Blessed Above Women

“She struck Sisera, crushed his head…

Between her feet he sank and fell.”

Sisera’s Mother Waits in Vain

“Why is his chariot so long in coming?”

Conclusion

“So may all Your enemies perish, O YHWH!

But let those who love You be like the sun rising in its strength.”

And the land had rest for forty years.

———

Israel again did evil.

YHWH gave them into the hand of Midian for seven years.

The people hid in caves.

Midian ravaged the land—like locusts, they devoured crops and livestock.

The Cry and the Prophet

Israel cried out.

YHWH sent a prophet:

“I brought you out of Egypt…

But you did not obey My voice.”

The Messenger Appears to Gideon

Gideon was threshing wheat in secret.

The messenger of YHWH appeared and said:

“YHWH is with you, O mighty man of valor.”

Gideon replied:

“If YHWH is with us, why has all this happened?”

The messenger said:

“Go in this strength. I send you to save Israel from Midian.”

Gideon asked:

“How can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest, and I am the least.”

YHWH said:

“I will be with you.”

Gideon built an altar there and called it YHWH Shalom (“YHWH is Peace”).

Tearing Down the Altar of Baal

YHWH said:

“Take your father’s bull and tear down the altar of Baal.

Build an altar to YHWH and offer a bull.”

Gideon obeyed—but did it by night.

When discovered, the people wanted to kill him.

But his father Joash said:

“If Baal is a god, let him defend himself.”

So they called Gideon Jerubbaal (“Let Baal contend”).

The Fleece of Confirmation

Midian and Amalek gathered.

Gideon said:

“If You will save Israel by my hand—let the fleece be wet and the ground dry.”

It was so.

“Now let the fleece be dry and the ground wet.”

Again, YHWH answered.

———

YHWH said:

“You have too many men—lest Israel boast.

Tell the fearful to go home.”

22,000 left. 10,000 remained.

Still too many.

“Take them to the water. Watch how they drink.”

Only 300 cupped the water with their hands.

YHWH said:

“With these 300 I will save you.”

Gideon Encouraged by a Dream

That night, Gideon went near the camp.

A Midianite told a dream:

“A barley loaf rolled into our camp and struck a tent—it fell flat.”

The other said:

“This is the sword of Gideon—God has given Midian into his hand.”

The Attack

Gideon divided the 300 into three companies.

Each had a trumpet and torch inside a jar.

They surrounded the camp and cried:

“For YHWH and for Gideon!”

They blew trumpets, broke jars, and held torches.

Midian panicked and fled. YHWH caused confusion—they struck one another.

Ephraim captured the leaders Oreb and Zeeb.

———

Gideon pursued Zebah and Zalmunna, Midian’s kings.

The men of Succoth and Penuel refused to help.

Gideon vowed:

“When YHWH gives them into my hand—I will return and deal with you.”

He captured the kings and punished the cities as promised.

Gideon Refuses Kingship

Israel said:

“Rule over us.”

Gideon replied:

“I will not rule over you—YHWH will rule over you.”

But he asked for gold from their spoils—fashioned into a golden ephod in Ophrah.

“All Israel prostituted themselves after it.”

Gideon died in old age.

As soon as he died, Israel turned again to the Baals.

“They did not remember YHWH…

nor show loyalty to Gideon’s house.”

———

Abimelech, son of Gideon by a concubine, went to Shechem:

“Say: ‘Abimelech is your own flesh. Let him rule instead of seventy sons of Jerubbaal.’”

The leaders gave him silver from the temple of Baal-berith.

He hired worthless men and killed his brothers—seventy on one stone.

Only Jotham, the youngest, escaped.

Jotham’s Parable

From Mount Gerizim, he shouted:

“The trees sought a king. The olive, fig, and vine all refused.

The thornbush said: ‘Take shelter in my shade—if not, let fire come out.’”

“If you acted in truth—rejoice. If not—let fire consume you.”

Abimelech’s Rule and Judgment

He ruled three years.

YHWH sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and Shechem.

Shechem rebelled.

Abimelech destroyed the city, then burned the tower of Shechem with a thousand inside.

At Thebez, a woman dropped a millstone on his head.

“Kill me,” he cried to his armor-bearer,

“lest they say, ‘A woman killed him.’”

Thus God repaid Abimelech’s evil, and Shechem’s treachery.

———

Tola (Issachar) judged Israel 23 years from Shamir.

Then came Jair of Gilead—he judged 22 years, had 30 sons and 30 donkeys.

Israel Sins Again

They served:

Baals

Ashtoreths

Gods of Aram, Sidon, Moab, Ammon, and Philistia

YHWH’s anger burned.

He gave them into the hands of Ammon and Philistia.

“You have forsaken Me. I will save you no more.

Go cry to the gods you have chosen.”

The people said:

“We have sinned. Do to us what is good—only rescue us.”

They put away the foreign gods.

“And His soul could no longer endure the misery of Israel.”

———

Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty warrior.

He was the son of a prostitute. His brothers drove him away:

“You shall have no inheritance with us.”

He fled to the land of Tob; worthless men gathered around him.

Ammon Makes War

When Ammon made war on Israel, the elders of Gilead asked Jephthah:

“Come be our commander.”

Jephthah answered:

“You hated me. Now in distress you call me back?”

They swore an oath:

“YHWH will be witness—we will make you head over all of Gilead.”

Jephthah Negotiates and Warns

He sent messengers to the king of Ammon:

“Israel did not take your land—they passed peaceably.

It was Sihon, king of the Amorites, who attacked.

YHWH gave us this land.”

“We will not give it up.”

But the king of Ammon paid no attention.

Jephthah’s Vow

“If You give the Ammonites into my hand,

then whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me,

I will offer it as a burnt offering.”

YHWH Gave Victory

Jephthah defeated Ammon with a great blow.

But when he returned home—

his daughter came out to meet him, dancing with tambourines.

She was his only child.

He tore his clothes and cried:

“You have brought me very low.”

She replied:

“Do to me as you have vowed—

only let me go and weep for two months on the mountains.”

She returned, and he fulfilled his vow.

“She had never known a man.”

Thus began the custom:

the daughters of Israel mourned for Jephthah’s daughter four days a year.

———

Ephraim was angry:

“Why did you go fight without calling us?”

Jephthah said:

“I called—you didn’t come. So I risked my life.”

Ephraim called the Gileadites fugitives.

Jephthah fought them and captured the fords of the Jordan.

When an Ephraimite tried to cross, they tested him:

“Say Shibboleth.”

If he said “Sibboleth,” they killed him.

42,000 Ephraimites fell.

Jephthah judged Israel six years. He died and was buried in Gilead.

Next Judges:

Ibzan of Bethlehem — judged 7 years; had 30 sons and 30 daughters

Elon of Zebulun — judged 10 years

Abdon of Pirathon — judged 8 years; had 40 sons and 30 grandsons who rode 70 donkeys

———

Israel again did evil.

YHWH gave them into the hand of the Philistines for 40 years.

A Messenger Appears

A man of Zorah, from the tribe of Dan, named Manoah, had a barren wife.

The messenger of YHWH appeared to her:

“You shall conceive and bear a son.

Drink no wine. Eat nothing unclean.

No razor shall touch his head—he will be a Nazirite from the womb,

and he will begin to save Israel from the Philistines.”

She told her husband. He prayed:

“Let the man of God return and teach us what to do.”

The messenger returned. They offered a young goat.

He said:

“If you prepare an offering, offer it to YHWH.”

As the flame rose from the altar, the messenger ascended in the flame.

Manoah fell on his face and said:

“We shall surely die—for we have seen God!”

But his wife replied:

“If YHWH meant to kill us, He would not have accepted our offering.”

She bore a son and named him Samson.

The Spirit of YHWH began to stir him at Mahaneh-dan.

———

Samson went to Timnah and saw a Philistine woman:

“Get her for me—she is right in my eyes.”

His parents said:

“Is there no woman among our people?”

But it was from YHWH—He was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines.

The Lion and the Honey

A young lion came roaring toward Samson.

The Spirit of YHWH rushed upon him—he tore it with his bare hands.

Later, he found bees and honey in the carcass.

The Riddle

At the wedding feast, Samson said:

“Out of the eater came something to eat.

Out of the strong came something sweet.”

They could not solve it.

His wife wept and pressed him. He gave in.

She told the riddle to her people.

They answered:

“What is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion?”

Samson said:

“If you had not plowed with my heifer,

you would not have solved my riddle.”

The Spirit of YHWH rushed on him.

He struck down 30 men of Ashkelon, took their garments, and left burning with anger.

———

Samson returned later to visit his wife.

Her father said:

“I gave her to your companion.”

Samson said:

“Now I will be blameless when I harm the Philistines.”

He caught 300 foxes, tied torches to their tails, and burned their grain, vineyards, and groves.

The Philistines burned his wife and her father.

Samson struck them down and retreated to the rock of Etam.

Delivered by Judah

3,000 men of Judah said:

“Don’t you know the Philistines rule over us?”

Samson agreed to go with them if they would not kill him.

They bound him with ropes.

Jawbone of a Donkey

The Spirit of YHWH rushed on him.

The ropes melted like flax.

He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey and struck down 1,000 men.

He said:

“With the jawbone of a donkey, heaps upon heaps,

with the jawbone of a donkey, I have struck down a thousand men.”

He called the place Ramath-lehi (“Hill of the Jawbone”).

Thirsting, he cried to YHWH:

“You have given this great victory. Shall I now die of thirst?”

YHWH split a hollow place, and water came out.

“He judged Israel twenty years in the days of the Philistines.”

———

Samson went to Gaza and lay with a prostitute.

The Philistines waited to kill him at dawn.

At midnight, he arose, took the city gate, and carried it to the top of a hill.

Delilah and the Secret of His Strength

He fell in love with Delilah in the valley of Sorek.

The Philistine lords said:

“Entice him. Each of us will give you eleven hundred pieces of silver.”

She asked:

“Tell me the secret of your strength.”

He lied three times: fresh cords, new ropes, weaving his hair.

Each time she called the Philistines, and he broke free.

Samson Betrayed

Worn down, he told her:

“No razor has touched my head.

I have been a Nazirite to God from birth.

If my hair is shaved, my strength will leave me.”

Delilah lulled him to sleep and called a man to shave his head.

“The Philistines are upon you, Samson!”

He rose, but did not know YHWH had departed from him.

Captured and Humiliated

The Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes, and bound him.

He was put to grind grain in prison.

But his hair began to grow again.

Samson’s Final Act

At a great festival to Dagon, the Philistines brought Samson out to entertain them.

He prayed:

“O Lord YHWH, remember me. Strengthen me once more.”

He grasped the two central pillars and pushed:

“Let me die with the Philistines.”

The house fell—killing more in his death than in his life.

His brothers retrieved his body and buried him.

“He judged Israel twenty years.”

———

There was a man named Micah from Ephraim.

He returned 1,100 silver pieces to his mother.

She dedicated them to YHWH to make an idol and carved image.

Micah made a shrine, ephod, and household gods, and installed one of his sons as a priest.

“In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”

A Levite Arrives

A young Levite from Bethlehem came seeking a place to stay.

Micah said:

“Live with me. Be a father and a priest—I will give you silver, clothes, and food.”

The Levite agreed.

“Now I know YHWH will prosper me, for I have a Levite as priest.”

———

The tribe of Dan sought territory, for they had not yet received their inheritance.

They sent five men who came to Micah’s house.

They heard the voice of the Levite and asked:

“What are you doing here?”

“I am a hired priest.”

They said:

“Please inquire of God if our journey will succeed.”

“Go in peace—your journey is under YHWH’s eye.”

Danites Seize the Shrine

600 Danites came with weapons.

They took Micah’s idols and priest.

The Levite gladly joined them.

Micah pursued but was told:

“Don’t argue, or angry men will fall on you.”

“Micah saw they were too strong, and turned back.”

They attacked Laish, a quiet and unsuspecting city, and burned it.

They rebuilt it and named it Dan.

“They set up the carved image and appointed Jonathan, a Levite,

and his sons as priests to the tribe.”

“All the days the house of God was in Shiloh.”

———

A Levite from Ephraim took a concubine from Bethlehem.

She left him and returned to her father’s house.

He went to speak kindly to her. The father delayed him five days.

Traveling at Dusk

They refused to stay in Jebus (Jerusalem) and arrived in Gibeah (Benjamin) at night.

An old man welcomed them in.

But wicked men surrounded the house, saying:

“Bring out the man that we may know him.”

The host said:

“Do not do this evil. Take my virgin daughter and his concubine.”

The Woman Abused

They gave them the concubine.

“They abused her all night and let her go at dawn.”

She collapsed at the threshold.

In the morning, the Levite said:

“Get up. Let’s go.”

There was no answer.

He put her on his donkey and went home.

A Call to Israel

He cut her body into twelve pieces and sent them throughout Israel.

“Everyone who saw it said: ‘Such a thing has never happened… Consider it. Speak!’”

———

All Israel assembled at Mizpah—400,000 men.

They asked:

“How did this happen?”

The Levite explained. Israel demanded Benjamin hand over the guilty men.

Benjamin refused. 26,000 came to fight—with 700 elite left-handed slingers.

Battle

Day 1: Israel lost 22,000

Day 2: Israel lost 18,000

They wept and fasted.

YHWH said:

“Go. Tomorrow I will give them into your hand.”

On Day 3, Israel set an ambush.

When Benjamin came out, the ambush struck Gibeah.

25,100 Benjaminites died that day.

Only 600 men escaped to the rock of Rimmon.

———

Israel grieved:

“One tribe is cut off! What shall we do for wives for the 600?”

A Rash Oath

They had sworn:

“No one shall give his daughter to Benjamin.”

But none from Jabesh-gilead came to Mizpah.

They struck the city and brought 400 virgins for Benjamin.

Still 200 short.

A Festival Plan

They instructed the remaining men to go to Shiloh during a festival.

“When the girls come out to dance, each of you seize one.”

When the fathers complained, the elders said:

“We didn’t give them—you took them. So you are not guilty of breaking the oath.”

Benjamin rebuilt, married, and inherited again.

“In those days there was no king in Israel.

Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”