1: Judah takes the place of
Joshua, though perhaps only for the people of Judah. This chapter holds many contradictions with
other Biblical books; “After the death of Judah” (but Judah still alive in
2:6-7), Judah conquers Jerusalem (but Jerusalem still standing and controlled
by Jebusites in 15:63, 19:10, and 2 Samuel), Gaza, Ashkelon, Ekron taken by
Judah in 1:18 (but taken by David in Samuel).
Generally, the chapter continues the theme of “the Lord is with them”
and conquering with the Lord, but it quickly transitions into the failures of
the tribes to conquer much of their land.
The statement in 1:19 that the “chariots of iron” are why the people are
unconquerable is strange, for the Lord is with them.
2: Israel's disobedience comes quickly in Judges, appearing in 2:1 and implied in the first chapter. Judges set the people right, but they keep turning away. Continuously turning to follow other Gods, mainly due to other peoples not being driven out, is the primary issue. A lengthy period of time is covered as the people are distanced from the clear work of God in Moses's and Joshua's eras.
3: God has left nations to test the Israelites and let them know war...I'm uncomfortable with the desire for all to know war. A clear cycle of disobedience-punishment-cry out-deliverance-repeat emerges. Ehad uses a surprisingly underhanded means to kill King Eglon. Hundreds of years pass by quickly.
4: Verse 1 seems to ignore Shamgar from the previous chapter. After 20 more years of oppression, focus centers on a single leader and prophetess, Deborah. Israelites cry out in verse 3, and the rest of the chapter revolves around the punishment of their oppressor through God's assistance. Women are prominent in this chapter, with Deborah, Jael, and the specific mention “the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman” in verse 9.
2: Israel's disobedience comes quickly in Judges, appearing in 2:1 and implied in the first chapter. Judges set the people right, but they keep turning away. Continuously turning to follow other Gods, mainly due to other peoples not being driven out, is the primary issue. A lengthy period of time is covered as the people are distanced from the clear work of God in Moses's and Joshua's eras.
3: God has left nations to test the Israelites and let them know war...I'm uncomfortable with the desire for all to know war. A clear cycle of disobedience-punishment-cry out-deliverance-repeat emerges. Ehad uses a surprisingly underhanded means to kill King Eglon. Hundreds of years pass by quickly.
4: Verse 1 seems to ignore Shamgar from the previous chapter. After 20 more years of oppression, focus centers on a single leader and prophetess, Deborah. Israelites cry out in verse 3, and the rest of the chapter revolves around the punishment of their oppressor through God's assistance. Women are prominent in this chapter, with Deborah, Jael, and the specific mention “the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman” in verse 9.
5: A poetic celebration of
the events of chapter 4. Gives praises
to several, especially Deborah, but ultimately to God. The Israelites prospered and those who didn't
fight are chastised.
6: Cycle of disobedience and punishment turns yet again, in much more detail. In the calling out of Gideon, the theme of God choosing the least likely is made, perhaps for the first time. Signs of God's presence heavily emphasized.
7: Once again gives a strong focus on it being the Lord, not man's might, which delivers. This is one of the most direct retellings of what has become a constant theme.
8: Gideon exacts vengeance on those who killed his family as well as those who did not assist him. Gideon refuses to lead Israel, saying God is in charge, but he is led astray by the gold he has captured. After Gideon, the Israelites relapse once again.
6: Cycle of disobedience and punishment turns yet again, in much more detail. In the calling out of Gideon, the theme of God choosing the least likely is made, perhaps for the first time. Signs of God's presence heavily emphasized.
7: Once again gives a strong focus on it being the Lord, not man's might, which delivers. This is one of the most direct retellings of what has become a constant theme.
8: Gideon exacts vengeance on those who killed his family as well as those who did not assist him. Gideon refuses to lead Israel, saying God is in charge, but he is led astray by the gold he has captured. After Gideon, the Israelites relapse once again.
9: Abimelech makes a move
for authority of all Israel, our first sign of personal power-hunger among the
Israelites. Jotham allows God and the
natural consequences to take control, but speaks truth to those who erred. God indeed carries out vengeance on those who
took power into their own hands.
10: More judges are named,
and the cycle of obedience/rebellion/deliverance continues. God shows
frustration at this continued cycle.
11: Jepthah’s story again repeats the theme of the “unlikely one” coming into power. God supports him in bringing victory to the people of Israel, but his decision to make and keep an odd vow leads him to sacrificing his only daughter in the aftermath, an odd twist without clear purpose.
11: Jepthah’s story again repeats the theme of the “unlikely one” coming into power. God supports him in bringing victory to the people of Israel, but his decision to make and keep an odd vow leads him to sacrificing his only daughter in the aftermath, an odd twist without clear purpose.
12: Ephraim and Gilead have
issues which each other which lead to massive inner-tribe warfare, for which
Jepthah and Gilead come out victorious (despite Jepthah’s recent human
sacrifice of his daughter). After
Jepthah’s death, several other judges rule Israel.
13: Starts with repeating the same, “Israelites did what was evil and were delivered into the hands of the Philistines”, but then focuses the rest of the chapter on the miraculous birth of Samson, clearly announced by God’s messenger.
13: Starts with repeating the same, “Israelites did what was evil and were delivered into the hands of the Philistines”, but then focuses the rest of the chapter on the miraculous birth of Samson, clearly announced by God’s messenger.
14: Samson’s conflicts
starts when he lusts after a foreign wife, surprisingly attributed by the
narrator to God’s intention. Samson puts
forth an odd riddle during a feast, but breaks down under pressure and tells
the answer to his wife, who tells it to her people. Samson uses this as a pretext to kill 30
uninvolved people and steals their things to pay off the riddle-explainers, with
“the spirit of the Lord” upon him.
Samson’s best man ends up marrying his wife. The moral of all this escapes me.
15: Samson wants his wife back, and is offered her younger sister instead because his wife has been married off to his best man. Samson responds by destroying the land and crops of uninvolved Philistines. The Philistines find that Samson’s father-in-law was responsible for this happening, and kill him and Samson’s estranged wife. Samson responds by slaughtering a great number of them, and a back-and-forth war between Samson and the Philistines breaks out, with Samson coming out ahead. God cares for Samson, and Samson is declared a judge of Israel. Again, other than “God used Samson to kill Philistines”, the message of this sequence escapes me
16: Samson keeps sleeping with women, which leads to difficult situations, but he manages to “redeem” each situation with his massive strength. Moral appears to be “God punishes Israelites for their sins and errors, God punishes Philistines for being Philistines.”
17: An odd and personal story is given of the Ephraim man Micah and his household turning to idolatry, believing (which we assume to be mistakenly) that God will bless him.
18: The tribe of Dan, in their search for more land, take on Micah’s idolatry themselves. They successfully overcome the people of Laish, destroying them and settling in their land, with the idol.
15: Samson wants his wife back, and is offered her younger sister instead because his wife has been married off to his best man. Samson responds by destroying the land and crops of uninvolved Philistines. The Philistines find that Samson’s father-in-law was responsible for this happening, and kill him and Samson’s estranged wife. Samson responds by slaughtering a great number of them, and a back-and-forth war between Samson and the Philistines breaks out, with Samson coming out ahead. God cares for Samson, and Samson is declared a judge of Israel. Again, other than “God used Samson to kill Philistines”, the message of this sequence escapes me
16: Samson keeps sleeping with women, which leads to difficult situations, but he manages to “redeem” each situation with his massive strength. Moral appears to be “God punishes Israelites for their sins and errors, God punishes Philistines for being Philistines.”
17: An odd and personal story is given of the Ephraim man Micah and his household turning to idolatry, believing (which we assume to be mistakenly) that God will bless him.
18: The tribe of Dan, in their search for more land, take on Micah’s idolatry themselves. They successfully overcome the people of Laish, destroying them and settling in their land, with the idol.
19: A woman is horrifically
mistreated by all around – first taken as a concubine by a Levite, then
abandoned outside to be raped by the men of Gibeah, then brutally raped until
death by these men, and finally dismembered in death and sent around the nation
as a sign. In the context of the story, it
sets up the need for retribution against the Gibeah men who represent the clan
of Benjamin, while the other mistreatment is ignored. However, it also dramatically depicts the
awful treatment and status of women within the society.
20: All of Israel unites together to punish the town of Gibeah and all the Benjamites along with them. With God’s blessing, the Benjamite army is utterly defeated and the population of Gibeah and all the towns around it is massacred and burned.
21: The rest of Israel feels bad that the tribe of Benjamin will die out because all their women have been massacred. To make up for it, they massacre the people of Jabesh-gilead, including the women and little ones, all except 400 virgins, and give the virgins away to the men of Benjamin so their line may continue. The importance of showing up to fight is emphasized. Next, the young women of Shiloh are kidnapped and raped to make up for the remainder. The final sentence possibly implies that all the events are deplorable, but it is certainly ambiguous.
Summary: The book of Judges heavily emphasizes the cycle of obedience/rebellion/deliverance that had started in the Pentateuch. War being won through God’s strength, not man, is emphasized early, though it begins to fade out near the end of the chapter as the people appear to get distant from God. Morally deplorable acts take center stage in Judges, from assassinations set up by lying and deception to the human sacrifice of Jepthah’s daughter to Samson’s scandalous behavior with women to the Levite woman being put out to be raped and then having her body mutilated to the massacre of the Benjamites to the massacre and mass rape of the people of Jabesh-gilead, and finally the abduction and rape of the women of Shiloh.
20: All of Israel unites together to punish the town of Gibeah and all the Benjamites along with them. With God’s blessing, the Benjamite army is utterly defeated and the population of Gibeah and all the towns around it is massacred and burned.
21: The rest of Israel feels bad that the tribe of Benjamin will die out because all their women have been massacred. To make up for it, they massacre the people of Jabesh-gilead, including the women and little ones, all except 400 virgins, and give the virgins away to the men of Benjamin so their line may continue. The importance of showing up to fight is emphasized. Next, the young women of Shiloh are kidnapped and raped to make up for the remainder. The final sentence possibly implies that all the events are deplorable, but it is certainly ambiguous.
Summary: The book of Judges heavily emphasizes the cycle of obedience/rebellion/deliverance that had started in the Pentateuch. War being won through God’s strength, not man, is emphasized early, though it begins to fade out near the end of the chapter as the people appear to get distant from God. Morally deplorable acts take center stage in Judges, from assassinations set up by lying and deception to the human sacrifice of Jepthah’s daughter to Samson’s scandalous behavior with women to the Levite woman being put out to be raped and then having her body mutilated to the massacre of the Benjamites to the massacre and mass rape of the people of Jabesh-gilead, and finally the abduction and rape of the women of Shiloh.
