Judges 3 – Verse 2: This verse asserts that the main reason God allowed surrounding nations to survive around Israel was to “teach warfare to the descendents of the Israelites who had not had previous battle experience.” Warfare is not a skill we value highly today. None of us feel it necessary to teach it to our children. And yet, a look at ancient literature (and even more modern literature for the World War II era and earlier) speak highly of noble traits of courage, loyalty, and honor that can only be tested in the crucible of war. In the early stages of the nation of Israel, they would be continually vulnerable to attack from many surrounding nations. They would need to be trained to know how to defend themselves.
Verse 3: The Philistines (to the west, today’s Gaza strip), the Sidonians and Hivites who lived in the Lebanese mountains (to the north) would provide continual military tests from outside Israel. The Canaanite nations, including also the Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, remaining Hivites and Jebusites (v. 5) would provide spiritual tests from within their own territory, tests that they would quickly fail as described in verse 6. It is sad that God’s great plan to have a uniquely holy nation would falter so quickly, yet even though the majority of Israelites lost their way, the Bible continually speaks of a faithful remnant who would continue to fulfill God’s purposes.
Verse 8: “he sold them…” Not literally of course. The author of Judges emphasizes that God was sole owner of the Israelites and could deal with them as he chose. The king mentioned in this verse is probably from the north, where Aram was located.
Verses 9 – 11: In the book of judges, we’ll continually see a pattern of God’s discipline, Israel crying out to God for mercy, and God raising up a leader to help them. In this case the leader was Othniel, Caleb’s nephew (mentioned earlier in Judges 1 and Joshua 15).
Verses 12 – 30: I’d prefer not read about God’s people carrying out an underhanded assassination, but since the LORD raised Ehud up, we can assume his actions were in line with what the LORD wanted him to do. We can also assume that Eglon may have been ruthless in his subjugation of the Israelites for those 18 years, and this was God’s way of bringing judgment on him.
The details about Ehud being left handed are included perhaps because he would have worn his weapon in a different place than usual so that it was not found when he was searched. Also, an attack on Eglon with the left had would have caught him off guard. Apparently Eglon, though he was fat, was considered quite a formidable enemy. Once he was dispatched, the rest of Moab fell easily with the LORD’s help.
Verse 31: Shamgar’s career only warrants one verse, but he was apparently a powerful soldier. An ox goad is sometimes as long as 10 feet with a pointed tip for spurring oxen along – basically a long spear. The judges God raised up for the Israelites were not just politicians but valiant, capable military men. They led by example.
Judges 4 – Verse 2: Though the conquest of Canaan described in Joshua severely limited the number of Canaanites still living in the land, apparently they still were formidable enough to cause problems for the Israelites, especially when the Lord allowed it, as this king of Canaan ruled over them for 20 years, as it says in verse 3.
Verse 3: Jabin, it is reported, had nine hundred iron chariots at his disposal. Judges 1:19 tells us that the people of Judah could not dislodge certain Canaanites because of their iron chariots. It’s not clear if these are the same people or not, because Hazor was a town far to the north (north of the Sea of Galilee, in fact), near the territories of Zebulun and Naphtali. However, it is possible that Jabin was a powerful enough leader to unite Canaanites from all over the territory to pool their resources against Israel.
Verses 8 – 9: The Concordia Self Study Bible describes Barak’s response to Deborah (in verse 8) as timidity. I don’t know if that’s the real reason Barak acted as he did. I think it may have been due more to good old fashioned male ego. He wasn’t going to go out to battle following the orders of a woman unless she went with him. The outcome also would test the flaws of his attitude – the glory of the victory would go to a woman, not to him.
Verses 11 – 24: When God routed the forces of Sisera, Jabin’s military commander, Sisera alone was able to escape. He went to the Israelite clan of Heber, which had been on amicable terms with Jabin to find sustenance and shelter. It’s almost shocking to see the way Jael, the wife of Heber, deceived Sisera into thinking he had found a safe place to rest. She did everything she could to make him feel comfortable, and then, while he was sleeping, killed him with probably the only weapon she had available – a tent peg.
Yet it was God who had given Sisera’s army over to the Israelites, and it was God who had given this opportunity to Jael to remove this foe from Israel forever. Though Jael resorted to deceit, her act was still one that required great courage. Sisera was, no doubt, a very powerful soldier. Had he awoken, Jael would have quickly been killed – or worse. Jael bravely did what she felt like she had to do for the sake of her people.
Judges 5 – It was a common practice for songs to commemorate great military victories. This song of Deborah and Barak gives praise to God for the victory and also describes some of the details of the conflict as well, immortalizing it for generations to come. Verses 28 – 30 I find to be especially interesting. Many of the psalms, and ancient song literature in general, had a sense of God taking vengeance on Israel’s enemies; that he would do the same to them as they had done to his people. As they had conquered and raped and taken home spoils and left mothers childless, the same had happened to Sisera and his men.
Judges 6 – Verses 1 – 6: It is difficult to fully grasp the extent of the fear and anxiety the Israelites must have had because of Midian. Midian was intent on weakening Israel in every way possible – destroying their crops, slaughtering their livestock, and causing people to have to hide in caves for fear.
Verse 10: The reason for this oppression is clear; the people have not listened to God. How they have not listened becomes clear further in the chapter.
Verses 11: Again the malakh Yahweh (the messenger, or angel, of the LORD appears. Again, I would suggest that this is the pre-incarnate Christ, the 2nd member of the Trinity, involved in the affairs of people. Once again, as with previous appearances, this messenger is referred to both as an angel and as “the LORD.”
We’re told that Midian is threshing wheat in a wine press to keep it from the Midianites. Basically, he was doing it down in a hole in the ground so no one would be able to see Him.
Verses 12 – 14: The angel greets Gideon by saying the LORD is with him, but Gideon is skeptical. If he’s with us, he reasons, why aren’t we seeing any of the great acts He used to do? The angel basically ignores that response. He is future oriented, not past oriented. The past was due to disobedience and lack of faith. The future would be Gideon’s own making according to His faith, which is what would make him a “mighty warrior” if he would just let it.
Verses 15 – 23: Gideon wants a sign that it is really the LORD speaking to him. He prepared a sacrifice and brought it back. In the book of Leviticus, there are many regulations about how to properly bring sacrifices and offerings for different occasions. But the offering Gideon made now was over and above those. It was a special sacrifice for this special occasion. The angel created miraculous fire to consume the sacrifice and then disappeared. Gideon’s reaction in verse 22 was one of fear and dread, that he had seen the Holy God face to face and was himself a sinful person. But the LORD assured him that all is well. It’s interesting how the LORD would still be talking to him while the angel of the LORD had disappeared. Here, I believe, we have an indication of the Triune God – God the Father still speaking to Gideon, while God the Son, the messenger who appeared in the form of a human, had disappeared, possibly as a display of his power.
Verses 25 – 32: God next demanded of Gideon quite an act of faith. He had him tear down the altars and shrines to false gods right there in his town, which Gideon did under cover of darkness because he was afraid of what the townspeople would do to him. Though the townspeople demanded his death, Gideon’s father, Joash, defended him. Possibly, Gideon had confided in Joash before he tore it all down.
Verses 36 – 40: As one last assurance that God is with him, Gideon lays out the famous fleece. “Laying out the fleece” is now a common saying referring to trying to determine the will of God, as Gideon did. The Bible says, “Do not put the LORD your God to the test.” Was this testing that Gideon did? The kind of testing God doesn’t want is to push the limits, as a child will do with parents. The kind of testing God doesn’t mind is to say, “Lord, I want to do your will, but I still have doubts. Can you please help me with my doubts so that I can follow you with all my heart.” That’s what Gideon did.
Judges 7 – Verses 1 – 8: God whittled down Gideon’s army form about 32,000 to 300 so that Israel could not “boast against” Him. I think that terminology is interesting. Anytime we boast about ourselves, we are really boasting against the Lord.
Verses 9 – 15: How exactly Gideon got close enough to the tents of the Midianites to hear the dream and interpretation, I don’t know. Perhaps he was disguised, or went under cover of darkness. Regardless, the LORD knew Gideon could use yet a little more assurance. What a helpful story so that we remember that willingness to follow God’s plan is more important than strength or bravado.
Verses 16 – 25: The dream made it apparent that there was already fear creeping into the Midianite camp. God accelerated that fear to an even greater level with the “surprise attack” of such deadly weapons as trumpets and jars.
Judges 8 – Verses 1 – 3: The fact that the Ephraimites were angry at Gideon doesn’t make sense. Why should they be upset that they didn’t have to fight, and possibly risk injury or death? My guess would be that either they wanted to take part in the spoils of the victory (food, goods, weapons, etc.), or receive the notoriety and honor for being a part of it.
Verses 4 – 9: When Gideon asked for help (provisions for his troops) at Succoth and Peniel (Peniel, by the way, is where Jacob wrestled with the angel of the LORD), they refused him because two Midianite leaders were still at large with 15,000 men and they were afraid.
Verses 10 – 21: Gideon, though he had been fearful before, was now full of courage. The LORD was with Him, already giving him victory over 120,000 soldiers. He pursued the Midianite leaders and their army and was given victory over them. We can assume that Gideon’s men now numbered more than 300, since they had been joined by the men of Ephraim, but we can also assume they were still well under 15,000. Apparently, Gideon had heard rumors about the exploits of Zebah and Zalmunna at Tabor, where some of his brothers lived, causing him to ask if they had killed his brothers. Since they had, he avenged their blood my putting Zebah and Zalmunna to death.
Verses 22 – 27: It seems as if Gideon’s motivation for making this ephod (ephod is a general term for something used in worship – it has been used for the priestly garments of the Israelites or some worship objects of the Canaanites) is a good one. He wants the Israelites to worship the LORD (v. 23), but it ensnared them. They had become so used to worshipping objects, what was made to perhaps encourage worship o the LORD instead replaced it.
Verses 28 – 35: Though Gideon led the Israelites well and peacefully, the environment was still far from the way it had been during the time of Moses and Joshua. It didn’t take much for the people to turn away from God again. Gideon himself led in a way that was compromising, with multiple wives and worshipping the ephod, so that after his death it didn’t take long for the nation to revert back to worshipping the Baals (Baal is the Canaanite word for “lord”).
Judges 9 – The events of this chapter typify the book of Judges – lots of infighting, bloodshed, treachery and chaos. The nation of Israel was not unified. A phrase that keeps coming up in Judges is, “Everyone did as he saw fit.” That’s what Abimelech did, turning on his half brothers (his father’s sons, but not his mother’s) and murdering all 70 of them (except for Jotham, who escaped). Unfortunately, events like what happened in chapter 9 were all too common during the time of the Judges.
Judges 10 – The longsuffering of God is exemplified in this chapter, as Israel continually went away from him, and he was continually willing to forgive them and help them when he could “bear their misery no longer,” like a parent trying to show a child tough love, but finally being overwhelmed with pity.
Verse 11 – 14: It says “the LORD” replied to Israel. We don’t need to think that God spoke to them audibly with His voice. Rather, the words he shared with them were probably through an unnamed prophet, who, it appears, also called on them to repent.
Judges 11 – Verse 1: God now raised up Jephthah. Remember, the angel of the Lord called Gideon a “mighty warrior.” Now those words are used about Jephthah. Since Jephthah’s mother was a prostitute, he was a social outcast, as verses 2 and 3 indicate.
Verses 4 – 11: The people of Jephthah’s hometown changed their tune when they needed Jephthah’s help. They agreed to make him head of them, and he repeated (and probably had them repeat) these words “before the LORD,” making their agreement binding.
Verses 12 – 28: Jephthah tries first for a peaceful reconciliation of the differences between Israel and Ammon, showing in his historic recitation of the events the fact that Israel did not take disputed territory from the Ammonites after all. However, as is often the case when people have decided they want to get worked up over something, the kign of Ammon didn’t want to be bothered with the facts.
Verses 29 – 40: In return for victory, Jephthah made an unwise vow to the LORD – to offer whatever came to greet him first as a burnt offering. Maybe he thought it would be a dog or an animal, but he had to realize there was a good chance the first thing to greet him would be, at the very least, one of his servants. However, it was his only daughter who came to greet him. It may sound strange to us that his daughters main sorrow was not losing her life but not ever being able to marry. To marry and bear children was the height of social success for an Israelite girl.
Though Jephthah wanted to do right and serve the LORD, this vow epitomizes the lack of understanding of Yahweh (the LORD) among the people at that time. There is no way that the God of Israel would have wanted Jephthah to make such a vow. There were appointed ways to bring sacrifices, and making such a rash vow, leaving open the possibility that a human would be sacrificed, was not what God had in mind, to be certain. Though a vow was never to be broken, if Jephthah would have inquired of the LORD through a prophet, there’s no doubt that an alternative could have been found, because God would never want such a sacrifice to take place.
Judges 12 – Verses 1 – 7: More evidence that Jephthah’s heart was far away from God is found in this chapter. Gideon avoided conflict with the warmongering Ephraimites. Jephthah and his men, however, exacerbated the situation, even to the point of cruelly slaughtering Ephraimites who simply wanted to cross the Jordan river and go home.
Judges 13 – Verse 2: As is often the case, people of significance (Isaac, Samuel, John the Baptist) are born of women who have had trouble conceiving children to show that God’s hand is on that person from the very beginning.
Verses 3 – 5: Some children also have special vows placed upon them involuntarily (like Samuel and John the Baptist). Samson was to be a Nazirite, from the Hebrew word meaning “dedicated.” A Nazirite was set apart or dedicated for a certain task. Nazirite vows are discussed fully in Numbers 6:1-21.
No razor was to be used on him. Does that mean his hair could be cut, but not shaved? Possibly. It doesn’t seem practical that he would go through his entire life without even a little trim. See notes on chapter 16 for further thoughts on this.
Verse 8: Manoah and his wife were responsible parents, wanting to know how to raise this special son in the best way.
Verses 9 – 16: At Manoah’s prayer, the angel of the LORD (whom I believe to be the Son of God before his incarnation as Jesus of Nazareth – see previous weeks’ notes) returned, confirming Manoah’s wife’s words. They offered sustenance to the angel, but he refused it. When this same messenger visited Abraham, he ate some of the food Abraham had prepared. His mission didn’t call for that at this time, apparently.
In verse 16 the angel says to offer the burnt offering to the LORD. If this really was the Son of God in disguise, why wouldn’t he say “offer it to me?” To do so would have been too difficult for Manoah and his wife to understand, and could have led them astray, making them think it would be okay to worship angels. In this time of lawlesslness and forgetfulness about who was the true God, it was necessary for the angel to stipulate that the offering be made to the LORD and not one of the gods of other nations.
Verses 17 and 18: When Manoah inquires of the messenger’s name, he responds, “Why do you ask my name? It is “beyond understanding.” This is the same word that is used in Isaiah 9:6 and translated “Wonderful,” in reference to the coming Messiah. His name was too much, his mission too big and all-encompassing for them to understand at that time.
Verses 19 – 21: The angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the sacrifice. When you think about it, all sacrifices in the Old Testament looked forward to the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and were acceptable to God because of that one, all-encompassing sacrifice. Whenever a burnt offering was sacrificed, in the mind of God it was as if Christ himself was being offered up. This story illustrates that truth very clearly.
Verses 22 – 25: Respect and awe before the LORD is something almost lost in our generation. To a certain degree, that’s a good thing. Jesus came to reconcile God and man together so that we no longer have to approach God in fear. But at the same time, some healthy respect and, yes, fear of God (as a child fears disappointing a loving but firm parent) is not a bad thing for believers to possess. Verse 25 leaves us with the key to Samson’s later power – the Spirit of the LORD stirring within him. It wasn’t his hair, but the hair was simply the act of obedience that allowed the Spirit to do its work within Samson.
Judges 14 – Moses and Joshua had on many occasions warned the Israelites against intermarrying with other nations, but God can go against his own rules to serve his purposes if he wants to. At this point, he’s wanting to give Samson some notoriety among the Philistines – an excuse for him to confront them, which is what happens in this chapter. If you read between the lines, you can see in Samson some of the flaws that lead to his downfall. He’s clearly overly self assured and thinks he should have whatever he wants.
Judges 15 – Verses 1 – 5: I’ve always had one question about this passage: how does a person capture 300 foxes? Samson must have been not only very strong but also quick and agile. I think we have to assume that Samson had some way of keeping the foxes confined. And it also stands to reason that he would have let the foxes loose at different places and different intervals. It may have been a several hour, or even several day process. To burn someone’s crops is a bad thing today, but especially devastating to people in those days who didn’t have the option of running out to the grocery store or market. Their crops were their life. Through Samson, God was crippling the Philistines.
Verses 6 – 17: Samson’s betrothed wife and father were killed to avenge the burning of the Philistine fields, so Samson attacked the Philistines, killing more than 1000 of them in total. I think it would be safe to say that the confrontation might have been a typical one during Samson’s 20 years as leader of Israel. During his time, the Philistines must have been very hesitant to oppress the Israelites in any way, knowing that it might bring retribution from Samson, and so far, they hadn’t found a way to stop him.
Verses 18 – 20: God provided for his chosen judge, miraculously bringing water from the ground. When His people do His work, God provides for them.
A final tangent: Joseph Smith, in his Book of Mormon, was fond of imitating much of the Bible, to the point of having similar sounding verses and names borrowed from the Bible’s pages. One of his main characters is Lehi, probably from this chapter. Lehi means jawbone in Hebrew. I wonder of Joseph Smith knew that?
Judges 16 – Verses 1 – 3: Clearly, Samson, who goes to spend the night with a prostitute in theses verses, is not the epitome of morality. Many of the judges were flawed people. During this absence of strong spiritual leadership in Israel, God was patient, using people like Samson and others we’ve read about already to accomplish His will until a strong spiritual leader would arise to guide the people (that would be Samuel). What was the point of tearing out the city gate as Samson did? How about some intimidation!
Verses 4 – 22: When I read this section of scripture, I have to ask myself, how stupid was Samson?! He tells his wife (or girlfriend, whatever Delilah was to him) three false ways to subdue him, she tries all three, and he doesn’t catch on that he might not want to confide in her. But sometimes love makes fools of people, and adding to that verse 16, that she badgered him about it constantly, using whatever she could to coerce him to tell her. Again, the razor, as was discussed in chapter 13’s notes, seems to be the instrument that could not touch his head. It was when his head was shaved that he lost his strength. It’s important to understand that it was the LORD who had given Samson his strength, not his hair. The hair was condition which needed to be fulfilled for the LORD to remain with Samson, as well as abstaining from wine, etc. Obedience enabled God’s spirit to be in Samson powerfully. Disobedience, and in Samson’s case, stupidity and negligence, discontinued the conditions under which God had promised to work through him.
Verses 23 – 31: This truth is further illustrated in these verses. It’s not reasonable to imagine that the Philistines would have wasted much time celebrating their victory over Samson. They convened in the temple of their god for a great celebration. Samson’s hair could not have been very long yet, but asking God for strength, it was granted to him. I imagine the temple to be perhaps a Parthenon type building, with giant pillars that, if toppled, would have possibly continued to fall like dominos. Some people have a hard time imagining ancient peoples building a structure of this magnitude, that would have allowed 3000 people to be on the roof, and many more inside, we can assume. But ancient people, as we cans see from the pyramids and the walls of the Incas and much more, were very capable of structural and engineering feats that boggle our minds today. |
