biblical literature

Judges: importance and role

The role of the judges

Under these conditions, the successors to Joshua—the judges—arose. The Hebrew term shofet, which is translated into English as “judge,” is closer in meaning to “ruler,” a kind of military leader or deliverer from potential or actual defeat. In a passage from the so-called Ras Shamra tablets (discovered in 1929), the concept of the judge as a ruler is well illustrated:

The magistrates of the Phoenician-Canaanite city of Carthage, which competed with Rome for supremacy of the Mediterranean world in the 3rd century bce, were called suffetes, thus pointing toward the political authority of the judges.

The office of judgeship in the tribal confederacy of the Israelites, which was centred at a covenant shrine, was not hereditary. The judges arose as Yahweh saw fit, in order to lead an erring and repentant people to a restoration of a right relationship with him and to victory over their enemies. The quality that enabled a person selected by Yahweh to be a judge was charisma, a spiritual power that enabled the judge to influence, lead, and control the people caught between the allurements of the sophisticated Canaanite culture and the memory of the nomadic way of life with its rugged freedom and disdain for “civilization.” Though many such leaders are mentioned, the Book of Judges focusses attention upon only a few that are singled out as especially significant: Deborah and Barak, Gideon, Abimelech, Jephthah, and Samson. In spite of the Israelites’ repeated apostasy, such leaders, under the guidance and spiritual powers granted to them by Yahweh, were able to lead their tribes in successfully defeating or driving back their opponents.

The Book of Judges may be divided into four parts: (1) the conquests of several tribes (chapter 1), (2) a general background for the subsequent events according to the interpretation of the Deuteronomic historian—“And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals”—(chapter 2 through chapter 3, verse 6), (3) the exploits of the judges of Israel (chapter 3, verse 7, through chapter 16), and (4) an appendix (chapters 17 through 21).

Judges, chapter 1, shows that the conquest of Canaan, in contradistinction to the view presented in Joshua, was incomplete, inconclusive, and lengthy. Though conquests of some of the tribes (Judah, Simeon, Caleb, and the “house of Joseph”) are noted, the main emphasis is on the cities and areas that the tribes had not conquered—e.g., “And Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites who dwelt in Gezer, but the Canaanites dwelt in Gezer among them” (chapter 1, verse 29).

The second section gives the Deuteronomic interpretation of the consequences of such a policy:

In chapter 3 an explanation is given as to why the Canaanites had not been annihilated and were allowed to remain with the Israelites: they enabled the Israelites to be tested in the techniques of warfare; the Philistines, for example, had a monopoly on the smelting of iron in the area—and the iron used in their weapons was far superior to the bronze used by the Israelites for their swords, shields, and armaments—until the secret had been wrested from them by the first king of Israel, Saul, in the latter part of the 11th century bce. The Canaanites also served to test the faith of the Israelites in the one, true God, Yahweh.

The role of certain lesser judges

The third section relates the exploits of the various judges. Othniel, a member of the tribe of Caleb, delivered the erring Israelites from eight years of oppression by Cushan-rishathaim, king of Mesopotamia. The king, however, was most likely an area ruler, rather than a king of the Mesopotamian Empire. Another judge, Ehud, a left-handed Benjamite, delivered Israel from the oppression of the Moabites. Ehud, a fat man who had hidden a sword under his garments on his right side so that when a search of his person was made it would be overlooked, brought tribute to Eglon, the Moabite king. Upon Ehud’s claiming to have a secret message for the king, Eglon dismissed the other people carrying tribute. Ehud then said to the King, “I have a message from God to you,” assassinated him, locked the doors to the chamber, and escaped. Rallying the Israelites around him, Ehud led an attack upon the Moabites that was decisive in favour of the Israelites. Shamgar, the third judge, is merely noted as a deliverer who killed 600 Philistines.

The roles of Deborah, Gideon, and Jephthah

The first notably important judge of the tribal confederacy was Deborah, who was primarily a seer, poet, and interpreter of dreams but still a person endowed with the kind of charisma that identified her as a judge sent from Yahweh. The story of the victory of the Israelites under the charismatic leadership of Deborah and the military leadership of Barak, her commander, is related in prose (chapter 4) and repeated in poetry (chapter 5, which is known as the “Song of Deborah”). The Canaanites, under the leadership of Jabin, king of a reestablished Hazor, and his general Sisera, had oppressed an apostate Israel. Deborah sent word to all the tribes to unite against the Canaanites, but only about half the tribes responded. The Canaanites had asserted control over the Valley of Jezreel, which was an important commercial thoroughfare and was commanded by the city of Megiddo. In this valley dominated by the hill of Megiddo (Armageddon)—a site of many later crucial military battles and which later became the symbolic name for the final battle between the forces of good and the forces of evil in apocalyptic literature—the Israelites met the Canaanites near the river Kishon in open battle. A cloudburst occurred, causing the river to flood, thus limiting the manoeuvrability of the Canaanite chariots. The Canaanite general Sisera, seeing defeat for his forces, fled, seeking refuge in the tent of a Kenite woman, Jael. A supporter of the cause of Israel, Jael gave Sisera a drink of milk (fermented?) and he fell asleep “from weariness.” Jael pounded a tent peg through his temple, thus ending decisively the threat of the Canaanites of Hazor. The victory song of Deborah in chapter 5 is one of the oldest literary sections of the Old Testament. It is a hymn that incorporates the literary forms of a confession of faith, a praise of Yahweh’s theophany (manifestation), an epic, a curse, a blessing, and a hymn of victory.

Another important judge, perhaps the most important other than Samuel, was Gideon, whose exploits are related in chapters 6–8. The oppressors of Israel during the time of Gideon were the camel-borne raiders from Midian, roving bands that pillaged the farms and unfortified villages for seven years. A prophet appeared among the Israelites and denounced them for their apostasy, after which, according to the account, an angel of Yahweh visited and then commissioned Gideon, a member of the tribe of Manasseh, to lead the Israelites against the enemies from the Transjordan. After sacrificing to Yahweh, building an altar to the Lord (which he named Yahweh Shalom, or “Yahweh is peace”), and destroying an altar of Baal and an ashera (most likely a wooden pole symbolizing the goddess) beside it, he sent out messengers to gather together the tribes in order to meet an armed force of the Midianites and Amalekites that had crossed the Jordan River and were encamped in the Valley of Jezreel. He went to a threshing floor (a common place to seek divinatory advice) and sought a sign from Yahweh—dew on a fleece of wool placed overnight on the threshing floor, with the rest of the area remaining dry. After receiving the positive divinatory sign, Gideon assembled a large force, reduced it to 300 men, and infiltrated the outposts of the Midianite camp with his servant—overhearing a Midianite telling another of his dream about a barley cake rolling into the camp of the Midianites and striking a tent so that it fell down and was flattened (which Gideon interpreted as a sign of victory for the forces under him). He encircled the camp of the Midianites about midnight. On signal, the men broke jars, shouted, waved torches, blew rams’ horns, and attacked the encampment. The Midianites, in the confusion, were routed and harassed in their flight. In their pursuit of the fleeing Midianites, Gideon and his forces were refused aid by the cities of Succoth and Penuel, which was a violation of the tribal confederacy agreements. The Midianites, however, were again the objects of a surprise attack and their two kings (Zebah and Zalmunna) were captured and later executed by Gideon because they had killed his brother. The leaders of Succoth were punished and the men of Penuel were killed in retaliation for their refusal to aid the forces of Gideon.

After the victory, the people, recognizing their need for centralized leadership of the confederacy, petitioned to Gideon that he establish a hereditary monarchy, with himself as the first king. Gideon refused, however, on the basis that “the Lord will rule over you.”

After Gideon died, the people returned to worshipping the gods of the Canaanites, especially Baal-berith. Abimelech, one of the 70 sons of the wives and concubines of Gideon, went to Shechem to solicit support for his attempt to establish a monarchy. After receiving financial support from those who controlled the treasury of the shrine of Baal-berith, he hired a band of assassins—who killed all of his brothers except Jotham, the youngest of Gideon’s sons. Abimelech was declared king by the Shechemites. The surviving Jotham told a parable about trees that sought a king—after all the larger trees refused the kingship, the bramblebush, which was highly inflammable, accepted the offer. The point of the parable was that as the bramblebush is highly inflammable, so also would the reign of Abimelech be the source of fires of rebellion and revolution. Revolution did occur, and after being wounded at Thebez by a millstone dropped by a woman from a tower, Abimelech asked his armour bearer to kill him. The attempt of Abimelech and the Shechemites to establish a monarchy thus proved to be abortive and premature.

After a brief account of the rule of two judges, Tola of the tribe of Issachar and Jair from Gilead, the Deuteronomist describes the apostasy of the Israelites and the consequent oppression of the tribes by the Philistines from the seacoast and the Ammonites from the Transjordan. The Israelites looked for a leader and found Jephthah, the son of a harlot, who had been rejected by the sons of his father and who had gathered about him a band who made their living by raiding others. Jephthah made several attempts to negotiate with the Ammonites and Moabites; when the Ammonites did not cooperate, Jephthah moved against them. Seized by the Spirit of the Lord—i.e., ecstatically inspired—he began his campaign with a vow to sacrifice the first person he saw upon his return home as a burnt offering to Yahweh. He was victorious over the Ammonites, but the first person he saw on return home was his only child, a daughter. Upon learning of her destined fate, she requested a two-month period to be with her friends to bewail her virginity and approaching death. The story is reminiscent of the fertility myths of the ancient Near East. After she was sacrificed, Jephthah subdued a contingent of the Ephraimites in the Transjordan to bring peace to the area. A password was used to separate the Ephraimites from the men under Jephthah: “shibboleth.” Because the Ephraimites could not pronounce the word correctly, in that their dialect was different from the others, they were thus identified and killed.

In chapter 12, three judges are given cursory treatment: Izban of Bethlehem, Elon the Zebulunite, and Abdon the Ephraimite.

The role of Samson

The exploits of the great Israelite strongman judge, Samson (a member of the tribe of Dan), are related in chapters 13–16. Dedicated from birth by his mother to Yahweh, Samson became a member of the Nazirites, an anti-Canaanite reform movement. As a Nazirite, he was required never to cut his hair, drink wine, or eat ritually unclean food. He married a Philistine woman whom he then left when she helped her fellow Philistines avoid payment to Samson in a riddle contest by giving them the answer. Returning later to find her given to another man, he burned the grainfields of the Philistines. They sought revenge by killing Samson’s wife and her father. The exploits of Samson against the Philistines from then on are numerous. After he met the temptress Delilah, who wrested from him the secret of his great strength (i.e., his long uncut hair because of his vow), Samson was captured by the Philistines after his hair had been cut short. After imprisonment, blinding, and humiliation, Samson finally avenged his loss of self-respect by pulling down the main pillars of the temple of the Philistine god Dagon, after which the temple was destroyed, along with numerous Philistines. Though Samson was more a folk hero than a judge, he was probably included in the list of judges because his ventures against the Philistines slowed their movements inland against the Israelite towns and villages. The Philistines were a group of “sea peoples” united in a confederacy of five city-states: Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Gath, and Ekron. To the area they gave their name, which has endured to the 20th century: Palestine.

The final section of the Book of Judges is an appendix divided into two parts: (1) the story of Micah, the repentant Ephraimite, a Levite priest who deserted him to be priest of the tribe of Dan, and the establishment of a shrine at the conquered city of Laish (renamed Dan) with the cult object taken from the house of Micah and (2) the story of the Benjamites who were defeated in a holy war after they had killed a concubine of a Levite. The book ends with a critique of the period: “In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes” (chapter 21, verse 25).