August 16, 2009

Introduction

I don’t know how many times I’ve heard a well-known person introduced with these words, “So and so is a person who needs no introduction.” If that’s true, then why are the introductions for such people so long, telling us once again what we are already supposed to know? When we come to the Book of Judges, however, we come to a book of the Bible that really does need an introduction. When I looked at all of my favorite websites to see what others have done, I found that other preachers have done little or nothing on the Book of Judges. I find that Christians in general tend to avoid the book. When others heard that my next preaching series would be on the Book of Judges, the response I received from each has been remarkably similar. Put simply, they’ve looked a bit puzzled and asked, “Why study the Book of Judges?” It is a fair question, one that will take an entire message to answer.

After dealing with a few characteristics of Judges which are important in understanding this book, I will attempt to demonstrate why this book is worthy of our attention, and accomplish this by setting forth some of the main reasons why I believe this book is neglected or ignored by many Christians. As I answer these objections to Judges, I believe we will see why this study is so important today. So, fasten your seatbelts, and come along with me on this study.

Things We Need to Know About Judges

1. Judges don’t really “judge.” When I think of a judge, I think of someone who makes legal judgments. In the Bible, I think of those leaders who were appointed to judge the Israelites, thus removing some of the burden from Moses:

12 “But how can I alone bear up under the burden of your hardship and strife? 13 Select wise and practical men, those known among your tribes, whom I may appoint as your leaders.” 14 You replied to me that what I had said to you was good. 15 So I chose as your tribal leaders wise and well-known men, placing them over you as administrators of groups of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens, and also as other tribal officials. 16 I furthermore admonished your judges at that time that they should pay attention to issues among your fellow citizens and judge fairly, whether between one citizen and another or a citizen and a resident foreigner. 17 They must not discriminate in judgment, but hear the lowly and the great alike. Nor should they be intimidated by human beings, for judgment belongs to God. If the matter being adjudicated is too difficult for them, they should bring it before me for a hearing” (Deuteronomy 1:12-17; see Exodus 18:13-23).²

Deborah, the prophetess, would come the closest to the “judges” who were appointed by Moses to “judge” the Israelites.³ Ultimately, God was the One who “judged” Israel.⁴ But more than anything in the Book of Judges, “judges” are presented as military leaders:

16 The Lord raised up leaders who delivered them from these robbers. 17 But they did not obey their leaders. Instead they prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped them. They quickly turned aside from the path their ancestors had walked. Their ancestors had obeyed the Lord’s commands, but they did not. 18 When the Lord raised up leaders [judges]⁵ for them, the Lord was with each leader and delivered the people from their enemies while the leader remained alive. The Lord felt sorry for them when they cried out in agony because of what their harsh oppressors did to them (Judges 2:16-18).

The Lord’s spirit empowered him and he led [judged] Israel. When he went to do battle, the Lord handed over to him King Cushan-Rishathaim of Aram and he overpowered him (Judges 3:10).

Often these “military leaders” who are called “judges” actually lead the Israelites in battle. But then there is Samson, who is said to have “judged” Israel (15:20), and yet all of the victories were fought and won by Samson individually (14:19; 15:6-17; 16:28-31). Indeed, the Israelites seemed willing to pacify their Philistine overlords, giving Samson over to them (15:9-13).

More typically in Judges, those who judged initiated combat, inspired the Israelites to go to battle, and led the attack. Some “judges” may have assumed additional leadership functions, as is suggested in this statement:

17 But they did not obey their leaders [judges]. Instead they prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped them. They quickly turned aside from the path their ancestors had walked. Their ancestors had obeyed the Lord’s commands, but they did not. 18 When the Lord raised up leaders for them, the Lord was with each leader and delivered the people from their enemies while the leader remained alive. The Lord felt sorry for them when they cried out in agony because of what their harsh oppressors did to them. 19 When a leader died, the next generation would again act more wickedly than the previous one. They would follow after other gods, worshiping them and bowing down to them. They did not give up their practices or their stubborn ways (Judges 2:17-19).⁶

It would seem that nowhere in the Book of Judges does a judge assume the role of a king (whose descendants would become a dynasty). The men of Israel desired this in the case of Gideon, but he rightly declined.⁷

2. While Joshua dealt with Israel as a nation acting in unity, Judges tends to deal with Israel’s tribes independently. Chapter 1 dwells mainly on the tribe of Judah, which teams up with that of Simeon. When we encounter the terms “Judah” and “Simeon,” we are not to think of these men, who are long since dead, but of the tribes of Judah and Simeon. The oppression of a neighboring country, the raising up of a judge, and the liberation resulting may not encompass the entire nation of Israel. It could impact a smaller area and perhaps one or more of the tribes. Thus, the tribes of Israel are dealt with in a case-by-case manner.

3. The political structure of Judges is not highly centralized. I liken it to the “confederation of states” in American history. The original states were organized as a loosely joined confederation of autonomous, sovereign, states. They operated in unity only at the consent of each of the states. This soon gave way to the federal form of government in which the federal government had considerably greater powers (such as taxation). Likewise, the tribes of Israel operated as a kind of confederation, with each tribe seeking to maintain its sovereignty. Before the period of the Judges, Israel was united under the strong central leadership of Moses or Joshua. When we come to the Book of 1 Samuel, we find the Israelites eventually united under the leadership of its kings (Saul, David, Solomon). The Book of Judges describes a decentralized period of Israel’s history.

4. The Book of Judges thus fills the gap between Joshua and 1 Samuel – in such a way that it prepares the reader for what is to come in 1 and 2 Samuel. It is here that the unique contribution of the Book of Judges can be identified. Every book of the Bible makes a unique contribution to the Scriptures, so that the story would not be complete without any one of the books of the Bible. The unique contribution of Judges is that it describes that period in Israel’s history when it had no strong central leader (like Moses or Joshua), before it came to be led by kings.

5. The Book of Judges also sets the stage for the Book of Ruth. The Book of Ruth begins with these words: “During the time of the judges there was a famine in the land of Judah” (Ruth 1:1a). As bad as things were in Israel during the days of the judges, there were still men like Boaz who delighted to obey God’s law, which meant showing compassion to those in need, including a Moabite woman (who was destined to become a part of the Messianic line). We could not appreciate the Book of Ruth as we should without first having read the Book of Judges.

6. Keys to understanding the Book of Judges. As I currently understand the book, there are at least two keys to understanding it. The first should be obvious by its location: the introductions contained in the first chapters of the book. The second is also obvious by virtue of its repetition in the book:

In those days Israel had no king. Each man did what he considered to be right (Judges 17:6).

In those days Israel had no king. And in those days the Danite tribe was looking for a place to settle, because at that time they did not yet have a place to call their own among the tribes of Israel (Judges 18:1).

In those days Israel had no king. There was a Levite living temporarily in the remote region of the Ephraimite hill country. He acquired a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah (Judges 19:1).

In those days Israel had no king. Each man did what he considered to be right (Judges 21:25).

Israel is “kingless” in the Book of Judges, and thus it would appear that the provision of a king would be the solution to its problems. History will prove this assumption to be false (unless, of course, we are speaking of the ultimate “King,” the Lord Jesus Christ).

In addition to this, the Israelites “did what was right in their own eyes.” This is to say that the Israelites lived with disregard toward what God had declared to be right in the Law.

“You must not do like we are doing here today, with everyone doing what seems best to him” (Deuteronomy 12:8).

“In this manner you will purge out the guilt of innocent blood from among you, for you must do what is right before the Lord” (Deuteronomy 21:9).

What Israel really needs is a godly king (God in the flesh) who writes His Law upon the hearts of His people.

Why Are We Wrong if We Avoid the Book of Judges:
Our Excuses and Why They Are Wrong

Excuse Number 1: There is too much sex and violence in Judges. A number of years ago a colleague and I were preaching in India. We were speaking on the life of Joseph from the Book of Genesis. One of the men objected to our teaching, insisting that there was “too much sex.” The wife of the church leader with whom we were staying interjected, “Go ahead and teach on it! I’ve been speaking to his wife, and this man needs to hear it.”

It cannot be denied that this book contains its share of sex and violence. I would suggest, however, that those who seek to offer this excuse apply this first to the television programs and movies they watch. The sex and violence we watch on TV may be designed to stimulate immoral and ungodly thoughts and actions. This is not so with the accounts we find in the Book of Judges. Immorality and sexual perversion are depicted, but not in a seductive way. They are described in a way that is true to the facts and which condemns both as sin that is accompanied by dire consequences. Sex and violence in Judges are not a “centerfold” required to keep the reader’s interest; they are a description of the consequences of unbelief and disobedience.

I would suggest that the Bible needs to directly address sex and violence precisely because they are so prevalent in our society. Our children need to be warned and instructed regarding these things. Who better to teach them than parents, and what better material is there to teach than the Word of God? I would remind the reader that the Book of Proverbs is a book of fatherly instruction to children, and it has a great deal to say about sex and violence. Judges reinforces the teaching of Proverbs by providing us with real life examples of the consequences of sin.

Excuse Number 2: “I’ve heard it all before.” This is a most disheartening objection. Our children may be bold enough to say it, but many adults are thinking the same thing. It is the result of what we might call the “Sunday school syndrome.” Bible story books and Sunday school curriculum focus a great deal on Bible stories – not a bad thing in and of itself. But the problem is that they are watered down to teach moralistic goals (be kind to others, etc.) while avoiding many of the details, including the message of the story in the context in which they are recorded. The real lessons – the lessons God intended in giving us these stories – are often lost, and having grasped (or so we suppose) the simplistic messages that were taught, the person sees no further need to repeat the same old story once again. I would hope and expect that you will see these old, old, stories in a whole new light.

Excuse Number 3: “Judges is irrelevant to me and to my life.” “Judges is all about the long ago and the far away. It describes a culture and a people who are vastly different from us. How, then, can this book be helpful to me?” Admittedly, the Book of Judges is not easy to understand, so the meaning and message does not come easily. But this is true of all Scripture, not just the Book of Judges.⁸

There is a dispensational distortion of this error which sets aside all of the Old Testament as a kind of “second class” revelation. Let me be quick to point out that few dispensationalists actually advocate this position, though more seem to follow it in practice. Evangelical preachers spend most of their time in the New Testament, and very little time in the Old. The reasoning is that the Old Testament depicts life under the Old Covenant. Since Christians now live under the New Covenant, there is no longer any need for the Old. Indeed, some might accuse those who teach the Old Testament books to be a legalist, keeping people under the law. The problem with this view is that it seems to deny in practice the truth of Paul’s words in 2 Timothy 3:

16 Every scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the person dedicated to God may be capable and equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

There are other texts as well which make the same point, but I will deal with them a little later in this message.

I believe we can readily see how the Book of Judges is relevant to our culture in America (and elsewhere around the world). We live in a Postmodern age, where it is believed that there is no absolute truth, but that all truth is in the eye of the beholder. That is precisely what was happening in ancient Israel during the days of the judges. “Every man was doing what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6; 21:25). The sex and violence of that day is little different, both in kind and in degree, to our own times. Are we seeing God’s hand of discipline on our nation as we lose status among the nations and as our economy continues to erode? I believe that while we are not the nation Israel, we are experiencing similar circumstances to those described in Judges.

There is yet another way that the Book of Judges seems relevant to our times. Judges describes a time of disregard for God’s Word and of departure from true worship. It speaks of a time when there was no lasting ruler, “no king in Israel.” And all of this is to prepare the ancient reader for the time that is coming when God gives Israel a king, David. As our society continues downward, we should see (like the author of Judges) that the only permanent solution is a righteous king. And is this not what we look forward to – the coming of our Lord? Thus, as we see our society walking in the path of the Israelites of old, we should be encouraged that the King is coming, and He will defeat His foes (and ours) and establish His kingdom. As Paul wrote in Colossians, the things which we find in the Old Testament are but a “shadow of what is to come, the substance of which is Christ” (Colossians 2:16-17). Thus, Judges turns our hearts and eyes toward the future as we eagerly await our King.

Thus we see that this book is extremely relevant. If we do not recognize this to be true, it may be because we are as spiritually dull as were the Israelites of old.

Excuse Number 4: Judges is “politically incorrect.” I have never actually heard anyone say this in these precise terms, but I believe it is an unspoken fear which we try to suppress by avoiding those books which expose the problem. Dale Ralph Davis, one of my favorite commentators on the Old Testament historical books, presents the problem in these words:

Second, for many readers Judges 1 raises once more the so-called moral problem of the conquest. How horrid that Israel butcher innocent Canaanites, wreak havoc and misery, grab their land – and all, allegedly, at Yahweh’s command! If only the Canaanites could know how much emotional support they receive from modern western readers.⁹

This issue is particularly awkward because of the doctrine of Jihad, held and practiced within Islam. In short, radical Islam calls for the extermination of non-Muslims – infidels. Some Christians are uneasy with the fact that God commanded the Israelites to exterminate – totally annihilate – the Canaanites:

10 When you approach a city to wage war against it, offer it terms of peace. 11 If it accepts your terms and submits to you, all the people found in it will become your slaves. 12 If it does not accept terms of peace but makes war with you, then you are to lay siege to it. 13 The Lord your God will deliver it over to you and you must kill every single male by the sword. 14 However, the women, little children, cattle, and anything else in the city – all its plunder – you may take for yourselves as spoil. You may take from your enemies the plunder that the Lord your God has given you. 15 This is how you are to deal with all those cities located far from you, those that do not belong to these nearby nations. 16 As for the cities of these peoples that the Lord your God is going to give you as an inheritance, you must not allow a single living thing to survive. 17 Instead you must utterly annihilate them – the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites – just as the Lord your God has commanded you, 18 so that they cannot teach you all the abhorrent ways they worship their gods, causing you to sin against the Lord your God (Deuteronomy 20:10-18).

God gave very clear instructions to His people regarding their enemies. Those at a distance were given the opportunity to surrender. If they chose to resist, war would be waged by the Israelites. All the men were to be killed, but the women and children should be spared and taken as spoil (see Deuteronomy 20:10-15 above).¹⁰ It was quite a different thing with the Canaanites, those who lived in the land which God was giving to His people. They were to be utterly annihilated. Every Canaanite man, woman, and child was to be killed (see Deuteronomy 20:16-18 above). When commanded to do so, the Israelites also destroyed all the cattle. Such was the case when God gave Israel the victory over Jericho (Joshua 6:21).¹¹ The Israelites were always to destroy the Canaanite idols and objects of false worship (see Exodus 23:23-25).

There are a number of things we need to understand about this matter of the annihilation of the Canaanites in the Old Testament that will enable us to view this matter in a different light.

1. God did not order the extermination of all non-Israelites. We see this in the text above (Deuteronomy 20:10-15), where God required the annihilation of the Canaanites, but not those foreigners who lived at a distance. Jihad does not make such distinctions, in practice, if not in theory as well.¹²

2. The Canaanites were wicked and deserved divine judgment. The Canaanites were the people of Sodom and Gomorrah in that they were ripe for judgment, not only because of their moral depravity, but also because of their rejection of God:

12 When the sun went down, Abram fell sound asleep, and great terror overwhelmed him. 13 Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign country. They will be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years. 14 But I will execute judgment on the nation that they will serve. Afterward they will come out with many possessions. 15 But as for you, you will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. 16 In the fourth generation your descendants will return here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its limit” (Genesis 15:12-16, emphasis mine).

9 So realize that the Lord your God is the true God, the faithful God who keeps covenant faithfully with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations, 10 but who pays back those who hate him as they deserve and destroys them. He will not ignore those who hate him but will repay them as they deserve! (Deuteronomy 7:9-10, emphasis mine)¹³

4 Do not think to yourself after the Lord your God has driven them out before you, “Because of my own righteousness the Lord has brought me here to possess this land.” It is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out ahead of you. 5 It is not because of your righteousness, or even your inner uprightness, that you have come here to possess their land. Instead, because of the wickedness of these nations the Lord your God is driving them out ahead of you in order to confirm the promise he made on oath to your ancestors, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 6 Understand, therefore, that it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is about to give you this good land as a possession, for you are a stubborn people! (Deuteronomy 9:4-6, emphasis mine).

3. The Canaanites must also be entirely eradicated because of the corrupting influence they would have on the Israelites:

1 When the Lord your God brings you to the land that you are going to occupy and forces out many nations before you – Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and powerful than you – 2 and he delivers them over to you and you attack them, you must utterly annihilate them. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy! 3 You must not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, 4 for they will turn your sons away from me to worship other gods. Then the anger of the Lord will erupt against you and he will quickly destroy you. 5 Instead, this is what you must do to them: You must tear down their altars, shatter their sacred pillars, cut down their sacred Asherah poles, and burn up their idols (Deuteronomy 7:1-5).

“You must destroy all the people whom the Lord your God is about to deliver over to you; you must not pity them or worship their gods, for that will be a snare to you” (Deuteronomy 7:16, emphasis mine).

The Canaanites were like a deadly virus that had to be eradicated.

4. God did not condemn the sin of the Canaanites and wink at the same sin in His people (Exodus 13:12-17). He threatened disobedient Israelites with the same fate. Listen to how the Israelites were to deal with their fellow-Israelites who turned to serve other gods:

24 “‘Do not defile yourselves with any of these things, for the nations which I am about to drive out before you have been defiled with all these things. 25 Therefore the land has become unclean and I have brought the punishment for its iniquity upon it, so that the land has vomited out its inhabitants. 26 You yourselves must obey my statutes and my regulations and must not do any of these abominations, both the native citizen and the resident foreigner in your midst, 27 for the people who were in the land before you have done all these abominations, and the land has become unclean. 28 So do not make the land vomit you out because you defile it just as it has vomited out the nations that were before you. 29 For if anyone does any of these abominations, the persons who do them will be cut off from the midst of their people. 30 You must obey my charge to not practice any of the abominable statutes that have been done before you, so that you do not defile yourselves by them. I am the Lord your God’” (Leviticus 18:6-30).

19 “Now if you forget the Lord your God at all and follow other gods, worshiping and prostrating yourselves before them, I testify to you today that you will surely be annihilated. 20 Just like the nations the Lord is about to destroy from your sight, so he will do to you because you would not obey him” (Deuteronomy 8:19-20).

12 “Suppose you should hear in one of your cities, which the Lord your God is giving you as a place to live, that 13 some evil people have departed from among you to entice the inhabitants of their cities, saying, “Let’s go and serve other gods” (whom you have not known before). 14 You must investigate thoroughly and inquire carefully. If it is indeed true that such a disgraceful thing is being done among you, 15 you must by all means slaughter the inhabitants of that city with the sword; annihilate with the sword everyone in it, as well as the livestock. 16 You must gather all of its plunder into the middle of the plaza and burn the city and all its plunder as a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God. It will be an abandoned ruin forever – it must never be rebuilt again. 17 You must not take for yourself anything that has been placed under judgment. Then the Lord will relent from his intense anger, show you compassion, have mercy on you, and multiply you as he promised your ancestors” (Deuteronomy 13:12-17, emphasis mine).¹⁴

5. God embraced foreigners into His covenant blessings for Israel on the basis of faith. Foreigners were welcomed and cared for in Israel, particularly those who embraced Israel’s faith. Some (like Tamar, Rahab, and Ruth) were incorporated into the Messianic line. Think, too, of those others, like Ahimelech (1 Samuel 26:6) and Uriah (2 Samuel 11:3) who were embraced by Israel.

6. We live in a different dispensation, and thus the command to exterminate the Canaanites does not directly apply to Christians today. In the New Testament age, civil government is responsible to execute judgment upon evil-doers.

1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except by God’s appointment, and the authorities that exist have been instituted by God. 2 So the person who resists such authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will incur judgment 3 (for rulers cause no fear for good conduct but for bad). Do you desire not to fear authority? Do good and you will receive its commendation, 4 for it is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be in fear, for it does not bear the sword in vain. It is God’s servant to administer retribution on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of the wrath of the authorities but also because of your conscience. 6 For this reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants devoted to governing. 7 Pay everyone what is owed: taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due (Romans 13:1-7).

Christians are called to suffer for their faith and to love their enemies. We are to take the gospel to the lost and to rely upon the Word of God, enlightened and empowered by the Spirit of God, to convince and to convert the lost. Believers should be willing to lay down their lives to win the lost; we are never to seek to produce converts by threats of bodily harm. The gospel is spread by the blood of the martyrs, not by the blood of the lost.

13 Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct he should show his works done in the gentleness that wisdom brings. 14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfishness in your hearts, do not boast and tell lies against the truth. 15 Such wisdom does not come from above but is earthly, natural, demonic. 16 For where there is jealousy and selfishness, there is disorder and every evil practice. 17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, accommodating, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial, and not hypocritical. 18 And the fruit that consists of righteousness is planted in peace among those who make peace (James 3:13-18).

Having said these things, I must also say that I believe there is a principle which we can and should learn from the Old Testament command to the Israelites to exterminate the Canaanites. We are to be merciless regarding sin – particularly sin in our own lives, or in the church. We cannot live in “peaceful coexistence” with sin.

8 “If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. 9 And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter into life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into fiery hell” (Matthew 18:8-9).

12 So then, brothers and sisters, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh 13 (for if you live according to the flesh, you will die), but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live (Romans 8:12-13).

So put to death whatever in your nature belongs to the earth: sexual immorality, impurity, shameful passion, evil desire, and greed which is idolatry (Colossians 3:5).

Excuse Number 5: “Judges is merely ancient history.” Actually, Judges is ancient history, and herein lies the problem for those in our day who disdain history. Indeed, I believe that it is safe to say that history is under fire today, perhaps more than at any other time in human history. Allow me to elaborate for a moment by citing the ways in which history is being attacked and abused in our culture.

One of the ways I’ve seen history “abused” (if I dare to use this word) is by some forms of psychology or psychiatry. It began with the premise that much of one’s troubles in life can be traced back to one’s childhood. And so it was that some were encouraged to launch an expedition into the past to find the cause of their troubles. Soon, some therapists were guiding their clients on an expedition that actually re-wrote history, so that the blame for my problems could be pinned on someone else (often a parent). Understand that I am not seeking to attack all such therapy, only that which encourages the fabrication of false memories. And with this revised history, the client can now feel better, or so it seems.

The same approach has also been employed on a much broader scale. Many doubt the validity of any absolute truth. Once such a premise is granted, one is then free to revise history in a way that validates one’s ideology. And so, amazing as it may seem, there are those who dispute the horrors of the Holocaust, claiming it is but a fabricated lie. History for such folks can be whatever it needs to be to sanction the beliefs and practices of a group, even a nation.

Modern science and technology can also (perhaps unwittingly) undermine a proper appreciation for history. Today I was cleaning out my “computer” file, looking (if I must confess) for a receipt. I discovered a paper on the future of microprocessors. I threw it away, for the same reason that I don’t go to the second-hand bookstore to buy old computer and technology books. Newer technology vastly surpasses the old so that we don’t value the old which, like history, is a part of the past. Doctors attend conferences and seminars to be constantly brought up to date on the latest medical data and techniques. They have no time to read a 200-year-old medical text.

Then, too, evolutionary thinking has also served to undermine our appreciation for the value of history. If you believe the shopworn slogan, “Every day and in every way, man is getting better and better,” then you will not value history as much as you should. If man has progressed greatly since the days of the judges, then what value is there in studying the Book of Judges? The “caveman” of the evolutionist is someone who is a novelty, but an irrelevant one. One might reason that we need to focus more on the present than on the past. Thus, history suffers yet another blow. No wonder history buffs seem so rare in the younger generation.

Christians have also contributed to a popular disdain for history. On the one hand (as we have already indicated), one might conclude that we now live under the New Covenant, and thus a study of the Old Covenant could be thought of as anachronistic.¹⁵ Then, too, as I have already stated, Sunday school curriculum and Bible story books have given us the impression that the stories can be understood and applied adequately without any sense of history or context. Familiarity can breed contempt (for history).

We dare not allow history to be trampled underfoot, so that we avoid the powerful message of Old Testament history. A disregard for history is a denial of what we see taught and practiced in the Scriptures. Let me elaborate for a moment.

Time will only allow me to scratch the surface of the Bible’s use of history. First of all, much of the Bible is the record of history, and the prophets are interpreters of history in the light of the precepts and principles of God’s Word. When one comes to the Book of Deuteronomy, we come to God’s written revelation to the second generation of Israelites, who are about to cross the Jordan and enter the Promised Land. The first half (approximately) of the book is a review of Israel’s history, which reveals two very important realities: (1) the greatness of God and His faithfulness to His covenant promises; and, (2) the sinfulness of man and his desperate need of salvation.

The great deeds of God and Israel’s sins are often repeated in the Old Testament. Some significant examples of the use of history in the Old Testament can be found in Nehemiah 9, Psalms 78, 105, 106, 135; and Daniel 9:1-23. Over and over in Deuteronomy, the Israelites are exhorted to “remember” the past.¹⁶ Throughout Old Testament history, God used rituals (like the Feast of Booths and the Passover) to commemorate the past, not to mention various monuments for future generations (see Joshua 4:4-6, 21-22). Forgetfulness is likely to be fatal.

In the New Testament, there is much emphasis on the historical data of the Old Testament. Jesus spoke of Adam as a real, historical, person. He rooted the permanence of marriage in the first “marriage” of Adam and Eve.¹⁷ Likewise, Paul grounded much of his teaching upon Old Testament history.¹⁸ Stephen’s sermon in Acts 7 is a history lesson with a very clear point. Stephen was convinced – like Paul – that there is a great continuity between the past and the present. Paul’s sermon in Acts 13 was a recap of Israel’s history, and the writer to the Hebrews makes much of the past, not just as something old and irrelevant, but as a prototype of the salvation God was to bring about through the once-for-all atonement for sins of our Lord Jesus Christ, our Great High Priest.

The New Testament teaches us the value of Old Testament history by example, but also by straightforward statements. Consider these statements and what they convey to us about the value of Old Testament history.

16 Every scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the person dedicated to God may be capable and equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

1 For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 and all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they were all drinking from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. 5 But God was not pleased with most of them, for they were cut down in the wilderness. 6 These things happened as examples for us, so that we will not crave evil things as they did. 7 So do not be idolaters, as some of them were. As it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” 8 And let us not be immoral, as some of them were, and twenty-three thousand died in a single day. 9 And let us not put Christ to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by snakes. 10 And do not complain, as some of them did, and were killed by the destroying angel. 11 These things happened to them as examples and were written for our instruction, on whom the ends of the ages have come. 12 So let the one who thinks he is standing be careful that he does not fall. 13 No trial has overtaken you that is not faced by others. And God is faithful: He will not let you be tried beyond what you are able to bear, but with the trial will also provide a way out so that you may be able to endure it (1 Corinthians 10:1-13).

4 For everything that was written in former times was written for our instruction, so that through endurance and through encouragement of the scriptures we may have hope (Romans 15:4).

Paul’s words in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 focus primarily on the Old Testament Scriptures. He tells us that the Old Testament Scriptures are profitable – all of them (“All Scripture is inspired by God and useful. . .”). They are useful for teaching doctrine, for rebuking and correcting, and for training in righteousness. In 1 Corinthians 10, Paul turns to the history of the Israelites during their sojourn in the wilderness to warn Christians today about the temptations associated with self-indulgence.

If I may, I’d like to focus mainly on the words recorded in Romans 15:4. Here Paul informs us that the Old Testament Scriptures were for our benefit.¹⁹ Just what is the nature of that benefit? Paul tells us that the Old Testament Scriptures produce encouragement that gives us hope, which produces endurance. How in the world can the Book of Judges give us hope, as Paul claims in Romans 15:4? I believe that our hope and endurance flows from the Old Testament in this way. First, I believe the Bible teaches that man today is really no different than he was in the days of the judges. That is why all temptation is “common to man” (1 Corinthians 10:13). Even more encouraging is learning that God has not changed (James 1:17).

So how do these truths give us hope and endurance? Thus far in Israel’s history, we can safely say, “Judges is as bad as it gets.” (Actually, it will get worse, but this is as bad as it has gotten thus far in their history.) In spite of how bad Israel had become, God remained faithful to His covenant promises. Time after time, generation after generation, the Israelites sinned, and God chastened His people through the surrounding nations. Time after time, God raised up a judge, a deliverer, to deliver (save) His people. When I see God’s faithfulness to His promises and His people in Judges, I am encouraged because it assures me that God will fulfill His purposes and promises to me, even when I fall short of what God desires of me. I am encouraged that God used men who were not perfect, men who had flaws. In the end, it is not our faithfulness on which we can count, but on God’s faithfulness. Endurance grows because our confidence in God grows as we are reminded of His deeds in history.

We live in dark and uncertain days, days very much like those depicted in the Book of Judges. We are no better and really no different than the Israelites of old. God provided deliverers in the past, but they died, and the Israelites spiraled downward from bad to worse. What Israel needed was a king, one who would reign forever. The Deliverer has come. He is the Lord Jesus Christ. Unlike the judges of old, He is the perfect Deliverer. His death did not spell the end of deliverance, but the beginning of an eternal deliverance – salvation from the bondage of our own sins. If you have trusted in Him, then take heart; He will return to this earth to defeat His enemies and to establish His eternal kingdom. Though times may be dark and difficult, we are assured through Judges that God is faithful and thus He keeps His promises. Find encouragement from biblical history and from the message of the Book of Judges.

And if you have never trusted in the person and work of Jesus Christ for your salvation, do so today. Jesus saves. He lived a perfect life, and by His death on the cross of Calvary, He bore the penalty you and I deserve for our sins. He took our sin and guilt upon Himself, and He offers His righteousness and eternal life to you if you will trust in Him. Nothing we read in the Book of Judges can compare with Jesus, God’s once-for-all Deliverer. It is His faithfulness that gives us eternal life, hope for the future, and endurance in difficult days.

---

¹ Copyright © 2009 by Robert L. Deffinbaugh. This is the edited manuscript of Lesson 1 in the series, The Dark Days of Israel’s Judges, prepared by Robert L. Deffinbaugh on August 16, 2009. Anyone is at liberty to use this lesson for educational purposes only, with or without credit.

² Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the NET Bible. The NEW ENGLISH TRANSLATION, also known as THE NET BIBLE, is a completely new translation of the Bible, not a revision or an update of a previous English version. It was completed by more than twenty biblical scholars who worked directly from the best currently available Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts. The translation project originally started as an attempt to provide an electronic version of a modern translation for electronic distribution over the Internet and on CD (compact disk). Anyone anywhere in the world with an Internet connection will be able to use and print out the NET Bible without cost for personal study. In addition, anyone who wants to share the Bible with others can print unlimited copies and give them away free to others. It is available on the Internet at: www.netbible.org.

³ Judges 4:4.

⁴ Judges 11:27.

⁵ I’m not quite sure that I agree with calling the “judges” of the Book of Judges something else, like “leaders” here (and elsewhere in the book). It certainly makes it difficult to do a concordance search on the term “judges” in the English text.

⁶ Remember that five times in this passage “leader” is literally “judge” in the NET Bible.

⁷ See Judges 8:22-23.

⁸ See, for example, Psalm 1:1-2; Proverbs 2; 1 Corinthians 2:6-16; 1 Peter 1:10-12; 2 Peter 3:14-16.

⁹ Dale Ralph Davis, Such a Great Salvation: Expositions of the Book of Judges (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1990), p. 16. If the reader were to purchase only one commentary on the Book of Judges, this is the one I would recommend.

¹⁰ You will recall that the Gibeonites deceived the Israelites, pretending to be a distant nation, and thus they were foolishly offered Israel’s protection in exchange for their voluntary servitude. They thus shrewdly took advantage of the distinction made between near and distant nations in Deuteronomy 20 – albeit by a lie.

¹¹ See Deuteronomy 2:32-34 and 3:6-7 where the cattle could be taken as booty.

¹² I make no claim to expertise in understanding the Koran, so I don’t wish to be overly dogmatic about Islam on this point.

¹³ See also Revelation 16:5-6.

¹⁴ See also Deuteronomy 28:15-68; Matthew 10:5-15.

¹⁵ Go ahead and look up this term; I did just to make sure I was using it correctly.

¹⁶ See, Deuteronomy 4:9, 23; 6:12; 8:11, 14, 19-20; 9:7.

¹⁷ Matthew 19:1-6.

¹⁸ See 1 Corinthians 10:1-13; 11:7-10; 1 Timothy 2:11-15.

¹⁹ Peter has a similar theme in 1 Peter 1:8-10.

Introduction

It was after my introduction to Judges last week that I came upon a commentary by one of my favorite authors, Dale Ralph Davis. When I paged my way to the “Introduction” at the front, I was surprised and delighted to read his “Non-introduction.” I will share some of it with you as an encouragement to purchase this excellent piece of work.

“We could wade through it all: the question of the Deuteronomic History, the matters of Uberlieferungsgeschichte, the definition of a shōphēt, moral ‘problems’ in the stories, chronology, archaeology, date, authorship – all those exciting things readers are just dying to know.”

“… I can only confess that as for an introduction to Judges, an excellent piece of work has already been done by the author of the book, and I am not capable of writing a better one. Indeed, I have a growing conviction that we would find far more fun and profit in Bible study if we gave more heed to the introductions the biblical writers themselves prefaced to their works than to the welter of opinions (helpful as they may sometimes be) about a biblical book, drearily culled from the last two hundred years of biblical scholarship.”²

I could not agree more with Davis on this matter of scholarly introductions in commentaries. They are so dull that it tempts you not to engage in a study of that book of the Bible. You end up thinking, “If this book of the Bible is as dull as this introduction, I’m in for a long and very boring study.” Davis is like a breath of fresh air.

What to Expect in This Message

My goals for this lesson are simple. First, I will seek to provide some background information that will aid you in your understanding of this passage, so that its interpretation and application will be accurate.

Second, I will take a closer look at some of the events recorded in our text. Third, from there I will endeavor to “connect the dots” in our text, so that we can begin to grasp the author’s purpose and message in the events he has described: “What point or lesson is the author trying to convey in our text?” Finally, we will consider some of the practical implications and applications of this passage.

Necessary Background Information

1.Our text (Judges 1:1-2:5) is “Part 1” of the author’s two-part introduction to the Book of Judges. That’s right, the author has written two introductions to Judges and has placed them side-by-side in the book. The second half of the two-part introduction is Judges 2:6-3:4, our text for the next lesson.

2.The interpretation of our text in Judges should be based upon the Scriptures that come before it (Genesis through Joshua) and what follows (particularly 1 and 2 Samuel). Instructions regarding the possession of the Promised Land were set forth for the first generation of Israelites in Exodus 23:20-33. Instructions were given to the second generation of Israelites in Deuteronomy. Instructions were given to the Judges 1 generation in Joshua 23 and 24. The later books of Samuel (1 and 2 Samuel) also provide us with interpretive data related to the Book of Judges. I will demonstrate this in relation to Judah’s dealings with Adoni-bezek later in this message.

3.We must take into account the important distinction between defeating the Canaanites in battle and actually taking possession of the land. More technically, we are talking about the difference between the terms “take” (Hebrew, lakad) and “possess” (Hebrew, yarash) in our text and elsewhere. The term “to take” has reference to the initial conquest of a territory while the term “to possess” refers to the permanent occupation and control of that territory.³

We may read of an earlier conquest of a certain city in Joshua only to discover in Judges that it had to be taken again and then possessed. When the Israelites first “took” the Promised Land under Joshua, there were too few people to occupy and possess the land. When the victorious Israelites moved on to fight another battle, the displaced Canaanites moved back to “re-possess” their land. Under Joshua, the Israelite tribes united to fight the Canaanites and make strategic victories (Joshua 1-12). Later under Joshua (Joshua 13ff.), the land was divided among the Israelite tribes with each tribe allotted their inheritance. Then, in Judges, it is the task of each individual tribe to “possess” their inheritance. This usually required retaking the land and then occupying (possessing) it.

Thus, the actual possession of a city or area might change over time. We should not be surprised then to learn from Joshua 15:63 that Judah could not defeat Jerusalem (Jebus), and then in Judges 1:8 discover that Judah later fought the Jebusites and “took” the place (Judges 1:18). Later on in chapter 1, we are told that Benjamin “could not drive out the Jebusites who lived in Jerusalem” (Judges 1:21). In other words, the Israelites “took” Jerusalem under Judah, but could not “possess” it under Benjamin. It is not until we reach 2 Samuel 5:6-9 that we are told David finally captured Jerusalem, possessed it, and made it his capital.

Judges 1 is an account of the successes and failures of the Israelite tribes (Judah being the most prominent here) in “possessing” what had been “taken” under Joshua. Judah did reasonably well, but the other tribes did not. We will see circumstantial evidence, as it were, for their failure in chapter one, but the real reason is given in the Lord’s rebuke in Judges 2:1-5.

4.We should not read our text expecting the possession of the Promised Land to be either quick or easy, since God had indicated otherwise. If we suppose that the Israelites leaving Egypt numbered around 2 million people, this is a very large group when it came to sojourning in the desert (even crossing the Red Sea). But in terms of the occupation of the land, 2 million people are not a large enough population to fully occupy and possess the land.

29 “I will not drive them out before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild animals multiply against you. 30 Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you become fruitful and inherit the land” (Exodus 23:29-30; see also Deuteronomy 7:22-23).⁴

There were other purposes for a slow occupation of the Promised Land:

1 These were the nations the Lord permitted to remain so he could use them to test Israel – he wanted to test all those who had not experienced battle against the Canaanites. 2 He left those nations simply because he wanted to teach the subsequent generations of Israelites, who had not experienced the earlier battles, how to conduct holy war (Judges 3:1-2).

20 So the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and He said, “Because this nation has transgressed My covenant which I commanded their fathers and has not listened to My voice, 21 I also will no longer drive out before them any of the nations which Joshua left when he died, 22 in order to test Israel by them, whether they will keep the way of the Lord to walk in it as their fathers did, or not.” 23 So the Lord allowed those nations to remain, not driving them out quickly; and He did not give them into the hand of Joshua (Judges 2:20-23, NASB 95).

5.The events recorded in Judges 1 are said to occur shortly after the death of Joshua (Judges 1:1). The Israelites in our text are the sons and daughters of those who successfully obeyed God and conquered the Promised Land under Joshua. They would be those who made a covenant with God as recorded in the final chapter of the Book of Joshua:

14 Now obey the Lord and worship him with integrity and loyalty. Put aside the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates and in Egypt and worship the Lord. 15 If you have no desire to worship the Lord, choose today whom you will worship, whether it be the gods whom your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. But I and my family will worship the Lord!” 16 The people responded, “Far be it from us to abandon the Lord so we can worship other gods! 17 For the Lord our God took us and our fathers out of slavery in the land of Egypt and performed these awesome miracles before our very eyes. He continually protected us as we traveled and when we passed through nations. 18 The Lord drove out from before us all the nations, including the Amorites who lived in the land. So we too will worship the Lord, for he is our God!” 19 Joshua warned the people, “You will not keep worshiping the Lord, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God who will not forgive your rebellion or your sins. 20 If you abandon the Lord and worship foreign gods, he will turn against you; he will bring disaster on you and destroy you, though he once treated you well.” 21 The people said to Joshua, “No! We really will worship the Lord!” 22 Joshua said to the people, “Do you agree to be witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to worship the Lord?” They replied, “We are witnesses!” 23 Joshua said, “Now put aside the foreign gods that are among you and submit to the Lord God of Israel.” 24 The people said to Joshua, “We will worship the Lord our God and obey him.” 25 That day Joshua drew up an agreement for the people, and he established rules and regulations for them in Shechem. 26 Joshua wrote these words in the Law Scroll of God. He then took a large stone and set it up there under the oak tree near the Lord’s shrine. 27 Joshua said to all the people, “Look, this stone will be a witness against you, for it has heard everything the Lord said to us. It will be a witness against you if you deny your God” (Joshua 24:14-27).

This generation should have been familiar with the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Old Testament – the Law of Moses), and they would have witnessed the hand of God in Israel’s victories over the Canaanites under the leadership of Joshua. They were surely aware of God’s instructions regarding the taking of the land, of His assurances of victory, and of His warnings regarding coexistence with the Canaanites and resulting apostasy.⁵

6.We need to approach our text with the assumption that everything our author has chosen to report is significant. Unlike some of my college term papers, there is no “filler” material in our text. The missing thumbs and toes of Adoni-bezek are important to us, as is the story about Caleb, his daughter Achsah, his newly acquired son-in-law Othniel, and the upper and lower springs. We may find the reference to so many cities a little less than stimulating, but rest assured that these details are likewise important. The repetition of all those cities is often the repetition of Israel’s failure. When God repeats something, we had better take note of it. Furthermore, we need to recognize that while these cities are rather unknown commodities to us, they were very well known to the original Jewish readers.

A look at a topographical map will quickly reveal that much of Israel is mountainous. Mountains are a good thing when it comes to building a fortified city that will withstand an attack by the enemy. This is one of the reasons why Jerusalem was such a strategic city. But mountains also restrict travel. Thus, travelers and commerce were restricted to a very few crucial routes. Cities that were taken or lost at critical locations spelled the difference between communication and commerce or isolation and marginalization. And thus we find an explanation for the author’s emphasis on cities in our text.

A Look at Selected Events in our Text

Israel’s Request for Divine Guidance
Judges 1:1-2

Let’s begin by considering Israel’s request for divine guidance regarding who should lead the Israelites in taking possession of their inheritance.

1 After Joshua died, the Israelites asked the Lord, “Who should lead the invasion against the Canaanites and launch the attack?” 2 The Lord said, “The men of Judah should take the lead. Be sure of this! I am handing the land over to them” (Judges 1:1-2).

These two introductory verses serve to clue the reader in to some important information. First, we see that the Israelites seem to start out on the right foot (so to speak). They are eager to begin to possess their inheritance, and they take the initiative in seeking God’s guidance concerning who should lead the attack. The way the book (and this chapter) starts is with a focus on leadership. “Going up first” refers to leadership in battle. There is not yet a king in Israel, and so there is no designated individual to lead in battle; thus, Israel’s inquiry of God. It is the judges who will provide military leadership throughout the book. We should expect leadership to be a topic that is frequently addressed in our study of Judges.

God designates Judah, which hardly comes as a surprise.

8 Judah, your brothers will praise you.

Your hand will be on the neck of your enemies,

your father’s sons will bow down before you.

9 You are a lion’s cub, Judah,

from the prey, my son, you have gone up.

He crouches and lies down like a lion;

like a lioness – who will rouse him?

10 The scepter will not depart from Judah,

nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,

until he comes to whom it belongs;

the nations will obey him (Genesis 49:8-10, emphasis mine).

In 2 Samuel 7, we read of God’s “Davidic Covenant” with David, a man from the tribe of Judah. David and his descendants will rule as kings over Israel. Note, too, that God not only identified Judah (that is the tribe of Judah) as the leader, God also gave the Israelites the assurance that this military campaign would be successful, and it was, as we will now find in verses 3-7:

3 The men of Judah said to their relatives, the men of Simeon, “Invade our allotted land with us and help us attack the Canaanites. Then we will go with you into your allotted land.” So the men of Simeon went with them. 4 The men of Judah attacked, and the Lord handed the Canaanites and Perizzites over to them. They killed ten thousand men at Bezek. 5 They met Adoni-Bezek at Bezek and fought him. They defeated the Canaanites and Perizzites. 6 When Adoni-Bezek ran away, they chased him and captured him. Then they cut off his thumbs and big toes. 7 Adoni-Bezek said, “Seventy kings, with thumbs and big toes cut off, used to lick up food scraps under my table. God has repaid me for what I did to them.” They brought him to Jerusalem, where he died (Judges 1:3-7).

A number of commentators seem intent to either justify or condemn Judah for asking Simeon to join with him in battle. Was it wrong for Judah to seek Simeon’s help? They shared adjoining territory, and these two were “blood brothers,” both the son of Leah. One could object that Judah lacks faith, something like Barak, who was not inclined to commence war with the Canaanites without Deborah at his side (Judges 4:1-10; note especially verse 8). I see no clear evidence of wrongdoing on the part of Judah here, and Davis’ argument that unity is a theme in Judges⁶ leads me to assume that the author is not trying to show us a failure on the part of Judah. That is soon to come, in my opinion, but not here; not yet.

Canaanite Justice: The Defeat of Adoni-bezek
Judges 1:3-7

3 The men of Judah said to their relatives, the men of Simeon,⁷ “Invade our allotted land with us and help us attack the Canaanites. Then we will go with you into your allotted land.” So the men of Simeon went with them. 4 The men of Judah attacked, and the Lord handed the Canaanites and Perizzites over to them. They killed ten thousand men at Bezek. 5 They met Adoni-Bezek at Bezek and fought him. They defeated the Canaanites and Perizzites. 6 When Adoni-Bezek ran away, they chased him and captured him. Then they cut off his thumbs and big toes. 7 Adoni-Bezek said, “Seventy kings, with thumbs and big toes cut off, used to lick up food scraps under my table. God has repaid me for what I did to them.” They brought him to Jerusalem, where he died (Judges 1:3-7).

Adoni-bezek (the lord or ruler of Bezek) was apparently a powerful man. The combined forces of Judah and Simeon enabled the Israelites to defeat 10,000 Canaanite and Perizzites at Bezek. The king fled, but was apprehended. His thumbs and big toes were removed, and he was taken to Jerusalem where he eventually died. I do not read this text as saying that Adoni-bezek died by execution in Jerusalem, but rather that He died of old age in Jerusalem. The appearance is that at the time of Adoni-bezek’s capture, Jerusalem was not yet under Israelite control.⁸ It is my sense that Adoni-bezek was captured, mutilated, and then kept on display as a kind of war trophy.⁹

I’m amazed at the way the commentaries I consulted sought to justify the capture and treatment of Adoni-bezek. There is a strong inclination to see the treatment of this king as acceptable, sanctifying it by referring to it as just retribution, as sort of eye-for-an-eye judgment. I would agree that the readers of this account would be inclined to conclude that Adoni-bezek got what he deserved. After all, even the captured king said as much. But was Israel’s treatment of this king acceptable to God? I think not. Now is the time for me to apply my hermeneutical principle introduced earlier.¹⁰

In the first place, God had instructed the Israelites to annihilate the Canaanites, and this most certainly included their kings:

22 “He, the God who leads you, will expel the nations little by little. You will not be allowed to destroy them all at once lest the wild animals overrun you. 23 The Lord your God will give them over to you; he will throw them into a great panic until they are destroyed. 24 He will hand over their kings to you and you will erase their very names from memory. Nobody will be able to resist you until you destroy them” (Deuteronomy 7:22-24, emphasis mine).

Just as the command to kill the Canaanite kings (along with the rest) is clear, so is the practice of the godly leaders of Israel before the capture of Adoni-bezek:

16 The five Amorite kings ran away and hid in the cave at Makkedah. 17 Joshua was told, “The five kings have been found hiding in the cave at Makkedah.” 18 Joshua said, “Roll large stones over the mouth of the cave and post guards in front of it. 19 But don’t you delay! Chase your enemies and catch them! Don’t allow them to retreat to their cities, for the Lord your God is handing them over to you.” 20 Joshua and the Israelites almost totally wiped them out, but some survivors did escape to the fortified cities. 21 Then the whole army safely returned to Joshua at the camp in Makkedah. No one dared threaten the Israelites. 22 Joshua said, “Open the cave’s mouth and bring the five kings out of the cave to me.” 23 They did as ordered; they brought the five kings out of the cave to him – the kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, and Eglon. 24 When they brought the kings out to Joshua, he summoned all the men of Israel and said to the commanders of the troops who accompanied him, “Come here and put your feet on the necks of these kings.” So they came up and put their feet on their necks. 25 Then Joshua said to them, “Don’t be afraid and don’t panic! Be strong and brave, for the Lord will do the same thing to all your enemies you fight. 26 Then Joshua executed them and hung them on five trees. They were left hanging on the trees until evening. 27 At sunset Joshua ordered his men to take them down from the trees. They threw them into the cave where they had hidden and piled large stones over the mouth of the cave. (They remain to this very day.) (Joshua 10:16-27, emphasis mine)

It is even more instructive to consider what is described later in 1 Samuel 15. There, God gave King Saul very clear instructions concerning the treatment of the Amalekites:

1 Then Samuel said to Saul, “I was the one the Lord sent to anoint you as king over his people Israel. Now listen to what the Lord says. 2 Here is what the Lord of hosts says: ‘I carefully observed how the Amalekites opposed Israel along the way when Israel came up from Egypt. 3 So go now and strike down the Amalekites. Destroy everything that they have. Don’t spare them. Put them to death – man, woman, child, infant, ox, sheep, camel, and donkey alike’” (1 Samuel 15:1-3).

And yet when Saul and his army defeated the Amalekites, he did not fully carry out God’s command:

8 He captured King Agag of the Amalekites alive, but he executed all Agag’s people with the sword. 9 However, Saul and the army spared Agag, along with the best of the flock, the cattle, the fatlings, and the lambs, as well as everything else that was of value. They were not willing to slaughter them. But they did slaughter everything that was despised and worthless (1 Samuel 15:8-9, emphasis mine).

Saul’s disobedience would cost him his kingdom (1 Samuel 15:17-23), and it was Samuel the prophet who dealt with Agag as God had directed:

32 Then Samuel said, “Bring me King Agag of the Amalekites.” So Agag came to him trembling, thinking to himself, “Surely death is bitter!” 33 Samuel said, “Just as your sword left women childless, so your mother will be the most bereaved among women!” Then Samuel hacked Agag to pieces there in Gilgal before the Lord (1 Samuel 15:32-33, emphasis mine).

Now, on the basis of what we have found in the Scriptures, how should Judah and Simeon have dealt with Adoni-bezek? I think the answer is obvious – they should have immediately put him to death. Why, then, did they cut off his big toes and thumbs and keep him alive? Adoni-bezek tells us himself: this was Canaanite justice. This was the way Adoni-bezek dealt with his enemies.

And so our author has chosen to make Judah the centerpiece of this narrative, and already we find that Judah’s actions disregard God’s command and conform to human wisdom, Canaanite wisdom, as it were:

In those days Israel had no king. Each man did what he considered to be right (Judges 21:25).

The treatment of Adoni-bezek was based upon human wisdom, not divine command. This is the first clear indication that things did not bode well for Israel during the days of the judges.

Caleb, Achsah, and Othniel
Judges 1:11-15, 20

11 Then from there he went against the inhabitants of Debir (now the name of Debir formerly was Kiriath-sepher). 12 And Caleb said, “The one who attacks Kiriath-sepher and captures it, I will even give him my daughter Achsah for a wife.” 13 Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, captured it; so he gave him his daughter Achsah for a wife. 14 Then it came about when she came to him, that she persuaded him to ask her father for a field. Then she alighted from her donkey, and Caleb said to her, “What do you want?” 15 She said to him, “Give me a blessing, since you have given me the land of the Negev, give me also springs of water.” So Caleb gave her the upper springs and the lower springs… . 20 Then they gave Hebron to Caleb, as Moses had promised; and he drove out from there the three sons of Anak (Judges 1:11-15, 20).¹¹

Without getting into all the details and difficulties of this text, let me tell you how and why I understand it as I do. Let me begin with some observations.

1. These three are the only individual Israelites named in our text. Judah, Simeon, etc. are tribes, not individuals. One must ask why these three are named.

2. This story about Caleb is recorded earlier in Joshua 15:15-19 and is now repeated in our text in Judges.

3. Caleb and Othniel are clearly “good guys.” Caleb and Joshua were the only two spies who returned to Moses and the Israelites with an encouraging report and the recommendation to go up and take the land, as God had promised. Othniel not only takes Caleb’s challenge and captures Debir (Kiriath-sepher), he will later (Judges 3:9-11) be identified as one of Israel’s judges.

I believe that just as Caleb’s courage inspired the previous generation to take the Promised Land in the days of Joshua, his leadership in the days of the judges inspired others to be brave and courageous as well. (I am tempted to think that Caleb is the one leading the tribe of Judah.) The Book of Judges makes it clear that the Israelites did not pass the faith on to the next generation. I believe that Caleb is the exception and that this story is told to reveal how Caleb’s leadership inspired the next generation to be “brave and courageous” (Deuteronomy 31:6-7, 23; Joshua 1:6-9, 18; 10:25).

As I read the story, I see that Caleb is still a man of great faith and courage. But he also recognizes that he must pass the torch of leadership on to the next generation. He therefore challenges one of the young men to lead the charge against Kiriath-sepher, offering his daughter as an incentive and reward. Going beyond this (and thus, perhaps, into more speculation),when I read about the role played by Achsah, I believe that it must be significant. Achsah is not just a passive “prize” for a military victory. She aggressively seeks a portion of land, not (I would contend) so differently from her father (see Joshua 14:6-15).

I would refer the reader to an article written by my friend, Hampton Keathley, entitled, The Role of Women in the Book of Judges.¹² Achsah fits well with the other women, like Deborah, who are women of faith and courage. I believe that Achsah was likewise a woman of faith and courage, just like her father, the perfect match for the man destined to be one of Israel’s judges. By the way, one of my friends suggested to me that the land (and springs) which Achsah sought may not yet have been fully “possessed.” It is one thing to ask for land where the Canaanites have already been thrust out. It is quite another when the job is not yet finished. Othniel took Kiriath-sepher in battle, but the possession may yet remain to be accomplished. Also, having been given both her father’s blessing and a portion of his land, Achsah knows that water will be essential to achieving success, and so she asks for the resources that are necessary to accomplish the task at hand. It is not hard to see how this text could serve as a pattern for prayer, which is precisely what Charles Haddon Spurgeon did.¹³

Judah and the Iron Chariots
Judges 1:19

The Lord was with the men of Judah. They conquered the hill country, but they could not conquer the people living in the coastal plain, because they had chariots with iron-rimmed wheels (Judges 1:19).

Of all the tribes of Israel, our author has devoted the greatest amount of attention to Judah. This is the finest example of faith and obedience in Israel, and Caleb is our hero, flanked by Othniel and Achsah. But even Judah has his flaws. The treatment of Adoni-bezek is the first clear example of disobedience. And now we come to his failure on the coastal plain. The reason, we are told, is because the inhabitants of the valley had high tech weapons – chariots of iron. And because of this, we are told, Judah was not able to drive out those living in the coastal plain.

Strangely, I somehow find myself accepting this justification as though it made perfect sense: “Of course, how can I expect Judah to drive out an army equipped with iron chariots?” Once again, the Scriptures set us straight on this matter. In the first place, God promised Israel that He would give them the victory over their opponents. Are iron chariots somehow beyond God’s sovereign power? Not only did God promise the Israelites that He would make them victorious over their enemies, He specifically instructed them not to be intimidated by the chariots of their enemies:

1 “When you go to war against your enemies and see chariotry and troops who outnumber you, do not be afraid of them, for the Lord your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, is with you” (Deuteronomy 20:1).

Further, we must remember that this is not the first time the Israelites have been pursued by a powerful army equipped with chariots:

5 When it was reported to the king of Egypt that the people had fled, the heart of Pharaoh and his servants was turned against the people, and the king and his servants said, “What in the world have we done? For we have released the people of Israel from serving us!” 6 Then he prepared his chariots and took his army with him. 7 He took six hundred select chariots, and all the rest of the chariots of Egypt, and officers on all of them.

8 But the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he chased after the Israelites. Now the Israelites were going out defiantly. 9 The Egyptians chased after them, and all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh and his horsemen and his army overtook them camping by the sea, beside Pi-hahiroth, before Baal-Zephon. 10 When Pharaoh got closer, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians marching after them, and they were terrified. The Israelites cried out to the Lord, 11 and they said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the desert? What in the world have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Isn’t this what we told you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone so that we can serve the Egyptians, because it is better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!’”

13 Moses said to the people, “Do not fear! Stand firm and see the salvation of the Lord that he will provide for you today; for the Egyptians that you see today you will never, ever see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you, and you can be still.”

15 The Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. 16 And as for you, lift up your staff and extend your hand toward the sea and divide it, so that the Israelites may go through the middle of the sea on dry ground. 17 And as for me, I am going to harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will come after them, that I may be honored because of Pharaoh and his army and his chariots and his horsemen. 18 And the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I have gained my honor because of Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen” (Exodus 14:5-18, emphasis mine).

Pharaoh set out after the Israelites with his horsemen and chariots and as they drew near, the Israelites were terrified, certain that they would die. God informed them that by means of these seemingly impossible circumstances He would glorify Himself by delivering His people from their enemies. And so He did.

24 In the morning watch the Lord looked down on the Egyptian army through the pillar of fire and cloud, and he threw the Egyptian army into a panic. 25 He jammed the wheels of their chariots so that they had difficulty driving, and the Egyptians said, “Let’s flee from Israel, for the Lord fights for them against Egypt!”

26 The Lord said to Moses, “Extend your hand toward the sea, so that the waters may flow back on the Egyptians, on their chariots, and on their horsemen!” 27 So Moses extended his hand toward the sea, and the sea returned to its normal state when the sun began to rise. Now the Egyptians were fleeing before it, but the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the middle of the sea. 28 The water returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen and all the army of Pharaoh that was coming after the Israelites into the sea – not so much as one of them survived! (Exodus 14:24-28, emphasis mine)

The magnitude of that victory is reflected by Israel’s song of praise recorded in Exodus 15. Note especially what they sing about those dreaded Egyptian chariots:

1 Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord. They said,

“I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously,

the horse and its rider he has thrown into the sea.

2 The Lord is my strength and my song,

and he has become my salvation.

This is my God, and I will praise him,

my father’s God, and I will exalt him.

3 The Lord is a warrior,

the Lord is his name.

4 The chariots of Pharaoh and his army he has thrown into the sea,

and his chosen officers were drowned in the Red Sea… .

10 But you blew with your breath, and the sea covered them.

They sank like lead in the mighty waters (Exodus 15:1-4, 10, emphasis mine),

I love this last line: “They sank like lead.” The very weight of those impressive, terrifying chariots became the instrument of the Egyptians’ destruction. After the Israelites stepped out of the midst of the Red Sea “on dry ground,^”14 God let the sea bottom return to its normal muddy, slippery state, which now rendered the chariots virtually useless, and worse. These instruments of destruction now became the undoing of the Egyptian army. The Israelites did not die because of these chariots – the Egyptians did! So much for fearing chariots.

Someone might object, “Ah, but these chariots that the Canaanites used were iron chariots, the very latest in chariot technology.” So they were, so let us look ahead in time to see how God deals with the “cutting edge” technology of iron chariots, swords, and spears:

12 When Sisera heard that Barak son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor, 13 he ordered all his chariotry – nine hundred chariots with iron-rimmed wheels – and all the troops he had with him to go from Harosheth-Haggoyim to the River Kishon. 14 Deborah said to Barak, “Spring into action, for this is the day the Lord is handing Sisera over to you! Has the Lord not taken the lead?” Barak quickly went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him. 15 The Lord routed Sisera, all his chariotry, and all his army with the edge of the sword. Sisera jumped out of his chariot and ran away on foot. 16 Now Barak chased the chariots and the army all the way to Harosheth Haggoyim. Sisera’s whole army died by the edge of the sword; not even one survived! (Judges 4:12-16, emphasis mine)

This text in 1 Samuel 13 is important because it informs us that the Philistines had the advantage over Israel because they had iron-making technology which the other nations – including Israel – did not possess:

19 A blacksmith could not be found in all the land of Israel, for the Philistines had said, “This will prevent the Hebrews from making swords and spears.” 20 So all Israel had to go down to the Philistines in order to get their plowshares, cutting instruments, axes, and sickles sharpened. 21 They charged two-thirds of a shekel to sharpen plowshares and cutting instruments, and a third of a shekel to sharpen picks and axes, and to set ox goads. 22 So on the day of the battle no sword or spear was to be found in the hand of anyone in the army that was with Saul and Jonathan. No one but Saul and his son Jonathan had them (1 Samuel 13:19-22).

When the Israelites gathered at Mizpah, it was to repent and to ask for divine deliverance from their enemies. Mizpah was on “high ground.” The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia says this about the site that is likely the location of Mizpah:

A more probable identification is with Neby Samwil, a village on high ground 4 1/2 miles Northwest of Jerusalem, the traditional burying-place of Samuel. It is 2,935 ft. above sea-level, and 500 ft. higher than the surrounding land (emphasis mine).

The Philistines heard that the Israelites had assembled, and they (wrongly) concluded that they were mustering their forces to do battle with them. And so the Philistines assembled their forces and converged upon Mizpah, intending to put down this uprising. Here’s the significant portion of the account in 1 Samuel:

5 Then Samuel said, “Gather all Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray to the Lord on your behalf.” 6 After they had assembled at Mizpah, they drew water and poured it out before the Lord. They fasted on that day, and they confessed there, “We have sinned against the Lord.” So Samuel led the people of Israel at Mizpah.

7 When the Philistines heard that the Israelites had gathered at Mizpah, the leaders of the Philistines went up against Israel. When the Israelites heard about this, they were afraid of the Philistines. 8 The Israelites said to Samuel, “Keep crying out to the Lord our God so that he may save us from the hand of the Philistines!” 9 So Samuel took a nursing lamb and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the Lord. Samuel cried out to the Lord on Israel’s behalf, and the Lord answered him.

10 As Samuel was offering burnt offerings, the Philistines approached to do battle with Israel. But on that day the Lord thundered loudly against the Philistines. He caused them to panic, and they were defeated by Israel. 11 Then the men of Israel left Mizpah and chased the Philistines, striking them down all the way to an area below Beth Car (1 Samuel 7:5-11, emphasis mine).

I admit a bit of speculation here, but every translation I looked at used some form of the word “thunder” in translating verse 10 above. Given that Mizpah was “high ground” and that God seems to have created panic with a thunderstorm, I believe it is quite likely that lightening was also involved. If this is so, an iron chariot (not to mention iron swords and spears) would hardly be one’s weapon of choice. Can’t you just see the Philistine commander holding his sword high in the air and shouting “Charge!” to his troops? He’s the one who got the charge. And so God made the iron chariots of the Philistines a liability, rather than an asset. So just why was it that the men of Judah felt it impossible to prevail against these Philistines when God had promised them victory and told them not to fear the enemies’ chariots? Thus, Judah’s failure to defeat the chariot-equipped Canaanites was just that – failure.

The Taking of Luz (Bethel)
Judges 1:22-26

22 When the men of Joseph attacked Bethel, the Lord was with them. 23 When the men of Joseph spied out Bethel (it used to be called Luz), 24 the spies spotted a man leaving the city. They said to him, “If you show us a secret entrance into the city, we will reward you.” 25 He showed them a secret entrance into the city, and they put the city to the sword. But they let the man and his extended family leave safely. 26 He moved to Hittite country and built a city. He named it Luz, and it has kept that name to this very day (Judges 1:22-26).

This account of Joseph’s “victory” over the Canaanite city of Luz is interesting. Some seem predisposed to justify the actions of “the men of Joseph,” drawing an analogy between Rahab and the Israelites taking of the city of Jericho and Joseph’s capture of Luz, with the assistance of this “turncoat.” I would contend that there is little similarity between Rahab and this traitor, or between Israel’s victory under Joshua and the victory of the men of Joseph over Luz (Bethel). Let me call your attention to several points of contrast.

1. The man from Luz is never named, as Rahab is.

2. Rahab risked her own life to save the two Israelite spies; the man from Luz merely sought to save his own life.

3. We are told that Rahab embraced the faith of the Israelites; no such indication is given regarding the turncoat from Luz. His actions do not appear to be prompted by faith, but by fear and self-preservation.

4. Rahab proclaimed her faith and appealed for the lives of her family, after she had already risked her own life to save the lives of the two spies. The man from Luz simply accepted an “offer he could not refuse.”

5. The man from Luz did not throw in his lot with the people of Israel; instead, he went away and started another “Luz.”

6. Rahab married an Israelite and became a part of the messianic line. The man from Luz simply set out to preserve and perpetuate his Canaanite heritage.

It would therefore seem to me that the men of Joseph should have trusted God for their military victory, instead of relying upon intelligence obtained from a Canaanite who should have been put to death (rather than allowed to replicate his heathen culture somewhere else). Victory obtained at the price of disobedience or compromise is not really victory.

What, then, are we to do with the statement that “the Lord was with him [Joseph]”? Does this not sweep aside all that I have said to the contrary? No, I think it validates it. Do you remember when Jacob went through all of his manipulations to prosper at the expense of Laban? Jacob wrongly assumed that it was his scheming that prospered him, until God revealed otherwise:

10 “Once during breeding season I saw in a dream that the male goats mating with the flock were streaked, speckled, and spotted. 11 In the dream the angel of God said to me, ‘Jacob!’ ‘Here I am!’ I replied. 12 Then he said, ‘Observe that all the male goats mating with the flock are streaked, speckled, or spotted, for I have observed all that Laban has done to you. 13 I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed the sacred stone and made a vow to me. Now leave this land immediately and return to your native land’” (Genesis 31:10-13).

God reveals to Jacob that it wasn’t his scheming and manipulating that prospered him; it was God who caused the male goats to mate with those goats that would produce offspring for him. Similarly, I believe that in our text the author is indicating to us that Joseph’s taking of the city of Luz was God’s doing and not really the result of the deal the spies made with the man from Luz. Granted, the sons of Joseph made their deal with this man, but the victory was the Lord’s.

Living with the Canaanites
Judges 1:16-36

 

“Living with the Canaanites” becomes the theme from verse 16 to the end of the chapter. The Kenites lived among the Canaanites as we see in verse 15.¹⁵ While Caleb’s faith enabled him to drive out the three sons of Anak,¹⁶ the sons of Judah found themselves unable to defeat the Canaanites (with their iron chariots) on the plain (1:19). Manasseh failed to take possession of many Canaanite cities, so that the Canaanites continued to live in the land (1:27). The best that could be said was that when Israel became strong, they used the enemy as labor (1:28). This is not a good thing, as I will point out shortly.

So, too, Zebulun (1:30), Asher (1:31-32), and Naphtali (1:33) failed to drive out the Canaanites. But the worst is yet to come. Up till now one could say that when the Israelites failed to drive out the Canaanites, there were still some Canaanites dwelling among the Israelites. But the sons of Dan failed even more miserably. They were driven into the hill country by the Canaanites and were not allowed to come down into the valley (1:34-36). It was only when the house of Joseph grew strong that the Amorites became forced labor. Now, the best that could be said is that the Israelites were dwelling among the Canaanites. So Israel’s failure begins with Canaanites living among the Israelites, and it ends with Israelites (the sons of Dan) living among the Canaanites. This does not bode well.

A Divine Rebuke
Judges 2:1-5

1 The Lord’s angelic messenger went up from Gilgal to Bokim. He said, “I brought you up from Egypt and led you into the land I had solemnly promised to give to your ancestors. I said, ‘I will never break my agreement with you, 2 but you must not make an agreement with the people who live in this land. You should tear down the altars where they worship.’ But you have disobeyed me. Why would you do such a thing? 3 At that time I also warned you, ‘If you disobey, I will not drive out the Canaanites before you. They will ensnare you and their gods will lure you away.’” 4 When the Lord’s messenger finished speaking these words to all the Israelites, the people wept loudly. 5 They named that place Bokim and offered sacrifices to the Lord there (Judges 2:1-5).

In a way, these words from the Angel of the Lord come to us like a bolt out of the blue. Up till now, it may have been possible to read most of chapter 1 sympathetically. We can empathize with Judah for dealing with Adoni-bezek as they did: “Serves him right,” we may reason. And we can certainly understand how the house of Joseph made a deal with the man from Luz. The host of iron Canaanite chariots seems like a good reason for Judah’s failure to defeat the Canaanites who lived in the lowlands.

But these first words of chapter 2 really get our attention, as they did that generation of Israelites who heard this rebuke from our Lord.¹⁷ Notice that the rebuke begins with a reminder of our Lord’s great work at the exodus, when He delivered the Israelites from their Egyptian bondage, defeated the most powerful army on earth at that time, and brought them to the land He had promised (Judges 2:1a). In addition to this, He made a covenant with the Israelites, one He would never break (2:1b). Consequently, He also instructed His chosen people not to enter into any other covenant with the people of the land which they were to possess. Instead, they were to annihilate them and tear down their altars.¹⁸ But the Israelites did not obey (2:2).

And so it was that the sons of Israel broke their covenant with God, but God kept His covenant by bringing upon them those things about which He had warned. Specifically, the Lord indicated that He would not drive out the Canaanites ahead of them, but would leave them in the land as a “pain in the neck” and as a “snare” to them (2:3). Thus, we can see that the presence of the Canaanites among the Israelites was a manifestation of divine discipline.

It is difficult to know how to take verses 4 and 5. The response of the people to God’s words of rebuke outwardly appeared to be genuine. They wept, and they offered sacrifices to the LORD. Here, the first introduction to the Book of Judges ends, with weeping and the offering of sacrifices. But what does this produce in the long term? Is this genuine repentance? Perhaps the second introduction will help us with the answer to this question.

Conclusion and Application

As we reach the end of the author’s first introduction, what are the things that we are to learn from this passage? What are we supposed to see here? I would suggest that we might begin by comparing how the text begins with how it ends. The text begins with the Canaanites fleeing from the more powerful Israelites (Judah and Simeon) and ends with the more powerful Amorites driving the Israelites (Dan) into the hills. We find the men of Judah seemingly unable (“could not” – see verse 19) to drive out the Canaanites on the plain, and from there on most of the other Israelite tribes were unwilling (“did not” – see verses 21, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34) to drive them out completely. And so we first find the Canaanites dwelling among the Israelites (Benjamites) in Jerusalem (verse 21), and soon thereafter we read that the Israelites were dwelling among the Canaanites (see verses 32 and 33). In the beginning, the Israelites are driving out the Canaanites and eventually (at their best) the Israelites are using the Canaanites as forced labor.

So what do these things mean? Let me suggest some areas of application.

First, we see that failure came quickly for Israel, but it was not immediately evident as failure. While the sanctification process is slow and often painful, the reverse process can happen so quickly that we may not even realize that it has happened. I’m reminded of Samson, who didn’t even realize that the Lord had departed from him (Judges 16:20). The uphill climb is slow; the downhill stretch is amazingly fast. We may be failing and not even recognize it as such.

Second, failure may even appear to be justified. As we read the account of the attempts of the various tribes of Israel to possess their inheritance, we might easily conclude that their failure was unavoidable. We might reason that the Canaanites were in a very inaccessible place (as the Jebusites were in Jerusalem), or that they were too numerous, or that they had iron chariots. But God had promised the Israelites victory, and they had settled for less, much less.

Third, failure might even be viewed as success. I think here of the failure of the Israelites to drive out the Canaanites, allowing them to live among the people of God. But, we are told, when the Israelites became strong – when they could have defeated and driven them out – they chose to make slave laborers of them (as they had done earlier with the Gibeonites – see Joshua 9:25-27). Why didn’t the Israelites destroy or drive out the Canaanites? It was because they could seemingly profit from their presence. The Israelites attempted to use sin, rather than to destroy it, and in the end, it nearly destroyed them.

How often do we seek to sanctify or justify compromise with evil because it makes us more prosperous, or because it makes us feel good, or because it makes our church grow larger? Just remember, sin sometimes looks like success, but it is just the opposite.

The wicked person earns deceitful wages,

but the one who sows righteousness reaps a genuine reward (Proverbs 11:18).

Fourth, we fail (sin) when we limit our obedience to what we deem “possible.” Just this morning in our worship around the Lord’s Table, one of the men shared from John 11. He called attention to the fact that when Jesus was told that Lazarus was ill, he did not go to Bethany until Lazarus was “good and dead.” Jesus waited to go to Lazarus until making him well was impossible. That is because the glory God receives is often proportional to the level of difficulty of the task. So He places the Israelites between the Red Sea and the advancing Egyptian army, with all of its horsemen and chariots. He brings fire to Elijah’s sacrifice only after it has been repeatedly doused with water. God is not limited by the “possible” because with Him “all things are possible.”¹⁹

I’ve been thinking about this particular point, as I know others have as well. As I think back over my life, and as I think back over the history of our church, I wonder how many things I, or we, have not done based on the assumption (or excuse) that it was not possible. Some people say that the way we function as a church is not possible. Is God not glorified when we obey His word and we defy all the odds? As the church seems more and more patterned after the successful secular business models, do we not limit ourselves to the “possible,” the things that feasibility studies tell us will work, and the “how to” books assure us are the key to achieving God’s purposes? What is it that you have been reluctant to attempt because you are not sure that it is possible?

Fifth, how can we be sure that what we are doing is right or be informed that what we are doing is wrong? We know what is right or wrong in God’s sight from His Word. Judges is the book that describes people who “do what is right in their own eyes” (17:6; 21:25). How do we know that we should be doing something or that we should not? We need to live according to what is right in God’s eyes, and what is right (or wrong) in God’s eyes is what He reveals to us in His Word.

“You must not do like we are doing here today, with everyone doing what seems best to him” (Deuteronomy 12:8).

“Thus you must obey the Lord your God, keeping all his commandments that I am giving you today and doing what is right before him” (Deuteronomy 13:18).

Sixth, our text teaches us to be merciless concerning sin. When we attempt to live with sin, or to use sin, we have chosen the path that leads to trouble. I have dealt with this matter in the first lesson, so I will not address it again here, but let us learn a very important principle from our passage: You can’t coexist with sin. We must put it to death. We must be merciless about it. We dare not tolerate it, either in us,²⁰ or in God’s church.²¹

Seventh, thank God that His work in us is not based upon our perfection. Man’s obedience is never perfect. As we look at our text (in my mind, at least), Judah’s treatment of Adoni-bezek fell short of God’s instructions, as did the manner in which the sons of Joseph took the city of Bethel. Our obedience is never perfect, whether in our motivation or in our methods. The victory of the Israelites over the Canaanites required faith and obedience, but in the end, the fulfillment of God’s promises and purposes is God’s work, based upon His faithfulness and power. If we are to learn anything from the Book of Judges, it is that God uses flawed instruments to achieve His purposes.

Eighth, our text teaches us the important impact leadership has, both for good and for evil. The first two verses of Judges 1 inform us that leadership is going to be an important topic in this book. The NET Bible renders verses 1 and 2:

1 After Joshua died, the Israelites asked the Lord, “Who should lead the invasion against the Canaanites and launch the attack?” 2 The Lord said, “The men of Judah should take the lead. Be sure of this! I am handing the land over to them” (Judges 1:1-2).

The issue here is leadership. Who will lead the attack against the Canaanites? And it is surely the case throughout the book, as God raised up judges to lead the Israelites in battle against their foes. And we dare not forget this theme in Judges:

In those days Israel had no king. Each man did what he considered to be right (Judges 17:6).²²

Is it not interesting that in our text the only individual leaders who are named are Caleb and Othniel, his son-in-law. In contrast to the Israelites who failed to overcome great opposition, we find Caleb, who possesses his inheritance by driving out the sons of Anak, who were all “Goliaths” – the very giants who terrorized the first generation of Israelites so that they refused to possess the Promised Land. My contention is that Caleb’s leadership not only inspired the men of Judah, but all Israel. It is also my belief that his boldness in leading was reflected in his daughter and son-in-law (Othniel, who will be one of Israel’s judges – see Judges 3:9).

Just as the days of the judges were dark days, so we live in dark days as well. This is a time when wicked leaders can greatly impact a nation for evil, just as godly leaders can inspire men and women to courage and righteousness. A godly king is a blessing; an ungodly king is a curse. Leadership greatly impacts a nation:

The divine verdict is in the words of the king,

his pronouncements must not act treacherously against justice (Proverbs 16:10).

Loyal love and truth preserve a king,

and his throne is upheld by loyal love (Proverbs 20:28).

4 Remove the dross from the silver,

and material for the silversmith will emerge;

5 remove the wicked from before the king,

and his throne will be established in righteousness (Proverbs 25:4-5).

A king brings stability to a land by justice,

but one who exacts tribute tears it down (Proverbs 29:4).

A king sitting on the throne to judge

separates out all evil with his eyes (Proverbs 20:8).

When the righteous become numerous, the people rejoice;

when the wicked rule, the people groan (Proverbs 29:2).

A king brings stability to a land by justice,

but one who exacts tribute tears it down (Proverbs 29:4).

If a ruler listens to lies,

all his ministers will be wicked (Proverbs 29:12).

Leadership greatly impacts the people of God and the church. The example and actions of godly leaders is indeed a blessing to the church. Leaders can instill fear and reticence, or they can inspire others to faith and courage. Now is the time for good and godly leadership in the church. May God grant that we, as elders, lead well, and that many others lead in their spheres of responsibility and influence as well.

---

¹ Copyright © 2009 by Robert L. Deffinbaugh. This is the edited manuscript of Lesson 2 in the series, The Dark Days of Israel’s Judges, prepared by Robert L. Deffinbaugh on August 23, 2009. Anyone is at liberty to use this lesson for educational purposes only, with or without credit.

² Dale Ralph Davis, Such a Great Salvation: Expositions of the Book of Judges (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1990), p. 11. If you were to purchase only one commentary on the Book of Judges, this would be the one I would recommend.

³ See Dale Ralph Davis, No Falling Words: Expositions of the Book of Joshua (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1988), p. 89, especially footnote 12.

⁴ Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the NET Bible. The NEW ENGLISH TRANSLATION, also known as THE NET BIBLE, is a completely new translation of the Bible, not a revision or an update of a previous English version. It was completed by more than twenty biblical scholars who worked directly from the best currently available Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts. The translation project originally started as an attempt to provide an electronic version of a modern translation for electronic distribution over the Internet and on CD (compact disk). Anyone anywhere in the world with an Internet connection will be able to use and print out the NET Bible without cost for personal study. In addition, anyone who wants to share the Bible with others can print unlimited copies and give them away free to others. It is available on the Internet at: www.netbible.org.

⁵ See Exodus 23:22-28; 34:12-17; Numbers 33:50-54; Deuteronomy 7:1-5, 16-26; 9:1-6; 12:1-14; 20:1-4; Joshua 23 & 24.

⁶ Dale Ralph Davis, Such a Great Salvation, pp. 20-21.

⁷ While I am critical of the NET Bible’s translation in verse 16, I believe the translators got it right here. When the text is read literally, one might suppose that the author is speaking of men named Judah and Simeon, rather than of two tribes (the founders of which are long gone).

⁸ Compare Judges 1:7 with 1:8 and 1:22.

⁹ This is what the Philistines did when they defeated Israel and captured the ark (see 1 Samuel 4:10-11; 5:1-2).

¹⁰ In short, the principle of interpretation is that the events described in our text in Judges must be understood in the light of earlier (Genesis-Joshua) revelation and also later revelation (1 and 2 Samuel).

¹¹ Let me mention that there are some differences of opinion regarding how this passage should be translated. (1) Is Othniel Caleb’s nephew or younger brother? (2) Does Achsah convince her father or her new husband regarding the need for a gift of land? Here is the translator’s note in the NET Bible: “¹⁹ tn Heb him.” The pronoun could refer to Othniel, in which case one would translate, "she incited him [Othniel] to ask her father for a field." This is problematic, however, for Achsah, not Othniel, makes the request in v. 15. The LXX has “he [Othniel] urged her to ask her father for a field.” This appears to be an attempt to reconcile the apparent inconsistency and probably does not reflect the original text. If Caleb is understood as the referent of the pronoun, the problem disappears. For a fuller discussion of the issue, see P. G. Mosca, “Who Seduced Whom? A Note on Joshua 15:18 // Judges 1:14,” CBQ 46 (1984): 18-22. The translation takes Caleb to be the referent, specified as “her father."

¹² http://bible.org/article/role-women-book-judges

¹³ http://bible.org/seriespage/achsah’s-asking-pattern-prayer-no-2312

¹⁴ See Exodus 14:16.

¹⁵ See also 1 Samuel 15:6-7.

¹⁶ These are some of the “giants” whom the Israelites feared, leading to the rebellion at Kadesh Barnea (see Numbers 13:25-14:10). Now in his old age, Caleb defeats three of these giants and possesses his inheritance.

¹⁷ I’m inclined to assume that the “angel of the Lord” here is a theophany, an Old Testament pre-incarnate appearance of our Lord.

¹⁸ I find it interesting to see how the author seems to have linked “making a covenant with the inhabitants of the land of Canaan” with “tearing down their heathen altars.” To say this in reverse, to fail to destroy Canaanite altars would lead to their worshipping at these altars, and thus entering into a covenant with the Canaanites. I am reminded of Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 10, where he contrasts partaking of the table of our Lord with partaking of the table of demons. Thus, it would seem that worship is a covenant matter, whether that be heathen worship or true worship.

¹⁹ Matthew 19:26.

²⁰ Matthew 18:8-9; Romans 8:13; Colossians 3:5.

²¹ See Matthew 18:15-20.

²² See also 18:1, 19:1.

Introduction

It is with “tongue in cheek” that I set out to teach this text in Judges, which nearly all Bible students recognize as the author’s second introduction. All this seems somewhat inconsistent with what I did in the last message. I started Lesson 2 by citing a portion of Dale Ralph Davis’ “Non- introduction” to the Book of Judges.³ How can there possibly be two introductions to a book?

Actually, this possibility should not come as a great surprise to the student of the Bible. If you stop to think about it, the Book of Genesis also has two introductions. The first introduction is found in Genesis 1:1-2:3. The second begins with these words in verse 4 of chapter 2:

4 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created – when the Lord God made the earth and heavens (Genesis 2:4).⁴

Moses is not suffering from the malady that some of us older folks experience – forgetfulness. He actually means to repeat himself, although when you look at these two introductions you will see that they are different. Some have agonized over these differences, as though they were really inconsistencies. But Moses had a very good reason for writing a two-part introduction to Genesis. The first introduction is sequential: “day one (verse 5) … day two (verse 8) … day three (verse 13),” and so on. Moses wants us to observe the fact that the creation came into being by the Word of God. God spoke, and it happened. Also, in the first introduction, we are continually told that God created by dividing or separating something from something else:

6 God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters and let it separate water from water. 7 So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. It was so (Genesis 1:6-7, emphasis mine).

Finally (so far as my brief review of this account is concerned), there is much emphasis placed on the fact that what God created was perfect – it was very good in God’s sight:

3 God said, “Let there be light.” And there was light! 4 God saw that the light was good, so God separated the light from the darkness (Genesis 1:3-4, emphasis mine).

9 God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place and let dry ground appear.” It was so. 10 God called the dry ground “land” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” God saw that it was good (Genesis 1:9-10, emphasis mine).

I believe that all of this is in preparation for the account of the fall of man which comes to us in chapter 3. Satan tempts Eve by calling into question the truth and goodness of God’s Word – words just like those which called creation into existence. He questions God’s goodness, even though we have just seen that everything God created is good. He calls into question God’s distinction between this one forbidden tree from all the other trees in the garden, when creation is based upon the distinctions God has made.

The second introduction deals with creation differently. It does not give us a day-by-day account of the progressive (within a week’s time) creation of the world. Instead, it describes creation from a different perspective. It presents creation as God supplying what is lacking. God creates what is necessary to supply each and every legitimate need:

5 Now no shrub of the field had yet grown on the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground. 6 Springs would well up from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground. 7 The Lord God formed the man from the soil of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being (Genesis 2:5-7).

A garden required certain things: plants, moisture to nourish them, and someone to cultivate and care for them. God supplied a mist to nourish plant life, a garden in which plants could grow, and a man to cultivate and tend the garden. And yet there was still one great need, a need to which God carefully called our attention in the second introduction:

18 The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a companion for him who corresponds to him.” 19 The Lord God formed out of the ground every living animal of the field and every bird of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them, and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So the man named all the animals, the birds of the air, and the living creatures of the field, but for Adam no companion who corresponded to him was found. 21 So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep, and while he was asleep, he took part of the man’s side and closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the Lord God made a woman from the part he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. 23 Then the man said,

“This one at last is bone of my bones

and flesh of my flesh;

this one will be called ‘woman,’

for she was taken out of man.”

24 That is why a man leaves his father and mother and unites with his wife, and they become a new family. 25 The man and his wife were both naked, but they were not ashamed (Genesis 2:18-25).

Thus we can see that the second introduction also lays a foundation for the account of the fall of man which follows in Genesis 3. Satan’s temptation suggests that Eve (and her husband) have a need for the knowledge of both good and evil and that God is withholding this from them. Satan falsely creates a “need,” which he insists can only be supplied by doubting God’s goodness and provisions, and by disobeying His Word. The second introduction has just underscored the fact that God always perfectly supplies every legitimate need. And thus we see that these two introductions work hand in glove to set the stage for what follows in the Book of Genesis.

In this message, I will seek to show that the two introductions of the Book of Judges do the same thing. They work together to set the stage for the remainder of the book, giving us insight into the message the author is going to set forth in the Book of Judges. So with that in mind, let us proceed with our study, looking for the ways in which this introduction will work together with our text from the last message.

A Brief Review

The Book of Judges began with a question posed by the sons of Israel regarding who was to lead them into battle: “Who will lead us (go up first) into battle?” God designated Judah as the tribe which should lead the others in battle. Judah enlisted Simeon to go with him, and when they engaged Adoni-bezek, a Canaanite king, in battle (along with 10,000 of his men) they defeated the Canaanites. But instead of executing this king when they captured him, they dealt with him in the Canaanite way – by cutting off his thumbs and big toes and keeping him alive as a trophy of war. After a description of the heroic leadership of Caleb and the marriage of his daughter, Achsah, to Othniel, things quickly begin to go downhill. Judah is successful in the hill country, but cannot defeat the Canaanites on the plain because of their iron chariots (1:18-19). The house of Joseph is successful in taking Bethel (Luz), but only because they made an agreement (covenant?) with one of the citizens of the town, allowing him and his family to live, so that he replicated Luz elsewhere (1:22-26). Manasseh (1:26-28), Ephraim (1:29), Zebulun (1:30), Asher (1:31-32), and Naphtali (1:33) all failed to totally drive out the Canaanites. The Canaanites remained among them. At best, they made the Canaanites serve them as forced laborers when they became strong enough to do so.

Dan was the biggest failure. The Amorites forced this tribe into the hills and did not allow them to come down to the valley. These folks continued to possess many of their cities, and only when the house of Joseph grew strong did they become forced labor. And so we can safely say that it was all downhill for the Israelites in chapter 1 of Judges. As the first chapter ends, one might conclude that the Israelites failed because the Canaanites were stronger and better equipped. But the next verses (Judges 2:1-4) present us with an entirely different perspective – a divine perspective. The Angel of the LORD appeared in Bochim, where He reminded the Israelites that He had brought them to Canaan from Egypt. God had covenanted with Israel that He would give them the land of Canaan and that this covenant promise would never be broken (2:1). In response, the Israelites were instructed not to make any covenant with the Canaanites. Instead, they were to tear down their altars. This had obviously not happened, and thus God fulfilled the other side of His covenant with Israel, concerning which Joshua had recently warned them:

6 “Be very strong! Carefully obey all that is written in the law scroll of Moses so you won’t swerve from it to the right or the left, 7 or associate with these nations that remain near you. You must not invoke or make solemn declarations by the names of their gods! You must not worship or bow down to them! 8 But you must be loyal to the Lord your God, as you have been to this very day.

9 “The Lord drove out from before you great and mighty nations; no one has been able to resist you to this very day. 10 One of you makes a thousand run away, for the Lord your God fights for you as he promised you he would. 11 Watch yourselves carefully! Love the Lord your God! 12 But if you ever turn away and make alliances with these nations that remain near you, and intermarry with them and establish friendly relations with them, 13 know for certain that the Lord our God will no longer drive out these nations from before you. They will trap and ensnare you; they will be a whip that tears your sides and thorns that blind your eyes until you disappear from this good land the Lord your God gave you.

14 “Look, today I am about to die. You know with all your heart and being that not even one of all the faithful promises the Lord your God made to you is left unfulfilled; every one was realized – not one promise is unfulfilled! 15 But in the same way every faithful promise the Lord your God made to you has been realized, it is just as certain, if you disobey, that the Lord will bring on you every judgment until he destroys you from this good land which the Lord your God gave you. 16 If you violate the covenantal laws of the Lord your God which he commanded you to keep, and follow, worship, and bow down to other gods, the Lord will be very angry with you and you will disappear quickly from the good land which he gave to you” (Joshua 23:6-16).

And so it was that the Angel of the LORD pronounced judgment upon the Israelites for their unfaithfulness and disobedience. Their problem was not that the enemy was too numerous or too well armed for them to defeat; it was that they would rather coexist with the Canaanites than kill them. It was that they did not trust God and did not keep His covenant with them. And so God announced that He would no longer drive out the Canaanites from before them, but would leave them in the land as a “snare” to the Israelites (2:3). The people were taken aback by this revelation. They wept and offered sacrifices at the place they now called “Bochim” (“weepers,” marginal note in NASB at verse 5). Whether or not this weeping was genuine repentance is yet to be seen. It is at this point that we come to our text.

A New Generation
Judges 2:6-10

6 When Joshua dismissed the people, the Israelites went to their allotted portions of territory, intending to take possession of the land. 7 The people worshiped the Lord throughout Joshua’s lifetime and as long as the elderly men [elders]⁵ who outlived him remained alive. These men had witnessed all the great things the Lord had done for Israel. 8 Joshua son of Nun, the Lord’s servant, died at the age of one hundred ten. 9 The people buried him in his allotted land in Timnath Heres in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash. 10 That entire generation passed away; a new generation grew up that had not personally experienced the Lord’s presence [literally, “did not know the Lord”] or seen what he had done for Israel (Judges 2:6-10).⁶

The generation that was so victorious in defeating the Canaanites and taking the land under Joshua has now passed away, and a whole new generation has arisen. Our author tells us plainly that it was the godly leadership of those former days that had greatly influenced that former generation. But it was now a new day. That old generation is dead and gone, and a new generation has arisen that does not know God and that does not know the greatness of His power.⁷ This is sad indeed, for God had promised that previous generation that the manifestation of His power in driving out the Canaanites would surpass the manifestations of His power in delivering the Israelites from Egypt.⁸

Forsaking the Faith
Judges 2:11-13

11 The Israelites did evil before the Lord by worshiping the Baals. 12 They abandoned the Lord God of their ancestors who brought them out of the land of Egypt. They followed other gods – the gods of the nations who lived around them. They worshiped them and made the Lord angry. 13 They abandoned the Lord and worshiped Baal and the Ashtars (Judges 2:11-13).

With the Joshua generation now gone, the new generation – which has not known and experienced God as did the former generation – chooses to coexist with the Canaanites, rather than to conquer them. Worse yet, the Israelites forsook the Lord and began to worship the Canaanite gods, Baal (the male Canaanite god) and the Ashtars9 (his female counterparts). This generation has demonstrated the truth of God’s Word, spoken earlier – their willingness to live among the Canaanites has led to their apostasy from the God of their fathers.

Divine Judgment
Judges 2:14-15

14 The Lord was furious with Israel and handed them over to robbers who plundered them. He turned them over to their enemies who lived around them. They could not withstand their enemies’ attacks. 15 Whenever they went out to fight, the Lord did them harm, just as he had warned and solemnly vowed he would do. They suffered greatly (Judges 2:14-15).

As God had promised (and as Joshua had so recently warned – see Joshua 23:14-16), divine judgment would follow Israel’s unbelief, disobedience, and apostasy. No more would God strike terror in the hearts of Israel’s enemies. Instead of giving Israel miraculous victories over their enemies, He would give the Israelites into the hands of their enemies. When the Israelites engaged them in battle, their enemies would prevail. They had turned from God and now God would cease to bless them as He had before.

Divine Mercy
Judges 2:16-18

16 The Lord raised up leaders [judges]¹⁰ who delivered them from these robbers. 17 But they did not obey their leaders [judges]. Instead they prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped them. They quickly turned aside from the path their ancestors [fathers] had walked. Their ancestors [fathers]¹¹ had obeyed the Lord’s commands, but they did not. 18 When the Lord raised up leaders [judges] for them, the Lord was with each leader [judge] and delivered the people from their enemies while the leader [judge] remained alive. The Lord felt sorry for them when they cried out¹² [groaned] in agony because of what their harsh oppressors did to them (Judges 2:16-18).

The author’s description of divine judgment in verses 14 and 15 comes as no surprise to the reader, for this is exactly what God had promised. What does come as a complete surprise is what we now read in verses 16-18. God does discipline His people for their sin, but He also remains faithful to His character, and thus He sends them deliverers. We tend to think of either judgment or mercy, but the two may be accomplished at the same time. I am reminded of the words of Habakkuk when he pleads, “In wrath remember mercy” (Habakkuk 3:2, NASB).

Here indeed we find God’s incredible mercy. God brings judgment upon His sinful people, as His righteousness requires. Thus God hands His people over to cruel taskmasters. But at the same time, He raises up judges to deliver His people. In spite of this, we are told that the Israelites refused to listen to these judges (2:17).

Here’s where I have a bit of a problem. Who were those judges to whom the Israelites were not listening, and what were they saying? I have trouble thinking of Ehud or Jephthah or Samson speaking to Israel about their relationship to God or calling them to repentance. I see several possible explanations. First, the judges “spoke” to Israel of God’s concern and of His salvation by what they did. They spoke in deed, more than in word. Second, it could be that while our author chose to focus on their military actions, they may have done more speaking regarding spiritual things than what is recorded for us in Judges. It is not hard to think of Deborah as a judge who called Israel to repentance and obedience, for example. Also, although we have difficulty thinking of Gideon, Barak, Samson, and Jephthah as spiritual men, the author of the Book of Hebrews includes them in his “hall of faith” (Hebrews 11:32). They must have been more spiritual than they appear in Judges, where we see their dark side.

There is a third option. There may have been many more “judges” in Israel at that time than just those named in the Book of Judges. For example, I was intrigued to read these words in the Book of Numbers:

1 When Israel lived in Shittim, the people began to commit sexual immorality with the daughters of Moab. 2 These women invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods; then the people ate and bowed down to their gods. 3 When Israel joined themselves to Baal-peor, the anger of the Lord flared up against Israel.

4 The Lord said to Moses, “Arrest all the leaders of the people, and hang them up before the Lord in broad daylight, so that the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned away from Israel.” 5 So Moses said to the judges of Israel, “Each of you must execute those of his men who were joined to Baal-peor.”

6 Just then one of the Israelites came and brought to his brothers a Midianite woman in the plain view of Moses and of the whole community of the Israelites, while they were weeping at the entrance of the tent of meeting. 7 When Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he got up from among the assembly, took a javelin in his hand, 8 and went after the Israelite man into the tent and thrust through the Israelite man and into the woman’s abdomen. So the plague was stopped from the Israelites.

… 14 Now the name of the Israelite who was stabbed – the one who was stabbed with the Midianite woman – was Zimri son of Salu, a leader of a clan of the Simeonites (Numbers 25:1-8, 14, emphasis mine).

So, from this text in Numbers we learn that at that time there were many “judges” among the Israelites. As these judges “executed” God’s instructions through Moses, sin was dealt with among the leaders of the nation, and in so doing, the whole nation learned an important spiritual lesson about God. And so while we read of men like Gideon and Barak and Samson – men who were military “judges” – there may also have been other judges, who functioned more like Deborah, leading, teaching, exhorting, and rebuking the Israelites.

The idolatry and disobedience that characterized this generation of Israelites distinguished them from their “fathers” (NAU, CSB, ESV, NIV) or “ancestors” (NET Bible, NJB, NLT). Personally, I prefer “fathers” over “ancestors” because, in general, their ancestors were not that godly (see Acts 7:51-53).¹³ It was only the “Joshua generation” (their actual fathers) who was faithful and obedient, so as to conquer the Promised Land. This is the generation that brought up these Israelites.

Now in verse 18, the author calls attention to the fact that God’s deliverance came in the form of someone He appointed to deliver (“judge”) His people. The deliverance God provided through a judge was life-long, that is for as long as the deliverer lived. This was not due to the faithfulness of His people, but rather was due to the tender mercies of God. In one sense, it was sad that God’s deliverance was not prompted by Israel’s repentance, but it is also grounds for rejoicing because God’s salvation was dependent upon His own character and not upon man’s conduct. If we will learn anything from the Book of Judges, it is that our faith and trust must be in God and not in man.

Human Depravity
Judges 2:19

19 When a leader died, the next generation would again act more wickedly than the previous one. They would follow after other gods, worshiping them and bowing down to them. They did not give up their practices or their stubborn ways (Judges 2:19).

These words are far from welcome to those who insist that “every day, in every way, man is getting better and better.” The Bible is completely consistent in maintaining that the hearts of men are wicked and not naturally inclined toward God.

9 What then? Are we better off? Certainly not, for we have already charged that Jews and Greeks alike are all under sin, 10 just as it is written:

“There is no one righteous, not even one,

11 there is no one who understands,

there is no one who seeks God.

12 All have turned away,

together they have become worthless;

there is no one who shows kindness, not even one.”

13 “Their throats are open graves,

they deceive with their tongues,

the poison of asps is under their lips.”

14 “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”

15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood,

16 ruin and misery are in their paths (Romans 3:9-16).

1 And although you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you formerly lived according to this world’s present path, according to the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the ruler of the spirit that is now energizing the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom all of us also formerly lived out our lives in the cravings of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath even as the rest… 8 For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 it is not from works, so that no one can boast ( (Ephesians 2:1-3, 8-9).

Salvation is therefore not something that men can produce, but rather is something that comes from God as a reflection of His character.

The author is forewarning the reader that this book is not going to end with a “happily ever after.” Instead, the farther we read, the worse men will get. They will turn to heathen gods and worship them. They will cling to their evil ways and find new and more wicked ways to manifest their rebellion against God.

The Bad News is Good News: In Justice God Remembers Mercy
Judges 2:20-3:4

20 The Lord was furious with Israel. He said, “This nation has violated the terms of the agreement I made with their ancestors by disobeying me. 21 So I will no longer remove before them any of the nations that Joshua left unconquered when he died. 22 Joshua left those nations to test Israel. I wanted to see whether or not the people would carefully walk in the path marked out by the Lord, as their ancestors were careful to do.” 23 This is why the Lord permitted these nations to remain and did not conquer them immediately; he did not hand them over to Joshua.

1 These were the nations the Lord permitted to remain so he could use them to test Israel – he wanted to test all those who had not experienced battle against the Canaanites. 2 He left those nations simply because he wanted to teach the subsequent generations of Israelites, who had not experienced the earlier battles, how to conduct holy war. 3 These were the nations: the five lords of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites living in Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal Hermon to Lebo-Hamath. 4 They were left to test Israel, so the Lord would know if his people would obey the commands he gave their ancestors through Moses (Judges 2:20-3:4).

True to His character and to His covenant, God was angry with His people because of their rebellion. As His covenant plainly stated, God would not drive out the Canaanites from before a wicked nation that rejected Him:

23 “Be on guard so that you do not forget the covenant of the Lord your God that he has made with you, and that you do not make an image of any kind, just as he has forbidden you. 24 For the Lord your God is a consuming fire; he is a jealous God. 25 After you have produced children and grandchildren and have been in the land a long time, if you become corrupt and make an image of any kind and do other evil things before the Lord your God that enrage him, 26 I invoke heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that you will surely and swiftly be removed from the very land you are about to cross the Jordan to possess. You will not last long there because you will surely be annihilated” (Deuteronomy 4:23-26).

1 “When the Lord your God brings you to the land that you are going to occupy and forces out many nations before you – Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and powerful than you – 2 and he delivers them over to you and you attack them, you must utterly annihilate them. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy! 3 You must not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, 4 for they will turn your sons away from me to worship other gods. Then the anger of the Lord will erupt against you and he will quickly destroy you” (Deuteronomy 7:1-4).

11 Watch yourselves carefully! Love the Lord your God! 12 But if you ever turn away and make alliances with these nations that remain near you, and intermarry with them and establish friendly relations with them, 13 know for certain that the Lord our God will no longer drive out these nations from before you. They will trap and ensnare you; they will be a whip that tears your sides and thorns that blind your eyes until you disappear from this good land the Lord your God gave you. 14 “Look, today I am about to die. You know with all your heart and being that not even one of all the faithful promises the Lord your God made to you is left unfulfilled; every one was realized – not one promise is unfulfilled! 15 But in the same way every faithful promise the Lord your God made to you has been realized, it is just as certain, if you disobey, that the Lord will bring on you every judgment until he destroys you from this good land which the Lord your God gave you. 16 If you violate the covenantal laws of the Lord your God which he commanded you to keep, and follow, worship, and bow down to other gods, the Lord will be very angry with you and you will disappear quickly from the good land which he gave to you” (Joshua 23:11-16).

From the beginning, God knew that His people could not keep his covenant. Joshua knew it as well, and thus when the Israelites vowed to be faithful, Joshua told them it would never happen under the Old Covenant:

14 Now obey the Lord and worship him with integrity and loyalty. Put aside the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates and in Egypt and worship the Lord. 15 If you have no desire to worship the Lord, choose today whom you will worship, whether it be the gods whom your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. But I and my family will worship the Lord!”

16 The people responded, “Far be it from us to abandon the Lord so we can worship other gods! 17 For the Lord our God took us and our fathers out of slavery in the land of Egypt and performed these awesome miracles before our very eyes. He continually protected us as we traveled and when we passed through nations. 18 The Lord drove out from before us all the nations, including the Amorites who lived in the land. So we too will worship the Lord, for he is our God!”

19 Joshua warned the people, “You will not keep worshiping the Lord, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God who will not forgive your rebellion or your sins. 20 If you abandon the Lord and worship foreign gods, he will turn against you; he will bring disaster on you and destroy you, though he once treated you well.”

21 The people said to Joshua, “No! We really will worship the Lord!” 22 Joshua said to the people, “Do you agree to be witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to worship the Lord?” They replied, “We are witnesses!” 23 Joshua said, “Now put aside the foreign gods that are among you and submit to the Lord God of Israel.”

24 The people said to Joshua, “We will worship the Lord our God and obey him.”

25 That day Joshua drew up an agreement for the people, and he established rules and regulations for them in Shechem. 26 Joshua wrote these words in the Law Scroll of God. He then took a large stone and set it up there under the oak tree near the Lord’s shrine. 27 Joshua said to all the people, “Look, this stone will be a witness against you, for it has heard everything the Lord said to us. It will be a witness against you if you deny your God” (Joshua 24:14-27).

While God warned the Israelites that they would not keep His covenant, He also promised that in the future, He would turn their hearts toward Him and that He would deliver them:

25 “After you have produced children and grandchildren and have been in the land a long time, if you become corrupt and make an image of any kind and do other evil things before the Lord your God that enrage him, 26 I invoke heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that you will surely and swiftly be removed from the very land you are about to cross the Jordan to possess. You will not last long there because you will surely be annihilated. 27 Then the Lord will scatter you among the peoples and there will be very few of you among the nations where the Lord will drive you. 28 There you will worship gods made by human hands – wood and stone that can neither see, hear, eat, nor smell. 29 But if you seek the Lord your God from there, you will find him, if, indeed, you seek him with all your heart and soul. 30 In your distress when all these things happen to you in the latter days, if you return to the Lord your God and obey him 31 (for he is a merciful God), he will not let you down or destroy you, for he cannot forget the covenant with your ancestors that he confirmed by oath to them” (Deuteronomy 4:25-31).

1 “When you have experienced all these things, both the blessings and the curses I have set before you, you will reflect upon them in all the nations where the Lord your God has banished you. 2 Then if you and your descendants turn to the Lord your God and obey him with your whole mind and being just as I am commanding you today, 3 the Lord your God will reverse your captivity and have pity on you. He will turn and gather you from all the peoples among whom he has scattered you. 4 Even if your exiles are in the most distant land, from there the Lord your God will gather you and bring you back. 5 Then he will bring you to the land your ancestors possessed and you also will possess it; he will do better for you and multiply you more than he did your ancestors. 6 The Lord your God will also cleanse your heart and the hearts of your descendants so that you may love him with all your mind and being and so that you may live” (Deuteronomy 30:1-6).

The curse is also the cure. Israel’s sin resulted in God’s judgment: leaving the Canaanites in the land. But this judgment is also a manifestation of God’s grace. It provides these Israelites with an opportunity to turn to God in faith and to walk according to God’s Word as their fathers, the “Joshua generation,” had done.

Leaving the Canaanites in the land, along with the Israelites, was something God had purposed long ago. His gracious purpose of teaching this generation warfare was the reason why He prevented Joshua and his generation from totally wiping out the Canaanites. While the continued presence of the Canaanites was an unpleasant manifestation of divine judgment, it was also a gracious gift from God. We need to understand the last verses of our passage in the light of verse 10. There we were told:

That entire generation passed away; a new generation grew up that had not personally experienced [literally, known] the Lord’s presence or seen what he had done for Israel (Judges 2:10).

Now we are told that God left the Canaanite nations in the land so that all those who had not “experienced” [literally, known] war could “experience” [know] it. If not “knowing” God or the outworking of His presence and power was the problem (as our text tells us), then leaving the Canaanites in the land was a part of the solution. The oppression of the Israelites by these nations presented the occasion for God’s people to learn war, and in waging war, to experience His power. Here was a way to truly “know” God. And so we see that the curse (leaving the Canaanites behind) is also part of the cure (giving Israel the opportunity to “know” God).

Conclusion

As I think through these introductory chapters, I observe several things which are instructive, not only to those first readers of this book, but also to us.

First, I observe a downward progression in men. Chapter 1 starts in a sort of upbeat manner with the designation of Judah as Israel’s leading tribe, and as we read, of Israel’s stunning victory over the Canaanites and Adoni-bezek. But as the introduction continues to develop, things only go from bad to worse so far as Israel’s faith and obedience are concerned. By the time we reach the end of chapter 1, some of the Israelites are seemingly unable to overcome the Canaanites and drive them out of the land. Indeed, while the Canaanites live among some of the Israelite tribes, other tribes (like Manasseh, Ephraim, Zebulun, Asher, and Naphtali) did even worse, so that it was the Israelites who dwelt among the Canaanites (see 1:32). And in Dan’s case, the Amorites actually drove them into the hills (1:34-35).

In chapter 2, men (the Israelites) prove themselves to be in even worse shape spiritually. The chapter begins with a divine rebuke from the Angel of the LORD, and then as the chapter continues, we learn that the Israelites forgot and forsook God, intermarrying with the Canaanites and worshipping their gods. God’s deliverance through the judges did not change the hearts of the Israelites, so after the death of each judge, the people sought to enhance and accelerate their sin to an even greater level of rebellion against God.

If there is any lesson to be learned regarding man, it is that man is depraved, totally depraved. Left to himself, man goes from bad to worse, and even when God intervenes, man’s obedience is only temporary. Time does not improve the situation, but only serves to give sin further opportunity to increase. Israel will hope to have a king, like all the other nations (1 Samuel 8:5). But that king had better be more than a mere mortal, for the introduction has prepared us for the worst when it comes to man. Even the best of Israel’s kings (David or Solomon) will fail. The “king” that Israel needs is “the King of Kings,” the Lord Jesus, Israel’s Messiah.

Second, the introduction to Judges reveals an ever more awesome God. In spite of Israel’s sins and continual rebellion, God remains faithful to His covenant promises and warnings. He is not only faithful to bless, He is faithful to judge apostasy and rebellion. But God is both righteous and merciful. That is what He chose to reveal about Himself to Moses after Israel’s worship of Aaron’s golden calf:

6 The Lord passed by before him and proclaimed: “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, and abounding in loyal love and faithfulness, 7 keeping loyal love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. But he by no means leaves the guilty unpunished, responding to the transgression of fathers by dealing with children and children’s children, to the third and fourth generation” (Exodus 34:6-7).

The God who remains faithful to His covenant in judging apostasy and rebellion is also faithful to be merciful and to forgive.

I love the contrast between man’s progressive decay and God’s progressively revealed grace and glory in our text. Man goes from bad to worse. God goes from good to great (or so it appears). Notice the progression in our text with regard to this matter of leaving the Canaanites in the land. In chapter 2, verse 3, the presence of the Canaanites is presented as divine judgment. Then at the conclusion of our text (2:21-3:4), the ongoing presence of the Canaanites is the God-given opportunity for the Israelites to know Him and to obey His Word. In the outworking of His wrath, God is also showing mercy. What a great God we have – if we have trusted in Him through Jesus Christ.

I can think of no better New Testament text to sum up our passage than this one from Romans 5:

Now the law came in so that the transgression may increase, but where sin increased, grace multiplied all the more (Romans 5:20, emphasis mine).

Is it not good news to learn that God’s salvation is not dependent upon us, on our faithfulness, or our good works? Is it not good news to see that as bad as men are, as bad as men can become, God’s salvation is still provided for all who will receive it? (And it is God who works in us to cause us to be willing to receive it.)

Now, as I conclude, let me finish with this question: “What does God want us to gain from this two-part introduction?” First, He wants us to lose all confidence in man, and then to place our trust in God for salvation. Second, this introduction tells us what to expect from the rest of the book. Later chapters will only supply further evidence that man is a sinner, in desperate need of saving grace, and that God is merciful to provide salvation for unworthy sinners. The introduction also sets out the structure of the rest of the book, revealing the downward cycles of sin.

Third, I believe that this two-fold introduction is not only the introduction to the book, but also the conclusion. Have you ever noticed how some people read the final chapter of a book before they start reading at the beginning? Why do they do this? Because they want to know how it all comes out. Is it really worth reading, worth going through all the details to get to the end? The Book of Judges ends in a way that leaves the reader uneasy. The reader is left “up in the air” to some extent. But the reader should not be in the dark as to what the author was trying to say. These early portions of Judges tell us what we need to know about ourselves (and others) and also what we need to know about God. We now know where this book is headed, and its message is well worth the effort required to persevere in our study in order to see how these important themes are played out throughout the remainder of the book.

---

¹ Many students of the Bible think that Samuel is the author of Judges, and he may well have been. For artistic purposes (this title), I have assumed so for the moment.

² Copyright © 2009 by Robert L. Deffinbaugh. This is the edited manuscript of Lesson 3 in the series, The Dark Days of Israel’s Judges, prepared by Robert L. Deffinbaugh on August 30, 2009. Anyone is at liberty to use this lesson for educational purposes only, with or without credit.

³ Dale Ralph Davis, Such a Great Salvation: Expositions of the Book of Judges (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1990), pp. 11-12.

⁴ Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the NET Bible. The NEW ENGLISH TRANSLATION, also known as THE NET BIBLE, is a completely new translation of the Bible, not a revision or an update of a previous English version. It was completed by more than twenty biblical scholars who worked directly from the best currently available Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts. The translation project originally started as an attempt to provide an electronic version of a modern translation for electronic distribution over the Internet and on CD (compact disk). Anyone anywhere in the world with an Internet connection will be able to use and print out the NET Bible without cost for personal study. In addition, anyone who wants to share the Bible with others can print unlimited copies and give them away free to others. It is available on the Internet at: www.netbible.org.

⁵ To their credit, the translators of the NET Bible have a marginal note indicating that this term might mean “elders.” Nevertheless, I feel it would have been better to render this Hebrew term “elders” and suggest an alternative reading (“elderly men”) in the margin. I say this for two primary reasons. First, the Hebrew term employed here is rendered “elders” far more often than “older/elderly men.” Second, there is a rather clear emphasis on the important role of leadership in chapter 1, and indeed in the rest of the book (“there was no king in Israel. . . .”). Third, most translations render the term “elders” here.

⁶ We find this translator’s note in the NET Bible: “Heb ‘that did not know the LORD or the work which he had done for Israel.’ The expressions ‘personally experienced’ and ‘seen’ are interpretive.” I much prefer to deal with the literal rendering, even though I do not disagree with the sense of their interpretive rendering. I believe that the reason for this will become apparent when we get to the first two verses of chapter 3.

⁷ I must admit that I am somewhat puzzled by the author’s statement here. How could this generation not have experienced God’s power in some measure? Isn’t chapter 1 an account of the battles fought by this new generation of Israelites? Wouldn’t they have seen God at work? I’m now not so certain. Chapter 1 begins with the simple statement that Joshua had died. Those who survived him then found it necessary to inquire of God as to who would assume leadership in battle. When we continue to read in chapter 1, we find the story of Caleb and the marriage of his daughter. He was a part of that older and much more faithful generation. It is only when we come to our text in chapter 2 that we are told that Joshua and all of the leaders who were a part of that previous generation have died. Thus it may be that the battles described in chapter 1 are those fought by the previous generation. The only other explanation I can think of is that the new generation fought the Canaanites, but in the power of the flesh, rather than in dependence upon God. In this way, they could explain their failure to drive out the Canaanites and accept living among them. They might not have “known” God from their warfare.

⁸ See Exodus 34:10.

⁹ The Hebrew term rendered Astartes is plural, which is indicated in some translations. K. Lawson Younger explains the plural in this way: “The use of the plural . . . in Judges 2:13 and 10:6 is understood to be either a reference to various local manifestations of the goddess, an embodiment of the Canaanite cult, or a reference to polytheism in general (i.e., a term for female deities). K. Lawson Younger, Jr., Judges and Ruth: The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2002), p.90.

¹⁰ The judges were “leaders,” but I would prefer to call them “judges,” as do other translations.

¹¹ One would be hard pressed to say that Israel’s ancestors had faithfully followed God in any general way. It could only be said of the Joshua generation, who were literally their fathers.

¹² “Cried out” (ne’aqah) seems to go a little too far as an expression of Israel’s response to her suffering. The term employed here seems to denote groaning, rather than a loud outcry. In addition, “crying out” may sound too much like repentance, which I’m not inclined to see here. There is another Hebrew word (za’aq) that is rendered “to cry out,” and it will be seen shortly (e.g., 3:9, 15), but that is not the word the author has used here. And even where za’aq is used, it is doubtful that it conveys repentance. See Dale Ralph Davis, Such a Great Salvation: Expositions of the Book of Judges (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1990), pp. 39-40, 49-50; also see D.I. Block, Judges, Ruth (NAC 6; Nashville: Broadman &Holman, 1999), p. 148.

¹³ See also Joshua 24:2, 14-15.

Introduction

Let’s face it; our text presents us with some problems. These are the kind of problems that cause many preachers to stay in the New Testament or at least to avoid the Book of Judges. Some see no possibility of relevance to Christians today. For example, we encounter a man named Shamgar and his ox goad. When is the last time you used one of these? When is the last time you ever heard of one of these? Then how can this text have anything to say to us?

Furthermore, some would object that our text contains far too much violence. Do we really need to know how fat Eglon was or how far into his belly the sword was thrust? Do we want to read that the fat closed over the sword? Let’s face it; this is the kind of text we would avoid if we could, except for one thing: it is included in the Bible, the inspired Word of God, and we dare not ignore or avoid it.

At first (and second) glance these stories in our text don’t appear to connect in a way that makes a particular point. The author’s methodology may not be readily apparent, and so his construction of the text may be perplexing to the reader. For example, two of the accounts of Othniel and Shamgar are short on details, while the account of Ehud and Eglon has far more details than we care to know.

So why not just pass our text by and move on to Deborah and Barak? There is a simple reason, stated best by the Apostle Paul:

16 Every scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the person dedicated to God may be capable and equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17).²

It’s relatively easy for Bible believing Christians to grant the truth of these words when dealing with Romans or Ephesians or one of the Gospels. And we certainly find Old Testament books like Genesis, Psalms, or Proverbs worthwhile. But we have to recognize that at the time Paul wrote these words to Timothy, he was referring primarily to the Old Testament Scriptures, as well as to the New Testament Scriptures which were in the process of being written and collected. We don’t have the luxury of picking and choosing our way through the Bible. We must take it as it has come to us, believing that it is the Word of God, that it is inspired and inerrant, and thus profitable for us.

Our text in Judges 3 is a kind of test of the truth of Paul’s words. Is this passage inspired and useful? Does it speak to us? If so, how? That is what we will seek to discover in our study. If we can see that the most difficult texts of Scripture are inspired and profitable, then we will be assured that every passage of Scripture is worthy of our study. We will also be encouraged to expend the effort required to understand, interpret, and apply difficult texts of Scripture.

Let me share my approach to the Bible when I am studying it, especially when dealing with a troublesome text like ours. When I come upon a text like this one I look for the difficult questions and then seek to find the answers. I believe the tough questions are often the key to the interpretation and application of this text. For example, I ask, “Why did our author have so little to say about Shamgar, and why did he give more attention to Ehud and Eglon than to Othniel, a great hero?” “Why was it necessary for the author to go into such gory detail in describing the death of Eglon?” I believe that our study will provide the answer to these questions and that we will discover that the message of this text is very relevant and profitable. So let us delay no longer. Let us get to the text.

Israel’s Sin and God’s Deliverer
Judges 3:5-11

5 The Israelites lived among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. 6 They took the Canaanites’ daughters as wives and gave their daughters to the Canaanites; they worshiped their gods as well. 7 The Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight. They forgot the Lord their God and worshiped the Baals and the Asherahs. 8 The Lord was furious with Israel and turned them over to King Cushan-Rishathaim of Aram-Naharaim. They were Cushan-Rishathaim’s subjects for eight years. 9 When the Israelites cried out for help to the Lord, he raised up a deliverer for the Israelites who rescued them. His name was Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother. 10 The Lord’s spirit empowered him and he led Israel. When he went to do battle, the Lord handed over to him King Cushan-Rishathaim of Aram and he overpowered him. 11 The land had rest for forty years; then Othniel son of Kenaz died (Judges 3:5-11).

For the Israelites, apostasy is a matter of “giving and receiving” – the giving and receiving of brides. The most effective way to corrupt the faith of the Israelites was by intermarriage with the Canaanites. Every time this occurs it is always described in terms of the giving or receiving of a woman in marriage, which is why God warned His people about the dangers of intermarriage with the Canaanites.

1 “When the Lord your God brings you to the land that you are going to occupy and forces out many nations before you – Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and powerful than you – 2 and he delivers them over to you and you attack them, you must utterly annihilate them. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy! 3 You must not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, 4 for they will turn your sons away from me to worship other gods. Then the anger of the Lord will erupt against you and he will quickly destroy you” (Deuteronomy 7:1-4).³

Our text begins with the report of intermarriage with the Canaanites. The Israelites chose to coexist with the Canaanites, rather than to kill them. Consequently, Israelite fathers gave their daughters in marriage to Canaanite men, and Israelite men took Canaanite women as wives. And when the Israelite men married those Canaanite women, they also joined with them in the worship of their pagan gods. Worshiping the Canaanite’s gods caused the Israelites to forget their God and to practice all kinds of evils, many of which were a part of Canaanite “worship.”

God became angry with the Israelites for their apostasy, and so He gave them over to King Cushan-Rishathaim of Aram-Naharaim,⁴ who will oppress and rule over them for eight years (verse 8). In their anguish, the Israelites “cry out” to God. This outcry is most likely not an expression of repentance, but rather a cry for help prompted by the consequences of foreign oppression.⁵ God hears their cries, and in His mercy, He raises up a deliverer – Othniel, the nephew and son-in-law of Caleb. Othniel is no stranger to the reader for we have already read of him in Joshua 15 and more recently in Judges 1:11-15.

I believe the author expects the reader to make the connection between Caleb and Othniel and the reference to Israel’s sin in verses 5-7 of our text, which indicate that the Israelites gave their daughters in marriage to the Canaanites, while they took wives for their sons from the Canaanites. Othniel is about to be introduced as Israel’s first judge, and I believe that the author wanted it to be very clear that Othniel was a godly man, a man who did not take a Canaanite wife. Instead, he was the man who captured Kiriath-Sepher (Debir) and thus obtained Achsah, Caleb’s daughter, for his wife. Othniel was not like the majority of his fellow Israelites who took Canaanite women as wives, and who thus turned from God to worship the heathen gods of their wives. Caleb was the kind of man who we would want to be a judge in Israel. Caleb was, as a number of Bible commentators have concluded, an ideal judge, a man who sets the standard for all subsequent judges.

Although we have encountered Othniel already in Judges and earlier in the Book of Joshua, we have to admit there is a great deal about Othniel that we don’t know. There are many details we wish our author had provided. Dale Ralph Davis seems to think (or at least he believes that others may think) that little is said of Othniel because he was such a dull fellow:

“The problem with Othniel is that he is so colorless.”⁶

I don’t believe that Othniel is “colorless” at all. I am certain that he was a colorful man. I believe that he was a man of courage and honor, a man who fought with great resolve and won some spectacular victories. Why, then, does the author deprive us of these details, especially since he is about to supply a number of details about the bloody killing of Eglon in just a few verses? I believe one reason the author offers the reader so little detail regarding Othniel’s spectacular successes is because he does not want to give him too much praise, or cause us to regard him too highly, because he was a great man.

The reason the author avoids giving us too many details is because we tend to idolize our heroes. Our author’s goal is not to glorify men (which could hardly happen often in this book!), but to glorify God. One of the themes of this book is that this was a time when there was “no king in Israel.” Even before we reach 1 Samuel,⁷ the Israelites will have concluded that what they need is a king who is a great military hero, a king like Othniel, or later, like David. But David, too, will fail, and he will also die. A better king is needed – the Messiah – and so our text prompts us to look to God for the ultimate in deliverance, and not to men. And so Othniel is not given excessive praise in our text, precisely because he was both courageous and colorful, the kind of man others would love to follow.

What we are told about Othniel in verses 9-11 is that he was Caleb’s nephew (verse 9), that he was raised up by God and empowered by the Spirit of the Lord, so that he prevailed over Cushan-rishathaim (verse 10), and as a result, Israel enjoyed peace for 40 years (verse. 11). Othniel’s victories are attributed to God, rather than to Othniel. It was God who raised him up, and it was God who empowered him with His Spirit. That is all we really need to know.

Ehud’s ‘Gut Reaction’
Judges 3:12-30

12 The Israelites again did evil in the Lord’s sight. The Lord gave King Eglon of Moab control over Israel because they had done evil in the Lord’s sight. 13 Eglon formed alliances with the Ammonites and Amalekites. He came and defeated Israel, and they seized the City of Date Palm Trees. 14 The Israelites were subject to King Eglon of Moab for eighteen years.

15 When the Israelites cried out for help to the Lord, he raised up a deliverer for them. His name was Ehud son of Gera the Benjaminite, a left-handed man. The Israelites sent him to King Eglon of Moab with their tribute payment. 16 Ehud made himself a sword – it had two edges and was eighteen inches long. He strapped it under his coat on his right thigh. 17 He brought the tribute payment to King Eglon of Moab. (Now Eglon was a very fat man.)

18 After Ehud brought the tribute payment, he dismissed the people who had carried it. 19 But he went back once he reached the carved images at Gilgal. He said to Eglon, “I have a secret message for you, O king.” Eglon said, “Be quiet!” All his attendants left. 20 When Ehud approached him, he was sitting in his well-ventilated upper room all by himself. Ehud said, “I have a message from God for you.” When Eglon rose up from his seat, 21 Ehud reached with his left hand, pulled the sword from his right thigh, and drove it into Eglon’s belly. 22 The handle went in after the blade, and the fat closed around the blade, for Ehud did not pull the sword out of his belly. 23 As Ehud went out into the vestibule, he closed the doors of the upper room behind him and locked them.

24 When Ehud had left, Eglon’s servants came and saw the locked doors of the upper room. They said, “He must be relieving himself in the well-ventilated inner room.” 25 They waited so long they were embarrassed, but he still did not open the doors of the upper room. Finally they took the key and opened the doors. Right before their eyes was their master, sprawled out dead on the floor! 26 Now Ehud had escaped while they were delaying. When he passed the carved images, he escaped to Seirah.

27 When he reached Seirah, he blew a trumpet in the Ephraimite hill country. The Israelites went down with him from the hill country, with Ehud in the lead. 28 He said to them, “Follow me, for the Lord is about to defeat your enemies, the Moabites!” They followed him, captured the fords of the Jordan River opposite Moab, and did not let anyone cross. 29 That day they killed about ten thousand Moabites – all strong, capable warriors; not one escaped. 30 Israel humiliated Moab that day, and the land had rest for eighty years (Judges 3:12-30).

We begin our consideration of Ehud and Eglon by noting that 70% (if my math is correct) of our text for this message is devoted to Ehud and the deliverance of Israel from Eglon and the oppressive rule of Moab (allied with the Ammonites and Amalekites). It is our task to discern why God would place so much emphasis on this deliverance, while giving so much less attention to Othniel, and one mere verse (one sentence) to Shamgar. The answer to this will be the key to understanding our text.

The story begins with the reader being informed that the Israelites “again” did evil in the sight of the Lord. The pattern of cycles set forth in chapter 2 is played out in chapter 3. It is also significant, I think, that we are told that the Israelites did evil “in the sight of the Lord” (verse 12). The author wants us to be very aware of the fact that every man was doing what was right in his own eyes.⁸ I am inclined to think that the Israelites initially went about the evil they were practicing without even realizing that it was evil. After all, it was what Canaanites did, and they had inter-mingled and inter-married with them. In response to Israel’s sin, God disciplined them by “strengthening Eglon against Israel.” Imagine this; God was giving the enemy the upper hand over Israel. Instead of strengthening Israel so that they could defeat the Moabites, God strengthened the Moabites so that the Israelites would be oppressed. This, of course, was exactly what God had warned:

25 “The Lord will allow you to be struck down before your enemies; you will attack them from one direction but flee from them in seven directions and will become an object of terror to all the kingdoms of the earth” (Deuteronomy 28:25; see also Joshua 23:15-16).

I am calling attention to the fact that God strengthened the Moabites because I believe it is an important clue to the interpretation of our text. To a wayward and disobedient nation (as Israel was at this moment in time), their defeat and oppression would have looked like an unfortunate turn of events (“bad luck”), rather than the discipline of God because of Israel’s sin. Sin dulls our hearts and minds so that we are oblivious to the presence of sin and even the working of God in our lives and circumstances. Indeed, not only did Israel’s defeat look “normal,” so too her subsequent victories under the leadership of Ehud could have been seen as good fortune and no more except for this account.

As usual, when God’s people begin to suffer, they are quick to cry out to God for help. As we have seen before, this outcry was not necessarily (indeed not likely) a cry of repentance. How often do we “cry out” to God in our prayers in response to some painful event or circumstance in our lives? We want God to take away the pain and to fix the problem, but the possibility that we are facing the consequences of our own sin is often not at the forefront of our minds.

In response to the Israelite’s cry for help, God raises up Ehud⁹ to deliver His people. We are told several bits of information about Ehud. First, we are told that he was a Benjamite, a left-handed Benjamite no less.¹⁰ This detail is not a frivolous one, added at the whim of the author. It is an important piece of background information, which will help us grasp the message of our text. Ehud is also the “bag man” selected to oversee the payoff of Eglon. Israel’s tribute could have been in the form of gold or silver or agricultural products.¹¹

We are also told that Ehud was “packing heat,” a concealed weapon, a weapon that he himself made. It was a short 18-inch custom made sword or dagger that seemingly did not have the usual protective crosspiece designed to protect the hand of the sword-bearer. This is what facilitated the fatal jab which penetrated Eglon’s body and protruded out the back.¹² The weapon was almost certainly designed as a “concealed weapon.” Some would argue that it was specifically designed and created as the weapon with which to kill king Eglon, but this is not necessarily so. These were very dangerous days, days when one could be accosted and abused by some member of the occupying Moabite military. As we shall see from Judges 5:6, the highways may have been so dangerous that folks avoided them, using back roads and paths instead. Maybe Ehud was packing a concealed weapon for his own protection, like one of my students in a state prison where I taught for a short time. He was a rather quiet fellow, but he was being threatened by one or more inmates, and so he fashioned a “shiv” that he kept hidden on his person (until it was discovered).

I have long held that Christians can be afflicted by what I call the “pious bias.” That is, they tend to put the most positive “spin” possible on the text, rather than to see it in more human (and sinful) terms. Thus, they try hard to find a way to make Jonah repentant in chapter 2, when in fact he never repents in the entire book. What I am saying is that our author supplies all of the detail necessary to make his point, but the absence of certain details affords the reader the opportunity to “fill in the blanks” with interpretations we prefer to believe, even if it didn’t happen that way. Given the facts the author has supplied, I could come away thinking of Ehud as a very courageous fellow who planned and orchestrated the death of Eglon and the defeat of the Moabites (with God’s help). But we could also think of Ehud as a less than courageous fellow, something like Gideon. Through a series of providential interventions, Ehud found himself in the right place at the right time. He cooperated with God, but it was God who was “pulling the strings.”

I would suggest that we should not be too quick to assume that Ehud was a hero in waiting, especially in the context of the entire Book of Judges. Our author is not trying to cast the spotlight on heroes for us to glorify, but to focus our attention on God. When we have finished reading this account, we should be giving glory to God, not to men.

I would propose that the author has very skillfully kept some details from the reader, while he has very carefully woven only pertinent details into the story. Our task is to discover why the author left out things we would like to know while including information we would rather not have learned. Here are some of the critical details provided in our text which are like the pieces of a puzzle; we need to figure out where each peace fits, and then take a good look at the resulting picture. Crucial details would include Eglon’s girth, his naïve actions (sending out his servants/security), and allowing Ehud to be alone with him. Other important details would include the twice-mentioned carved idols outside the city, the design of the palace with its “cool room,” Ehud’s left-handedness and his dagger, and the location of the palace near the Jordan. We will seek to find the meaning of all this in a moment, but first let us turn our attention to Shamgar, a man who gets a whole lot less attention in our text (but don’t forget the mention of him in 5:6).

Shamgar Goads the Enemy
Judges 3:31

After Ehud came Shamgar son of Anath; he killed six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad and, like Ehud, delivered Israel (Judges 3:31).

One has to wonder why Ehud gets 19 verses, while Shamgar’s story is told in 1 verse. We know only that Shamgar was the son of Anath, that his weapon was an oxgoad, and that with this weapon he killed 600 Philistines.¹³ We may infer, as some have done, that Shamgar may not have been a Jew because his tribe is not mentioned (as it was with Ehud – 3:15), and some scholars believe that Anath (his father’s name) is not a Jewish name.¹⁴ The things we know for certain are that he killed 600 Philistines and that he did so with an oxgoad.

So what in the world was an oxgoad? It was an “ox prodder” of sorts, a sharp instrument mounted on the end of a fairly long pole – long enough so that the plowman could jab his oxen in the backside to goad them on so that they would plow faster. We are told that at the other end of the oxgoad a metal scraper was attached, which the plowman would use to scrape off the dirt or mud that had stuck to the plow, so that it would function more efficiently. We would have to say that the oxgoad was not the “weapon of choice;” it was just what Shamgar had at hand. You wouldn’t find these “weapons” at the local gun store, but at the local farm store. It therefore seems that the author wants me to focus on one thing – that unlikely weapon, the oxgoad.

There are many things we would love to know about Shamgar and his military career. We would like to know if he was an Israelite, and if so, from which tribe. We would like to know if and for how long he “ruled” Israel. We would love to read the report of the battle (or battles) in which the oxgoad was used and to hear just how Shamgar did it. We would like to know why the author went into such great detail in describing the termination of Eglon, and yet skips over most of the “interesting” material related to Shamgar and the Philistines. This is what we shall now set out to discover,

Conclusion

So now we have come to the most challenging part of this message. We are about to reach some conclusions that will explain: (1) the lack of details in the account of Othniel, when he seems to be such a great leader; (2) the length of the account and richness of detail in the author’s account of the death of Eglon at the hand of Ehud; and, (3) the brevity of the reference to Shamgar and his victory over the Philistines. What was this chapter intended to say to the ancient Israelites who read it long ago, and what is its message and its relevance to Christians today?

Question 1: Why is there so little detail in the author’s account of Othniel’s victory over Cushan-Rishathaim? We must first bear in mind that this is not the only time we have come across Othniel.¹⁵ We saw him first in Joshua 15 (verse 16-19) and then again in Judges 1 (verses 11-15). Added to what we already knew of Othniel, we now discover that he became Israel’s first judge, who delivered Israel after eight years of subjection to Cushan-Rishathaim. Othniel brought peace to Israel for forty years.

The most important thing to keep in mind about Othniel is that God raised him up and empowered him to carry out his divinely-appointed mission. I believe this is the explanation for the lack of further detail. The more we focus on Othniel – what he did and how he did it – the more glory we give to him, rather than to God who ultimately accomplished Israel’s deliverance. Then, as now, it was too easy to look to a man to save you, rather than to God. This is precisely what will happen when Israel demands a king in 1 Samuel 8:¹⁶

4 So all the elders of Israel gathered together and approached Samuel at Ramah. 5 They said to him, “Look, you are old, and your sons don’t follow your ways. So now appoint over us a king to lead us, just like all the other nations have.” 6 But this request displeased Samuel, for they said, “Give us a king to lead us.” So Samuel prayed to the Lord. 7 The Lord said to Samuel, “Do everything the people request of you. For it is not you that they have rejected, but it is me that they have rejected as their king. 8 Just as they have done from the day that I brought them up from Egypt until this very day, they have rejected me and have served other gods. This is what they are also doing to you” (1 Samuel 8:4-8).

It is no wonder that we are so interested in more details concerning Othniel’s successful leadership today. If he had lived in our day, he would have been hotly pursued to write a book titled, “Othniel’s Seven Steps to Successful Leadership,” and I fear the book would have sold like hotcakes. But God is the only real key to Othniel’s success. The victory was from the Lord. This is not to overlook Othniel’s faith, courage, and initiative, but our eyes must be on God, not man. In the end, it is God alone who deserves the glory.

Question 2: Why is there so much emphasis on Ehud and such an abundance of gory details concerning the execution of Eglon? We should begin by noting what our author has written to set the stage for this account of deliverance. He has provided us with certain information about Ehud: his origin (a Benjamite, the son of Gera), his physical characteristic of left-handedness, and his weapon – a homemade dagger or short sword designed to be concealed under his clothing. We are also told certain things about Eglon: namely, his excessive heaviness and his naiveté in allowing Ehud to have a personal audience with him, out of sight and thus away from the protection of his servants (aka his secret service). Some of the conversation between Ehud and Eglon is recorded, and a fairly specific (and graphic) explanation of why the king’s servants waited so long to check on his well-being. We are given some very important details about the place where the meeting occurred, particularly the “cool room.” They were in Gilgal, in the suburbs of Jericho, and also close to the Jordan River and the fords where one must cross the river to return to Moab. Our attention is also drawn to the carved idols, twice mentioned in the text. Finally, we learn how Ehud escaped, summoned his armed forces, and defeated the Moabite army as they vainly sought to cross the Jordan in an effort to return to Moab.

That is a lot of detail, much more than is said of either Othniel’s or Shamgar’s deliverances. But there is also something we are not told. We are not specifically told that the Spirit of the Lord came upon Ehud, empowering him for his task. (I am confident that the Spirit of the Lord did empower him, but it was not clearly stated in the text.) We are told that God “raised up Ehud as Israel’s deliverer” (verse 15), in words that are very similar to what we have just read concerning Othniel (see verse 9).

We are also told that God gave Eglon power over Israel because of their sin (verse 12). This tells me that from all outward evidences, Israel was merely experiencing “bad luck.” This is not so different from the impression we are given in Judges 1. It looked as though Judah could not drive out the Canaanites from the plains “because the Canaanites had iron chariots” (Judges 1:19). So, too, it would seem that the failure of the Benjamites to drive out the Jebusites (1:21) and the Danites’ retreat to the hills (1:34-35) occurred because the enemy was stronger than the Israelites. But then the Angel of the Lord appears in the first verses of chapter 2, revealing that all of the failures of chapter 1 were due to Israel’s sin. Just as coexistence with the Canaanites in chapter 1 was the consequence of Israel’s sin, so the Israelites’ oppression at the hand of the Moabites was divine judgment.

All of this is to say that one cannot judge one’s circumstances on the basis of appearances, or, in the words of our author, on the basis of what seems right in our own eyes, rather than in God’s sight (as defined by God’s Word). Appearances would incline us to think that Israel’s misfortune was merely bad luck, while her deliverance was a stroke of good luck. Nothing could be further from the truth. Both Israel’s defeat and her deliverance were the work of the (largely) unseen hand of God. I believe that our text was written to reveal the hand of God in all that took place, both in Israel’s bondage, and in her deliverance. God’s gracious hand is to be seen in the details of our text.

If I could sum up the message of our text in the fewest words possible, it would be with the words of Paul in Romans 8:28:

And we know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28).

Our text is the best illustration I can think of in the entire Bible (at least at this moment, when I’m saturated in the particulars of this account) of God’s providential (unseen) sovereign control of history, carrying out His purposes and His promises for His covenant people.

Now, let’s go back to some of the details in our text, and let me attempt to demonstrate how each and every detail is a part of the “all things” of Romans 8:28 that God is causing to “work together for good” for the fulfillment of His promises and the blessing of His people.

Ehud was a left-handed Benjamite, as was true of a number of Benjamites in particular. His left-handedness is what enabled him to carry his very special concealed weapon, located on his right hip, where it would not be expected (and where he was likely not searched). Jericho and Gilgal just happened to be in Benjamite territory, and Ehud just happened to be selected (elected?) to take the tribute to Eglon in Gilgal.

Gilgal was the place where the Israelite nation had first gathered when they crossed the Jordan. It was here that the 12 stones from the midst of the Jordan were piled up as a monument to God’s power and deliverance. It was here that the nation was circumcised and observed the Passover.¹⁷ And it was here that was the gateway to Jericho and ultimately to Jerusalem. It was also here (or close by) that the fords of the Jordan made it possible to cross from Israelite territory to Moab (or the reverse). It was here that Ehud twice passed the carved idols that now symbolized Israel’s idolatry and Moab’s victory. Is seeing these images (and perhaps the 12 stones as well) what prompted Ehud to turn back and seek yet another face-to-face meeting with Eglon? Here is what God said when He instructed Joshua to make the stone memorial:

21 He told the Israelites, “When your children someday ask their fathers, ‘What do these stones represent?’ 22 explain to your children, ‘Israel crossed the Jordan River on dry ground.’ 23 For the Lord your God dried up the water of the Jordan before you while you crossed over. It was just like when the Lord your God dried up the Red Sea before us while we crossed it. 24 He has done this so all the nations of the earth might recognize the Lord’s power and so you might always obey the Lord your God” (Joshua 4:21-24, emphasis mine).

It is possible that the sight of the heathen-carved idols that now met those who entered Gilgal reminded Ehud of God’s power and of His exhortation to “always fear and obey the Lord”? The two-fold mention of these carved idols in conjunction with Gilgal is hardly a coincidence. The author expects his readers to remember Israel’s history as it relates to Gilgal. And so it was to Gilgal (or the fords of Jordan nearby) that Ehud would return with his forces to block the Moabites from crossing the Jordan. And thus 10,000 of the enemy were slaughtered by the Israelites. All these events could not have happened at a better place. Gilgal was the perfect place, the place God divinely (albeit providentially) orchestrated to be the location of Eglon’s palace, and thus where tribute would be paid to Eglon, and where God’s “payoff” for Moab’s oppression of His people would take place.

The palace was somehow equipped with a “cool room” where Eglon may have been able to look out and see people entering and leaving the city. It was also a place that was high enough for the cooler breezes to circulate through the room. He was apparently looking out from his “cool room” when Ehud departed and then unexpectedly turned to call out to the king that he had a secret message for him. Since those who accompanied Ehud had already gone, Eglon must have felt that he was in little danger from one “unarmed” Israelite, and thus he summoned him back to his palace and met with him privately (away from his security forces) in his “cool room.” All of these physical details are a part of the “all things” of Romans 8:28 which God is working together for the achievement of His purposes, for the good of His people.

Now here is where it is going to get a little sticky. I do not wish to be indelicate, but there are some additional details which I believe are also a part of the “all things” God causes to work together in our text. Why does our author feel that it is necessary to make a point of the fact that Eglon was a very fat man? I would love to pass by this detail because I have a few extra pounds to shed – not as many as Eglon, mind you, but I am not as trim as I would like to be, and thus my reluctance to deal with someone like Eglon who has a serious weight problem.

Davis thinks there is an element of humor here that the Israelites would find amusing.¹⁸ Perhaps Davis is on to something here, I but am inclined to think that this is not the author’s primary purpose for calling attention to Eglon’s girth. A very fat man is hardly in shape to be a great warrior. Eglon would surely be a big target and would not easily be able to dodge Ehud’s dagger. And yet Eglon stood, as if on cue, to give Ehud the perfect target, to obtain just the right effect – Eglon’s death – yet apparently without so much as an outcry that would summon his servants.

Eglon’s weight was a necessary piece of God’s providential puzzle in yet another way. The translators of the NIV render the text in such a way as to indicate that Ehud’s dagger not only found its way into Eglon’s belly, handle and all, but also penetrated so deeply that it came out the back side.¹⁹

Even the handle sank in after the blade, which came out his back. Ehud did not pull the sword out, and the fat closed in over it (Judges 3:22, NIV; emphasis mine).

Regardless of where the point of the dagger emerged, virtually all translations inform us of the result. In the words used to describe the death of Judas, “his bowels gushed out” (Acts 1:18, KJV, ESV). It is perhaps more accurate to say that the contents of his bowels gushed out.

“So,” you might ask, “what difference does this make?” It makes a great deal of difference in the unfolding drama of our text. What was it that caused the servants of Eglon to linger for such a long time outside his “cool room” – long enough for Ehud to make his escape? The author tells us in plain (but rather candid) language: they thought that Eglon was going to the bathroom and would not want to be disturbed. Apparently, kings did not want to be seen “with their pants down” (so to speak), as we note in the account of Saul stopping at a cave to answer nature’s call.²⁰ Thus, his servants always honored his desire for privacy at such a time.

But how is it that they would conclude that Eglon was making a “pit stop”? Here’s where it gets a bit indelicate, but I believe we need to see why the author has included these unseemly details. As I read the text, the king had entered the “cool room” with Ehud, and they were left to discuss Ehud’s confidential matter privately. The servants did not see Ehud leave, but it appears they assumed he had left and that only the king was in the “cool room” and in good health. He was just “tending to business.” And why did they assume this? Because when Ehud ran his dagger through the king’s stomach he severed his intestines, and perhaps sliced open his bowels (or at least the back side of Eglon). A doctor friend told me that such an “incision” would literally empty his bowels. Since Eglon was a very fat man, he would have a lot of “dirt”²¹ to gush forth.

Now let us remember yet another detail our author has supplied. Eglon is in his “cool room.” The floor of the Jordan Valley (and thus Jericho and Gilgal) was a very warm place, and the “cool room” was apparently a lattice-walled room that allowed the breeze to pass through, providing a certain amount of cooling. Now we are told that a very large man has just (involuntarily) emptied his bowels completely. My doctor friend, Gary, also informed me that the smell of Eglon’s incision and consequent purging would be intense. That smell would have been carried throughout the palace area by the breezes passing through the “cool room,” so that the servants were hardly speculating about what was taking the king so long. They had probably “been there” before. No one wanted to disturb the king at a time like this. And so they waited and waited. No one wanted to be the one to interrupt nature’s workings. Finally, so much time passed that the servants were embarrassed. How could the king take so long? Why didn’t he call out to them? Hadn’t he locked the doors (which, of course, Ehud had done)? When they could wait no longer, they obtained the key and opened the door to find the corpse of their king, with his insides and their contents all around him.

Why tell such a gruesome story? Why include the bathroom scene, with all the unpleasant details? (Thank goodness there is no “scratch and sniff” version of this text!) The answer should now be apparent – the intestinal surgery performed by Ehud and his custom-made sword, with all the smells that accompanied it, were what kept the king’s servants from taking action sooner. And this lengthy delay (it was lengthy – see verse 25) is precisely what allowed Ehud to make his escape, summon his troops, and seize the fords of the Jordan, so that the Moabites could not escape, resulting in the slaughter of 10,000 Moabite soldiers.²²

Do you now see why the author included all these seemingly gratuitous details? It was to demonstrate that while the natural eye may see only coincidences and “good luck,” this was actually God’s doing. He orchestrated “all things for good” so that He might deliver His people. His control extended to which of Ehud’s hands was dominant, to the design of his dagger and exactly where it was concealed, to the king’s weight problem, and to the design of his palace and cool room. God’s providence directed Ehud’s sword so that it penetrated deeply (it didn’t strike a rib) so that it opened his intestines, producing a terrible (but familiar) smell.

Think of each and every detail that had to go just right in order for the events of our text to turn out as they did. Our author wants us to see that such a deliverance as he has described is vastly beyond anything that Ehud or anyone else could have orchestrated. This deliverance may not have been as spectacular as the dividing and closing of the Red Sea, but it produced what God had purposed. God was in complete control, even though it could appear that these things were happening by chance.

What does this mean to us? Well, Paul said it, and we have already pointed it out: “God causes all things to work together for good, for those who love God and are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28). Was this true for Ehud and for Israel in the times of the judges? Yes! Is it true for Christians today? Absolutely! As we look at the decline of our nation morally, politically, and economically, we might be tempted to wring our hands. It may look as though things are spinning out of control. But appearances are not reality. God may well be using some powerful men and nations to chasten America and even His church for our sins. But the good news is that when we call out to Him for help, He is merciful, and He causes men and events to achieve His purposes, although it may appear that these are going to bring about our destruction. If God was in complete control, both in disciplining disobedient Israel and in bringing about her deliverance, then He will do the same for His people today. We must simply trust and obey Him, as He has revealed Himself in His Word.

Question 3: What are we to learn from Shamgar to whom our author devotes but one sentence in our text? There is but one thing that really stands out in our text and that is his oxgoad, the weapon with which he slaughters 600 Philistines. So what are we to learn from an oxgoad? I believe the author of Judges sends us a very consistent message regarding the kinds of weapons God uses to bring victory to His people: here it is an oxgoad, and a few verses earlier it was a hidden dagger wielded by a left-handed Benjamite. Elsewhere in Judges, God gives the victory to Israel by means of a tent peg and hammer (Jael), horns and torches (Gideon),²³ a millstone thrown down by a woman, landing on Abimelech’s head,²⁴ the jawbone of a donkey,²⁵ and a collapsing building²⁶ (Samson).

The Israelites were intimidated by the iron chariots of their enemies, doubtful that they could ever prevail over armies so well equipped. The truth was that God could give His people victory over their enemies regardless of their weapons, and by means of the most unlikely warriors and weapons. Once again we see that it is God who is our victory, not our heroes and not high tech weapons. I love these words by Matthew Henry,

“See here, (1.) That God can make those eminently serviceable to his glory and his church’s good whose extraction, education, and employment, are very mean and obscure. He that has the residue of the Spirit could, when he pleased, make ploughmen judges and generals, and fishermen apostles. (2.) It is no matter how weak the weapon is if God direct and strengthen the arm. An ox-goad when God pleases, shall do more than Goliath’s sword. And sometimes he chooses to work by such unlikely means, that the excellency of the power may appear to be of God.”²⁷

Why should we be surprised that God would give His people victory by the use of such unlikely weapons? After all, God has chosen to achieve His purposes by using unlikely people:

13 When they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and discovered that they were uneducated and ordinary men, they were amazed and recognized these men had been with Jesus. 14 And because they saw the man who had been healed standing with them, they had nothing to say against this (Acts 4:13-14).

26 Think about the circumstances of your call, brothers and sisters. Not many were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were born to a privileged position. 27 But God chose what the world thinks foolish to shame the wise, and God chose what the world thinks weak to shame the strong. 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, what is regarded as nothing, to set aside what is regarded as something, 29 so that no one can boast in his presence. 30 He is the reason you have a relationship with Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:26-31).

But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that the extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us (2 Corinthians 4:7).

Praise God that He has chosen to use people like you and like me to accomplish His purposes, so that all the glory goes to Him.

Question 4: Is the author not going to excesses in terms of the amount of violence and bloodshed that he reports? This is definitely not “G-rated” material. Is it necessary to describe the violence and bloodshed that occurred in such graphic detail? Is the violent death of Eglon (not to mention his 10,000 soldiers) not excessive force? Is this unbecoming to a God who is gracious and compassionate? Abraham once asked (when he was informed that God was about to incinerate Sodom and Gomorrah), “Will not the judge of the whole earth do what is right?” (Genesis 18:25b). Is the death of Eglon consistent with the character of our God?

We should remember that Justice administers punishment that is proportionate to the crime. Our author has not gone into great detail to describe the cruelty of Eglon to the Israelites over those 18 years, but I am certain that God’s judgment upon Eglon and Moab was proportionate to the violence and cruelty they committed against God’s people.

In the recent past, widespread outrage was expressed when the Lockerbie bomber was given a “compassionate release” from prison because of his bad health. People felt that a man who was responsible for the death of 270 people should have suffered more than he did. A dagger in the stomach of Eglon was no more than what he deserved.

Among several biblical texts, I am particularly reminded of two passages in the Book of Revelation. The first is found in chapter 6, where those who were martyred for their faith cried out to God for justice:

9 Now when the Lamb opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been violently killed because of the word of God and because of the testimony they had given. 10 They cried out with a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Master, holy and true, before you judge those who live on the earth and avenge our blood?” 11 Each of them was given a long white robe and they were told to rest for a little longer, until the full number was reached of both their fellow servants and their brothers who were going to be killed just as they had been (Revelation 6:9-11).

Well deserved judgment did eventually come upon those who had abused and oppressed the people of God, as we read in Revelation 16:

4 Then the third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and the springs of water, and they turned into blood. 5 Now I heard the angel of the waters saying:

“You are just – the one who is and who was,

the Holy One – because you have passed these judgments,

6 because they poured out the blood of your saints and prophets,

so you have given them blood to drink. They got what they deserved!”

7 Then I heard the altar reply, “Yes, Lord God, the All-Powerful, your judgments are true and just!” (Revelation 16:4-7, emphasis mine)

This should serve as a strong word of warning to those who would oppose God’s chosen people.²⁸ Those who persecute God’s people will sooner or later face judgment from an angry God. One does not do well to oppose God’s people. Nor does one do well to idly stand by when His people are being harshly treated. This, my friend, has very real relevance to us as our nation seems to be losing its resolve to stand with Israel when their enemies are intent upon driving them all into the sea.

To those who would protest that God’s justice is excessively violent, I would remind you that hell is violent. God’s righteous anger has already been poured out upon His Son at Calvary. The suffering of our Lord on the cross of Calvary makes Eglon’s suffering pale in comparison, and yet that is the punishment we all deserve, the punishment our Lord bore on the sinner’s behalf. If God dealt so severely with those who treated the Israelites harshly in Judges, what do you think lies in store for those who have rejected His Son? Hell is the measure of how seriously God takes our sin.

One last observation: Our text does not glorify the judges God raised up to deliver His people because even the best of them were sinners. They were merely flawed instruments in the hands of God. Paul would call them “clay pots.”²⁹ They were not sinless. And they all died. They could only save for a short time. The Great Deliverer is Jesus. He is without sin, and He has borne the penalty of our sins. And since He lives forever, He can save forever, save all those who acknowledge their sin and embrace His sacrificial death at Calvary on their behalf. Judges does not have any true super heroes because there is only one Super Hero, the Lord Jesus. To Him be the glory, great things He has done!

---

¹ Copyright © 2009 by Robert L. Deffinbaugh. This is the edited manuscript of Lesson 4 in the series, The Dark Days of Israel’s Judges, prepared by Robert L. Deffinbaugh on September 6, 2009. Anyone is at liberty to use this lesson for educational purposes only, with or without credit.

² Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the NET Bible. The NEW ENGLISH TRANSLATION, also known as THE NET BIBLE, is a completely new translation of the Bible, not a revision or an update of a previous English version. It was completed by more than twenty biblical scholars who worked directly from the best currently available Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts. The translation project originally started as an attempt to provide an electronic version of a modern translation for electronic distribution over the Internet and on CD (compact disk). Anyone anywhere in the world with an Internet connection will be able to use and print out the NET Bible without cost for personal study. In addition, anyone who wants to share the Bible with others can print unlimited copies and give them away free to others. It is available on the Internet at: www.netbible.org.

³ See also Genesis 34:8-10, 20-23; Numbers 25:1-9; Joshua 15:16; Judges 1:12; 21:1, 7, 18; 1 Samuel 17:25; 18:17; Ezra 9:12; Nehemiah 10:30.

⁴ Dale Ralph Davis believes that the author has purposely engaged in word play here, and this could well be the case as we can hear the similarity of sound in the king’s name (Cushan-Rishathaim, which is supposed to mean “Cushan of double wickedness”) and the country’s name (Aram-Naharaim, “Aram double rivers”). Davis may very well be right here, and if so, this word play may have gotten a chuckle out of the ancient Jews who read or heard it. But this is an “inside joke,” and thus it does not produce the same effect for readers today. That is why I will pass by this suggested word play with no further comment. While it might produce a smile or a chuckle, it is not the thrust of the text. See Dale Ralph Davis, Such a Great Salvation: Expositions of the Book of Judges (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1990), p. 51.

⁵ The word here is different from the term rendered “groaning” in 2:18. Nevertheless, it still does not appear to indicate repentance. See Davis, Such a Great Salvation, pp. 49-50, also D.I. Block, Judges, Ruth (NAC 6; Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1999), pp. 148, 153.

⁶ Dale Ralph Davis, p. 55.

⁷ See Judges 8:22, where Gideon is invited to be Israel’s king. See also 1 Samuel 8 where the Israelites demand a king.

⁸ See Judges 17:6; 21:25.

⁹ The expression used to describe the raising up of Ehud to deliver Israel is remarkably similar to the description of God raising up Othniel in verse 9.

¹⁰ This was not altogether unusual as we can see from Judges 20:16.

¹¹ See 2 Chronicles 17:10-11.

¹² It is interesting to note that of the various translations, only the NIV and the 1901 ASV actually makes a point (pardon the pun) of the fact that the sword went through his intestines and then proceeded to penetrate the back of Eglon’s body. This is due to some choices translators had to make. All translators would appear to agree that this fatal wound severed Eglon’s intestines, emptying out their contents (ESV, “dung”) on the ground.

¹³ We should take note here that Israel’s oppressors are now the Philistines, not the Moabites.

¹⁴ See Dale Ralph Davis, Such a Great Salvation: Expositions of the Book of Judges (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1990), p. 65.

¹⁵ Although the information provided in earlier texts does not tell us a great deal more about Othniel.

¹⁶ This will also happen in Judges 8:22, but Gideon will wisely decline (verse 23).

¹⁷ See Joshua 4:19-5:12.

¹⁸ Dale Ralph Davis, Such a Great Salvation, pp. 59-62.

¹⁹ Arnold Fruchtenbaum (a classmate in seminary days) writes, “Third: and it came out behind. The Hebrew word is parshedona, another hapex-legomenon (word used only once in the Hebrew Bible). In other cognate, Semitic languages, it is used of the cavity or the opening of the anus. So the downward motion of the dagger was with such force that it passed completely through the abdomen and projected from the anus.” Arnold Fruchtenbaum, The Books of Judges and Ruth (San Antonio, Texas: Ariel Ministries, 2007), p. 58.

²⁰ Literally, “to cover his feet.” The same terms are used in both Judges 3:24 and 1 Samuel 24:3.

²¹ “Dirt,” KJV, NRS; the NAU has “refuse” and the ESV “dung.” I think the point is clear. He did “relieve himself,” but not in the usual manner.

²² I realize that it was some distance to the hill country of Ephraim and that some length of time was required (although the sound of a blown trumpet would carry for a considerable distance). Dictators do not establish protocol for their replacement, and so it may have taken some time for the Moabites to determine who was in charge. Nevertheless, God’s providential control provided enough time for the Israelite forces to be summoned and to arrive at the Jordan.

²³ See Judges 7.

²⁴ Judges 9:52-53.

²⁵ Judges 15:15-17.

²⁶ Judges 16:23-30.

²⁷ Matthew Henry, as cited by Dale Ralph Davis, Such a Great Salvation, p. 67.

²⁸ Here I am thinking of the Jews, but I am also including the church, the “Israel of God” (Galatians 6:16).

²⁹ 2 Corinthians 4:7.

Alternate titles: Wonder Woman and the Wimp
Or
Sisera Goes to Jael

Introduction

Some time ago my good friend, Bill Mathers, and I were sitting beside each other in an elective class taught at Community Bible Chapel. I don’t remember all the details (speaker, subject, etc.), but I do recall that the speaker made a comment that prompted a “pun” to come to my mind. I looked over at Bill and realized that he had thought of exactly the same pun. I was on the brink of sharing it with the entire class when Bill whispered to me, “Better not!” He was speaking to himself and to me, because we both love to engage in exchanging puns. Of course, Bill was right.

You can imagine the temptation I have experienced this past week with a text like ours. The more I studied the text, the more puns just began to flow, prompting a plethora of possible sermon titles. I have to tell you that others have been thinking along the same lines. For example, after I preached this message my friend, Bill Hayden, came to me with yet another suggested title: “What Was Going Through Sisera’s Mind?”

Although our text is a goldmine of possible puns, we are here because it is a text that we must take very seriously. There are a few things that it would be good to know before we get into the text itself, so let’s turn to them first.

Our text is the first of a two-part account of God’s deliverance through Deborah and Barak. Judges 4 is an historical account of God’s deliverance of Israel through Deborah, Barak, and Jael. Judges 5 is a poetic account of this same deliverance. It is poetry that was sung on the day of Israel’s victory over Jabin, the Canaanite king who oppressed the Israelites by means of his commander, Sisera. Both chapters are very skillfully written, and both are necessary for a correct understanding of these events and their significance for the ancient Israelites and for us. Our study of chapter 5 will prove to be the key to a proper understanding of what God was doing for Israel and the implications of this for the readers of this text.

By the way, a two-part account should not come as a surprise to the reader since Judges began with a two-part introduction. We should also recall that there are similar passages in the Bible. After the Israelites safely passed through the Red Sea and the Egyptians are drowned (Exodus 14), we come to the “Song of Moses,” which was sung by the Israelites. Then, too, there is the other “song of Moses” which we find in Deuteronomy 32. This song exalted God, reviewed His gracious works of the past, warned of the consequences of unbelief and disobedience, and exhorted Israel to trust and obey Him.

Unlike the previous chapter, which dealt with Israel’s oppression at the hand of foreign kings, our text deals with Israel’s bondage and oppression at the hands of a Canaanite king, who lives in the land – a king and a people whom the Israelites should have destroyed.

Our text pertains primarily to northern Israel and to the land that the Israelites had not yet possessed by driving out the Canaanites, theoretically due to the strength of the enemy’s military might.

19 The Lord was with the men of Judah. They conquered the hill country, but they could not conquer the people living in the coastal plain, because they had chariots with iron-rimmed wheels (Judges 1:19).

30 The men of Zebulun did not conquer the people living in Kitron and Nahalol. The Canaanites lived among them and were forced to do hard labor. 31 The men of Asher did not conquer the people living in Acco or Sidon, nor did they conquer Ahlab, Aczib, Helbah, Aphek, or Rehob. 32 The people of Asher live among the Canaanites residing in the land because they did not conquer them. 33 The men of Naphtali did not conquer the people living in Beth Shemesh or Beth Anath. They live among the Canaanites residing in the land. The Canaanites living in Beth Shemesh and Beth Anath were forced to do hard labor for them (Judges 1:30-33).

The tribes named in verses 30-33 of Judges 1 (above) – Zebulun, Asher, and Naphtali – were all tribes in the northern portion of Israel. None of them succeeded in totally destroying the Canaanites in their territory, and all were therefore forced to coexist with them. Now, at last, the Israelites will defeat the Canaanites and possess the land to the north, especially the plains. This is critical for a couple of reasons. (1) The plains are the place where the Israelites can practice farming. (2) The main trade and communication routes take advantage of the plains. Thus, to control the plains is to control travel and commerce and communication. As one can see from chapter 5,² up until now the Israelites weren’t able to travel freely, but were forced to use the “back roads.”

Our text in Judges is the most popular passage for scholarly study. Why would scholars be so attracted to this passage, when they generally shy away from Judges, and especially from the kind of violence which occurred at the hand of Jael? The answer is pretty obvious. Those who are desperate to set aside the clear biblical teaching on the role of women rush here in the hope that they will find a text that validates a feminist agenda. Here, at last, seems to be a text that validates women leading men. I believe that when we interpret this text in its context, we will see that it does just the opposite. Bear with me until we return to this matter.

The hero (or rather heroine) in our text is not Deborah, but Jael. This is a very important point, which is quite emphatically demonstrated by our author and, interestingly, by Deborah, the author of the song in chapter 5. Those who are so eager to make Deborah the heroine are not at all eager to embrace Jael as such. Indeed, they seem to find her an embarrassment. We will not understand our text correctly until we acknowledge Jael as the one who is honored in our text. In this message, I will focus my attention on her, seeking to show why the author speaks of her in such favorable terms, much to the distress of some.

The Setting
Judges 4:1-3

1 The Israelites again did evil in the Lord’s sight after Ehud’s death. 2 The Lord turned them over to King Jabin of Canaan, who ruled in Hazor. The general of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth Haggoyim. 3 The Israelites cried out for help to the Lord, because Sisera had nine hundred chariots with iron-rimmed wheels, and he cruelly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years (Judges 4:1-3).³

We know that the events which are now described occurred after the death of Ehud, whom we considered in the last chapter. Israel sins once again, following the pattern which the author has already outlined in his introduction.⁴ And, once again, the sins to which the author refers are evil “in the Lord’s sight” (verse 1). It is very likely that the Israelites did not conceive of their actions as sin, not unlike those in our own time. After all, the Israelites of that day “did what was right in their own eyes.” In such a culture – a culture very similar to our own – something is wrong only if you think it is, and there isn’t much these days which is considered wrong.

As a result of Israel’s sin, God acts consistently with His covenant, disciplining His people with those consequences He had indicated earlier on several occasions:

11 “Watch yourselves carefully! Love the Lord your God! 12 But if you ever turn away and make alliances with these nations that remain near you, and intermarry with them and establish friendly relations with them, 13 know for certain that the Lord our God will no longer drive out these nations from before you. They will trap and ensnare you; they will be a whip that tears your sides and thorns that blind your eyes until you disappear from this good land the Lord your God gave you.”

14 “Look, today I am about to die. You know with all your heart and being that not even one of all the faithful promises the Lord your God made to you is left unfulfilled; every one was realized – not one promise is unfulfilled! 15 But in the same way every faithful promise the Lord your God made to you has been realized, it is just as certain, if you disobey, that the Lord will bring on you every judgment until he destroys you from this good land which the Lord your God gave you. 16 If you violate the covenantal laws of the Lord your God which he commanded you to keep, and follow, worship, and bow down to other gods, the Lord will be very angry with you and you will disappear quickly from the good land which he gave to you” (Joshua 23:11-16).

God sold the Israelites into the hands of Jabin, a Canaanite king who reigned in Hazor, a city located approximately 12 miles north of the Sea of Galilee. It was once a major Canaanite city that was defeated and destroyed (by fire) at the hand of Joshua.⁵ Later on, the Canaanites returned and rebuilt the city, making it a royal city. Hazor was located in the territory of Naphtali,⁶ which explains why Barak was commanded to gather troops from Naphtali and Zebulun (verse 6). It also should be noted that “Jabin” is a dynastic title, like “Pharaoh” and “Abimelech.” This explains why the name “Jabin” can occur earlier in Joshua 11 and then again in our text, years later.

Sisera was the commander of Jabin’s military forces, and thus he becomes more prominent in our text. He is said to live in Harosheth Haggoyim, a place whose location is uncertain. (We do know that the word “Haggoyim” means “of the Gentiles,” which is thus translated in some versions.) It appears that he carried out his task with the kind of zeal which justified cruel oppression. The reader should bear this in mind when he or she is tempted to react to the “cruelty and violence” of Jael. And here, once again, we encounter the dreaded iron chariots of the enemy. Sisera’s army had 900 such chariots to employ against the Israelites. I am told that these chariots were used to run down the opponent, and I have little doubt that Sisera had made use of his chariots in this manner on previous occasions. No wonder the Israelites were terrified.⁷ Sisera had terrorized the Israelites for 20 years, prompting them to finally⁸ cry out to the Lord for help. For some reason, the author does not say that God “raised up” either Deborah or Barak, or both, yet it seems apparent that He did so.

We should note one more piece of background information which is not found in chapter 4, but is described for us in the song of Deborah in chapter 5:

6 In the days of Shamgar son of Anath,

in the days of Jael caravans disappeared;

travelers had to go on winding side roads.

7 Warriors were scarce,

they were scarce in Israel,

until you arose, Deborah,

until you arose as a motherly protector in Israel.

8 God chose new leaders,

then fighters appeared in the city gates;

but, I swear, not a shield or spear could be found,

among forty military units in Israel (Judges 5:6-8, emphasis mine).

This is very helpful information. It describes conditions in northern Israel under Jabin, before God raised up Deborah and Barak (and Jael). It was hazardous for an Israelite to travel on the main thoroughfares, and so they moved about on the lesser traveled side roads. And rather than settle in villages, the people avoided village life. Villages must have been tempting “spoils” for the cruel Canaanite forces. And on top of this, we are informed that the Israelites were not well armed. “Not a sword or a shield could be found” (5:8). That is not good news if one were contemplating taking on a large army equipped with many swords and iron chariots. Israel’s situation looked hopeless, but God. . . .

Meet Deborah and Barak
Judges 4:4-10

4 Now Deborah, a prophetess, wife of Lappidoth, was leading [judging]⁹ Israel at that time. 5 She would sit under the Date Palm Tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the Ephraimite hill country. The Israelites would come up to her to have their disputes settled. 6 She summoned Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali. She said to him, “Is it not true that the Lord God of Israel is commanding you? Go, march to Mount Tabor! Take with you ten thousand men from Naphtali and Zebulun! 7 I will bring Sisera, the general of Jabin’s army, to you at the Kishon River, along with his chariots and huge army. I will hand him over to you.” 8 Barak said to her, “If you go with me, I will go. But if you do not go with me, I will not go.” 9 She said, “I will indeed go with you. But you will not gain fame on the expedition you are undertaking, for the Lord will turn Sisera over to a woman.” Deborah got up and went with Barak to Kedesh. 10 Barak summoned men from Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh. Ten thousand men followed him; Deborah went up with him as well (Judges 4:4-10).

Deborah is introduced to us first as a prophetess and then as the wife of Lappidoth, a man about whom we know nothing. As indicated above, I do not believe it is accurate to say that Deborah was “leading” Israel as one of the judges like Othniel led. The point made by our author is that she was both a wife and a mother who “judged” in some sense.¹⁰ I believe that Deborah “judged” in the same way that Moses and other “judges” (outside the Book of Judges) judged the Israelites.¹¹ They helped people understand and apply God’s law to their particular circumstances. In a day when men were “doing what was right in their own eyes,” it is encouraging to find those who sought to know what was right in God’s eyes.

I think it would be safe to refer to Deborah as a “shade tree prophetess.” Deborah did her judging underneath the “Date Palm Tree of Deborah,” somewhere in the hills between Ramah and Bethel. Her prophetic ministry must almost certainly have been an indictment against the formal religious leadership (namely the priests) in Israel. We know that at this time, the Ark of the Covenant was kept in Bethel.¹² The priesthood would have been carrying out their duties there. Deborah’s place of business was some distance away, in a rather remote location. People had to seek her out to obtain judgment.

In her role as a prophetess, Deborah summons Barak and conveys God’s instructions to him. These instructions are not presented as Deborah’s thoughts, not even as her interpretation of God’s revelation, but rather as God’s direct command to Barak. Surely Barak knew (“Is it not true. . .?”) that God was commanding him to lead the Israelites in battle. He was instructed to assemble 10,000 men from the tribes of Naphtali and Zebulun and lead them to Mount Tabor. God promised that He would draw¹³ Sisera to the Kishon River,¹⁴ along with his army and his 900 chariots, where He would give them into Barak’s hands.

Defeating Sisera, with his large and well equipped army (including his 900 chariots), seemed like an impossible task, and indeed it was. God had Barak and his men assemble for battle on Mount Tabor. This “mountain” has an “ice cream cone” shape and is a little over 1800 feet high. It is located northeast of the Esdraelon Plain, roughly half way between Nazareth (6-8 miles to the west) and the Sea of Galilee (approximately 12 miles to the east).

Looking at pictures of Mount Tabor, one can readily understand how Sisera would be “drawn” to the valley at the base of Mount Tabor, and thus to the Kishon River, which runs through that valley. That plain surrounding Mount Tabor was the perfect place to employ his 900 chariots. He could encircle the mountain like he was besieging a city. And whenever any Israelites sought to escape, Sisera’s chariots could easily overtake them and run them down. The army that Barak gathered would look like “easy pickings” to Sisera, and thus he would be drawn there to suppress this uprising.

That Barak would be apprehensive is not too surprising. After all, he was commanded to take on a large, well-armed force with 10,000 poorly equipped men (see 5:8). But mere cowardice isn’t really what we find here. Barak makes his obedience to God’s command contingent upon Deborah’s presence with him when he takes on Sisera and his men. He will do as God commanded if she goes with him; but if she does not accompany Barak, he will not go.

Surely we would have to agree that Barak is not merely seeking to add one more warrior to the 10,000 who will gather with him. No, I believe that Barak’s request is similar to that of Moses when God told him to lead the Israelites to the Promised Land:

1 The Lord said to Moses, “Go up from here, you and the people whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land I promised on oath to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ 2 I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. 3 Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go up among you, for you are a stiff-necked people, and I might destroy you on the way.” . . . 15 And Moses said to him, “If your presence does not go with us, do not take us up from here. 16 For how will it be known then that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not by your going with us, so that we will be distinguished, I and your people, from all the people who are on the face of the earth?” (Exodus 33:1-3, 15-16).

The reason that Barak wanted Deborah (a “mother in Israel,” 5:7) to accompany him was because she was a prophetess. I believe Barak was convinced that God would go with him if Deborah accompanied him. In a way, it was good for Barak to want to be assured that God was with him. But in another way it was sad, sad because he had no assurance of God’s presence with him apart from Deborah. Yes, Deborah spoke for the Lord, but he was not content to act on what she said; Barak wanted her with him as well. No Deborah, no battle.

Deborah agreed to accompany Barak, but she made it very clear that this arrangement was not ideal. Indeed, although Barak would win the battle, as promised, he would not get the glory (or honor) for this victory. Instead, the glory would go to “a woman.” No doubt Barak assumed that the “woman” Deborah referred to was herself, but it was not, as our text will soon disclose. It will be Jael who is honored for killing Sisera.

(I know that we must respect the silence of Scripture, but I still have to wonder . . . . What did Deborah’s husband, Lappidoth, think of all this? I can just see her writing him a note and leaving it on the kitchen table: “Gone for a while with Barak. Back in a couple of weeks or so. Don’t forget to feed the kids.” That must have left Lappidoth scratching his head. But then he was married to a prophetess. It is not my impression that this “mother in Israel” was a young mother. She may well have been older.)

A Significant Parenthesis
Judges 4:11

11 Now Heber the Kenite had moved away from the Kenites, the descendants of Hobab, Moses’ father-in-law. He lived near the great tree in Zaanannim near Kedesh (Judges 4:11).

This verse may seem to supply extraneous information at a time and place where it disrupts the flow of the argument, but reading a little further will show that this is not the case at all. Heber was a Kenite. This means that he was a descendant of Moses’ father-in-law, who accompanied the Israelites into the Promised Land. It also means that he was not an Israelite. Having said this, the Kenites had associated themselves with the Israelites and lived among them:

16 Now the descendants of the Kenite, Moses’ father-in-law, went up with the people of Judah from the City of Date Palm Trees to Arad in the desert of Judah, located in the Negev. They went and lived with the people of Judah (Judges 1:16).

Heber had separated himself from the rest of the Kenites and lived near Kedesh. As we shall soon see, Heber apparently tried to live in Israelite territory and yet maintain peaceful relations with Jabin. In verse 17, we read that Heber had entered into a covenant of peace with Jabin, something God clearly forbade His people to do.¹⁵ He was, it is sometimes said, trying to “play both ends against the middle.”

The Defeat of Sisera’s Army
Judges 4:12-16

12 When Sisera heard that Barak son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor, 13 he ordered all his chariotry – nine hundred chariots with iron-rimmed wheels – and all the troops he had with him to go from Harosheth-Haggoyim to the River Kishon. 14 Deborah said to Barak, “Spring into action, for this is the day the Lord is handing Sisera over to you! Has the Lord not taken the lead?” Barak quickly went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him. 15 The Lord routed Sisera, all his chariotry, and all his army with the edge of the sword. Sisera jumped out of his chariot and ran away on foot. 16 Now Barak chased the chariots and the army all the way to Harosheth Haggoyim. Sisera’s whole army died by the edge of the sword; not even one survived! (Judges 4:12-16)

When Sisera learned that Barak and his army had assembled at Mount Tabor, he knew it was time to put down this rebellion, and there seemed no better place to do so than there. Mount Tabor was on the upper edge of the Esdraelon Valley or Valley of Jezreel. The valley seemed to afford the perfect place to stage an attack using his 900 chariots. And so they began to converge on Mount Tabor. Through Deborah, God informed Barak that now was the time to attack. At this point in time, this must have looked like a suicide mission, but God had other plans, and thus He assured Barak and those with him that victory over Sisera was certain. The Lord Himself had gone before them.

Barak and his army quickly descended from Mount Tabor in order to engage Sisera and his vastly superior army. Our text informs us that “the LORD routed Sisera, all his chariotry, and all his army with the edge of the sword.” Now, we may wonder how this could happen in light of what we read in chapter 5:

8 God chose new leaders,

then fighters appeared in the city gates;

but, I swear, not a shield or spear could be found,

among forty military units in Israel (Judges 5:8).

 

How could Israel rout such an army with the sword when they were virtually unarmed, at least comparatively? We first need to recall that our text tells us that it was the LORD who routed Sisera and his army, not the Israelites. And beyond this, we need to keep in mind what we are told in the song of Deborah in chapter 5:

19 Kings came, they fought;

the kings of Canaan fought,

at Taanach by the waters of Megiddo,

but they took no silver as plunder.

20 From the sky the stars fought,

from their paths in the heavens they fought against Sisera.

21 The Kishon River carried them off;

the river confronted them – the Kishon River.

Step on the necks of the strong!

22 The horses’ hooves pounded the ground;

the stallions galloped madly (Judges 5:19-22).

God created confusion among Sisera’s warriors, and He did so by employing the forces of nature. From what we read in chapter 5, we conclude that God may very well have commenced a great thunderstorm. The fury of that storm, particularly the thunder and lightning, would have sent terror and confusion to man and animal. And the waters rushing down from Mount Tabor (and likely other high places) would have created a flash flood that would have virtually immobilized Sisera’s army.

But how could this army “die by the edge of the sword” (verse 16)? Let us consider what we read here in the light of two other biblical texts:

“I will send my terror before you, and I will destroy all the people whom you encounter; I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you” (Exodus 23:27).

10 As Samuel was offering burnt offerings, the Philistines approached to do battle with Israel. But on that day the Lord thundered loudly against the Philistines. He caused them to panic, and they were defeated by Israel. 11 Then the men of Israel left Mizpah and chased the Philistines, striking them down all the way to an area below Beth Car (1 Samuel 7:10-11)

19 A blacksmith could not be found in all the land of Israel, for the Philistines had said, “This will prevent the Hebrews from making swords and spears.” 20 So all Israel had to go down to the Philistines in order to get their plowshares, cutting instruments, axes, and sickles sharpened. 21 They charged two-thirds of a shekel to sharpen plowshares and cutting instruments, and a third of a shekel to sharpen picks and axes, and to set ox goads. 22 So on the day of the battle no sword or spear was to be found in the hand of anyone in the army that was with Saul and Jonathan. No one but Saul and his son Jonathan had them (1 Samuel 13:19-22).

Saul and all the army that was with him assembled and marched into battle, where they found the Philistines in total panic killing one another with their swords (1 Samuel 14:20).

The battle really is the Lord’s. At times He defeats Israel’s enemies while they merely look on in wonder. Such was the case when God drowned the Egyptian army in the Red Sea. And such was the case when God defeated the Philistines at Mizpah (1 Samuel 7) and later at Michmash (1 Samuel 14). I believe that it was also the case in our text. God used the 10,000 man army that gathered around Barak to lure Sisera into place, where God would employ the forces of nature to destroy them. The Israelites surely fought, but theirs was largely a matter of cleaning up after God did the work.

The chariots at Sisera’s disposal were not an asset, but a liability, which is clearly evident when Sisera abandoned his chariot and fled on foot. Barak pursued Sisera’s men as far as Harosheth Haggoyim, Sisera’s home town (4:2). Surely Barak hoped to find Sisera and have the honor of putting him to death. But God had revealed to him that a woman would get the honor, not him (4:9). Sisera had other plans. He knew that his master, Jabin, had a peace treaty with Heber the Kenite, and so he sought safety at his house.

Sisera’s Dishonorable Death
Judges 4:17-22

17 Now Sisera ran away on foot to the tent of Jael, wife of Heber the Kenite, for King Jabin of Hazor and the family of Heber the Kenite had made a peace treaty. 18 Jael came out to welcome Sisera. She said to him, “Stop and rest, my lord. Stop and rest with me. Don’t be afraid.” So Sisera stopped to rest in her tent, and she put a blanket over him. 19 He said to her, “Give me a little water to drink, because I’m thirsty.” She opened a goatskin container of milk and gave him some milk to drink. Then she covered him up again. 20 He said to her, “Stand watch at the entrance to the tent. If anyone comes along and asks you, ‘Is there a man here?’ say ‘No.’” 21 Then Jael wife of Heber took a tent peg in one hand and a hammer in the other. She crept up on him, drove the tent peg through his temple into the ground while he was asleep from exhaustion, and he died. 22 Now Barak was chasing Sisera. Jael went out to welcome him. She said to him, “Come here and I will show you the man you are searching for.” He went with her into the tent, and there he saw Sisera sprawled out dead with the tent peg in his temple (Judges 4:17-22).

Sisera arrived at Heber’s tent exhausted and desperate. Unfortunately (for Sisera), Heber was not home. (One has to wonder what Heber’s decision would have been had he been forced to decide between Jabin and Israel.) Heber’s wife, Jael, was home however. I’ll bet this nomadic woman would not have been a candidate for the cover of a woman’s magazine. First of all, she was taken by surprise and wasn’t prepared to entertain guests. Indeed, she would not have entertained a man without her husband being home. In my mind’s eye, I see a rather plain woman, simply dressed and tough as a boot. As the women usually were tasked with taking down and setting up the tents, her hands were probably rough and calloused.

There seems to be no hesitation on Jael’s part. She goes out to welcome Sisera, just as he had hoped. She urged him to stop and rest and to not be afraid. Exhausted, he sank to the floor to get some rest, as Jael urged him to do. She covered him with a blanket of some kind, and when he asked her for water, she gave him milk instead. He was getting even more help than he could have hoped for. And so, encouraged to trust her, Sisera asked Jael to keep watch at her door and to deny that anyone was there in her tent, turning them away without discovering him in his weakened state. His mind at rest and his body exhausted, Sisera fell into a deep sleep. Jael had no weapons of warfare, but she did have the tools of her trade: a tent peg and a hammer. Little did she know until now that all those years of driving tent pegs would prepare her for this moment. She crept beside Sisera and with one powerful blow, penetrated his skull and drove the peg through it, and into the ground.

Later, Barak arrives, pursuing Sisera, and likely accompanied by many of his army. Jael likewise went out to greet Barak and to invite him into her tent. There she presented to Sisera the corpse of Israel’s most powerful enemy, still stuck to the ground by Jael’s tent peg. No, the honor of destroying public enemy number one was not Barak’s, but Jael’s. And this, just as Deborah had prophesied.

Israel Finally Gets it Right
Judges 4:23-24

23 That day God humiliated King Jabin of Canaan before the Israelites. 24 Israel’s power continued to overwhelm King Jabin of Canaan until they did away with him (Judges 4:23-24).

The battle with Sisera was won that day, but the war with Jabin was not yet won. The defeat of Sisera and his army was a humiliating defeat for Jabin. He had lost his right hand man and many of his army. The Israelites would continue to pursue and to defeat King Jabin until they “did away with him.” Most other translations say they “destroyed him.” He certainly was completely defeated, but as I read this statement, I conclude that Jabin, like Sisera, is dead. If so, we are not told who accomplished this. It could have been Barak, but whoever it was our author wants the reader to walk away from his account knowing it was Jael who was to get the honor, rather than Barak.

Conclusion

On the one hand, there is a great deal to say from what we have read in chapter 4. On the other hand, I must add that chapter 5 is the “final word” so far as our interpretation and application of chapter 4. Let me conclude, however, with several points of application.

First, I would like to speak to the feminist agenda as it relates to our text. The reason our text is the focus of most scholarly study (so far as the Book of Judges is concerned) is because it appears to be fertile soil for the seeds of feminist interpretation and practice. When the New Testament speaks with great clarity and emphasis on the role of women in the leadership of the home and of the church,¹⁶ our text appears to be a great fall-back text. If one does not dig too deeply into the text, it seems to justify women leading men, at least when men fail to lead. This simply is not the case, but I shall wait until chapter 5 to press this point.

I will say that I am greatly distressed by the duplicity of those who reject the clear teaching of Paul on this topic, seeking to justify their rejection of his teaching as irrelevant because the situation he addresses in Corinth (and thus in 1 Corinthians 11 and 14) is unique and not for general application. There was some unique problem in Corinth that required Paul’s teaching in 1 Corinthians, but this teaching is not normative, not for other churches back then, and certainly not for the church today. I find this most disturbing, given what Paul himself has to say about how general his teaching in 1 Corinthians was meant to be:

16 I encourage you, then, be imitators of me. 17 For this reason, I have sent Timothy to you, who is my dear and faithful son in the Lord. He will remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church (1 Corinthians 4:16-17, emphasis mine).

If anyone intends to quarrel about this, we have no other practice, nor do the churches of God (1 Corinthians 11:16, emphasis mine).

As in all the churches of the saints, 34 the women should be silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak. Rather, let them be in submission, as in fact the law says (1 Corinthians 14:33b-34, emphasis mine).

So feminists would have us set aside Paul’s general (universal) teaching on the ministry of women in the church, alleging that it is exceptional, not general, in spite of Paul’s repeated declarations that it is general. And yet, when we come to the Book of Judges, a book that clearly is exceptional – How many of us would want to teach this as the normal Christian life and practice? – feminists would tell us that Deborah’s alleged leadership is the norm for all time. I find this way of dealing with the Scriptures remarkable and greatly distressing.

Having said this (and having let off a little steam in the process), let me go on to say that Barak and Sisera provide us with examples of those men whose thinking is extreme, on both sides of the issue. Barak places too much emphasis on the importance of Deborah in winning the war with Sisera and Jabin. She did not have to accompany him into battle, as Barak insisted. Her presence was not necessary to guarantee God’s presence and power. Sisera, on the other hand, had too little regard for women, especially Jael. Did he think that the “little woman” was only good for handing out blankets and serving warm milk? Sisera did not give Jael sufficient credit as a worthy opponent, and it cost him his life.

Second, let us all be clear on one thing: the woman who gets the honor in our text is not Deborah, but Jael. Jael is the woman about whom Deborah prophesied. She is the woman whom our text (and chapter 5) praises. It is she who has the courage to contradict the covenant with Jabin made by her husband, Heber. This covenant was contrary to God’s Word (Exodus 23:32). This covenant would have made Jael and her husband Israel’s adversaries. This covenant would have required them to give aid and comfort to the enemies of God and His people. I believe that Jael, much like Abigail (whom we shall find in 1 Samuel 25), took action which endangered her, and which sought the best interest of her husband, all the while giving obedience to God and His Word highest priority.

Jael had every excuse not to act as she did. She was a woman, not a warrior. Engaging the commander of Jabin’s army was not her realm of responsibility. She was not even a Jew, but a Gentile. She was a married woman, whose husband had entered into a covenant of peace with Jabin. Who would possibly expect her to deal with Sisera as she did? She was indeed a woman worthy of honor.

Third, I would like to encourage every Christian by calling your attention to a lesson that is repeatedly taught in the Book of Judges: God uses unlikely people and uncommon means to accomplish His purposes and promises. Who would have thought that Jael would be the hero of our story? I’m sure such a thought never entered the mind of Jael. Sisera was a powerful man, with the support and resources of Jabin. Sisera was a formidable foe. Jael was a woman. Her life must have seemed dull and laborious. How many times had she taken down their tent, only to pitch it somewhere else a few days later? How unimportant she must have thought herself to be – a woman, the wife of a nomad, and not even a Jew. All she could do well was to make beds and blankets, process milk, keep house (tent), and offer a little hospitality. Oh, yes, and she could drive tent pegs – could she do that!

All her life this woman had been doing her simple, mundane tasks, perhaps feeling very insignificant in the scheme of life. And yet God had been preparing her, just as He had used Israel’s years of servitude to prepare them for the rigors of desert life. She had become very skilled with a tent peg and a hammer, but she did not know what difference this could make. If the Book of Judges teaches us anything, it is that our great God uses unlikely instruments to accomplish His purposes. He lifts up those who are lowly (like Jael), and he humbles those who are great (like Sisera).

As a preacher, I have known many people who begrudge the fact that they are not in full-time ministry, that their job does not involve preaching God’s Word and counseling others. They wrongly assume that they are doomed to live out a relatively insignificant existence. If the Book of Judges teaches us anything, it is that God uses lowly, unlikely people to accomplish great things by His power. That is what our Lord did with His disciples, and it is what He will do with us:

When they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and discovered that they were uneducated and ordinary men, they were amazed and recognized these men had been with Jesus (Acts 4:13).

26 Think about the circumstances of your call, brothers and sisters. Not many were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were born to a privileged position. 27 But God chose what the world thinks foolish to shame the wise, and God chose what the world thinks weak to shame the strong. 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, what is regarded as nothing, to set aside what is regarded as something, 29 so that no one can boast in his presence. 30 He is the reason you have a relationship with Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

1 When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come with superior eloquence or wisdom as I proclaimed the testimony of God. 2 For I decided to be concerned about nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. 3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and with much trembling. 4 My conversation and my preaching were not with persuasive words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith would not be based on human wisdom but on the power of God (1 Corinthians 1:26-2:5).

Fourth, I would remind you that this text teaches us that those who choose to identify with God and with His people are blessed of God, while those who oppose God and His people will perish. A humble person (like Jael) who chooses to trust in God and to identify with His people receives God’s blessing, while a great and powerful man like Sisera perishes in shame because he chose to disregard God and to oppress His people. In a day when the nation Israel is hated and opposed by many, it would do us well to consider the implications of our text very carefully.

Finally, I would call your attention to the New Testament and to the gospel that we find proclaimed there. Those who choose to identify with the Lord Jesus Christ are those who will be saved, and those who reject and oppose Him will perish. He came to give His life as a ransom for many, to bear the penalty for sin that we deserve. The ultimate issue is not our identification with Israel (important though that may be), but our identification with Jesus as God’s only means of salvation. He is the ultimate Judge, the ultimate Deliverer. His deliverance is for all eternity because the Lord Jesus rose from the dead and lives forever. He is the One who came to seek and to save those who are lost, due to sin, and we must choose whether or not we will receive God’s gift of salvation in Him. I urge you to consider the gospel of the Lord Jesus and to be saved by trusting in His work on the cross of Calvary.

---

¹ Copyright © 2009 by Robert L. Deffinbaugh. This is the edited manuscript of Lesson 5 in the series, The Dark Days of Israel’s Judges, prepared by Robert L. Deffinbaugh on September 13, 2009. Anyone is at liberty to use this lesson for educational purposes only, with or without credit.

² See 5:6.

³ Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the NET Bible. The NEW ENGLISH TRANSLATION, also known as THE NET BIBLE, is a completely new translation of the Bible, not a revision or an update of a previous English version. It was completed by more than twenty biblical scholars who worked directly from the best currently available Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts. The translation project originally started as an attempt to provide an electronic version of a modern translation for electronic distribution over the Internet and on CD (compact disk). Anyone anywhere in the world with an Internet connection will be able to use and print out the NET Bible without cost for personal study. In addition, anyone who wants to share the Bible with others can print unlimited copies and give them away free to others. It is available on the Internet at: www.netbible.org.

⁴ See Judges 2:10-23.

⁵ See Joshua 11:1-11.

⁶ Naphtali shared a border with Zebulun.

⁷ See Judges 1:19.

⁸ It is interesting to note that it took only 8 years of oppression for the Israelites to first cry out to God (3:8-9) and next it took 18 years of oppression (3:14). Now, it takes 20 years for them to cry out for help. Are they becoming more hardened?

⁹ “Judging” is the literal translation; “leading” is an interpretive rendering. I do not believe that it would be accurate to say that Deborah was “leading” Israel at this time. She was operating in an out of the way location. She did not lead the armies of Israel; Barak did. She calls herself “a mother in Israel.” Her primary function is as a prophetess and not as a military leader. The task of leading Israel belongs to Barak, as Deborah makes very clear to him.

¹⁰ She calls herself “a mother in Israel” in Judges 5:7.

¹¹ See Exodus 18:13-26 and Numbers 11:10-30.

¹² See Judges 20:26-28.

¹³ I’m not sure that I see that God “enticed” Sisera to the Kishon, but it seems that the term “bring” (NET Bible) is not quite strong enough. He was, we might say, irresistibly drawn out to do battle with Sisera.

¹⁴ The Kishon River flowed along the plain of Esdraelon not far from the base of Mount Tabor.

¹⁵ See Exodus 23:30-33.

The audio, study guide and powerpoint are available for this lesson. The manuscript will be posted once it is available.

Introduction

Those who know me well know that I have a tendency to come down hard on some Bible characters who are generally more highly esteemed. In particular, I’m thinking of bad boys and girls like Jonah, Mordecai and Esther, and Naomi. Therefore, when we come to the story of Gideon in the Book of Judges, you are probably expecting me to pounce on Gideon as another one of the bad boys of the Bible.

I’m not going to tell you that Gideon is a stellar example of faith and obedience, a man whose example we should all follow. But I have to confess a strange sense of compassion toward this fellow. I think it is partly because I find that my weaknesses are very much like his. Let’s face it, who among us tends to identify with Paul? If we are honest, most of us would have to admit that we much more easily identify with Peter than Paul. Peter is the fellow who is always talking when he would best keep quiet, and consequently, he’s frequently caught with his foot in his mouth. While he assures Jesus of his faithfulness, even unto death, he ends up denying his Lord.² No wonder we can identify with Peter more easily than Paul. And for this same reason, we should be easily able to identify with Gideon as well.

In our text, we will encounter many of the elements which are typical of the times of the judges:³ complacency toward God and His Word; peaceful coexistence with the Canaanites leading to the embracing of their beliefs and practices, particularly the worship of their gods; divine discipline in the form of being handed over to one of their enemies; crying out to God in their time of oppression; and God graciously raising up a deliverer to save them from their distress. But in addition to these common elements, there are also some unique dimensions to our account, which I will attempt to point out as we go along.

In this lesson, we will consider each section of our text, looking for significant observations and relationships. Then, having looked at the parts of our text, we shall seek to discover how they connect in such a fashion as to portray an important lesson (or lessons). Finally, we will conclude by considering some of the ways this text applies to our daily lives. Join us, then, in considering another exciting chapter in the history of God’s chosen people during the period of the judges.

The Setting

Judges 6:1-6

1 The Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight, so the Lord turned them over to Midian for seven years. 2 The Midianites overwhelmed Israel. Because of Midian the Israelites made shelters for themselves in the hills, as well as caves and strongholds. 3 Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites, and the people from the east would attack them. 4 They invaded the land and devoured its crops all the way to Gaza. They left nothing for the Israelites to eat, and they took away the sheep, oxen, and donkeys. 5 When they invaded with their cattle and tents, they were as thick as locusts. Neither they nor their camels could be counted. They came to devour the land. 6 Israel was so severely weakened by Midian that the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help (Judges 6:1-6).⁴

We are hardly surprised to read, once again, that the Israelites have returned to their evil ways, at least as God sees things. Since every man did what was right in his own eyes, it is likely that the Israelites did not see their sins as evil. By the way, the author does not name the sins to which he refers here; he speaks of them only in generalities, and for good reason. We already know Israel’s sins from the pattern set forth in chapter 2 and from the chapters which have preceded our text. We know, for example, that the Israelites would have disregarded God’s Word and would have worshipped the gods of the Canaanites. In addition, they would have intermarried with the Canaanites.

If the Israelites have acted as we would have predicted, so does God. He turned the Israelites over to Midian for seven years of harsh treatment. Let us first refresh our memories as to who the Midianites were, so that we will better be able to comprehend the kind of suffering they imposed on the Israelites.

Midian was the son of Abraham and Keturah, one of Abraham’s concubines (Genesis 25:2-6). It was a Midianite caravan that “happened by” when Joseph’s brothers were about to kill him, prompting them to sell Joseph to these traders instead of taking his life. These traders then took Joseph to Egypt where they sold him as a slave (Genesis 37:28, 36). When Moses fled from Egypt after killing an Egyptian, he went to Midian where he encountered a Midianite priest. Moses married his daughter, Zipporah, and had two sons by her (Exodus 2:15-22). Moses’ father-in-law accompanied the Israelites into the land of Canaan, and so it is that we find the Kenites mentioned twice already (1:16; 4:11, 17) in the Book of Judges. The Midianites also were involved in the seduction of the Israelites in the Book of Numbers.⁵

The Midianites were a nomadic people who lived to the East (and Southeast) of Israel, across the Jordan. While the Midianites had been given military supremacy over Israel, their “occupation” of Israel was quite different from the occupation of other foreign nations such as the Moabites. The Moabites gained military supremacy over Israel and then established certain military outposts. Here, Moabite soldiers would be stationed to enforce Moabite control. If the Israelites behaved themselves and paid their annual tribute, they were granted a certain measure of freedom.

It was quite different under the domination of the Midianites. For one thing, we should observe that no one king is named. I don’t doubt that the Midianites had their leaders, but their nomadic lifestyle must have resulted in a less centralized government.⁶ The Midianites did not exact a payment of tribute, as the Moabites had done; rather the Midianite hordes simply migrated to Israel whenever it served their purposes. They would time their “return visits” to Canaan in accordance with the growing season. When harvest time arrived, so did the Midianites, and with an appetite for everything the Israelites possessed. They took all of their crops they could get their hands on; the Midianites’ cattle grazed on what was left. And any Israelite cattle were added to their own herds. When they had consumed all there was, the Midianites moved on, leaving the Israelites in desperate straits.

It is no wonder that the Israelites sought to disappear, along with their crops and cattle, into the hills before the Midianites arrived. They gathered up what little they could and headed for the hills, literally, seeking refuge in caves and mountain hideouts. To some degree, this had happened earlier when Jabin and the Canaanites had cruelly oppressed the Israelites. And so we read:

6 “In the days of Shamgar son of Anath,

in the days of Jael, the roads were abandoned;

travelers took to winding paths.

7 Village life in Israel ceased,

ceased until I, Deborah, arose,

arose a mother in Israel.

8 When they chose new gods,

war came to the city gates,

and not a shield or spear was seen

among forty thousand in Israel (Judges 5:6-8, NIV; emphasis mine).

My sense is that under Midianite domination, things had gotten as bad as Israel had ever seen it. And so we read that the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help. What is interesting, and somewhat unique, is that God did not immediately raise up a judge to deliver them as He had done before;⁷ instead, God sent a prophet to rebuke them.

A Divine Rebuke

Judges 6:7-10

7 When the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help because of Midian, 8 he sent a prophet to the Israelites. He said to them, “This is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I⁸ brought you up from Egypt and took you out of that place of slavery. 9 I rescued you from Egypt’s power and from the power of all who oppressed you. I drove them out before you and gave their land to you. 10 I said to you, “I am the Lord your God! Do not worship the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are now living!” But you have disobeyed me’” (Judges 6:7-10).

It is perhaps worthwhile to point out that the unnamed prophet whom God sent was not Israel’s new leader, judge, or deliverer. The deliverer would be Gideon, but he has not yet been introduced to the reader. I would like to suggest that what we find here is paralleled in the story of Deborah and Barak. Deborah was the prophetess; Barak was the leader and deliverer. In our text, the Israelites cry out, hoping for a deliverer from their oppression by the Midianites. This prophet is sent to remind them that God is their ultimate Deliverer. And so he reviews a few of those deliverances of the past. God delivered the Israelites from the oppression they suffered under Egyptian domination. He also delivered His people from those who opposed them as they made their way to possess the Promised Land. And it was also God who warned them not to worship the gods of the Amorites.⁹

In one sense, the worship of heathen gods was quite pragmatic. They worshipped certain gods for rain, or for fertility, or for victory in battle. These “gods” were the deliverers of the heathen. But it is the God of Israel who is truly – and exclusively – their Deliverer. Thus they must not look to anyone other than God alone for deliverance. This command they had disobeyed, and their disobedience is the reason for their oppression.

It is interesting to me that the prophet’s message (at least as reported here) contained no call to repentance. Neither is there any indication that the Israelites responded in a negative or positive way. The message seems to have fallen on deaf ears.

One might come to the conclusion that the salvation which is soon to come in our text proves that no repentance is really necessary. I would differ and suggest that God is gracious here, but His grace is evident in His kindness in bringing about Israel’s repentance, before He grants deliverance. God works through Gideon to change the heart of his father, Joash, then the hearts of his clan, then of his tribe, and finally the hearts of several other tribes as well. See if the text does not develop nicely when viewed in this way.

Between God and Gideon

Judges 6:11-27

11 The Lord’s angelic messenger¹⁰ came and sat down under the oak tree in Ophrah owned by Joash the Abiezrite. He arrived while Joash’s son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress so he could hide it from the Midianites. 12 The Lord’s messenger appeared and said to him, “The Lord is with you,¹¹ courageous warrior!” 13 Gideon said to him, “Pardon me, but if the Lord is with us, why has such disaster overtaken us? Where are all his miraculous deeds our ancestors told us about? They said, ‘Did the Lord not bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to Midian.” 14 Then the Lord himself turned to him and said, “You have the strength. Deliver Israel from the power of the Midianites! Have I not sent you?” 15 Gideon said to him, “But Lord, how can I deliver Israel? Just look! My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my family.” 16 The Lord said to him, “Ah, but I will be with you! You will strike down the whole Midianite army.” 17 Gideon said to him, “If you really are pleased with me, then give me a sign as proof that it is really you speaking with me. 18 Do not leave this place until I come back with a gift and present it to you.” The Lord said, “I will stay here until you come back.”

19 Gideon went and prepared a young goat, along with unleavened bread made from an ephah of flour. He put the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot. He brought the food to him under the oak tree and presented it to him. 20 God’s messenger said to him, “Put the meat and unleavened bread on this rock, and pour out the broth.” Gideon did as instructed. 21 The Lord’s messenger touched the meat and the unleavened bread with the tip of his staff. Fire flared up from the rock and consumed the meat and unleavened bread. The Lord’s messenger then disappeared.

22 When Gideon realized that it was the Lord’s messenger, he said, “Oh no! Master, Lord! I have seen the Lord’s messenger face to face!” 23 The Lord said to him, “You are safe! Do not be afraid! You are not going to die!” 24 Gideon built an altar for the Lord there, and named it “The Lord is on friendly terms with me.” To this day it is still there in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

25 That night the Lord said to him, “Take the bull from your father’s herd, as well as a second bull, one that is seven years old. Pull down your father’s Baal altar and cut down the nearby Asherah pole. 26 Then build an altar for the Lord your God on the top of this stronghold according to the proper pattern. Take the second bull and offer it as a burnt sacrifice on the wood from the Asherah pole that you cut down.” 27 So Gideon took ten of his servants and did just as the Lord had told him. He was too afraid of his father’s family and the men of the city to do it in broad daylight, so he waited until nighttime (Judges 6:11-27).

Reading this portion is something like watching a tennis match. Your head turns from one side of the tennis court to the other, and then back, over and over and over again. It is almost a re-run of God’s calling of Moses in Exodus 3 and 4. Both Moses and Gideon seem to work hard at finding reasons why God should not choose them as Israel’s deliverer. It also reminds me of Exodus 33 and 34, where God promises to be with Moses personally (the “you” is singular, not plural), but Moses wants God’s assurance that He will be with His people collectively. I am puzzled why the commentators I have consulted have not called attention to the fact that the “you’s” found in verses 12-16 of our text are singular, referring to Gideon alone and not to the Israelites collectively. It is apparent that Gideon finally gets this in verse 15, which prompts him to object even more strongly. With these observations, let us see how this text unfolds.

After the prophet appeared with his divine review and rebuke, the Angel of the LORD appears to Gideon while he is threshing wheat in a winepress (verse 11). I should not have to tell you that when one was threshing wheat in those days, it was done in a high place, out in the open, so that the wind would carry away the chaff when the grain was threshed by treading on it and then tossing it into the air. A winepress was no place to thresh wheat! That would be like trying to use a screwdriver to drive a nail. Gideon used the winepress so that he could keep out of sight of the Midianites, who, if they saw him, would come and take his grain. Gideon’s actions were indicative of how bad things had become in Israel.

And so the Angel of the LORD appears and sits beneath the oak tree in Ophrah, looking on as Gideon is making the effort to thresh grain out of sight. The Angel then approaches Gideon with these amazing words, “The Lord is with you, courageous warrior!” Gideon hardly looked the part of a “courageous warrior” at this moment, but I don’t believe that the Angel is mocking him. He is assuring Gideon of God’s presence and power, which will eventually make him a mighty warrior.

Gideon seems to sidestep the fact that God was singling him out from all the rest of the nation and chooses instead to focus on God’s dealings with the nation, as though the Angel had said, “The LORD is with Israel, you mighty man of valor.” Gideon’s response in verse 13 is very revealing. It tells us, for example, that Gideon has been taught about God and Hs miraculous deeds for Israel in the past. In a sense, Gideon repeats the words of the prophet regarding God’s powerful deliverance of the Israelites in the past. But he does so in a way that turns God’s words upside-down. The prophet’s words were spoken to rebuke the Israelites for disobeying God’s command not to worship the Canaanite gods. Gideon uses God’s past dealings to rebuke God for forsaking His people, and (it would seem) this also provided Gideon with an excuse to remain on the sidelines, rather than to engage the Canaanites in battle.

God will have none of this, although His words are amazingly gentle and gracious: “Then the Lord himself turned to him and said, “You have the strength. Deliver Israel from the power of the Midianites! Have I not sent you?” (verse 14) Did Gideon protest that God had not delivered Israel from Midianite oppression? Then here is God’s promise to be with Gideon, empowering him so that he could deliver his people from their bondage. God commissions Gideon to perform this task – God has sent him.

Suddenly God’s use of the singular (“you”) sinks in. “Now just hold on a minute,” Gideon objects, “I am not the man for the job you have in mind.” And so Gideon appeals to his insignificance and lack of power and influence due to his status in the family (verse 15).¹² And all this after God has just assured him of His presence and power (“You have the strength. Deliver Israel from the power of the Midianites.”), and of His divine commission (“Have I not sent you?”).

God brushed aside Gideon’s “Who am I?” objections, giving him this assurance: “Ah, but I will be with you! You will strike down the whole Midianite army” (verse 16). Hearing these words, Gideon requests a sign from God. Listen carefully to what he asks for and how God provides him with the requested sign:

17 Gideon said to him, “If you really are pleased with me, then give me a sign as proof that it is really you speaking with me. 18 Do not leave this place until I come back with a gift and present it to you.” The Lord said, “I will stay here until you come back.”

19 Gideon went and prepared a young goat, along with unleavened bread made from an ephah of flour. He put the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot. He brought the food to him under the oak tree and presented it to him. 20 God’s messenger said to him, “Put the meat and unleavened bread on this rock, and pour out the broth.” Gideon did as instructed. 21 The Lord’s messenger touched the meat and the unleavened bread with the tip of his staff. Fire flared up from the rock and consumed the meat and unleavened bread. The Lord’s messenger then disappeared.

22 When Gideon realized that it was the Lord’s messenger, he said, “Oh no! Master, Lord! I have seen the Lord’s messenger face to face!” 23 The Lord said to him, “You are safe! Do not be afraid! You are not going to die!” 24 Gideon built an altar for the Lord there, and named it “The Lord is on friendly terms with me.” To this day it is still there in Ophrah of the Abiezrites (Judges 6:17-24).

Gideon now grants that God has chosen him to deliver the Israelites. His concern here is not that God will actually give him the victory (such concerns will surface later), but that it is actually the God of Israel who is speaking to him. He asks for confirmation that it is really Israel’s God who is speaking to him.

Now this may sound foolish to you and to me. It may sound cowardly (and perhaps there is a bit of that as well). But we need to understand his request in the light of the world in which Gideon lived. From what we have already seen, Gideon was well aware of God’s deliverances of Israel in the past. I don’t believe that Gideon or many Israelites of that day had totally “subtracted” God from their lives. Their sin was to “add” the worship of heathen deities. I’ve seen the mindset that leads to such decisions in my own ministry. I once visited an elderly couple who wanted to be baptized. As I inquired about their motivation, they made it clear that they had done almost everything they could think of and they just “didn’t want to leave any stone unturned.” So, too, the Israelites wanted to cover all their spiritual bases, and so they worshipped God and the Canaanite deities. Now, deity is speaking to him, and he wants to be absolutely certain it is not an embarrassing case of mistaken identity.

Just how did Gideon expect God to give him a sign as he offered a sacrifice? What was he expecting? I would call your attention to two other events recorded in the Old Testament, the first in Judges 13 and the second in 1 Kings 18. In Judges 13, the Angel of the LORD appeared to Manoah’s wife, the woman who was soon to become Samson’s mother:

15 Manoah said to the Lord’s messenger, “Please stay here awhile, so we can prepare a young goat for you to eat.” 16 The Lord’s messenger said to Manoah, “If I stay, I will not eat your food. But if you want to make a burnt sacrifice to the Lord, you should offer it.” (He said this because Manoah did not know that he was the Lord’s messenger.) 17 Manoah said to the Lord’s messenger, “Tell us your name, so we can honor you when your announcement comes true.” 18 The Lord’s messenger said to him, “You should not ask me my name, because you cannot comprehend it.” 19 Manoah took a young goat and a grain offering and offered them on a rock to the Lord. The Lord’s messenger did an amazing thing as Manoah and his wife watched. 20 As the flame went up from the altar toward the sky, the Lord’s messenger went up in it while Manoah and his wife watched. They fell facedown to the ground. 21 The Lord’s messenger did not appear again to Manoah and his wife. After all this happened Manoah realized that the visitor had been the Lord’s messenger. 22 Manoah said to his wife, “We will certainly die, because we have seen a supernatural being!” 23 But his wife said to him, “If the Lord wanted to kill us, he would not have accepted the burnt offering and the grain offering from us. He would not have shown us all these things, or have spoken to us like this just now” (Judges 13:17-23).

Manoah also wanted to be certain as to the identity of the Angel of the LORD who had appeared to them, and so he asked the Angel to wait while they prepared a young goat as an offering, just as Gideon did. He asked the Angel for His name, but was not given the answer. Then when the offering was made “to the LORD,” the Angel miraculously ascended into the sky in the flames. They knew for certain that this was the Angel of the LORD; this was the God of Israel who had appeared to them.

I will simply remind you of the second case, which is described in 1 Kings 18. Elijah challenged the false prophets and their gods to a contest on Mount Carmel. Let them offer a sacrifice to their god, Baal, and he would then offer a sacrifice to the God of Israel. The God/god who consumed the offering with fire would prove to be the one true God. The prophets of Baal sacrificed to their god according to their prescribed rituals, and nothing happened (other than the prophets abusing themselves to get their god’s attention). But when Elijah offered the (drenched) sacrifice to the God of Israel, He responded by consuming the entire sacrifice – bull, wood, rocks, and water – with fire! God had proven Himself to be God, God alone, by His response to Elijah’s offering.

I am convinced that Gideon believed that if it was the God of Israel who was speaking to him, He would do something miraculous when he offered a sacrifice in a way that was consistent with the Old Testament Law. He believed that if God was present in the worship of His people, He would make His presence known. And so he asked the Angel to wait as he prepared for this sacrificial offering. And Gideon was right! The Angel reached out with His staff and touched the sacrificial meal and fire sprang forth from the rock, consuming the sacrifice entirely. Now Gideon can proclaim this Angel to be the Sovereign God, the God of Israel. And knowing that this was God caused him to wonder how he could still be alive, since he had seen God face-to-face. Personally, I cannot fault Gideon for seeking this confirmation of God’s identity. Gideon then built an altar to the LORD and called it “The LORD is Peace.” That peace was the reason he was still alive.

Midnight Madness: Gideon Goes Public

Judges 6:25-27

25 That night the Lord said to him, “Take the bull from your father’s herd, as well as a second bull, one that is seven years old.¹³ Pull down your father’s Baal altar and cut down the nearby Asherah pole. 26 Then build an altar for the Lord your God on the top of this stronghold according to the proper pattern. Take the second bull and offer it as a burnt sacrifice on the wood from the Asherah pole that you cut down.” 27 So Gideon took ten of his servants and did just as the Lord had told him. He was too afraid of his father’s family and the men of the city to do it in broad daylight, so he waited until nighttime (Judges 6:25-27).

This was not a time for undercover faith. It was time for Gideon to go public with his faith, and so God called for a public act of worship. Just as God revealed His identity through Gideon’s worship, it was now time for Gideon to reveal his faith in a public act of worship. God instructed Gideon to take two bulls, at least one of which belonged to his father. A second bull was also to be used. This second bull not only assisted in the demolition of his father’s Baal altar, it was also offered up as a sacrifice, using the wood of the wooden Asherah pole for the firewood. One can hardly say that Gideon’s actions, carried out in the dark of night, were heroic. Nevertheless, Gideon did obey the Lord’s command. Using ten of his servants, Gideon did as God had instructed. There was now no turning back for Gideon. How the people of his clan would react is now about to be revealed.

Beyond Gideon

Judges 6:28-35

28 When the men of the city got up the next morning, they saw the Baal altar pulled down, the nearby Asherah pole cut down, and the second bull sacrificed on the newly built altar. 29 They said to one another, “Who did this?” They investigated the matter thoroughly and concluded that Gideon son of Joash had done it. 30 The men of the city said to Joash, “Bring out your son, so we can execute him! He pulled down the Baal altar and cut down the nearby Asherah pole.” 31 But Joash said to all those who confronted him, “Must you fight Baal’s battles? Must you rescue him? Whoever takes up his cause will die by morning! If he really is a god, let him fight his own battles! After all, it was his altar that was pulled down.” 32 That very day Gideon’s father named him Jerub-Baal, because he had said, “Let Baal fight with him, for it was his altar that was pulled down.”

33 All the Midianites, Amalekites, and the people from the east assembled. They crossed the Jordan River and camped in the Jezreel Valley. 34 The Lord’s spirit took control of Gideon. He blew a trumpet, summoning the Abiezrites to follow him. 35 He sent messengers throughout Manasseh and summoned them to follow him as well. He also sent messengers throughout Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, and they came up to meet him (Judges 6:28-35).

What a slap in the face Gideon’s actions were to the gods of the Canaanites, namely Baal and Asherah. The Baal alter is torn down, the Asherah pole is likewise cut down and chopped into fire wood, and a bull (the symbol of Baal) is offered as a sacrifice on this spot. By his actions, Gideon has made a statement that can hardly be ignored.

You can imagine the surprise and consternation of the people of Ophrah when they awakened to find their Baal altar¹⁴ destroyed, their Asherah pole taken down and burned as firewood, and a prize bull sacrificed on a newly constructed altar. The bull – whether it belonged to Gideon’s father or someone else – would have been greatly valued. It was the equivalent of a farm tractor in those days. It could be used for plowing fields, and of course for tasks like pulling down Baal altars. Such a prize animal would have been especially valuable since it somehow had been kept from the grasp of the Midianites.

The “righteous indignation” of the people of Ophrah is amazing and informative. Think of it. The Law of Moses prescribed death for any who would turn the Israelites from the worship of God (see Deuteronomy 13). Here, the nation had rebelled against God by worshipping the gods of the Canaanites, and now they were ready to execute the Israelite who had torn down their objects of false worship. And mind you, those who were ready to kill Gideon were Israelites, not Canaanites. How far the people of God had fallen!

From this point on in our text, Gideon is no longer the focus of our author’s attention; it is his father, Joash, who steps into the spotlight here. One wonders what God’s Spirit had done to prepare Joash for this moment. He seems to be a leader in his clan, and the Baal altar and Asherah belong to him (6:25). Baal and Asherah (perhaps among others) are deities that one would worship in order to prosper, to have good rains, fertility, and victory in battle. These were the very blessings the Israelites had forfeited by forsaking fidelity to their one true God. Their Canaanite gods were not doing them any good. The prophet had made it clear why God was not blessing His people. Did Joash already have his doubts about the value of their idol worship?

Now, to be a faithful Baal worshipper Joash is obligated to put Gideon to death; more emphatically, the Abiezrites demand that Joash put him to death. Joash now takes his stand, not only with his son, but also with the God his son has chosen to follow exclusively. Baal, a god who was worshipped for being powerful, should be strong enough to defend himself, Joash argued. The fact that men had to defend the honor of their god betrayed the fact that their god was powerless to look after his own interests, let alone the interests of his worshippers. No, anyone who set out to harm his son would be put to death. And to underscore his stand, Joash renamed his son Jerub-Baal, which means “let Baal fight (or contend) with him.” From this point on, Gideon’s existence (with his new name) would be a constant insult and challenge to Baal. The fact that nothing bad happens to Gideon underscores the truth of his name.

The Abiezrites are Now Ready for War

Judges 6:33-35

33 All the Midianites, Amalekites, and the people from the east assembled. They crossed the Jordan River and camped in the Jezreel Valley. 34 The Lord’s spirit took control of Gideon. He blew a trumpet, summoning the Abiezrites to follow him. 35 He sent messengers throughout Manasseh and summoned them to follow him as well. He also sent messengers throughout Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, and they came up to meet him (Judges 6:33-35).

The Midianites, along with their “eastern allies,” assembled, apparently to reestablish their dominance over the Israelites. They crossed the Jordan River and assembled in the Jezreel Valley. The Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon, empowering him to lead the Israelites in battle against this awesome military force. Gideon blew the trumpet to summon his fellow Abiezrites to follow him in battle. What a change has occurred here. Those who just recently demanded that Gideon be put to death now willingly follow him into battle with a vastly larger army. And this change of heart spread from Gideon’s clan to the entire tribe (or Manasseh), and when messengers were sent out to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, they likewise gathered for war.

Conclusion

Our text contains many lessons. Let me conclude by suggesting just a few of them.

It all began with one person. That’s the thought that first came to my mind as I reflected back on the message of this passage. It was the nation (at least several of the Israelite tribes) that turned from God to idols, and they were all badly in need of repentance. God started the process with a rebuke by one of His prophets, but then He raised up one man – Gideon – through whom He impacted many others. God first brought Gideon to the point where he forsook his worship of the Canaanite gods and entrusted himself completely to God. When his faith became public by his destruction of his father’s idols and his worship of the God of Israel, his father was now placed in the position of either defending his powerless gods or forsaking them. He, too, chose to trust in God. It seems clear that Joash’s faith was instrumental in bringing his (Abiezrite) clan to faith, and then the entire tribe of Manasseh, along with Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali.

The point I wish to make here is that it only takes one person to impact many, when that person entrusts himself (or herself) to God by following Him. Think of those folks throughout history whom God has used to impact the lives of many. This list is a long one, but we can mention men like Gideon, Luther and Calvin, and women like Deborah and Jael and Corrie ten Boom.

Those persons God uses to impact many others are most often not those we would have considered “most likely to succeed.” I can almost read your mind (only because I know my own thoughts). Some of you are thinking, “I know that God uses individuals to greatly impact others, but I’m not that kind of person. Who am I to think that God would use me mightily, like He used Gideon?” God wants you to see that Gideon was not really a person who was likely to succeed. He was the first to call this fact to God’s attention, hoping that it might get him off the hook. It didn’t. The entire Book of Judges (not to mention the rest of the Bible) reveals how God has used unlikely vessels to achieve His purposes, just as He employed unlikely means such as an pitchers, lamps, and trumpets, as well as an ox goad, a millstone, and the jawbone of an ass. This book is meant to teach us that the key to success is not having strong, self-assured people to lead, but having an all-powerful God to lead and to empower weak vessels.

Faltering obedience is nonetheless obedience. I know that ideally we would all like to obey God in such a way that it reflects well on us, but God is more interested in obedience that reflects well on Him, for it is He who is to receive the glory, not us. The ungodly seek their own glory; the godly seek God’s glory. As we observe Gideon’s obedience (midnight madness, really), it does not cause us to think of him as a hero – to “idolize” him. But whether his obedience was faltering or not, it was obedience, and that obedience reflected well upon God. A little faith in a great God is far better than great faith in oneself. God would much prefer that we haltingly obey Him than stubbornly disobey.

God works patiently through a unique process to make leaders from unlikely candidates. Here is a very important truth. It is God who draws men to faith in Himself. It is God, not men, who is great, and worthy of our praise. And it is God who patiently works in our lives to make us more like Himself. In our text, I see a great God who graciously works in the lives of unlikely people over a period of time to give them confidence in Himself and the boldness to stand alone in their faith and obedience to Him.

It is sometimes our weaknesses, rather than our strengths, that encourage others. We know that God uses our weakness to bring about His purposes and a way that glorifies Him:

Therefore, so that I would not become arrogant, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to trouble me – so that I would not become arrogant. 8 I asked the Lord three times about this, that it would depart from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is enough for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” So then, I will boast most gladly about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may reside in me. 10 Therefore I am content with weaknesses, with insults, with troubles, with persecutions and difficulties for the sake of Christ, for whenever I am weak, then I am strong (2 Corinthians 12:7b-10).

I am encouraged by the “weakness” and frailty of Gideon’s life because I am weak and frail. Others may be encouraged by our weaknesses when they see God at work in our lives in spite of (and often by means of) our frailty. Be honest. Are you more encouraged by Peter or by Paul? Now I am greatly impressed with Paul’s boldness and courage, but I find that I much more readily identify with Peter. Peter is a man who all too often put his foot in his mouth and said the wrong thing. Here is a man who first denied his Lord, only then to be restored and to minister to others.¹⁵ When others witness the way God uses us in our weakness, they are encouraged that God may use them in their weakness as well. This does not excuse sin or careless living; indeed, it should encourage us to strive in God’s strength, knowing that He gives strength to the weak.

We learn from Gideon that we must put first things first. God does not bring deliverance to Israel until His people repent of their sin and put Him first; indeed, God delivers His people after they renounce their idolatry and worship Him alone. Our relationship with God is not only the most important thing there is, it is also the first thing that we must do. Jesus put it this way:

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t there more to life than food and more to the body than clothing? 26 Look at the birds in the sky: They do not sow, or reap, or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you more valuable than they are? 27 And which of you by worrying can add even one hour to his life? 28 Why do you worry about clothing? Think about how the flowers of the field grow; they do not work or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his glory was clothed like one of these! 30 And if this is how God clothes the wild grass, which is here today and tomorrow is tossed into the fire to heat the oven, won’t he clothe you even more, you people of little faith? 31 So then, don’t worry saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ 32 For the unconverted pursue these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But above all pursue his kingdom and righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 So then, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Today has enough trouble of its own (Matthew 6:25-34, emphasis mine).

So, we must ask ourselves these very important questions: “Is God really first in my life? If not, what is? How do I make God first and foremost in my life?”

Our text challenges us to address two very important forces in our culture: pluralization and privatization. Pluralization is the process by which our culture accepts a wide diversity of beliefs and practices as having equal truth and merit. To some degree, this tolerance of the views of others is necessary in a free society. In terms of religion, for example, our country is made up of people of many faiths, and our system of government allows them to believe and to practice their faith as they choose, so long as they do not break the law and harm others. While it is necessary to accept the reality that many faiths are embraced in our nation, this does not mean that all of these faiths are equally valid and true. According to the Bible, and particularly our Lord Jesus, Christianity alone is true faith, and faith in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for our sins is the only way to heaven.¹⁶ Men may believe what they wish, but only Christ saves, and only the Bible is God’s inspired Word.¹⁷

Privatization embraces pluralization and seeks to promote it. Our culture prefers to believe that all religions are of equal value and that all of them will eventually get you to heaven (or whatever you wish to call it). Thus, pluralization says that you can believe whatever you want, but privatization insists that you must not hold to your faith as exclusively true, and the “unpardonable Postmodern sin” is to attempt to “impose” your beliefs on others. Privatization insists that we keep our faith (whatever that might be) to ourselves. It is obvious, then, that privatization resists and opposes evangelization.

Our text exposes these contemporary beliefs and values as false. The Israelites of old were not given the freedom by God to believe in whatever or whomever they chose. They were commanded to believe only in the God who had saved them from their bondage in Egypt, and who had given them the land of Canaan. They must not worship God and the gods of the Canaanites; they must worship God alone, or suffer the consequences.

I will not share my glory with anyone else,

or the praise due me with idols (Isaiah 42:8)

11 For my sake alone I will act,

for how can I allow my name to be defiled?

I will not share my glory with anyone else! (Isaiah 48:11)

So, too, the Israelites of old were not to hold their beliefs privately, but were to proclaim and practice them publicly. God was not content with Gideon’s private offering alone (6:19-22); Gideon must tear down his father’s idols and publicly worship the God of Israel. And so our text challenges us to confront the pluralization and privatization of religion in our own lives. There should be no such thing as a “secret Christian.”

The Great Commission demands that we share our faith with others who are lost apart from trusting in Jesus Christ for salvation:

18 Then Jesus came up and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20).

Do you notice anything familiar in our Lord’s words here to His disciples and to His church? First of all, we should notice that our Lord is sending us to proclaim the good news of the gospel, in a way that is similar to how He assured Gideon that He had sent him (Judges 6:14). Second, not only did our Lord send us, as He did Gideon, He also assured us of His presence and power when we obey Him and go forth proclaiming the gospel. We have the same assurance that Gideon did, and more, for we have the abiding presence of our Lord through His Spirit.

Finally, our text suggests that our worship should somehow manifest the presence and power of our Lord. I have to admit that I was surprised to realize that Gideon expected God to reveal His presence as he worshipped Him. That is why he asked the Angel of the LORD to wait until he could prepare an offering (6:18). And God did reveal Himself, causing Gideon to became frightened because he had seen God face-to-face (6:22). The similar events in Judges 13:15-23 and 1 Kings 18:16-40 would appear to suggest that God was expected to manifest His presence in some manner when His people worshipped Him.

One might be inclined to set this aside as a phenomena that was restricted to Old Testament times, but I’m not so sure, given what we read in 1 Corinthians 14:

24 But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or uninformed person enters, he will be convicted by all, he will be called to account by all. 25 The secrets of his heart are disclosed, and in this way he will fall down with his face to the ground and worship God, declaring, “God is really among you” (1 Corinthians 14:24-25, emphasis mine).

We should take note of the context here. Paul is arguing that in the church meeting, prophecy is superior to tongues, unless what is spoken in tongues is interpreted. Tongues-speaking was the more spectacular phenomena, while prophecy was less so, at least in the minds of the Corinthians. That is why tongues-speaking was such a problem in the church. If tongues were spoken and not interpreted, Paul argued, unbelievers who observed this would conclude that these Christians were crazy. But if there was prophecy, the secrets of their hearts would be exposed, and they would realize that God was among them. I believe that something similar occurs when God’s written Word is read and proclaimed in the church gathering:

12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any double-edged sword, piercing even to the point of dividing soul from spirit, and joints from marrow; it is able to judge the desires and thoughts of the heart. 13 And no creature is hidden from God, but everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must render an account (Hebrews 4:11-13).

People may get excited when they come to church and loud, expressive music is performed, but I would not be inclined to assume that this alone is a unique manifestation of God’s presence among His people. I would expect that when God’s Word was read and taught in the power of the Holy Spirit, God’s presence would be sensed. God is among His people as they gather in obedience to Him:

19 Again, I tell you the truth, if two of you on earth agree about whatever you ask, my Father in heaven will do it for you. 20 For where two or three are assembled in my name, I am there among them” (Matthew 18:19-20).

I realize full well that this text in Matthew is found in the context of church discipline (18:15-20), but I would nevertheless point out that God promises to be present with His church as they gather in obedience to His commands. I believe that the way in which the New Testament believers met (see 1 Corinthians 14) – the way in which we strive to meet – our Lord’s presence should be felt. When we worship in an open meeting where our participation is not scripted, and where various men speak as the Lord leads, God’s presence becomes evident when there is a uniform message and when the hearts of those gathered are warmed. The climax of this is the celebration of the Lord’s Table, when we remember His death, burial, and resurrection, which is the only means by which we are saved. Let us be more sensitive to God’s presence among us as we worship corporately as a church.

---

¹ Copyright © 2009 by Robert L. Deffinbaugh. This is the edited manuscript of Lesson 7 in the series, The Dark Days of Israel’s Judges, prepared by Robert L. Deffinbaugh on September 27, 2009. Anyone is at liberty to use this lesson for educational purposes only, with or without credit.

² See Luke 22:31-34.

³ See Judges 2:10—3:5.

⁴ Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the NET Bible. The NEW ENGLISH TRANSLATION, also known as THE NET BIBLE, is a completely new translation of the Bible, not a revision or an update of a previous English version. It was completed by more than twenty biblical scholars who worked directly from the best currently available Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts. The translation project originally started as an attempt to provide an electronic version of a modern translation for electronic distribution over the Internet and on CD (compact disk). Anyone anywhere in the world with an Internet connection will be able to use and print out the NET Bible without cost for personal study. In addition, anyone who wants to share the Bible with others can print unlimited copies and give them away free to others. It is available on the Internet at: www.netbible.org.

⁵ See Numbers 22:4-7; 25:6, 14.

⁶ Joshua 13:21 refers to five Midianite chiefs or leaders. In Judges 7 and 8, four Midianite leaders are named: Oreb and Zeeb (7:25), and Zebah and Zalmunna (8:10ff.).

⁷ See Judges 3:9, 15; 4:3ff.

⁸ Note the emphatic “I” throughout the prophet’s rebuke.

⁹ At times, the word “Amorites” is used as a virtual synonym for “Canaanites.” See, for example, Genesis 15:16.

¹⁰ I prefer the more traditional rendering, “the Angel of the LORD.”

¹¹ Each emphasized “you” is singular in the original text and refers to Gideon personally, rather than to Israel corporately.

¹² Gideon’s words here don’t seem to square with what we read in Judges 8:18-20, just as Moses’ words in Exodus 4:10 don’t entirely square with Stephen’s statement in Acts 7:22.

¹³ Translations differ here. The New King James Version reads: "Take your father's young bull, the second bull of seven years old, and tear down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the wooden image that is beside it.” The issue is at least two-fold: (1) How many bulls did Gideon use? and (2) Did Gideon offer his father’s bull as the sacrificial animal or another? The matter does not seem worthy of a great deal of discussion and may not be settled this side of eternity.

¹⁴ Actually, this is Joash’s altar. See Judges 6:25.

¹⁵ See Luke 22:31-32.

¹⁶ See John 14:6; also Acts 4:12.

¹⁷ See Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:1-4.

Introduction

36 Gideon said to God, “If you really intend to use me to deliver Israel, as you promised, then give me a sign as proof. 37 Look, I am putting a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece, and the ground around it is dry, then I will be sure that you will use me to deliver Israel, as you promised.” 38 The Lord did as he asked. When he got up the next morning, he squeezed the fleece, and enough dew dripped from it to fill a bowl. 39 Gideon said to God, “Please do not get angry at me, when I ask for just one more sign. Please allow me one more test with the fleece. This time make only the fleece dry, while the ground around it is covered with dew.” 40 That night God did as he asked. Only the fleece was dry and the ground around it was covered with dew.

1 Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) and his men got up the next morning and camped near the spring of Harod. The Midianites were camped north of them near the hill of Moreh in the valley. 2 The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many men for me to hand Midian over to you. Israel might brag, ‘Our own strength has delivered us.’ 3 Now, announce to the men, ‘Whoever is shaking with fear may turn around and leave Mount Gilead.’” Twenty-two thousand men went home; ten thousand remained. 4 The Lord spoke to Gideon again, “There are still too many men. Bring them down to the water and I will thin the ranks some more. When I say, ‘This one should go with you,’ pick him to go; when I say, ‘This one should not go with you,’ do not take him.” 5 So he brought the men down to the water. Then the Lord said to Gideon, “Separate those who lap the water as a dog laps from those who kneel to drink.” 6 Three hundred men lapped; the rest of the men kneeled to drink water. 7 The Lord said to Gideon, “With the three hundred men who lapped I will deliver the whole army and I will hand Midian over to you. The rest of the men should go home.” 8 The men who were chosen took supplies and their trumpets. Gideon sent all the men of Israel back to their homes; he kept only three hundred men. Now the Midianites were camped down below in the valley.

9 That night the Lord said to Gideon, “Get up! Attack the camp, for I am handing it over to you. 10 But if you are afraid to attack, go down to the camp with Purah your servant 11 and listen to what they are saying. Then you will be brave and attack the camp.” So he went down with Purah his servant to where the sentries were guarding the camp. 12 Now the Midianites, Amalekites, and the people from the east covered the valley like a swarm of locusts. Their camels could not be counted; they were as innumerable as the sand on the seashore. 13 When Gideon arrived, he heard a man telling another man about a dream he had. The man said, “Look! I had a dream. I saw a stale cake of barley bread rolling into the Midianite camp. It hit a tent so hard it knocked it over and turned it upside down. The tent just collapsed.” 14 The other man said, “Without a doubt this symbolizes the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite. God is handing Midian and all the army over to him.”

15 When Gideon heard the report of the dream and its interpretation, he praised God. Then he went back to the Israelite camp and said, “Get up, for the Lord is handing the Midianite army over to you!” 16 He divided the three hundred men into three units. He gave them all trumpets and empty jars with torches inside them. 17 He said to them, “Watch me and do as I do. Watch closely! I am going to the edge of the camp. Do as I do! 18 When I and all who are with me blow our trumpets, you also blow your trumpets all around the camp. Then say, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon!’”

19 Gideon took a hundred men to the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after they had changed the guards. They blew their trumpets and broke the jars they were carrying. 20 All three units blew their trumpets and broke their jars. They held the torches in their left hand and the trumpets in their right. Then they yelled, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” 21 They stood in order all around the camp. The whole army ran away; they shouted as they scrambled away. 22 When the three hundred men blew their trumpets, the Lord caused the Midianites to attack one another with their swords throughout the camp. The army fled to Beth Shittah on the way to Zererah. They went to the border of Abel Meholah near Tabbath. 23 Israelites from Naphtali, Asher, and Manasseh answered the call and chased the Midianites.²

Introduction

“The more, the better.” Here’s an expression I’ve heard many times in my life, and quite often it is true. If you can get more ears of corn for the same price at a particular grocery store, or double coupons on a particular day, that’s usually a good thing. But there are times when more may not be better. Making more money is not always a good thing, nor is having more people attend church, if these “gains” come at the expense of more important matters. If more people attend your church because the gospel is watered down, sin isn’t mentioned, and neither is hell, then more is less.

We are sometimes inclined to think that “more” is necessary to do the work of God: “If we had more money in the Missions budget, then we could save more souls.” “If we only had more people praying, our sister with cancer would not have died.” Such statements will need to be rethought in the light of our text, for I believe it clearly teaches that in God’s work, less may be more.

When we come to the story of Gideon and his fleece, we are dealing with one of the most popular stories in the Book of Judges. Parents can relax because there are no gory Ehud/Eglon stories or embarrassing explanations required when reading about Samson and his exploits. Fleeces, jars, torches, and trumpets are a welcome subject in the Book of Judges. But let us keep in mind that our familiarity with this story may also work against us. We may be inclined to hear it as we have heard it before, without looking at the details as carefully as we should. (Remember that the most dangerous stretch of road – so far as traffic accidents are concerned – is that stretch with which we are most familiar.) So let us listen well, looking to God’s Word and to His Spirit to challenge and to change our thinking and our behavior as required.

A Review of Chapter 6

Once again the Israelites have sinned, “doing evil in the sight of the LORD” (6:1). We know from what we read in chapter 6 that they have sunk to the level of worshipping Baal and Asherah, Canaanite deities. I’m not so sure that the Israelites have consciously ceased worshipping God altogether, as much as they have begun to worship the Canaanite gods as their primary focus. As a result, God gave them over to the Midianites and an eastern alliance of nations. These were a nomadic people, so for seven years they came at will (but most often during harvest time), plundering the land and leaving the Israelites in desperate straits.

When the Israelites cried out to God, He sent them a prophet who reminded them of God’s previous mighty acts of deliverance. And He also reminded them of God’s command not to fear or to worship the gods of the land they were to possess, but they had disobeyed by doing so, and this was the explanation for their oppression. Then the Angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, designating him as Israel’s deliverer, and assuring him of His presence and power to achieve this goal. After much protest on Gideon’s part and a spectacular sign on God’s, Gideon is convinced that the One speaking to him is truly the God of Israel. At God’s instruction, Gideon tears down his father’s Baal altar and Asherah pole. Adding insult to injury (to Baal and his consort, Asherah), Gideon offers a sacrifice to God at this place, using a bull (the symbol of Baal) for the sacrifice and the wood of the Asherah pole for the firewood.

Although Gideon’s actions were done in the cover of darkness, the morning light revealed the destruction of their idols and Gideon’s newly-discovered devotion to the God of Israel. The people of his hometown were furious and demanded that his father turn Gideon over to them to be put to death. Joash, Gideon’s father, came to his son’s rescue, but more importantly he joined his son in his rejection of Baal and Asherah. The events of the previous night brought something into very clear focus for him. Baal and Asherah were the “gods” who were supposed to give their worshippers fertility, prosperity, and victory in battle – all of which Israel had forfeited because they did worship them (as the prophet had indicated). If Baal was so all-powerful, then why did the townspeople need to come to his rescue? Wasn’t he the one who was supposed to rescue them? No, let Baal take up his own offense with Gideon. Joash threatened to kill anyone who sought to defend this worthless god. And to underscore his defiance, Joash renamed Gideon “Jerub-Baal,” which means “let Baal contend.”

Joash’s leadership had a profound impact on the people of his clan, the Abiezrites. Not only did they give up their opposition to Gideon, they began to follow him. The eastern coalition converged on the Israelites, staging for battle in the Valley of Jezreel. The Spirit of the LORD came upon Gideon, prompting him to sound the alarm, summoning his fellow Israelites to battle. His own clan (the Abiezrites) and his entire tribe (Manasseh), along with Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali assembled to go to battle, following Gideon as their leader.

Gideon’s Fleece

Judges 6:36-40

36 Gideon said to God, “If you really intend to use me to deliver Israel, as you promised, then give me a sign as proof. 37 Look, I am putting a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece, and the ground around it is dry, then I will be sure that you will use me to deliver Israel, as you promised.” 38 The Lord did as he asked. When he got up the next morning, he squeezed the fleece, and enough dew dripped from it to fill a bowl. 39 Gideon said to God, “Please do not get angry at me, when I ask for just one more sign. Please allow me one more test with the fleece. This time make only the fleece dry, while the ground around it is covered with dew.” 40 That night God did as he asked. Only the fleece was dry and the ground around it was covered with dew (Judges 6:36-40).

Here is what I believe happened. The Midianites somehow discerned that a rebellion on the part of the Israelites was imminent. They, along with their eastern allies, crossed the Jordan river and set up camp in the Jezreel Valley, poised to reassert their dominance. The Spirit of the LORD came upon Gideon, so that he was virtually compelled to blow the trumpet, summoning his fellow-Israelites to war. They came, some 32,000 strong, and were now awaiting Gideon’s orders to attack. From his elevated position (probably Mount Gilboa), Gideon was able to look out upon the Jezreel Valley and to observe the size of the opposing army. We know what Gideon would have seen from this later description in verse 12 of chapter 7:

Now the Midianites, Amalekites, and the people from the east covered the valley like a swarm of locusts. Their camels could not be counted; they were as innumerable as the sand on the seashore (Judges 7:12).

Aware as we are of Gideon’s lack of courage, it is not difficult to imagine what was going through his mind as he looked out on this innumerable host of warriors: “What in the world was I thinking when I blew that trumpet, summoning this meager band of Israelites (32,000) to take on this overwhelmingly larger army³ spread out before us?” And so it is not difficult for us to understand why Gideon requested a confirming sign from God that going to war with the Midianites was the right choice.

Just what was it that Gideon was seeking to achieve by requesting this sign? It was not (as many believe) Gideon’s attempt to discern the will of God. God had made His will very clear: He was going to deliver Israel through Gideon. Gideon twice acknowledges this in his own words when he says, “If you really intend to use me to deliver Israel, as you promised. . .” (see 6:36-37). Gideon was certain that this was the God of Israel speaking to him (6:22) and that His purpose was to deliver Israel from the Midianites (6:12-18). There was one thing Gideon found difficult, even impossible, to believe – that God would deliver Israel from the Midianites through him. That was what Gideon wanted God to confirm, not merely with words, but with a sign.

Now let’s be honest with one another. Isn’t Gideon’s unbelief something that is familiar to all of us who have come to trust in Jesus as our Savior? We believe in the Lord Jesus, and we know that we are eternally saved, safe and secure in His keeping. We believe that God’s purpose is to proclaim the good news of the gospel throughout the entire world. We believe that God is going to bring many to faith. We even believe that God may bring revival to our country, to our city, and perhaps even to our neighborhood. But we have our doubts when we consider the possibility that God intends to accomplish these great things through us. God may use a Billy Graham or a John Piper or a Chuck Swindoll, but surely He will not use me in any significant way! That is what this test is all about. Gideon wants God to confirm His promise to achieve Israel’s deliverance through him.

And so Gideon requests God’s confirmation of His promise by means of a sign. He will set out a fleece on the threshing floor (After all, it isn’t being used to thresh the grain; Gideon has been doing that in the wine press – see 6:11). If it is God’s will to deliver Israel through him, then let him find the fleece wet and the ground around it dry. That will convince him that God is really going to use him to deliver the Israelites. And so it came about in the morning that the fleece was wet, and the ground around it was dry, just as Gideon had stipulated.

But Gideon’s doubts linger. And so in truly scientific fashion he reverses the test. Let the LORD now do just the opposite; let Him make the fleece dry and the ground around it wet. Graciously, and without a word of rebuke, God grants his request.⁴

It seems to me that in this “test,” there is both good news and bad news. The bad news is that Gideon is reluctant to take God at His word. He knew what God had said; he just didn’t quite believe it. The good news is that Gideon is not proud, arrogant, or confident in his own abilities. Gideon is scared to death and clinging desperately to God. That is a far better place to be than confident in one’s own abilities.

Or is it? Our culture says otherwise, and thus many Christians think otherwise. Much like the secular world, we think that those most likely to succeed are the ones who have great intellect, healthy self-esteem, are good looking, and aggressive. In God’s world, it is the weak whom He uses to achieve His purposes.⁵ Or, putting the matter in the terms of our title: Less is more.

Thinning Out the Ranks

Judges 7:1-8

1 Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) and his men got up the next morning and camped near the spring of Harod. The Midianites were camped north of them near the hill of Moreh in the valley. 2 The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many men for me to hand Midian over to you. Israel might brag, ‘Our own strength has delivered us.’ 3 Now, announce to the men, ‘Whoever is shaking with fear may turn around and leave Mount Gilead.’” Twenty-two thousand men went home; ten thousand remained. 4 The Lord spoke to Gideon again, “There are still too many men. Bring them down to the water and I will thin the ranks some more. When I say, ‘This one should go with you,’ pick him to go; when I say, ‘This one should not go with you,’ do not take him.” 5 So he brought the men down to the water. Then the Lord said to Gideon, “Separate those who lap the water as a dog laps from those who kneel to drink.” 6 Three hundred men lapped; the rest of the men kneeled to drink water. 7 The Lord said to Gideon, “With the three hundred men who lapped I will deliver the whole army and I will hand Midian over to you. The rest of the men should go home.” 8 The men who were chosen took supplies and their trumpets. Gideon sent all the men of Israel back to their homes; he kept only three hundred men. Now the Midianites were camped down below in the valley (Judges 7:1-8).

Do you not find it noteworthy that our author would refer to Gideon as Jerub-Baal in verse 1? I believe that he is reminding us of the events of chapter 6 and is keeping before us the challenge to Baal and all the Canaanite deities that is being made here. Baal could not give Israel prosperity, nor did he deliver her from Midianite bondage. Baal could not even defend himself from a timid fellow like Gideon. So how will the God of Israel fare in this contest with the Midianites (and thus with the Canaanite deities) in chapter 7? We shall soon see.

Consider this text through the eyes of a man who lacks courage. He first requested that God prove His identity. That’s not an entirely bad thing, although that should have been a “no-brainer” for an Israelite, who knew the God of Israel declared that He was God alone. Gideon next requested that God verify His promise to deliver Israel through him. Here stands a man who has just sounded the trumpet for his fellow-Israelites to assemble for warfare, and 32,000 have shown up. But these are far too few to match the combined forces of the eastern alliance. And yet now, in our text, God is going to reduce this fighting force of 32,000 warriors to a mere 300 in number. That should quicken Gideon’s pulse.

The Midianites and their allies have come from east of the Jordan and have crossed over into Israel, setting up camp in the Jezreel valley, on the southern side of the Hill of Moreh, and to the north of the Israelites, who are camped by the spring of Harod. Gideon has just tested God twice, and now God will test him by a two-fold reduction of his forces.

The key to understanding our text is found in verse 2: “You have too many men for me to hand Midian over to you. Israel might brag, ‘Our own strength has delivered us.’” We are amazing in our ability to take credit for something we have not done. In Deuteronomy 7, God instructs the Israelites not to fear their enemies because they are greater in number and strength, for it is He who will defeat them.⁶ And yet in the very next chapter, God also finds it necessary to warn His people against taking credit for the victories He will have won on their behalf:

11 Be sure you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments, ordinances, and statutes that I am giving you today. 12 When you eat your fill, when you build and occupy good houses, 13 when your cattle and flocks increase, when you have plenty of silver and gold, and when you have abundance of everything, 14 be sure you do not feel self-important and forget the Lord your God who brought you from the land of Egypt, the place of slavery, 15 and who brought you through the great, fearful desert of venomous serpents and scorpions, an arid place with no water. He made water flow from a flint rock and 16 fed you in the desert with manna (which your ancestors had never before known) so that he might by humbling you test you and eventually bring good to you. 17 Be careful not to say, “My own ability and skill have gotten me this wealth.” 18 You must remember the Lord your God, for he is the one who gives ability to get wealth; if you do this he will confirm his covenant that he made by oath to your ancestors, even as he has to this day (Deuteronomy 8:11-18, emphasis mine).

The greatness of God is the cure to our fears regarding our inadequacies and weaknesses. It is also the greatness of God that should be the preventative for any pride or arrogance on our part, for when victories are won, it is He who has done it, not us. Thus, the greatness of our God should keep us from fear and from pride.

Surely Gideon felt that a mere 32,000 men would not be sufficient to defeat the horde of Midianites who were spread out before him in the Valley of Jezreel, but God will now reduce his resources by means of a two-step process, which will leave him with a mere 300 men. No one would dare to take the credit for the victory God will bring about through this small, unarmed force. The reason for this reduction is: (a) man’s pride, and (b) God’s glory. When God graciously granted Gideon the signs he requested, it had to be with this in view. Given what is about to happen, Gideon would need them!

The first phase of the reduction took place in accordance with God’s instructions that are recorded in Deuteronomy 20, verse 8:

In addition, the officers are to say to the troops, “Who among you is afraid and fainthearted? He may go home so that he will not make his fellow soldier’s heart as fearful as his own” (Deuteronomy 20:8).

Given the size of the Israelites’ army compared to that of the eastern coalition, you’d better believe that two out of three soldiers confessed to being fainthearted. And so it was that 22,000 men seized the opportunity to be excused from battle. Gideon is now left with a mere 10,000 men, but this was still too many.

That brings us to phase 2 of God’s reduction of Israel’s resources. God instructed Gideon to take his men down to the water, which I am assuming to be the spring of Harod (or the stream which proceeded from that spring). In verse 4, God speaks emphatically of His sovereign choice in who stays and who remains. We can see why this would be so, knowing that only 300 men will remain when God is finished thinning out the troops.

We now come to the author’s account of the “lappers” and the “kneelers.” Most of those who drank knelt by the water to do so, while a few scooped up the water in their hands and then lapped it up. God chose the “lappers” to remain, while the “kneelers” were sent on their way.⁷ As much as I appreciate Dale Ralph Davis’ commentary on Judges, I am not inclined to completely accept his handling of this portion of the text. He is critical of those who try to explain the difference between the “lappers” and the “kneelers” in terms of their suitability for war.⁸ He believes that there is no great distinction between these two groups and that the real issue is simply a reduction in the number of men who will go to battle.

I reluctantly disagree with Davis for a couple of reasons. First, a great deal of faith will be required of these remaining men. They must go into battle against a host of enemy soldiers whose camels seem to replace the iron chariots of earlier occupying armies. These men must go into battle without any weapons, other than a jar, a torch, and a trumpet, and they must stand fast in the face of the enemy, without giving ground. It seems to me that this is a time for “a few good men,” men of courage and faith. Second, the 22,000 men who were initially dismissed were dismissed on the grounds that they were afraid. Why would a higher standard not also apply to the dismissal of the 9700 men?

I would agree with Davis that God is reducing the number of Israelite warriors so that no one will boast in men and so that God will get the glory. I would also agree with Davis that some have tended to overdo the distinction between the “lappers” and the “kneelers,” spiritualizing a bit too much. But I would disagree with him in playing down the need for 300 men of faith and character. I believe God thinned out the 32,000 so that He ended up with a handful of valiant warriors. And, by the way, that is what the Angel of the LORD assured Gideon he would become (6:12).

I have one last observation (or speculation, if you choose to see it that way) regarding the “provisions” that the 300 soldiers will take with them. Contrary to the translation cited above,⁹ I am inclined to agree with the rendering of verse 8 by several other translations:

So Gideon sent the rest of the Israelites to their tents but kept the three hundred, who took over the provisions and trumpets of the others (Judges 7:8a, NIV).

So the 300 men took the people's provisions and their trumpets into their hands. Gideon sent all the other men of Israel, each to his tent, but retained the 300 men; and the camp of Midian was below him in the valley (NASB 95).

So Gideon sent all the Israelites to their tents, but kept the 300 who took the people's provisions and their trumpets. The camp of Midian was below him in the valley (CSB).

So Gideon collected the provisions and rams’ horns of the other warriors and sent them home. But he kept the 300 men with him. The Midianite camp was in the valley just below Gideon (NLT).

I believe that the author is informing the reader that the 300 men who went to war were given the jars, torches, and trumpets of those who were sent to their tents. When we come to the account of the actual events of the battle, I believe that we will see: (1) That no more than 300 men were needed for the task they were to perform; (2) That any more than 300 men would have been a detriment to Israel’s strategy; and (3) That the provisions given the 300 by those who were sent back were exactly what the 300 needed to perform their task. In other words, I’m suggesting that the “provisions” supplied by the 9700 who departed consisted of 300 jars, torches, and trumpets – exactly what the 300 fighting men (the “lappers”) required. God’s provisions (soldiers and supplies) were no more and no less than what was needed.

Blessed Assurance

Judges 7:9-14

9 That night the Lord said to Gideon, “Get up! Attack the camp, for I am handing it over to you. 10 But if you are afraid to attack, go down to the camp with Purah your servant 11 and listen to what they are saying. Then you will be brave and attack the camp.” So he went down with Purah his servant to where the sentries were guarding the camp. 12 Now the Midianites, Amalekites, and the people from the east covered the valley like a swarm of locusts. Their camels could not be counted; they were as innumerable as the sand on the seashore. 13 When Gideon arrived, he heard a man telling another man about a dream he had. The man said, “Look! I had a dream. I saw a stale cake of barley bread rolling into the Midianite camp. It hit a tent so hard it knocked it over and turned it upside down. The tent just collapsed.” 14 The other man said, “Without a doubt this symbolizes the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite. God is handing Midian and all the army over to him.”

God has given Gideon the command to attack the Midianites, along with the promise of victory. But God knows Gideon intimately. Now is the time when further assurance is needed. If you and I were honest, I suspect that none of us would have passed up this opportunity for divine confirmation. If Gideon is fearful, he should take his servant, Purah,¹⁰ and go down to the Midianite camp.

Gideon will be reassured as to the final outcome of this battle, but in no way does God minimize the danger, or the strength, of the opposition they will face. The command to “go down” to the Midianite camp underscores the fact that Gideon and his men were camped above the floor or the Jezreel Valley, which gave them a vantage point from which they could look out over the vast assembly of men and camels poised for battle. The sight of what is described in verse 12 must have sent a chill down Gideon’s spine. What Gideon will hear will strengthen his faith, but what he has seen has enhanced his need for faith.

Being curious by nature, I have to wonder what the weather was like on that fateful night. I doubt that there was a clear, star-filled sky with a full moon. I would imagine that it was one of those pitch black nights when there was little or no illumination from the heavens. This would have enabled Gideon and Purah to make their way into the camp of the Midianites, until they came upon two soldiers in conversation. The first tells the other of his troubling dream, a vivid dream of a barley loaf tumbling down into their camp, overturning and crushing a Midianite tent. The second was granted the ability to interpret the dream. He was certain that this could mean nothing other than a smashing Israelite victory over them (the Midianites). They were going to be defeated. Did memories of earlier miraculous Israelite victories strengthen the sense of their impending doom? I suspect so.¹¹

The Impact of this Dream

Judges 7:14-15

14 The other man said, “Without a doubt this symbolizes the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite. God is handing Midian and all the army over to him.” 15 When Gideon heard the report of the dream and its interpretation, he praised God.¹² Then he went back to the Israelite camp and said, “Get up, for the Lord is handing the Midianite army over to you!” (Judges 7:14-15)

We know what impact overhearing this dream had on Gideon. He immediately fell on his face and worshipped God. What an amazing God to confirm the victory He was about to achieve through weak instruments like Gideon and his men! Gideon’s testimony, confirmed by Purah, no doubt was a source of great strength for those 300 men who were soon to risk their lives as they went forth to wage warfare against the Midianites.

I’m also inclined (albeit through a little speculation) to believe that this Midianite’s dream not only encouraged Gideon and his men, but that it demoralized and struck fear into the hearts of the Midianite host. My thoughts are not as speculative as you might suppose, because God gave this assurance to the Israelites as they were heading toward the Promised Land:

14 The nations will hear and tremble;

anguish will seize the inhabitants of Philistia.

15 Then the chiefs of Edom will be terrified,

trembling will seize the leaders of Moab,

and the inhabitants of Canaan will shake.

16 Fear and dread will fall on them;

by the greatness of your arm they will be as still as stone

until your people pass by, O Lord,

until the people whom you have bought pass by (Exodus 15:14-16).

“I will send my terror before you, and I will destroy all the people whom you encounter; I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you” (Exodus 23:27).

22 He, the God who leads you, will expel the nations little by little. You will not be allowed to destroy them all at once lest the wild animals overrun you. 23 The Lord your God will give them over to you; he will throw them into a great panic until they are destroyed. 24 He will hand over their kings to you and you will erase their very names from memory. Nobody will be able to resist you until you destroy them (Deuteronomy 7:22-24, emphasis mine).

I believe that God has already begun to produce the “panic” He promised with the dream of the Midianite, which he then shared with his fellow warrior. As much time as it took Gideon to return to his camp and ready his men for an attack, there was also time for the story of this one soldier’s dream and its interpretation to travel throughout the Midianite camp, at least those on duty at the time (and those who were soon to go on duty). This would have added to the panic and chaos that occurred when Gideon and his men broke their jars, exposing their torches as they blew their trumpets.

Battle Plans

Judges 7:16-18

16 He divided the three hundred men into three units. He gave them all trumpets and empty jars with torches inside them. 17 He said to them, “Watch me and do as I do. Watch closely! I am going to the edge of the camp. Do as I do! 18 When I and all who are with me blow our trumpets, you also blow your trumpets all around the camp. Then say, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon!’”

It’s a simple plan. The 300 men are to be divided into 3 groups of 100 men. Each man will be “armed” (if one dares to use this term) with a clay vessel (which was used to conceal the light of the torch until the proper time), a torch, and a trumpet (actually a shophar, a ram’s horn). Everyone is instructed to do as Gideon does. Following Gideon, they will blow their horns and shout, “For the Lord and for Gideon!”

I know this sounds strange, but as I was thinking about Israel’s strategy here it all seemed so bizarre. What in the world could Israel hope to accomplish against such a great host of warriors with such seemingly futile “weapons”: clay pots, torches, and trumpets? My mind turned to a Walt Disney cartoon (as I recall) which my children used to watch entitled, “A Toot, A Whistle, A Plunk, and a Boom.” That’s what the Israelites took into the battle.

The Battle

Judges 7:19-23

19 Gideon took a hundred men to the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after they had changed the guards. They blew their trumpets and broke the jars they were carrying. 20 All three units blew their trumpets and broke their jars. They held the torches in their left hand and the trumpets in their right. Then they yelled, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” 21 They stood in order all around the camp. The whole army ran away; they shouted as they scrambled away. 22 When the three hundred men blew their trumpets, the Lord caused the Midianites to attack one another with their swords throughout the camp. The army fled to Beth Shittah on the way to Zererah. They went to the border of Abel Meholah near Tabbath. 23 Israelites from Naphtali, Asher, and Manasseh answered the call and chased the Midianites (Judges 7:19-23).

The author takes care to inform us of the exact timing of Gideon’s attack – “the beginning of the middle watch” (19:1). Why is it so important to know when the attack commenced – “at the beginning of the middle watch”? While the exact hour might be a matter of dispute,¹³ the author’s main interest seems to be that it is the beginning of the watch. That must have been an important detail. My friend and fellow-elder, Stan Schultz, informs me that the change of watch is the time when there is the greatest confusion. If an emergency occurs, who is now in charge? Is it the one going off his watch or the one coming on? What is clear in all this is that the “attack” (if you dare call a 300-man light and sound show an attack) took place at just the perfect time, God’s time. Gideon’s descent to the Midianite camp perfectly synchronized with God’s schedule.

The attack commenced with the blowing of the trumpets – all 300 of them. Now that would have been some wakeup call! Looking out beyond their campfires into the darkness, the sentries would have seen nothing. Then, suddenly, 300 torches would have appeared all around the camp. There was only one conclusion the Midianites could reach: “We’re surrounded!” And indeed, they were surrounded. But what they could not see is that there was no great army standing behind the torch-bearers, ready to attack. In a combination of divinely-enhanced fear and human panic, the Midianites concluded that the enemy (whom they could not see) was among them, and so they began wildly thrusting their swords.

Now while this was happening, the 300 Israelite horn blowers remained stationary, fixed in their surrounding circle. They did not advance or retreat, but stood back and allowed God to decimate the enemy. At some point in time, the terrified Midianites fled, leaving all their supplies, many of their weapons, and their wits behind. Taking up the abandoned weapons of the Midianites, the 300 Israelites now attacked from the rear, gradually picking off the stragglers as they fled for their lives. The Midianites fled to Beth Shittah as they made their way toward Zererah. They were more than eager to retreat to their own land, if possible. Eventually, those Israelite soldiers left behind now enter into the battle – Israelites from the tribes of Naphtali, Asher, and Manasseh joined in the battle, seeking to block the Midianites’ escape by crossing the Jordan.

Conclusion

There are so many lessons to be learned from our text. Let me conclude by calling attention to a few of them.

First, we are meant to conclude from our text that God is the hero of this story, not Gideon. God gave the Israelites the victory over the Midianites. God chose a “doubting Thomas” as Israel’s deliverer, a small fighting force, and the most unusual “weapons” one could imagine to defeat the Midianites and to deliver the Israelites. One cannot possibly come away from this story giving credit to Gideon or his troops for this victory. The victory is the Lord’s. The hero is not Gideon; it is God. So what does this mean? It means that God should get the glory. Let us, even now, give glory to God for what He did so long ago.

Second, God’s salvation does not come to those who are strong, but to those who are weak. God’s salvation (deliverance) comes to men because they are sinners and desperately helpless to save themselves. That was true of the Israelites of old, when God brought salvation (deliverance) from their bondage. It was not because those who were needy did something great, thereby winning God’s favor; it was because God is gracious to those who cry out for His help.

This is still true today. Every man, woman, and child is a sinner, in bondage to sin and unable to save themselves. In His great mercy, God sent the Perfect Deliverer, Jesus Christ. He came to save those who were helpless and hopeless. Jesus bore the penalty we deserve, suffering in the sinner’s place on the cross of Calvary. And then by God’s power, He rose from the dead, offering salvation to all who acknowledge their sin and helplessness, and who trust in Christ alone. Jesus is a Deliverer vastly greater than Gideon. He trusted fully in His Father’s will and suffered the penalty of death for us. And in so doing, He glorified the Father. Just as Gideon was not intended to get the glory for the deliverance of his fellow-Israelites, but only God, so it is only God who should get the glory for our salvation, not us. Have you acknowledged your bondage to sin and your helpless state? Have you cried out to Jesus for the salvation He alone can give? If you have, give Him the glory He alone deserves.

Third, God is God alone, and there is no other god. This divine deliverance which we have considered in this lesson is a great victory which proclaimed the God of Israel to be the only true God – God alone. Baal was a powerless no-god, who could not even contend with a wimp like Gideon. He could not give prosperity or peace. While Baal was good only for the dumpster, and the Asherah pole was good only for firewood, the God of Israel is to be praised as the all-powerful Deliverer of His people from the mighty Midianites. What a lesson this was meant to be for the Israelites of old, who were tempted to turn to other gods for prosperity and peace. God alone is the God of peace.

Fourth, this battle enabled the Israelites (particularly Gideon) to “experience God.” God left the Canaanites in the land so that the Israelites would have to go to war with them, and in so doing, they would experience His presence and power.¹⁴ I have to smile to myself as I think of Gideon’s protest earlier in chapter 6:

Gideon said to him, “Pardon me, but if the Lord is with us, why has such disaster overtaken us? Where are all his miraculous deeds our ancestors told us about? They said, ‘Did the Lord not bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to Midian” (Judges 6:13).

Did Gideon wish to see God at work in a miraculous way, delivering His people as He had done earlier when He delivered Israel from their bondage in Egypt? That could be arranged; indeed, it was arranged. God raised up none other than Gideon, a reluctant leader, just as Moses had been reluctant.¹⁵ He would orchestrate a battle that would shame the heathen gods and show His sovereignty over all. He would pit a helpless, weaponless nation against the largest, most powerful army of that day, and He would win the victory! Gideon got what he wanted; he experienced God, not from the 50 yard line seats, but on the field (as the quarterback!). Gideon came to know God by experiencing His salvation. That is the way we all must come to know Him, by experiencing His deliverance.

Fifth, God’s thoughts are not our thoughts; they are vastly higher and greater.

8 “Indeed, my plans are not like your plans,

and my deeds are not like your deeds,

9 for just as the sky is higher than the earth,

so my deeds are superior to your deeds

and my plans superior to your plans” (Isaiah 55:8-9).

We should observe in our text how God’s thinking differs so greatly from Gideon’s (and ours). Gideon’s thinking is, “The more (troops to fight against the Midianites), the better.” God’s thinking is exactly the opposite: the fewer the better. Gideon was fearful because his eyes were upon himself, and he was thinking in terms of his abilities (or the lack of them). God is fearless, because He is all-powerful. Gideon was worried about winning; God was concerned for His glory. And so Gideon would have wanted more warriors, while God wanted less.

I would suggest to you that we would do well to begin to think more like God and less like mere men. We would do well to place our entire trust in the One who is totally sovereign and sufficient. We would do well to be more concerned with His glory than what would appear to be our self-centered good.¹⁶ We would do well not to dwell on our weakness (though we need to recognize it for what it is) but to dwell more on His sufficiency. And as we come to know Him better and to think more like He does, we will be more courageous to pursue those things which bring Him glory (and our good as well).

Sixth, more is less, and less is more. We need to see that God is totally sufficient and is not dependent upon us. We need to realize that he does not need more effort (at doing good) on our part, but a realization that we have nothing good to bring to Him. He does not need more of our money, or even more of our prayers, to accomplish His purposes, determined in eternity past. We desperately need God. We need more of His grace, more of His power. We need Him, but He does not need us. We are dependent upon Him; He is not dependent upon us. Our involvement in His work is a privilege, not a necessity.

We are in the midst of a great recession, and things seem to be getting worse, not better. Our personal incomes may be decreasing, as well as our church budgets. How tempting it is to think that we can only do less because we have fewer human resources. And how wrong we would be to think this! With God, less is more. It was those who had much who were told to give it away.¹⁷ It was those who were poor whom Jesus called “blessed.”¹⁸

Do you think you have little to offer God? Good, because with God, less is more. The widow’s last drops of oil and grains of wheat were what God used to sustain Elijah, and her, and her son.¹⁹ The widow’s mite was viewed as being more than the surpluses of the rich.²⁰ The young lad’s five loaves and two fish were so little in the light of such a great need, but our Lord made it into a meal for thousands.²¹ With God, little is much, and less is more.

If you are one of those who feels that you have little to offer God – whether that be time, or spiritual gifting, or money – this message is not meant in any way to excuse you from giving to God from what you have, little as that may seem to you. Indeed, this message should be a great encouragement to you to give what little you have to God, knowing that with Him, less is more, and that God is glorified by making much of little. He does this to demonstrate His power and to promote His glory.

I would imagine that there are those listening to (or reading) this message who are giving nothing at all to our Lord. My encouragement to you would be for you to begin to give something, regardless of how small that might seem to be (whether that be money, time, or service). And there may be some who are giving less than they can because they assume that what little more they could give would not make any difference in the long run. God delights to make much of little. Do not deprive yourself of the joy of watching God use the “little” you give to accomplish much.

We are in difficult times economically (and in many other ways) in our country. A number of people in our church have lost their jobs, and others have businesses that are hurting as well. Our church budget is currently lower than we have seen for a long time. I wonder if God isn’t reducing our resources, just as He reduced the number of warriors to send into battle with Gideon, so that He might accomplish far more than we would ever ask or think,²² and so that He would be glorified as the God who makes much of little. With God, less is more, and for this we should be encouraged.

---

¹ Copyright © 2009 by Robert L. Deffinbaugh. This is the edited manuscript of Lesson 8 in the series, The Dark Days of Israel’s Judges, prepared by Robert L. Deffinbaugh on October 4, 2009. Anyone is at liberty to use this lesson for educational purposes only, with or without credit.

² Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the NET Bible. The NEW ENGLISH TRANSLATION, also known as THE NET BIBLE, is a completely new translation of the Bible, not a revision or an update of a previous English version. It was completed by more than twenty biblical scholars who worked directly from the best currently available Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts. The translation project originally started as an attempt to provide an electronic version of a modern translation for electronic distribution over the Internet and on CD (compact disk). Anyone anywhere in the world with an Internet connection will be able to use and print out the NET Bible without cost for personal study. In addition, anyone who wants to share the Bible with others can print unlimited copies and give them away free to others. It is available on the Internet at: www.netbible.org.

3 We know from Judges 8:10 that 120,000 eastern alliance soldiers were killed in battle and that 15,000 soldiers remained.

4 I am reminded here of the promise of James 1:5.

5 1 Corinthians 1:26—2:5; 2 Corinthians 12:1-10.

6 Deuteronomy 7:17-24.

7 Those sent on their way – to their own place (literally) – were either sent home, or they were instructed to return to their tents, waiting for the time when they would once again be summoned for battle (7:23-24).

8 Dale Ralph Davis, Such a Great Salvation: Expositions of the Book of Judges (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1990), pp. 103-105.

9 Also the KJV, NKJV, ESV.

10 It would be interesting to know why God specified Purah as the one to accompany Gideon. God may have known that he alone had the faith to accompany Gideon into the jaws of the lion.

11 See Joshua 2:10-11.

12 A simple “Praise the Lord!” is not sufficient here. Gideon prostrated himself in worship.

13 While the timing is clear to the author, and no doubt to the early readers, the scholars alternate between 10:00 P.M. and midnight.

14 See Judges 2:20—3:4.

15 See Exodus 3 and 4.

16 See 1 Corinthians 10:31.

17 See Luke 18:18-24.

18 See Luke 6:20, also Matthew 5:3ff.

19 1 Kings 17:8-16.

20 Mark 12:41-44.

21 Matthew 14:15-21.

22 See Ephesians 3:20-21; 1 Corinthians 2:9.

23 Israelites from Naphtali, Asher, and Manasseh answered the call and chased the Midianites.

24 Now Gideon sent messengers throughout the Ephraimite hill country who announced, “Go down and head off the Midianites. Take control of the fords of the streams all the way to Beth Barah and the Jordan River.” When all the Ephraimites had assembled, they took control of the fords all the way to Beth Barah and the Jordan River. 25 They captured the two Midianite generals, Oreb and Zeeb. They executed Oreb on the rock of Oreb and Zeeb in the winepress of Zeeb. They chased the Midianites and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon, who was now on the other side of the Jordan River.

1 The Ephraimites said to him, “Why have you done such a thing to us? You did not summon us when you went to fight the Midianites!” They argued vehemently with him. 2 He said to them, “Now what have I accomplished compared to you? Even Ephraim’s leftover grapes are better quality than Abiezer’s harvest! 3 It was to you that God handed over the Midianite generals, Oreb and Zeeb! What did I accomplish to rival that?” When he said this, they calmed down.

4 Now Gideon and his three hundred men had crossed over the Jordan River, and even though they were exhausted, they were still chasing the Midianites. 5 He said to the men of Succoth, “Give some loaves of bread to the men who are following me, because they are exhausted. I am chasing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.” 6 The officials of Succoth said, “You have not yet overpowered Zebah and Zalmunna. So why should we give bread to your army?” 7 Gideon said, “Since you will not help, after the Lord hands Zebah and Zalmunna over to me, I will thresh your skin with desert thorns and briers.” 8 He went up from there to Penuel and made the same request. The men of Penuel responded the same way the men of Succoth had. 9 He also threatened the men of Penuel, warning, “When I return victoriously, I will tear down this tower.”

10 Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with their armies. There were about fifteen thousand survivors from the army of the eastern peoples; a hundred and twenty thousand sword-wielding soldiers had been killed. 11 Gideon went up the road of the nomads east of Nobah and Jogbehah and ambushed the surprised army. 12 When Zebah and Zalmunna ran away, Gideon chased them and captured the two Midianite kings, Zebah and Zalmunna. He had surprised their entire army.

13 Gideon son of Joash returned from the battle by the pass of Heres. 14 He captured a young man from Succoth and interrogated him. The young man wrote down for him the names of Succoth’s officials and city leaders – seventy-seven men in all. 15 He approached the men of Succoth and said, “Look what I have! Zebah and Zalmunna! You insulted me, saying, ‘You have not yet overpowered Zebah and Zalmunna. So why should we give bread to your exhausted men?’” 16 He seized the leaders of the city, along with some desert thorns and briers; he then “threshed” the men of Succoth with them. 17 He also tore down the tower of Penuel and executed the city’s men.

18 He said to Zebah and Zalmunna, “Describe for me the men you killed at Tabor.” They said, “They were like you. Each one looked like a king’s son.” 19 He said, “They were my brothers, the sons of my mother. I swear, as surely as the Lord is alive, if you had let them live, I would not kill you.” 20 He ordered Jether his firstborn son, “Come on! Kill them!” But Jether was too afraid to draw his sword, because he was still young. 21 Zebah and Zalmunna said to Gideon, “Come on, you strike us, for a man is judged by his strength.” So Gideon killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and he took the crescent-shaped ornaments which were on the necks of their camels.

22 The men of Israel said to Gideon, “Rule over us – you, your son, and your grandson. For you have delivered us from Midian’s power.” 23 Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you. The Lord will rule over you.” 24 Gideon continued, “I would like to make one request. Each of you give me an earring from the plunder you have taken.” (The Midianites had gold earrings because they were Ishmaelites.) 25 They said, “We are happy to give you earrings.” So they spread out a garment, and each one threw an earring from his plunder onto it. 26 The total weight of the gold earrings he requested came to seventeen hundred gold shekels. This was in addition to the crescent-shaped ornaments, jewelry, purple clothing worn by the Midianite kings, and the necklaces on the camels. 27 Gideon used all this to make an ephod, which he put in his hometown of Ophrah. All the Israelites prostituted themselves to it by worshiping it there. It became a snare to Gideon and his family.

28 The Israelites humiliated Midian; the Midianites’ fighting spirit was broken. The land had rest for forty years during Gideon’s time. 29 Then Jerub-Baal son of Joash went home and settled down. 30 Gideon fathered seventy sons through his many wives. 31 His concubine, who lived in Shechem, also gave him a son, whom he named Abimelech. 32 Gideon son of Joash died at a very old age and was buried in the tomb of his father Joash located in Ophrah of the Abiezrites (Judges 7:23-8:32).²

Introduction

A couple of years ago my wife and I began to smell something unpleasant in the vicinity of our family playroom – a small room stacked with toys through which one must pass to enter or exit the house from the back door. We looked around, but did not find anything suspicious (although in a playroom for grandchildren, there are lots of possibilities). As time passed, the smell became stronger and stronger, not only in intensity but in plain old-fashioned foulness. Something had to be done. Searching did not seem to produce the culprit, until one day it occurred to me to look in the “play refrigerator,” one of several toy kitchen appliances. When I opened the door, I got a full dose of that foul smell. There was only one thing inside, a cup of milk that had been there for at least two weeks. Trust me, it was ripe!

Reading the story of Gideon reminds me of our experience with that foul smelling glass of milk hidden away in a play refrigerator. Initially, everything appeared to be going great. God had worked in Gideon’s life so that he secretly destroyed his father’s Baal altar and the Asherah pole that accompanied it, building in its place an altar to Israel’s God and sacrificing a bull as an offering, with wood supplied by the Asherah pole. In so doing, Gideon expressed faith in God while mocking the Canaanite gods he and his family had been worshipping.

It took a good bit of convincing for Gideon to believe that God would actually use him to deliver the Israelites from their oppression by the Midianites – a two-stage test by means of Gideon’s fleece, and confirmation that came from overhearing the conversation of two Midianite warriors. When the Spirit of the LORD came upon Gideon, he blew the trumpet, calling for his fellow-Israelites to assemble for war with the Midianites. God reduced this army of 32,000 to a mere 300 unarmed men because He wanted to make it clear that He had accomplished Israel’s deliverance just as He had promised. In the battle, the Midianites turned on themselves, so that they were killed by “friendly fire” as it were. The Midianites turned tail and ran for home, with Gideon and his 300 men in hot pursuit.

This is the point at which our text takes up the account, and it is also the point at which something begins to smell foul. In the closing verses of chapter 7, Gideon calls for help from several Israelite tribes. So far as we are told, the only result is the capture and execution of two Midianite generals and a potentially explosive argument between the tribe of Ephraim and Gideon. “Why,” I had to ask, “was it necessary for Gideon to summon his fellow Israelites to help him when the battle was nearly over, and when God had sent nearly all of those who had assembled earlier to their tents (or home)?”

Gideon and his 300 weary soldiers continue to pursue what is left (15,000 men) of the eastern coalition (originally 135,000 men³) deep into enemy territory. In the course of his pursuit, he passes through two Israelite towns, Succoth and Penuel.⁴ When asked for bread, the leaders of these towns refuse to assist Gideon in this way, fearing that Gideon will not be victorious, and thus bringing the retaliation of the Midianites. Gideon continues his pursuit, but threatens to punish the men of these cities for their lack of support when he returns victorious over the Midianites. And so he does return, at which time he deals harshly with his fellow-Israelites. He gives the leaders of Succoth a beating they won’t forget, and he tears down the tower at Penuel, killing the men of the city. This, too, has a smell; indeed, it has a stronger smell than Gideon’s call for help from his fellow Israelites.

Like finding that cup of milk in the play refrigerator, we discover a most surprising revelation when we come to Gideon’s dealings with the two Midianite kings, Zebah and Zalmunna. We’ll see what this surprise revelation is when we come to this part of the account later in the message.

Lest anyone be inclined to think that the story of Gideon will end with a “happily ever after,” we need only read about the “ephod” which Gideon made and then placed in his home town of Ophrah, which the Israelites came to worship. Here is a smell so strong no one can ignore or deny it. Something has gone terribly wrong with Gideon, and it is our task to discover what that was. So let us look to God’s Word and to His Spirit to teach us important truths from this disturbing text.

“Help” arrives, but does it Help?

Judges 7:23-8:3

23 Israelites from Naphtali, Asher, and Manasseh answered the call and chased the Midianites. 24 Now Gideon sent messengers throughout the Ephraimite hill country who announced, “Go down and head off the Midianites. Take control of the fords of the streams all the way to Beth Barah and the Jordan River.” When all the Ephraimites had assembled, they took control of the fords all the way to Beth Barah and the Jordan River. 25 They captured the two Midianite generals, Oreb and Zeeb. They executed Oreb on the rock of Oreb and Zeeb in the winepress of Zeeb. They chased the Midianites and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon, who was now on the other side of the Jordan River.

1 The Ephraimites said to him, “Why have you done such a thing to us? You did not summon us when you went to fight the Midianites!” They argued vehemently with him. 2 He said to them, “Now what have I accomplished compared to you? Even Ephraim’s leftover grapes are better quality than Abiezer’s harvest! 3 It was to you that God handed over the Midianite generals, Oreb and Zeeb! What did I accomplish to rival that?” When he said this, they calmed down (Judges 7:23—8:3).

As I mentioned earlier, one has to wonder why Gideon called for help from his fellow Israelites. The major battle has been fought and won by God, thus delivering His people from Midianite oppression. What follows this victory is merely a “mop up” operation. The vast majority of those who volunteered for service in chapter 6 (verses 34-35) were sent back and did not engage in the main battle (7:1-8). We should also note that whatever the reason for the first general call to war, it was prompted by the Spirit of the LORD who came upon Gideon (6:34). There is no indication in chapter 7 that God ordered Gideon to summon other Israelite tribes (such as Ephraim) to battle. Why are extra Israelite forces needed now?

I believe that it would not have been difficult for Gideon to rationalize his decision to call for assistance. He might appeal to the example set by Deborah and Barak (as is evident in chapters 4 and 5), whose example and exhortation prompted Israelites from different tribes to join in their battle for freedom from their Canaanite oppressors. Gideon might also argue that since the major battle has already been fought and won, this gathering of additional forces is merely for “cleanup” purposes. Furthermore, it appeared that the 15,000 Midianite troops who remained were getting away. If volunteers could block the remnant of the eastern coalition from crossing the Jordan and returning home, they could be killed. The Ephraimites in particular were within reach of the Jordan River. They, better than others, could stop the retreat of the enemy.

But in the absence of a specific command from the LORD (or compulsion of the Spirit) to engage in the battle, one must ask why the guiding principle God set down earlier would not apply here:

2 The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many men for me to hand Midian over to you. Israel might brag, ‘Our own strength has delivered us.’ 3 Now, announce to the men, ‘Whoever is shaking with fear may turn around and leave Mount Gilead.’” Twenty-two thousand men went home; ten thousand remained (Judges 7:2-3).

Added to this is the argument between Ephraim and Gideon recorded for us in the first three verses of chapter 8. So far as our author informs us, Ephraim’s participation contributed little more than the heads of two Midianite generals (or commanders). The Ephraimite blockade may have prevented some of the eastern coalition from crossing the Jordan and making their way home. More than anything, it became a source of contention between Ephraim and Gideon, a contention which could (as it later did) result in war between these Israelites.

What is important to note is the central issue of Gideon’s argument with Ephraim: glory. The dispute is really over the question, “Who gets the glory for the defeat of the Midianites; Ephraim or Gideon (and his clan, the Abiezrites)?” It is really not surprising to find Ephraim here as a glory seeker, because it will happen again in chapter 12:

1 The Ephraimites assembled and crossed over to Zaphon. They said to Jephthah, “Why did you go and fight with the Ammonites without asking us to go with you? We will burn your house down right over you!” 2 Jephthah said to them, “My people and I were entangled in controversy with the Ammonites. I asked for your help, but you did not deliver me from their power. 3 When I saw that you were not going to help, I risked my life and advanced against the Ammonites, and the Lord handed them over to me. Why have you come up to fight with me today?” (Judges 12:1-3)

In chapter 12, Jephthah called to the Ephraimites for help, and they failed to come and so Jephthah had to go to battle on his own. And yet they are angry because Jephthah had the honor of being victorious over the Ammonites. The men of Ephraim end up doing battle, not with the Ammonites, but with Jephthah and his forces. The Ephraimites don’t deserve any glory, and yet they are angry when Jephthah wins without them to share in the glory.

Here in our text, as in chapter 12, what Ephraim needs is a rebuke. Jephthah gave him that and more in chapter 12, but Gideon responds in a disappointing way. Some commentators commend Gideon for giving Ephraim a “soft” answer (as we find in Proverbs 15:1), but this is not a time for a soft answer. Gideon’s answer is too soft; he is talking like a politician nearing an election. He is working too hard to appease Ephraim, when a rebuke is what is required. In my opinion, his answer should have gone something like this:

“Ephraim, you need to understand that it was the Spirit of the LORD that prompted me to blow the trumpet, summoning other Israelite tribes to battle. Now I am not at fault because either you did not respond to that call or God did not include you in the call. And besides this, even though many came to join the battle, God reduced the size of my army from 32,000 Israelites to 300. He did this because He did not want you or me – or anyone else for that matter – to take credit for the victory He would win for us. The glory belongs to God alone, so you need to see that all of this talk about glory is completely out of order. If you have a grievance, you’d better take that up with God, and I’d recommend a great deal of humility on your part if you do.”

Gideon’s War with Two Cities and Two Kings

Judges 8:4-21

4 Now Gideon and his three hundred men had crossed over the Jordan River, and even though they were exhausted, they were still chasing the Midianites. 5 He said to the men of Succoth, “Give some loaves of bread to the men who are following me, because they are exhausted. I am chasing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.” 6 The officials of Succoth said, “You have not yet overpowered Zebah and Zalmunna. So why should we give bread to your army?” 7 Gideon said, “Since you will not help, after the Lord hands Zebah and Zalmunna over to me, I will thresh your skin with desert thorns and briers.” 8 He went up from there to Penuel and made the same request. The men of Penuel responded the same way the men of Succoth had. 9 He also threatened the men of Penuel, warning, “When I return victoriously, I will tear down this tower.”

10 Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with their armies. There were about fifteen thousand survivors from the army of the eastern peoples; a hundred and twenty thousand sword-wielding soldiers had been killed. 11 Gideon went up the road of the nomads east of Nobah and Jogbehah and ambushed the surprised army. 12 When Zebah and Zalmunna ran away, Gideon chased them and captured the two Midianite kings, Zebah and Zalmunna. He had surprised their entire army.

13 Gideon son of Joash returned from the battle by the pass of Heres. 14 He captured a young man from Succoth and interrogated him. The young man wrote down for him the names of Succoth’s officials and city leaders – seventy-seven men in all. 15 He approached the men of Succoth and said, “Look what I have! Zebah and Zalmunna! You insulted me, saying, ‘You have not yet overpowered Zebah and Zalmunna. So why should we give bread to your exhausted men?’” 16 He seized the leaders of the city, along with some desert thorns and briers; he then “threshed” the men of Succoth with them. 17 He also tore down the tower of Penuel and executed the city’s men.

18 He said to Zebah and Zalmunna, “Describe for me the men you killed at Tabor.” They said, “They were like you. Each one looked like a king’s son.” 19 He said, “They were my brothers, the sons of my mother. I swear, as surely as the Lord is alive, if you had let them live, I would not kill you.” 20 He ordered Jether his firstborn son, “Come on! Kill them!” But Jether was too afraid to draw his sword, because he was still young. 21 Zebah and Zalmunna said to Gideon, “Come on, you strike us, for a man is judged by his strength.” So Gideon killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and he took the crescent-shaped ornaments which were on the necks of their camels (Judges 8:4-21).

The incident with the Ephraimites is a temporary interruption in the author’s account of Gideon’s ongoing pursuit of the Midianites and their eastern allies. In verse 4, we return once again to Gideon and his 300 men⁵ in hot pursuit of the remaining 15,000 enemy warriors who are making a hasty retreat to their own territory. Gideon and his men are weary and hungry. Because they were intent on overtaking the Midianite warriors, they did not stop to rest or to eat a good meal. And now, it would seem, they are tired and entirely out of provisions. Here, someone must have thought, was a time for the Israelites living in the vicinity to come to their aid.

Gideon was in for a big disappointment if he believed that the Israelites in the Transjordan towns of Succoth and Penuel were going to be of help. Gideon’s request for food was first denied by the leaders of Succoth and then by the people of Penuel. Whether or not the Israelites of Succoth and Penuel meant their response as an insult, Gideon certainly took it that way. But taking their words at face value, we know why the men of these two cities responded as they did: they were afraid that Gideon could not win, and thus by helping Gideon, they would side with him and become the first recipients of any Midianite retaliation. This greatly angered Gideon who promised to return a victor, and when he did, he promised to punish the men of these cities for mocking him and refusing to give him food. Notice that there is only one passing reference to God in verse 7; other than this, it is a very secular event.

It is especially important to note the wording of verse 9:

So he spoke also to the men of Penuel, saying, "When I return safely, I will tear down this tower" (NAU, emphasis mine).

He also threatened the men of Penuel, warning, "When I return victoriously, I will tear down this tower" (NET Bible, emphasis mine).

So he said to the men of Peniel, "When I return in triumph, I will tear down this tower" (NIV, emphasis mine).

He also told the men of Penuel, "When I return in peace, I will tear down this tower!" (CSB, emphasis mine; so also ESV, KJV, NKJV)

The rendering “in peace” is the most literal translation and also the best choice of words in my opinion. It is true that returning “in peace” also implies “victory” or “triumph,” but the Scriptures make a clear distinction between events occurring “in peace” and those happening “in a time of war.” Consider this crucial distinction as it pertains to the death of Abner:

20 When Abner, accompanied by twenty men, came to David in Hebron, David prepared a banquet for Abner and the men who were with him. 21 Abner said to David, “Let me leave so that I may go and gather all Israel to my lord the king so that they may make an agreement with you. Then you will rule over all that you desire.” So David sent Abner away, and he left in peace. 22 Now David’s soldiers and Joab were coming back from a raid, bringing a great deal of plunder with them. Abner was no longer with David in Hebron, for David had sent him away and he had left in peace. 23 When Joab and all the army that was with him arrived, Joab was told: “Abner the son of Ner came to the king; he sent him away, and he left in peace!” (2 Samuel 3:20-23, emphasis mine)

So Joab and his brother Abishai killed Abner, because he had killed their brother Asahel in Gibeon during the battle (2 Samuel 3:30, emphasis mine).

To remind you of the background of the Scriptures cited here, some of David’s men were engaged in battle with some of Saul’s son’s (Ishbosheth’s) forces, led by Abner. Abner was being pursued by Asahel, the brother of Joab and Abishai. Abner tried to persuade Asahel to turn back, but he would not, and so Abner killed him. Remember that this killing was during a battle, so it was not considered murder.

In Joab’s mind, family ties overruled the law, and thus he looked upon the death of his brother Asahel as murder. And so we find that he resolved to be his dead brother’s avenger. Somewhere, somehow, he would kill Abner. The opportunity came when Abner was invited to Hebron to meet with David. Three times the author informs the reader that Abner came “in peace.” This was because Abner came for the purpose of negotiating the reunification of the 12 Israelite tribes. This was not a time of war; indeed, Abner was assured of David’s protection. When Joab killed Abner, it was not in war, but in a time of peace. Thus, it was murder, and David made it clear that he had no part in it.

Do you see the relevance of this incident to Gideon’s actions in our text? This will become clear as we continue to walk through this narrative. Gideon presses on in his pursuit of the Midianite warriors, taking what appears to be a more “off the main road” route. Coming upon the Midianites in this manner, he caught them unaware, and they were not prepared for battle. The two kings, Zebah and Zalmunna, fled in the confusion, but Gideon pursued and captured them.

Gideon now returns to Succoth and Penuel a different way. It appears that this was the more well-known and well-traveled route to the two Israelite cities. As promised, Gideon punished the men of both cities. Before he reached Succoth, Gideon captured a young man from the city and “persuaded” him to write down the names of all 77 of the city’s leaders. Gideon then entered the city, gathered the 77 leaders and punished them by means of a painful threshing with desert thorns and briars. This was precisely what he had threatened he would do to the men of Succoth. But when Gideon returned to Penuel, his retaliation was even more severe than what he had threatened. Gideon tore down the tower of Penuel and killed the men of the city.⁶ The question which the author surely wants us to ask is this: Was Gideon dealing more harshly with his fellow Israelites than he should have? Put differently, did Gideon rightly treat his fellow-Israelites as though they were his enemies?

For me, the wonder of it all is the realization that only two chapters (and just a few days) earlier Gideon was the one filled with fear, who needed confirmation that God would deliver Israel from the Midianites through him. So why is he now so harsh in his dealings with the men of Succoth and Penuel? Why does he have no compassion for those who have little faith in his ability to save Israel? These folks did not receive all the confirmation from God that Gideon did. All they see is 300 tired and hungry warriors in pursuit of 15,000 Midianites. What has changed Gideon into such a hostile and violent man?

Having dealt harshly with the men of Succoth and Penuel, our author now focuses our attention on the two Midianite kings – Zebah and Zalmunna – who sought to escape from the hand of Gideon but were captured deep in their own territory. Gideon now interrogates these two kings, asking a question that would never have occurred to the reader, coming completely “out of the blue”: “Describe for me the men you killed at Tabor” (8:18a)? Where did this come from? And if the question catches the reader entirely off guard, the answer is even more amazing: “They said, ‘They were like you. Each one looked like a king’s son’” (8:18b). And now for the biggest shock of all: Gideon declares that the men whom they killed at Tabor, the men who looked like the sons of a king, were actually his brothers – not his fellow-Israelites mind you, but his blood brothers – the sons of his mother (8:19).

Here is something that is entirely new and unexpected by the reader, something the author has withheld until this moment, late in the account. At some point in the not-too-distant past,⁷ these Midianite kings had been responsible for the execution of several men who appeared to them to be of royal blood. Zebah and Zalmunna recognized the resemblance (if not in looks, at least in their demeanor) between the men they killed and Gideon. Gideon now removes any doubt by revealing that the princely men who were killed were indeed his blood brothers, the sons of his mother.

This revelation changes the way that I now read Gideon’s response to the Angel of the LORD in chapter 6:

Gideon said to him, “But Lord, how can I deliver Israel? Just look! My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my family” (Judges 6:15).

I do not doubt Gideon’s statement about being the youngest in his family. It appears that Gideon’s older brothers went off to fight the Midianites at Mount Tabor and were killed. Being the youngest, Gideon (somewhat like David in 1 Samuel 17:12-16) remained behind and did not engage the Midianites in battle. It is possible that he (like David) went to visit his brothers on the battlefront. He might even have witnessed their death. Regardless of these minor details, we can safely assume that Gideon suspected (if he did not know for a fact) that these two kings were responsible for the death of his brothers.

This new revelation to the reader explains a great deal. Even though their death was “in war,” he purposed to avenge his brothers’ deaths. This might explain why he called in men from other tribes, including Ephraim, to prevent their escape across the Jordan. It could even explain why he sought to bolster the egos of the Ephraimites by minimizing God’s role in Israel’s recent victory and by overstating the role they played in all these things. It would explain why Gideon was intent upon pursuing these kings deep into their own territory. Likewise, it would explain why Gideon was so harsh with his fellow Israelites living in Succoth and Penuel – they were hindering him from catching up with those he intended to kill. It may also explain why Gideon indicated to these kings that, had they allowed his brothers to live, he would have let them live. If this is a “family feud,” where vengeance is sought, then we can understand why Gideon would attempt to involve his young (and hardly ready for war) son, by instructing him to kill these two kings. Finally, it helps us to understand why the Israelites offered to make Gideon their king in the verses we are about to consider.

A Royal Offer – But is it Declined?

Judges 8:22-32

22 The men of Israel said to Gideon, “Rule over us – you, your son, and your grandson. For you have delivered us from Midian’s power.” 23 Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you. The Lord will rule over you.” 24 Gideon continued, “I would like to make one request. Each of you give me an earring from the plunder you have taken.” (The Midianites had gold earrings because they were Ishmaelites.) 25 They said, “We are happy to give you earrings.” So they spread out a garment, and each one threw an earring from his plunder onto it. 26 The total weight of the gold earrings he requested came to seventeen hundred gold shekels. This was in addition to the crescent-shaped ornaments, jewelry, purple clothing worn by the Midianite kings, and the necklaces on the camels. 27 Gideon used all this to make an ephod, which he put in his hometown of Ophrah. All the Israelites prostituted themselves to it by worshiping it there. It became a snare to Gideon and his family. 28 The Israelites humiliated Midian; the Midianites’ fighting spirit was broken. The land had rest for forty years during Gideon’s time. 29 Then Jerub-Baal son of Joash went home and settled down. 30 Gideon fathered seventy sons through his many wives. 31 His concubine, who lived in Shechem, also gave him a son, whom he named Abimelech. 32 Gideon son of Joash died at a very old age and was buried in the tomb of his father Joash located in Ophrah of the Abiezrites (Judges 8:22-32).

We are not told exactly when it was that the men of Israel asked Gideon to be their king, but it would seem that it was not long after the victory over the Midianites. What they are really proposing is that Gideon accept the position of being their king and that his ruling over Israel would result in a dynasty. This would assure the Israelites of a strong military leader as well as a continual line of succession. One cannot read this request without thinking ahead to 1 Samuel 8, where the Israelites demanded that Samuel appoint a king for them, a man who would go before them into battle.

4 So all the elders of Israel gathered together and approached Samuel at Ramah. 5 They said to him, “Look, you are old, and your sons don’t follow your ways. So now appoint over us a king to lead us, just like all the other nations have.” 6 But this request displeased Samuel, for they said, “Give us a king to lead us.” So Samuel prayed to the Lord. 7 The Lord said to Samuel, “Do everything the people request of you. For it is not you that they have rejected, but it is me that they have rejected as their king. 8 Just as they have done from the day that I brought them up from Egypt until this very day, they have rejected me and have served other gods. This is what they are also doing to you.” . . . 19 But the people refused to heed Samuel’s warning. Instead they said, “No! There will be a king over us! 20 We will be like all the other nations. Our king will judge us and lead us and fight our battles” (1 Samuel 8:4-8, 19-20, emphasis mine).

On the surface, it would appear that Gideon (rightly) rejected this offer. He seems to do this in very plain words: “I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you. The Lord will rule over you” (Judges 8:23). “Good for Gideon,” we think. And so we continue to think of him as a hero, looking at his recent conduct as a momentary lapse in conduct and character. But in just a moment (just a couple of verses, actually), our optimism regarding Gideon will go up in flames when we read that he created an ephod that he then set up in his home town as an object of worship. No, something bad happened to Gideon after the miraculous victory God achieved using Gideon and his 300 men. It is my contention that this negative change in Gideon persisted for the rest of his life, for nearly forty years (8:28).

Along with others,⁸ it seems to me that Gideon’s refusal to be Israel’s king is the right answer theologically speaking, but that in reality he hypocritically lived a king’s life. Consider the following observations from the text.

First, the two kings – Zebah and Zalmunna – told Gideon that the men they killed on Mount Tabor were men who behaved liked royalty (8:18). Gideon’s brothers acted like the sons of a king. Did these men have royal blood? If so, then so did Gideon. And whether or not they had royal blood, they acted as though they were royalty. Thus, the Midianite kings concluded that Gideon, like his brothers, was acting like a king.

Second, for all intents and purposes, Gideon had a harem. The average Israelite did not have “many wives” and “seventy sons,” along with a concubine (8:30-31). Even David did not rival Gideon in this regard.

Third, Gideon virtually collected a “tax” when he accepted the “gift” from his soldiers in verses 24-27. This is kingly business.

Fourth, Gideon’s establishment of a new object of worship in his home town is something that a king could do. Later in Israel’s history, Jeroboam will establish a counterfeit religion when Israel becomes a divided kingdom.⁹ Gideon’s “ephod” becomes an idol that the Israelites worship. Ironically, this ephod is set up in Gideon’s home town of Ophrah, the very place where Gideon had torn down the altar of Baal and the sacred Asherah pole.

I should add that there is a great deal of discussion among students of the Bible as to just what this “ephod” looked like. We know from Scripture that in Exodus 28, God gave Moses the plans for the “ephod” which the high priest would wear. It was made of solid gold, royal cloth, and precious stones,¹⁰and was somehow used to discern the will of God.¹¹ Later on in the Book of Judges, Micah will hire a Levite to be the family “priest,” and the religion he facilitates involves graven images, idols, and an ephod.¹² One cannot help but wonder how much like Gideon’s “ephod” the “ephod” of Micah was.

What irony I find in all of Gideon’s “ephod” business. It would seem to me that the pagan “ephods” of Gideon and Micah would not only be objects of worship, but means of discerning the will of God (or, more likely, the gods). Isn’t it ironic that Gideon, the man who needed so much instruction and confirmation regarding God’s will for him, would make an ephod for others to worship so that they could know the will of the gods? Does Gideon still feel he needs some “crutch” so that he can be sure of the divine will, especially if that “will” is not the will of the LORD?

Fifth, while Gideon appears to have declined to be Israel’s king, this seems to be contradicted by his choice of a name for one of his sons. One of Gideon’s sons (whom we shall meet in chapter 9) is “Abimelech.” This name is a compound word, made up of the word “abi” which means “my father,” and “melek” which means “king.” And so the name “Abimelech” means “my father is king.” Now isn’t it a strange thing for Gideon to name his son “my father is king” if he has declined this title and office?

It is not just Abimelech who desired to rule over Israel. It seems to be the assumption of all Israel that Gideon’s seventy sons would “rule” over them:

1 Now Abimelech son of Jerub-Baal went to Shechem to see his mother’s relatives. He said to them and to his mother’s entire extended family, 2 “Tell all the leaders of Shechem this: ‘Why would you want to have seventy men, all Jerub-Baal’s sons, ruling¹³ over you, when you can have just one ruler? Recall that I am your own flesh and blood.’” 3 His mother’s relatives spoke on his behalf to all the leaders of Shechem and reported his proposal. The leaders were drawn to Abimelech; they said, “He is our close relative.” 4 They paid him seventy silver shekels out of the temple of Baal-Berith. Abimelech then used the silver to hire some lawless, dangerous men as his followers. 5 He went to his father’s home in Ophrah and murdered his half-brothers, the seventy legitimate sons of Jerub-Baal, on one stone. Only Jotham, Jerub-Baal’s youngest son, escaped, because he hid. 6 All the leaders of Shechem and Beth Millo assembled and then went and made Abimelech king by the oak near the pillar in Shechem (Judges 9:1-6, emphasis mine).

My point here is that not only all of Gideon’s sons expected to rule over Israel, but all Israel expected this as well. Gideon did not do a very good job of insuring that his descendants would not rule over Israel.

All of this leads me to conclude that Gideon has had a major moral and spiritual meltdown as a result of the victory God gave Gideon and his 300 men. D.I. Block puts it this way:

“Since Gideon launched his pursuit of Zebah and Zalmunna in 8:4, his behavior has followed the typical pattern of oriental kings: (1) he treated his subjects/countrymen ruthlessly (vv. 5-9, 12-17); (2) his actions were driven by a personal agenda rather than theological or national ideals; (3) he reacted to the death of his brothers as if they were royal assassinations requiring blood vengeance; (4) he made ridiculous demands on his people (v. 20); (5) he claimed for himself the symbols of royalty taken from the enemy. As already suggested, coming after this series of events, it appears the Israelite offer of kingship to Gideon simply seeks to formalize de jure what is already de facto.”¹⁴

Citing L.R. Klein,¹⁵ Block¹⁶ summarizes,

“The coward has become confident; he directs far-flung mopping up operations which are effectively carried out. But the voice of the LORD is stilled, not to be heard for the balance of Gideon’s narrative. And the spirit of the LORD, which brought the courage to fight a far greater military force, seems to slip from Gideon’s shoulders in the process.”

Conclusion

As we reflect on our text and its implications, consider the following thoughts.

If “All’s well that ends well,” then all is not well with either Gideon or Israel. As I was thinking back over the life of Gideon, it occurred to me that Gideon started out like Moses and ended like Aaron. Moses began his ministry with a great deal of self-doubt. Even though God Himself spoke to Moses, indicating that he was the one to deliver the Israelites from their bondage, Moses took a great deal of convincing. So did Gideon. And yet when the story of Gideon ends, we read that he made an ephod that the Israelites worshipped. That sounds more like Aaron, who fashioned a golden calf¹⁷ for the Israelites to worship. How sad that Gideon would begin by tearing down the heathen altar of Baal in his home town of Ophrah only to set up another object of worship at the end of the account of his life and ministry.

Gideon reminds us how easy it is to stumble and to fall, and few there are who truly “finish well.” That is what makes me so sad when I read about Gideon – he did not finish well. And we should be warned when we realize that many of those who once did well did not finish well. This would include people like David, his son Solomon, and Hezekiah as just a few examples. It does not get easier and easier to live the Christian life as you get older; it gets harder. How important it is to recognize our weakness and to cling to our Lord throughout our lifetime, so that we may finish well.

Gideon illustrates the devastating consequences of fostering a spirit of bitterness and revenge. We can see in our text that Gideon’s obsession with vengeance prompted him to act rashly. It may well have been his desire for revenge that prompted Gideon to call in extra troops, when God had just reduced the number of warriors to assure that He received the glory for the victory He promised. Gideon’s desire for revenge might also have prompted him to deal harshly with his fellow-Israelites in Succoth and Penuel. It might even have caused him to pursue the Midianites deep into enemy territory. Gideon’s appetite for revenge was not beneficial, either to Gideon or to the nation Israel. We would do well to learn from Gideon’s experience to deal with our anger quickly and decisively.¹⁸ Organizations like the Peacemaker Ministries¹⁹ seek to help Christians do this.

How quickly and easily men are able and willing to take credit for what God has done. God picked a fearful man like Gideon and then reduced his warriors to 300 unarmed men so that it would be abundantly clear that the victory was the Lord’s. How well Gideon knew this as he went into battle, but after the major battle was won, there was almost no mention of God, and there was far too much emphasis on the glory of men. The heated interchange between Gideon and the Ephraimites is but one example of men wanting the glory which belongs only to God.

Christians (and particularly Christian leaders) need to recognize the dangers inherent in ministry that is carried out by means of the gifts and power of the Holy Spirit. Block says it well when he writes,

“Fourth, those who are called to leadership in the kingdom of God face constant temptation to exchange the divine agenda for personal ambition. Ironically, the more impressive one’s achievement for God, the greater the temptation. Having won deliverance for his people with a spectacular victory over the Midianites, Gideon began to act like it had been achieved with the ‘sword of Gideon’ rather than the ‘sword of the LORD’”²⁰ (emphasis mine).

Sometimes God finds it necessary to give us a “thorn in the flesh”²¹ to remind us of our weakness and of our need for His strength. Better that than the arrogance of assuming that some achievement was due to our inherent strengths. Christian leaders can point men to God and encourage them to serve, knowing that God gives strength to the weak. But we can also become puffed up by the success that was not ours in the first place.

If “less is more” then it may also be true that “more is less.” By “more,” I am thinking of more money, more status, or more success. The “more” God gave to Gideon, the less he felt that he needed God and the farther from dependence upon God he drifted. There have been times in my life (very few, in fact) when it appeared that there was a chance that I might be given “more.” It didn’t happen, and in reflecting on this, I’m grateful. I fear that I know myself well enough to realize that “more” would have affected me as it did Gideon. I have come to see that “more” can mean “more temptation and opportunity to drift from God.” God may withhold certain things (“more”) from me to prevent me from sinning against Him. (Many of the sins I don’t commit may be prevented by my lack of means to commit them.) Thank God for “less.”

We need good theology in order to rightly interpret history. I could not help but think of the contrast between the “Song of Deborah” in Judges 5 and this epitaph regarding Gideon in chapter 8. Barak, like Gideon, was reluctant to trust God to deliver Israel under his leadership. Likewise, both Barak and Gideon went to battle when victory was humanly impossible. God gave the victory to both men in a way that made it clear that the victory was His doing. But the outcome of these two battles was greatly different. In the case of Deborah and Barak, victory over Sisera and Hazor and their iron chariot-equipped army was followed up by Deborah’s song. In this song, the battle was seen from a divine point of view. God was praised for His victory over the enemy and for the fact that this greatly encouraged the Israelites to unite and join in the battle. Along the highways and byways of Israel, this song of praise to God was sung so that God was praised as the true hero, while recognition was also given to a humble woman (Jael) who used her position and the unlikely tools at her disposal to kill the captain of the enemy army. Deborah’s song kept people thinking rightly about the victory God had won. Her song helped the Israelites to view their experience theologically.

It is so sad to observe how different the outcome was of the battle of Gideon and his 300 unarmed men. Other Israelites joined in the battle, but it appears that they should not have been asked to do so, and some (at least the Ephraimites, if not all) joined in for the glory they might gain. Almost immediately after their victory over the Midianites, Gideon and his fellow Israelites began to revise history and to make Gideon the hero, inviting him to be their king from that moment on. The name of God is hardly mentioned after this, and Gideon will make an ephod which will become an object of worship. After he is gone, the nation will forsake God entirely for another God and another covenant.²²

Apart from God, men can fall so far, so fast, and not even realize it at the time. I was reminded of what the author says of Samson in chapter 16:

She [Delilah] said, “The Philistines are here, Samson!” He woke up and thought, “I will do as I did before and shake myself free.” But he did not realize that the Lord had left him (Judges 16:20, emphasis mine).

I wonder when the Spirit of the LORD left Gideon. It is hard to believe that He did not. The Spirit came upon Gideon powerfully in his weakness (6:34), but He seems to be long gone when Gideon feels and acts as though he is strong.

What happens to Gideon (and to many others in the Bible, and in history, and today) is something like what happens on the roller coaster at the State Fair of Texas. When everyone is safely strapped in, the cars are linked to a mechanism that slowly draws the cars to a high point, and this is followed by a heart-thumping rapid descent to be repeated several more times. It seemed to take forever to convince Gideon that he could trust God to deliver Israel under his leadership. But once Gideon acted in faith, a great victory was won. But this success made him feel strong and self-sufficient, which eventually becomes evident. As we read chapter 8, we are not quite sure what to think of Gideon’s decision to summon his fellow-Israelites to battle, or of his zeal to pursue the remnant of the eastern coalition deep into enemy territory, or of his severity in dealing with his fearful fellow-Israelites in Succoth and Penuel. But then we come to the end of the story, and to Gideon’s ephod, and suddenly it all begins to make sense. Gideon has been in a spiritual decline, and we hardly even knew it. I suspect that the same was true for Gideon.

Gideon will live for many more years, and Israel lived in peace for those forty years (8:28). But this is the last time we will be told that the Israelites lived in peace. As we read in chapter 2,²³ after the death of their deliverer, the Israelites went from bad to worse. Earlier in the Book of Judges, the Israelites were seduced to follow foreign gods by the Canaanites among whom they were living. But now it is Israel’s leader – Gideon – who makes an ephod that the Israelites come to worship.²⁴ After his death, it will only get worse. Now, corruption comes from inside Israel. Soon (chapter 9) oppression will come from within as well. But for the grace of God, Israel should not even exist.

---

¹ Copyright © 2009 by Robert L. Deffinbaugh. This is the edited manuscript of Lesson 9 in the series, The Dark Days of Israel’s Judges, prepared by Robert L. Deffinbaugh on October 11, 2009. Anyone is at liberty to use this lesson for educational purposes only, with or without credit.

² Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the NET Bible. The NEW ENGLISH TRANSLATION, also known as THE NET BIBLE, is a completely new translation of the Bible, not a revision or an update of a previous English version. It was completed by more than twenty biblical scholars who worked directly from the best currently available Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts. The translation project originally started as an attempt to provide an electronic version of a modern translation for electronic distribution over the Internet and on CD (compact disk). Anyone anywhere in the world with an Internet connection will be able to use and print out the NET Bible without cost for personal study. In addition, anyone who wants to share the Bible with others can print unlimited copies and give them away free to others. It is available on the Internet at: www.netbible.org.

3 We arrive at this number thanks to Judges 8:10. There, we are told that an enemy force of 15,000 remained and that 120,000 had been killed.

4 Some translations like the NIV render it “Peniel.”

5 I do find it interesting that after Ephraim’s strong complaint that Gideon has not allowed him to participate fully in his battle with the Midianites, we find only Gideon and his 300 men in pursuit. Where is Mr. Tough Guy (Ephraim) when he is needed? On his way back home? I’m not impressed.

6 It is difficult to tell whether Gideon killed the men of Penuel by destroying the tower, or whether he destroyed the tower and then focused his wrath on the men of the city. Either way, Gideon did more to these men than he threatened. Gideon’s anger and desire for revenge has gotten the best of him.

7 Though this may not have occurred in this particular attack, but perhaps took place during an earlier military campaign. For one thing, Mount Tabor, though not far away from the Hill of Moreh, is not specifically mentioned in our account. For another, if Gideon’s son is old enough to accompany his father in this pursuit, then it would seem that Gideon would have been old enough to go to war with his brothers (unless, of course, he – like those he sent home from the battle – was too fearful to fight).

^{8 See especially D.I. Block, Judges, Ruth (NAC 6; Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1999), pp. 296-301; K. Lawson Younger Jr., Judges and Ruth (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2002), pp. 203-210.}

9 See 1 Kings 12:25-33.

10 See Exodus 39:1-7.

11 See 1 Samuel 23:6-13; 30:7-9.

12 See Judges 17:1-13; 18:14-20.

13 The terms “ruling” and “ruler” are essentially the same word as we find in 8:22, where the men of Israel asked Gideon to “rule” over them.

14 D.I. Block, Judges, Ruth (NAC 6; Nashville: Broadman &Holman, 1999), p. 299.

15 L. R. Klein, The Triumph of Irony in the Book of Judges. JSOT Sup 68 (Sheffield: Almond Press, 1987), pp. 57-58).

16 Block, p. 284.

17 In both cases – the golden calf and the ephod – the materials that were used came from the enemy that God defeated.

18 See Romans 12:16-21; Ephesians 4:26. Granted, Gideon’s anger is toward the enemies of Israel, but we would do well to consider how God brought about justice in the case of the murder of Gideon’s sons in Judges 9.

19 http://www.peacemaker.net/site/c.aqKFLTOBIpH/b.958123/k.CB70/Home.htm

20 D. I. Block, Judges, Ruth, p. 308.

21 See 2 Corinthians 12:7.

22 See Judges 8:33.

23 Judges 2:19.

24 Judges 8:27.

33 After Gideon died, the Israelites again prostituted themselves to the Baals. They made Baal-Berith their god. 34 The Israelites did not remain true to the Lord their God, who had delivered them from all the enemies who lived around them. 35 They did not treat the family of Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) fairly in return for all the good he had done for Israel.

1 Now Abimelech son of Jerub-Baal went to Shechem to see his mother’s relatives. He said to them and to his mother’s entire extended family, 2 “Tell all the leaders of Shechem this: ‘Why would you want to have seventy men, all Jerub-Baal’s sons, ruling over you, when you can have just one ruler? Recall that I am your own flesh and blood.’” 3 His mother’s relatives spoke on his behalf to all the leaders of Shechem and reported his proposal. The leaders were drawn to Abimelech; they said, “He is our close relative.” 4 They paid him seventy silver shekels out of the temple of Baal-Berith. Abimelech then used the silver to hire some lawless, dangerous men as his followers. 5 He went to his father’s home in Ophrah and murdered his half-brothers, the seventy legitimate sons of Jerub-Baal, on one stone. Only Jotham, Jerub-Baal’s youngest son, escaped, because he hid. 6 All the leaders of Shechem and Beth Millo assembled and then went and made Abimelech king by the oak near the pillar in Shechem.

7 When Jotham heard the news, he went and stood on the top of Mount Gerizim. He spoke loudly to the people below, “Listen to me, leaders of Shechem, so that God may listen to you! 8 “The trees were determined to go out and choose a king for themselves. They said to the olive tree, ‘Be our king!’ 9 But the olive tree said to them, ‘I am not going to stop producing my oil, which is used to honor gods and men, just to sway above the other trees!’ 10 “So the trees said to the fig tree, ‘You come and be our king!’ 11 But the fig tree said to them, ‘I am not going to stop producing my sweet figs, my excellent fruit, just to sway above the other trees!’ 12 “So the trees said to the grapevine, ‘You come and be our king!’ 13 But the grapevine said to them, ‘I am not going to stop producing my wine, which makes gods and men so happy, just to sway above the other trees!’ 14 “So all the trees said to the thornbush, ‘You come and be our king!’ 15 The thornbush said to the trees, ‘If you really want to choose me as your king, then come along, find safety under my branches! Otherwise may fire blaze from the thornbush and consume the cedars of Lebanon!’

16 “Now, if you have shown loyalty and integrity when you made Abimelech king, if you have done right to Jerub-Baal and his family, if you have properly repaid him – 17 my father fought for you; he risked his life and delivered you from Midian’s power. 18 But you have attacked my father’s family today. You murdered his seventy legitimate sons on one stone and made Abimelech, the son of his female slave, king over the leaders of Shechem, just because he is your close relative. 19 So if you have shown loyalty and integrity to Jerub-Baal and his family today, then may Abimelech bring you happiness and may you bring him happiness! 20 But if not, may fire blaze from Abimelech and consume the leaders of Shechem and Beth Millo! May fire also blaze from the leaders of Shechem and Beth Millo and consume Abimelech!” 21 Then Jotham ran away to Beer and lived there to escape from Abimelech his half-brother (Judges 8:33-9:21).²

Introduction

Initially, I had planned to cover 60 verses in this message – the last 3 verses of Judges 8 and all 57 verses of chapter 9. In a moment of sanity, I realized there was absolutely no way that this was going to happen, although I wish it could. I would far rather deal with Abimelech in one lesson than two, but given the time constraints imposed by our culture, it will never happen (at least not the way I preach). We will therefore limit ourselves to a mere 24 verses (8:33—9:21).

The longer I have pondered this passage the more political implications I see, and so it is probably best for me to begin with a disclaimer. The elders of Community Bible Chapel have always granted me the freedom to preach the Scriptures as I see them. That does not necessarily mean that every elder agrees with my interpretation or application of a given text. But it is only fair for me to tell you that I did not give the elders a preview of this message, and thus they will be hearing it for the first time as I speak. The views expressed in this message are thus my own, and you are free to disagree with them wherever and whenever I depart from the clear teaching of this text, or whenever I take the application beyond what the text will support.

There is no way that I can read our text without seeing a correlation to our own times. Recent events and decisions made in Washington, D.C. parallel what took place in ancient Israel, as described in Judges. But lest you might be tempted to think that I am pointing at just one leader, or at just one political party, let me assure you that I see this text as an indictment that goes beyond one man or one party. This is an indictment of much that goes on in Washington, D.C. (and in our state capitals as well) in our times.

I would also point out that this message is in no way a “call to arms;” it is not an attempt to provoke any kind of violent response to the wrongs which are being proposed and passed into law so quickly and easily these days. Jotham is the hero of our text, and the way he deals with the great injustices of his time is to speak forth plainly and powerfully, and then leave judgment to God. As we shall see in our next message, judgment will come; payday will come soon, in a mere three year’s time. But we shall save that story for our next lesson. In this lesson, we will see why judgment upon Abimelech and the leaders of Shechem is well deserved.

The Setting

Judges 8:22-35

22 The men of Israel said to Gideon, “Rule over us – you, your son, and your grandson. For you have delivered us from Midian’s power.” 23 Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you. The Lord will rule over you.” 24 Gideon continued, “I would like to make one request. Each of you give me an earring from the plunder you have taken.” (The Midianites had gold earrings because they were Ishmaelites.) 25 They said, “We are happy to give you earrings.” So they spread out a garment, and each one threw an earring from his plunder onto it. 26 The total weight of the gold earrings he requested came to seventeen hundred gold shekels. This was in addition to the crescent-shaped ornaments, jewelry, purple clothing worn by the Midianite kings, and the necklaces on the camels. 27 Gideon used all this to make an ephod, which he put in his hometown of Ophrah. All the Israelites prostituted themselves to it by worshiping it there. It became a snare to Gideon and his family.

28 The Israelites humiliated Midian; the Midianites’ fighting spirit was broken. The land had rest for forty years during Gideon’s time. 29 Then Jerub-Baal son of Joash went home and settled down. 30 Gideon fathered seventy sons through his many wives. 31 His concubine, who lived in Shechem, also gave him a son, whom he named Abimelech. 32 Gideon son of Joash died at a very old age and was buried in the tomb of his father Joash located in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

33 After Gideon died, the Israelites again prostituted themselves to the Baals. They made Baal-Berith their god. 34 The Israelites did not remain true to the Lord their God, who had delivered them from all the enemies who lived around them. 35 They did not treat the family of Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) fairly in return for all the good he had done for Israel (Judges 8:22-35).

Crediting Gideon for the victory God gave him in the defeat of the Midianites, the Israelites asked him to become their king and to establish a dynasty through his descendants. From outward appearances, one might conclude that Gideon’s response was the right one, but as we pointed out in our last message, there are too many indications that while Gideon outwardly declined the offer, he really did take on the role of a king in a number of ways.³

Gideon’s biggest failure was in leading his fellow Israelites back into idolatry. Whether or not he intended it to happen this way, the ephod which Gideon made became an object of worship. This ephod became a stumbling block not only to Israel (all Israel), but also to Gideon and his family as well (8:27).

I have to snicker when I read that Gideon went home and “settled down” (8:29). How does a man “settle down” with so many wives and 70 sons (remember there would have been daughters as well)? I think I would have found me a new war to fight, somewhere far away, with a family this size. For the moment, the author makes it a point to tell us the name of just one of those sons – Abimelech – and this “son” is the son of Gideon’s concubine, so he was not considered a son on the same level as the rest.⁴

But before we are told of the evils of Abimelech and of leaders of Shechem, we first are told of the evils of the Israelites, evils which were the reason for God’s judgment upon the nation. This is a judgment that came from within, rather than from without. It was Gideon who created the ephod which the Israelites worshipped. But as bad as this worship of the ephod was during Gideon’s lifetime, things went from bad to worse when Gideon died. He therefore must have served as a restraining force of some kind during his lifetime.

But upon Gideon’s death, the Israelites plunged “full speed ahead” into their idolatry. We are told that “they made Baal-Berith their god.” We are very familiar with the term Baal, but the expression “Baal-Berith” is new to us. In the Hebrew text, the term “Berith” means “covenant,” and so the Israelites made “Baal-Berith” their god. Or perhaps we should say the Israelites entered into a “new covenant” – not the Mosaic Covenant, and most certainly not the “New Covenant” of the New Testament – but a covenant with Baal as their new god. It appears to me that at this point the Israelites are not worshipping the God of Israel and also some Canaanite god; they are worshipping a Canaanite god as their only god. They have rejected their covenant with God and have entered into a new covenant with a heathen god, exactly what God had warned them not to do.

10 He said, “See, I am going to make a covenant before all your people. I will do wonders such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation. All the people among whom you live will see the work of the Lord, for it is a fearful thing that I am doing with you. 11 “Obey what I am commanding you this day. I am going to drive out before you the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. 12 Be careful not to make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it become a snare among you. 13 Rather you must destroy their altars, smash their images, and cut down their Asherah poles. 14 For you must not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. 15 Be careful not to make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to their gods, and someone invites you, you will eat from his sacrifice; 16 and you then take his daughters for your sons, and when his daughters prostitute themselves to their gods, they will make your sons prostitute themselves to their gods as well” (Exodus 34:10-16; see Judges 2:2).

Now, we need to pause here for a moment to refresh our memories as to the events which occurred at Shechem not that many years before:

1 Joshua assembled all the Israelite tribes at Shechem. He summoned Israel’s elders, rulers, judges, and leaders, and they appeared before God. . . . 14 Now obey the Lord and worship him with integrity and loyalty. Put aside the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates and in Egypt and worship the Lord. 15 If you have no desire to worship the Lord, choose today whom you will worship, whether it be the gods whom your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. But I and my family will worship the Lord!”

16 The people responded, “Far be it from us to abandon the Lord so we can worship other gods! 17 For the Lord our God took us and our fathers out of slavery in the land of Egypt and performed these awesome miracles before our very eyes. He continually protected us as we traveled and when we passed through nations. 18 The Lord drove out from before us all the nations, including the Amorites who lived in the land. So we too will worship the Lord, for he is our God!”

19 Joshua warned the people, “You will not keep worshiping the Lord, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God who will not forgive your rebellion or your sins. 20 If you abandon the Lord and worship foreign gods, he will turn against you; he will bring disaster on you and destroy you, though he once treated you well.”

21 The people said to Joshua, “No! We really will worship the Lord!” 22 Joshua said to the people, “Do you agree to be witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to worship the Lord?” They replied, “We are witnesses!” 23 Joshua said, “Now put aside the foreign gods that are among you and submit to the Lord God of Israel.”

24 The people said to Joshua, “We will worship the Lord our God and obey him.”

25 That day Joshua drew up an agreement for the people, and he established rules and regulations for them in Shechem. 26 Joshua wrote these words in the Law Scroll of God. He then took a large stone and set it up there under the oak tree near the Lord’s shrine (Joshua 24:1, 14-26).

Joshua and his generation are passing away as the Book of Joshua comes to a close, and thus Joshua gathers all Israel to Shechem, where the next generation of Israelites vows that they will not follow other gods, but will follow God alone. The determination of this generation to obey God and keep His covenant is repeatedly and emphatically declared, in spite of Joshua’s warnings that they were not able to do so. A covenant is drawn up and written on a scroll. A large stone is set up near the LORD’S shrine, under “the oak tree” (Joshua 24:26). I cannot help but wonder if this “oak tree” where the covenant was memorialized is the same “oak tree” mentioned in our text:

6 All the leaders of Shechem and Beth Millo assembled and then went and made Abimelech king by the oak near the pillar in Shechem (Judges 9:6, emphasis mine).

How quickly we forget God’s marvelous work on our behalf! And this is exactly what the author tells us. The Israelites did not remain faithful to God as their forefathers had promised. They forget that every deliverance Israel had experienced had come from God.⁵ And not only that, the Israelites also forgot all the good which Gideon had done for the nation, so that they did not treat his descendants well, as was only fitting.⁶

It is worth taking note of the author’s words in verse 35 concerning the good Gideon had done for Israel. How easy it is to remember Gideon only in terms of his failures, rather than in terms of the good he did. The author chose to record only a small segment of Gideon’s life, but he also informs us that Israel had peace for 40 years⁷ and that Gideon died at a very old age.⁸ All this means that during Gideon’s long life, he did some (a few?) things which negatively impacted the nation, but he also did many good things, and for these he should be remembered by treating his descendants kindly.

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

Judges 9:1-6

1 Now Abimelech son of Jerub-Baal went to Shechem to see his mother’s relatives. He said to them and to his mother’s entire extended family, 2 “Tell all the leaders of Shechem this: ‘Why would you want to have seventy men, all Jerub-Baal’s sons, ruling over you, when you can have just one ruler? Recall that I am your own flesh and blood.’” 3 His mother’s relatives spoke on his behalf to all the leaders of Shechem and reported his proposal. The leaders were drawn to Abimelech; they said, “He is our close relative.” 4 They paid him seventy silver shekels out of the temple of Baal-Berith. Abimelech then used the silver to hire some lawless, dangerous men as his followers. 5 He went to his father’s home in Ophrah and murdered his half-brothers, the seventy legitimate sons of Jerub-Baal, on one stone. Only Jotham, Jerub-Baal’s youngest son, escaped, because he hid. 6 All the leaders of Shechem and Beth Millo assembled and then went and made Abimelech king by the oak near the pillar in Shechem (Judges 9:1-6).

In spite of Gideon’s words to the contrary,⁹ it seems apparent that the Israelites expected one (or all) of Gideon’s sons to rule as their king. With 70 sons, this must have given the Israelites pause for thought. Who would take Gideon’s place? How would their next king be chosen? Abimelech did not wait to see how this would all work out. He set about seeing to it that he was Israel’s¹⁰ next king. Abimelech’s concubine mother lived in Shechem, and so this would be the logical place to stage his attempt to ascend to the throne.

Abimelech had two things in his favor, which he fully exploited in his rise to power. First, he was a son of Gideon (though he does not make a point of the fact that his mother was actually a concubine, a sort of slave-wife). In his mind, this made him an heir to Gideon’s throne. He went to Shechem¹¹ to make an appeal to his relatives. He represented the matter as though he had an equal claim to the throne. That was not really the case, but in politics, such minor deceptions (a politically correct word meaning “lies”) are readily set aside. His other asset was that his mother, concubine or not, had lived¹² in Shechem. His mother’s “brothers”¹³ were citizens of Shechem, and it would seem that they had some influence with those in power in Shechem. Thus, Abimelech first made his case with his relatives, and then he urged them to use their influence with the leaders of Shechem to get him appointed as their king.

His appeal to his relatives was simple: (1) It is better to have but one king, rather than many; and, (2) if that one king were your relative, it would be much better for you. Abimelech’s relatives were successful in lobbying for him among the leaders of Shechem. Not only did the city leaders give their approval to Abimelech as their choice of a king, they gave him 70 pieces of silver from the temple treasury.

There are a couple of things worth noting in regard to the number 70 in our text. There were 70 sons who were marked for death, and the contribution from the temple was 70 pieces of silver. This seems a bit more than a coincidence. I think the leaders of Shechem realized that in order for only one of the sons to be their king, the other sons would have to be eliminated. 70 sons, 70 pieces of silver, and let Abimelech find his own henchmen to do the dirty deed. That way it would appear that their hands were clean.

There is yet another 70 to consider. Abimelech’s argument is that one king is better than 70; one leader is better than many. But is this really true? I think not. Apart from the Perfect King – our Lord Jesus – concentrating too much power into the hands of one man is asking for trouble. That is part of Samuel’s warning to the Israelites who demanded a king in 1 Samuel 8. And it is clearly illustrated in Israel’s history. Authority in Israel was divided between the king (or a leader like Moses), the priests, and the prophets. And remember that when Moses was overwhelmed by his administrative and judicial tasks, his father-in-law suggested that his problem could be solved by effective delegation.¹⁴ And so it was. As we read in Numbers 11:16-25, 70 men were endued with power from the Holy Spirit so that they could “judge” Israel. And so we see that 70 leaders was a good thing. The relatives of Abimelech and the leaders of Shechem were convinced that the great advantage of having Abimelech as their one and only king was that they had him “in their pocket.”

It is very important that we see the complicity of those who endorsed and promoted Abimelech’s rise to power. They not only benefited (or so it seemed) in the end result, they also participated in the means by which he attained and assured his leadership – the murder of his brothers. This is very clearly stated in verse 24 and is the reason why not only Abimelech, but also those who endorsed and enabled him, received God’s judgment. Though the leaders of Shechem did not do the dirty deed personally, they saw to it that it did get done. And for this, they will suffer the consequence of God’s judgment.

And so the dirty deed is done. Out of self interest, Abimelech’s relatives promoted him among the city’s leaders. The leaders of Shechem thought that Abimelech would be the king who would best serve their own interests, and so they gave him the money to eliminate his brothers. With this money, Abimelech hired some “dirty rotten scoundrels” to assist him in killing all 70 of his brothers. And so they did, except for Jotham, who hid and was able to escape. It is now to Jotham that our author turns.

Jotham Speaks Out

Judges 9:7-21

7 When Jotham heard the news, he went and stood on the top of Mount Gerizim. He spoke loudly to the people below, “Listen to me, leaders of Shechem, so that God may listen to you! 8 “The trees were determined to go out and choose a king for themselves. They said to the olive tree, ‘Be our king!’ 9 But the olive tree said to them, ‘I am not going to stop producing my oil, which is used to honor gods and men, just to sway above the other trees!’ 10 “So the trees said to the fig tree, ‘You come and be our king!’ 11 But the fig tree said to them, ‘I am not going to stop producing my sweet figs, my excellent fruit, just to sway above the other trees!’ 12 “So the trees said to the grapevine, ‘You come and be our king!’ 13 But the grapevine said to them, ‘I am not going to stop producing my wine, which makes gods and men so happy, just to sway above the other trees!’ 14 “So all the trees said to the thornbush, ‘You come and be our king!’ 15 The thornbush said to the trees, ‘If you really want to choose me as your king, then come along, find safety under my branches! Otherwise may fire blaze from the thornbush and consume the cedars of Lebanon!’

16 “Now, if you have shown loyalty and integrity when you made Abimelech king, if you have done right to Jerub-Baal and his family, if you have properly repaid him – 17 my father fought for you; he risked his life and delivered you from Midian’s power. 18 But you have attacked my father’s family today. You murdered his seventy legitimate sons on one stone and made Abimelech, the son of his female slave, king over the leaders of Shechem, just because he is your close relative. 19 So if you have shown loyalty and integrity to Jerub-Baal and his family today, then may Abimelech bring you happiness and may you bring him happiness! 20 But if not, may fire blaze from Abimelech and consume the leaders of Shechem and Beth Millo! May fire also blaze from the leaders of Shechem and Beth Millo and consume Abimelech!” 21 Then Jotham ran away to Beer and lived there to escape from Abimelech his half-brother (Judges 9:7-21).

Mount Gerizim (left) and Mount Ebal (right)

Thanks to Google Earth,¹⁵ we have a view of Mount Gerizim on the left, rising some 2800 feet, and on our right is Mount Ebal, rising to about 3,000 feet. In the narrow plain between these mountains (and slightly behind them), lies the location of the ancient city of Shechem. I believe that the history behind Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal is significant to understanding what Jotham is doing in our text:

12 “The following tribes must stand to bless the people on Mount Gerizim when you cross the Jordan: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin. 13 And these other tribes must stand for the curse on Mount Ebal: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali (Deuteronomy 27:12-13, emphasis mine).¹⁶

33 All the people, rulers, leaders, and judges were standing on either side of the ark, in front of the Levitical priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord. Both resident foreigners and native Israelites were there. Half the people stood in front of Mount Gerizim and the other half in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the Lord’s servant had previously instructed to them to do for the formal blessing ceremony. 34 Then Joshua read aloud all the words of the law, including the blessings and the curses, just as they are written in the law scroll. 35 Joshua read aloud every commandment Moses had given before the whole assembly of Israel, including the women, children, and resident foreigners who lived among them (Joshua 8:33-35, emphasis mine).

God did not want the Israelites to forget the covenant He was making with them, and so He commanded that when they reached the Promised Land, they should divide into two groups; the one group was to stand on Mount Gerizim and pronounce the blessings of the covenant, while the other was to stand on Mount Ebal, where they would proclaim the cursings of the covenant. As we see from Joshua 8 (above), the Israelites did this when they occupied the Promised Land under Joshua.

And now in Judges, we find the Israelites once again at this very historic spot. Only this time there is only one speaker – Jotham – standing on Mount Gerizim, pronouncing both blessings and cursings, with an emphasis on the cursing. It is inconceivable that the author did not intend for the reader to think back to the role these two mountains played in Israel’s history and to see some kind of connection between Joshua 8 and Judges 9.

When Abimelech and his henchmen slaughtered the 70 (69?) rivals to the throne, one son of Gideon escaped by hiding from his would-be assassins. His name was Jotham, and he was the youngest son of Jerub-Baal (Gideon).¹⁷ When he got word that the leaders of Shechem had been appointed as their king, he stood on Mount Gerizim and spoke very powerfully to those in Shechem who were responsible for the death of his brothers. His words do not seem to be directed as much toward Abimelech as they were to the leaders of Shechem. While we are not told that the Spirit of the LORD came upon him, or that he was a prophet, his words certainly sound prophetic. The author is careful to let the reader know that Jotham’s curses were fulfilled.¹⁸ Without question, Jotham is the hero of our text (although the woman with her millstone will take center stage shortly). Here was a man who was thinking God’s thoughts after Him.

Jotham first told his audience a parable and then spelled out its meaning and application. The trees wanted one of their number (a fellow tree) to rule over them as their king. They first approached an olive tree and asked if it would rule over¹⁹ them. The olive tree responded that it had better things to do than “just to sway above the other trees” (verse 9). I like the rendering of the New Living Translation: “Should I quit producing the olive oil that blesses both God and people, just to wave back and forth over the trees?” Having been declined, the trees now offer kingship to a fig tree, which refuses for the same reasons. The offer is next made to a (grape) vine, and it likewise refuses to give up a productive role for one it considers worthless. Finally (in desperation), the trees offer to make a thornbush their king. He accepts, with the offer of little benefit (How much “shade” can you find under a Texas tumbleweed with thorns?) and an ominous threat of severe penalties for those who refuse to submit to his authority.

Having briefly summarized the parable, let us make a few observations. First, it is the trees who take the initiative in finding someone to rule over them. Abimelech’s desire to rule over others (as described by our text) is matched by the Israelites’ corresponding desire to have a king. What we are seeing is a “marriage made in hell.” Second, the trees who are solicited to be king are listed in declining order. That is to say that the olive tree is most tree-like, and the fig tree is more of a large bush. The grapevine is hardly a bush, but the thornbush is certainly not to be compared with a tree, a bush, or a vine. It is a rather worthless nuisance, and its only use is as fuel for a fire,²⁰ and it is not really good at that either.

Third, the fruitful trees (or vine) decline to be king because they view “waving over” trees as an unprofitable function compared to their fruit-bearing. The thornbush has nothing better to do than “wave over” the other trees, but the fruit-bearing trees are a blessing to God and men by bearing their fruit. These trees (and the grapevine) recognize the value of what they are designed to do, and they have no time for ego-satisfying “waving.”

Fourth, the thornbush (like our tumbleweed in Texas) would have immediately been recognized as a relatively worthless form of plant life. It produced no fruit, no shade, and its thorns were, simply put, a “pain” to others. The ego rush of ruling over the trees was too much for the bush. From the beginning, one can recognize the true motivation of the thornbush. It demanded submission, but it had nothing to offer but the threat of being burned with fire to any who would reject its authority.

Now, lest anyone miss the point of the parable, Jotham spells it all out clearly for the people of Shechem who heard him. It is all about integrity and justice. If the appointment of Abimelech as their king was done in righteousness and integrity, then let the people take pleasure in their king. But if they have not done this in righteousness, and if they have not dealt rightly with the offspring of Jerub-Baal, then let his double curse come upon them. Let Abimelech become the cause of their destruction. In terms of the parable, let Abimelech – that thornbush – become the source of a fire that consumes the cedars of Lebanon (the trees that made him their king). And, secondly, let the people of Shechem become a fire that consumes Abimelech. In other words, let this “marriage” of the leaders of Shechem and Abimelech become a disaster, whereby each brings about the destruction of the other. How ironic; these two joined forces to achieve what they believed would serve their own interests, and instead, each will produce the destruction of the other.

While Jotham’s statement leaves room for the hypothetical possibility that the appointment of Abimelech was done in righteousness, his parenthetical comments in verses 17 and 18 virtually wipe out that option. The premise of Jotham’s words is that God will bless those who act in righteousness and integrity, but He will bring curses on those whose actions are unrighteousness. Isn’t that really what the law was about, and what the proclamation of blessings and cursings from Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal were about? Thus, we know what to expect from the remainder of the story in Judges 9. God is going to bring about His judgment both upon Abimelech and upon the leaders of Shechem in a way that precisely fulfills Jotham’s curse.

Conclusion

The events depicted in our text occurred many years ago, but they still have much to say to men and women today. That is because God has not changed, and neither has man. The corruption that we read about in our text is the same in essence as the corruption that we read about in our daily newspaper. So let’s consider some of the lessons that we can learn from our text.

First, we see that corruption not only comes from “without,” but also from “within.” Living among the Canaanites (whom the Israelites should have exterminated) has resulted in God’s people serving Canaanite gods and following Canaanite practices – living like Canaanites. This was corruption from without. But beginning with Gideon, we see Israel now functioning at a new, lower level. Now corruption comes from within, from within Israel’s leadership. It was Gideon who made the ephod which the Israelites worshipped. Now Israelites are the source of corruption for their fellow Israelites.

Second, just as divine judgment on Israel has come from “without” in the past, it now comes from “within.” Earlier in Judges, God brought judgment upon His people by means of outsiders. There were the Philistines,²¹ the Moabites, Ammonites, and Amalekites²² for example, who oppressed the people of God. Now, oppression (and thus divine judgment) comes from “within” – at the hand of Abimelech.²³

Many Christians today (including me) bemoan the fact that our government has become more and more corrupt, so that people of both political parties have become cynical about the motives and actions of politicians. It is hardly possible for Christians to deny the decline in morality and justice in government which has been increasing at an alarming rate in recent days. Homosexuality is not merely tolerated by our highest officials; it is praised as something good. Abortions – most of which are really murder – are accepted, praised, encouraged and all too often financed by our government. Our text – along with the rest of the Bible – indicates that our government, corrupt as it is, is precisely what we deserve. God has given the people of our country what many have wanted, as well as what we deserve.

Third, sometimes divine judgment comes upon men because they look to government for what only God can do. Put differently, government (and certain leaders in particular) can become an idol, something or someone in which we place our trust, rather than trusting in God. For the time being, our money still contains the expression, “In God We Trust.” Why, then, do we expect government to feed us, and to make us feel secure, and to make us prosperous?

I might also ask whether or not we who are Christians have placed too much faith in our government to bring about righteousness on earth. Often our hopes have been linked to a particular political candidate or to a particular political party. It is true that God has instituted human government to punish those who do evil and to reward those who do good,²⁴ but we should not expect it to usher in the kingdom of our LORD. That will only happen when the Lord Jesus returns to the earth to punish evil doers and to reward His saints.

Fourth, our text warns us that placing too much power in the hands of one man (or woman) is dangerous business. Was Israel better off with one king, or with a division of powers between prophets, priests, and king? There is only one time when having a king with absolute power works, and that is when Jesus is that King. Incidentally, this is also true in the church. The Bible does not direct us to give one person total authority over the church. God has instructed that the church is made up of many members with diverse gifts. It is to be ruled by a plurality of elders and not by one man. Christ alone is the head of the church, and He alone is to be preeminent.

Fifth, God not only holds those responsible who oppress others and who shed innocent blood; God holds those responsible who “strengthen the hands” of those who do evil.

He did this so the violent deaths of Jerub-Baal’s seventy sons might be avenged and Abimelech, their half-brother who murdered them, might have to pay for their spilled blood, along with the leaders of Shechem who helped him murder them (Judges 9:24, emphasis mine).

If health care reform legislation takes our tax dollars and uses them to pay for abortions, are we “strengthening the hands” of those who commit these atrocities? Laws and court rulings in recent years are confronting Christians with some very difficult questions. Our text makes it clear that God holds accomplices responsible, as well as those who actually commit the atrocity. If God saw the slaughter of 70 sons as such a great sin, what must He think of the slaughter of millions of unborn children? Someday men will stand before God and give account for their deeds.

The task of a godly king is to administrate justice, just as the task of good government is to punish evil doers and to reward the righteous. Here, the one (Abimelech) who was responsible to punish evil was the one who came to power by slaughtering 70 of his brothers. It seems to me that in the Great Tribulation that is yet to come, government will function in a similar role. Rather than punishing the wicked, it will persecute the righteous. But the King is coming, and He will not only defeat His enemies; He will punish the wicked.

How tragic it is to see that the people of Shechem put their faith in the wrong person. First they trusted in Abimelech, and soon they will trust in Gaal. There is only One who can deliver (save) us, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is worthy of our trust and of our praise. Looking elsewhere for deliverance only leads to destruction. Have you come to realize that you are a sinner, undeserving of God’s blessings and fully deserving of His wrath? Have you trusted in Jesus as the only true Savior? He willingly bore the punishment we deserve, and He offers His righteousness and eternal salvation to all who believe in Him. Trust in Him, in Him alone.

---

¹ Copyright © 2009 by Robert L. Deffinbaugh. This is the edited manuscript of Lesson 10 in the series, The Dark Days of Israel’s Judges, prepared by Robert L. Deffinbaugh on October 18, 2009. Anyone is at liberty to use this lesson for educational purposes only, with or without credit.

² Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the NET Bible. The NEW ENGLISH TRANSLATION, also known as THE NET BIBLE, is a completely new translation of the Bible, not a revision or an update of a previous English version. It was completed by more than twenty biblical scholars who worked directly from the best currently available Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts. The translation project originally started as an attempt to provide an electronic version of a modern translation for electronic distribution over the Internet and on CD (compact disk). Anyone anywhere in the world with an Internet connection will be able to use and print out the NET Bible without cost for personal study. In addition, anyone who wants to share the Bible with others can print unlimited copies and give them away free to others. It is available on the Internet at: www.netbible.org.

3 As the old saying goes, “A rose by any other name is still a rose.”

4 See Judges 9:18, where the 70 “legitimate” sons are distinguished from Abimelech.

5 Judges 8:34.

6 Judges 8:35.

7 Judges 8:28.

8 Judges 8:32.

9 Judges 8:22-23.

10 It should be said here that “Israel” refers to a rather small “kingdom” which seems to be a few cities located in the plains in the vicinity of Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal.

11 Every indication is that up till now, Abimelech lived somewhere else. After he becomes king, he continues to live elsewhere and to serve as a kind of absentee king.

12 I say “had lived” because there is no indication that she is still alive. If Gideon died at a ripe old age, then it is not unlikely that his concubine had died as well. Abimelech’s appeal is to his mother’s “brothers.”

13 The Hebrew term for “brothers” occurs 14 times in chapter 9. Many of the translations render this term in a somewhat less literal manner, though a blood relationship is always in view.

14 See Exodus 18.

15 http://earth.google.com/

16 See also Deuteronomy 11:29.

17 Judges 9:5.

18 See Judges 9:56-57.

19 When the trees approach a potential “king,” they always ask that he (it) “rule over” them. But in the three instances of a declined offer, the trees don’t speak of “ruling over” but of “waving over” the trees.

20 See Psalm 58:9.

21 Judges 3:31.

22 Judges 3:12-13.

23 It might be safer to say that judgment came partly from within in the case of Abimelech. If his mother was a Canaanite, then he was not a pure Israelite. Later in Israel’s history, judgment will come in the form of corrupt and ungodly Israelite kings.

24 See Romans 13:1-7, especially verses 3 and 4.

Introduction

It was during the First Gulf War that the concept of precision bombing became very popular. And why not? It was a great way to convince ourselves (and the world, as it looked on) that we were only killing the “bad guys” and that very few innocent civilians were among the casualties in this war. And so throughout the day, television reports provided example after example of precision bombing, illustrating how each target was destroyed in such a way as to avoid collateral damage.

I love precision, not because I am precise in everything that I do, but because I get great pleasure watching others do their tasks with such skill and accuracy. It may be one of my woodworking friends, making a cabinet, or one of my computer friends, skillfully setting up a network or writing an elegant program. It might even be a plumber or an auto mechanic who knows exactly what to look for and how to fix it most efficiently. They waste little time and material, and they make their work look so easy.

Our text illustrates the precision with which our God goes about His work in this world. The obstacles and difficulties are many. We will see God at work through different kinds of men and women, few of whom are godly, or even wise. He will work through some who are strongly opposed to Him. The goal of God’s work is the preservation of His people, the fulfillment of His covenant promises, and the punishment of those who have played a part in the slaughter of the 70² sons of Jerub-Baal (Gideon). This punishment must be meted out in such a way as to destroy the guilty, and yet secure the safety of those who were not involved in the evil committed against the sons of Gideon. The skill and efficiency of God are entirely consistent with His character, but it is still a wonder to behold.

A Brief Review

Gideon (or Jerub-Baal as he will be referred to in chapter 9³) had many wives, and they produced 70 sons. He had yet another son – Abimelech – who was born to him by his concubine. It was his desire to rule as king because he was a son of Jerub-Baal. Abimelech went to Shechem where he appealed to his relatives⁴ for their support. He asked them to use their influence with the city leaders to appoint him as their king, reasoning that it was better to have one king than 70, and especially one who was well connected in Shechem. Surely they would receive preferential treatment from Abimelech, more so than from the other (more legitimate) sons of Jerub-Baal, whose loyalties would lie more with the people of Ophrah, where they lived.

The leaders of Shechem were persuaded by Abimelech’s relatives, but they realized that this meant his brothers would have to be eliminated.⁵ They gave Abimelech 70 pieces of silver from the treasury of the temple of their god, Baal-Berith (god of the covenant). He then hired ruthless and unprincipled mercenaries who undoubtedly assisted him in rounding up and murdering all of his brothers, save one (Jotham – verse 5), killing them on one stone. Immediately thereafter, the people of Shechem inaugurated Abimelech as their king (verse 6).

When Jotham learned that Abimelech had been appointed as king, he stood on Mount Gerizim and called the people of this city to account by telling them a parable and then interpreting its meaning and application. The essence of Jotham’s message to the people of Shechem was that God would bring His judgment upon them and upon Abimelech for the evil they had committed in killing the sons of Jerub-Baal and assuming the role of king over Shechem and a handful of surrounding cities.

Our text for this message takes up the story at this point, and we will see how God providentially worked through wicked men to bring about judgment upon Abimelech and the leaders of Shechem, while protecting those who were not culpable for this terrible injustice. But just before we get to the message, I’d like to take a moment to point out how times may have changed, but men (and politics) have not.

Keys to Crooked Politics, as Seen in Our Story

Special interest groups. In the early verses of Judges 9, we find that Abimelech’s mother’s relatives are a special interest group. They have much to gain by the “election” (or appointment) of Abimelech as their leader.

Lobbying. The special interest group in our text (Abimelech’s relatives) will use every means at their disposal to influence their leaders to bring about a decision that will benefit them, at the expense of others.

Money. In our text, the money was necessary to achieve the death of Abimelech’s brothers and thus his appointment as king. Getting a person elected to office takes money, lots of money, and thus money is often raised from those who are led to believe that their contribution will benefit them in the final outcome.

“Political hatchet men” are sometimes used, who are willing to get their hands dirty and do the dirty deeds that will destroy or eliminate the competition. In one way or another, they are paid or rewarded for their faithful service.

People (those “ruled”) – the general population – who are so interested in their own personal benefits from government that they will look the other way when evils are committed by those seeking to gain political power over them.

Some things never change.

The Story of Abimelech’s Demise

Abimelech’s rise to power has been described in the first 21 verses of chapter 9. Now, the remainder of this chapter is devoted to the account of his demise. It takes place by means of a sequence of divinely orchestrated events.

Shechem’s Treachery

Judges 9:22-25

22 Abimelech commanded Israel for three years. 23 God sent a spirit to stir up hostility between Abimelech and the leaders of Shechem. He made the leaders of Shechem disloyal to Abimelech. 24 He did this so the violent deaths of Jerub-Baal’s seventy sons might be avenged and Abimelech, their half-brother who murdered them, might have to pay for their spilled blood, along with the leaders of Shechem who helped him murder them. 25 The leaders of Shechem rebelled against Abimelech by putting bandits in the hills, who robbed everyone who traveled by on the road. But Abimelech found out about it (Judges 9:22-25).

It may be significant that the author tells us Abimelech “commanded Israel for three years,” rather than to say Abimelech “reigned as king.” While the leaders of Shechem made Abimelech king, the author does not regard his reign as that of a king, and so he deliberately chooses a different word here than what we find in verse 6.⁶ As K. Lawson Younger Jr. observes,⁷ this is the shortest period of oppression thus far in the Book of Judges. God’s judgment came quickly here, though this is not always the case. It all began with God sending an “evil spirit,”⁸ which created animosity between Abimelech and his former co-conspirators. Just three years earlier, Abimelech and his allies joined forces to exterminate his brothers and to orchestrate his rise to power over Shechem. Now these same folks were at each other’s throats. Did the leaders once help Abimelech to become king by slaughtering his brothers? They now were seeking to undermine his authority and be rid of him. I believe that if they could have, they would have killed him (or, more likely, had him killed – surely there was still some money in the temple treasury).

The author wants his readers to clearly understand that the downfall and destruction of Abimelech and of the leaders of Shechem is God’s doing – divine retribution imposed for their treachery in slaughtering the 70 sons of Jerub-Baal. He states this very clearly in verse 24, before he describes how all this came to pass, and then once again at the end of the account in verses 56-57. The death of Abimelech and the leaders of Shechem was not something that happened by chance; God caused the words of Jotham to be fulfilled by the events described in our text, which He providentially brought to pass.

The treachery is initiated by the leaders of Shechem, as we see in verse 25. The question in my mind is, “Just what form did this treachery take, and why?” We are informed that the leaders of Shechem “rebelled against Abimelech by putting bandits in the hills,” and that these bandits “robbed everyone who traveled by on the road.” How could these bandits hide out in the tops of the “mountains” and rob those who passed by on the road? There are no roads at the top of mountains. Now some of my problem in grasping what is being said here stems from the fact that where I grew up, “mountains” were real MOUNTAINS. Mount Rainier, for example, reaches 14,410 feet into the sky. The NET Bible helps by somewhat paraphrasing the term which is rendered “mountains” by most translations as “hills.” Aha! I watched enough “Lone Ranger” shows on television as a kid to be able to understand this kind of ambush. The mountains around Shechem did not rise above 3,000 feet, and thus one could hide out on the top of these mountains and look out over the valley below. When a caravan would pass by, they could hastily descend and ambush these folks where they were easy prey.

If I understand the text correctly, it was meant to work something like this. Bandits were hired to hide out in the hills and to rob those who passed by. Word of this would reach Abimelech, and he would be prompted to retaliate. After all, he was the king. Wasn’t it his job to provide police protection for his citizens, as well as for those passing through? And not only this, the robbers were taking money from these passersby that Abimelech would have considered his (whether taken by force in the form of robbery, or in the form of tolls and taxes). If Abimelech himself were to pass by (especially if he was not adequately protected), these bandits could kill him, and thus Shechem would be rid of its king.

The plan of Shechem’s leaders would never do because it would not fulfill Jotham’s curse. Not only must Abimelech die, but the leaders of Shechem must die as well. God had a better plan. But the futile efforts of Shechem’s leaders did produce one thing. As it was hoped, word of these bandits and their ambushes reached Abimelech. While the text does not tell us what his response was, we can be sure that he was not happy about what was happening in his kingdom. No doubt he was trying to think of a plan which would allow him to retaliate and to regain control of the people of Shechem. It was not yet the time or the place for divine judgment to fall upon Abimelech and the leaders of Shechem, but this treachery certainly did succeed in heating things up. Abimelech was good and mad. I should probably say he was mad and bad. Something was going to happen, and soon.

Who Has the Gall (Gaal) to Oppose Abimelech?

Judges 9:26-29

26 Gaal⁹ son of Ebed came through Shechem with his brothers. The leaders of Shechem transferred their loyalty to him. 27 They went out to the field, harvested their grapes, squeezed out the juice, and celebrated. They came to the temple of their god and ate, drank, and cursed Abimelech. 28 Gaal son of Ebed said, “Who is Abimelech and who is Shechem [who are we], that we should serve him?¹⁰ Is he not the son of Jerub-Baal, and is not Zebul the deputy he appointed? Serve the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem! But why should we serve Abimelech? 29 If only these men were under my command, I would get rid of Abimelech!” He challenged Abimelech, “Muster your army and come out for battle!” (Judges 9:26-29)¹¹

It “just so happens” that a newcomer arrives in Shechem at this point in time. His name is Gaal, and he comes accompanied by his relatives (literally his “brothers”). We learn that the leaders¹² of Shechem put their trust¹³ in Gaal. Just how that came about is not revealed, although there are clues that come to us in the author’s account of a Canaanite “worship” gathering in verses 27-29. One of the crops grown outside the gates of Shechem was grapes. The grapes were harvested and trodden into juice, which then turned to wine. It was now “Miller Time” for the people of Shechem, and the “bar” was open in the temple of Baal-Berith (or, as later, El-Berith).

When Gaal was well “under the influence,” he gained great courage and began to say publicly what he had no doubt been saying in private. Gaal cursed Abimelech, boasting that if he were in charge he would quickly get rid of him. He would challenge Abimelech to come with his entire army, and all would see who was worthy to be their king.

Here is where it gets really interesting. Earlier in the story, it was Abimelech who had reasoned that he was the best candidate for king because he had “roots” in Shechem. His mother and brothers were Abimelech’s relatives, and so they would receive preferential treatment from him as their king. Keep in mind that while this was his promise, Abimelech was an “absentee king” for the people of Shechem. His headquarters or capital seems to have been in Arumah (verse 41) and not Shechem. Gaal uses the same argument as Abimelech, but he reminds the people of Shechem that their “roots” go way back to Hamor (verse 28), Shechem’s founding father. What is clear to me is that Abimelech cannot trace his roots to Hamor. Gaal seems to imply that his roots do go back to Hamor. Why should the people of Shechem submit themselves to a relative newcomer, when the “old guard” is at hand? No wonder he feels confident regarding his claim to the throne. And so we see that Gaal has beaten Abimelech at his own game. If one wants to make a claim to the throne based on one’s heritage, Gaal has the most compelling proof that he has claim to the throne.

Zebul’s Report and Recommendation

Judges 9:30-33

30 When Zebul, the city commissioner, heard the words of Gaal son of Ebed, he was furious. 31 He sent messengers to Abimelech, who was in Arumah, reporting, “Beware! Gaal son of Ebed and his brothers are coming to Shechem and inciting the city to rebel against you. 32 Now, come up at night with your men and set an ambush in the field outside the city. 33 In the morning at sunrise quickly attack the city. When he and his men come out to fight you, do what you can to him” (Judges 9:30-33).

As I mentioned earlier, Abimelech was an “absentee king” for the people of Shechem. In his absence, Abimelech appointed Zebul to serve as his lieutenant, who governed for him in Shechem. Whether he heard it directly (in Baal’s “bar”)¹⁴ or indirectly, Gaal’s words reached Zebul, and he was not happy about it at all. He sent a report to Abimelech, detailing Gaal’s claims and also his popularity with the people. He also recommended a course of action for Abimelech to follow: Abimelech should approach Shechem with his army in the darkness of night and lie in wait in the fields, attacking at morning light. Abimelech will take Zebul’s advice and do as he suggests. His attack on Shechem will come in several phases, which we will now consider.

Phase I

Judges 9:34-41

34 So Abimelech and all his men came up at night and set an ambush outside Shechem – they divided into four units. 35 When Gaal son of Ebed came out and stood at the entrance to the city’s gate, Abimelech and his men got up from their hiding places. 36 Gaal saw the men and said to Zebul, “Look, men are coming down from the tops of the hills.” But Zebul said to him, “You are seeing the shadows on the hills – it just looks like men.” 37 Gaal again said, “Look, men are coming down from the very center of the land. A unit is coming by way of the Oak Tree of the Diviners.” 38 Zebul said to him, “Where now are your bragging words, ‘Who is Abimelech that we should serve him?’ Are these not the men you insulted? Go out now and fight them!” 39 So Gaal led the leaders of Shechem out and fought Abimelech. 40 Abimelech chased him, and Gaal ran from him. Many Shechemites fell wounded at the entrance of the gate. 41 Abimelech went back to Arumah; Zebul drove Gaal and his brothers out of Shechem (Judges 9:34-41).

In his first attack, Abimelech divides his men into four companies. At dawn, he makes his way down the mountains toward Shechem in the valley below. Gaal seems to have risen early and to have joined Zebul at the gate of the city, where leaders normally gathered.¹⁵ At this early hour, many would have passed through these gates on their way to work in the fields.¹⁶ Gaal’s attention was drawn to the hills, where he noted movement. It must have given Zebul great pleasure to suggest to Gaal that he was imagining something that was not there, giving Abimelech and his troops more time to advance on the city unchallenged. Then Gaal observed movement from another part of the hills above. Now he was certain that there were many men advancing on the city.

This was Zebul’s opportunity to express his contempt for Gaal and to call his bluff. He had talked so boldly when he had too much wine to drink; now let him prove his right to rule by engaging Abimelech in battle as he boasted that he would if the opportunity was afforded him. Gaal had no choice but to confront Abimelech outside the city gates. Gaal led the city leaders out of the city, and they engaged Abimelech in battle. Abimelech gained the upper hand, inflicting many casualties on Gaal’s forces. Gaal’s courage vaporized, and he fled to safety inside the city gates, with Abimelech in hot pursuit. It seems that Gaal and others were able to keep Abimelech from gaining entrance to the city, so that he finally returned to his headquarters at Arumah. It appeared that Abimelech had given up.

Zebul had enough of Gaal, so he drove him and his relatives out of Phase II of Abimelech’s campaign against Shechem as described in verses 42-45.

But just before we get to Phase II, let me make an observation related to the expulsion of Gaal from Shechem by Zebul (and others loyal to Abimelech). Not only does this account of the battle between Abimelech and the leaders of Shechem describe the fulfillment of the curse of Jotham, pronounced from Mount Gerizim, it also informs the readers that God providentially spared Gaal and his relatives from the judgment that was soon to come upon those who took part in the slaughter of Jerub-Baal’s sons. Gaal would have been humbled by his defeat and expulsion from Shechem, but his departure from Shechem also spared him from the judgment which was to fall upon that city (and Abimelech) the next day.

Phase II

Judges 9:42-45

42 The next day the Shechemites came out to the field. When Abimelech heard about it, 43 he took his men and divided them into three units and set an ambush in the field. When he saw the people coming out of the city, he attacked and struck them down. 44 Abimelech and his units attacked and blocked the entrance to the city’s gate. Two units then attacked all the people in the field and struck them down. 45 Abimelech fought against the city all that day. He captured the city and killed all the people in it. Then he leveled the city and spread salt over it (Judges 9:42-45).

In the morning, it looked like “business as usual” for the people of Shechem. Abimelech was nowhere in sight, no doubt licking his wounds back at Arumah. Gaal and his relatives were long gone, having been evicted by Zebul. Why would anyone expect Abimelech to return or fear that they were in danger? The people of Shechem were going about their daily routine when divine judgment came upon them suddenly and unexpectedly.¹⁷

Abimelech returned to Shechem because his wrath was not yet satisfied. This time, he divided his men into three companies. One of these companies was tasked to seize the city gates, gaining entrance to the city while at the same time preventing the citizens of Shechem from returning to the city for protection. The other two companies went about the business of slaughtering the people of the city who were outside the city gates. Abimelech focused his attention on the defeat and destruction of the city of Shechem. He captured the city, killed all its inhabitants, and then completely destroyed the city, so that it appeared that it would never be restored.

Phase III: The Attack on Two Towers

Judges 9:46-55

46 When all the leaders of the Tower of Shechem¹⁸ heard the news, they went to the stronghold of the temple of El-Berith. 47 Abimelech heard that all the leaders of the Tower of Shechem were in one place. 48 He and all his men went up on Mount Zalmon. He took an ax in his hand and cut off a tree branch. He put it on his shoulder and said to his men, “Quickly, do what you have just seen me do!” 49 So each of his men also cut off a branch and followed Abimelech. They put the branches against the stronghold and set fire to it. All the people of the Tower of Shechem died – about a thousand men and women.

50 Abimelech moved on to Thebez; he besieged and captured it. 51 There was a fortified tower in the center of the city, so all the men and women, as well as the city’s leaders, ran into it and locked the entrance. Then they went up to the roof of the tower. 52 Abimelech came and attacked the tower. When he approached the entrance of the tower to set it on fire, 53 a woman threw an upper millstone down on his head and shattered his skull. 54 He quickly called to the young man who carried his weapons, “Draw your sword and kill me, so they will not say, ‘A woman killed him.’” So the young man stabbed him and he died. 55 When the Israelites saw that Abimelech was dead, they went home (Judges 9:46-55).

Abimelech seems to be like his father, Gideon – determined to satisfy his desire for revenge on his enemies. Having completely destroyed Shechem, one would be inclined to assume that Abimelech would now get back to his normal routine. But this was not at all the case. The leaders of the city of Shechem (those who were destined to be “burned with fire from Abimelech” according to the curse of Jotham) had gotten word that Abimelech was waging war against the city of Shechem, and so they fled to the temple of El-Berith.¹⁹

One must ask why the leaders of Shechem chose to flee to the “stronghold of the temple of El-Berith.” Was it the most heavily fortified place within or at least near Shechem? Or did the leaders of the city believe that being here, in the temple of the deity they worshipped, was the safest place they could be? How interesting that the leaders of Shechem would seek refuge in the sanctuary of their god, the “god of the covenant,” while being pursued by the son of Jerub-Baal (let Baal contend). This, like the events of the exodus, was a contest between the true God, the God of Israel, and the god of these pagans. Can their “god” deliver them? No! Can the God of Israel punish those who unjustly dealt with the sons of Jerub-Baal? Yes!

And so we find the leaders of Shechem – the ones on whom Jotham pronounced God’s curse –huddled together in the inner room of the temple of their god. The doors were securely shut, and it seemed as though Abimelech and his men would have great difficulty breaking through to them. Then Abimelech had a brilliant thought: Why not burn them out? Abimelech made his way up Mount Zalmon with his men. He instructed them to follow his example. He then cut down some branches (from the trees – is this a coincidence?) and carried them back to the temple of El-Baal. There he set fire to all the branches, placed beside (or on top of)²⁰ the wooden structure in which the leaders of Shechem had sought sanctuary. Either the smoke or the fire (or both) did its job. All of the leaders (under the curse of Jotham) died. Truly, fire had come forth from Abimelech, and it had destroyed the leaders of Shechem.²¹

We don’t really know anything about the city of Thebez, but it would seem that it was a city that was located somewhere near Shechem. It must also be a city that had resisted Abimelech in some way, prompting him to seek his revenge now that he was nearby. Thebez had a fortified tower in the center of the city, and so when Abimelech approached, the people of the city crowded into the tower for refuge. They then went up to the roof of the tower where they could look down and watch Abimelech unsuccessfully attempting to break through the locked doors or gates.

It is easy to understand what Abimelech did next. He had just succeeded in setting fire to the stronghold in the temple of El-Berith, so why not do the same thing here? And so Abimelech and his men drew near to the tower to set fire to it. But in his arrogance and overconfidence, Abimelech drew a little too close to the walls of the tower, so that he was within reach of a projectile from above.

At this point, I must pause to share a footnote in Dale Ralph Davis’ commentary on Judges regarding this millstone:

One can just imagine a husband panting beside his wife as they run to refuge in the Thebez tower, exasperated that his wife insists on lugging her upper millstone along. Doubtless she responded: “Now, dear, you never know when you might need a good millstone.”²²

Actually, the presence of this millstone makes good sense. If Abimelech were to lay siege to this tower, it might be some time before he either prevailed or gave up and went home. No doubt there were some bags of grain and containers of water up there as well. This way the grain could be ground into flour, and food could be prepared.

Arnold Fruchtenbaum, a classmate in our seminary days, writes this about the millstone:

An upper millstone was between twelve and eighteen inches in diameter, and several inches thick, and could have weighed as much as twenty-seven pounds. It was quite a heavy object, and as a result, it broke his skull. This incident will be remembered many years later by King David (II Sam. 11:21).²³ Once again in Judges, it is a woman who obtains the victory and gets the glory for her faith.

One of my friends shared his daughter’s response to this story after the Scripture text was read. She turned to her father and said, “This is going to be even better than the story of Jael and the tent peg!” Can you imagine this unnamed woman’s amazement to look down from her lofty perch on the tower roof and see Abimelech standing directly below her? There she stood, with her upper millstone in her hands. It was too easy (I was about to say it was a “no-brainer”) for her to release the stone and watch it land on his head, crushing his skull.

It was one thing for a soldier to suffer a mortal blow from the enemy while in battle. It was quite another to be struck on the head with a millstone, cast down by a woman. Abimelech had sufficient time to see that a woman had mortally wounded him. In his last moments of life, he ordered his armor-bearer to draw his sword and run him through, so that his death was the result of a more manly blow. But he would not be allowed the honor of a noble death; his would be a death that would be spoken of for years to come, as we see from Joab’s words (anticipating David’s response to the death of Uriah) in 2 Samuel 11:²⁴

21 Who struck down Abimelech the son of Jerub-Besheth? Didn’t a woman throw an upper millstone down on him from the wall so that he died in Thebez? Why did you go so close to the wall?’ Then just say to him, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is also dead’” (2 Samuel 11:21).

It was the worst kind of death a king and military commander could have suffered, and yet it was also appropriate because of Abimelech’s treatment of his brothers.

Seeing that their leader was dead, the followers of Abimelech gave up the fight and went home, leaving the people in the tower of Thebez unharmed. Once again, God sovereignly directed the course of events so that the wicked were punished, as promised, and so that those who were not guilty were unharmed. I cannot help but think of this text in 2 Peter 2:

So you see, the Lord knows how to rescue godly people from their trials, even while keeping the wicked under punishment until the day of final judgment (2 Peter 2:9, NLT).

To God Be the Glory

Judges 9:56-57

56 God repaid Abimelech for the evil he did to his father by murdering his seventy half-brothers. 57 God also repaid the men of Shechem for their evil deeds. The curse spoken by Jotham son of Jerub-Baal fell on them (Judges 9:56-57).

At the beginning of our text (9:25) and now again at the end, the author calls his reader’s attention to the fact that the events that have been described here are not accidental, or even coincidental; they are the fulfillment of God’s word through Jotham, providentially orchestrated by God, whereby He brought judgment upon the guilty while delivering the innocent (regarding the injustice done to Gideon’s sons) from His wrath. He also makes it clear that what Jotham said from Mount Gerizim was a pronouncement (or prophecy) of divine judgment.

Conclusion

At this mid-point in our study of the Book of Judges, it might be good for us to review our reasons for studying Judges. Here are a few of the reasons why I believe our study is not only justified, but required:

The circumstances and culture described in Judges are remarkably similar to our Postmodern age of today.

Neither God, nor men, nor the temptations men and women face, have changed (see Romans 15:4; 1 Corinthians 10:13; James 5:17-18). As were the Canaanites (Genesis 19), so were the Israelites (Judges 19), and so are men today (Romans 1).

Judges gives us the assurance that in spite of man’s unfaithfulness, God will remain true to His covenant promises, and thus He will preserve His people and establish the kingdom He promised.

Judges assures us that God will use the most unlikely (and even unwilling) instruments to achieve His purposes and promises (people like Ehud, Gideon, Samson, and Jael; instruments like ox goads, tent pegs, and upper millstones).

A study of Judges shows how relevant and profitable this Old Testament book is for Christians today, thus illustrating the truth of Paul’s words to Timothy regarding the usefulness of all Scripture in 2 Timothy 3:16-17.

A study of Judges helps us to understand the culture of many in the world today. A friend who has ministered in the Middle East told me that his wife chuckled through this entire message because what I was trying to describe is what they have experienced for many years. The culture of Israel, Shechem, and Abimelech is the culture of the Middle East. Studying Judges helps us to understand how many people think and act today.

Lessons from Judges for the Ancient Israelites

Main lesson: Salvation is not possible through keeping the Mosaic Covenant. In their zeal, the Israelites of Joshua’s day renewed their covenant with God, but Joshua warned them that they would not be able to keep this covenant:

16 The people responded, “Far be it from us to abandon the Lord so we can worship other gods! 17 For the Lord our God took us and our fathers out of slavery in the land of Egypt and performed these awesome miracles before our very eyes. He continually protected us as we traveled and when we passed through nations. 18 The Lord drove out from before us all the nations, including the Amorites who lived in the land. So we too will worship the Lord, for he is our God!”

19 Joshua warned the people, “You will not keep worshiping the Lord, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God who will not forgive your rebellion or your sins. 20 If you abandon the Lord and worship foreign gods, he will turn against you; he will bring disaster on you and destroy you, though he once treated you well.”

21 The people said to Joshua, “No! We really will worship the Lord!” 22 Joshua said to the people, “Do you agree to be witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to worship the Lord?” They replied, “We are witnesses!” 23 Joshua said, “Now put aside the foreign gods that are among you and submit to the Lord God of Israel.”

24 The people said to Joshua, “We will worship the Lord our God and obey him.”

25 That day Joshua drew up an agreement for the people, and he established rules and regulations for them in Shechem. 26 Joshua wrote these words in the Law Scroll of God. He then took a large stone and set it up there under the oak tree near the Lord’s shrine. 27 Joshua said to all the people, “Look, this stone will be a witness against you, for it has heard everything the Lord said to us. It will be a witness against you if you deny your God.” 28 When Joshua dismissed the people, they went to their allotted portions of land (Joshua 24:16-28, emphasis mine).

There was no way that the Israelites of old would be able to earn righteousness and God’s blessings by law keeping. If Judges affirms any doctrine of Scripture, it is the doctrine of the depravity of man. Anyone who seeks to earn salvation through law keeping is not only deceived; they are also on the path to eternal destruction. The only deliverance which saves and secures the sinner is that which is accomplished under the New Covenant, through the shed blood of the Lord Jesus. That is why the author of the Book of Hebrews warned his Hebrew readers that turning back to the Old Covenant would be a tragic mistake. The first step toward salvation is the realization that you are lost, and incapable of obtaining salvation by your own efforts. Judges certainly conveys this message clearly.

The deliverers that God raised up in the Book of Judges were not men who could save men spiritually. There were two main problems with the judges God raised up: (1) they were themselves sinners, in need of deliverance, and, (2) they did not live eternally, so that the peace they brought about ended with their deaths. The same could be said of the Old Testament priests and of Israel’s kings as well. The only Deliverer who can save men eternally is Jesus Christ.

17 For here is the testimony about him: “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.” 18 On the one hand a former command is set aside because it is weak and useless, 19 for the law made nothing perfect. On the other hand a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God. 20 And since this was not done without a sworn affirmation – for the others have become priests without a sworn affirmation, 21 but Jesus did so with a sworn affirmation by the one who said to him, “The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, ‘You are a priest forever’” – 22 accordingly Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant. 23 And the others who became priests were numerous, because death prevented them from continuing in office, 24 but he holds his priesthood permanently since he lives forever. 25 So he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. 26 For it is indeed fitting for us to have such a high priest: holy, innocent, undefiled, separate from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. 27 He has no need to do every day what those priests do, to offer sacrifices first for their own sins and then for the sins of the people, since he did this in offering himself once for all. 28 For the law appoints as high priests men subject to weakness, but the word of solemn affirmation that came after the law appoints a son made perfect forever (Hebrews 7:17-28, emphasis mine).

The Book of Judges reveals the need for godly leadership, and it also warns that choosing to follow the wrong leader has disastrous consequences. Let men wait for the day when God will raise up His king. Ultimately that king will not be David, or Solomon; it will be the Lord Jesus Christ. He will defeat His enemies, and He will bring judgment upon the wicked, but blessings on the righteous. God’s promises of judgment and of blessing are sure and unstoppable. Let us be certain that what God says, He will do.

What Does Judges Have to Say to Us?

Judges reminds us of the sinfulness (depravity) of man. For a number of years, I taught seminars in prisons in various parts of the country. In one prison in my home state, I taught high school classes for a summer. I learned that prisoners struggle with the same sins as the rest of us. The difference that I observed was that there was not as much sophistication exercised to make sin look better than it is. Put differently, in prison, sin is practiced “in your face” with very little attempt at hypocrisy. Thus, it is easier to see sin for what it is in such settings.

That’s the way I feel about sin in the Book of Judges. Men are no different today than they were back then, and we all struggle with the same kinds of sin. But in Judges, sin is candidly practiced and openly displayed. It is something like the story Nathan the prophet told David in 2 Samuel 12. The evil which Nathan described to David shocked and angered him. But when Nathan then told David that this was his sin, he was caught off guard. He had already committed himself to condemn such a horrible deed, but now he was faced with the fact that what he had condemned was also what he had done. As we read through Judges, we are shocked and distressed at what we see, and we condemn the evils described. But the convicting work of the Holy Spirit then reveals our own sin of the same kind. Now we see our sin as we should, as God views it. And so Judges reveals not only the depravity of man, but it reveals my depravity, my sin, as well.

Our text teaches me that choosing the wrong leader and putting our trust in him (or her) have disastrous effects. The people of Shechem put their trust in Abimelech, rather than in God, and later they put their trust in Gaal, rather than God. Gaal did not save them; he simply ran for his life, and then was unable to lead (because he was thrown out of town by Zebul). Abimelech cared little for the people of Shechem, whether they were relatives or not. He chose to dwell in another town, seldom making an appearance in Shechem. And when his authority was challenged, he became a bitter and vengeful foe. He killed everyone in Shechem and would have killed everyone in Thebes as well, if he could have done so.

Abimelech is like Satan in this regard. He promises to provide protection and blessings for all those who submit to him. But once men are under his power, he becomes an oppressive tyrant. He does not save or deliver; he keeps men in bondage. He does not protect life; he is a destroyer. He does not keep his promises for he is a liar. And yet many fall prey to him because they believe his seductive lies.

How different is our Lord’s leadership from that of Abimelech and Satan. Abimelech gained his leadership position by killing his brothers. Jesus gained His position by laying down His life for his brothers. Abimelech’s leadership style was cruel and oppressive. Our Lord described His leadership role in very different terms:

28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke on you and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy to bear, and my load is not hard to carry” (Matthew 11:28-30).

25 But Jesus called them and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those in high positions use their authority over them. 26 It must not be this way among you! Instead whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave – 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:25-28).

Our text is an excellent demonstration of the fact that God is not only able to execute justice in such a way that the wicked get exactly what they deserve, He is also able to judge in such a way as to protect those who are innocent. Abimelech and the leaders of Shechem perish for their treachery in the murder of Gideon’s sons who were Abimelech’s rivals. Gaal, his relatives, and the people of Thebez were spared because they had no part in this evil. Is it not a great encouragement to realize that God’s timing and His work of deliverance and destruction are always done with great precision. There are no accidents in what God brings to pass. His ways are perfect.

We should also take note that God’s deliverance and judgment in our text comes about providentially. That is to say that the judgment that fell on the wicked and the deliverance of the innocent was accomplished through those who did not know or worship God. God used wicked people to accomplish His purposes in our text. If someone were there and were looking on as these events took place, they would undoubtedly have perceived what happened as something entirely natural, rather than the providential intervention of God. They would have thought that all of this “just happened.” They would be wrong, for our author makes it very clear to his readers that these things happened because God brought them to pass, to fulfill His purposes and His promises.

When you read the newspaper or watch the news on television, the world appears to be in chaos. Let us not despair, as though no one is in control. I would suggest that our text teaches us to view the apparent chaos of our world differently than we often do, as the unseen hand of God, bringing about the fulfillment of His plans and purposes. Our text teaches and illustrates the wonderful truth of the sovereignty of God. God is in complete control of everything that happens. That is how He can fulfill the curse of Jotham in such a precise way. There is no question but what God’s plans and purposes will come to pass as He providentially or more visibly governs the affairs of men.

If God is sovereign (and He surely is!), then our text has a lesson to teach us regarding vengeance and revenge. Gideon and Abimelech seem determined to get revenge on their enemies. Christians, too, can be tempted to take matters into their own hands and to see to it that justice is done (vigilante style). While we must practice justice, we need not be consumed with thoughts of revenge, and our text is an excellent illustration of why we can leave vengeance to God. He may bring about justice without us, as we can see in Judges.

There is a correlation between the conflict God affected between Abimelech and the leaders of Shechem and the slaughter of the Midianites by “friendly fire” in Judges 7:

21 They stood in order all around the camp. The whole army ran away; they shouted as they scrambled away. 22 When the three hundred men blew their trumpets, the Lord caused the Midianites to attack one another with their swords throughout the camp. The army fled to Beth Shittah on the way to Zererah. They went to the border of Abel Meholah near Tabbath (Judges 7:21-22, emphasis mine).

What happened in chapter 7 occurs once again (in a slightly different form) in chapter 9. In chapter 7, God caused the Midianites to turn against each other, killing each other with their swords. Gideon and his 300 soldiers were unarmed. They merely stood by and watched God work. Now, in chapter 9, God turns Abimelech and the leaders of Shechem (once closely allied in the slaughter of Gideon’s sons and in making Abimelech king) against each other, so that Abimelech brings about the destruction of the leaders of Shechem, and they are instrumental in bringing about his destruction.

God has His ways of executing justice so that we do not have to seek revenge. This is why Paul can later write:

17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil; consider what is good before all people. 18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all people. 19 Do not avenge yourselves, dear friends, but give place to God’s wrath, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 Rather, if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in doing this you will be heaping burning coals on his head. 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good (Romans 12:17-21).

Our text also exposes the current teaching of “Open Theology” as a lie that should be rejected as heresy. Open Theology is a rather recent teaching, but its roots reach deep into church history. Open Theology opposes the biblical teaching that God knows everything about the future, including not only what will happen, but also what could happen under differing circumstances.²⁵ More to the point, Open Theology opposes the Scriptural teaching that God is in absolute control of the future, bringing about His predetermined plans and purposes whether through the obedience of His people or the disobedience of those who oppose Him. It portrays a God who is “feeling His way along” in history, learning from His mistakes and doing better as time goes on. But He is (in their imagination) a fallible God, a God who does not and will not determine the future, but will allow men to act independently of Him, and then He will respond to their actions.

How in the world can Open Theology deal with our text in Judges? God promises to bring judgment upon Abimelech and upon the leaders of Shechem for the role they have played in the slaughter of Gideon’s sons. And in the course of only three years, God fulfills this prophecy (as set forth by Jotham) precisely as foretold. And God did so in a way that no one would have recognized as God’s work apart from the claims of His Word (Jotham’s prediction and the statements made in Judges 9). Beyond this, God brought all this to pass through those who didn’t believe in Him and who sought to oppose Him. Does God know everything? Yes! Is God in control of this world and the affairs of men, even though they oppose Him? Yes! Goodbye, Open Theology. Hello, sovereignty! Praise God that He is in control, and not those who oppose Him.

Let me end with two thoughts. First, while God’s judgment comes quickly (in three years) in our text, divine judgment does not always come as quickly as we would wish. That is why the saints have cried out, “How long. . . ?” for centuries.

For the music director; a psalm of David.

How long, Lord, will you continue to ignore me?

How long will you pay no attention to me? (Psalm 13:1)

9 Now when the Lamb opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been violently killed because of the word of God and because of the testimony they had given. 10 They cried out with a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Master, holy and true, before you judge those who live on the earth and avenge our blood?” 11 Each of them was given a long white robe and they were told to rest for a little longer, until the full number was reached of both their fellow servants and their brothers who were going to be killed just as they had been (Revelation 6:9-11, emphasis mine).

God may delay His judgment, but it is always because this fulfills His gracious purposes and promises:

8 Now, dear friends, do not let this one thing escape your notice, that a single day is like a thousand years with the Lord and a thousand years are like a single day. 9 The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some regard slowness, but is being patient toward you, because he does not wish for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief; when it comes, the heavens will disappear with a horrific noise, and the celestial bodies will melt away in a blaze, and the earth and every deed done on it will be laid bare (2 Peter 3:8-10, emphasis mine).

But judgment day for the wicked will come, just as God’s promised blessings will come for the righteous, in His time:

4 Then the third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and the springs of water, and they turned into blood. 5 Now I heard the angel of the waters saying:

“You are just – the one who is and who was,

the Holy One – because you have passed these judgments,

6 because they poured out the blood of your saints and prophets,

so you have given them blood to drink. They got what they deserved!”

7 Then I heard the altar reply, “Yes, Lord God, the All-Powerful, your judgments are true and just!” (Revelation 16:4-7, emphasis mine)

1 After these things I heard what sounded like the loud voice of a vast throng in heaven, saying,

“Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God,

2 because his judgments are true and just.

For he has judged the great prostitute

who corrupted the earth with her sexual immorality,

and has avenged the blood of his servants poured out by her own hands!”

3 Then a second time the crowd shouted, “Hallelujah!” The smoke rises from her forever and ever.

4 The twenty-four elders and the four living creatures threw themselves to the ground and worshiped God, who was seated on the throne, saying: “Amen! Hallelujah!”

5 Then a voice came from the throne, saying:

“Praise our God

all you his servants,

and all you who fear Him,

both the small and the great!”

6 Then I heard what sounded like the voice of a vast throng, like the roar of many waters and like loud crashes of thunder. They were shouting:

“Hallelujah!

For the Lord our God, the All-Powerful, reigns!

7 Let us rejoice and exult

and give him glory,

because the wedding celebration of the Lamb has come,

and his bride has made herself ready.

8 She was permitted to be dressed in bright, clean, fine linen” (for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints).

9 Then the angel said to me, “Write the following: Blessed are those who are invited to the banquet at the wedding celebration of the Lamb!” He also said to me, “These are the true words of God.” 10 So I threw myself down at his feet to worship him, but he said, “Do not do this! I am only a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony about Jesus. Worship God, for the testimony about Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (Revelation 19:1-10).

There is a day coming when God will fulfill His promises of judgment (for the wicked) and of blessing (for the righteous).

And just as people are appointed to die once, and then to face judgment (Hebrews 9:27).

24 “I tell you the solemn truth, the one who hears my message and believes the one who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned, but has crossed over from death to life. 25 I tell you the solemn truth, a time is coming – and is now here – when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. 26 For just as the Father has life in himself, thus he has granted the Son to have life in himself, 27 and he has granted the Son authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man.

28 “Do not be amazed at this, because a time is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice 29 and will come out – the ones who have done what is good to the resurrection resulting in life, and the ones who have done what is evil to the resurrection resulting in condemnation” (John 5:24-29).

If the blessings of salvation and eternal life were based upon our faithfulness to God and on our obedience to His commands, we would all be in trouble – we would all be in hell. The Book of Judges is here to remind us that no one can earn God’s blessings by their good deeds. And that is why God’s king must come, King Jesus. He came first to bear the punishment we deserve for our sins, and to give His righteousness to all who believe in Him. He will come again to bring judgment on all those who have rejected Him and His provision for salvation, and to bring eternal blessings for those who have placed their trust in Him for salvation.

3 We ought to thank God always for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith flourishes more and more and the love of each one of you all for one another is ever greater. 4 As a result we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and afflictions you are enduring. 5 This is evidence of God’s righteous judgment, to make you worthy of the kingdom of God, for which in fact you are suffering. 6 For it is right for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, 7 and to you who are being afflicted to give rest together with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels. 8 With flaming fire he will mete out punishment on those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will undergo the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his strength, 10 when he comes to be glorified among his saints and admired on that day among all who have believed – and you did in fact believe our testimony (2 Thessalonians 1:3-10).

The people of Shechem placed their trust in the wrong person – first in Abimelech, and then later in Gaal. The people of Shechem sought to find protection within the walls of the city, and others in the inner sanctuary of the temple of El-Berith. They sought salvation from the wrong source. Our safety and salvation comes only from the God who has delivered His people throughout the centuries. There is a “tower” to which we can flee for salvation and safety, and that “tower” is none other than our Lord Jesus:

The name of the Lord is like a strong tower;

the righteous person runs to it and is set safely on high (Proverbs 18:10).

Indeed, you are my shelter,

a strong tower that protects me from the enemy (Psalm 61:3).

Flee to Jesus for safety, my friend, for salvation comes only from Him. Flee to Jesus, my friend, because those who reject Him will face Him in the Day of Judgment.

Suggestions for Further Thought and Reflection

Our text, like the rest of the Book of Judges, contains a wealth of revelation. The deeper you dig into this book, the more you find. In this message, I have sought to focus on some of the major areas of emphasis, but there are many matters that are more subtle that are well worth further consideration. Let me mention a few of these without much comment.

First, there are those like Younger who are convinced that Abimelech’s mother was a Canaanite.

“While not explicitly stated in the text, it is nevertheless a clear inference this Shechemite concubine is a non-Israelite (i.e., a Canaanite). Abimelech’s own carefully worded argument of 9:2 makes this clear. With Gideon, we have a cyclical/major judge who, in clear contradiction to Yahweh’s commandment, is having conjugal relations with a Canaanite!” (K. Lawson Younger Jr., Judges and Ruth (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2002), p. 210; see also p. 232.

Are you convinced that this is, or is not, the case? What difference does it make?

Second, one of Israel’s sins mentioned in our text was forgetting God and the deliverance He achieved for Israel. Another sin was not showing gratitude toward the family of Gideon for the role he played in their deliverance. Does this relate to the New Testament teaching and practice of remembering our Lord’s “deliverance” at Calvary each week at the Lord’s Table? Should we express our gratitude toward those whom God has used to proclaim God’s deliverance through Jesus to us? If so, what form(s) should this take?

Third (and finally!), there are a number of subtleties in our text that would not be immediately apparent to those unskilled in the original (Hebrew) language of the Old Testament. Younger (pp. 230-232) deals with some of these.

There is one subtlety that really got my attention. I was puzzled as to why the author made it a point to tell his readers (twice – 9:5, 18) that the 70 sons of Gideon were killed on “one stone.” It was not until I considered Younger’s observations²⁶ that it all made sense. It was on “one stone” that Abimelech slaughtered his brothers; now it is “one stone” that is cast down by an unnamed woman that brings retribution upon Abimelech for his wickedness. It is subtle, but it is also somehow poetic; the punishment so appropriately fits the crime. Many other subtleties are evident in our text, which reminds me that this book (and particularly this chapter) is written with the same skill and attention to detail as is given by the psalmists to their psalms. The deeper one goes into the details of this book, the more impressed one is with the wisdom of God and the richness of His Word.

---

¹ Copyright © 2009 by Robert L. Deffinbaugh. This is the edited manuscript of Lesson 11 in the series, The Dark Days of Israel’s Judges, prepared by Robert L. Deffinbaugh on October 25, 2009. Anyone is at liberty to use this lesson for educational purposes only, with or without credit.

2 Or perhaps 69 sons, since Jotham, one of the 70, escaped death at the hand of his brother, Abimelech.

3 This really is a battle of the gods in the sense that the only true God, the God of Israel, will prove Himself the deliverer of His people and the destroyer of the pagan no-gods and those who follow them. Jerub-Baal (let Baal contend for himself) – the name Gideon’s father gave him in Judges 6:31-32 – is the better name to use for Gideon in this context.

4 Literally “his mother’s brothers.”

5 Some may question this assumption, but it certainly seems coincidental that the 70 pieces of silver exactly corresponded to the number of sons who would need to be put to death. What is clear is that God held the leaders of Shechem responsible for “strengthening Abimelech’s hands to kill his brothers” (9:24).

6 The term for reigning as king is also found in 9:8, 10, 12, 14, 15, 16, 18. See Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum, Judges and Ruth (San Antonio, Texas: Ariel Ministries, 2007), p. 121.

7 K. Lawson Younger Jr., Judges and Ruth (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2002), p. 224.

8 The original text literally reads “an evil spirit from the Lord.” The same expression is also found in 1 Samuel 16:14, where God sent an “evil spirit” to terrorize Saul (after the Spirit of the Lord had departed from him). It seems to me that we must see what is happening here as the work of a demonic spirit, and that this is not merely some “spirit of animosity or hostility” as the NKJV and NJB would suggest.

9 Gaal sounds quite similar to Baal. Is there some providential word play taking place here?

10 The rendering of the ESV makes the most sense of this sentence: "Who is Abimelech, and who are we of Shechem, that we should serve him?”

11 Abimelech’s words sound a great deal like those of Absalom (see 2 Samuel 15:1-13).

12 A form of the word “baal” is used here to refer to the leaders of Shechem. Actually, the term occurs 16 times in chapter 9, referring to the leaders of Shechem. The CSB often renders it “lords” – the “lords of Shechem.” I cannot understand how the NASB can render this “the men of Shechem” when it is to the leaders of Shechem that the author is referring. It is yet (in my opinion) another word play in our text.

13 There are two different readings of the Septuagint (Greek) translation of verse 25. One says that the leaders were persuaded by Gaal, and the other says that they put their hope in Gaal. They pinned their hopes on Gaal, rather than on God. That will never work, for misplaced trust always leads to trouble.

14 My language here has been influenced by Dale Ralph Davis, for he has a very clever way of putting things. See Dale Ralph Davis, Such a Great Salvation: Expositions of the Book of Judges (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1990), p 125.

15 See Genesis 34:24; Ruth 4:1; Proverbs 31:23, 31.

16 See verse 42.

17 One cannot help but think of New Testament texts such as Luke 17:26-30 and 1 Thessalonians 5:1-3, which speak of God’s judgment coming suddenly upon those who do not expect it.

18 The relationship of the “Tower of Shechem” and the city of Shechem is unclear (not only to me, but to others). Was this a separate fortification within (or somewhat removed from) Shechem? Fortunately, the answer to this question has little bearing on our understanding of this passage.

19 El is a term from god (or God), and Berith is the term which means covenant. It would seem that Baal-Berith and El-Berith are the same god who was worshipped by the Israelites in this area.

20 Several translations read that Abimelech set the branches on fire “above,” “over,” or “upon” the people gathered there.

21 Younger notes that while “fire proceeds from Abimelech, destroying the leaders of Shechem,” it is difficult to see how literal “fire” comes forth from the leaders of Shechem, destroying Abimelech. His solution is to suggest a word play between the word for “fire” and the word for “woman.” See K. Lawson Younger Jr., Judges and Ruth (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2002), p. 230.

22 Dale Ralph Davis, Such a Great Salvation: Expositions of the Book of Judges (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1990), p. 127, fn. 11.

23 Arnold Fruchtenbaum, The Books of Judges and Ruth (San Antonio, Texas: Ariel Ministries, 2007), p. 128.

24 These are the words of rebuke Joab anticipated from David when he learned that Uriah had been killed because he was too close to the walls of the city they were attacking.

25 Open Theology rejects the absolute omniscience (God knows all) of God. Proponents of this error believe that while God knows everything in the future that is reality, any future events that are dependent upon men’s decisions and actions are not yet reality, and thus no one – not even God! – can know what does not yet exist. There are many excellent sources which refute the errors of Open Theology. When all is said and done, Open Theology presents us with a God who does not know what we will do, or what He will do until after men have acted. Open Theology makes God’s will dependent upon men’s decisions, not upon God’s eternal purposes. I would suggest that you begin with what John Piper and other likeminded men have said on this topic:

http://www.desiringgod.org/Search/?search=Open+Theology&x=14&y=8

26 See K. Lawson Younger Jr., Judges and Ruth (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2002), p. 230.

Introduction

I have a good friend and respected pastor who long ago was teaching through the Book of Romans. When he got to chapter 9 – one of the most difficult chapters for some – he decided to skip it. As I come to our text for today, that thought came to mind. How easy it would be for me to simply pass this difficult text by in our study of Judges, as though it wasn’t there. But it is here in our Bibles, and a high view of Scripture compels me to deal with it, difficult or not.

I must confess that I have struggled a great deal with this text. I am more than willing to point out the weaknesses and failures of other men in the Book of Judges, but find it very difficult to think the worst of Jephthah because I like him, except for what I read about his vow and his daughter. As the father of five lovely daughters, I can hardly believe what I am reading. Nevertheless, I have purposed to take the text as it stands and to seek to learn the lessons God has for us here.

While I have undertaken a monumental task in this lesson – covering three chapters in one message – I feel we must look at Jephthah’s life in its entirety rather than divide these chapters into smaller portions of Scripture. And so, by the grace of God, we shall proceed.

What’s With These Minor Judges?

Judges 10:1-5; 12:8-15

1 After Abimelech’s death, Tola son of Puah, grandson of Dodo, from the tribe of Issachar, rose up to deliver Israel. He lived in Shamir in the Ephraimite hill country. 2 He led Israel for twenty-three years, then died and was buried in Shamir. 3 Jair the Gileadite rose up after him; he led Israel for twenty-two years. 4 He had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys and possessed thirty cities. To this day these towns are called Havvoth Jair – they are in the land of Gilead. 5 Jair died and was buried in Kamon (Judges 10:1-5).²

8 After him Ibzan of Bethlehem led Israel. 9 He had thirty sons. He arranged for thirty of his daughters to be married outside his extended family, and he arranged for thirty young women to be brought from outside as wives for his sons. Ibzan led Israel for seven years; 10 then he died and was buried in Bethlehem. 11 After him Elon the Zebulunite led Israel for ten years. 12 Then Elon the Zebulunite died and was buried in Aijalon in the land of Zebulun. 13 After him Abdon son of Hillel the Pirathonite led Israel. 14 He had forty sons and thirty grandsons who rode on seventy donkeys. He led Israel for eight years. 15 Then Abdon son of Hillel the Pirathonite died and was buried in Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, in the hill country of the Amalekites (Judges 12:8-15).

Interspersed among the accounts of the “major judges” are some very brief comments regarding “minor judges.” We must understand “major” and “minor” the way these terms are used with reference to the prophetic books of the Bible. “Major” Prophets are not necessarily prophetic works that are more important than the “Minor” Prophets; they are simply shorter books. So, too, the “minor judges” are those judges about whom we are given very little information. For one reason or another, the author has chosen to focus on a few of the judges, giving much more detail about their lives and their role in God’s deliverance of His people.

At the beginning of our text, we are introduced to Tola and Jair (10:1-5). At the end of our text, we encounter Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon (12:8-15). The reason these men are referred to as “minor judges” is that we are not given any details about the way these men were used to deliver the Israelites. Instead, we are given a few basic facts about them. We are told something about their family. In each instance, we know the tribe of the judge that is mentioned. In the case of Jair and Ibzan, we are told that these judges had 30 sons. Ibzan also had 30 daughters, whom he gave in marriage to those outside his clan.³

In addition to family or genealogical information pertaining to the minor judges, we are also told the length of their rule and the place of their death. Why was it important to know where these folks died? I’m not sure, but perhaps their tombs were to be a memorial, a reminder of the deliverance God had given through these judges.

But why mention these minor judges so briefly without supplying more information? I believe that one of the author’s reasons for including these brief references to minor judges is that he wants us to be well aware of how many judges God raised up. This would serve as an indication of the degree to which sin (and divine discipline) was prevalent in Israel. If there were many judges, then Israel was given over to oppressors many times, and this would be because the Israelites had so frequently given themselves over to heathen gods and practices. The more judges, the greater God’s grace is shown to have been.

There is yet another reason, I believe, for including these minor judges in the Book of Judges. There were many judges who ruled during the period of the judges, and so far as I can tell none of them ruled over all of Israel. In each case, judges were raised up to deliver certain tribes or even smaller groups. When all of the judges are taken into account, most of the tribes are accounted for.

When we come to expressions like “the sons of Israel,” “men of Israel,” or “Israel,” we almost automatically assume that the author is speaking of the nation Israel as a whole, but this is often – perhaps most often – not the case in the Book of Judges. We can see this in Judges 9 where we are told that Abimelech “ruled over Israel for three years” (9:22). Abimelech’s rule was over Shechem and a few cities in the valley near Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal. In verse 55, we are told that when the “Israelites saw that Abimelech was dead they went home.” Once again, this is not all Israel, but the Israelites in that limited geographical area.

Thus, when we come to these five “minor judges” at the beginning of chapter 10 and at the end of chapter 12, we should recognize that their rule was limited to a smaller area than all of Israel. This can be seen by our author’s words regarding Jair in Judges 10:3-5. He had 30 sons who rode 30 donkeys, and they ruled over 30 towns in Gilead, not all of Israel. The realm of each judge was a limited kingdom, rather than a national kingdom.

It seems to me that one of the things we see in the Book of Judges is the disintegration of the unity and solidarity of the Israelite tribes. It began with the tribes acting somewhat independently of one another. Granted, there was some cooperation between the tribes, but united effort was limited to a few of the tribes at most. Eventually, the Israelites would become “rugged individualists,” with each Israelite doing what seemed right in his own eyes.

Politically, it looks to me as though government in Israel has diminished to that of numerous “city states,” not unlike we find practiced by the Canaanites.⁴ This was not the way it was supposed to work in Israel, but what we find in Judges is that it will take a strong king to unify this nation so that the Israelites in all the tribes stand together against their moral and political enemies. This will happen for a short time under David and Solomon, but soon thereafter Israel becomes a divided kingdom with Israelites fighting amongst themselves.

I believe we see the same kind of individualism today in the West, particularly in the United States. We see individualism in the church as well. Churches act independently of each other, and unfortunately some see themselves as being in competition with other churches (for status, members, and money). And even within a local church, there are many who avoid shepherding groups and or other means of holding them accountable. The only perfect and permanent solution is the coming of the King of Kings, who will unite not only all the tribes of Israel, but also all believers, whether they be Jew or Gentile, rich or poor, slave or free (see Galatians 3:28-29). The church in this age is to foreshadow this full and final unity.

Israel’s “Repentance” and God’s Mercy

Judges 10:6-16

6 The Israelites again did evil in the Lord’s sight. They worshiped the Baals and the Ashtars, as well as the gods of Syria, Sidon, Moab, the Ammonites, and the Philistines. They abandoned the Lord and did not worship him. 7 The Lord was furious with Israel and turned them over to the Philistines and Ammonites. 8 They ruthlessly oppressed the Israelites that eighteenth year – that is, all the Israelites living east of the Jordan in Amorite country in Gilead. 9 The Ammonites crossed the Jordan to fight with Judah, Benjamin, and Ephraim. Israel suffered greatly.

10 The Israelites cried out for help to the Lord: “We have sinned against you. We abandoned our God and worshiped the Baals.” 11 The Lord said to the Israelites, “Did I not deliver you from Egypt, the Amorites, the Ammonites, the Philistines, 12 the Sidonians, Amalek, and Midian when they oppressed you? You cried out for help to me, and I delivered you from their power. 13 But since you abandoned me and worshiped other gods, I will not deliver you again. 14 Go and cry for help to the gods you have chosen! Let them deliver you from trouble!” 15 But the Israelites said to the Lord, “We have sinned. You do to us as you see fit, but deliver us today!” 16 They threw away the foreign gods they owned and worshiped the Lord. Finally the Lord grew tired of seeing Israel suffer so much (Judges 10:6-16).

The first sentence of verse 6 sums it all up: Israel once again did evil in God’s sight. Unfortunately, these are familiar words to the reader.⁵ Usually the author sums up Israel’s sin in a verse, but in 3:12 it is accomplished by a mere sentence. Likewise, judgment usually comes from one direction and perhaps from only one adversary. Here, we find several things that set this description of Israel’s sin apart from what we have seen earlier.

First, the description of the sins of the Israelites is more extensive than what we have seen earlier in Judges. It is not just one heathen deity that is named;⁶ it is a whole list of deities, deities of different nations. It is, of course, possible for a person to worship many deities, such as Solomon did at the end,⁷ but this description seems to refer to Israel as a nation, Israel as a whole (made up of all those little Israelite city states within the nation). The gods listed are those being worshipped by the various tribes throughout Israel at this point in time. The effect is to underscore just how bad things have gotten in Israel, and this explains the severity of Israel’s judgment and God’s reluctance to come rushing to their aid, once again.

Second, we are told that the Israelites are sold or given into the hands of the Philistines and the Ammonites. Now the Philistines are to be found on the western side of Israel, while the Ammonites are on the east, east of the Jordan. Samson will be Israel’s deliverer from the Philistines (chapters 13-16), while Jephthah will be Israel’s deliverer from the Ammonites (chapters 11 and 12). The Ammonites are approaching Israel, and their intentions are far from friendly. What is Israel to do?

For 18 years, the Israelites had suffered at the hands of the Ammonites, and it finally seems to have occurred to them that their Canaanite gods were doing them no good. Likewise, they remembered that their only true Deliverer was God, the God of Israel. And so they cried out to God, confessing that they had sinned against Him, and assuring Him that they had forsaken their worship of the Baals.⁸ The Lord was not impressed with their “repentance” because He had seen it before, and it didn’t last. He reminded the Israelites of all the nations from which He had delivered them, only to be forgotten and forsaken when their suffering ended. And so God threatens to leave them to their gods in whom they have trusted.

The Israelites know full well that the pagan deities cannot and will not deliver them. In biblical terminology, “Salvation is of the Lord,” from the Lord alone.⁹ They persist in their appeal for God’s deliverance, and God finally responds, not so much because of their repentance (which was shallow and superficial), but because He could bear their suffering no longer. God’s mercy is the basis for Israel’s salvation.

Jephthah and the Ammonites

Jephthah’s Promotion

Judges 10:17—11:11

10:17 The Ammonites assembled and camped in Gilead; the Israelites gathered together and camped in Mizpah. 18 The leaders of Gilead said to one another,¹⁰ “Who is willing to lead the charge against the Ammonites? He will become the leader of all who live in Gilead!”

11:1 Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a brave warrior. His mother was a prostitute, but Gilead was his father. 2 Gilead’s wife also gave him sons. When his wife’s sons grew up, they made Jephthah leave and said to him, “You are not going to inherit any of our father’s wealth, because you are another woman’s son.” 3 So Jephthah left his half-brothers and lived in the land of Tob. Lawless men¹¹ joined Jephthah’s gang and traveled with him.

4 It was some time after this when the Ammonites fought with Israel. 5 When the Ammonites attacked, the leaders of Gilead asked Jephthah to come back from the land of Tob. 6 They said, “Come, be our commander, so we can fight with the Ammonites.” 7 Jephthah said to the leaders of Gilead, “But you hated me and made me leave my father’s house. Why do you come to me now, when you are in trouble?” 8 The leaders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “That may be true, but now we pledge to you our loyalty. Come with us and fight with the Ammonites. Then you will become the leader of all who live in Gilead.” 9 Jephthah said to the leaders of Gilead, “All right! If you take me back to fight with the Ammonites and the Lord gives them to me, I will be your leader.” 10 The leaders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “The Lord will judge any grievance you have against us, if we do not do as you say.” 11 So Jephthah went with the leaders of Gilead. The people made him their leader and commander. Jephthah repeated the terms of the agreement before the Lord in Mizpah (Judges 10:17—11:11).

At this point, Jephthah enters the story as he is the deliverer that God raised up to rescue the Israelites from the cruel oppression of the Ammonites. He was a brave and powerful warrior, but he, like Abimelech before him, had a less than impeccable pedigree. His father was Gilead, but his mother was a prostitute. Unlike Abimelech, who did away with his brothers, Jephthah was driven off by his (more legitimate) brothers. Over time, a group of rather unsavory men gathered about Jephthah, and it seems as though they engaged in some kind of military endeavors. It seems that it was these military ventures that proved Jephthah to be a “mighty man of valor.”¹² They did not want to share any of their inheritance with him. But now that the Ammonites were about to wage war against them, the Israelites were very eager to recruit Jephthah as their commander-in-chief (with the emphasis on the word “commander”).

One cannot fault Jephthah for being skeptical about the Israelites’ invitation to return and to lead the nation in battle. Why should he be interested in delivering those who had driven him off earlier? And could these folks be trusted? Would they “use” him as much and as long as they could, and then cast him aside, or would he be free to direct the Israelites without interference? The leaders of Gilead assured Jephthah that they would make him their leader and that he would be remembered as Israel’s deliverer for a long, long time.

And so Jephthah agreed to lead the Israelites in battle. Jephthah promised to be their leader if the Lord granted him victory over the Ammonites. The leaders of Gilead functionally vowed to stand with and under Jephthah. In turn, Jephthah repeated the terms of his agreement with the Israelites “before the Lord in Mizpah.” This was virtually a covenant between God and Jephthah and the nation of Israel, as can be discerned from the author’s statement that Jephthah repeated the specific commitments of this agreement before the Lord (verse 11).

Jephthah’s Diplomatic Effort

Judges 11:12-28

12 Jephthah sent messengers to the Ammonite king, saying, “Why have you come against me to attack my land?” 13 The Ammonite king said to Jephthah’s messengers, “Because Israel stole my land when they came up from Egypt – from the Arnon River in the south to the Jabbok River in the north, and as far west as the Jordan. Now return it peaceably!”

14 Jephthah sent messengers back to the Ammonite king 15 and said to him, “This is what Jephthah says, ‘Israel did not steal the land of Moab and the land of the Ammonites. 16 When they left Egypt, Israel traveled through the desert as far as the Red Sea and then came to Kadesh. 17 Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, “Please allow us to pass through your land.” But the king of Edom rejected the request. Israel sent the same request to the king of Moab, but he was unwilling to cooperate. So Israel stayed at Kadesh. 18 Then Israel went through the desert and bypassed the land of Edom and the land of Moab. They traveled east of the land of Moab and camped on the other side of the Arnon River; they did not go through Moabite territory (the Arnon was Moab’s border). 19 Israel sent messengers to King Sihon, the Amorite king who ruled in Heshbon, and said to him, “Please allow us to pass through your land to our land.” 20 But Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his territory. He assembled his whole army, camped in Jahaz, and fought with Israel. 21 The Lord God of Israel handed Sihon and his whole army over to Israel and they defeated them. Israel took all the land of the Amorites who lived in that land. 22 They took all the Amorite territory from the Arnon River on the south to the Jabbok River on the north, from the desert in the east to the Jordan in the west. 23 Since the Lord God of Israel has driven out the Amorites before his people Israel, do you think you can just take it from them? 24 You have the right to take what Chemosh your god gives you, but we will take the land of all whom the Lord our God has driven out before us. 25 Are you really better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he dare to quarrel with Israel? Did he dare to fight with them? 26 Israel has been living in Heshbon and its nearby towns, in Aroer and its nearby towns, and in all the cities along the Arnon for three hundred years! Why did you not reclaim them during that time? 27 I have not done you wrong, but you are doing wrong by attacking me. May the Lord, the Judge, judge this day between the Israelites and the Ammonites!’” 28 But the Ammonite king disregarded the message sent by Jephthah (Judges 11:12-28).

To his credit (in my opinion), Jephthah sought to avoid a military confrontation by first attempting a diplomatic solution. He sent emissaries to the Ammonite king (note that he is not named), inquiring why he was in the process of attacking Israel. The king’s response was direct and to the point. Roughly paraphrased he said, “I am coming to take back the land that rightfully belongs to the Ammonites because the Israelites stole it from us when they made their way from Egypt to the Promised Land. Give it back to us, and there will be no need to fight with you.”

It is interesting to observe what happens when Jephthah does battle with the Ephraimites at the end of chapter 12. Every time an Ephraimite attempted to say “Shibboleth,” it came out “Sibboleth,” knowing that the outcome was the difference between life and death (12:5-6). When we come to chapter 11, there is a very important distinction which the reader must make; it is noting the difference between the Ammonites and the Amorites.

The Ammonites were “distant cousins” of the Israelites, originating from the son of Lot’s union with his younger daughter (Genesis 19:38). The Moabites were descendants of Lot’s union with his older daughter (Genesis 19:36-37). The Edomites were the descendants of Edom (Esau). The Amorites were not relatives of the Israelites. Indeed, the term Amorites was almost synonymous with Canaanites:

12 When the sun went down, Abram fell sound asleep, and great terror overwhelmed him. 13 Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign country. They will be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years. 14 But I will execute judgment on the nation that they will serve. Afterward they will come out with many possessions. 15 But as for you, you will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. 16 In the fourth generation your descendants will return here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its limit” (Genesis 15:12-16, emphasis mine).

When the Israelites escaped from Egypt, God directed them to approach Canaan from the eastern side of the Dead Sea and the Jordan River. This required the Israelites to pass through (or close by)¹³ the land of the Edomites, the Moabites, and the Ammonites. God would not give the Israelites the land which He had already given to their relatives,¹⁴ but the Amorites were another matter altogether. When the Israelites approached the Amorite kings, Sihon and Og, they made the same request they had made of their brothers, the Edomites and the Moabites. Sihon and Og chose to attack the Israelites, rather than to allow them to pass through their land. God gave the Israelites the victory, so that Israel possessed their land. This was the territory running north from the Arnon River to the Jabbok River (a distance of about 50 miles), and eastward from the Jordan River for a distance of about 20 miles.¹⁵ The Ammonites’ land was to the east of Israel’s new territory (formerly belonging to the Amorites), for a distance of approximately 20 to 30 miles.¹⁶

So, when all is said and done, the king of the Ammonites was wrong. The Israelites did not take possession of Ammonite land; they fought with and defeated the Amorites, taking possession of their land. The land east of the Jordan was then divided among the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half of the tribe of Manasseh.¹⁷

God gave the Amorites into the hand of the Israelites, who defeated them and possessed their land.¹⁸ But He did not allow the Israelites to possess the territory of the Ammonites:

“However, you did not approach the land of the Ammonites, the Wadi Jabbok, the cities of the hill country, or any place else forbidden by the Lord our God” (Deuteronomy 2:37).

The king of the Ammonites attempted to “re-write history” so that he would be justified in his efforts to seize Israel’s land east of the Jordan. Jephthah knew his history, and he rather neatly put the Ammonite king in his place.

But Jephthah wasn’t finished. He had several other lines of defense which he conveyed to this ambitious king. In addition to his historical argument, Jephthah added his theological argument. Israel is merely dwelling on the land that God (the only true God, the God of Israel) gave them. The Ammonites should likewise be content with what their god, Chemosh, gives them. If Israel’s God is a greater God than the no-god Chemosh, the Ammonites would be well advised to “back off” or become the adversaries of Israel’s God.

Jephthah now raises a third argument, based upon the actions of Balak, king of Moab. Balak was threatened by Israel’s presence nearby (even if they claimed merely to be passing by). Balak may have tried to deal with Israel’s threat by hiring Balaam to curse Israel (something that didn’t work and that is not mentioned here), but the one thing he didn’t do was to gather his army and seek to prevail over the Israelites in battle. If Balak did not find it advisable to attack Israel, then perhaps the king of Ammon should learn from his example.

There is a fourth and final argument, a chronological argument. It wasn’t as though Israel had just recently come into possession of the territory east of the Jordan. Her military victories and possession of the trans-Jordan territory occurred some 300 years ago, and thus for 300 years, the Israelites had possession of this land. The Ammonites (and anyone else who dared to try) had ample time and opportunities to attempt taking possession of the trans-Jordan territory of the Israelites. If there is a “statute of limitations” for certain actions, surely it would apply to Israel’s possession of this land.

Jephthah now concludes his debate with the king of the Ammonites in verse 27:

“I have not done you wrong, but you are doing wrong by attacking me. May the Lord, the Judge, judge this day between the Israelites and the Ammonites!”

This is the kind of diplomacy I like. It is not the “diplomacy” which has as its goal the avoidance of conflict at any cost. It is the straightforward, plain talk that seeks to discern the intentions and motivations of the adversary, that attempts to correct misinformation, and that makes it clear where you stand and what you intend to do. If the Ammonites wish to engage in war, so be it, but it is really nothing more than raw aggression. They are not seeking to correct some long-neglected wrong. And let them be fully aware that any attack will be dealt with on a higher level of authority. If the Ammonites attack, the Israelites will fight, but they will also rest their case with God, who is Judge over all. And let them recall that those nations which rejected Israel’s peaceful negotiations in the past suffered defeat at the hands of the Israelites and their God.¹⁹

Jephthah’s Vow and Israel’s War with the Ammonites

Judges 11:29-33

29 The Lord’s spirit empowered Jephthah. He passed through Gilead and Manasseh and went to Mizpah in Gilead. From there he approached the Ammonites. 30 Jephthah made a vow to the Lord, saying, “If you really do hand the Ammonites over to me, 31 then whoever is the first to come through the doors of my house to meet me when I return safely from fighting the Ammonites – he will belong to the Lord and I will offer him up as a burnt sacrifice.” 32 Jephthah approached the Ammonites to fight with them, and the Lord handed them over to him. 33 He defeated them from Aroer all the way to Minnith – twenty cities in all, even as far as Abel Keramim! He wiped them out! The Israelites humiliated the Ammonites (Judges 11:29-33).

The king of the Ammonites was not going to be deterred, and so he completely disregarded Jephthah’s diplomatic efforts. There was going to be war and this king, like those before him, would learn the price of waging war against the Israelites and their God. It is at this point that the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah, energizing him for battle. The puzzling part of our passage is that much more space is devoted to Jephthah’s vow and its consequences than to an account of Israel’s victory over the Ammonites.

How is it that the first thing Jephthah does after the Spirit of the Lord comes upon him is to make a vow, a vow that he will later regret? The first thing we should know is that vows like that of Jephthah were not uncommon in Israel.

1 When the Canaanite king of Arad who lived in the Negev heard that Israel was approaching along the road to Atharim, he fought against Israel and took some of them prisoner. 2 So Israel made a vow to the Lord and said, “If you will indeed deliver this people into our hand, then we will utterly destroy their cities” (Numbers 21:1-2).

She made a vow saying, “O Lord of hosts, if you will look with compassion on the suffering of your female servant, remembering me and not forgetting your servant, and give a male child to your servant, then I will dedicate him to the Lord all the days of his life. His hair will never be cut” (1 Samuel 1:11).

9 But as for me, I promise to offer a sacrifice to you with a public declaration of praise;

I will surely do what I have promised [literally, “vowed”].

Salvation belongs to the Lord!” (Jonah 2:9)

It was rather common in Israel for an individual or a group to make a vow, promising that if God gave deliverance (in some manner) that the individual would go to offer a sacrifice and to worship, and there proclaim the work which God had done.²⁰ The psalms supply numerous examples of praise offered to God publicly because of His deliverance. It is important for us to see that it was not wrong for Jephthah to make a vow to God, promising to offer a sacrifice if God would answer his request. Therefore, the only thing wrong with Jephthah’s vow that I can see is that it was carelessly worded.²¹ As we shall see in just a few verses (as reflected in the title of this message), “words matter.”

Jephthah’s Daughter

Judges 11:34-40

34 When Jephthah came home to Mizpah, there was his daughter hurrying out to meet him, dancing to the rhythm of tambourines. She was his only child; except for her he had no son or daughter. 35 When he saw her, he ripped his clothes and said, “Oh no! My daughter! You have completely ruined me! You have brought me disaster! I made an oath to the Lord, and I cannot break it.” 36 She said to him, “My father, since you made an oath to the Lord, do to me as you promised. After all, the Lord vindicated you before your enemies, the Ammonites.” 37 She then said to her father, “Please grant me this one wish. For two months allow me to walk through the hills with my friends and mourn my virginity.” 38 He said, “You may go.” He permitted her to leave for two months. She went with her friends and mourned her virginity as she walked through the hills. 39 After two months she returned to her father, and he did to her as he had vowed. She died a virgin. Her tragic death gave rise to a custom in Israel. 40 Every year Israelite women commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite for four days (Judges 11:34-40).

This is where things really get difficult. The Israelites are victorious, and Jephthah returns to his home. The first person to come from his house to greet him is his daughter, his beloved and only child. If anything is clear, it is that he did not intend for her to be his sacrifice. Jephthah tore his clothes as an expression of his distress. Many have wondered just who he thought would come out of the house. Given the fact that houses often were akin to barns, it is not surprising that he would expect an animal to come from within the house. In my travels, I have sat in the “living room” of humble people, in the company of chickens and goats, which roamed the house freely. Jephthah’s house may likewise have housed some animals. But was he wise to assume that it would be an animal that would first come out to meet him? Indeed, how many animals actually “greet” their master at the door, animals that could be legitimately sacrificed? Jephthah’s vow is indeed troubling, and now it would seem that he was obligated to keep his vow.

Was there any acceptable way out of his vow? Jephthah did not think so, and neither did his daughter. Some students of Scripture think that God would not have expected him to fulfill such a foolish vow, but it is clear that God did not intervene to prevent this “sacrifice” as He had done with Abraham and Isaac.²² There are also those who would seek to salvage Jephthah’s reputation in this terrible account by claiming that the “sacrifice” was not that of his daughter’s life, but of her freedom to marry and to bear children.

I must admit to you that I very much dislike what I read in our text about the “sacrifice” of Jephthah’s daughter. I would love to find some “way out” that would let me interpret this account in a way that did not include the death of Jephthah’s daughter. But having read many (most, I suspect) of the explanations of this passage which lead to a different conclusion, I have not been convinced by any of them, even though I am predisposed to believe them. It seems to me that Jephthah did make such a foolish vow and that he eventually kept his vow by putting his daughter to death.

In discussing this text with some friends who have lived in the Middle East, I found that they were not as shocked at what is said in our text as I was. Human life is not valued as much as it should be, and for little cause, or money, one can hire a person to end the life of another. Further, one’s honor is valued so highly that the one making a vow might fulfill it no matter how distasteful that might be. Even in the West, a daughter might be killed for the “honor” of the family. We in the West have a difficult time comprehending how things are done elsewhere in the world. Suffice it to say that we live in a very violent world.

Having read and agonized over our text, and having heard all of the possible reasons for viewing it differently,²³ I still am forced to take the passage literally, and thus conclude that Jephthah literally sacrificed his daughter. I know that many will disagree with me here, and I respect their right to do so. But once I start setting texts aside and seeking an interpretation other than the plain and simple meaning of the text, I am no better than those who set aside clear texts, simply because they don’t like what they say. Remember, my friend, we are in the Book of Judges, a book where a dagger is plunged into the belly of a man, where a tent peg is driven through a man’s head, where a mill stone crushes the skull of a man, and where a man’s concubine is tossed to the perverts of the city to abuse as they see fit, only to be cut into twelve pieces after she has died. Given the context, a father’s sacrifice of his daughter is much less shocking than it would be in our world.

There is one more observation I would like to make before we move on to more pleasant matters. This daughter encouraged Jephthah to keep his vow at her expense. Do we once again have a woman as the true hero? She urged her father to be faithful to God, even if it cost her life to do so.

Jephthah, Israel, and the Ephraimites’ Ego

Judges 12:1-7

1 The Ephraimites assembled and crossed over to Zaphon. They said to Jephthah, “Why did you go and fight with the Ammonites without asking us to go with you? We will burn your house down right over you!” 2 Jephthah said to them, “My people and I were entangled in controversy with the Ammonites. I asked for your help, but you did not deliver me from their power. 3 When I saw that you were not going to help, I risked my life and advanced against the Ammonites, and the Lord handed them over to me. Why have you come up to fight with me today?” 4 Jephthah assembled all the men of Gilead and they fought with Ephraim. The men of Gilead defeated Ephraim, because the Ephraimites insulted them, saying, “You Gileadites are refugees in Ephraim, living within Ephraim’s and Manasseh’s territory.” 5 The Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan River opposite Ephraim. Whenever an Ephraimite fugitive said, “Let me cross over,” the men of Gilead asked him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he said, “No,” 6 then they said to him, “Say ‘Shibboleth!’” If he said, “Sibboleth” (and could not pronounce the word correctly), they grabbed him and executed him right there at the fords of the Jordan. On that day forty-two thousand Ephraimites fell dead. 7 Jephthah led Israel for six years; then he died and was buried in his city in Gilead (Judges 12:1-7).

Sadly, this is not the first time that the ego of the Ephraimites has surfaced in the Book of Judges:

1 The Ephraimites said to him, “Why have you done such a thing to us? You did not summon us when you went to fight the Midianites!” They argued vehemently with him. 2 He said to them, “Now what have I accomplished compared to you? Even Ephraim’s leftover grapes are better quality than Abiezer’s harvest! 3 It was to you that God handed over the Midianite generals, Oreb and Zeeb! What did I accomplish to rival that?” When he said this, they calmed down (Judges 8:1-3).

Now, once again we find the Ephraimites talking big after the battle is won, suffering from wounded pride because they wanted greater glory.

I confess, aside from Jephthah’s vow, I like this guy. Unlike the ego flattery employed by Gideon, Jephthah deals with the Ephraimites as he did with the king of Ammon. He is polite, but he speaks the truth in a forthright manner. There is no “mealy mouthing” going on here. His diplomacy employs plain speech, the meaning of which cannot be missed. And it is also clear that he is unwilling to bend the truth in order to avoid conflict. He speaks the truth and is willing to back it up with military might if need be.

Notice two things about the Ephraimites’ words. First, they were untrue. They accused Jephthah of failing to give them the opportunity to join in the battle against the Ammonites (now that the battle had already been won). Jephthah sets the record straight. He did summon the Ephraimites for the battle. The problem wasn’t his failure to call them to battle; it was the Ephraimites’ failure to answer the call and to assist in the battle. These folks talk big, but they do little. They want to be there when the battle is won and the medals are being passed out, but they don’t want to engage in the battle. When Jephthah realized that they weren’t coming, he went to battle without them, facing the dangers that presented. And there was something else these Ephraimites needed to know. The battle was the Lord’s. Had the Ephraimites engaged in this battle, the glory for victory would not have been theirs to claim. It was God who won the battle, and it was God alone who should receive the glory.

The second thing we should note about the words of the Ephraimites is the violence that is threatened. Those who were not courageous enough to engage the Ammonites in battle were now “mighty in word” when it came to their threats against their Israelite brethren. They actually threatened to burn down Jephthah’s house, no doubt with him and his family (a guess that just leaves his wife) inside. The Ephraimites seem prone to anger.²⁴

Jephthah’s words were not well received by the Ephraimites. Like the Ammonites, the Ephraimites had come armed for battle. And so it was necessary for Jephthah to engage in battle with his fellow-Israelites. There was a deeper rift between the Ephraimites and Jephthah and the Gileadites. We know that Jephthah was a Gileadite.²⁵ The land of Gilead was east of the Jordan and was possessed by Ruben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh. The Ephraimites spoke disparagingly of Jephthah’s people, who were of the tribe of Manasseh. The Ephraimites spoke of Jephthah’s people as renegades, people who fall short of the high standard set by the “blue bloods” of Ephraim and Manasseh (verse 4).

That did it; it was war between the Gileadites and the Ephraimites, and the Gileadites won. What irony we see here. You will remember that it was the Ephraimites who captured the fords of the Jordan in chapter 7.²⁶ This enabled them to capture two of the Midianite kings. Now it is the Gileadites under Jephthah who capture the fords of the Jordan, blocking the Ephraimites from crossing the Jordan and fleeing for their lives.

There was a problem, however. Many people crossed the Jordan River. How would the Gileadites be able to distinguish their Ephraimite enemies from the rest of those seeking to cross the Jordan? They devised a very simple, but effective test. The Ephraimites could not pronounce the “sh” sound. The best they could do was to produce a simple “s” sound. This is true today. My Indian brothers have difficulty producing the “v” sound; it comes out more like a “w” sound. Other races have their own unique pronunciation problems. There are sounds in Spanish that I cannot even begin to approximate.

So, when a person came to one of the fords of the Jordan River, they were asked if they were an Ephraimite. Naturally, an Ephraimite would deny their origins because they knew that they would be killed if they admitted to being one of the enemy. And so those who denied being Ephraimites were given a simple test, “Say ‘Shibboleth.’” A non-Ephraimite could easily do so, but no matter how hard an Ephraimite might try, the best they could do was to say “Sibboleth” (without the “sh” sound). And when they did so, they were executed. In all, 42,000 Ephraimites died in this conflict.

Jephthah’s period of service as a judge in Israel was short – a mere six years. When he died, he was buried in one of the towns of Gilead.

Conclusion

Our text contains many lessons, directly and by way of inference. Let me conclude by suggesting a few areas of application.

First, our text teaches us the importance of history. It is interesting and significant to me that in both instances in our text, when Israel went to war it was due, in part, to a distortion of the facts of history. The king of the Ammonites sought to wage war with Jephthah and Israel because he believed (or at least claimed to believe) that centuries earlier the Israelites had forcibly taken possession of Ammonite territory. Jephthah’s diplomatic efforts were based largely on a corrected view of history. Israel had not taken Ammonite territory; Balak chose not to fight with Israel, and 300 years had passed without a challenge to Israel’s possession of this land. History also warned the king of the Ammonites regarding his rejection of Israel’s reasonable diplomacy. He would be well advised not to reject Jephthah’s words and not to engage the people of God in battle. History should have taught him that this was folly.

So, too, the Ephraimites should have learned to recall history correctly and not attempt to revise it to suit their desires and ambitions. They should have learned a lesson from their confrontation with Gideon years before. Likewise, they should have rightly recalled how things actually happened in the present conflict. Jephthah did summon them and ask for their help, but they did not join in the battle. Now, they wanted to share in the glory that belonged only to God. An accurate understanding of history would have saved the Ephraimites from losing face, and 42,000 men.

We are now living in times when many feel a great freedom to adapt and modify history to suit their own ideologies and practices. Some have been so brazen as to attempt to deny the historicity of the holocaust. Others have twisted the truth regarding the terrorist attack on 9/11. We may not bend and distort history to suit our own ends. It is a correct view of history that sets us straight. No wonder the Bible is filled with history. Let us embrace God’s Word as the basis for our understanding of history, as well as being the source of the only message by which men may experience the forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life.

Second, our text teaches us that words really do matter. The title of this message is “Words Matter.” The words of Scripture which record the history of God’s dealings with Israel matter. The words of Jephthah’s vow mattered. Had he chosen his words more carefully, it would not have cost him his daughter. Words mattered to those Ephraimites who attempted to cross the Jordan River, and who tried to say the word “Shibboleth.”

The Scriptures have much to say about the importance of our words:

Death and life are in the power of the tongue,

and those who love its use will eat its fruit (Proverbs 18:21).

“Let your word be ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no.’ More than this is from the evil one” (Matthew 5:37).

“I tell you that on the day of judgment, people will give an account for every worthless word they speak” (Matthew 12:36).

Our words, like those of Jephthah, can have unintended consequences. I am convinced that Jephthah never intended that his words would cost him his daughter, but that is what happened. I know that my words have many unintended consequences. This past week the House of Representatives narrowly passed a nearly 2,000-page health care reform bill. It is frightening to me to think of all the intentional consequences of such a bill, but can you imagine the immensity of unintentional consequences this monstrous bill will have? No wonder Proverbs contains a warning concerning many words:

When words abound, transgression is inevitable,

but the one who restrains his words is wise (Proverbs 10:19).

Now think about the Bible, with all of its pages and many words. If it were merely a fallible book written by men and containing human error, how would we ever be able to stake our present and eternal well being on such a book? Words do matter, and no words matter more than the words of Scripture:

But he answered, “It is written, ‘Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God’” (Matthew 4:4).

“You study the scriptures thoroughly because you think in them you possess eternal life, and it is these same scriptures that testify about me” (John 5:39).

God’s Word is inspired, inerrant, relevant, and reliable. His words are without error, so that we can trust them (and the God they present) without hesitation:

“Look, today I am about to die. You know with all your heart and being that not even one of all the faithful promises the Lord your God made to you is left unfulfilled; every one was realized – not one promise is unfulfilled! (Joshua 23:14; see also 1 Kings 8:56).

The Lord’s words are absolutely reliable.

They are as untainted as silver purified in a furnace on the ground,

where it is thoroughly refined (Psalm 12:6).

5 Every word of God is purified;

he is like a shield for those who take refuge in him (Proverbs 30:5).

1 After God spoke long ago in various portions and in various ways to our ancestors through the prophets, 2 in these last days he has spoken to us in a son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he created the world. 3 The Son is the radiance of his glory and the representation of his essence, and he sustains all things by his powerful word, and so when he had accomplished cleansing for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high (Hebrews 1:1-3).

1 Therefore we must pay closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. 2 For if the message spoken through angels proved to be so firm that every violation or disobedience received its just penalty, 3 how will we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was first communicated through the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard him, 4 while God confirmed their witness with signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will (Hebrews 2:1-4).

Third, a society which is in decay has a declining respect for women. This observation came to me from my friend, Don Curtis. As we were discussing this text, Don informed me that his son, Aaron, had recently taught the Book of Judges. Don said that Aaron had observed a declining respect for women in Judges. As I think about it, this makes a lot of sense. We begin with a prize winner like Deborah, a woman all could respect. But then we come to Jephthah’s daughter, who is sacrificed because of her father’s foolish vow. But if this is not bad enough, the book will end with a Levite casting his concubine out of doors to satisfy the perverted desires of the townsmen. And then he will heartlessly summon the woman to get up from the threshold where she lies dead, only to cut her into pieces and send them throughout Israel.

In our society, some women feel that they are just now beginning to come into their own. They are enjoying things that women a few years ago would not have imagined obtaining. And yet I cannot avoid the strong sense that as much as it appears that women are gaining greater status in our country, just the opposite is taking place. I fear that women are actually valued less, that they are receiving a declining respect in our world, particularly by men. If so, this is yet another evidence of the decline of our nation.

Fourth, the degree to which we are shocked by how far Jephthah would go to honor his vow is a measure of how lightly we take vows today. Think about that for a moment. We wonder why Jephthah did not find some way to break his vow, and yet even his daughter encouraged him to keep his vow. Our vows today mean very little, because we are nothing like Jephthah in our commitment to keep our vows. The divorce rate in our country (even among Christians) is a reflection of our lack of commitment to keep our promises.

13 You also do this: You cover the altar of the Lord with tears as you weep and groan, because he no longer pays any attention to the offering nor accepts it favorably from you. 14 Yet you ask, “Why?” The Lord is testifying against you on behalf of the wife you married when you were young, to whom you have become unfaithful even though she is your companion and wife by law. 15 No one who has even a small portion of the Spirit in him does this. What did our ancestor do when seeking a child from God? Be attentive, then, to your own spirit, for one should not be disloyal to the wife he took in his youth. 16 “I hate divorce,” says the Lord God of Israel, “and the one who is guilty of violence,” says the Lord who rules over all. “Pay attention to your conscience, and do not be unfaithful” (Malachi 2:13-16).

Fifth, our text cautions us regarding making heroes of men. There is only one True Deliverer, only One who is worthy of our worship and our praise. If we are looking for heroes in the Book of Judges, we are destined for disappointment. The more closely we look at Israel’s judges, the more obvious their flaws become. Put candidly, almost all of Israel’s judges (who are described in any detail) are jerks. They have weaknesses and besetting sins. We should learn from these leaders that all leaders – every one of them – have flaws. If we look long and hard enough, we will see them. Some are so obvious we don’t even have to look hard to see them.

We dare not idolize men, for we will surely be disappointed. But we can be encouraged as we see the kind of instruments God uses to achieve His purposes. He uses homemade swords wielded by left-handed men, tent pegs, ox goads, and mill stones. He uses plain and ordinary people like Jael and the woman with the mill stone. When God uses the simple and even foolish things to achieve His purposes, then it is only He who should receive the glory. Let us be encouraged by the kinds of people God uses to achieve His purposes.

God saves those who are unworthy of salvation, not because of men’s works but solely because of God’s mercy and grace. Are you not amazed to find men like Gideon, Barak, Samson, and Jephthah, and women like Rahab in the “hall of faith” (Hebrews 11)? It is not the greatness of our deeds, but the gracious work of God in the person of Jesus Christ, that saves unworthy sinners. Jesus bore the penalty for our sins on the cross of Calvary. He offers the forgiveness of sins and the promise of eternal life to all who place their trust in Christ Jesus and His work on their behalf. He is the Hero! He is the only Deliverer who can deliver condemned sinners from the penalty of death. Have you acknowledged your sin and placed your trust in Him alone for your salvation? If not, I plead with you to do so, for your eternal well being.

---

¹ Copyright © 2009 by Robert L. Deffinbaugh. This is the edited manuscript of Lesson 12 in the series, The Dark Days of Israel’s Judges, prepared by Robert L. Deffinbaugh on November 1, 2009. Anyone is at liberty to use this lesson for educational purposes only, with or without credit.

² Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the NET Bible. The NEW ENGLISH TRANSLATION, also known as THE NET BIBLE, is a completely new translation of the Bible, not a revision or an update of a previous English version. It was completed by more than twenty biblical scholars who worked directly from the best currently available Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts. The translation project originally started as an attempt to provide an electronic version of a modern translation for electronic distribution over the Internet and on CD (compact disk). Anyone anywhere in the world with an Internet connection will be able to use and print out the NET Bible without cost for personal study. In addition, anyone who wants to share the Bible with others can print unlimited copies and give them away free to others. It is available on the Internet at: www.netbible.org.

3 The consensus of those commentaries that I have consulted is that these “outside” marriages were outside the clan or tribe, but not outside of Israel. Personally, I’m not so certain that the language limits “outsiders” to merely those outside the clan or tribe. The author felt it worth mentioning.

4 I see this as early as Genesis 14 in the alliances that exist among the Canaanite “kings.” These kings do not rule over large areas or great populations, but over city states.

5 See Judges 2:11; 3:12; 4:1; 10:6; 13:1.

6 As when the Israelites who were ruled by Abimelech served Baal-Berith or El-Berith.

7 See 1 Kings 11:1-6.

8 Baals is plural here because the surrounding nations (and the Canaanites within) served different variations of Baal. For example, we have just seen Baal-Berith, Baal of the Covenant in chapter 9.

9 See Psalm 3:8; Jonah 2:9.

10 Compare this with the Israelites’ question in 1:1. There they inquired of the Lord as to who should lead the attack. Here, they speak to one another about it. Israel’s repentance is not what it should be for they are not asking for God’s guidance, but are seeking to handle this matter among themselves.

11 This expression is also used of those who were the hirelings of Abimelech in Judges 9:4.

12 Only Gideon (6:12) and Jephthah (11:1) are designated as such in Judges.

13 As Jephthah indicates, neither the Edomites nor the Moabites gave the Israelites permission to pass through their land – even though Israel offered to pay for anything they consumed in their country. Rather than engaging their relatives in battle, the Israelites took a less direct route around them to avoid conflict.

14 See Deuteronomy 2:1-23.

15 Dale Ralph Davis has a very helpful footnote on the geography of the lands involved here. See Dale Ralph Davis, Such a Great Salvation: Expositions of the Book of Judges (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1990), p. 143, fn. 6.

16 The map section at the back of many Bibles will show the relationship of Ammon to the land of the Amorites, Moabites, and Edomites.

17 See Deuteronomy 3:12-17.

18 See Deuteronomy 2:24-36.

19 K. Lawson Younger has an interesting observation here. He points out that Jephthah’s whole defense serves as a warning to this Ammonite king. As Jephthah has sent messengers to seek a peaceful solution to this matter, so Moses sent messengers to the Amorite kings. And when these kings refused to be reasonable and chose rather to attack, God gave Israel the victory. See K. Lawson Younger Jr., Judges and Ruth (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2002), p. 256.

20 Making vows was common enough that Absalom’s request to fulfill his vow in 2 Samuel 15:7-8 was not doubted.

21 There are those who think that Jephthah may have purposely worded his vow broadly enough to include human sacrifice. I’m not convinced of this.

22 See Genesis 22:10-14.

23 I have considered the fact that Jephthah’s daughter mourned her virginity and the fact that she could never marry and bear children, but such would be the case if her ability to bear children was terminated when she was sacrificed.

24 See 2 Chronicles 25:10.

25 See Judges 11:1.

26 Verses 24-25.

Introduction

You may very well wonder why I chose the title, “Samson’s Silver Spoon.” It is because I have chosen to make use of the expression, “He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth.” By this we are referring to someone who was born with all the advantages one could hope for. Usually this would include a powerful and influential family and more than adequate financial resources. In other words, someone who is “born with a silver spoon in his mouth” is a person who has all the advantages and is thus more likely to be successful.

Surely Samson would fall into this category of being born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Gideon claimed a disadvantage by virtue of being the youngest child in his family and being born into an insignificant clan (a claim which appears to be false). Abimelech had the disadvantage of 70 brothers who were born of his father’s wives, while he was the son of a concubine. Jephthah had the even greater disadvantage of having a mother who was a prostitute. But when we come to Samson in Judges 13, we find a man who is born into a godly family, whose miraculous birth was announced by a two-fold visit by the Angel of the Lord, and in whom the Spirit of God is at work. With such advantages, one can hardly imagine Samson being a failure.

The purpose of this message is to focus on the author’s rather lengthy introduction of Samson, one that requires all of Judges 13. This introduction is the most lengthy and detailed introduction of any of Israel’s judges. More attention is devoted to Samson than to any other judge in this book. We would do well to discover why the author felt this lengthy introduction was necessary. We should also note that Samson is the last of the judges that will be described in the Book of Judges.²

I would make two suggestions to the reader who desires to get the most out of this text and the three chapters that follow (which are devoted to Samson). First, set aside almost everything you remember about Samson that you have learned from children’s Bible story books or Sunday School. They have “cleaned up” Samson to the point that we would not recognize him if we saw him. Second, read the account as though you are doing so for the first time. Try not to dwell on chapters 14-16 until after you have carefully considered chapter 13. I have purposed to cover the life of Samson in three lessons. This first lesson will concentrate on the author’s introduction to Samson in chapter 13. In the second lesson, I will focus on Samson and his failed love life with the woman at Timnah in chapters 14 and 15. In the third message on Samson, we will be dealing with Samson and Delilah and the consequences of this relationship as described in chapter 16.

The Nazirite Vow

There is really no way to understand the life of Samson without knowing something about the Nazirite vow. The vow and its requirements are set forth in Numbers 6:1-21. Here’s the essence of the teaching of that text:

The Nazirite vow is a voluntary vow of separation unto God, which can be made by either a man or a woman.

The Nazirite vow is normally a temporary vow, one made for that period of time which the individual stipulates at the beginning of the vow.³

The person making the vow must abstain not only from wine, but from everything derived from the grape vine. This would include grape juice, grape skins, grape seeds, and raisins.

The person making the vow must avoid contact with anything dead, even family members.

If any defilement occurs during the period of the vow, the individual must go through a cleansing process and then begin the vow period all over.

The person making the Nazirite vow must also abstain from cutting their hair for the period of time the vow is in effect. Once the stipulated period has ended, sacrifices are offered to God, and the hair is cut off and offered up on the sacrificial fire as well.

Israel’s Spiritual Condition in Samson’s Day

Judges 13:1

The Israelites again did evil in the Lord’s sight, so the Lord handed them over to the Philistines for forty years (Judges 13:1).⁴

I believe it is safe to say that whatever evil the Israelites are now committing, it is worse than at an earlier time:

19 When a leader died, the next generation would again act more wickedly than the previous one. They would follow after other gods, worshiping them and bowing down to them. They did not give up their practices or their stubborn ways (Judges 2:19, emphasis mine).

Based on this premise, we may assume that Israel’s disobedience is even worse than this earlier description of their sin recorded in chapter 10:

6 The Israelites again did evil in the Lord’s sight. They worshiped the Baals and the Ashtars, as well as the gods of Syria, Sidon, Moab, the Ammonites, and the Philistines. They abandoned the Lord and did not worship him. 7 The Lord was furious with Israel and turned them over to the Philistines and Ammonites (Judges 10:6-8).

The period of oppression in chapter 10 was 18 years (verse 8). Now, the period of Philistine domination is 40 years. Thus, the author must be referring to another, later, time period.

It may be important for the reader to recognize what is not said in the first verse of chapter 13, though it is found in earlier chapters. The author does not describe this period of domination as horribly cruel and oppressive as, for example, it was in chapter 6,⁵ or in chapter 10.⁶ Neither are we told (as we were earlier in Judges) that the Israelites “cried out” to God, either in repentance or in a plea for help.

What I am about to say is inferential (some might even say “speculative”), rather than propositional (a truth based upon a clear statement in the Bible). Nevertheless, it does seem that the author has some reason for not referring to any great anguish or agony on Israel’s part and for not mentioning (as he has in the past) that the Israelites cried out to God for deliverance.

I am inclined to conclude from the author’s silence on these matters that the Israelites were content (or at least complacent) with regard to their domination by the Philistines. Why would this be? Let me suggest some possible reasons.

Considerable time (40 years) has passed, and the Israelites may simply have gotten used to Philistine domination. (In New Testament times, how many Israelites were crying out to God for deliverance when they were subjected to Roman rule?)

Domination by the Philistines would mean that the Israelites would enjoy a measure of stability, as well as protection from the other nations which surrounded them. A number of years ago, there were some who would have said, “Better Red (under communist rule) than dead.” Some Israelites may have been thinking, “Better a Philistine than dead.”

Philistine rule provided the opportunity to worship any number of gods. Religious pluralism may have sounded sweet to some wayward Israelites.

The Philistines, like the other Canaanite peoples, were serious in their pursuit of sensual pleasure. Their (im)morality and their religion actually promoted sensuality. And thus there were undoubtedly some Israelites who endured (if not enjoyed) Philistine domination, simply because it was more fun than fundamentalism (pun intentional).

Sadly, Israel’s apathy with regard to their political and moral bondage is not that difficult for someone today to understand because we see a very similar perspective in our country today. Over the last few decades, our constitutionally-guaranteed freedoms have been eroded away by government intervention, legislation, and high court interpretation. Many people have not protested (loudly enough) because of the benefits they supposed they were gaining from government domination and encroachment. And now we see giant strides being taken to suppress our liberties even further, and all too many Americans are willing to let it happen because of the benefits they believe they are gaining. Let us learn from Israel’s mistakes.

The First Angelic Visitation

Judges 13:2-7

2 There was a man named Manoah from Zorah, from the Danite tribe. His wife was infertile and childless. 3 The Lord’s angelic messenger appeared to the woman and said to her, “You are infertile and childless, but you will conceive and have a son. 4 Now be careful! Do not drink wine or beer, and do not eat any food that will make you ritually unclean. 5 Look, you will conceive and have a son. You must never cut his hair, for the child will be dedicated to God from birth. He will begin to deliver Israel from the power of the Philistines.” 6 The woman went and said to her husband, “A man sent from God came to me! He looked like God’s angelic messenger – he was very awesome. I did not ask him where he came from, and he did not tell me his name. 7 He said to me, ‘Look, you will conceive and have a son. So now, do not drink wine or beer and do not eat any food that will make you ritually unclean. For the child will be dedicated to God from birth till the day he dies’” (Judges 13:2-7).

We are first introduced to Samson’s father, Manoah, who comes from the tribe of Dan. He had a wife, but we are never given her name. To me, she is simply “Mrs. Manoah.” Mrs. Manoah was barren, and so she and her husband had no children. We don’t know if they were elderly, as was the case with some others in the Bible with a similar condition.⁷

The Angel of the Lord appeared to Mrs. Manoah even though there is no indication that she petitioned the Lord for a child. The Angel spoke to the woman, informing her that although she was barren, she would soon give birth to a son. The Angel then gave her instructions regarding the boy’s prenatal care, as well as his lifestyle after his birth. The woman was not to drink any alcoholic beverages, nor to eat any unclean food. The boy’s hair was never to be cut. If it was not already clear to her, these instructions were an indication that her son would be a Nazirite from birth. He would also begin to deliver Israel from the Philistines.

It is worth noting here that Mrs. Manoah’s conduct and prenatal care were required because her child would be a Nazirite “from birth.” It is not that difficult to conclude that God regarded this woman’s fetus to be a human being, and thus she was instructed to commence the practices of a Nazirite while the child was still in her womb. Life begins in the womb. It is just that simple. The words of the Angel of the Lord make it clear that it is so.⁸

There is one more thing that we should note from the Angel’s words to Mrs. Manoah. Her son, who was to be a Nazirite for his lifetime, would “begin” to deliver Israel from the Philistines (verse 5). There will be other deliverers who will carry on this task, but it is Samson who will begin the process, which will continue after his death.

Mrs. Manoah went to her husband to tell him what she had just seen and heard. She told Manoah that a “man of God” came to her and that his appearance was like that of an angel. In her words, He was awesome. There was something about him that distinguished him from mere men. Not only was this person awesome, He was also mysterious. She did not ask His name or where He came from, and neither did He tell her. She reasoned that He must be an angel.

She went on to tell her husband what the Angel did say. He told her that she would conceive and bear a son. He also instructed her that she must not drink wine or fermented beverages, and she must not eat any unclean food. This was because her child was to be a Nazirite his entire life – from womb to tomb.

At this point, it is necessary for us to pause for a moment to make a few observations. First, note that Samson’s status as a Nazirite was neither voluntary (on his part), nor was it temporary (as it usually was). Samson’s function as a Nazirite was imposed upon him by God. Second, Mrs. Manoah was required to be a participant in Samson’s practice as a Nazirite. As noted before, this is because Samson was a living human being the entire time he was in her womb, and so the Nazirite restrictions had to apply to her during her pregnancy. Third, the Angel of the Lord is merely recognized as a “run of the mill” (i.e., ordinary) angel at this point in time. It is later that both Manoah and his wife recognize Who they are dealing with. Fourth, even though Numbers 6 is emphatic about a Nazirite not having contact with the dead, nothing is said of that in our text.

Fifth, we should note that while nothing is said regarding contact with the dead, something is said about refraining from foods that are ceremonially unclean.⁹ Nothing is said about unclean foods in the instructions pertaining to the Nazirite vow in Numbers 6 because all Israelites were to avoid unclean foods. One taking the Nazirite vow was going above and beyond the standards of conduct followed by the average Israelite. Under the Law of Moses, no Israelite was permitted to eat unclean food.¹⁰ Now, unclean foods are specifically prohibited in the case of Mrs. Manoah and Samson. Why would it be necessary to forbid them to eat unclean foods? I believe it is because of the apostasy and idolatry of the Israelites. Food and drink were an essential part of heathen worship, and thus in order to worship with the Philistines, one would eat their unclean foods. It would appear that the Israelites were regularly eating unclean foods, and so for a Nazirite to be set apart to God, it was necessary to apply this general prohibition to Samson and his mother specifically.

The Second Angelic Visitation

Judges 13:8-23

8 Manoah prayed to the Lord, “Please, Lord, allow the man sent from God to visit us again, so he can teach us how we should raise the child who will be born.” 9 God answered Manoah’s prayer. God’s angelic messenger visited the woman again while she was sitting in the field. But her husband Manoah was not with her. 10 The woman ran at once and told her husband, “Come quickly, the man who visited me the other day has appeared to me!” 11 So Manoah got up and followed his wife. When he met the man, he said to him, “Are you the man who spoke to my wife?” He said, “Yes.” 12 Manoah said, “Now, when your announcement comes true, how should the child be raised and what should he do?” 13 The Lord’s messenger told Manoah, “Your wife should pay attention to everything I told her. 14 She should not drink anything that the grapevine produces. She must not drink wine or beer, and she must not eat any food that will make her ritually unclean. She should obey everything I commanded her to do.” 15 Manoah said to the Lord’s messenger, “Please stay here awhile, so we can prepare a young goat for you to eat.” 16 The Lord’s messenger said to Manoah, “If I stay, I will not eat your food. But if you want to make a burnt sacrifice to the Lord, you should offer it.” (He said this because Manoah did not know that he was the Lord’s messenger.) 17 Manoah said to the Lord’s messenger, “Tell us your name, so we can honor you when your announcement comes true.” 18 The Lord’s messenger said to him, “You should not ask me my name, because you cannot comprehend it.” 19 Manoah took a young goat and a grain offering and offered them on a rock to the Lord. The Lord’s messenger did an amazing thing as Manoah and his wife watched. 20 As the flame went up from the altar toward the sky, the Lord’s messenger went up in it while Manoah and his wife watched. They fell facedown to the ground.

21 The Lord’s messenger did not appear again to Manoah and his wife. After all this happened Manoah realized that the visitor had been the Lord’s messenger. 22 Manoah said to his wife, “We will certainly die, because we have seen a supernatural being!” 23 But his wife said to him, “If the Lord wanted to kill us, he would not have accepted the burnt offering and the grain offering from us. He would not have shown us all these things, or have spoken to us like this just now” (Judges 13:8-23).

The way I read our text, Manoah and his wife were godly people living in an ungodly world, albeit an ungodly Israelite world. Manoah prayed that God would send the Angelic Messenger another time, so that he might hear from Him how this promised child was to be raised. I’m delighted to see that Manoah did not question God’s ability to give them a son, as did Zacharias.¹¹ He assumed that the promise of a child would be fulfilled, and this is the reason why he wanted further instruction regarding the raising of this special child. Graciously, the Angel appears to Mrs. Manoah a second time while she is out in the field. The woman hurries to find her husband, and then reports that the One who had appeared to her earlier had appeared to her once again.

Following his wife, Manoah came upon their mysterious and majestic visitor. Manoah asked the Angel if he was the One who had spoken to his wife earlier, to which He answered, “I am.” When one sees an “I Am” in the Bible, it does strike a familiar note, doesn’t it?¹² And who better to say this than the Angel of the Lord?

Now Manoah has his opportunity for a bit of Question and Answer, and so he sets forth his question.

Manoah said, “Now, when your announcement comes true, how should the child be raised and what should he do?” (Judges 13:12)

The NET Bible seems to paraphrase here, perhaps on the basis of verse 8. Other translations take Manoah’s words in a more strictly literal way:

Manoah said, “Now when your words come to pass, what shall be the boy's mode of life and his vocation?” (NAU)

Then Manoah asked, “When Your words come true, what will the boy's responsibilities and mission be?” (CSB)

And Manoah said, “Now when your words come true, what is to be the child's manner of life, and what is his mission?” (ESV)

Manoah said, “Now let Your words come to pass! What will be the boy’s rule of life, and his work?” (NKJ)

As I see it, the two questions are really intertwined. Manoah begins by asking the Angel what the boy’s life calling and ministry will be, and this also raises the question of how this child should be raised. Let’s face it; if the boy is going to grow up to be a musician, his training will be different than if he is going to be a computer technician. That is why colleges have (or used to have) “majors.” Students “major” in the subject areas which are most applicable to the career for which they are preparing. Manoah wants to know what God has in mind for this boy, as well as some instructions regarding how to prepare him for his calling.

Here’s the interesting thing about the Angel’s answer – He evades giving a direct answer to the question. Indeed, the Angel’s answer is to repeat and reiterate His previous instructions to Manoah’s wife. He adds nothing further to His previous statements about the boy’s calling. I think there is a good reason for the Angel’s evasion. Ideally, Samson would have turned out to be a man like Samuel. After all, Samuel judged Israel in years to come. But Samuel was a godly man, and his “judging” was quite different than that of Samson. The chapters which follow will show us that his life was vastly different from that of Samuel. Why tell Samson’s parents that their son will become a self-centered, flesh-driven man whose judging will be the result of his anger and retaliation? That will be evident to them soon enough and knowing this ahead of time might discourage them from putting forth their best efforts in raising Samson.

Not getting very far with his first question, Manoah takes a different tack with his next two questions. First, he invites the Angel to stay for dinner. Some have accused Manoah of being manipulative here, but I don’t see it that way at all. Abraham invited his three guests for dinner in Genesis 18,¹³ just as Lot invited the two angels to eat with him in chapter 19.¹⁴ This was just good Middle Eastern hospitality. Nevertheless, the Angel declined the offer of a meal, but did encourage the offering of a sacrifice, much as Gideon had done in chapter 6 (resulting in a similarly impressive event):

17 Gideon said to him, “If you really are pleased with me, then give me a sign as proof that it is really you speaking with me. 18 Do not leave this place until I come back with a gift and present it to you.” The Lord said, “I will stay here until you come back.” 19 Gideon went and prepared a young goat, along with unleavened bread made from an ephah of flour. He put the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot. He brought the food to him under the oak tree and presented it to him. 20 God’s messenger said to him, “Put the meat and unleavened bread on this rock, and pour out the broth.” Gideon did as instructed. 21 The Lord’s messenger touched the meat and the unleavened bread with the tip of his staff. Fire flared up from the rock and consumed the meat and unleavened bread. The Lord’s messenger then disappeared. 22 When Gideon realized that it was the Lord’s messenger, he said, “Oh no! Master, Lord! I have seen the Lord’s messenger face to face!” (Judges 6:17-22, emphasis mine)

At this point, Manoah still does not recognize this “angel” as the Angel of the Lord. He is certainly curious about His identity, however, and so he asks the angel for his name, so that they can honor him once the child is born. It sounds like a reasonable request, but the angel is still unwilling to identify Himself, and so he side-steps the question by asking Manoah why he wants to know, adding that His name is beyond comprehension. Wow! That should have gotten Manoah’s attention. What happens when Manoah offers the sacrifice sets aside all of his questions and produces an appropriate sense of awe and fear.

Manoah took a young goat and sacrificed it on a rock.¹⁵ As he did so, an amazing thing happened as Manoah and his wife looked on. The Angel of the Lord ascended into heaven in the flames that blazed up from the sacrifice. Were these flames ignited by the Angel, as they were with Gideon’s offering? The author does not say this specifically, although the same Hebrew word is used to depict the flames “going up” from the sacrifice.¹⁶

I can imagine Manoah and his wife standing there, gazing up into the sky (as the disciples did when Jesus ascended into the heavens) waiting to see if He would return to earth. When it became obvious that He would not return, Manoah concluded that this had been no ordinary angel; this was none other than the Angel of the Lord. This was God!

Manoah knew that no one could see God and live,¹⁷ and so he reasoned that he and his wife were as good as dead, since they had seen God. Mrs. Manoah is the voice of reason here, while Manoah is in a panic. Her reasoning is based upon common sense. God had accepted their sacrifice. In addition to this, although they had seen God, they were still alive. If God had meant to kill them, He would not have accepted their sacrifice, and He would not have allowed them to live this long. Neither would He have told them that they were going to have a child. Dead people don’t bear and raise children.

The Birth and Growth of Samson

Judges 13:24-25

24 Then the woman gave birth to a son and named him Samson; and the child grew up and the Lord blessed him. 25 And the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol (Judges 13:24-25, NASB95).

And so it was that when Manoah’s wife gave birth to a son, she named him Samson. The author wants us to know two things about Samson’s growing years. First, he experienced God’s blessings as he grew up. We don’t really know what all was included in the blessings God showered upon Samson in his youth, but we can say that Samson experienced the blessings of God. I am convinced in my own mind that these blessings included far more than mere brute strength, which would have been a mere sampling of things to come. I believe that God’s blessings would have included both spiritual and material benefits.

Second, we are told that “the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him.” Every other time the Spirit comes upon Samson in the Book of Judges, he becomes a powerful killing machine.¹⁸ But here we are not told that the Spirit “came upon” Samson; we are told instead that the Spirit of the Lord began to “stir” him. It is my opinion that the Spirit’s work here may be similar to what Stephen described in the life of Moses:

23 “But when he was about forty years old, it entered his mind to visit his fellow countrymen the Israelites. 24 When he saw one of them being hurt unfairly, Moses came to his defense and avenged the person who was mistreated by striking down the Egyptian. 25 He thought his own people would understand that God was delivering them through him, but they did not understand. 26 The next day Moses saw two men fighting, and tried to make peace between them, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers; why are you hurting one another?’” (Acts 7:23-26)

I believe that God’s Spirit was at work in Samson to give him a heart for the Israelites and to yearn for their deliverance from bondage to the Philistines. I believe God was prompting Samson to love and to worship Him, rather than the Philistine gods. The Spirit may well have been bearing witness to the teaching of his parents. It is also possible that in addition to these things, the Spirit of God actually empowered Samson to engage the Philistines in battle, but for more pious reasons than we shall see in later times.

Conclusion

A good while ago I was speaking at a banquet. I had chosen to speak using Barnabas as an example for all to follow in their ministries. I was nearing the “punch line” of my sermon when one dear sister, sitting at the back of the room, saw where I was going next in my message. At just the right moment she almost involuntarily uttered, “Ohhhhhh. . . .” Obviously, I can’t give you the exact intonation of what she said, but the essence of it was this: “I can see it coming; here it is . . . .” She was absolutely right, and her timing could not have been more perfect.

That’s the way I feel as I read the last verse of chapter 13. If I had not read chapters 14-16, I would have expected great things of Samson – or should I say greater things of Samson. Here is a man whose birth was a miracle, and it was announced by a two-fold appearance of the Angel of the Lord. He was born into a godly home and raised (so far as we can tell) in a way that honored God. During his childhood, he experienced the blessing of God and was “stirred” by the Spirit of the Lord. Who could ask for any better beginning than this? That is why I chose the title, “Samson’s Silver Spoon.” Samson had been blessed with every advantage, and thus we anticipate great things from him in the following chapters.

But our high hopes are about to be dashed on the rocks of reality in chapters 14-16. While God will use Samson to break the Philistines’ grip on Israel, he is not a deliverer that we will be proud of (no matter how much we seek to clean up Samson’s image in our children’s Bible story books). Samson will kill his thousands, but his motivations are primarily anger and revenge, based upon his frustrated efforts to indulge himself with illegitimate pleasures.

There are many lessons to learn from Samson, and one of them is this: Starting well does not assure that one will end well. All too often those who start well finish badly. Think of David, for example. We meet him as a youth, standing bravely before Goliath in the name of the Lord.¹⁹ We see his integrity and faith in God when he refuses to take the life of his king, even though Saul is seeking to kill him.²⁰ And yet, later on, this same David will abuse his power by taking another man’s wife and ordering the death of her husband to cover his sin.²¹ In his final days, David is reluctant to hand the government over to his son Solomon, oblivious to the fact that another son, Adonijah, is in the process of seizing the throne.²² The same thing could be said for Solomon and many others. Starting well is a wonderful thing, but ending well is far better.

Sadly, the cause of Samson’s failure remains as the number one cause of failure in Christian leaders (and others) today. How many leaders have become addicted to power and to fleshly lusts? How many leaders have been disqualified because of their sexual immorality? Wine, women, and song destroy leaders. That is why King Lemuel is warned about the dangers of wine.²³ David and Solomon both found women to be their downfall. In the New Testament, Peter will warn that false teachers are dominated by fleshly lusts, and they lure others by the offer of fleshly indulgence.²⁴ What ruined Samson continues to ruin Christians (and many others) today.

In this regard, Samson typifies the nation Israel.²⁵ Israel had a great beginning just as Samson did. At the “birthing” of the nation Israel, God miraculously demonstrated His power over Pharaoh, the Egyptian army, and the no-gods of Egypt. He powerfully delivered Israel from her Egyptian bondage, parting the Red Sea in such a way as to deliver the Israelites and at the same time destroy the Egyptians who were in hot pursuit. He supernaturally provided for His people while they were in the desert. He gave the Israelites His law, making a covenant with them. He put His Spirit in their midst and led them to the Promised Land. He drove the Canaanites out of the Promised Land and gave His people possession of this land. And yet when we look at Israel in the Book of Judges, they were behaving just like Samson. They were seeking their own pleasures and turning their backs on God.²⁶ They were not finishing well. If it were not for a gracious and merciful, covenant-keeping God, Israel would not even exist.

The story of Samson is a beautiful example of how God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility inter-mesh. There are many who feel it necessary to embrace one or the other – God’s sovereignty or human responsibility – but not both. But our text demonstrates both principles at work at the same time. Samson is a man who must (and does) make choices. These choices are almost always sinful and self-serving. And yet God purposed and promised that Samson would begin to deliver Israel from bondage to the Philistines. And that is exactly what God did, through a disobedient and pleasure-seeking Samson.

Do not think that God’s sovereignty removes all freedom of choice from men, or accountability for those choices. God’s sovereignty is so complete that He can give men freedom and yet still be in complete control of His world. We who are parents know (or will soon learn) that it is impossible for us to have complete and total control of our children. When we seek to exercise control, we do so by limiting our children’s freedoms. We confine them to their rooms and take away their car keys, cell phones, and computers. But even then we are not in complete control. God is able to give men the freedom to make choices and yet still be in control, so that we are assured that His purposes will be realized. That is illustrated by God’s use of Samson, even though he is sinfully self-indulgent.

The story of Samson in Judges 13 has much to teach us about parenting. In the first place, it reminds us that God is in control of the womb. Whether God gives children, or withholds them, it is He who opens and closes the womb.²⁷ Whether God gives children or withholds them, it is to achieve His purposes and to bring glory to Himself. Secondly, while it is clear that godly parents are to train up their children in the ways of the Lord, doing so is not a guarantee that every child raised by godly parents will become godly.²⁸ With all of the advantages Samson enjoyed, he chose to seek the satisfaction of his fleshly lusts, and yet his fleshly pursuits did not give him the satisfaction he hoped for.

I would also point out that no one is a perfect parent, nor is anyone a perfect evangelist, teacher, or preacher. I do not know of a group of elders who are more committed to obeying our Lord than the elders of Community Bible Chapel. But having said this, I must also add that whatever we do, we do not do it perfectly. When we attempt to correct, we do not do it perfectly. When we exercise discipline, we may look back and wish we had gone about it differently. And when we parent, we will make mistakes. I do not doubt that Samson’s parents made mistakes, but they appear to have desired to be godly parents. Nevertheless, Samson chooses the path that leads to trouble.

This brings me to the matter of idolizing our leaders. If one looks long enough and carefully enough, they will discover flaws in every leader. Some of us make it easier for others to see our faults, but we all have them. We would do well not to idolize men, recognizing that they all have their weaknesses. We should respect and honor our leaders, but we should never look upon them in such a way that our faith is shaken if their faults become evident. I love the way the Bible portrays men honestly and realistically. We see that Abraham was a liar (at times), Jacob a deceiver (all too often), and Samson was a womanizer. Peter was inclined to put his foot in his mouth. Men have feet of clay; only God is the perfect example.

But look at this from another perspective. Look as those whom we find in the “hall of faith” in Hebrews 11. We find Abraham (who sometimes lied), Noah (who got drunk), Moses (who killed a man, and who disobeyed God by striking the rock), Rahab (who had been a prostitute), Gideon, Barak, Samson, and Jephthah, all of whom had their flaws (to put it mildly). Isn’t it wonderful to know that God saves sinners like these folks, declaring them righteous, not because of their perfection, but because they have placed their trust in the promises of God and in the person and work of Jesus Christ?

Ultimately, that is what our author is doing in Judges – He is pointing us to Christ, and not to fallible men. Christ is the ultimate Deliverer, not Gideon or Barak or Jephthah or Samson. God used fallible men to deliver them from their bondage to political oppressors like the Moabites, the Midianites, the Ammonites, and the Philistines. But it will take a perfect Deliverer to rescue men and women from their bondage to sin. If Judges teaches us not to look to mere men for salvation, it also instructs us to look for the One who is the perfect Deliverer – the God/Man, Jesus Christ, who is the coming Messiah. And so just as Samson’s birth is announced to a childless couple, Messiah’s birth is announced by the son of a childless couple – the parents of John the Baptist. And just as Samson’s birth and role as deliverer is announced by an angel (the Angel of the Lord), so the announcement of the birth of Messiah comes by angels. There are just a few men who are declared to be Nazirites for life. The first of these is Samson. A little later, Samuel is dedicated to God as a life-long Nazirite.²⁹ And then a good while later, John the Baptist is appointed to live his life as a Nazirite.³⁰ One might very well wonder why it was John the Baptist who was the Nazirite, and not Jesus:

18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon!’ 19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at him, a glutton and a drunk, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ But wisdom is vindicated by her deeds” (Matthew 11:18-19).

Being set apart as a Nazirite was a symbolic act. It symbolized one’s dedication to God, of being set apart for His service. But the symbol did not produce the reality. Although he was a Nazirite, one could hardly call Samson holy. And while Samuel and John the Baptist were godly men, they were not perfect men. Jesus did not need the symbolic ritual of becoming a Nazirite because He was perfect. He was set apart for service to God. He was set apart from mere men as the perfect God/Man. It was because He was the perfect God/Man that He could come to redeem His people – Jews and Gentiles alike – whoever places their trust in Him. The imperfections of the judges in the Book of Judges point us to Him who is the perfect Deliverer – Jesus Christ. He alone could die in the sinner’s place, bearing his (or her) punishment, and achieving not only the forgiveness of sins but the eternal deliverance and blessing of those who are His, by faith. Judges should not only teach us how bad the men of that day were, but how bad all men (including us) are today, and thus how badly we need God’s deliverance. That deliverance has been accomplished by the Lord Jesus through His death at Calvary, resurrection, and ascension, for all who receive it.

If Judges 13 got our hopes up (so far as Samson is concerned), chapters 14-16 will bring us down to reality. But the good news is that those who place their hope (and faith) in Jesus find that it is even better than they might have imagined. He will never disappoint us. He will never fail. His deliverance is truly “wonderful,” and it lasts forever. I pray that you have placed your trust in Him.

“Kings will be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. They will bow down before you with their faces to the ground; they will lick the dust at your feet. Then you will know that I am the LORD; those who hope in me will not be disappointed” (Isaiah 49:23, NIV, emphasis mine).

• To You they cried out and were delivered;

  In You they trusted and were not disappointed (Psalm 22:5, NASB95; emphasis mine).

  Just as it is written,

  “BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE,

  AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED” (Romans 9:33, NASB95, emphasis mine).

There is no disappointment in Jesus!

---

¹ Copyright © 2009 by Robert L. Deffinbaugh. This is the edited manuscript of Lesson 14 in the series, The Dark Days of Israel’s Judges, prepared by Robert L. Deffinbaugh on November 8, 2009. Anyone is at liberty to use this lesson for educational purposes only, with or without credit.

² In 1 Samuel, we are told that Eli (4:18), Samuel (7:6, 15-17), and Samuel’s sons (8:1) judged Israel.

³ I can think of two other instances of what we might call “imposed” Nazirite status. The first would be Samuel, whose mother promised God that if He gave her a son he would be a Nazirite all his life (1 Samuel 1:11). Second, Zechariah, the father-to-be of John the Baptist was told that John would be a Nazirite (Luke 1:13-15).

⁴ Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the NET Bible. The NEW ENGLISH TRANSLATION, also known as THE NET BIBLE, is a completely new translation of the Bible, not a revision or an update of a previous English version. It was completed by more than twenty biblical scholars who worked directly from the best currently available Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts. The translation project originally started as an attempt to provide an electronic version of a modern translation for electronic distribution over the Internet and on CD (compact disk). Anyone anywhere in the world with an Internet connection will be able to use and print out the NET Bible without cost for personal study. In addition, anyone who wants to share the Bible with others can print unlimited copies and give them away free to others. It is available on the Internet at: www.netbible.org.

⁵ Verses 1-6.

⁶ Verses 6-16.

⁷ Sarah was barren and old (Genesis 18:1-15), as was Elizabeth (Luke 1:5-18).

⁸ My thanks to Gordon Graham and others who reminded me of this fact.

⁹ See verses 4 and 7.

¹⁰ See Leviticus 11:1-8.

¹¹ See Luke 1:18.

¹² I am particularly thinking of the “I am’s” of the Book of John.

¹³ See verses 3-8.

¹⁴ Verses 1-3.

¹⁵ I’m inclined to favor the more literal rendering “the rock.” It seems that there were such designated places where sacrifices were normally made. Was the “one stone” on which the 70 brothers of Abimelech were slaughtered (Judges 9:5, 18) such a place?

¹⁶ See Judges 6:21.

¹⁷ Exodus 33:20.

¹⁸ See Judges 14:6, 19; 15:15ff.

¹⁹ See 1 Samuel 17.

²⁰ See 1 Samuel 24, 26.

²¹ See 2 Samuel 11.

²² See 1 Kings 1.

²³ See Proverbs 31:4-6.

²⁴ See 2 Peter.

²⁵ I am grateful to Dave Austin , who reminded me of this after I delivered this message.

²⁶ As Paul summarizes in 1 Corinthians 10:1-13.

²⁷ See Genesis 29:31; 30:1-2, 22; 1 Samuel 1:5-6, 12-20; Psalm 127:3; 139:13; Luke 1:5-25.

²⁸ I am well aware of Proverbs 22:6, but as most students of Scripture recognize, Proverbs speaks of what is generally true, so that there are exceptions. As a general rule, those who work hard are more likely to experience prosperity than those who are sluggards, but not every hard working man is prosperous according to this world’s standards. As one surveys the history of Israel’s kings, it becomes evident that godly kings sometimes have ungodly children and that ungodly kings sometimes have godly offspring.

²⁹ 1 Samuel 1:9-11.

³⁰ See Luke 1:11-17.

Introduction

To be honest, I didn’t expect this message to turn out as it did (but then they seldom do). Several weeks ago a good friend suggested that I needed to identify and emphasize the major themes of the Book of Judges and show how these fit into the overall scheme of Scripture. Little did I know that our text for this lesson would provide the occasion to do just that. I believe that this text and its message provide us with a unique means of viewing not only the message of this book, but also the message of the entire Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. I realize that this sounds a bit grandiose, but bear with me and see if this might not be true.

I will begin this message by retelling the story of chapters 14 and 15 so that we see the flow of the author’s argument and view Samson’s “troubles in Timnah” as one piece. Having done this, I will call your attention to a few important details. Finally, I will seek to show how all these pieces fit together to help us understand not only Samson, but the nation Israel (particularly Judah) at this point in time. And having done this, we shall seek to show how this message serves as a key to understanding the Bible as a whole.

Love at First Sight (Literally)

Judges 14:1-4

1 Samson went down to Timnah, where a Philistine girl caught his eye. 2 When he got home, he told his father and mother, “A Philistine girl in Timnah has caught my eye. Now get her for my wife.” 3 But his father and mother said to him, “Certainly you can find a wife among your relatives or among all our people! You should not have to go and get a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines.” But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, because she is the right one for me.” 4 Now his father and mother did not realize this was the Lord’s doing, because he was looking for an opportunity to stir up trouble with the Philistines (for at that time the Philistines were ruling Israel) (Judges 14:1-4)²

We don’t know why Samson needed to travel to Timnah – a town in the land of the Philistines close to the northern border of Judah – but we do know that he saw a woman there and, in Samson’s mind at least, it was “love at first sight”³ – literally. One gets the impression that there was no conversation between Samson and this woman, just visual contact.⁴ When he returned home, Samson instructed his parents to secure this woman as his wife. This comes across to the reader as a demand, rather than a request.

Samson’s parents were rightly concerned. They would have had concerns had their son been a normal Israelite, but Samson had been designated a Nazirite even before he was conceived. How could he possibly fulfill his mission in life while married to a Philistine woman? And so Mr. and Mrs. Manoah expressed their concerns. Surely there was some young woman from among their tribe, or at least from some Israelite tribe, that he might find as an acceptable wife. Why would he seek a wife from among the uncircumcised Philistines?

Samson will have none of this. He has declared his intent, and he has given his parents their marching orders, and so he orders his father, “Get this woman for me as my wife!” The reason why he is so insistent is given, and it is completely consistent with the author’s description of the Israelites at this point in time: “Get her for me, because she is the right one for me.” The rendering, “she is the right one for me,” is an unfortunate paraphrase in my opinion. Far better to render as the translator’s note (or the rendering of the ESV) reads, “for she is right in my eyes,” a statement which is virtually repeated in verse 7.⁵ Samson is definitely a man of his times, as the author describes the spiritual condition of the Israelites in this same way:

In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes (Judges 17:6, NASB95).

In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes (Judges 21:25, NASB95).

Family Trip to Timnah

Judges 14:5-7

5 Samson went down to Timnah. When he approached the vineyards of Timnah, he saw a roaring young lion attacking him. 6 The Lord’s spirit empowered him and he tore the lion in two with his bare hands as easily as one would tear a young goat. But he did not tell his father or mother what he had done. 7 Samson continued on down to Timnah and spoke to the girl. In his opinion, she was just the right one (Judges 14:5-7).

For some reason, Samson’s parents are traveling with him to Timnah, but they don’t seem to be “together” as closely as we might assume. They seem to be separated by some distance and time.⁶ As he is approaching the vineyards⁷ of Timnah, a young lion rushes toward Samson, determined to kill him. The Spirit of the Lord likewise rushes upon Samson, empowering him to tear this beast limb from limb. When he rejoined his mother and father, he did not bother to mention this lion attack to them. No wonder, the now-dead lion apparently defiled him.⁸ If so, he should have immediately returned home and undergone the prescribed purification rites, but Samson was too intent upon reaching Timnah and accelerating the process whereby he could be (physically) united with the woman he was so attracted to. And so we are told that Samson continued on to Timnah with his parents. Once there, he talked with the woman (for the first time?), and he liked her (literally, “she was right in Samson’s eyes”).

Why Samson Called Her “Honey”

Judges 14:8-9

8 Some time later, when he went back to marry her, he turned aside to see the lion’s remains. He saw a swarm of bees in the lion’s carcass, as well as some honey. 9 He scooped it up with his hands and ate it as he walked along. When he returned to his father and mother, he offered them some and they ate it. But he did not tell them he had scooped the honey out of the lion’s carcass (Judges 14:8-9).

Samson and his parents make yet another trip to Timnah sometime later. For whatever reason, Samson went out of his way to view the lion’s carcass. Regardless, this would not have been the sort of thing a Nazirite would do. The carcass was defiling. Nevertheless, Samson comes upon the carcass, only to find that a swarm of bees had possessed it, and thus there was a honeycomb and honey that would have been “off limits” to Samson or his parents. That didn’t stop Samson. He scooped up some of the honey and proceeded back to his parents, eating some of it as he went. When he reached them he gave them some of the honey, not bothering to mention the source of this honey, thereby causing them to unknowingly defile themselves.

Wedding Woes

Judges 14:10-20

10 Then Samson’s father accompanied him to Timnah for the marriage. Samson hosted a party there, for this was customary for bridegrooms to do. 11 When the Philistines saw he had no attendants, they gave him thirty groomsmen who kept him company. 12 Samson said to them, “I will give you a riddle. If you really can solve it during the seven days the party lasts, I will give you thirty linen robes and thirty sets of clothes. 13 But if you cannot solve it, you will give me thirty linen robes and thirty sets of clothes.” They said to him, “Let us hear your riddle.” 14 He said to them,

“Out of the one who eats came something to eat;

Out of the strong one came something sweet.”

They could not solve the riddle for three days. 15 On the fourth day they said to Samson’s bride, “Trick your husband into giving the solution to the riddle. If you refuse, we will burn up you and your father’s family. Did you invite us here to make us poor?” 16 So Samson’s bride cried on his shoulder and said, “You must hate me; you do not love me! You told the young men a riddle, but you have not told me the solution.” He said to her, “Look, I have not even told my father or mother. Do you really expect me to tell you?” 17 She cried on his shoulder until the party was almost over. Finally, on the seventh day, he told her because she had nagged him so much. Then she told the young men the solution to the riddle. 18 On the seventh day, before the sun set, the men of the city said to him,

“What is sweeter than honey?

What is stronger than a lion?”

He said to them,

“If you had not plowed with my heifer,

you would not have solved my riddle!”

19 The Lord’s spirit empowered him. He went down to Ashkelon and murdered thirty men. He took their clothes and gave them to the men who had solved the riddle. He was furious as he went back home. 20 Samson’s bride was then given to his best man (Judges 14:10-20).

In one sense, this was probably a typical Near Eastern wedding ceremony. There appears to be a fairly lengthy process which involves the family (especially the father of the groom, as seen in our text). There could well be negotiations regarding a dowry and other matters. Then there would be some kind of formal engagement, and from that time on, the two would be referred to as husband and wife, but the consummation of the marriage would not occur until the couple’s first sexual union. Some details and the actual ceremonies may have differed somewhat between the Israelites and the Philistines, but there would also be much similarity.

Manoah, Samson’s father, met formally with the bride, perhaps accompanied by her parents, and an agreement was reached. The couple now seems to be engaged, and this was to be followed by the customary “bachelor’s party,” which was held in the bride’s home town of Timnah. This was an apparently festive occasion at which time a good deal of alcohol was consumed. We are not told how Samson dealt with the wine and alcohol issue; my sense is that he had his fair share of it, in spite of the fact that he was a Nazirite.

No doubt Samson was prompted by a number of factors (including too much to drink) when he proposed a contest in the form of a riddle which he created, based upon his recent experience with the lion and the honey. Samson would give them a riddle to solve. If they solved it by the end of the celebration (7 days), he would give each of the 30 men a set of clothes (from under wear to outer wear); if they failed to solve the riddle, each of them was obligated to provide Samson with a set of clothing. His 30 groomsmen (provided for him from among the Philistines) accepted the challenge. And this was the riddle:

“Out of the one who eats came something to eat;

Out of the strong one came something sweet” (Judges 14:14).

This riddle turned out to be more difficult than the Philistine men had expected. No doubt their minds were racing as the clock (sundial?) continued to tick. As time passed and no answer was forthcoming, the men became more than a little concerned. They had no intention of putting out the kind of money their loss would require. And so they decided to take a more devious route: they would threaten to do bodily harm to Samson’s wife and her father (who were primarily responsible for their presence) if she did not get the answer from Samson and give it to them.

Samson’s bride knew these men meant what they said, and so she set about her task of getting Samson to reveal the answer to the riddle. She really turned on the charm, and then was forced to resort to tears until she wore him down and he told her the meaning of the riddle. This must have been some week of “celebration.” Samson’s “hired friends” were no doubt sullen and distant toward him and, worse yet, Samson’s wife continued to cry non-stop until she got her way.

By the time he had been hen-pecked for a week, I suspect that his romantic mood was greatly diminished. But what really set Samson off was having these 30 “friends of the groom” come to him with the answer to the riddle in the final moments of their competition:

“What is sweeter than honey?

What is stronger than a lion?”

There was no question in Samson’s mind as to how the riddle was solved. They had acquired the answer by means of his wife. In a way, you have to feel sorry for Samson’s wife. She was not eager to make her husband angry, but she was terrified by the threats of these groomsmen. If I were Samson, I think I’d find a bit more sensitive way to refer to my wife than as “my heifer.” That must have helped to put her in a romantic mood. And so Samson and his wife have their first fight. Samson stomps off in a huff, determined to pay off his debt in a way that would make the Philistines “pay” for their treachery. The Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon (far enough away that those attending the wedding feast would not easily make the connection), and there he killed 30 Philistines, took their clothing, and returned to present an outfit to each of his groomsmen. He then stalked off to his father’s home (rather than to his wife’s room). One can hardly fault the woman’s father for concluding that this marriage was over before it was consummated. And so he gave his daughter to the best man, thinking that was the last he would see of Samson.

Who Took the “Honey” Out of “Honeymoon”?

or

Samson Out-foxes the Philistines

Judges 15:1-5

1 Sometime later, during the wheat harvest, Samson took a young goat as a gift and went to visit his bride. He said to her father, “I want to have sex with my bride in her bedroom!” But her father would not let him enter. 2 Her father said, “I really thought you absolutely despised her, so I gave her to your best man. Her younger sister is more attractive than she is. Take her instead!” 3 Samson said to them, “This time I am justified in doing the Philistines harm!” 4 Samson went and captured three hundred jackals and got some torches. He tied the jackals in pairs by their tails and then tied a torch to each pair. 5 He lit the torches and set the jackals loose in the Philistines’ standing grain. He burned up the grain heaps and the standing grain, as well as the vineyards and olive groves.

Some time passed. I would think this time period could be measured in weeks, rather than in days. Samson had cooled off, and once again he was in a mood for love. Hopefully his “heifer” was also ready to greet him with open arms, but just in case, he brought along a goat as a gift. I’m not going to try to defend Samson here; he was an insensitive brute. Instead of bringing flowers, he brings a goat. But then he didn’t call his wife “honey,” either; rather he called her his “heifer.” This man has a long way to go in the romance department.

Nevertheless, he has romance on his mind. He is now good and ready to consummate his marriage. He has every intention of going to her room, and it wasn’t to look at her scrapbook of wedding pictures. It must have been quite a surprise to be greeted by her father and told that his “wife” was no longer available, that she had been given as a wife to his best man. The father, a real romantic in his own right, tried to soften the blow. He not only explained that he assumed Samson didn’t want his daughter as his wife, but offered his younger, better looking, daughter as her replacement. How much do we expect this poor woman to endure? She’s threatened by 30 Philistine thugs (“rent a friends”), called a “heifer” by her husband, and then spoken of as less attractive than her younger sister. And her troubles are not over yet.

Samson is in no mood for a wife upgrade. He is angry, and he intends to make the Philistines pay for it. It is just a bit difficult to see the connection between the crops of many Philistine farmers and the offense Samson has taken. Why wouldn’t the father of the bride assume Samson was never coming back? Why doesn’t Samson take out his wrath on his wife’s father or her new husband? Somehow Samson takes out his anger on the Philistine farmers. No mention is made of the Spirit coming upon him mightily. Somehow Samson catches 300 foxes (or jackels), attaches them in pairs by binding their tails together, and then he attaches a burning torch to each pair and releases them.

You can probably visualize what happened as you read about it. The foxes would not have run in a straight line, but would have raced hither and yon as one of the foxes prevailed and then the other. We must remember that this happened during the time of the wheat harvest. The wheat was cut, but was not yet threshed. Shocks of wheat were standing upright in the fields, and there was sufficient stubble left that when it was set aflame the fire spread quickly, not only destroying the wheat crop, but also the vineyards and the olive groves. Samson thus struck a devastating blow to the economy of this whole valley.

The Philistines “Fight Fire with Fire”

Judges 15:6-8

6 The Philistines asked, “Who did this?” They were told, “Samson, the Timnite’s son-in-law, because the Timnite took Samson’s bride and gave her to his best man.” So the Philistines went up and burned her and her father. 7 Samson said to them, “Because you did this, I will get revenge against you before I quit fighting.” 8 He struck them down and defeated them. Then he went down and lived for a time in the cave in the cliff of Etam.

The Philistines were enraged and promptly learned the identity of the culprits – Samson, his wife, and her father. They learned that Samson was taking vengeance on the Philistines because his wife was given by her father to the best man. The Philistines were decisive in handling this matter, burning the woman and her father to death.⁹ All this did was to escalate matters, for now Samson felt justified to attack and slaughter a large but undesignated number of the Philistines. And having done so, he retreated to a cave in the cliff of Etam.

Betrayed by His Brethren

Judges 15:9-13

9 The Philistines went up and invaded Judah. They arrayed themselves for battle in Lehi. 10 The men of Judah said, “Why are you attacking us?” The Philistines said, “We have come up to take Samson prisoner so we can do to him what he has done to us.” 11 Three thousand men of Judah went down to the cave in the cliff of Etam and said to Samson, “Do you not know that the Philistines rule over us? Why have you done this to us?” He said to them, “I have only done to them what they have done to me.” 12 They said to him, “We have come down to take you prisoner so we can hand you over to the Philistines.” Samson said to them, “Promise me you will not kill me.” 13 They said to him, “We promise! We will only take you prisoner and hand you over to them. We promise not to kill you.” They tied him up with two brand new ropes and led him up from the cliff.

Here is the part that catches us by surprise. The men of Judah find themselves caught in the middle, between their Philistine masters and a trouble-making Samson. The cliff of Etam was in the territory belonging to Judah. When the Philistines came in force to capture Samson, they spread out near Lehi, close to where Samson was hiding. The Philistines were prepared for battle, and it looked as though they might engage the men of Judah. The men of Judah were most eager to avoid any hostilities with the Philistines, and so they employed more diplomatic means to avoid conflict. The men of Judah evidently agreed to locate Samson, arrest him, and hand him over to these Philistines.

The men of Judah must have feared that Samson would resist. Why else would they need to take 3,000 of their own men to secure Samson’s arrest? Finding Samson, they rebuke him for putting the people of Judah at risk. They did not look on Samson’s rule as a judge in Israel with favor. While he had been very successful at killing many Philistines, this was not perceived as a victory for Israel, but rather as an offense against Israel. Thus their rebuke: “Do you not know that the Philistines rule over us? Why have you done this to us?” They did not see Samson doing them any favor and, likewise, Samson did not view it that way either. He was merely getting even with the Philistines for what they had done to him.

Samson and the men of Judah came to an agreement. They promised not to kill Samson if he would surrender to them and allow himself to be bound. They would then deliver Samson to the Philistines so that they could kill him. Samson’s Israelite brethren are overflowing with the milk of human kindness. And so Samson is bound and led from his place of hiding to be handed over to the Philistines not far away.

Samson Slaughters, Followed by a Pun and a Prayer

Judges 15:14-20

14 When he arrived in Lehi, the Philistines shouted as they approached him. But the Lord’s spirit empowered him. The ropes around his arms were like flax dissolving in fire, and they melted away from his hands. 15 He happened to see a solid jawbone of a donkey. He grabbed it and struck down a thousand men. 16 Samson then said,

“With the jawbone of a donkey

I have left them in heaps;

with the jawbone of a donkey

I have struck down a thousand men!”

17 When he finished speaking, he threw the jawbone down and named that place Ramath Lehi. 18 He was very thirsty, so he cried out to the Lord and said, “You have given your servant this great victory. But now must I die of thirst and fall into hands of the Philistines?” 19 So God split open the basin at Lehi and water flowed out from it. When he took a drink, his strength was restored and he revived. For this reason he named the spring En Hakkore. It remains in Lehi to this very day. 20 Samson led Israel for twenty years during the days of Philistine prominence.

When the Philistines saw the men of Judah approaching with Samson in their custody, bound with ropes, they felt this was going to be their moment in the sun of success. Now they would make Samson pay for his deeds, and they would be rid of this menace once and for all. And so they let out a great shout of triumph, charging toward him as they did so. At this critical moment, the Spirit of the Lord came upon Samson. The ropes that bound him fell away, leaving him free to seize a fresh jawbone of a donkey.¹⁰ With this unlikely weapon in hand, Samson now took on the Philistine attachment that had been sent to arrest him. A thousand Philistines were killed in this slaughter. It would seem that the 3,000 men of Judah stood passively by, watching in wonder as Samson destroyed these Philistines, yet not lifting a hand to help him. They didn’t want to risk “getting involved.”

Samson appears to be a man who was clever in his use of words. We can see this in his riddle regarding the lion and the honey in chapter 14, and we can see it here, as he creates his own epitaph. He does so by using a word play that is evident in the original Hebrew text, but would not necessarily be evident in an English translation. Moffatt, however, did capture this word play in his translation:

With the jawbone of an ass

I have piled them in a mass.¹¹

This is hardly an example of humility nor is it an expression of worship. It is Samson’s tribute to himself, with no mention of God nor of the Spirit who empowered him. Do you suppose Samson composed this for the men of Judah who looked on with mouths gaping? He then threw the jawbone away, and from this time on, the place was called Ramath Lehi, meaning “hill of the jawbone,”¹² or “Jawbone Hill.”¹³

Imagine the thirst and fatigue Samson must have felt after such an intense exercise. We have here the first recorded prayer of Samson, and I think we would all agree that it is not a model prayer. Nobody is going to be tempted to do with this prayer what some have done with the prayer of Jabez!

“You have given your servant this great victory. But now must I die of thirst and fall into hands of the Philistines?”¹⁴ (verse 18)

At least Samson gives God credit for his victory, but his request for water is hardly that of a humble man making his request of a sovereign God. As grandparents, my wife Jeannette and I try to be careful to listen to how our grandchildren ask for things, and we often require them to repeat their request politely. Samson would have never gotten away with his request for water at our house.

Nevertheless, God graciously granted Samson’s request. He did so by creating a permanent source of water – a spring – which Samson named En Hakkore. The author tells us that it remained there in Lehi to the day of his writing. That would mean that every time an Israelite passed by (or, better yet, paused to drink from it) he would be reminded of what God had done through Samson. The chapter ends with the author’s statement that Samson led (or judged) Israel 20 years. This statement will be repeated again at the end of chapter 16.

Points to Ponder

There are many points of interest in our text, but some seem to be more important than others. Taken together, these observations from our text will help point us to the message of our text. So allow me a couple of moments of your time to call some things to your attention from our text.

First, we should note that we have seen Timnah before in the Bible in the Book of Genesis:

12 Now after a considerable time Shua’s daughter, the wife of Judah, died; and when the time of mourning was ended, Judah went up to his sheepshearers at Timnah, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite. 13 It was told to Tamar, “Behold, your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep.” 14 So she removed her widow’s garments and covered herself with a veil, and wrapped herself, and sat in the gateway of Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah; for she saw that Shelah had grown up, and she had not been given to him as a wife (Genesis 38:12-14).

If Samson had known his Bible history, he would have recognized that the last Israelite to go to Timnah to find a wife didn’t fare so well for having done so. Judah formed an unhealthy friendship with Hirah, and then married a Canaanite woman who bore him three sons for whom Judah sought Canaanite wives. On this occasion Tamar, a Gentile, proved to be more pious than Judah.

Second, Samson took the wrong path willfully, for the wrong path was well marked by the Scriptures (the Pentateuch) and by the teaching of his parents. Samson knew what it meant to be a Nazirite, and yet this did not impact his search for a wife. While the Philistines were not technically Canaanites, his parents wisely warned him against marrying an “uncircumcised Philistine.” And yet Samson disregarded their warnings. While Proverbs was not yet written, Samson will prove to be an excellent example of many of the warnings found in this book. God’s will was clear to Samson; he just didn’t want to follow this path.

Third, I cannot help but read about Samson’s encounter with the lion without thinking about the warnings in the Bible regarding the “lion in the road.” There are two proverbs which speak of a lion in the road:

The sluggard says, “There is a lion outside!

I will be killed in the middle of the streets!” (Proverbs 22:13)

The sluggard says, “There is a lion in the road!

A lion in the streets!” (Proverbs 26:13)

The sluggard worked hard at finding excuses to avoid hard work. One of these was the “lion in the road.” Who would possibly walk out the door if there actually was a lion outside? No one would do so because it would be suicide. While the sluggard only imagined a lion in the road, we read a real life account of one in 1 Kings 13:23-32. Shouldn’t Samson have recognized this rushing lion as a divine warning? And yet Samson simply sees the lion only as a good source for honey and good material for a riddle.

Fourth, Samson seems to speak when he shouldn’t and to be silent when he should speak. The Hebrew word often translated “tell” (nagad) is found 14 times in chapter 14. It is sad to see how Samson “tells” his secrets to those who will use them to bring him harm, while he withholds information from his parents. He did not tell them about being attacked by the lion or about how he killed it. He did not tell his parents that the honey he was offering them (which they ate) came from within the carcass of a dead animal, and thus he was bringing defilement upon them without their knowledge.

Fifth, unlike Israel’s earlier judges, Samson always seems to operate in solo mode. Samson always works alone. He does not ask or inspire others to join with him in battle with the Philistines. Samson always goes it alone. Indeed, Samson is a “loner.” He is not close to his parents, nor does he have any close friends. (At the wedding celebration, he is provided with 30 friends who were probably paid to fulfill their role.) Samson did not enjoy intimacy with parents, friends, or women.

Sixth, while Samson’s parents did not know it, God purposed to used Samson’s foolish choices and actions to further His purposes.

4 Now his father and mother did not realize this was the Lord’s doing, because he was looking for an opportunity to stir up trouble with the Philistines (for at that time the Philistines were ruling Israel). (Judges 14:4)

Think of the anguish Manoah and his wife experienced as they observed Samson’s disdain for his calling as a Nazirite. How many sleepless nights were there for these godly parents when they realized that in spite of their desire to raise Samson to be a godly young man, he had every intention of going his own way? While some might argue that they did not do enough to stop him from marrying a Philistine wife, they did clearly express their displeasure and sought to persuade him to marry an Israelite woman. In spite of their efforts, Samson was intent on going his own foolish way, more interested in satisfying his fleshly desires than in fulfilling his spiritual calling.

Here’s the beautiful thing: Samson’s sin would neither hinder nor thwart God’s purposes. Samson would be a deliverer, or, in the words of the Angel of the Lord, he would “begin” to deliver Israel from the Philistines.¹⁵ God’s purposes are vastly greater than anything we can imagine.¹⁶ What Samson’s parents could not see at the moment was that God would use Samson as an unwilling instrument, and thus He would accomplish everything that He had purposed.

In times like ours, things certainly look bleak, spiritually speaking. Our nation has forgotten and forsaken its spiritual roots. Christians are no longer respected as they once were, and there are indications that greater persecution is coming for those who trust in Jesus Christ alone for salvation and believe that the Bible is His inspired, inerrant, and authoritative Word. We see Congress out of control, proposing legislation that would have seemed preposterous only a few years ago. Are we as Christians wringing our hands, as though God’s promises and purposes are at risk? Unlike Samson’s parents, we have been told what God is going to do in the future, and we have also been assured that no power on earth can thwart His plans and purposes. The very things over which we may be agonizing¹⁷ may be what God is using to accomplish His sovereign will.

Seventh, in spite of his intensive efforts to indulge his flesh, Samson found very little gratification. In the dark reaches of my memory, a song title came to mind: “I Just Can’t Get No Satisfaction.” Think about it. Samson was strongly attracted to a Philistine woman. Much time and effort went into acquiring her as his wife. His wedding party was a disaster. His riddle was solved by men who forced his wife to betray his confidence, and thus he was required to provide 30 outfits to his groomsmen. His wife cried for much of the week of “celebration.” And in the end Samson never consummated this marriage. His wife was given to another (his best man), and then she and her father were burned to death by her own people. For all of his efforts, Samson certainly “got no satisfaction.”

Eighth, rather than support Samson by joining him is his battle with the Philistines, the men of Judah rebuked him for causing trouble, and then handed him over to the Philistines so that they could kill him.

We need to remind ourselves of the way the Book of Judges began:

1 After Joshua died, the Israelites asked the Lord, “Who should lead the invasion against the Canaanites and launch the attack?” 2 The Lord said, “The men of Judah should take the lead. Be sure of this! I am handing the land over to them.” 3 The men of Judah said to their relatives, the men of Simeon, “Invade our allotted land with us and help us attack the Canaanites. Then we will go with you into your allotted land.” So the men of Simeon went with them. . . . 18 The men of Judah captured Gaza, Ashkelon, Ekron, and the territory surrounding each of these cities (Judges 1:1-3, 18).

The men of Judah dominate the first two chapters of the Book of Judges as those who led their fellow Israelites into battle with the Canaanites and the Philistines. Here in chapters 13-15 we see a completely reversed situation. The Philistines rule over Israel, and yet not so much as a cry for help is heard from the Israelites. Indeed, the men of Israel have willingly accepted Philistine rule; consequently, they are very upset with Samson for jeopardizing their relationship with their captors. When the Philistines congregate in Judah’s territory, the men of Judah make every effort to appease them in order to avoid hostilities and reprisal. Samson, the “Lone Ranger” in waging war with the Philistines, is viewed as the enemy, not the Philistines. Rather than stand with Samson, they hand him over to the Philistines. How can this be? What has happened to Samson and to the men of Judah?

Ninth, Israel (the men of Judah) and Samson are alike in that they are both looking to the Philistines for what God has promised to provide. For both Samson and the men of Judah, the Philistines are not the enemy; the Philistines are the providers of something that is deemed desirable. Samson does not just want this Philistine woman as his wife; every woman to whom Samson turns is a Philistine: his “wife” in chapter 14; the harlot at Gaza (16:1-3); and finally Delilah (16:4-22). Samson did not look to God to provide him a wife from within his own tribe, or at least from within Israel. He saw Philistine women as superior to Israelite women.

And the men of Judah somehow saw Philistine rule superior to being ruled by a judge whom God raised up. They resisted and rejected Samson’s leadership. They did not join with him when he fought the Philistines. Instead, they took him into custody, bound him, and handed him over to the Philistines to be put to death. Why? Because they saw Philistine rule to be superior to the rule which God would provide. They saw surrender to their enemies as being better than surrendering to God. The men of Judah, like Samson, looked to the Philistines for what only God can provide, and in the process, they both rejected God.

Sharpening the Point of this Passage

All of this prompts me to look for the point – the underlying message – of our text. What is God trying to teach Israel and us by this account of Samson in chapters 14 and 15? What is the point we are supposed to get, to reflect upon, and then to apply?

I am reminded of one of my favorite movies, “What About Bob?” This is not because the title contains my name, but because Bob Wiley is totally consumed with his own needs. At one point in the film, Bob manages to make his way to the lake where Dr. Leo Marvin (his recently acquired psychiatrist) is on vacation with his family. Trying to persuade Dr. Marvin to spend time with him, Bob cries out, “I need! I need! I need!”

I believe that Samson (individually) and the men of Judah (corporately) were in trouble spiritually because they were driven by illegitimate needs, needs which they so intensely pursued that they were willing to sacrifice their relationship with God to meet them.

It may be best to put this matter into a much broader biblical perspective, so let’s begin at the very beginning. When God created Adam and Eve, He made provision for their every need. They were placed in a garden which they were to cultivate. In that garden were trees producing all kinds of fruit. They were permitted to eat freely of every tree of the garden except for one – the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Satan approached Eve, needless as she was, and convinced her that she really did have an important need, a need for which God had apparently made no provision. She was deceived into believing that she needed that forbidden fruit, even at the price of disobeying God. As you know, the consequences of their decision¹⁸ to eat the fruit of that forbidden tree were severe – death – and a whole lot more.

From this point on, we see God’s plan for saving men from the consequences of the fall (and from their own personal sins). God promised Eve that He would provide a Deliverer from her own offspring (Genesis 3:15). Moses, Joshua, and the judges foreshadowed (to some degree) the Great Deliverer, the Messiah, Jesus Christ, who would come and save people from their sins.

But there is a very important lesson that God has been teaching men in the meantime: Man has but one great and all-consuming need – God. God worked in Abraham’s life to show him that He was his great need. Abraham did not need to lie (about his wife Sarah), but to trust God. Abraham did not “need” his only (at that time) son, Isaac; he needed God. And so Abraham was willing to sacrifice Isaac if that was God’s command.

Later, God demonstrated His power over Pharaoh, the great nation of Egypt and their gods, and the forces of nature when He delivered the Israelites from bondage in Egypt. For 40 years, God led the Israelites in the wilderness, and the goal was to teach them to trust in Him, rather than in the gods of the heathen:

1 You must keep carefully all these commandments I am giving you today so that you may live, increase in number, and go in and occupy the land that the Lord promised to your ancestors. 2 Remember the whole way by which he has brought you these forty years through the desert so that he might, by humbling you, test you to see if you have it within you to keep his commandments or not. 3 So he humbled you by making you hungry and then feeding you with unfamiliar manna. He did this to teach you that humankind cannot live by bread alone, but also by everything that comes from the Lord’s mouth (Deuteronomy 8:1-3, emphasis mine).

Israel’s “wilderness wanderings” were for a purpose. On the one hand they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years so that the first generation (who doubted and disobeyed God) could die off. But on the other hand, God led His people in the desert to demonstrate to them that they could trust God to meet their every need. Yes, they needed bread, and shoes, and God provided for these needs. But most of all they needed to trust God to provide their every need. What they needed most was the Word of God, by which they were to live.

This passage in Deuteronomy 11 explains why God led His people to the “Promised Land,” rather than giving them possession of Egypt:

8 Now pay attention to all the commandments I am giving you today, so that you may be strong enough to enter and possess the land where you are headed, 9 and that you may enjoy long life in the land the Lord promised to give to your ancestors and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10 For the land where you are headed is not like the land of Egypt from which you came, a land where you planted seed and which you irrigated by hand like a vegetable garden. 11 Instead, the land you are crossing the Jordan to occupy is one of hills and valleys, a land that drinks in water from the rains, 12 a land the Lord your God looks after. He is constantly attentive to it from the beginning to the end of the year (Deuteronomy 11:8-12).¹⁹

God told the Israelites that He took them out of Egypt, where farming was done by means of irrigation (from the Nile River), to a land where “dry farming” was practiced. In Egypt, there was little question year by year as to whether or not there would be water for their crops. And so God led His people to a land where farming was dependent upon the rains. No rain – no crops. God did this because He wanted His people to understand that every part of their lives was bound up in their need for Him. It was God to whom they were to look for the rains and for their crops. Ultimately, their only real need was for Him. Trusting in Him was the key to meeting every legitimate need.

The nations around them put their trust in idols – their gods. Idols were (and continue to be) a means whereby men think they can manipulate their no-gods and have their “needs” met. No wonder these idols pertain to sexual virility and reproduction. No wonder they are alleged to give victory in battle or success in one’s endeavors. Idols are the means by which men believe they can manipulate their “gods” and meet their needs, based upon their performance.

God led the Israelites into the Promised Land where giants awaited them, along with great armies and huge, highly fortified cities. God did so because He was sufficient to meet their needs in conquering the land He had promised to give them. He did not quickly or easily drive out the Canaanites because He wanted His people to learn that they could trust in Him to give them the victory over their enemies.

As we read the Book of Joshua, we see how God greatly blessed His people with victory over their enemies when they trusted in Him and obeyed His Word. Judges starts out reasonably well, with Judah leading the way to military victory, trusting God to go before them as they engaged the Canaanites. But all too soon the Israelites began to settle for something less than victory, to settle for dwelling among the Canaanites rather than driving them out of the land. And thus they began to think and to act like the Canaanites among whom they lived. This led to the worship of their gods and to pagan practices that were an abomination to God. Once they embraced Canaanite values and practices, it was not so bad living under Canaanite (or Philistine) domination. When a fellow like Samson came along, he threatened the arrangement the men of Judah had come to accept, even enjoy. They wrongly supposed that Israel’s great need was not God, but peace, safety, and the enjoyment of life’s pleasures. It was now Samson who would have to go, not the Philistines.

In time (after the period of the judges passed), God would give Israel a king. It was easy for Israel to place their faith in these Israelite kings, rather than in God. Their leaders thus became their idols. But it did not take long at all to see that their leaders were mere men, with their own needs and weaknesses. Consequently, David “needed” some rest and relaxation, and then he needed another man’s wife, and finally he needed a man killed to cover up his sin. Solomon, too, had his needs, and as wise as he was, he needed too many wives and worshipped too many gods in his old age.

Speaking of kings, God’s instructions to Israel in the Book of Deuteronomy made it clear that kings were to need Him and to trust in Him only, rather than in wives (and the political alliances they brought), money, horses and chariots. The king did need to constantly read God’s Word:

14 When you come to the land the Lord your God is giving you and take it over and live in it and then say, “I will select a king like all the nations surrounding me,” 15 you must select without fail a king whom the Lord your God chooses. From among your fellow citizens you must appoint a king – you may not designate a foreigner who is not one of your fellow Israelites. 16 Moreover, he must not accumulate horses for himself or allow the people to return to Egypt to do so, for the Lord has said you must never again return that way. 17 Furthermore, he must not marry many wives lest his affections turn aside, and he must not accumulate much silver and gold. 18 When he sits on his royal throne he must make a copy of this law on a scroll given to him by the Levitical priests. 19 It must be with him constantly and he must read it as long as he lives, so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and observe all the words of this law and these statutes and carry them out. 20 Then he will not exalt himself above his fellow citizens or turn from the commandments to the right or left, and he and his descendants will enjoy many years ruling over his kingdom in Israel (Deuteronomy 17:14-20).

Skipping over time, we come to the days when our Lord Jesus presented Himself as the Promised Messiah. The Israelites were at that time governed by Rome. They were looking for a Savior who would deliver them from Rome’s domination. Jesus looked like the solution to their needs. At His triumphal entry, Jesus was welcomed as Israel’s king. But during the course of His final week in Jerusalem, it became evident that His kingdom wasn’t what they expected and hoped for. And so when Jesus was arrested and tried before the Jewish and Roman authorities and refused to forcefully resist, the crowds suddenly changed their opinion of Jesus. Even the disciples fled, perplexed by what they saw and heard. While the crowds had once hoped Jesus would overthrow Rome and establish His rule in Jerusalem, they now cried out, “We have no king but Caesar.” And when it became evident that Jesus was not the revolutionary they wanted, they called for Pilate to release Barabbas and to crucify Jesus. Just as Israel rejected Samson as their deliverer in Judges, choosing instead to submit to the Philistines, so Israel rejected Jesus in New Testament times, choosing instead Barabbas and Caesar.

Samson failed to live up to the standard set for a Nazirite. Likewise, all of Israel’s leaders fell short of the standards God had set for Israel’s leaders, and especially their Great Deliverer, the Messiah. In every case, these leaders in Israel were so flawed by their own desires and needs that they could not adequately deliver or judge Israel. God’s Deliverer must be, and do, far better than they if he was to deliver men from the penalty and power of their sins.

One of the great contrasts between Israel’s leaders and the Messiah is that they all had needs (legitimate or not), needs which they sought to meet independently of God; Jesus was the perfect God/man, free from any and all defects, and free from any need other than to fulfill His mission and thus glorify His Father.

24 “The God who made the world and everything in it, who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by human hands, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives life and breath and everything to everyone” (Acts 17:24-25, emphasis mine).

The false gods of this world are very needy beings (speaking momentarily as if they really exist at all). They “need” someone to fashion them out of wood or metal. They need to be carried about. They “need” people’s offerings to keep them going. But the God of the Bible is the One who has created everything, and who continues to sustain it:

18 To whom can you compare God?

To what image can you liken him?

19 A craftsman casts an idol;

a metalsmith overlays it with gold

and forges silver chains for it.

20 To make a contribution one selects wood that will not rot;

he then seeks a skilled craftsman

to make an idol that will not fall over.

21 Do you not know?

Do you not hear?

Has it not been told to you since the very beginning?

Have you not understood from the time the earth’s foundations were made?

22 He is the one who sits on the earth’s horizon;

its inhabitants are like grasshoppers before him.

He is the one who stretches out the sky like a thin curtain,

and spreads it out like a pitched tent.

23 He is the one who reduces rulers to nothing;

he makes the earth’s leaders insignificant.

24 Indeed, they are barely planted;

yes, they are barely sown;

yes, they barely take root in the earth,

and then he blows on them, causing them to dry up,

and the wind carries them away like straw.

25 “To whom can you compare me? Whom do I resemble?”

says the Holy One.

26 Look up at the sky!

Who created all these heavenly lights?

He is the one who leads out their ranks;

he calls them all by name.

Because of his absolute power and awesome strength,

not one of them is missing (Isaiah 40:18-26).

When Jesus came to this earth, it was not to gain something that He needed, to fulfill some unmet need that made Him less than He should be. It was quite the opposite. The Bible speaks of what our Lord laid aside to come to this earth, not what He needed to gain. He did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as the payment for our sins.²⁰

At His temptation, Satan tried his time-proven tactic of creating some felt need that could only be met by disobeying God. Satan sought to convince our Lord that His interests would best be served by acting independently of the Father. Our Lord’s answers to Satan came from the Book of Deuteronomy. In essence, Jesus responded that He had but one need, the need to trust and obey the Father by keeping His Word. Satan’s offers had no attraction because Jesus was the only person on earth that had no unmet needs.

We do not have a needy God, or a needy Savior. Unfortunately, some represent Him as being in need. They portray God as lonely, and needing our fellowship, or our worship. As Paul made clear in Acts 17:24-25, our Lord does not need anything. We desperately need Him; He does not desperately need us. And being free of need, our Lord is free to act in such a way as to achieve every one of His purposes. How I love to trust, to serve, and yes, to need, a God who has no needs.

But there’s more (as the television commercials say); the God who has no needs has all power. He does not lack anything, including absolute power and absolute control of His creation.

16 for all things in heaven and on earth were created by him – all things, whether visible or invisible, whether thrones or dominions, whether principalities or powers – all things were created through him and for him. 17 He himself is before all things and all things are held together in him. 18 He is the head of the body, the church, as well as the beginning, the firstborn from among the dead, so that he himself may become first in all things.

19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in the Son 20 and through him to reconcile all things to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross – through him, whether things on earth or things in heaven (Colossians 1:16-20).

Now, let’s call to mind how all this fits with our text in Judges 14 and 15. The Lord raised up Samson as a judge who would begin to deliver Israel from the power of the Philistines. He did that, in spite of his flaws and failures – his sins. Samson failed to live up to his calling because he was more intent on fulfilling his felt needs than he was on fulfilling his calling as a Nazirite. Indeed, Samson was willing to sacrifice his calling as a Nazirite in order to fulfill his fleshly needs and desires.

The men of Judah should have stood with Samson when he fought the Philistines. They had become so comfortable dwelling with the Canaanites and Philistines that they did not want to risk losing the peace and safety of being under Philistine control. Somehow their real need, the need to worship God alone and to obey Him, was something they were willing to sacrifice for the momentary benefits of the time. They believed they needed the Philistines and what they provided more than they needed God and all of what He promised to provide.

Samson and the men of Judah sought satisfaction in something other than God, and this always leads to disaster. Israel did need a king, but it would not be a king like Saul, or even David. God’s provision for our needs came in the person of Jesus Christ. He alone can deliver us from the power and the penalty of sin. He alone can meet our true and deepest needs. Trusting in anyone or anything else will never satisfy. Trusting in Him alone brings the forgiveness of sins, the assurance of eternal life, and fullness of joy.

13 “Do so because my people have committed a double wrong:

they have rejected me,

the fountain of life-giving water,

and they have dug cisterns for themselves,

cracked cisterns which cannot even hold water” (Jeremiah 2:13).

28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke on you and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy to bear, and my load is not hard to carry” (Matthew 11:28-30).

37 On the last day of the feast, the greatest day, Jesus stood up and shouted out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me, and 38 let the one who believes in me drink. Just as the scripture says, ‘From within him will flow rivers of living water’” (John 7:37-38).

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come so that they may have life, and may have it abundantly” (John 10:10).

---

¹ Copyright © 2009 by Robert L. Deffinbaugh. This is the edited manuscript of Lesson 14 in the series, The Dark Days of Israel’s Judges, prepared by Robert L. Deffinbaugh on November 15, 2009. Anyone is at liberty to use this lesson for educational purposes only, with or without credit.

² Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the NET Bible. The NEW ENGLISH TRANSLATION, also known as THE NET BIBLE, is a completely new translation of the Bible, not a revision or an update of a previous English version. It was completed by more than twenty biblical scholars who worked directly from the best currently available Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts. The translation project originally started as an attempt to provide an electronic version of a modern translation for electronic distribution over the Internet and on CD (compact disk). Anyone anywhere in the world with an Internet connection will be able to use and print out the NET Bible without cost for personal study. In addition, anyone who wants to share the Bible with others can print unlimited copies and give them away free to others. It is available on the Internet at: www.netbible.org.

³ Actually, we are not told that Samson loved any woman until Delilah (16:4).

⁴ In verse 1, we are told that Samson “saw” this woman; in verse 7, we are told that he “talked” with her. Even if there were words spoken on their first encounter, the emphasis seems to be on what Samson saw.

⁵ The ESV renders verse 7: “Then he went down and talked with the woman, and she was right in Samson's eyes.” Once again the translator’s note in the NET Bible indicates the literal words, but chooses to paraphrase them, losing the connection to a main theme in Judges.

⁶ We see this also in 14:8-9.

⁷ This seems significant, given the fact that a Nazirite was to have nothing to do with grapes.

⁸ From Numbers 6:6-12, we know that a Nazirite is not to be defiled by contact with a dead body. It is not altogether clear in this text whether or not a dead animal carcass would be viewed as defiling, but I assume so. Otherwise, why would Samson avoid telling his parents that the honey came from within the carcass of the dead lion?

⁹ There is a certain irony here for this is exactly what the 30 wedding guests threatened to do the Samson’s wife if she did not learn the answer to the riddle and tell them (Judges 14:15).

¹⁰ This being “fresh” and the donkey obviously being dead, Samson would once again be defiled by contact with the dead – not to mention those he would kill.

¹¹ See Dale Ralph Davis, Such a Great Salvation: Expositions of the Book of Judges (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1990), pp. 183-184.

¹² Marginal note in the ESV.

¹³ Note in the NIV.

¹⁴ I’m not sure why the translators of the NET Bible paraphrased “the uncircumcised” to read “the Philistines.” Granted, they tell the reader what they have done in a marginal note, but referring to the Philistines as “the uncircumcised” is much more powerful. Earlier (14:3), it was Samson’s parents who challenged his choice of a wife from the “uncircumcised Philistines,” rather than from one of the tribes of Israel.

¹⁵ Judges 13:5.

¹⁶ 1 Corinthians 2:9; Isaiah 64:4.

¹⁷ I should hasten to say that Christians should be agonizing about those things which are contrary to God’s Word. The slaughter of innocent lives in the womb, for example, is cause for distress. But let us never forget that “God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28).

¹⁸ Adam and Eve reached the same decision – to eat of the forbidden fruit – but for different reasons. Eve was deceived, but Adam was not. See 1 Timothy 2:14; 2 Corinthians 11:3. Both were equally wrong.

¹⁹ I have cited only a small portion of each of these two chapters in Deuteronomy. I would strongly recommend reading the entire chapters.

²⁰ See Mark 10:45.

Introduction

The Bible does not read like a fairy tale and most certainly the Book of Judges does not. The way our author tells the story chapter 16 does not end with a “happily ever after” for Samson.¹ So lest we hesitate to even begin this message, let me start with the good news:

32 And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets. 33 Through faith they conquered kingdoms, administered justice, gained what was promised, shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, gained strength in weakness, became mighty in battle, put foreign armies to flight (Hebrews 11:32-34, emphasis mine).²

Let’s face it, from what we have read in Judges, we might not expect to see Gideon, Samson, or Jephthah in heaven, but the writer to the Hebrews tells us that they will be there. These men are listed among those who are included in the hall of faith, and faith pleases God.³ I am inclined to read Hebrews 11 in such a way as to conclude that it was Samson who, by faith, “gained strength in weakness.” I am also inclined to read Judges in such a way that Samson does not come to faith until the final moments of his life, which would mean that he came to faith during the events described in our text! Never was Samson weaker than he was as he stood between the two supporting columns of that Philistine “temple of doom” in Gaza. His eyes had been gouged out, and he was undoubtedly shackled in chains. Here is the time when Samson really “gained strength in [his] weakness.”⁴

I start with this because we can read Judges 16 knowing that Samson came to faith in the end and that in spite of his many flaws, he is one of those chosen to eternal life. Whatever else Samson was and did, he ended up in the hall of faith. And here is where our text should encourage us as well. I’ll speak to this at the end of this message.

A Brief Review

We were introduced to Samson’s parents in chapter 13. There, the Angel of the Lord appeared first to Manoah’s wife, and eventually Manoah was able to speak with the Angel as well. The Angel promised Manoah that although his wife was barren, she would give birth to a very special child. This child was to be a Nazirite from the time of his conception. Samson’s parents appear to be godly people who sincerely desired to raise their son in the fear of the Lord. The Spirit of the Lord began working in Samson’s life sometime in his youth, but the exact nature of the Spirit’s “stirring” (or “control”) is not stated.

While the reader’s hopes are high after such an impressive beginning, our author quickly dispels any illusions about Samson’s piety. When Samson saw a Philistine woman in Timnath, he decided that this was the woman he wanted for his wife. In spite of his parents’ objections, Samson insisted on them getting this woman for him. The whole wedding attempt was a miserable failure when viewed from Samson’s fleshly point of view. The week-long wedding celebration ended on a sour note when the groom’s guests forced his wife to persuade Samson to reveal the answer to his riddle. Samson met his obligation by killing 30 Philistines and giving his guests their clothing. Samson then went home in anger.

When his anger subsided (and his passion revived), he took a young goat and set off to visit his bride (to consummate their union). Samson was shocked and enraged to learn that his wife had been given to his best man. This prompted Samson to set the Philistines’ farmlands ablaze by the use of 300 foxes (or jackals). In retaliation, the Philistines burned Samson’s “wife” and father-in-law to death. Now Samson felt justified to attack an unspecified number of Philistines and kill them.

The Philistines formed a posse to pursue Samson into Israelite territory. The men of Judah did not want to engage the Philistines in battle, and so they agreed to hand Samson over to them. When the men of Judah came upon Samson, they rebuked him for making trouble for them with the Philistines. They agreed not to kill Samson, promising only to bind him up and deliver him over to the Philistines so that they could kill him. When the Philistines came upon Samson, his ropes dissolved. Seizing the fresh jawbone of an ass, he used it to kill 1,000 of the enemy. In his thirst and fatigue, Samson cried out to God, who answered him by creating a spring in the rock from which he (and many others after him) could drink. This is where our text takes up the story with the closing chapter of Samson’s life.

Samson Goes to Gaza
Judges 16:1-3

1 Now Samson went to Gaza and saw a harlot there, and went in to her. 2 When it was told to the Gazites, saying, “Samson has come here,” they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the gate of the city. And they kept silent all night, saying, “Let us wait until the morning light, then we will kill him.” 3 Now Samson lay until midnight, and at midnight he arose and took hold of the doors of the city gate and the two posts and pulled them up along with the bars; then he put them on his shoulders and carried them up to the top of the mountain which is opposite Hebron (Judges 16:1-3).

This time when Samson goes to Gaza, he ventures deep into Philistine territory. Gaza is a very ancient city, situated close to the Mediterranean Sea in the southern part of Philistine territory. Gaza was located on the main trade route to Egypt, so many travelers would pass through this city. The name Gaza means “strong,” and so we would be safe in assuming that the city was well fortified. Gaza’s city gates would have been formidable.

If there were post offices in those days, Samson’s picture (offering a big reward) would have been posted in some prominent place. And yet Samson ventured to Gaza where he saw a prostitute and promptly purchased her services. No more lengthy marriage process when he could “consummate” this relationship quickly and easily, with no long-term commitments. When Samson went into the city, word went out that he was visiting the prostitute. The men of the city set a watch so that they could seize and kill Samson. They assumed that Samson would spend the entire night with the woman, and so they settled in for what they assumed would be a quiet, uneventful night.

Samson did the unexpected. (Did he anticipate what the men of Gaza were up to?) He got up at midnight when the gates were securely locked. Here was a chance to show how great his strength was. He simply removed the gates by uprooting the posts to which they were hinged and then lifted the whole assembly onto his shoulders. He carried the gates out of the city to a hill overlooking Hebron. Some read this as meaning that Samson carried the city gates 40 miles or so to a hill close to and overlooking Hebron. I am among them.⁵ Others see the distance as being considerably less. Either way, this was a task no one could have done in merely human strength.

One has to assume that the author had his reasons for including this story. I’d like to explore this story, taking note of some important observations, and then suggesting how this story relates to the larger account of Samson and Delilah.

We should first note the moral deterioration of Samson that is reflected in this account. Earlier we saw that Samson was unwilling to seek an Israelite woman for his wife, much to his parents’ distress. But from chapter 14, we can conclude that Samson was willing to acquire a Philistine wife according to Philistine custom. This means that Samson and his parents had to make several trips to Timnah and go through a somewhat time consuming process. It looks to me as though the process took weeks at a minimum, and perhaps months, to complete. Had things worked out as Samson hoped, he would have consummated his marriage at the end of this process – something which did not happen because Samson departed in anger, and the woman’s father assumed that Samson had forsaken any thought of completing the marriage process.

When we come to this short account in chapter 16, we find that Samson has lowered his standards for female companionship considerably. On this occasion, Samson sees a woman to whom he is attracted – a woman he knows is available without all the normal delays – and he goes in to her that very day. Samson seems to have been very much like many today, eager to enjoy the pleasures of sexual intimacy without any commitments or delays. This prepares us for what will happen next with Delilah. Rather than marriage, Samson seems very content to merely live with Delilah. Morally speaking, Samson is on a downhill slope. Sadly, however, his conduct is consistent with the moral decay of our own days.

Second, we should note that no engagement in battle is mentioned and that there isn’t any reference to casualties. In short, the Philistines were not reduced in number as a result of Samson’s one-night stand. As a deliverer (judge), Samson’s role was to begin to deliver Israel from her bondage to the Philistines. Samson’s “sleep over” did not reduce the Philistines’ numbers. Seemingly, it was an unprofitable evening, but let’s not arrive at that judgment too quickly.

Third, there is no mention of the Spirit of the Lord in this account. We have been accustomed to reading that the Spirit of the Lord has come upon Samson and powerful things have been the result. The lion attacking Samson was torn to pieces by Samson (14:6); 30 men were killed by Samson for their clothing (14:19); and, Samson’s ropes dissolved and he killed 1,000 Philistines with the jawbone of an ass (15:14-15). There were also occasions when the Spirit was not mentioned, such as when Samson burned the fields by using 300 foxes (15:4-5), and when he struck down an undesignated number of Philistines in retaliation for the burning of his wife and father-in-law (15:7-8). After the incident of the jawbone of the donkey, we are never again told that the Spirit of the Lord came upon Samson, although this would appear to be the case when he “brought down the house” in chapter 16.⁶

The sense I get (and I could be wrong here) is that initially the Spirit of the Lord came upon Samson only long enough for him to handle the immediate crisis. It seems that eventually the Spirit’s power was constantly with him. Thus, when Samson was trapped inside the city gates of Gaza, he did not have to call upon God for the Spirit’s power because he already had it. As time went on, it would appear that Samson began to take this power for granted. The Spirit’s power seems to be linked to his uncut hair.⁷ Samson does not immediately realize that his power has left him when his hair is cut off.⁸

This makes it easier for me to read these first three verses of chapter 16. I would find it difficult to read that Samson spent the night with a prostitute, thereby placing himself in grave danger, only to find that he called to the Lord for help and the Spirit was sent to “bail him out” (so to speak). I believe the power was constantly there for Samson to use (or abuse) against the Philistines, but Samson became arrogant and foolish, knowingly putting himself in harm’s way, presuming on the Spirit’s power to get him out of his troubles. It won’t be long before the Lord will leave him to his own devices, and he will not be able to escape from the troubles he has brought upon himself.

Fourth, in addition to the supernatural power bestowed upon Samson by the Spirit of the Lord, there appear to be other indications of divine deliverance. Granted, it was Samson’s supernatural strength that enabled him to remove the city gates and to carry them away, but there were other indications that God intervened to preserve Samson’s life. What prompted the Philistines to wait until morning to attack? What prompted Samson to get up and leave the city at midnight, rather than spending the entire night with the prostitute? And how could Samson possibly get past the Philistines posted at and around the city’s gates? How could they not hear the noise created by the uprooting of the gates and then of hauling them off? I have seen some of the feeble attempts to explain this on a purely human level, and they just don’t wash. It seems that God must have intervened, perhaps by putting these fellows to sleep, a deep sleep, so that Samson could make his escape with the city gates on his back.

Fifth, I fear that Samson’s power along with divine intervention only caused Samson to feel invincible, so that he became more and more reckless. Think of all the times in chapters 14-15 (and now in 16:1-3) that Samson could have been killed – should have been killed. And yet no one laid a hand on him, no one did him any harm. Because of this, I think Samson actually began to believe that no matter where he went or what he did no Philistine could do him any harm. Thus, rather than return to Israelite territory and hide from the Philistines, Samson boldly remained in the land of the Philistines, in plain sight, almost daring them to try to do him harm. Samson is in for a surprise; his arrogance is about to get him into deep trouble.

Sixth, I believe there is a prophetic element here. The gates of any city must be strong, as they are essential to the safety of that city. If the gates fail to withstand the onslaught of the enemy, the city is certain to fall. Samson not only disabled the gates of Gaza, he removed them. Indeed, he took them far away. Even today, recovering and re-installing the gates of Gaza would be a substantial project requiring some time and effort to accomplish. During the time those gates were missing, the people of Gaza would have felt vulnerable. Is this a hint of the destruction that is coming to Gaza at the hand of Samson? I’m tempted to think so. Never get caught with your gates down.

Seventh, we should take note that the Philistines who laid in wait for Samson had every intention of killing him:

And they kept silent all night, saying, “Let us wait until the morning light, then we will kill him” (Judges 16:2, emphasis mine).

I think this is a very significant statement to consider. At this moment in time, the Philistines had no intention of letting Samson live. What changed their intentions, so that they would put out Samson’s eyes and keep him in shackles so that he would provide the manpower for grinding their grain?

I believe that it was revenge. Revenge seeks to respond in kind – a tit for a tat. For example, when Samson burned the fields of the Philistines they, in turn, burned his wife and father-in-law. (One burning deserves another.) Apparently, Samson killed no one when he made off with the gates of the city, but he certainly did humiliate his would-be captors. He made a mockery of them and of their security. Hauling those gates a great distance away made all of those who pursued Samson look foolish. Death would be too easy for Samson; they wanted more, much more. And so it is that the Philistines decide that Samson will be humiliated day after day and made a public spectacle later on in this chapter. And all of this was by divine design, so that Samson could destroy the greatest number of Philistines of his career. In this way, we can see how the story of Samson and the prostitute dovetails with the story to follow of Samson and Delilah, and of Samson and the temple of doom.

Samson and Delilah
Judges 16:4-22

4 After this Samson fell in love with a woman named Delilah, who lived in the Sorek Valley. 5 The rulers of the Philistines went up to visit her and said to her, “Trick him! Find out what makes him so strong and how we can subdue him and humiliate him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred silver pieces.”

6 So Delilah said to Samson, “Tell me what makes you so strong and how you can be subdued and humiliated.” 7 Samson said to her, “If they tie me up with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, I will become weak and be just like any other man.” 8 So the rulers of the Philistines brought her seven fresh bowstrings which had not been dried and they tied him up with them. 9 They hid in the bedroom and then she said to him, “The Philistines are here, Samson!” He snapped the bowstrings as easily as a thread of yarn snaps when it is put close to fire. The secret of his strength was not discovered.

10 Delilah said to Samson, “Look, you deceived me and told me lies! Now tell me how you can be subdued.” 11 He said to her, “If they tie me tightly with brand new ropes that have never been used, I will become weak and be just like any other man.” 12 So Delilah took new ropes and tied him with them and said to him, “The Philistines are here, Samson!” (The Philistines were hiding in the bedroom.) But he tore the ropes from his arms as if they were a piece of thread.

13 Delilah said to Samson, “Up to now you have deceived me and told me lies. Tell me how you can be subdued.” He said to her, “If you weave the seven braids of my hair into the fabric on the loom and secure it with the pin, I will become weak and be like any other man.” 14 So she made him go to sleep, wove the seven braids of his hair into the fabric on the loom, fastened it with the pin, and said to him, “The Philistines are here, Samson!” He woke up and tore away the pin of the loom and the fabric.

15 She said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when you will not share your secret with me? Three times you have deceived me and have not told me what makes you so strong.” 16 She nagged him every day and pressured him until he was sick to death of it. 17 Finally he told her his secret. He said to her, “My hair has never been cut, for I have been dedicated to God from the time I was conceived. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me; I would become weak, and be just like all other men.” 18 When Delilah saw that he had told her his secret, she sent for the rulers of the Philistines, saying, “Come up here again, for he has told me his secret.” So the rulers of the Philistines went up to visit her, bringing the silver in their hands. 19 She made him go to sleep on her lap and then called a man in to shave off the seven braids of his hair. She made him vulnerable and his strength left him. 20 She said, “The Philistines are here, Samson!” He woke up and thought, “I will do as I did before and shake myself free.” But he did not realize that the Lord had left him. 21 The Philistines captured him and gouged out his eyes. They brought him down to Gaza and bound him in bronze chains. He became a grinder in the prison. 22 His hair began to grow back after it had been shaved off (Judges 16:5-22).

For the first time, Samson falls in love, at least so far as our author informs us. In the case of his Philistine “wife” in chapter 14, we are only told that Samson “saw” her and wanted her, because she looked good in his eyes. In the case of the prostitute in the earlier verses of our text, we are again told that Samson “saw a prostitute” and went in to her. It is only here that we are told Samson “loved”⁹ a woman, and only here are we given the name of the woman – Delilah.

Nothing is said here about marriage. After his failed attempt at marriage in chapter 14 and his encounter with a prostitute in verses 1-3 of chapter 16, Samson seems to have few moral scruples regarding his relationship with women. Delilah lived in the Sorek Valley, north of Gaza and much closer to the Israelite border. Among other things, it was apparently known for its vineyards – not a great place for a Nazirite to live. But Samson seems to be living with Delilah, and this fact becomes known to the Philistines. Feeling invincible, I doubt that Samson cared whether or not they knew. Indeed, he may have preferred it this way: “Let them come and try to take me.”

The Philistines had learned their lesson. They were not about to engage Samson in battle with his full strength. They knew that his strength came from some unknown source. If they could only determine the source of his power, they could reduce him to normal strength and then overpower him. Apparently Samson’s weakness for women was also known to them. (Did they know about the riddle and how Samson’s wife had persuaded him to tell her his secret?) And so the Philistine lords approached Delilah and offered her a deal that no Philistine girl could reject – 1100 pieces of silver from each of the five Philistine lords.¹⁰ They did not threaten her life, as those at Timnah threatened Samson’s wife; they did not need to. Samson was to Delilah what he was to the prostitute – a meal ticket, a loaf of bread.¹¹ And so from this moment on, Delilah was a woman on a mission and that mission was to loosen the lips of Samson so that she could learn the secret of his power.

A Most Important Question

At this point, most readers are really getting into the story. “Don’t tell her!” we almost shout to Samson. But I would like to ask a question I’ve yet to hear: Why not tell her? Why not tell everyone where his power comes from? Allow me to explain.

First of all, Samson is not very good about telling others what should be told. He should have told his parents about the lion that attacked him, which he killed (by the power of the Spirit of the Lord who came upon him). But then they would have known that he had been defiled by contact with a dead animal and that would have required him to return to his home and be ceremonially cleansed. Furthermore, he should have told his parents that the honey he offered them (which they ate) came from the carcass of the dead lion. Knowing that the honey had been in contact with a dead body, they would not have eaten it. Samson’s silence caused his parents to unknowingly become defiled. So, Samson doesn’t always tell others what they need to know.

Secondly, Samson’s silence about the source of his power tends to make Samson look better than he is. He gets the credit for his strength and for the victories God gave him through the Spirit’s power. (I wonder if this wasn’t part of Samson’s appeal with the women he attracted.)

Third, this meant that Samson’s silence failed to give God the glory that He deserved. Samson’s silence is a far cry from that of David – Israel’s godly king – when he confronted another Philistine (Goliath).

26 David asked the men who were standing near him, “What will be done for the man who strikes down this Philistine and frees Israel from this humiliation? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he defies the armies of the living God?” 27 The soldiers told him what had been promised, saying, “This is what will be done for the man who can strike him down.” . . . 28 When David’s oldest brother Eliab heard him speaking to the men, he became angry with David and said, “Why have you come down here? To whom did you entrust those few sheep in the desert? I am familiar with your pride and deceit! You have come down here to watch the battle!” . . . 36 Your servant has struck down both the lion and the bear. This uncircumcised Philistine will be just like one of them. For he has defied the armies of the living God!” 37 David went on to say, “The Lord who delivered me from the lion and the bear will also deliver me from the hand of this Philistine!” Then Saul said to David, “Go! The Lord will be with you.” . . . 45 But David replied to the Philistine, “You are coming against me with sword and spear and javelin. But I am coming against you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel’s armies, whom you have defied! 46 This very day the Lord will deliver you into my hand! I will strike you down and cut off your head. This day I will give the corpses of the Philistine army to the birds of the sky and the wild animals of the land. Then all the land will realize that Israel has a God 47 and all this assembly will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves! For the battle is the Lord’s, and he will deliver you into our hand” (1 Samuel 17:26-28, 36-37, 45-47, emphasis mine).

Why shouldn’t the Philistines know that they are fighting against the Lord when they oppress God’s people? Why shouldn’t they realize that Samson’s strength comes from the God of Israel? Why shouldn’t they be given the opportunity to recognize how weak and powerless their god, Dagon, is; indeed, that he is no god at all? Samson’s silence is not golden, my friend. It is sinful and self-serving.

So, because Samson has chosen to remain silent about His relationship to God and the source of his power, Delilah sets out to loosen his lips. Through her persistent efforts, she evokes four different “confessions” from Samson, all in the name of proving his love for her. I believe it is worthwhile to point out some of the characteristics of this interaction between Samson and Delilah.

1.       Delilah’s approach is far from subtle: “Tell me what makes you so strong and how you can be subdued and humiliated.” Let’s face it, she asks Samson to reveal the secret of his power so that he could be rendered powerless. What does he think she will do with this information? After his earlier experience with his wife, his groomsmen, and the riddle, one would think that Samson would have wised up about a woman’s wiles.

2.       Samson is not stupid. I don’t even think he is love struck. I believe that Samson is arrogant due to all of his previous escapes from the Philistines. In my opinion, Samson really does think that he is invincible. I am convinced that Samson knows exactly what Delilah is trying to do, and he is absolutely certain that it will never happen. He is toying with her and enjoying every moment of it. He loves to see her beg and plead and try to manipulate him.

3.       Samson’s confessions get closer and closer to the real truth, and yet they become more and more ludicrous. Is Delilah really so gullible as to believe that Samson’s strength can be nullified by weaving his hair into the fabric on a loom? Samson must be chuckling to himself the whole time Delilah is doing this. How naive can this woman be?

4.       Finally, Delilah wears Samson down, and he tells her the truth about his strength. I think that Samson still believes that he is invincible because he does not intend to let anyone cut his hair.

5.       By this time, the reader is pondering a couple of questions. First, “Doesn’t Samson see what she is doing, where she is going with this?” The answer: “Yes, he does, and he thinks he can handle it.” In fact, he’s having a great time toying with Delilah by letting her think she’s getting the upper hand. Second, “How in the world can Samson sleep through his hair being cut?” There are several possible answers to this. He may not have gotten a “Yul Brynner” cut. For those of you who are not old enough to understand this, Yul Brynner’s head was shaved so that he was completely bald. Samson’s hair might not have been shaved off in the sense that we might think of shaving (Gillette didn’t exist in those days). Then, too, Samson’s love-making and wine-drinking might very well have made him oblivious to what was going on.¹² Finally, Samson’s sleep may have been divinely enhanced, perhaps like the Philistines who sought to kill him at Gaza.

The sad reality is that Samson did reveal the secret of his power, his hair was cut, and he was now deprived of his supernatural power. He was no stronger than any other man. Sadder yet is the fact that initially Samson didn’t even realize that his power was gone. When he was awakened by Delilah, Samson fully expected to shake off his bonds and have another good laugh. The laugh was now on Samson. They captured him, gouged out his eyes, and bound him with bronze chains. They put him to forced labor, grinding their grain in prison.

But in the midst of this tragic situation, the author supplies the reader with a faint word of hope. Samson’s hair began to grow back.¹³ Who knows why the Philistines didn’t take note of this, or why they did not keep his head shaved. But for whatever reason, they did not take Samson seriously any longer. It was over for Samson, they thought, and all that was left was ample opportunity for them to humiliate him. Now he would pay for the pain and humiliation he had caused them.

Samson and the Temple of Doom
Judges 16:23-31

23 The rulers of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to celebrate. They said, “Our god has handed Samson, our enemy, over to us.” 24 When the people saw him, they praised their god, saying, “Our god has handed our enemy over to us, the one who ruined our land and killed so many of us!”

25 When they really started celebrating, they said, “Call for Samson so he can entertain us!” So they summoned Samson from the prison and he entertained them. They made him stand between two pillars. 26 Samson said to the young man who held his hand, “Position me so I can touch the pillars that support the temple. Then I can lean on them.” 27 Now the temple was filled with men and women, and all the rulers of the Philistines were there. There were three thousand men and women on the roof watching Samson entertain. 28 Samson called to the Lord, “O Master, Lord, remember me! Strengthen me just one more time, O God, so I can get swift revenge against the Philistines for my two eyes!” 29 Samson took hold of the two middle pillars that supported the temple and he leaned against them, with his right hand on one and his left hand on the other. 30 Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” He pushed hard and the temple collapsed on the rulers and all the people in it. He killed many more people in his death than he had killed during his life. 31 His brothers and all his family went down and brought him back. They buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He had led Israel for twenty years (Judges 16:23-31).

The Philistines were not content with things as they were. They wanted to celebrate their victory over Samson with a heathen worship ceremony, one that included bringing Samson in to further humble and humiliate him. If Samson was not willing to give credit for his power to the God of Israel, these Philistines were eager to give their god, Dagon, credit for Samson’s defeat. In so doing, they were proclaiming Dagon’s superiority to Yahweh, the God of Israel. This is not the first time other nations would praise their god as superior to the One True God, nor will it be the last. But we should not expect Yahweh to remain silent in such circumstances.

I cannot tell for certain whether this great celebration service is being held at Dagon’s temple, or elsewhere, but either way it is a large building – the largest building in Gaza I would expect (the more it could hold, the more that would die when it collapsed). It apparently held several thousand on the lower level and accommodated another 3,000 spectators on the roof. It may be that the crowd which had gathered exceeded the limits of what that building could support. Nevertheless, it seems as though it was filled to capacity. With so many people gathered on the roof, it assured disaster if the building’s two main support columns collapsed.

So the Philistines were assembled at Gaza, giving praise to Dagon their god. There was obviously liquor being consumed because it was only after the crowd had become good and drunk that they began to call for Samson. It was time to bring him out of prison and have some fun with him. We are told that Samson “entertained” the crowd. I doubt that the entertainment consisted merely of having him stand before this jeering crowd. I even doubt that he was forced to stand there while people threw things at him (including insults), or poked and prodded him, enjoying the sight of his sightless eyes and of his flailing arms, seeking to defend himself or to do damage to someone who ventured too close to him. In those days, one was humiliated by stripping off all or part of their clothing.¹⁴

Samson’s humiliation was cruel, but fitting. It was Samson’s eyes that got him into so much trouble. Now Samson’s eyes are gouged out. Samson’s strength was prostituted for his own purposes and glory; now his enemies mock him, and he is powerless to do them harm as he had once done. Samson took pride in being invincible; now he is in chains, grinding grain. Samson was inclined to indulge the flesh, enjoying illicit sexual pleasure; now he is being paraded about naked, or only partly clad, much to the delight of a mocking crowd. Samson is finally paying a high price for his sin.

In spite of this (or, perhaps, because of this), it would seem that Samson now sees things more clearly than he has ever seen them before. I have already indicated that I believe this is the point in time when Samson came to trust in the God of Israel. He now prays, calling to “Yahweh Adonai” – “Sovereign Lord” (NET Bible: “O Master, Lord”). He prays that strength may return to him one last time so that he might get his revenge against the Philistines. Is this a model prayer, the kind that others should be encouraged to repeat? I think not. This prayer falls short of the ideal, but taking the words of the writer to the Hebrews seriously, I believe this is the point in time when God acknowledged Samson’s faith.

God answered that prayer. Samson was positioned in such a way as to be able to exert pressure on both main supports. When these two supporting columns gave way, the entire building collapsed. The roof and supporting beams, along with the 3,000 people standing on the roof, came crashing down upon those assembled below. While Samson sacrificed his life in order to destroy the building and its inhabitants, more Philistines were killed through Samson’s death than he killed during his life.

And these were not your “everyday,” “run of the mill” citizens. These were the cream of the crop. These were the top political (and military?) leaders of the nation. It would have been something like a gathering of the joint session of Congress, along with the military leaders of the Pentagon and the members of the Supreme Court. For these leaders to be in one place at one time was a devastating error on the part of the Philistines. For all of these leaders to die in one place and at one time would have thrown the Philistines into confusion and chaos, which would render the nation powerless for years to come. Indeed, this was the most destructive victory of Samson’s career as Israel’s judge.

We might call the last verse of chapter 16 “family reunion.” It is interesting is to learn that Samson had a family beyond his father and mother. This verse informs us that Mrs. Manoah did not remain barren after the birth of Samson. He had brothers and perhaps sisters as well. When they learned of Samson’s death, they went to Gaza to remove his body and bury it in Israelite territory, between Zorah and Eshtaol, in the tomb of his father, Manoah. This means, of course, that Manoah had died some time before his son, Samson. At long last, Samson was restored to his family and to his country. How fitting for a man who is to be found in the hall of faith (Hebrews 11).

Conclusion

When I began my preparations for this message I said to myself, “There is no way to guild this lily; indeed, there isn’t even a lily to guild.” I looked at a couple of the Bible story books we keep for our grandchildren, and they certainly make every effort to guild the lily with the story of Samson, especially the Samson we find in Judges 16. But the biblical account of Samson does not begin, “Once upon a time. . .” and end with “. . . happily ever after.”

There is only one way to understand the story of Samson – from a divine point of view. We dare not attempt to make Samson a hero, a man who serves as a model for Christian men and boys. Samson is a man who illustrates the warnings of Scripture, particularly those we find in the Book of Proverbs. He is a man who lived his life in the pursuit of fleshly pleasures, a man who cared too little about God, about Israel, and about his divinely-given gifts and calling. Samson is a study in how not to live the Christian life.

How much better it would have gone for Samson if he had lived according to the warnings regarding women that we find in Proverbs 5 and 7.¹⁵ He should have looked for an Israelite wife that was more like the description we find in Proverbs 31. It would seem that the earlier verses of Proverbs 31 regarding kings would have kept Samson out of much trouble:

1 The words of King Lemuel,

an oracle that his mother taught him:

2 O my son, O son of my womb,

O son of my vows,

3 Do not give your strength to women,

nor your ways to that which ruins kings.

4 It is not for kings, O Lemuel,

it is not for kings to drink wine,

or for rulers to crave strong drink,

5 lest they drink and forget what is decreed,

and remove from all the poor their legal rights.

6 Give strong drink to the one who is perishing,

and wine to those who are bitterly distressed;

7 let them drink and forget their poverty,

and remember their misery no more.

8 Open your mouth on behalf of those unable to speak,

for the legal rights of all the dying.

9 Open your mouth, judge in righteousness,

and plead the cause of the poor and needy (Proverbs 31:1-9).

When we read the early verses of Romans 8, we see the results of having our minds set on the things of the flesh:

1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the life-giving Spirit in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3 For God achieved what the law could not do because it was weakened through the flesh. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and concerning sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 so that the righteous requirement of the law may be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh have their outlook shaped by the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit have their outlook shaped by the things of the Spirit. 6 For the outlook of the flesh is death, but the outlook of the Spirit is life and peace, 7 because the outlook of the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to the law of God, nor is it able to do so. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God (Romans 8:1-8).

There are many New Testament texts which call the Christian to live a disciplined life, rather than one that is focused only on the satisfaction of fleshly lusts:

24 Do you not know that all the runners in a stadium compete, but only one receives the prize? So run to win. 25 Each competitor must exercise self-control in everything. They do it to receive a perishable crown, but we an imperishable one. 26 So I do not run uncertainly or box like one who hits only air. 27 Instead I subdue my body and make it my slave, so that after preaching to others I myself will not be disqualified (1 Corinthians 9:24-27).

3 Take your share of suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No one in military service gets entangled in matters of everyday life; otherwise he will not please the one who recruited him (2 Timothy 2:3-4).

20 Now in a wealthy home there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also ones made of wood and of clay, and some are for honorable use, but others for ignoble use. 21 So if someone cleanses himself of such behavior, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart, useful for the Master, prepared for every good work. 22 But keep away from youthful passions, and pursue righteousness, faithfulness, love, and peace, in company with others who call on the Lord from a pure heart (2 Timothy 2:20-22).

13 But evil people and charlatans will go from bad to worse, deceiving others and being deceived themselves. 14 You, however, must continue in the things you have learned and are confident about. You know who taught you 15 and how from infancy you have known the holy writings, which are able to give you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus (2 Timothy 3:13-15).

I suppose that in today’s psychological jargon people would be inclined to say that Samson suffered from a “sexual addiction.” In biblical terms, we would simply say that he was a man who, although he was empowered by the Holy Spirit, chose to live his life in the pursuit of fleshly pleasure in the power of the flesh. How many Christians have fallen short of their calling because they, too, have chosen to indulge the flesh? Are you looking at pornography, choosing to live in this fantasy world of fleshly indulgence, or are you finding contentment within the confines of a godly marriage? Have your forsaken your marriage vows for the pursuit of illicit pleasure outside of marriage? Are you thinking of doing so? Learn from Samson that the way of the transgressor is hard.

Good understanding wins favor,

but the way of the unfaithful is hard (Proverbs 13:15; NIV).

What a tragic picture Samson is. The power and the presence of God departed from him, and he doesn’t even know it.¹⁶ I fear that Samson may not only be a picture of the man or woman who turns away from walking with the Lord, but that he may also be a picture of the church that has come to rely on fleshly means and mechanisms, rather than upon God’s Spirit. How easy it is for Christians to follow the fads of those who use secular methods, rather than to rely on the power of God’s Spirit:

1 When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come with superior eloquence or wisdom as I proclaimed the testimony of God. 2 For I decided to be concerned about nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. 3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and with much trembling. 4 My conversation and my preaching were not with persuasive words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith would not be based on human wisdom but on the power of God (1 Corinthians 2:1-5).

For we are not like so many others, hucksters who peddle the word of God for profit, but we are speaking in Christ before God as persons of sincerity, as persons sent from God (2 Corinthians 2:17).

1 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? We don’t need letters of recommendation to you or from you as some other people do, do we? 2 You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone, 3 revealing that you are a letter of Christ, delivered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on stone tablets but on tablets of human hearts. 4 Now we have such confidence in God through Christ. 5 Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as if it were coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, 6 who made us adequate to be servants of a new covenant not based on the letter but on the Spirit, for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life (2 Corinthians 3:1-6).

1 Therefore, since we have this ministry, just as God has shown us mercy, we do not become discouraged. 2 But we have rejected shameful hidden deeds, not behaving with deceptiveness or distorting the word of God, but by open proclamation of the truth we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience before God (2 Corinthians 4:1-2).

We are weak in the power of the flesh. That is why He gave us His Spirit, dwelling within Christians (individually) and dwelling within His church (corporately). We dare not presume to think that the successes which God achieves in and through us by means of His Spirit are somehow our works, for which we can take the credit. And we dare not prostitute the power of God’s Spirit, using it for self-serving purposes. If we do, there may very well come a time when the Spirit has departed from us, and we don’t even know it.

There is a strong word of warning in our text for those who are unbelievers – for those who have never trusted in the saving work of Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins and the gift of eternal life. Those who had gathered at Gath to worship their god and to mock Samson (and his God) felt confident and secure in their false religion. They gave Dagon credit for Samson’s defeat. They were in the midst of jubilant celebration when their day of judgment came. So it will be in the end, when our Lord comes to bring judgment upon all who have rejected Him:

37 “For just like the days of Noah were, so the coming of the Son of Man will be. 38 For in those days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark. 39 And they knew nothing until the flood came and took them all away. It will be the same at the coming of the Son of Man” (Matthew 24:37-39).

2 For you know quite well that the day of the Lord will come in the same way as a thief in the night. 3 Now when they are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction comes on them, like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will surely not escape (1 Thessalonians 5:2-3).

There is a day of judgment coming upon all those who have rejected the salvation God has provided in the person and work of Jesus Christ. It is a day that Christians eagerly await and for which they pray. But it is a day of dreaded and unexpected judgment for those who have rejected God’s only means of salvation. Just as the men and women of Gaza felt safe and secure (now that Samson was weakened, blinded, and in chains), men and women in the last days will be at ease, thinking that they are safe and secure apart from Christ. Their day of judgment will catch them completely off guard, and at that point in time, it will be too late.

The day of salvation is now, my friend. The Bible teaches that every human being is a sinner, in need of a Savior. Because we are sinners, we are not capable of earning our salvation by our efforts to meet God’s standard of righteousness. Only Jesus has done this, and He took our sins on Himself (He became sin for us) and paid the penalty for those sins when He suffered the wrath of God¹⁷ on the cross of Calvary. He not only died, He rose from the dead, and then ascended to the right hand of God the Father in heaven, to intercede for all those who have trusted in Him. Salvation is assured for all those who acknowledge their sin and helplessness to save themselves, and who trust in what Jesus has done on their behalf in His death, burial, and resurrection.

19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world may be held accountable to God. 20 For no one is declared righteous before him by the works of the law, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin. 21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God (which is attested by the law and the prophets) has been disclosed – 22 namely, the righteousness of God through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. 24 But they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. 25 God publicly displayed him at his death as the mercy seat accessible through faith. This was to demonstrate his righteousness, because God in his forbearance had passed over the sins previously committed. 26 This was also to demonstrate his righteousness in the present time, so that he would be just and the justifier of the one who lives because of Jesus’ faithfulness (Romans 3:19-26).

1 And although you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you formerly lived according to this world’s present path, according to the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the ruler of the spirit that is now energizing the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom all of us also formerly lived out our lives in the cravings of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath even as the rest… 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, 5 even though we were dead in transgressions, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you are saved! – 6 and he raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 to demonstrate in the coming ages the surpassing wealth of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 it is not from works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand so we may do them (Ephesians 2:1-10).

17 So then, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; what is old has passed away – look, what is new has come! 18 And all these things are from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and who has given us the ministry of reconciliation. 19 In other words, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting people’s trespasses against them, and he has given us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making His plea through us. We plead with you on Christ’s behalf, “Be reconciled to God!” 21 God made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we would become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:17-21).

4 But “when the kindness of God our Savior and his love for mankind appeared, 5 he saved us not by works of righteousness that we have done but on the basis of his mercy, through the washing of the new birth and the renewing of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us in full measure through Jesus Christ our Savior. 7 And so, since we have been justified by his grace, we become heirs with the confident expectation of eternal life” (Titus 3:4-7).

11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 The one who has the Son has this eternal life; the one who does not have the Son of God does not have this eternal life (1 John 5:11-12).

Thank God that our salvation is not dependent upon our works, but only upon the work which the Lord Jesus has accomplished in our place. The story of Samson serves to illustrate this truth in a powerful way. His salvation was most certainly not the result of his works, and so it is that the author of Hebrews places him in the hall of faith. Our salvation does not rest upon our performance, but upon the perfect work of our Lord. To Him be the glory!

Copyright © 2009 by Robert L. Deffinbaugh. This is the edited manuscript of Lesson 15 in the series, The Dark Days of Israel’s Judges, prepared by Robert L. Deffinbaugh on November 22, 2009. Anyone is at liberty to use this lesson for educational purposes only, with or without credit.

---

¹ I say this while wondering how it is that the children’s Bible story books expend every effort to make Samson look better than he is.

² Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the NET Bible.  The NEW ENGLISH TRANSLATION, also known as THE NET BIBLE, is a completely new translation of the Bible, not a revision or an update of a previous English version.  It was completed by more than twenty biblical scholars who worked directly from the best currently available Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts.  The translation project originally started as an attempt to provide an electronic version of a modern translation for electronic distribution over the Internet and on CD (compact disk).  Anyone anywhere in the world with an Internet connection will be able to use and print out the NET Bible without cost for personal study.  In addition, anyone who wants to share the Bible with others can print unlimited copies and give them away free to others.  It is available on the Internet at: www.netbible.org.

³ See Hebrews 11:6.

⁴ If Samson was not saved in the final moments of his life, then he must have been saved at some earlier point in time, though his conduct would certainly not incline us to assume that he was a believer.

⁵ I’m always ill at ease with attempts to make miracles seem more do-able.  For example, some give examples of whales swallowing men so that we find it easier to believe that Jonah was indeed swallowed by a great fish.  Miracles are miracles – God accomplishing the impossible.  I don’t need to be told something is possible in order to believe God did it.  Okay, I feel better now, having gotten that off my chest, so let’s get back to our story.

⁶ Judges 16:28-30.

⁷ Judges 16:17.

⁸ Judges 16:20.

⁹ For those inclined to overwork the distinctions in the various Greek words for “love,” I would point out that the word “love” in verses 4 and 15 are based on the verb agapao in the Greek translation of this Old Testament text.

¹⁰ While our text does not tell us there were five Philistine lords, we know this from Joshua 13:3; Judges 3:3; 1 Samuel 6:4, 16, 18.

¹¹ Proverbs 6:26.

¹² Remember Lot’s daughters.  See Genesis 19:30-38.

¹³ It would therefore seem that he was imprisoned for some time, long enough for his hair to grow out (though surely not as long as it once was).

¹⁴ See 2 Samuel 10:4; Isaiah 20:4; 47:1-4.

¹⁵ I realize that Proverbs was not yet written, but I feel confident that his mother had given him similar warnings.

¹⁶ 16:20.

¹⁷  Jesus suffered the wrath of men as well, as was dramatically portrayed in the movie, “The Passion of Jesus the Christ,” but it was our Lord’s suffering the wrath of God in our place that provided salvation.

Introduction

We have come to the third and concluding section of the Book of Judges. The first section of the book is a dual or two-part introduction (1:1—2:5; 2:6—3:4¹). The main section (3:5—16:31) deals with the life and times of some of the judges who ruled during this period of time. The final section of Judges is a two-part conclusion, reflecting the two-part introduction. Our text for this message (17:1—18:31) is the first part of the two-part conclusion. The second part is found in chapters 19-21.

There are some unique features that can and should be noted in chapters 17-21. These would include the following:

1. No foreign oppressor is identified in the conclusion to the Book of Judges. Earlier in the book, we are told of the oppression of Mesopotamia (3:8ff.), of Moab (3:12ff.), of Jabin the Canaanite king and his commander, Sisera (4:2ff.), of the Midianites and Amalekites (6:2ff.), of the Philistines (10:7ff.), and others. No such foreign oppressor is named in the conclusion. The enemy here is within, not without.
2. The Israelites are not accused of worshipping any foreign gods in this section of Judges, as had been the case earlier in the book (e.g., 10:6). In general, they are worshipping God in an improper (pagan) way. They employ idols or forbidden images, but they seem to believe that they are worshipping Yahweh when they employ them in worship. This is much like the Israelites worshipping Yahweh by means of the golden calf in Exodus 32.²
3. No judges are named or described in this closing section of the book. That was subject matter of the main section of the book.
4. The reader is repeatedly reminded that during this period, there was “no king in Israel,” and that “every man did what was right in his own eyes” (see 17:6; 18:1; 19:1, 21:25). This statement is found only in the conclusion of the Book of Judges and not earlier in the book (although it should be evident to the reader that this statement was true of the Israelites throughout the period of the judges).
5. In our text (chapters 17 and 18), the author withholds certain crucial information until the very end of chapter 18 (verses 30-31).
6. While there is more than ample opportunity for the author to specifically identify the sins which are committed in our text, he tends to minimize editorial comment, leaving a good part of the burden of interpretation on the reader.

If the author has avoided making editorial comments about what he describes, how is the reader to understand and interpret this text? The first thing the reader must do is pay careful attention to the author’s obvious comments, such as, “in those days there was no king in Israel. . . .” The second thing the reader should do is to be on the lookout for the author’s more subtle indicators of wrong doing.³ Third, the reader should keep in mind the history of the Israelites as recorded in the Pentateuch⁴ and Joshua. Fourth, the reader should draw heavily from the teaching of the Law as found in Exodus 20ff. and Deuteronomy 5ff. Specifically, the reader should give careful attention to Deuteronomy 12:1-19, 28 and Deuteronomy 27:15. The author of Judges expects his readers to be familiar with the Old Testament, and especially those books which precede Judges.

Have It Your Way, Micah
Judges 17:1-13

1 There was a man named Micah from the Ephraimite hill country. 2 He said to his mother, “You know the eleven hundred pieces of silver which were stolen from you, about which I heard you pronounce a curse? Look here, I have the silver. I stole it, but now I am giving it back to you.” His mother said, “May the Lord reward you, my son!” 3 When he gave back to his mother the eleven hundred pieces of silver, his mother said, “I solemnly dedicate this silver to the Lord. It will be for my son’s benefit. We will use it to make a carved image and a metal image.” 4 When he gave the silver back to his mother, she took two hundred pieces of silver to a silversmith, who made them into a carved image and a metal image. She then put them in Micah’s house. 5 Now this man Micah owned a shrine. He made an ephod and some personal idols and hired one of his sons to serve as a priest. 6 In those days Israel had no king. Each man did what he considered to be right.

7 There was a young man from Bethlehem in Judah. He was a Levite who had been temporarily residing among the tribe of Judah. 8 This man left the town of Bethlehem in Judah to find another place to live. He came to the Ephraimite hill country and made his way to Micah’s house. 9 Micah said to him, “Where do you come from?” He replied, “I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah. I am looking for a new place to live.” 10 Micah said to him, “Stay with me. Become my adviser and priest. I will give you ten pieces of silver per year, plus clothes and food.” 11 So the Levite agreed to stay with the man; the young man was like a son to Micah. 12 Micah paid the Levite; the young man became his priest and lived in Micah’s house. 13 Micah said, “Now I know God will make me rich, because I have this Levite as my priest” (Judges 17:1-13).⁵

We are introduced to a man named Micah from the hill country of Ephraim. Micah was not the model son, but then neither was his mother a “Proverbs 31 kind of woman.” Micah had stolen 1100 pieces of silver from her,⁶ and she had pronounced a curse on the thief in his hearing. (One has to wonder if she knew – or at least suspected – that it was her son who was the culprit.) It seems to have been the curse which prompted Micah to confess, and not his conscience. This does not appear to be a biblical curse, but something that came from “the dark side.” How different this mother’s curse was from the “curses” God had the Israelites repeat from Mount Ebal, the first of which went like this:

“‘Cursed is the one who makes a carved or metal image – something abhorrent to the Lord, the work of the craftsman – and sets it up in a secret place.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’” (Deuteronomy 27:15)

The important thing to Micah’s mother was that the curse seemed to work. Micah confessed, and his mother’s problem now was to somehow reverse the curse. She attempts to do so by pronouncing a blessing upon her son, a blessing invoked in the name of Yahweh. When Micah returned the stolen silver, his mother dedicated a portion of it (200 pieces of the silver) to the Lord (Yahweh) so that with it her son could make two idols. Ironically, the two terms she employs to refer to these idols are the same terms contained in the curse of Deuteronomy 27:15, referring to idols that the Israelites must never make. So far, neither Micah nor his mother is looking godly.

Micah’s mother takes the 200 pieces of silver to a silversmith to fashion two forbidden images. When these images were completed, they were placed in the house of Micah. We should not think that these are the first and only idols Micah owned. From verse 5, we learn that Micah had a “house of gods,” which included an ephod and “household gods.” We have already read of Gideon’s idolatrous ephod in Judges 8:27. The “household gods” would be similar to those Rachel stole from Laban’s house.⁷ These were the sort of personalized idols that were kept in many heathen homes.

So Micah is already an idolater, and also a thief, but thanks to his “confession” and his mother’s blessing, he now has an even more complete collection of gods. With such a collection, Micah will need a priest, and so he dedicates one of his sons to carry out this family function. Here is a truly dysfunctional family. And so our author makes a statement for the first time in Judges that we will see several times in his conclusion to this book:

In those days Israel had no king. Each man did what he considered to be right (Judges 17:6).

It should not take the reader long to discern the meaning of these words. In Deuteronomy 12, God clearly explains the meaning of these words by contrasting them with another statement:

“You are not to do as we are doing here today; everyone is doing whatever seems right in his own eyes” (Deuteronomy 12:8, CSB; emphasis mine).

“Be careful to obey all these things I command you, so that you and your children after you may prosper forever, because you will be doing what is good and right in the sight of the LORD your God” (Deuteronomy 12:28, CSB; emphasis mine).

Doing “what is right in your own eyes” is living according to your own personal standards. Doing what “is right in the sight of the LORD your God” is doing what God has declared to be right in His Word. Clearly, Micah and his mother were not living according to God’s commandments; they were living in accordance with their own corrupt value system. This does not bode well.

Micah now has his own “homemade religion.” He has a shrine containing various pieces of forbidden religious hardware and a son who is set apart to serve as his priest. But there is something less than authentic in having one’s son be the family priest. After all, he is not a Levite.

How fortunate, how providential (to use a more pious sounding term), it must have seemed to Micah when a young, unemployed, Levite happened his way. This young Levite had come from Bethlehem in Judah where he had sojourned for some time. Remember that the Levites did not have an allotted inheritance as did the other tribes. They were to live off of the tithes and support of their fellow Israelites. There were a few cities in Israel that were set apart for the Levites, as well as some surrounding farmland.⁸ Given the spiritual state of the nation, it is almost certain that this command was being ignored:

Be careful not to overlook the Levites as long as you live in the land (Deuteronomy 12:19).

The Levites suffered from unemployment, and thus they traveled about the nation seeking a roof over their heads and food on their table. The young Levite in our text had not found “a place” in Bethlehem and had made his way to the hill country of Ephraim, where he encountered Micah’s “bed and breakfast.”⁹ Micah asked the Levite where he had come from and, by inference, what his business was in passing by his house. The young man may not be handing Micah his resume, but he does tell him that he is a Levite and that he is looking for a job and a place to stay. In effect, he tells Micah that he is open to any kind of employment he can find.

This resonates with Micah. Just think of it; he could hire this young man and have a genuine Levite as his priest, rather than one of his sons. This would greatly enhance his religious status. Micah offers him a good salary, a car allowance, excellent health insurance, and a retirement program. Okay, so I’ve paraphrased a bit, but hopefully I’ve made the author’s point more pointed (so far as our day and times are concerned). The young Levite was willing to prostitute his calling to be a private priest for Micah the idolater, with the tools of his trade being those forbidden idols housed in his sacred shrine. Over time, a close bond developed between these two so that the Levite was treated like a son. Things could hardly be better for Micah and for his new priest – or so it seemed. Micah was sure that things were going to be even better for him, because now he had a Levite as his personal priest. Things were about to change, however, and not for the better, so far as Micah assessed success.

The Danites’ Promised Land
Judges 18:1-31

1 In those days Israel had no king. And in those days the Danite tribe was looking for a place to settle, because at that time they did not yet have a place to call their own among the tribes of Israel. 2 The Danites sent out from their whole tribe five representatives, capable men from Zorah and Eshtaol, to spy out the land and explore it. They said to them, “Go, explore the land.” They came to the Ephraimite hill country and spent the night at Micah’s house. 3 As they approached Micah’s house, they recognized the accent of the young Levite. So they stopped there and said to him, “Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? What is your business here?” 4 He told them what Micah had done for him, saying, “He hired me and I became his priest.” 5 They said to him, “Seek a divine oracle for us, so we can know if we will be successful on our mission.” 6 The priest said to them, “Go with confidence. The Lord will be with you on your mission.”

7 So the five men journeyed on and arrived in Laish. They noticed that the people there were living securely, like the Sidonians do, undisturbed and unsuspecting. No conqueror was troubling them in any way. They lived far from the Sidonians and had no dealings with anyone. 8 When the Danites returned to their tribe in Zorah and Eshtaol, their kinsmen asked them, “How did it go?” 9 They said, “Come on, let’s attack them, for we saw their land and it is very good. You seem lethargic, but don’t hesitate to invade and conquer the land. 10 When you invade, you will encounter unsuspecting people. The land is wide! God is handing it over to you – a place that lacks nothing on earth!”

11 So six hundred Danites, fully armed, set out from Zorah and Eshtaol. 12 They went up and camped in Kiriath Jearim in Judah. (To this day that place is called Camp of Dan. It is west of Kiriath Jearim.) 13 From there they traveled through the Ephraimite hill country and arrived at Micah’s house. 14 The five men who had gone to spy out the land of Laish said to their kinsmen, “Do you realize that inside these houses are an ephod, some personal idols, a carved image, and a metal image? Decide now what you want to do.” 15 They stopped there, went inside the young Levite’s house (which belonged to Micah), and asked him how he was doing. 16 Meanwhile the six hundred Danites, fully armed, stood at the entrance to the gate. 17 The five men who had gone to spy out the land broke in and stole the carved image, the ephod, the personal idols, and the metal image, while the priest was standing at the entrance to the gate with the six hundred fully armed men. 18 When these men broke into Micah’s house and stole the carved image, the ephod, the personal idols, and the metal image, the priest said to them, “What are you doing?” 19 They said to him, “Shut up! Put your hand over your mouth and come with us! You can be our adviser and priest. Wouldn’t it be better to be a priest for a whole Israelite tribe than for just one man’s family?” 20 The priest was happy. He took the ephod, the personal idols, and the carved image and joined the group.

21 They turned and went on their way, but they walked behind the children, the cattle, and their possessions. 22 After they had gone a good distance from Micah’s house, Micah’s neighbors gathered together and caught up with the Danites. 23 When they called out to the Danites, the Danites turned around and said to Micah, “Why have you gathered together?” 24 He said, “You stole my gods that I made, as well as this priest, and then went away. What do I have left? How can you have the audacity to say to me, ‘What do you want?’” 25 The Danites said to him, “Don’t say another word to us, or some very angry men will attack you, and you and your family will die.” 26 The Danites went on their way; when Micah realized they were too strong to resist, he turned around and went home.

27 Now the Danites took what Micah had made, as well as his priest, and came to Laish, where the people were undisturbed and unsuspecting. They struck them down with the sword and burned the city. 28 No one came to the rescue because the city was far from Sidon and they had no dealings with anyone. The city was in a valley near Beth Rehob. The Danites rebuilt the city and occupied it. 29 They named it Dan after their ancestor, who was one of Israel’s sons. But the city’s name used to be Laish. 30 The Danites worshiped the carved image. Jonathan, descendant of Gershom, son of Moses, and his descendants served as priests for the tribe of Dan until the time of the exile. 31 They worshiped Micah’s carved image the whole time God’s authorized shrine was in Shiloh (Judges 18:1-31).

There are three vitally important items of information that are crucial to the correct interpretation of this chapter. We should not be surprised to learn that these are conveyed by earlier events, described in earlier texts of Scripture. First of all, we have already been given the reason why the Danites had not fully possessed the inheritance that was allotted to them by Joshua.

In those days Israel had no king. And in those days the Danite tribe was looking for a place to settle, because at that time they did not yet have a place to call their own among the tribes of Israel (Judges 18:1).

I believe that the sense of this verse is best conveyed by the Holman Christian Standard Bible (CSB):

In those days, there was no king in Israel, and the Danite tribe was looking for territory to occupy. Up to that time no territory had been captured by them among the tribes of Israel (Judges 18:1, CSB; emphasis mine).

This is completely consistent with what we read in Joshua and Judges:

40 The seventh lot belonged to the tribe of Dan by its clans. 41 Their assigned land included Zorah, Eshtaol, Ir Shemesh, 42 Shaalabbin, Aijalon, Ithlah, 43 Elon, Timnah, Ekron, 44 Eltekeh, Gibbethon, Baalath, 45 Jehud, Bene Berak, Gath Rimmon,46 the waters of Jarkon, and Rakkon, including the territory in front of Joppa. 47 (The Danites failed to conquer their territory, so they went up and fought with Leshem¹⁰ and captured it. They put the sword to it, took possession of it, and lived in it. They renamed it Dan after their ancestor.) 48 This was the land assigned to the tribe of Dan by its clans, including these cities and their towns (Joshua 19:40-48, emphasis mine).

The Amorites forced the people of Dan to live in the hill country. They did not allow them to live in the coastal plain (Judges 1:34).

So here is the situation. The Danites were one of the least successful tribes in all of Israel when it came to taking possession of their allotted inheritance. The Amorites kept them at bay so that they did not possess the lowlands of their inheritance. They were forced to live in the hill country. Thus, they were prevented from farming to the extent they required. It would seem that Samson, a Danite,¹¹ had done his tribe little good in terms of possessing their inheritance.¹² He was too busy chasing the Philistine girls and killing Philistine men. We have little choice but to conclude that the Danites’ failure was due to their lack of faith and obedience. What they are looking for when they send out their five spies is someplace that is prosperous and yet poorly defended, so that it might be easily conquered.

The second important piece of background information is the stories of the sending out of the spies to spy out the land of Canaan. The first (12) spies were sent out by Moses, and we know how that came out. Ten spies argued that while the land was fruitful, it could not be conquered because of the giants and the heavily fortified Canaanite cities.¹³ Only two spies – Joshua and Caleb – believed God would grant them victory over the Canaanites. Later on, two spies were sent out by Joshua, as we read in Joshua 2. I am convinced our author is contrasting the story of the Danite spies with the earlier accounts in Numbers and Joshua. The ten spies in Numbers are fearful because of the strength of the Canaanite soldiers and their cities. The two spies with a positive report do not minimize the strength of the opposition, but take courage from the strength of their God. The five Danite spies are full of confidence, but it is because they perceive their opponents to be weak and vulnerable – easy pickings.

Third, the land the Danites possess in our text was not part of the territory allotted to them by Joshua. The boundaries of the Danites’ inheritance are set forth in Joshua 19:40-48 (see above). When you look on a Bible map, you will see that their territory lay beside the territory of Judah, to the west, extending to the Mediterranean Sea. The territory they will possess in our text is far to the north and east, approximately 30 miles north of the Sea of Galilee. Thus, taking possession of this territory raises all kinds of issues. Were the inhabitants of that place actually Canaanites who should have been exterminated, or were they people who were far enough removed from Canaan that they should have been given the opportunity to peacefully surrender?¹⁴ If this is Israelite territory – territory allotted to one of the Israelite tribes – then to which tribe was it allotted, and why have they not taken possession of such a vulnerable (and yet prosperous) place? Furthermore, if this is Israelite territory, then one must assume that the Danites have stolen it from their fellow-Israelites. In the end, what is clear, I believe, is that these Danites were taking the “path of least resistance,” rather than taking possession of the territory allotted to them.

With these things in the back of our minds, let us see how our author develops the story of the Danite spies in chapter 18. Seeking to expand their territory, yet without the need for long-term warfare, the Danites send five men to spy out the land and find them a place to settle. They end up at “Micah’s Bed and Breakfast.” Noting the Levite’s accent, they ask him what he is doing there. The Levite should have asked them the same question. Both would have been good questions. The Levite answers that he is a Levite who has hired out his services to Micah. Hearing this, the Danite spies seek the benefit of his services. While he is at it, would he mind inquiring of God (Elohim, the more generic term for “god” or God) regarding the success of their mission? Are they going to find a favorable place for the Danites to settle?

The author promptly reports the priest’s favorable answer without telling us how he arrived at it. He may have used the “tools” at his disposal – the ephod, for example – to discern some kind of divine guidance. Going through some elaborate ritual may have served to impress his guests, and perhaps. gained him a healthy fee for his services. On the other hand, he may have given a more “off the cuff” blessing. He at least succeeded in giving the five spies the impression that God was with them in their endeavor.¹⁵

The spies went on their way, encouraged by the Levite’s blessing. When they arrived at Laish, they assured their brethren that the land was good, that the people did not have any powerful allies, that they seemed to feel so secure that they were not on military alert, and (thanks to the Levite’s words) “God had given this place into their hands” (18:10).

How different this report of these five spies is from the report of ten of the twelve Israelite spies initially sent by Moses to spy out the land of Canaan.¹⁶ Both reports were positive regarding the fruitfulness of the land, but the ten spies came back with a very negative report based upon the military strength of the Canaanites. The result is that the Israelites are not willing to risk trying to take the land, even though God had promised to give the Canaanites into their hands. These five Danite spies had a completely positive report. Not only was the land fruitful, but the people of Laish could be easily defeated and destroyed. They seem to rebuke their fellow-Danites for not quickly setting out to seize their new “promised land.”

Six hundred armed men, including the five spies, make their way toward Laish, setting up camp near Kiriath Jearim, and then finding their way to the house of Micah. The five spies informed the larger group that Micah had a “house of gods” containing the various god hardware he had accumulated. They did everything but clearly say that they should steal Micah’s gods and make them their own. The armed men did not fail to get the point, and so they kept the priest (and Micah?) busy at the entrance of the gate while others began to remove Micah’s idols. When the priest saw what was happening, he asked them what they were doing. They encouraged him to remain silent, offering him better employment serving their clan as a priest. In today’s terms, they would have offered him: (a) a bigger congregation; (b) a higher salary; (and c) a better benefit package (better hours, a longer vacation, excellent health insurance, and an attractive retirement program). It didn’t take this young Levite long to discern “divine guidance.” He happily accompanied the Danites, with Micah’s idols safely in his keeping. So much for being like a son to Micah.

The Danites may have expected some resistance. When they left Micah’s house, they placed their children, their livestock, and their valuables in front of them. This way if Micah and his neighbors came in hot pursuit, they would face the Danite warriors first. Micah’s neighbors were not willing to stand idly by, watching as Micah’s “gods” were hauled off. (Was it possible that these gods were used by the community, as Gideon’s father’s idols had been to his neighbors?¹⁷) They pursued the Danites, calling after them.

Micah was among those in pursuit of the Danites, and when he was challenged by them to explain his “act of aggression,” he responded,

“You stole my gods that I made, as well as this priest, and then went away. What do I have left? How can you have the audacity to say to me, ‘What do you want?’” (Judges 18:24)

What a confession this is! Micah admits that these are gods of his making. Micah, the man who stole from his mother, now protests when his gods are stolen from him. In addition, Micah complains that since his gods have been taken, he has nothing left. Micah’s gods mean everything to him, and he finds it difficult to think of life without them. These are the gods in which he has put his trust, and yet these same gods can do nothing to protect him, even as he helplessly watches others carry them off. A sober word of warning from the Danites sends Micah and his neighbors home empty-handed.

Micah is a tragic example of the person who has placed their trust in a false religion. During the good times, they feel as though their religion is the cause of their prosperity. And then, suddenly, disaster comes their way which their gods are powerless to prevent. They are left with nothing other than a feeling of emptiness and helplessness. For some, this realization comes without any repentance and faith. But there are others whom God graciously brings to the end of themselves so that they will repent and embrace God’s only means of salvation.

The Danites, along with Micah’s god’s and his Levite-for-hire, continue on to Laish, where they find this place just as the five spies had described it. The people of Laish are peaceable and unsuspecting. In short, they are vulnerable and easily overtaken, which is exactly what the 600 armed Danites did. They killed the people of Laish and burned down the city, after which they rebuilt it and named it Dan, after their tribal head. Then they took Micah’s gods and set them up for worship, much as Micah had done.

Here is the point at which the author discloses something he has been holding back from the reader until just the right moment:

30 The Danites worshiped the carved image. Jonathan, descendant of Gershom, son of Moses, and his descendants served as priests for the tribe of Dan until the time of the exile. 31 They worshiped Micah’s carved image the whole time God’s authorized shrine was in Shiloh (Judges 18:30-31).

Until now the Levite has been known to us only as a young Levite. Now, at the end of this account, we are told his name – Jonathan. Even more significant than this, we are informed that this “Jonathan” is the “son of Gershom, son of Moses.”¹⁸ Wow! A not-too-distant heir of Moses is now serving as a priest for hire, and the tools of his trade are idols. His place of ministry is not Shiloh – where the house of God was¹⁹ – but Dan, located in Israel’s far north. He ministers not to the nation as a whole, but to one tribe, or rather a portion of one tribe. How quickly Israel has fallen, and how far.

I have just referred to the second revelation our author has withheld until the end of this account: the authorized shrine was in Shiloh, which is located in the hill country of Ephraim. We don’t know the name of the town or city where Micah lived, though we can fairly safely infer that it lay along a well-traveled north/south commercial route.²⁰ My point is this: Both Shiloh and Micah’s “house of gods” were located in the hill country of Ephraim, and my guess is that they were not all that distant from each other. So, Micah has his house of gods, his private priest, and his private religion in the shadow of Shiloh, where the Ark of the Covenant was kept, where the priests should have been serving, and where God was to be worshipped. It wasn’t that the proper place of worship was so distant that Micah and others had to make other arrangements; it was because Micah, Jonathan, and Israel were doing what was right in their own eyes, and thus they were worshipping “their way,” rather than God’s way. If these folks were living today, their number one worship “hymn” would be “I Did It My Way.”

Conclusion

As we conclude, I will pose several questions and suggest some answers from our text.

First, why has the author been so reluctant to plainly and emphatically tell the reader what is wrong as he relates this account? The first thing I would say is that the author has certainly exposed wrong-doing in general terms. That is why he repeats the statement, “In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes.” Now, going back to Deuteronomy 12, we can see just what the author meant by these words:

8 You must not do like we are doing here today, with everyone doing what seems best to him, 9 for you have not yet come to the final stop and inheritance the Lord your God is giving you. 10 When you do go across the Jordan River and settle in the land he is granting you as an inheritance and you find relief from all the enemies who surround you, you will live in safety. 11 Then you must come to the place the Lord your God chooses for his name to reside, bringing everything I am commanding you – your burnt offerings, sacrifices, tithes, the personal offerings you have prepared, and all your choice votive offerings which you devote to him. 12 You shall rejoice in the presence of the Lord your God, along with your sons, daughters, male and female servants, and the Levites in your villages (since they have no allotment or inheritance with you). 13 Make sure you do not offer burnt offerings in any place you wish, 14 for you may do so only in the place the Lord chooses in one of your tribal areas – there you may do everything I am commanding you.

15 On the other hand, you may slaughter and eat meat as you please when the Lord your God blesses you in all your villages. Both the ritually pure and impure may eat it, whether it is a gazelle or an ibex. 16 However, you must not eat blood – pour it out on the ground like water. 17 You will not be allowed to eat in your villages your tithe of grain, new wine, olive oil, the firstborn of your herd and flock, any votive offerings you have vowed, or your freewill and personal offerings. 18 Only in the presence of the Lord your God may you eat these, in the place he chooses. This applies to you, your son, your daughter, your male and female servants, and the Levites in your villages. In that place you will rejoice before the Lord your God in all the output of your labor. 19 Be careful not to overlook the Levites as long as you live in the land.

20 When the Lord your God extends your borders as he said he would do and you say, “I want to eat meat just as I please,” you may do so as you wish. 21 If the place he chooses to locate his name is too far for you, you may slaughter any of your herd and flock he has given you just as I have stipulated; you may eat them in your villages just as you wish. 22 Like you eat the gazelle or ibex, so you may eat these; the ritually impure and pure alike may eat them. 23 However, by no means eat the blood, for the blood is life itself – you must not eat the life with the meat! 24 You must not eat it! You must pour it out on the ground like water. 25 You must not eat it so that it may go well with you and your children after you; you will be doing what is right in the Lord’s sight (Deuteronomy 12:8-25, emphasis mine).

Doing what is right in one’s own eyes is living by one’s own assessment of good and evil, of what is right and what is wrong. Doing what is right in God’s eyes is living in obedience to God’s revealed Word. The Israelites, much like men and women today, were “doing their own thing.” If one reads our text in Judges with God’s law (as revealed in the Pentateuch) in mind, it is obvious what evils are being committed – by Micah, by Jonathan, by the Danites, and (by inference) by virtually all of the Israelites.

The author’s method of teaching is not like that of many teachers today. They supply all the answers, and then expect the audience to write them down and carry them out. When our Lord Jesus taught, people went away scratching their heads. They had a lot of mental homework to do before they got the message. Many – indeed most – never got the message. Jesus was very clear in telling His disciples that He would send His Holy Spirit, and He would not only bring His teaching to mind; He would enable true believers to understand it.²¹

Our author does not do all his readers’ thinking for them. He gives them the general lay of the land and then expects them to reflect and meditate on what he has written. He expects his readers to be familiar with the rest of the Bible. He expects his readers to grasp biblical truth in some kind of theological structure. He writes in a way that encourages his audience to pray for the illumination of the Holy Spirit, so that they may understand and apply the teaching of God’s Word.

What is clear from the Book of Judges is that the Israelites failed to live in accordance with God’s law. What we need to remember is that the law was not given to save men, but to show man his desperate need of salvation, not through law-keeping, but through the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the sinner’s behalf.

19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world may be held accountable to God. 20 For no one is declared righteous before him by the works of the law, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin. 21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God (which is attested by the law and the prophets) has been disclosed – 22 namely, the righteousness of God through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. 24 But they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. 25 God publicly displayed him at his death as the mercy seat accessible through faith. This was to demonstrate his righteousness, because God in his forbearance had passed over the sins previously committed. 26 This was also to demonstrate his righteousness in the present time, so that he would be just and the justifier of the one who lives because of Jesus’ faithfulness (Romans 3:19-26).

Thank God for the New Covenant which was inaugurated by the shed blood of Jesus. Under the New Covenant, God gives lost men and women – who have hearts of stone – new hearts, hearts of flesh.

2 You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone, 3 revealing that you are a letter of Christ, delivered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on stone tablets but on tablets of human hearts.

4 Now we have such confidence in God through Christ. 5 Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as if it were coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, 6 who made us adequate to be servants of a new covenant not based on the letter but on the Spirit, for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

7 But if the ministry that produced death – carved in letters on stone tablets – came with glory, so that the Israelites could not keep their eyes fixed on the face of Moses because of the glory of his face (a glory which was made ineffective), 8 how much more glorious will the ministry of the Spirit be? 9 For if there was glory in the ministry that produced condemnation, how much more does the ministry that produces righteousness excel in glory! 10 For indeed, what had been glorious now has no glory because of the tremendously greater glory of what replaced it. 11 For if what was made ineffective came with glory, how much more has what remains come in glory! (2 Corinthians 3:2-11)

The only thing the law can do is to reveal God’s righteousness to us, while at the same time revealing to us the magnitude of our sin. When our Lord Jesus took on human flesh at His incarnation, He fulfilled all of the requirements of the law, proving His righteousness, and establishing that He alone is qualified to die in the sinner’s place. That’s exactly what He did. Jesus died on the cross of Calvary, bearing the penalty for our sins. Everyone who acknowledges their sin and who clings to the work of Christ accomplished on their behalf is assured of the forgiveness of their sins and the gift of eternal life.

Perhaps you have been like Micah, trusting in gods of your own making, rather than in the God who made you, and who sent His Son to die in your place. Forsake your false religion, and cling to Jesus.

Second, what can we learn about discerning the will of God from our text? The sense I get when I read this text is that the characters (Micah’s mother, Micah, and the Danites) embraced as God’s will (or God’s work) anything that contributed to or confirmed their fleshly desires. Micah’s mother got her silver back from her sticky-fingered son, and so she praised God (Yahweh) and then commissioned the making of idols with some of the returned silver. Micah viewed the arrival of the young Levite as a providential indication of God’s provision of a private priest. The Danites interpreted their discovery of Micah’s gods and his personal priest as a divinely provided opportunity to confiscate these for their own benefit.

First and foremost, God’s will is revealed in His Word. It is sin to fashion idols. Levites are to serve in the way God appointed and not on the basis of “the best offer.” When the Danites finally figured out that Micah was an idolater (not to mention his Levite for hire), the Scriptures make it clear that the guilty parties should have been put to death and their town destroyed.²²

All too often people discern God’s will by what they want. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard someone practicing adultery or immorality seek to justify their sin with the statement, “I know that God wants me to be happy. . . .” Thus, even though the Bible explicitly forbids sexual immorality, some practice it anyway, convinced that God looks on them with favor. God’s Word is the basis for discerning God’s will. When favorable circumstances accompany clear biblical approval, then we can rejoice. But when circumstances are favorable and the Scriptures are not, we must go with what the Scriptures say, not what circumstances permit.

Third, why the emphasis on Israel’s need for a king? We must begin by considering the nature of man. Is man born good, and only later corrupted by his environment, or is man born a sinner? The Scriptures are clear on this matter:

1 And although you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you formerly lived according to this world’s present path, according to the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the ruler of the spirit that is now energizing the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom all of us also formerly lived out our lives in the cravings of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath even as the rest. . . (Ephesians 2:1-3, emphasis mine).

Since man is sinful, then when left to himself he will choose to do wrong when it appears to serve his own interests. Men need external motivation to avoid evil and to promote that which is good. One such external motivation comes from civil government:

1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except by God’s appointment, and the authorities that exist have been instituted by God. 2 So the person who resists such authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will incur judgment 3 (for rulers cause no fear for good conduct but for bad). Do you desire not to fear authority? Do good and you will receive its commendation, 4 for it is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be in fear, for it does not bear the sword in vain. It is God’s servant to administer retribution on the wrongdoer (Romans 13:1-4).

A godly king is a blessing to a people because he will oppose wickedness and promote righteousness.

13 The fear of the Lord is to hate evil;

I hate arrogant pride and the evil way

and perverse utterances.

14 Counsel and sound wisdom belong to me;

I possess understanding and might.

15 Kings reign by means of me,

and potentates decree righteousness (Proverbs 8:13-15).

The king shows favor to a wise servant,

but his wrath falls on one who acts shamefully (Proverbs 14:35).

12 Doing wickedness is an abomination to kings,

because a throne is established in righteousness.

13 The delight of kings is righteous counsel,

and they love the one who speaks uprightly (Proverbs 16:12-13).

A king sitting on the throne to judge

separates out all evil with his eyes (Proverbs 20:8).

A wise king separates out the wicked;

he turns the threshing wheel over them (Proverbs 20:26).

Loyal love and truth preserve a king,

and his throne is upheld by loyal love (Proverbs 20:28).

The one who loves a pure heart

and whose speech is gracious – the king will be his friend (Proverbs 22:11).

Remove the wicked from before the king,

and his throne will be established in righteousness (Proverbs 25:5).

A king brings stability to a land by justice,

but one who exacts tribute tears it down (Proverbs 29:4).

14 If a king judges the poor in truth,

his throne will be established forever (Proverbs 29:14).

It would not be far from the truth to say that Israel was nearly in a state of anarchy, because everyone was acting as though they were the highest authority. When men “do what is right in their own eyes,” it is because they think that they are the best judge of good and evil. A godly king was to be a man who was a student of God’s Word, and thus he held himself and his kingdom accountable to God’s Word:

18 When he sits on his royal throne he must make a copy of this law on a scroll given to him by the Levitical priests. 19 It must be with him constantly and he must read it as long as he lives, so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and observe all the words of this law and these statutes and carry them out. 20 Then he will not exalt himself above his fellow citizens or turn from the commandments to the right or left, and he and his descendants will enjoy many years ruling over his kingdom in Israel (Deuteronomy 17:18-20).

We know, of course, that even godly kings like David and Solomon failed badly, sometimes using (or abusing) their power to satisfy their own sinful desires. The only king who will be able to establish a godly kingdom will be the King of Kings, our Lord Jesus Christ. The failure of men in Judges demonstrates man’s desperate need for this King. And the ungodly men in Judges provide a dark backdrop against which the excellencies of our King are exhibited.

The last series that I taught was on the Book of Hebrews. There, the author set out to extol the virtues and supremacy of Christ over the best of men. The revelation of our Lord is superior to that which came before.²³ He is superior to the angels.²⁴ Our Lord is superior to Moses, that great man of God with feet of clay.²⁵ He is superior to Aaron, Israel’s high priest, and to all the Old Testament priests.²⁶

If Jesus is superior to the best men the Old Testament (or the New) sets before us, then how much better is He when compared to worst of men? Jonathan, the priest for hire, is a tragic failure, regardless of his glorious lineage. The failures of men in the Book of Judges creates a yearning in the reader for the Perfect Man who is to come as God’s King over all creation.

As I read Judges, I am convinced that the same kinds of evil which plagued the Israelites (and all the rest of mankind) in the period of the judges exist today. The Book of Judges prepares the reader for the coming of David, God’s King. What a blessing he was to Israel. Even better, the circumstances of Judges are very similar to those which preceded the first coming of our Great King, Jesus. I believe that we see similar circumstances today and that inclines me to think that the second coming of our King is near. What a day that will be!

Fourth, what is the great evil in our text about which we should be warned? We need to remember that the threat in our text comes from within Israel, not from without. There is no external power (Philistines, Ammonites, etc.) that is oppressing Israel here. And no foreign deity (e.g., Baal) is being worshipped. Yahweh is being worshipped, but in a way that is contrary to God’s Word, in a way that is patterned after pagan religions (thus the idols). The danger in our text is not that of Israel blatantly rejecting God (Yahweh) and turning to pagan gods; it is syncretism – the blending of true worship with that which is false.

Something similar has already happened in Israel:

1 When the people saw that Moses delayed in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said to him, “Get up, make us gods that will go before us. As for this fellow Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him!” 2 So Aaron said to them, “Break off the gold earrings that are on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” 3 So all the people broke off the gold earrings that were on their ears and brought them to Aaron. 4 He accepted the gold from them, fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molten calf. Then they said, “These are your gods,²⁷ O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.” 5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it, and Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow will be a feast to the Lord.” 6 So they got up early on the next day and offered up burnt offerings and brought peace offerings, and the people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play (Exodus 32:1-6, emphasis mine).

I do not believe that the Israelites so quickly forsook God altogether in Moses’ absence. I believe that the Israelites chose to worship the “God who brought them up out of Egypt” in their own way, in a way that was familiar to them because of their idolatrous past. Thus, Yahweh, the God of Israel, the God who delivered Israel from Egyptian bondage, is represented by a golden calf. They are worshipping God like heathen.

I believe we see something similar in the New Testament in the church at Corinth. In chapters 8-10, the Apostle Paul (the author of 1 Corinthians) dealt with the question of whether or not Christians should eat meats offered to idols. It becomes apparent in chapter 10 that some of the saints were participating at two “tables” – the Lord’s Table and the “table of demons.”²⁸ The heathen sacrificial worship of the Corinthian gods would have been characterized by fleshly indulgence and the casting aside of all self-control. After clearly prohibiting participation in these heathen rituals, Paul moves on in chapter 11 to correct misconduct that was taking place around the Lord’s Table. It is my opinion that the Corinthians were worshipping our Lord in the same manner that the Corinthian heathen worshipped their gods. Thus, there was a blending, a syncretism, that was evident in the worship of our Lord in the church at Corinth.

Syncretism occurs today as well. While I do not agree completely with everything the authors set forth in the book, Pagan Christianity,²⁹ they do demonstrate that much of what is seen and done in Protestant (and Catholic) churches has its origin in pagan practices, rather than in the Scriptures. That is why Paul’s description of the meeting of the church in 1 Corinthians 11-14 seems so foreign to Christians today.

I believe we are far too inclined to set aside some of the biblical instructions regarding the way we are to do church, as though they were only applicable to certain people at a certain time and place. That is not the way Paul presents his teaching to the Corinthians at all:

16 I encourage you, then, be imitators of me. 17 For this reason, I have sent Timothy to you, who is my dear and faithful son in the Lord. He will remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church (1 Corinthians 4:16-17, emphasis mine).

Nevertheless, as the Lord has assigned to each one, as God has called each person, so must he live. I give this sort of direction in all the churches (1 Corinthians 7:17, emphasis mine).

If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, so that when you assemble it does not lead to judgment. I will give directions about other matters when I come (1 Corinthians 11:34).

33 for God is not characterized by disorder but by peace. As in all the churches of the saints, 34 the women should be silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak. Rather, let them be in submission, as in fact the law says (1 Corinthians 14:33-34, emphasis mine).

With regard to the collection for the saints, please follow the directions that I gave to the churches of Galatia (1 Corinthians 16:1, emphasis mine).

I believe there are certain principles and instructions in the New Testament which cannot be set aside, no matter what the time or the culture. While there is room for a good deal of freedom in what is taught in the New Testament, there is not as much freedom as some would indicate. Some of those who conducted themselves in an unworthy manner in the church gathering at Corinth were sick, and some died because of their conduct.³⁰ How we go about our worship matters to God. Therefore, we had better not be careless about obeying God’s instructions to the church.

There are other areas where syncretism can and has infected the church. One area of danger is that of psychology. Not all psychology is wrong, but some of it is. The self-esteem movement was baptized into the church (in preaching and in counseling) so that people were given the idea that our main problem is thinking too little of ourselves, when the Bible teaches that our problem stems from thinking too highly of ourselves.³¹ Christians were told to work harder at loving themselves and taking care of themselves first of all. All of this is to say that we dare not allow psychological theories (or even claims to truth) to take precedence over Scripture.

Another area of danger can be found in church management, church growth, and fund raising. All too often secular systems are embraced on the level of Scriptural truth. The church of Jesus Christ turned the world upside down in the Book of Acts, not because they did things the way unbelievers did, but because they did things God’s way, and God miraculously empowered His people to do the impossible.

Finally, there are many who seek to maintain labels like “conservative,” “Bible-believing,” “orthodox,” “evangelical,” and “Christian” when the substance of their beliefs and practices is otherwise. Movements like the Emergent Church Movement are rapidly setting aside the teaching and practices of the Scriptures for something more politically correct, something more culturally appealing. Let us not become syncretistic about our faith, but let us be uniquely Christian, and uniquely biblical, following Jesus by obeying His Word.

Copyright © 2009 by Robert L. Deffinbaugh. This is the edited manuscript of Lesson 16 in the series, The Dark Days of Israel’s Judges, prepared by Robert L. Deffinbaugh on December 6, 2009. Anyone is at liberty to use this lesson for educational purposes only, with or without credit.

---

¹ Some differ here, seeing the second part of the two-part introduction ending at 3:6, rather than 3:4.

² Notice especially verse 4.

³ Dale Ralph Davis does an excellent job of pointing out some of the author’s more subtle means of passing judgment on the events he describes. See Dale Ralph Davis, Such a Great Salvation: Expositions of the Book of Judges (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1990), pp. 199-205.

⁴ Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

⁵ Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the NET Bible. The NEW ENGLISH TRANSLATION, also known as THE NET BIBLE, is a completely new translation of the Bible, not a revision or an update of a previous English version. It was completed by more than twenty biblical scholars who worked directly from the best currently available Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts. The translation project originally started as an attempt to provide an electronic version of a modern translation for electronic distribution over the Internet and on CD (compact disk). Anyone anywhere in the world with an Internet connection will be able to use and print out the NET Bible without cost for personal study. In addition, anyone who wants to share the Bible with others can print unlimited copies and give them away free to others. It is available on the Internet at: www.netbible.org.

⁶ It is interesting that the amount stolen (1100 pieces of silver) is the same amount promised Delilah by each of the five Philistine lords if she would extract from Samson the secret of his strength (see Judges 16:5).

⁷ See Genesis 31:19, where the same word is employed by Moses.

⁸ See Deuteronomy 14:27-29; 26:10-13; Joshua 14:3-4; 18:7; 21.

⁹ For whatever reason, Micah’s house seems to be situated in such a way that strangers pass by it, so that not only the young Levite stops to talk with Micah, but also the five Danite spies end up there as well.

¹⁰ Another name for Laish.

¹¹ Notice that Samson’s father was a Danite from Zorah (13:2) and that Samson was buried between Zorah and Eshtaol (16:31). This was Samson’s turf.

¹² This assumes that the account of Samson in chapters 13-16 actually precedes the account of chapter 18 chronologically, something which is not entirely certain. See K. Lawson Younger Jr., Judges and Ruth (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2002), p. 343.

¹³ See Numbers 13 and 14.

¹⁴ It is an important distinction, as we can see from Deuteronomy 20:10-18. One only needs to read Joshua 9 concerning the residents of Gibeon to see why this is true. In his commentary, Block more than once refers to the people of Laish as Canaanites, but I have not yet found any biblical confirmation of this. See, for example, Daniel I. Block, Judges, Ruth (NAC 6; Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1999), p. 510. Even so, Block (p. 510) finds that the author has written this account in such a way that his readers empathize with the people of Laish.

¹⁵ Block rather persuasively argues that the Levite’s “blessing” is deliberately general and vague. I’m inclined to be persuaded by his argument. See Daniel I. Block, Judges, Ruth, p. 498.

¹⁶ See Numbers 13.

¹⁷ See Judges 6:25-32.

¹⁸ Two things need to be said here. First, the NET Bible translates in a way that views Jonathan as a descendant of Moses, rather than as a son. The term more literally means son, which is the way the same term is rendered with respect to Moses. Thus, literally we would read, “Jonathan, son of Gershom, son of Moses.” In genealogies the term may mean descendant when every descendant of a particular line is not named. There is a reason why the distinction is important here. If Jonathan were actually the son of Gershom, then this event would have happened early in the period of the judges, rather than late (as the placement of this account would suggest to western readers, who tend to look at things chronologically). See Younger, p. 343, as mentioned above.

The other thing that should be pointed out (which is evident in the various translations) is that some manuscripts have the Hebrew word Manasseh (see KJV, NKJV, NASB95) rather than Moses (CSB, ESV, NIV, NET Bible). The difference is the Hebrew letter nun (“n”) which is added to “Moses” (Hebrew Mosheh) resulting in “Manasseh.” Block explains: “But it is the reference to Moses that catches the reader off guard. Indeed the rabbinic scribes found the present association of Moses’ name with such abominable idolatrous behavior so objectionable they refused to accept the statement and inserted a superscripted nun between the first two consonants, transforming unpointed mšh, “Moses,” into mnšh, “Manasseh.” Daniel I. Block, Judges, Ruth, p. 512.

¹⁹ Judges 18:31.

²⁰ This would explain how Jonathan, the five spies, and eventually the Danite army passed by Micah’s house.

²¹ See John 14:25-26; 16:12-13; 1 Corinthians 2:6-16.

²² See Deuteronomy 13, especially verses 12-17.

²³ See Hebrews 1:1-3; 2:1-4.

²⁴ Hebrews 1:4ff.

²⁵ Hebrews 3.

²⁶ Hebrews 5:1ff.

²⁷ While “gods” (plural) is technically correct, I would prefer the rendering of the CSB: “Israel, this is your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!”

²⁸ See 1 Corinthians 10:14-22, especially verse 21.

²⁹ Frank Viola and George Barna, Pagan Christianity?: Exploring the Roots of Our Church Practices. Tyndale House Publishers, 2008.

³⁰ 1 Corinthians 11:30.

³¹ See Philippians 2:1-11.

Introduction

In our church, one of the men is asked to read the biblical passage that is the Scripture text for the sermon. I’ve done this for years. As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, the text for this lesson is the only biblical text anyone has ever declined to read, due to the violence and sexual perversion it depicts. Actually, three men, as I recall, declined to read it. The brave soul who finally agreed to read the text commented first, “I know we normally read the Scripture text and then pray, but if you don’t mind, I’d like to pray before I read.”

If this text is difficult to read, it is even more difficult to preach. The preacher has to deal with at least two decisions. The first is this: “How explicit should one be in describing the sins that are depicted in this text, especially with children present?” In preaching this sermon, I requested that the public Scripture reading end at verse 21 of chapter 19. I then attempted to deal with the more violent and offensive details of the text by using language that was a little less graphic, assuming that my adult audience would be familiar with the gruesome details. I hoped that the younger listeners might not fully grasp all that took place in the text and thus not become troubled by the particulars of the text. In print I will be more specific, convinced that if this text shocks us, that is precisely what the Spirit of God intended when He inspired it.

Second, in some parts of the world, preaching this passage would probably be against the law (since it condemns homosexuality as sin), and I fear that it will not be long before that will be the case in the United States of America. For the first time in my ministry, I sense the risk that every preacher of God’s Word takes when speaking the truth of the Bible to a world that does not want to hear it (and may soon use governmental power to oppose it).

The Relationship Between Genesis 19 and Judges 19

It is almost impossible for the reader of this text to miss its connection to the story of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19.¹ In both texts, the sin of homosexuality and its judgment is a primary theme. In both accounts, the wicked men of the city wish to rape the male guest of an outsider who is sojourning in their city. Likewise, in both accounts the host offers his daughter(s)² to the men of the city in place of his guest. There is no doubt that the author is informing the reader that Israel has now stooped to the moral level of the Canaanites.³

Another Observation Concerning our Text

This is the final message in our series on the Book of Judges, and it is the second of two conclusions to the Book of Judges. The first conclusion (chapters 17-18) had to do with Jonathan, the Levite who sold out and became a “personal priest for hire” to Micah, and then to the tribe of Dan. The second conclusion (chapters 19-21) focuses on another Levite, whose testimony results in the destruction of an Israelite town and the near annihilation of the tribe of Benjamin. I believe the author was very deliberate in focusing on two Levites in his two-part conclusion and that he intends for his readers to compare and contrast the two conclusions in order to discern the message that God has for us as the book ends. We will do that at the end of this message.

Abuses of Our Text

Among the many challenges that arise from the text itself, there are also challenges that come from outside the text, from those who would seek to turn the reader’s attention from the author’s message to their own “message.” Some who practice, advocate, or seek to validate a homosexual lifestyle try to convince us that it is not homosexuality that is condemned here, but rather man’s failure to show hospitality. Hospitality is an issue that is addressed in our text (and we will talk about it later), but it is not the central issue; homosexuality is much more emphatically addressed here. Those who wanted to “know” Lot’s two guests were not the “welcome wagon committee” for Sodom and Gomorrah. The same is true of the worthless men of Gibeah, who wanted to “know” the young Levite. The Hebrew word translated “know” has various meanings, but sexual relations is clearly the sense in this context.⁴ Otherwise, why would Lot offer his two virgin daughters, “who had “never known a man” to be dealt with in whatever way the men of Sodom thought was right.⁵ In our text, the old man offered his virgin daughter and the Levite’s concubine to the worthless men of Gibeah to be abused in whatever manner they chose:

Here are my virgin daughter and my guest’s concubine. I will send them out and you can abuse them and do to them whatever you like. But don’t do such a disgraceful thing to this man!” (Judges 19:24)

Another possible “abuse”⁶ of this text comes from some feminists who wish to make the oppression of women the principle focus. Now I would agree that the Book of Judges depicts the abuse of women as an indication of Israel’s fallen condition. I believe that as Israel persists in its downward plummet into Canaanite beliefs and practices, her treatment of women deteriorates as well. Having said this, I do not believe that this is the author’s primary purpose. Furthermore, God’s Word never advocates or justifies such behavior; it condemns the abuse of women. But we will have more to say about this at the end of the lesson.

When Did These Events Happen?

Our Western minds are predisposed to look at things from a chronological perspective. It would be easy to view the events described in the author’s dual conclusion as having occurred in the final days of the judges. It is highly unlikely, however, that this is the case. Indeed, all indications are that these events took place quite early in the days of the judges. At the end of the author’s first conclusion, we are told that the young Levite’s name was Jonathan and that he was the “son of Gershom, son of Moses” (18:30). In our text we read:

27 The Israelites asked the Lord (for the ark of God’s covenant was there in those days; 28 Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, was serving the Lord in those days), “Should we once more march out to fight the Benjaminites our brothers, or should we quit?” The Lord said, “Attack, for tomorrow I will hand them over to you” (Judges 20:27-28, emphasis mine).

The author’s two chronological indicators strongly imply that the events described in his dual conclusion occurred early in the days of the judges, rather than late. Our author has therefore chosen not to arrange his material chronologically,⁷ but thematically. He goes from “bad” in his dual introduction (chapters 1-2) to “worse” in his dual conclusion (chapters 17-21).

The Structure of our Text

The structure of our author’s final conclusion (chapters 19-21) follows the chapter divisions in our Bibles:

Hospitality (19:1-10) to horror (19:11-30)

Civil War: Israel vs. the Benjamites (20:1-48)

Brides for the Benjamites (21:1-25)

It is the mistreatment of the Levite’s concubine in chapter 19 that precipitates the civil war described in chapter 20. And the near annihilation of the Benjamites in chapter 20 prompts the Israelites to bend the rules to find brides for the few remaining Benjamites in chapter 21.

From Hospitality to Horror
Judges 19

Once again the author tells a story about a Levite. This fellow lived somewhere in the hill country of Ephraim. He obtained a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah, and she was unfaithful to him⁸ and then returned to the home of her father. She had been there four months when the Levite decided to go to Bethlehem and sweet talk⁹ her into returning home with him.

The Levite’s father-in-law (if that is what one would call his concubine’s father) welcomed the Levite (as did his concubine) and smothered him with Middle Eastern hospitality. The Levite was “wined and dined” for three days, which in the minds of many would be the outer limit for entertaining a guest.¹⁰ On the fourth day, the Levite got up early to get on his way, but the father-in-law detained him yet again, encouraging him to have something to eat before he departed. This resulted in him staying on another day. On the fifth day, the Levite was determined to leave; nevertheless the father-in-law detained him with hospitality until late in the afternoon. His host urged the Levite to stay yet another night, but he was determined to begin his journey home. Knowing that he would not be able to make it home before dark, the Levite planned on spending the night in one of the Israelite cities along the way. The only question was how far they would get, and thus, where they would spend the night.

It was already late in the day when the small party approached Jebus. (Jebus is also Jerusalem, only at this point in time it is controlled by the Jebusites, rather than by Israel.) The Levite’s servant suggested that they spend the night here, but his master was unwilling to stay the night in a “foreign” city. He was determined to reach an Israelite town, for only there could he be assured of his safety. He was determined to press on until they reached Gibeah or Ramah.

The sun was beginning to set as they reached the Benjamite city of Gibeah. They entered the city gates and seated themselves in the town square. This was a clearly understood signal that they were passing through the city and needed a place to spend the night, but no one invited them in. As darkness set in, an old man from the remote hill country of Ephraim came in from his work in the field. He saw the weary travelers and inquired where they had come from and where they were going. The Levite explained their plight and made it clear that they needed only a roof over their heads because they had supplies for their own needs, and as well, what was needed for their animals.

The old man insisted that they stay with him. He knew all too well, it seems, that spending the night in the city square was not safe, just as Lot was unwilling for his guests to remain in the streets at night in Sodom.¹¹ When they had enjoyed themselves and were about to settle down for the night, the peace and safety the Levite had hoped for was abruptly interrupted:

22 They were having a good time, when suddenly some men of the city, some good-for-nothings, surrounded the house and kept beating on the door. They said to the old man who owned the house, “Send out the man who came to visit you so we can have sex with him.” 23 The man who owned the house went outside and said to them, “No, my brothers! Don’t do this wicked thing! After all, this man is a guest in my house. Don’t do such a disgraceful thing! 24 Here are my virgin daughter and my guest’s concubine. I will send them out and you can abuse them and do to them whatever you like. But don’t do such a disgraceful thing to this man!” (Judges 19:22-24)

Several important observations are necessary at this point in the story. The first observation has to do with what these men demanded – homosexual rape. As stated earlier, this was not the welcoming committee or the Gibeah Chamber of Commerce. This was a group of worthless men – identified by the author as “sons of Belial.” They asked that only one man be sent out to them – the Levite – and their intention was not to “get to know him” in some neighborly way. They wanted to sexually abuse (rape) him. No wonder the old man urged the men not to do such a vile and wicked thing (verse 23). Only the threat of homosexual rape could prompt the old man to offer his virgin daughter and the Levite’s concubine to be sexually abused and thus to satisfy their deviant sexual desires. To ignore or deny this is to miss the author’s point, which is that Israel has now become so Canaanized that some of them are acting like the citizens of Sodom. As I mentioned in my introduction, Judges 19 is meant to be understood against the backdrop of Genesis 19.

The second observation has to do with a significant difference between what happened in Sodom (in Genesis 19) and what happened in Gibeah.¹² While the intentions of the men of Sodom are the same as the worthless men in Gibeah,¹³ the size of the crowd outside the old man’s door does not appear to be as large as the crowd outside Lot’s door in Sodom. In Genesis, we are told that virtually the whole city (the entire adult male population) of Sodom assembled outside Lot’s door, demanding to have sex with his guests:

Before they could lie down to sleep, all the men – both young and old, from every part of the city of Sodom – surrounded the house (Genesis 19:4, emphasis mine).

In our text, the inference seems quite clear that it was not the entire male population of Gibeah that showed up at the door, but rather a smaller gathering of worthless men. No doubt this was a larger group than the old man, the Levite, and his servant could handle, but it was not the entire city.¹⁴

When it became obvious that the crowd would not listen to reason, the Levite compelled his concubine to go out to the men, who abused her the rest of the night. Barely alive, they let her go, and she somehow managed to make her way back to the door of the old man’s house, where she lay grasping the threshold with her hands.

In the morning, the Levite’s mind seems to have been on his return home to safety, rather than on the well being of his concubine. As he walked out the door to depart for home, he encountered his concubine, still clinging to the threshold. This Levite who had traveled to Bethlehem to sweet talk his concubine into returning home with him now gruffly orders her to get up and get going. While the text does not exactly tell us that she was already dead, it does inform us that she was not responsive, for she did not speak to him in reply to his command to get up. It is difficult not to conclude that the Levite loaded his concubine on his donkey like a sack of potatoes. If she was still alive, but gravely ill, this was no way to revive her and restore her to health. Therefore I conclude that she had already died during the early morning hours.¹⁵

What happens next is even more shocking. Once safely home the Levite cuts the dead body of his concubine into twelve pieces, sending a portion to every Israelite tribe. Nothing like this had ever happened before, or after. King Saul would later cut his oxen into pieces and send them throughout Israel,¹⁶ but the mutilation of this woman’s body was something far more disturbing. The Levite had certainly managed to get Israel’s attention.

Israel’s Civil War
Judges 20:1-47

The Levite’s action had exactly the effect he had hoped for. The whole nation was shocked and energized to action. Four hundred thousand armed Israelites assembled in unity before the Lord at Mizpah. I get the impression from the text (especially verse 3) that word of this great evil and of Israel’s gathering for military action was sent to the Benjamites, along with all the other tribes, but having heard what happened, they do not seem to have shown up at Mizpah.

The rest of the Israelite warriors gathered at Mizpah and asked the Levite to explain what had happened at Gibeah, prompting him to take such drastic measures to summon them. The Levite does a great job of making himself look good, while at the same time making the Benjamites look bad. In the author’s account, there is no mention of why the Levite was passing through Gibeah (because he had gone to Bethlehem to retrieve his runaway concubine). And while our author has previously informed us that it was only some of the worthless fellows of Gibeah who gathered at his host’s door, the Levite tells the Israelites who had gathered that it was the leaders of the city¹⁷ who rose against him, intending to kill him. And for some reason, he does not emphasize the perversion of homosexuality that the author so clearly described. In so doing, does the Levite seek to avoid the fact that the men of the city were primarily interested in having sex with him, while they disregarded the others who were present?¹⁸

Why does the Levite fail to mention that those gathered with evil intentions were offered his concubine and the older man’s virgin daughter, if they would not harm his guest? Why does he fail to inform them that he was the one who thrust his concubine out the door into the hands of these vile men – to be abused by them? All of this looks like a very selective and distorted account, designed to make the Levite look good and the Benjamites of Gibeah (all of them, not just the wicked ones who had surrounded the house) look bad. Note, too, that the Levite cleverly concludes his account by avoiding any recommendation of what should be done, instead leaving this up to his audience. Given his distorted version of the story, it is not surprising that those gathered concluded that the entire city should be annihilated.¹⁹

Those gathered resolved that they would see to it that this evil was purged from Israel. Since Gibeah was a Benjamite city, the assembled Israelites called upon the other Benjamites to hand over the wicked men of the city for judgment. The Benjamites concluded that “blood was thicker than water,” and thus they chose to stand with the wicked men of Gibeah, rather than against them. In so doing, they precipitated a civil war. Now, more than at any other time in the days of the judges, the tribes of Israel were acting in unity as they went to battle, but they were doing battle with one of their own tribes, and not with the Canaanites.

It seemed self evident that 400,000 soldiers were far more than what the task required, and so it was decided that only one in ten (chosen by lot) would actually be sent into battle. Thus, 40,000 Israelite warriors were chosen to fight the Benjamites. The Benjamites mustered 26,700 men²⁰ to fight their fellow Israelites in defense of the wicked men of Gibeah.

The Israelites appear to be approaching this battle as they should. They went to Bethel to inquire of God who should lead the attack. Notice the similarity of their request to what we read early in the Book of Judges:

17 The men of Israel (not counting Benjamin) had mustered four hundred thousand sword-wielding soldiers, every one an experienced warrior. 18 The Israelites went up to Bethel and asked God, “Who should lead the charge against the Benjaminites?” The Lord said, “Judah should lead” (Judges 20:17-18, emphasis mine).

1 After Joshua died, the Israelites asked the Lord, “Who should lead the invasion against the Canaanites and launch the attack?” 2 The Lord said, “The men of Judah should take the lead. Be sure of this! I am handing the land over to them” (Judges 1:1-2, emphasis mine).

There is also a significant difference between God’s responses to these two requests. In Judges 20:17-18, God does not assure the Israelites of victory against their Benjamite brethren, as He does when instructing the Israelites that Judah should lead in the attack against the Canaanites. God makes no promises that He does not keep. And so we go on to read that the Benjamites prevailed in the first and second battles, slaughtering 22,000 Israelite soldiers in the first and 18,000 in the second.

After their first defeat, the Israelites went up (presumably to Bethel, though this is not plainly stated) where they wept before the Lord and then inquired as to whether or not they should attempt a second attack. The Lord answered in the affirmative, but once again gave no assurance of victory. And so the Israelites encountered the Benjamites who came out of Gibeah to attack them, and once again the Benjamites prevailed, killing 18,000 Israelites this time.²¹

All Israel gathered again at Bethel, where they wept before the Lord, where they fasted and offered sacrifices. The author mentions somewhat parenthetically that the Ark of the Covenant was there at Bethel, and that Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, was there serving as Israel’s high priest.²² The Israelites inquire of the Lord once again, asking whether they should continue to fight with the Benjamites or whether they should give it up and go home. God instructs the Israelites to again engage the Benjamites in battle, but this time with the assurance that they will prevail.²³

The author provides the reader with a two-fold account of this third battle – a short version in 20:29-36a and a longer, more detailed, account in 20:36b-48. The Israelites’ victory here gets greater prominence than their earlier defeats. The Benjamites’ earlier victories over their Israelite brethren made them arrogant and overconfident, setting the stage for their defeat. While the Israelites appeared to attack in precisely the same manner as before, this time they also set an ambush outside the city of Gibeah. The Israelites assumed their positions, and, as before, it was the Benjamites who initiated the battle by rushing out from within the city. About 30 Israelite soldiers died in the initial attack, leading the Benjamites to assume that they were on their way to yet another victory. The Israelites drew back as though they were retreating, drawing the Benjamite warriors away from the city. Those Israelites hiding in ambush rushed into the city, putting all to death, and then setting the city on fire. By the time the Benjamites realized what had happened, it was too late; all they could do was flee for their lives as the Israelites cut them down from the front and the rear. In all, 25,000 Benjamites were killed that day, and only 600 escaped into the wilderness, to the rock of Rimmon. The Israelites then went about burning the other Benjamite cities.

Brides for Benjamites
Judges 21:1-25

There is a common phenomenon known as “buyer’s remorse.” This usually takes place after a hasty or poorly considered purchase. (Those of us who have bid for an item on E-Bay have sometimes experienced this shortly after entering the winning bid.) Having purchased a particular item we later wish that we had not been so hasty. “Why in the world did I ever decide to buy this?” We wonder. Having zealously waged war on the Benjamites, they had succeeded in nearly wiping them out. What would they do now – what could they do now – to keep the Benjamites from extinction? This was unthinkable for an Israelite.

In the course of waging war with the Benjamites, the Israelites made two vows, the first of which they have come to regret. They had vowed that they would never allow one of their daughters to marry a Benjamite. The second vow had possibilities of being used to their advantage. They had vowed that they would execute anyone who did not appear for battle against the Philistines.

They cleverly devised a plan whereby they would play one vow against the other. They would diligently keep the second vow, which enabled them to circumvent the first. Their second vow was to execute those who failed to join them in their battle against the Benjamites:

The Israelites asked, “Who from all the Israelite tribes has not assembled before the Lord?” They had made a solemn oath that whoever did not assemble before the Lord at Mizpah must certainly be executed (Judges 21:5).

They inquired and found that no one from Jabesh Gilead had assembled for war at Mizpah. In order to “keep their vow,” they assembled 12,000 warriors and attacked Jabesh Gilead, killing every man and woman, sparing only the young virgins. This left 400 virgins who could be given to the surviving men of Benjamin. (Technically, this was not breaking their vow since none of the men of Jabesh Gilead had assembled for battle, and thus none of them had vowed not to give their daughters to the Benjamites.)

The Israelites’ dedication to keep one vow has enabled them to circumvent the other. So far, they have succeeded in providing 400 wives for the remaining 600 Benjamite men. But there still remain 200 Benjamites who are without wives, and thus they cannot bear offspring to perpetuate their tribe. The Israelites conclude that something else must be done to provide wives for the remaining 200 Benjamites. They shrewdly concocted yet another devious plan. The Israelite men had vowed that they would not give any of their daughters to the Benjamites as wives. Nothing had been said about any virgin being taken from among their daughters.

An annual festival was soon to be celebrated by the Israelites at Shiloh. At this celebration, there would be dancing by the virgin daughters of Shiloh. The unwed Benjamites were commanded²⁴ to hide out in the vineyards, and when the Israelite virgins came near to dance, they were to seize one of them for a wife. And so it happened. The Benjamite bachelors did as they were instructed. They each seized an Israelite virgin and “made her his wife.” Two hundred young women were taken, thus providing every Benjamite with a wife. With this accomplished, everyone returned to his home. With this, the book closes with this now familiar statement:

In those days Israel had no king. Each man did what he considered to be right (Judges 21:25).

It is possible that we may read these final verses of chapter 21 with a wink. How clever these Israelites were to provide wives for the Benjamites without technically violating the Law; indeed, while appearing to zealously keep the Law. But such is not the case. I am assuming that these “marriages” would be based upon a text like this one in Deuteronomy 22:

28 “Suppose a man comes across a virgin who is not engaged and overpowers and rapes her and they are discovered. 29 The man who has raped her must pay her father fifty shekels of silver and she must become his wife because he has violated her; he may never divorce her as long as he lives” (Deuteronomy 22:28-29).

In other words, these 200 virgins were seized, raped, and then (“lawfully”) kept as wives – because they had been raped as virgins. Having physically become “one flesh” with these Benjamite men, there was nothing that could be done to reverse what had happened. And so the forced marriages were allowed to stand. The fathers of these virgins were at least consoled by the fact that they had not been a party to this conspiracy before the fact.

Think of how this final episode in Judges began in chapter 19. Some worthless men in the city of Gibeah took the Levite’s concubine and gang raped her, which resulted in her death. Rape and murder (accentuated by the cutting up of this concubine) were the crimes which had so incensed the Israelites. And so they went to war with their Benjamite brethren, coming very close to bringing this tribe to extinction. And now, those who were so offended by the rape of this concubine conspire to bring about the rape of 200 Israelite virgins. The irony and hypocrisy of this can hardly be missed. Surely, the Benjamites and the Israelites were all “doing what was right in their own eyes.” They were certainly not living according to the spirit of the law.

Conclusion

Our text is filled with implications and applications for today. Let me conclude this message (and this series) by suggesting a few of them.

Hospitality or Homosexuality? There are those who would seek to convince us that this text (along with Genesis 19) has nothing to do with homosexuality. They would have us believe that the great sin of Sodom, and of Gibeah, was that of the neglect of hospitality. While I have no doubt that homosexuality is a major focus of the author, I do not believe that we must see one sin (whether it be the lack of hospitality or the practice of homosexuality) here and deny the other. I believe that both sins are evident in our text.

So let me speak first about the lack of hospitality described in our text. Hospitality is commanded and commended in both the Old Testament and in the New. Both Abraham and Lot practiced hospitality toward the strangers who were on their way to Sodom.²⁵ Abraham’s servant used hospitality as a test for the wife he went to secure for Isaac.²⁶ In a broader sense, the Israelites were to show hospitality to foreigners.²⁷ In the New Testament, hospitality is also commanded.²⁸ Gibeah’s failure to show hospitality to the Levite and his traveling companions was an early indication that something was wrong.

Having said this, Gibeah’s lack of hospitality is not the only sin in our text. We are surely intended to read Judges 19 in the light of Genesis 19. The sin of Sodom is now a sin within Israel. Things have gotten that bad. It does not appear to me that the entire population of Gibeah practiced homosexuality, but a portion of their citizens did. And those Benjamites who did not practice this sin somehow were willing to tolerate it, much as our culture does today – embracing it as an alternative lifestyle. The Bible speaks very clearly about homosexuality as sin, and our text is but one passage where it is portrayed in a very negative light. If I have not said it clearly enough, homosexuality is an abomination to God.²⁹

I believe the author has chosen to end this book with a two-part conclusion not only because of his two-part introduction, but so that we can look at these two conclusions side-by-side in order to compare them. In this second conclusion, we find the sins of homosexuality, rape, and murder. Thanks to the dramatic actions of the Levite, the Israelites were shocked and horrified by his report of what had happened. Their response was so zealous that they went back into battle with their Benjamite brethren even after suffering defeat twice at their hands.

Compare the response of the Israelites to sexual perversion and murder in chapters 19 and 20 to Israel’s response to the Danites’ idolatry in chapters 17 and 18. There, they did absolutely nothing, and yet God’s Word gave very clear instructions about what they should have done:

12 “Suppose you should hear in one of your cities, which the Lord your God is giving you as a place to live, that 13 some evil people have departed from among you to entice the inhabitants of their cities, saying, “Let’s go and serve other gods” (whom you have not known before). 14 You must investigate thoroughly and inquire carefully. If it is indeed true that such a disgraceful thing is being done among you, 15 you must by all means slaughter the inhabitants of that city with the sword; annihilate with the sword everyone in it, as well as the livestock. 16 You must gather all of its plunder into the middle of the plaza and burn the city and all its plunder as a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God. It will be an abandoned ruin forever – it must never be rebuilt again. 17 You must not take for yourself anything that has been placed under judgment. Then the Lord will relent from his intense anger, show you compassion, have mercy on you, and multiply you as he promised your ancestors. 18 Thus you must obey the Lord your God, keeping all his commandments that I am giving you today and doing what is right before him” (Deuteronomy 13:12-18).

These two conclusions (the idolatry of the Danites in chapters 17 and 18, and the immorality of the Benjamites in chapters 19-21) reveal Israel’s inconsistency at best, and her hypocrisy at worst. The murder of a young woman was inexcusable; the blatant practice of idolatry was met with a yawn.

Before we begin to look down our spiritual noses at Israel, let us consider our own failures. Let’s face it, there are certain sins that we evangelical Christians love to hate – homosexuality (at least until lately) being one of these sins, even though other sins receive a great deal more attention in the Bible. Those who name the name of Jesus as Savior and Lord need to be very careful not to be hypocritical about sin. God hates all sin, not just those sins we love to hate (because they don’t happen to tempt us). All sin falls under God’s condemnation and makes men worthy of eternal judgment – not just homosexuality, or adultery, or murder. Let us be careful not to be selective about those sins which we hate. Let us hate all sin, especially our own. We must not be like this Levite, who amplifies the sins of others, but overlooks or minimizes his own sins. Let us be as merciless with our sins as we are with the sins of others.

One of the ways our author exposes the spiritual and moral breakdown of the nation Israel in this period of her “dark ages” is by calling attention to the deterioration of the nation’s attitude and actions toward women. Early on in the book, we are introduced to brave and noble women like Deborah and Jael, women who stood apart from – even above – the men of the day. But then we read of Jephthah’s folly and its consequences for his daughter.³⁰ We see the way in which Samson despises Israelite women and uses (or is used by) Philistine women.³¹ And finally we come to our text, only to be told that the Levite throws his concubine out to the worthless men of the city, to abuse as they choose, and then to die with her hands on the threshold of the house. Her “grieving” husband dispassionately orders her corpse to get up and resume their journey, and when he finds she is dead, he cuts her body into twelve pieces, which he distributes throughout Israel, to the horror of the nation.

In recent days, Bible-believing Christians have been accused of demeaning women. I will regretfully acknowledge that some men have twisted the Scriptures so as to justify the unbiblical and ungodly treatment of their wives or other women. But let me remind you that our Lord elevated women to a position of honor and dignity that the world had never before witnessed. He did not do so by making women apostles or church leaders, but by giving them very significant places of service in the home and in the church. It is not our culture that is enhancing and enriching women; it should be – and often is – the Christian (individually) and the church (corporately).

I must say a word about violence here, for there is a great deal of hypocrisy in regard to this matter. Today I hear many decrying cruelty to animals and also the abuse of women and children. This is rightly so, for the Bible does not sanctify animal cruelty,³² nor does it justify the abuse of women and children.³³ God has a special interest in the helpless and the vulnerable, and He expects His people to be like Him in this regard.

Isn’t it interesting to observe how many bristle at the violence of our text, and especially the cutting up of the corpse of the Levite’s concubine? It was a terrible thing, and I do not wish in any way to minimize the evil that is so graphically depicted in our text. Remember, though, that it was a dead body that the Levite cut up, and yet it galvanized the entire nation into action. In our world, every single day thousands of living human beings – children – are being chopped up in their mother’s womb in the process of abortion. Few dare to call this murder, though it is so in nearly every case. These precious human lives are euphemistically referred to as fetal tissue or the like. And it is all done so that people (men and women) can live an immoral lifestyle and not suffer the consequences. May God have mercy on our nation for legalizing this horrible sin, and on Christians for failing to raise so much as a word of protest against it. May God deal justly with any government that seeks to have its citizens pay for such a holocaust.

Why is it so important to our author that several times in our text (and in our text alone) he points out that Israel had no king, and that everyone did what was right in their own eyes? It is because righteousness never comes from the “bottom up;” it can only come from the “top down.” Throughout Israel’s history, the nation was godly only when they had a godly king. If the Old Testament teaches us anything, it is that man is a sinner and cannot live up to God’s standards of righteousness. By human efforts at law-keeping, man will never achieve righteousness; he will only demonstrate his lack of righteousness (sin), and his need for salvation that comes from outside of himself. Salvation can only come from above, from Him who took on human flesh so that He might die in the sinner’s place:

19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world may be held accountable to God. 20 For no one is declared righteous before him by the works of the law, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin. 21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God (which is attested by the law and the prophets) has been disclosed – 22 namely, the righteousness of God through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:19-23).

God made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we would become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21).

How vastly different is God’s way of salvation from man’s! As I reflected on our text, I had to marvel at how the Israelites sought to “save” the Benjamites from their sins. They sought to save this tribe from extinction by circumventing and twisting God’s law. They sought to perpetuate the Benjamites by counseling them to forcibly seize other men’s daughters and then rape them so that they would become their wives. Man’s efforts at achieving salvation (our own, or that of others) are so pathetic, so disgusting.

God’s salvation came about in a very different way. God took pity on fallen men, sending His Son in human flesh so that He might identify with man, live a sinless life, and then die in the sinner’s place, bearing the punishment for our sins. God’s promised salvation finally and fully came in the person and work of Jesus Christ. It is Christ alone who is righteous. It is Christ alone who has lived a life free from sin. And it is He alone who willingly took the sinner’s place on the cross of Calvary, bearing the guilt and punishment we deserve. Trusting in Him alone is what saves sinners, not self-help programs and human striving after righteousness and God’s approval.

It is not just the Book of Judges that was given to make man look bad; it is the entire Bible. The Bible shows us how ugly our sin is and how desperately lost we are. It shows us that we cannot be saved by our own efforts, but only by the work of our Lord Jesus Christ. Just as the Bible shows us how bad we are, and how much we need to be saved apart from our own efforts, it portrays a beautiful Savior who came to earth to bear the sinner’s guilt and punishment, so that men might be saved and live forever in His presence. Have you trusted in Him? If not, I urge you to do so today.

Copyright © 2009 by Robert L. Deffinbaugh. This is the edited manuscript of Lesson 17 in the series, The Dark Days of Israel’s Judges, prepared by Robert L. Deffinbaugh on December 13, 2009. Anyone is at liberty to use this lesson for educational purposes only, with or without credit.

---

¹ For a more extensive comparison of Genesis 19 and Judges 19, see D. I. Block, Judges, Ruth (NAC 6; Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1999), pp. 532-535.

² In Genesis 19, Lot offers his two virgin daughters to the men of the city. In Judges 19, the host offers his virgin daughter and his guest’s concubine, but only the concubine is actually handed over to the wicked men who have assembled at his door.

³ Having said this, I believe that it is also necessary for the reader to distinguish an important difference in these two accounts – one on which a correct understanding of this text is based. We will talk more about this later in this message.

⁴ See also verse 25; Genesis 4:1; 1 Kings 1:4.

⁵ It is most interesting to note Lot’s exact words here in Genesis 19:8. In offering his two virgin daughters to the men of Sodom, he tells them that they can do to them “what is good in their eyes,” the same statement that is repeatedly made in the final chapters of Judges. What is “good in men’s eyes” is perversion to God (Leviticus 18:22; 20:13; Romans 1:24-27; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; 1 Timothy 1:9).

⁶ For a more thorough treatment on these two “abuses” of our text, see K. Lawson Younger Jr., Judges and Ruth (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2002), pp. 359-362.

⁷ “We should note that the events of Judges 19-21 occurred quite early in the judges’ period, for, according to 20:27b-28a, Phinehas, grandson of Aaron, was (high) priest at the time (see also Num. 25:1-15; 31:6; Josh. 22:20-34). Because an event is narrated at the end of a book does not mean it occurred later than the other events in that book; biblical writers sometimes arrange their materials topically rather than chronologically.” Dale Ralph Davis, Such a Great Salvation: Expositions of the Book of Judges (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1990), p. 2ll, fn. 1.

⁸ The Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, says that she was angry with the Levite, but I see no reason to set aside the Hebrew text here.

⁹ Literally the text says that he went after her to “speak to her heart.” From what we see of him later in the story, I can only imagine what his “sweet talk” was like.

¹⁰ Most of us have heard the old saying, “A guest is like a fish; after three days, he stinks.”

¹¹ See Genesis 19:1-3.

¹² There is yet another difference. No one in Sodom was raped, thanks to the action of the angels at Lot’s house – blinding the men of the city. But someone is raped in Gibeah.

¹³ Pardon me for being so graphic, but in my opinion when we are told that those who had gathered at the old man’s door abused the Levite’s concubine, I believe this means that they raped her in a manner that was consistent with their sexual perversion. Bluntly put, I believe that they sodomized her.

¹⁴ My position will surely be disputed by some. A number of translations (NASB 95, CSB, ESV, KJV) can be read as though all the men of Gibeah turned out for this dreadful event. Other translations (NKJV, NET Bible, NIV, NJB, NLT) render the text in a way that refers to a smaller group of men gathered at the door. The Hebrew text has no article before “men” and thus it can (and in my opinion should) be rendered “some men of the city. . . .” It is the Greek translation of the Old Testament – the Septuagint – that includes the article, thus pressing the translator to render “the men of the city.” I would point out that the wording in Genesis 19 emphatically indicates that all the men of Sodom appeared at Lot’s door, while our text inclines us in the opposite direction. One reason why the translators may render our text in a more inclusive (“all the men”) way is that this seems to better conform to the Levite’s account of events in chapter 20 (verses 3-7). I will shortly contend that the Levite’s account is less than truthful.

¹⁵ No doubt the Levite was eager to get out of town, for he did not wish to face this same group of worthless men again. But in all of this, it seems clear that the man is looking out only for himself, and no one else.

¹⁶ See 1 Samuel 11:1-11.

¹⁷ It is difficult for me to understand why a number of translations render the Hebrew term used here in such a way as to refer to the men of Gibeah in general, rather than to the leaders of the city. I believe the text is clear in indicating that the Levite accused the leaders of the city of leading this mob who attacked him.

¹⁸ I am a bit perplexed as to why the Levite was singled out by the wicked men of the city when he was not the only one present. Indeed, the Levite’s servant was a young man. Why did they express no interest in him?

¹⁹ Given the instruction of Deuteronomy 13 (especially verses 12-18), it may well be that the entire city of Gibeah should have been destroyed, but not until after careful inquiry was made, and not until the city leaders had been given the opportunity to deal with the wicked men who committed this terrible act.

²⁰ The author informs us that 700 of these warriors were left-handed and highly skilled with a sling.

²¹ The combined deaths (22,000 from the first attack and 18,000 from the second) now equaled the number of Israelites who went to battle in the first attack (and presumably in the second attack as well).

²² As noted earlier, the mention of Eleazar here as Israel’s high priest at this time, along with the earlier mention of Jonathan the Levite in 18:30, inclines the reader to see these events described in the author’s conclusion as taking place early in the period of the judges, rather than late in this period.

²³ One can hardly help but wonder why God allowed the Israelites to suffer defeat twice before giving them the victory over their Benjamite brethren. Truthfully, the author does not tell us why. We should be careful to note that God had not promised victory until the third battle. From other biblical texts, we can also learn that such defeats may be God’s judgment upon Israel (compare 2 Samuel 24 with 1 Chronicles 21).

²⁴ This was not a suggestion, but a command, which makes the Israelites bear the guilt of what is about to take place.

²⁵ See Genesis 18:1-8; 19:1-3.

²⁶ See Genesis 24:10-27.

²⁷ See Exodus 22:21; 23:9; Leviticus 19:34; 23:22.

²⁸ See Romans 12:13; 1 Timothy 5:10; Hebrews 13:2.

²⁹ Leviticus 18:22; 20:13; Romans 1:24-27; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; 1Timothy 1:9-10.

³⁰ See Judges 11:30-40.

³¹ See Judges 14-16.

³² See Deuteronomy 25:4; Proverbs 12:10.

³³ See Ephesians 5:25-30; 1 Thessalonians 2:7-12.