Bible Commentaries
Judges 1

Verse 1

XXVI

EVENTS PRECEDING THE JUDGES AND SOME SPECIAL DELIVERER

Judges 1:1-3:31

We have had the introduction to the book of Judges and the analysis, and with that analysis before you, we shall now take up the book itself, covering the first three chapters. That takes in a brief account of three of the judges and brings us to the great discussion of Deborah and Barak, to which we must give an entire section, as we shall give a section to Gideon and one to Jephthah, one to Samson, and one to the migration of Dan and the tribe of Benjamin. So there will be five sections after this one on the book of Judges. According to the chronological analysis submitted, we take up in order the matters antecedent to Jehovah’s call of special deliverers called judges.

1. The first period is a brief period of fidelity to Jehovah after the death of Joshua, (Judges 2:6-10). As in Exodus, a change towards Israel came when there arose a king that knew not Joseph, so here toward Jehovah Israel changed when a new generation arose who had not personally known the great exploits of Joshua, nor participated in the solemn covenant renewals.

The historical lesson is of great signification, that neither the experience nor the piety of the fathers can be educationally transmitted to their children. There cannot be a more decisive proof of the inherent depravity of the race, of the necessity of the spirit’s work in every generation. The wise man sadly said, "There is no remembrance of former things," and the prophet with equal sadness enquired, “Our fathers! Where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever?" There is no such thing as hereditary grace. The whole fight for salvation must be fought over from start to finish with each incoming soul and with each generation. Even the glories of the millennium are followed by an outbreak of Satan, the most formidable of all, with a new and unconverted generation.

2. The second period is the exploits of Judah alone before Joshua’s death, Judges 1:8-15. You are to understand that all the particulars of this section preceded the death of Joshua, Judges 1:8-15; Judges 1:20. Tribal responsibility commenced when the land was allotted and the general or national army was dismissed, Joshua 21:43-22:6. The book of Judges in describing tribal responsibility goes back to this period and includes with matters transpiring after Joshua’s death tribal events preceding. Therefore, in time order the second paragraph precedes the first. The capture of Jerusalem, Judges 1:8, preceded the campaign against Adoni-bezek and was not a sequel to it as your Revised Version would indicate.

The King James Version is better here and at Genesis 12:1: "God had said to Abraham," rightly using the "had fought" and "had said" instead of the past tense "said" and "fought" which accords with the facts and doesn’t violate the grammar of the language. In Hebrew there is no pluperfect tense and the context must always determine whether to put the past tense or the pluperfect tense, a fact which your Revised Version ignores more than once. Now, if you will put the word "had" there at the beginning of Judges 1:8 and then include the paragraph in quotation marks, you will not get confused. It is an outright quotation from Joshua, and the use of the pluperfect "had" would save a great many perplexities of mind. More than once in the book of Judges this remark will apply. In other words you need quotation marks because the matter is quoted from Joshua and you need the word "had" instead of the imperfect. This explains the puzzle to most commentators, of the first sentence in the book, "And it came to pass after the death of Joshua," and then seems to relate things that had happened in Joshua’s time.

A prominent lawyer said he would have to quit teaching Sunday school if he could not account for the apparent discrepancies (and they are only apparent) between Joshua and Judges and between this and another part of Judges. He sent me a letter, a remarkably well-written one, showing thoughtful study. He is evidently troubled with difficulties that he doesn’t know how to solve, and it illustrates the necessity of a theological seminary. It shows that the unaided, untrained mind of the average preacher with few books cannot grapple with some of the apparently most serious difficulties in the book. Now, it used to bother me no little and I determined to get at the end of it one way or another, but it is now plain sailing in my mind.

When I read the first chapter of Judges I read the first seven verses and at the next verse, which tells about the Jerusalem campaign, I stick up quotation marks and use the word "had" and carry that on to the end of Judges 1:16. Now, with that passage in parenthesis your first seven verses will harmonize with Judges 1:17-19. So that in considering the history of the tribal responsibility of Judah we commence with Judges 1:8, which describes matters in Joshua’s lifetime. In that you will notice, if you look carefully, that Judah alone fought the Jerusalem and Hebron campaign down to the end of Judges 1:15. In the preceding verses, (Judges 1:1-7) and the following, (Judges 1:17-19) it is Judah and Simeon who fought the campaign. Very distinct as to the object, very distinct as to the parties conducting it and very distinct in the time. The beautiful story of Caleb, Othniel, and Achsah, the daughter of the one and the wife of the other, belongs, therefore, to the earlier date. We have already considered this in the book of Joshua. Just now I wish to put only one library question. In what romance written by Sir Walter Scott is a maiden’s hand in marriage, as here in this story, offered for a prize, open to all contestants, to the hero who would perform a certain exploit? That is what Caleb does, offers his daughter’s hand to whoever would capture a certain town. There is an analogous story to that one in one of the Waverley novels. Answer that question and briefly outline the story. Note how the thrifty girl secures her dowry. I don’t blame her. She is disposed of in marriage very acceptably to herself, but she thinks that her father, out of his big possessions, should wish, himself, to help her. I have always admired this girl for making that request of her father.

The reference here and elsewhere to the capture of Jerusalem with the later reference to it as being yet in the hands of the Jebusites after it had been captured twice, gives trouble to some minds and calls for some explanation. It will be recalled that Joshua himself, with a united army, captured the country in a general way by defeating all organized armies and dissipating all open opposition. But the people did not occupy and settle the conquered provinces until years afterward. So the remnants of the defeated people would return and occupy their old territory. So with the tribal victories. That part of Jerusalem lying in Judah’s territory was captured, but as the fortified citadel in the upper town lay in Benjamin’s territory, it is expressly said they were not dispossessed by Benjamin and so would measurably control the whole city. Indeed they were not finally expelled from the upper town (Jerusalem) until David’s day. The line between Judah and Benjamin passed through the city.

In the same way Joshua disrupted the northern confederacy, centering at Hazor, and slew Jabin (Jabin being the name of a dynasty as Pharaoh, Caesar, or Abimelech), and inasmuch as the tribes to which this conquered territory belonged did not actually settle it till years afterwards, another Jabin is reoccupying the old territory and city. This applies to territory east of the Jordan. It is twice repeated that it was not the purpose of God to expel them utterly at once, but little by little to prevent the unoccupied land going to waste, and to prove the fidelity of the tribes when responsibility passed to them in their several capacities. All that God promised to accomplish through Joshua was literally fulfilled, and whether the tribes followed up his victories, dispossessing the remnants and actually settling the lands, depended upon themselves and was expressly so stated.

3. We now come to the history, after the death of Joshua, of the seven and a half tribes west of the Jordan, and in a very orderly way the book of Judges tells how each of these tribes succeeded or failed. And all of that is told in the following parts of the first chapter, Judges 1:1-7, then it skips to Judges 1:17 and goes on to the end of the chapter. Now, we have not come to the judges yet, but we have come to the tribal responsibility after Joshua’s death. Now, this period opens with proof that the assembled tribes rightly appealed to Jehovah to designate which tribe should commence the campaign. This appeal was doubtless made at Shiloh, the central place of worship, and answered by the high priest through Urim and Thummirn, according to the Mosaic law and precedent. The answer assigned the initiative to Judah, who associated himself with Simeon since the territories were not only contiguous but co-mingled. We cannot but be impressed with the fidelity of the assembled tribes to Jehovah though now without any leader but Phinehas, the high priest. Without their great lawgiver, Moses, and the great general, Joshua, both extraordinary officers for special emergencies which passed, the nation is on trial through its regular officers. The high priest and Shiloh represent the national unity. The princes and elders represent the regular tribal authority. The high priest transmits Jehovah’s voice to them, tribe by tribe, in order. And the remnants of the first chapter tell the story of the experiment, tribe by tribe.

Judah and Simeon, leading off, conduct the campaign described in Judges 1:1-7; Judges 1:17-19. That leaves the intervening paragraph that was quoted from Joshua of what Judah alone had previously done. The sum of this campaign is that they first capture Bezek, which is not very far from Jerusalem and Hebron, the three places forming the angles of a triangle. And they inflicted on Adonibezek the mutilation he had inflicted on seventy petty kings conquered by him. The tragedy in a few words is told by himself. The lex talionis found him. What is the lex talionis? Moses gives it: "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth." In this case the lex talionis comes, "A thumb for a thumb, and a toe for a toe." This man tells the tragedy of the story himself. It comes from God through man. It seems to me that his head ought to have been cut off, as he had been so cruel and made the chieftains take the place of dogs. His heels ought to have been cut off right back of his neck. The record says that they brought him to the Judah part of Jerusalem, gained in a campaign in Joshua’s time. The Judah and Simeon story is continued in Judges 1:17-19. They captured Zephath, Hormah and three of the five Philistine cities and captured the hill country throughout their territory. But they failed in these particulars:

(1) They did not conquer two of the five Philistine cities.

(2) They had not faith in Jehovah to face the war chariots in the plains and the chariots of the north.

(3) They did not settle up as they conquered. Now, the record disposes of Benjamin’s case in Judges 1:21, but there is a big appendix that we have to study and I cannot incorporate it here because it will have to be in a section by itself. Benjamin’s failing is the key to the whole territory west of the Jordan. The record says that he not only did not dispossess them but he made a treaty with them contrary to the law.

We pass on, then, to the word "Joseph." When the word "Joseph" is used, it means both Ephraim and Manasseh. While they are together, they capture one city; somewhat questionable strategy, but they got it. Having discussed their success, he will discuss their failure. Judges 1:27-29 will tell you wherein they failed and what places they did not take. He left them there and the verses following will tell you where each failed. You know when the land was divided that Joshua required Ephraim to go and take the woods. Well, Ephraim didn’t go up and take the woods in the mountains.

There is no need for me to take them up tribe by tribe. In a few words it is clearly shown. I will make a remark on the failure Dan made. He made the biggest failure of all. The enemies that he was to conquer almost ran him out of the country and that led to the migration of Dan to Laish, way up in the northern part of the territory, and we will find when we come to discuss the migration of Dan, only hinted at in the book of Joshua, the extent of Dan’s failure. It was a fearful failure; they captured the town of Laish and set up that image with Gershon, the grandson of Moses, as officiating priest. That is the failure of Dan. Tribe by tribe they failed. There is nothing said about the tribes east of the Jordan, but they failed also.

4. We now come to an exceedingly important event in the beginning of Judges 2:1 "The angel of Jehovah came up from Gilgal to Bochim." They all had broken the covenant and the angel announces to them that these enemies that they had spared should not be driven out before them; that they should remain as thorns in their sides. It looks like a very promising revival when the angel got through with his remonstrance. You see they all assembled there and they wept and offered sacrifices to Jehovah, and it looked as if a reformation had begun.

Now we take Judges 6:1: "The children of Israel did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah." Now we are going to find out what evil. That beats any evil yet. Heretofore they had made treaties with them but now, "they did evil in the sight of Jehovah and served the Baalim and bowed down before them” Please notice the names of these deities. Baalim, that is the plural, as cherubim is the plural of cherub. "Baal, Baalim," that means that Baal, the sun-god, in different places went by different names. I confess that if you have to worship anything like that, that the sun is a big, bright thing to worship, a most life-giving thing. If I were going to adopt idolatrous worship, I had rather take the sun than anything else. The ancient Peruvians and the ancient Persians worshiped the sun. Many nations have worshiped the sun. The other name, Ashtareth, is the female deity corresponding to the male deity, Baal. Literally it means the moon, called among the Greeks the Goddess Astarte, who drove the moon chariot, as they believed. There the female deity corresponds to the sun deity, but as there were many Baalim, so there was not only Ashtareth but Ashtoroth.

When we come to Judges 3:7, we find a new name to look at. The Revised Version reads this way: "The children of Israel did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah . . . served Baalim and Asheroth." That is not "Asheroth" in the King James Version. There it reads "groves," as where it says, "and Gideon cut down a grove." That puzzled me at one time, but if you will follow that word, you will see that it does not mean trees; it is wooden images. Asheroth is a wooden image. Now, Baal is an image made out of stone, but when" ever you come to Asheroth images they were made out of wood and stood up in groups, and often they were cut down and burned. This was their culminating sin. The record then tells us when they got to that climax and withdrew from God, that they were not able to stand before their enemies. If they farmed, an enemy would come and eat up the crop. If they went to battle in one way they would flee in seven ways. With God against them they could do nothing.

5. Now, that brings us to what is called the period of the judges, and from Judges 2:16-3:6, gives a prospective review of Judges, the whole period. The author is not going into the details of the book of Judges, but the object of that paragraph is to give a prospective review; how, when they left Jehovah and he sent an oppressor, they would cry unto him for mercy. Then he would hear them and send them a deliverer. Then when that special deliverer left them they would be faithful for a time. So that paragraph is simply what you would call the heading of all the book of Judges. If it were put into one chapter, that would be the contents. It gives a review of the book without mentioning special names.

6. That brings us to the Judges proper, and the first judge is Othniel. It had probably been many years since he got that girl. He was a plucky fellow, of the tribe of Judah and the first judge. We are also informed who was the first oppressor. The first oppressor was Cushan-richathaim king of Mesopotamia. He was a son of Ham and occupied the territory between the Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers, that great mother of nations. In all the subsequent history of those nations whenever a stream pours out from between the Tigris and Euphrates you are going to see trouble. That is where Abraham came from, but lower down. It is unnecessary to go into any details of this campaign. The record simply states that this king of Mesopotamia came from between the rivers and, of course, he conquered first the two and a half tribes east of the Jordan and then crossed the Jordan and struck the territory of the tribes of Judah. And he oppressed the land for years, then the Lord put into the heart of Othniel to lead Israel. The record states that he did it handsomely. He defeated this king and brought a long rest to the people.

Now, the next judge was Ehud, the left-handed fellow. And a blow from a left-handed fellow is the hardest to dodge. Jehovah uses various methods to accomplish his purpose; sometimes he uses the devil. Now here is Moab. You go back to Genesis and read that Abraham’s nephew, Lot, was called out of Sodom and Gomorrah and his daughters, thinking the world had come to an end and that they and their father were all that was left, made their father drunk and so became mothers of Moab and Ammon. Moab comes over and oppresses the people, following right in the track of Cushan. You notice the oppression so far is coming from the east, showing that the two and a half tribes were the first decadent tribes. The deliverer was Ehud, and I need not tell you he killed Eglon, the fat old king of Moab. The other thing is concerning Shamgar. There is only one verse about him and he fought only one fight. He fought that with an oxgoad, that is, a long, heavy pole sharp at one end and heavy at the other. It makes a formidable weapon. This finishes Judges 3.

QUESTIONS

1. What parallel between Exodus and Joshua?

2. What the historic lesson?

3. What the time of the events of this section?

4. What difficulty of translation here? Explain fully.

5. In what romance by Sir Walter Scott is a maiden’s hand in marriage as here in this story, offered as a prize to the man who would perform a certain exploit? Give brief outline of the story.

6. Explain the reference to Jerusalem’s being in the hands of the Jebusites. In like manner the reference to Jabin.

7. How did they determine which tribe should commence the campaign of subduing the remnants?

8. Which was to take the initiative?

9. What is the lex tationis and what example here?

10. In what did Judah and Simeon fail?

11. What advance did Benjamin make in violating the law?

12. What Joseph’s success and failure?

13. Give briefly Dan’s failure.

14. What the purpose and effect of his coming?

15. What advance did they make now in violating the law? Name their gods.

16. What the result of this culminating sin?

17. Explain in general terms this prospective review.

18. Who the first judge? The first oppressor?

19. Who the second judge? The second oppressor?

20. Who the third judge? The third oppressor (Judges 3:31)?

21. Whence came the first two oppressors and what does this show? Whence the third oppressor?