Reading: Judges 1
The first thing you’re likely to notice about Judges is that it is not in chronological order. Verse 1 starts with “After the death of Joshua…” but then goes on to summarize events that took place in the Book of Joshua while Joshua was still alive. In fact, the death of Joshua is described in 2:6-9 (part of next week’s reading) of Judges, which recounts a lengthier scene of Joshua’s death (and Joshua’s Eisenhower-like farewell address) previously described in Josh 23 and 24:28-31. So bear in mind that the timeline is not always linear.
The second thing you’re likely to notice is that the first book of Judges is written a bit matter-of-factly and dryly. Old Testament writers demand much from us readers, and if we fail to recognize the context, we’re left wondering, “So what?” The context can be found in God’s commissioning of Joshua (Josh 1:1-9). The text is included below, with key points in bold:
After the death of Moses the servant the Lord said to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ minister, “Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land which I am giving to them, to the sons of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, as promised to Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your territory. No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you. Be strong and of good courage; for you shall cause this people to inherit the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded you; turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall mediate on it day and night, that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; be not frightened, neither be dismayed; for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.
Clearly the Old Testament was written before Orwell’s Six Rules became popular. God’s ostensibly repetitively redundant directive is likely to irk modern editors who worship word-counts and value conciseness—especially if you continue reading Joshua and try to count how many times God tells the Israelites to “be courageous” (don’t forget synonymous phrases such as “be not frightened” and “neither be dismayed”). But we have to remember that the Bible is inerrant and redundancy is proportional to importance. The important warnings could not be more clear. There is no free lunch in the Promised Land, but God will be with the Israelites. Their responsibilities are to demonstrate faith in the Lord by keeping His law (as it is written) and to be courageous in the face of the enemy. With that in mind, how did the Israelites do?
We are told that, with God’s help, Judah and his brother Simeon defeat ten thousand Canaanites and Perizzites in Bezek (Judg 1:1-7), which includes the pursuit and capture of a Canaanite king, Adoni-Bezek. Adoni-Bezek has a reputation for cruelty, which is evidenced by his statement about cutting off the thumbs and toes of seventy other kings. From this, we can infer that if Judah and Simeon had failed, they likely would have been tortured and mutilated, and forced to pick up scraps under Adoni-Bezek’s table. Thus it would appear that they demonstrated great courage in the face of the enemy.
In verse 8 through 10, the men of Judah continue demonstrating courage through their conquest. The courage is evident in 10 as Judah battles the Canaanites of Hebron, formerly known as Kiriath-arba. Kiriath-arba is translated as City of Arba, which doesn’t mean much in and of itself unless you know who Arba was. Arba was “the greatest man among the Anakim” (Josh 14:15), the Anakim being race of giants descended from Anak (Anak being the son of Arba; see Josh 15:13). You’re probably wondering what is meant by “giant,” and unfortunately we don’t know too much about this giant race. We do know, from archeological evidence, that the average Israelite male likely stood between 5’ and 5’3” tall. For reference, Goliath (also a giant), is described in the Dead Sea Scrolls as “four cubits and a span” (which is problematic given that a cubits and spans are not standard units of measurement. Nonetheless, 6’9” inches is a good estimate). Further, we learn that the men of Judah defeated Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai—giant sons of the giant Anak (Num 13:22), just as God said they would in Deut 9:2-3:
“… and of whom you have heard it said, who can stand before the sons of Anak?’ Know therefore this day that he who goes over before you as a devouring fire is the Lord your God; he will destroy them and subdue them before you.”
To summarize: the men of Judah slaughtered an entire city of giants, including the king of giants and two successive generations of giants. Sounds pretty courageous.
The text describes two more successful campaigns. Caleb seeks a volunteer to lead the charge against Debir (formerly Kiriath-sepher, or City of Books). Specific information on the City of Books is sparse, but the fact Caleb is willing to give his daughter to the man who conquers the city (Judg 1:12) suggests that it was important. Alternately, the act could suggest that, in the world of arranged marriages, Caleb was only willing to marry his daughter off to someone who could demonstrate great faith and courage. Othniel is that man, and as it so happens, will also be the first of the judges (in the following chapters, we will see how Israel’s repeated unfaithfulness will be reflected in the quality of the judges, with Othniel being one of the more faithful judges). In the final successful campaign, Judah and Simeon defeat the Canaanites inhabiting Zephath (1:17) and “utterly destroyed” the city—just as God commanded. The city is renamed Hormah, meaning “devoted to destruction.”
But in verse 19, something peculiar happens. “And the Lord was with Judah, and he took possession of the hill country, but he could not drive out the inhabitants of the plain, because they had chariots of iron.” Up to this point, they defeated tens of thousands of Canaanites, conquered a sadistic Canaanite king, and destroyed a city of giants. And yet, they are unable to overcome a people with chariots? Even as the Lord was with them? God told the sons of Israel what would come as they waged a holy war:
“When you go forth to war against your enemies, and see horses and chariots and an army larger than your own, you shall not be afraid of them; for the Lord your God is with you…” (Deut 20:1).
It would appear, despite early victories and momentum, that the sons of Israel let fear undermined faith.
Versus 21 through 34 are replete with failures, mostly in the form of keeping the Canaanites around as forced labor. The house of Joseph sends spies who find a man coming out of the city of Bethel. The man helps them sneak into the city, and in return they spare him. Why is this bad? While this may seem like a reasonable thing to do, it explicitly goes against what God commanded: “and when the Lord your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them; then you must utterly destroy them; you shall make no covenant with them, and show no mercy to them” (Deut 7:2). Again, with more specificity:
“When you draw near to a city to fight against it, offer terms of peace to it. And if its answer is peace… then all the people who are found in it shall do forced labor for you. But if it makes no peace with you, but makes war against you, then you shall besiege it and… put all its males to the sword… But in the cities of these peoples that the Lord your God gives you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes… that they may not teach you to do according to all their abominable practices which they have done in service of their gods, and so to sin against the Lord your God” (Deut 20:10-18).
The man who is spared escapes to build a city in the land of the Hittites, thus continuing the worship of idols that are certain to corrupt future Israelites.
What are we to make of these failed conquests? Let’s start with the more obvious lesson first. The Israelites’ decision to enslave the Canaanites, show mercy, and make covenant with them instead of devoting them to destruction is a classical case eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil; the Israelites have substituted God’s morality for their own. Second, if we examine the promise God makes in Joshua 1, he never promises to make the Israelites fat, rich, and comfortable. He does not promise that every Israelite will survive the conquest. Instead, he promises them land where they can settle; where future generations will be free from bondage. All the Israelites need to do is follow the law and show courage. Instead, their faith—empirically validated by numerous public miracles and accounts of God’s hand at work—is undermined by fear. Courage without sacrifice is not courage at all, and much like Cain whose sacrifice was insufficient (Gen 4:5), so too was the Israelites’ sacrifice. A generation of men unwilling sacrifice for future generations dooms the next generation to be consumed by idols. Don’t take my word for it: Deut 7 and Deut 8:18-20 tell us as much.
In light of this conversation, it’s worth asking: what sacrifices are you willing to make for the next generation? And if you’re struggling to find anything sufficient, perhaps you too have displaced God’s morality for your own.