b. Othniel and Cushan-rishathaim of Aram (3:7–11)
b. Othniel and Cushan-rishathaim of Aram (3:7–11)
The pattern into which the editor has arranged the narratives with which he deals is well illustrated in this description of Israel’s sin and the Lord’s anger; of their bondage to an oppressor and the length of such servitude; of their prayer for deliverance and the emergence of a saviour, anointed with the divine spirit; and finally, of the duration of the period of peace. But there is little supplementary information beyond these bare details, and even these are not free of difficulties of interpretation.
Mesopotamia (8) is in Hebrew ’ăram nahărayim which was ‘the fertile land east of the river Orontes covering the upper and middle Euphrates and the lands watered by the rivers Habur and Tigris, i.e. modern E Syria-N Iraq’.3 Only after the fourth century BC was the term extended to describe the whole Tigris-Euphrates valley. But as an attack from this area would come from the north it is not easy to see how Othniel, associated with the tribe of Judah in the extreme south, should be chosen as the deliverer. The difference is eased only fractionally if ‘Aram of the two rivers’ be regarded as a reference to the Euphrates and one of its tributaries. The name does occur in Egyptian and Assyrian inscriptions, generally indicating a region in North Mesopotamia but occasionally referring to the area to the westward as far as the river Orontes. The fact of an attack from the north has occasioned some extreme hypotheses, even to the suggestion that originally the name of the deliverer had not been preserved and that the editor supplied the name of one who was already familiar (1:13ff.) to complete his scheme.4 Such drastic conjectures are invariably unwise.
The name of Cushan-rishathaim is also suspect, for it reads literally ‘Cushan of double-wickedness’, not a likely personal name, and it would appear that the historian has made a deliberate distortion to cast ridicule upon this oppressor. Various emendations have been suggested, the most plausible being Cushan rosh Teman (‘Cushan chief of Teman’, a town or region in northern Edom). If this be accepted then Aram-naharaim could be read as Edom-naharaim; the two words are often confused in the Old Testament. Othniel would then fit more readily into the picture if the invasion came from Edom, whose territory bordered on that of Judah. But there is considerable evidence to support the more difficult view that there is here preserved a memory of an attack from the Mesopotamian area. Cush (Gen. 10:8) was the father of Nimrod who established the Babylonian civilization. It is known that the Kassites overran Babylon and ruled for four centuries until the twelfth century BC (Othniel may be dated c. 1200 BC5). Archaeology has revealed possible further links with Cushan-rishathaim in the name of a woman, Kashsha-rishat, and the name borne by two Kassite kings, Kashtiliash, which could easily be modified to the form found in our text. A name Kassi occurs at Alalakh. We may surmise tentatively that here we may have a witness to a westward movement of the Kassite dynasty, a movement which found the tribes of Israel sufficiently united to allow for Othniel, the southern hero, to act on their behalf.
7. The groves (AV) should be translated the Asheroth (RV, RSV), the mistake, which occurs regularly throughout the AV, having been perpetuated from the LXX. Asheroth is the plural form of Asherah, which indicates both a female goddess, the consort of Baal and also a cult object. The latter was probably a wooden pillar, the formal substitute for a sacred tree, representing the female element in the debased Canaanite religion. As the plural of Asherah is usually Asherim it is likely that the original here was Ashtaroth (cf. 2:13). Asherah and Ashtaroth may be viewed as interchangeable forms.
10. The supernatural empowering of the judges of Israel is here revealed for the first time. The same expression is used of Jephthah (11:29), But there is no stereotyped formula. It is noted that the Spirit of the Lord ‘took possession of’ (RSV) or ‘clothed itself’ with (RV mg) Gideon (6:34); that it ‘began to stir’ or ‘impel’ or ‘rush upon’ Samson (13:25; 14:6, 19; 15:14). These individuals are styled ‘charismatic’ since the divine grace (charisma) was bestowed upon them, a phenomenon which continued into the period of the monarchy (1 Sam. 10:10; 11:6; 16:13). Since Pentecost (Acts 2) a more general and permanent endowment of the Holy Spirit has been the privilege of every disciple. It is likely that Othniel was already regarded as a judge on the basis of his earlier spectacular achievement (1:12ff.)