8. Deborah, Gideon, and Samson: Disputations and Decision Making
8
DEBORAH, GIDEON, AND SAMSON
Disputations and Decision Making
Allrise. Courtisnowinsession. The setting is solemn as the robed magistrate enters the courtroom, walks to the raised bench, and brings down the gavel. Such a scenario should not be mistaken for the ancient practice of judging in the book of Judges. In fact, this book focuses more on the continuation of conquest than on matters of law and arbitration.
Joshua has now passed from the scene. It is a time in biblical history when God is not quite so generous with spectacular military miracles. Tribes such as Judah and Simeon join forces to fight for their promised inheritance, and the Lord gives “the land into their hands.”[1] But with every step forward Israel seems to take two steps back.
What was supposed to have been a conquest has taken a different turn. In many cases the inhabitants remain in their own towns, sometimes under the thumb of the Israelites. In other instances, however, the Israelites make covenants with their pagan neighbors rather than driving them wholesale out of the land as God had commanded. They intermarry and worship other gods, often utterly forsaking the God of Joshua and Moses. Wickedness pervades the land.
Indeed, with Joshua gone, the moral fabric of the Israelites deteriorates rapidly as idolatry and infidelity run rampant. God is more than displeased and gives them over to their enemies to be harassed, plundered, and enslaved. But when they plead with God and repent of their evil ways, he mercifully raises up judges who save them from their enemies. After each such intervention, the people of Israel follow the precepts of God, but when a good judge dies, they again return to their evil ways. And “every man did that which was right in his own eyes.”[2]
One of the first judges is Othniel, Caleb’s nephew, to whom Caleb had earlier given his daughter in marriage for having captured a key city. He now comes to the rescue after eight years of Israel’s servitude to the Syrians. Filled with the Spirit of God, he rallies the people and leads the Israelite army into battle against their oppressors. He defeats them soundly and ushers in four decades of peace.
But after Othniel dies, the Israelites go right back to their wicked ways. So God punishes them by setting King Eglon and his Moabite forces against them. Through an alliance with the Ammonites and Amalekites, he marshals enough troops to make a major strike and subdue Israel. It is a mighty blow that decimates the army. The result is fourteen years of slavery, Eglon as master tyrant.
Not surprisingly, the people are now crying out to God, begging for release. God hears their pleas and raises up Ehud from the tribe of Benjamin. He is a left-handed and clever fellow. He fashions a short-handled, two-sided sword that can be strapped to his right thigh and hidden under his garment. The Israelites send word to the king that they would like to pay him tribute. The morbidly obese King Eglon welcomes Ehud as their envoy. Ehud presents the tribute, brought in by his aides, and then departs. But then Ehud turns around and asks if he can speak privately with the king.
Suspecting nothing, King Eglon orders his servants to depart. Ehud tells the king he has a message from God. With proper respect, the king stands up. Ehud then raises no suspicion when he reaches across with his left hand. But in an instant he has his sword in his hand and he thrusts it into the king’s stomach. Indeed the whole sword sinks so far into his belly that “the fat closed in over it so he couldn’t pull it out.”[3] Ehud gets out in a hurry, locking the door behind him and slipping away, eluding the guards.
With that dark deed accomplished, Ehud rallies the Israelite army and attacks and subdues the Moabites. Eighty years of peace follow this stunning victory.
Israel’s enemies, however, are ever present. The Philistines in particular are more than a bothersome threat. And now Shamgar comes to the rescue. He goes on the offensive, and with a cattle prod single-handedly kills six hundred of the pesky Philistine enemy. But, not surprisingly, the people return to their evil ways. God, true to his nature, punishes them by selling them over to the Canaanite king Jabin, who, along with fierce army commander Sisera, oppresses them for twenty years. And, of course, once again, the Israelites cry out to God for relief.
Enter Deborah, prophet and judge.
Deborah: Judge and Military Leader
A few strong, independent women preceded her, but she alone courageously leads the Israelites in her own right. Her husband is Lappidoth, of whom nothing more is known. She is the first female leader mentioned in Scripture, though nothing at all is made of her gender. The people seem to take it in stride, and there is no apparent opposition on that count. People travel from great distances to bring their matters before her court at Deborah’s Palm, located in the hill country of Ephraim.
Judging cases is her day job, but Deborah is also a prophet. In this capacity, she sends a message from God to military commander Barak, telling him to make ready ten companies of soldiers and head for Mount Tabor in preparation for war. She adds a postscript: “I will lead Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and troops to the Kishon River and give him into your hands.”[4]
Deborah, judge and prophetess
Barak is a military man, but he recognizes the spiritual and temporal authority of Deborah. He agrees under one condition: “If you go with me, I’ll go. But if you don’t go with me, I won’t go.” She has a quick retort: “Of course I’ll go with you. But understand that with an attitude like that, there’ll be no glory in it for you.”[5] Rather, it will be a woman, she prophesies, who will do Sisera in. On the surface this scenario appears to be a display of woman power, but God is truly behind it all.
Deborah meets Barak, who then marshals together ten companies of soldiers from the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali. Word gets out to Sisera that Barak and his men are heading for Mount Tabor. So Sisera brings his big guns—nine hundred chariots of iron—and all his soldiers to fight the battle. Barak’s troops position themselves on Mount Tabor, where Deborah orders Barak and the ten companies of soldiers to make what would appear to be a foolhardy frontal attack down the hill against the incredibly well-armed Canaanites. But God is right in the thick of it. In the end, Sisera’s entire army is slaughtered.
Everyday Life
Justice in God’s Court of Law
Deborah, among other things, served as an arbitrator in her informal court under a palm tree. In ancient Israel at the time of the book of Judges there were no courthouses where attorneys came before an official to adjudicate a case. Rather, a wise individual became a judge solely on the basis of reputation. Such a person offered counsel when disputes arose among neighbors.
Long before the time of Deborah, the legal system involving judges was introduced by Moses after his father-in-law Jethro had noted how inefficiently judicial matters were being handled. And the system continued far beyond the end of the book of Judges. Kings and prophets would come and go, while judges continued to administer legal affairs.
Most such adjudicators were older men who sat at the gates of the city. Job, by his own testimony, is an example: “For I assisted the poor in their need and the orphans who required help. I helped those without hope, and they blessed me. And I caused the widows’ hearts to sing for joy” (Job 29:12–13 NLT). His involvement as an elder at the gates goes to the heart of Old Testament justice—summed up in God’s word to Amos: “I hate all your show and pretense. . . . Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice” (Amos 5:21, 24 NLT)—justice directed particularly at the enslaved, the innocent, the poor, and the widows.
Only Sisera survives. He heads for the hills on foot and comes to a tent belonging to Jael, whose husband, Heber the Kennite, is a friend of the Canaanite king. Jael invites him into her tent and offers him protection from the Israelite army. She covers him with a blanket, and then brings him milk to quench his thirst. She agrees, at his request, to stand at the door of the tent and to tell anyone who might inquire that no one is inside. Exhausted, he falls asleep.
As Deborah has prophesied, it is a woman who puts an end to this brutal warrior. Jael simply takes a peg from the tent, walks over to the almost comatose Sisera, and drives it through his head, one thundering hammer blow after another. Soon thereafter Barak comes along looking for Sisera. Jael invites him in to see the corpse with a tent peg through its head. Through the work of God, carried out by two women, King Jabin is beaten back until his kingdom is demolished.
The victory celebration includes a long, elaborate song sung by both Deborah and Barak. One of the lines explains that they are singing and making music to God. But the song goes on to recall Deborah’s part in the victory.
Warriors became fat and sloppy,
no fight left in them.
Then you, Deborah, rose up;
you got up, a mother in Israel.
God chose new leaders,
who then fought at the gates.[6]
Another verse praises Jael, telling the story with a certain amount of poetic license. In the song she is giving him milk in a bowl and hardly waiting a second before she grabs the peg and hammer, driving it through his temple while he slumps at her feet, dead.
After they sing this victory cantata, peace reigns over the land for forty years.
Gideon: Successful Soldier and Father of Seventy Sons
The era of peace after Deborah’s victory comes to an end because of sin. Exasperated by the Israelites’ evil ways, God puts them under the thumb of Midian for seven years. The people take shelter in mountain caves, sneaking down to plant crops. But the forces of Midian, as well as Amalek, charge in from the east with their armies of camels and, like an invasion of locusts, steal cattle and destroy crops. Running for their lives and utterly impoverished, the people again cry out to God. It’s like a broken record. Will these fickle people ever learn?
God sends a prophet with a reminder of how he had delivered them from Egypt and much more, but still they flirt with false gods. And they misbehave in every way imaginable. Is it any wonder that they are eating dirt and living in caves?
But they are God’s people, and he does have compassion on them. He sends an angel, who finds a cool resting place under an oak tree that belongs to Gideon’s father Joash. Gideon’s ingenuity has allowed him to escape the notice of the Midianites as he threshes wheat in a hidden winepress. The angel spots him and comes over, declaring that he is a mighty warrior and that God is with him. Gideon looks around as if to say Who, me? He’s stunned, but he also has a quick retort. If that’s true, why are we under the thumb of the Midianites? Where is the God of miracles who led the people out of Egypt?
Now it is God himself who looks him straight in the eye and orders him to go in his own strength and save Israel. But, like Moses before him, Gideon is not convinced. He is a farmer, not a military officer. He rightly asks how he could ever become a mighty warrior. Moreover, he’s from the weakest clan in the tribe of Manasseh. And Gideon himself? “I’m the runt of the litter.”[7]
God is not put off. In fact, he almost seems to enjoy this encounter. He assures Gideon he is the man who will prevail over Midian. Fully conscious of his shortcomings, Gideon wonders if he’s hearing things, perhaps hallucinating. He will make a fool of himself—and no doubt die—if he goes off to battle. So he asks God for a sign. But first he asks God to wait around for a while, giving him time to come back with a gift. Gideon returns with an offering of roasted goat, bread, and broth.
The angel of God, waiting under the oak, takes charge of the meal and tells Gideon how to properly prepare it. Gideon follows instructions precisely, placing the meat and bread on a rock and pouring the broth over the top. No sooner is that accomplished than the angel stretches out a stick and fire consumes Gideon’s food. With that the angel disappears. Gideon, having already interacted with God and the angel, panics on seeing the fireworks. But God assures him he will be safe.
A sense of peace falls upon this “runt of the litter,” and he builds an altar, naming it Peace of God. That night God comes to him again and tells him to make a sacrifice by confiscating the best of his father’s bulls. He is to build an altar on the very spot where his father has erected an altar to Baal, next to a sacred pole for Asherah, goddess of fertility. To accomplish this he must destroy all reminders of his father’s false gods. He does so, but under cover of darkness.
The crime does not go unnoticed. The townspeople are up in arms. Who’s behind all this vandalism? Rumors fly. Word leaks out that it is the son of Joash. The neighbors are furious. They order Joash to send his son out of the house. The mob will give him his due. But Joash is quick witted and defies the multitude. He shouts above the rabble, If Baal’s a real god, let him go after my son. Let Baal defend himself.Death to anyone defending Baal.
The townspeople back down and come to recognize Gideon as their leader. But the Midianites and Amalekites continue to breathe down their necks. So Gideon blows his horn, sending word out to all of Manasseh and surrounding tribes that they should take up arms and prepare to fight. Still Gideon is second-guessing himself. The enemy is fierce. He fears there will be a bloodbath, and that he will be held responsible.
Gideon pleads with God for a sign. He tells God that he’s going to set out a wool fleece on the floor of the winepress. If God is really going to do what he has said, Gideon wants to see dew in the morning on the fleece only, not on the floor. The next morning he gets up and finds the fleece so wet with dew that he’s able to wring out a full bowl of water. God must be behind this risky military venture. But maybe not. Gideon’s nerves are on edge. He can’t get it out of his head that he’s a farmer, not an army general. So back to God. Once more with the fleece challenge—this time the fleece dry and the floor wet. The next morning he wades through a puddle on the floor and picks up the fleece—not even a hint of dampness.
The following day he marches forward, with thirty-two companies of men in lockstep behind him. By this time he has acquired a sense of confidence. But then he hears the voice of God. It is the last thing he wants to hear. God directs him to send back home all those who are questioning this military operation. Gideon makes the announcement, and twenty-two entire companies depart.
But God tells Gideon there are still too many men. This time God will divide the men from the boys. The whole army is to go to a nearby stream and drink. Those who cup their hands full of water and lap it up with their tongues like a dog are to be separated from those who slurp it up with face in the water. The dogs win the prize; they get to go forward into battle. The bad news is there are only three hundred of them.
Gideon and the fleece
Below Gideon and his men are the Midianites, stretched out across the valley as far as the eye can see—vast swarms of them. God tells Gideon to take his armor bearer, sneak up near the guard post, and listen in on the conversation, for what he hears will indeed give him courage. And Gideon does overhear a soldier telling his comrade about a strange dream he’s just had. A big barley loaf rolls into the valley and smashes the tent. The comrade interprets the dream to mean that Gideon and his men will overwhelm the whole Midianite encampment.
Now the reluctant Gideon is ready to do battle. He is finally convinced that God will give him the victory. He divides his men into three companies, each man with a ram’s horn and a jar with a torch in it. The soldiers are to watch him and do exactly what he does. They arrive at the valley camp in the middle of the night. In unison, the men break the jars and blow their horns. Then one grand rallying cry: “A sword for GOD and for Gideon!”[8] So convinced are the Midianites that thousands of Gideon’s men are swarming around them that they in their sleepy confusion begin killing each other.
But most of the Midianites are on the run. Gideon sends word to the adjoining tribes to join in the battle. The Ephraimites respond and capture two Midianite kings, but jealousies flare and they resent Gideon’s leadership. Gideon, however, manages to smooth things over. Then he and his band of three hundred continue beyond the Jordan in hot pursuit of some of the still surviving Midianite kings.
Desperately hungry on arrival in Succoth, their plea for food is denied. Gideon warns the men of Succoth of the consequences of their inhospitable behavior and moves on to the town of Peniel, where again he is denied rations. Without food but vowing revenge, he moves on and defeats Midianite forces five times his size. On his return trip, he brings back two hostage kings to prove he had indeed been on a legitimate military mission. His troops thrash the men of Succoth and destroy the tower in Peniel, killing the men of the town.
Gideon learns from the two Midianite kings that they had massacred his brothers in an earlier battle. He immediately orders them killed. Jether, his oldest son, is to do the job. Still a boy, Jether freezes. These are kings after all. He just can’t do it. The kings taunt Gideon, questioning his manhood because he won’t do it himself. He answers their taunts by putting them to the sword.
After such incredible triumphs, the Israelites beg Gideon to be their ruler, with his son and grandson to succeed him. Gideon emphatically declines. Only God will be their king; he will rule over them.
Gideon’s last hurrah is most strange. He asks his soldiers for gold earrings they have taken from the Midianite enemies they have killed. They eagerly comply, donating more than forty pounds. He melts them down and makes the gold into a sacred object—an ephod—and sets it up in his hometown. Here Israelites come and kneel before it—even Gideon and his family. “All Israel prostituted themselves by worshiping it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his family.”[9] Do the Israelites return to the actual worship of God? All that is revealed is that there follow forty years of peace.
Gideon’s claim to fame was his victorious military career. But another significant aspect of his life related to family matters. He took polygamy seriously and acquired many wives, who bore him seventy sons. Actually he fathered at least seventy-one sons. But because Abimelech was the son not of a wife but of a concubine from Shechem, he did not have the status of the other sons, a matter that would tarnish Gideon’s legacy. Gideon himself lived to be an old man, ever a hero among his people.
Abimelech: Gideon’s Son by a Concubine
Gideon’s funeral is hardly over when the Israelites resume their wicked ways, particularly in their worship of Baal. Amid this evil, Abimelech goes back to his mother’s hometown and asks his relatives if they would rather see Gideon’s seventy sons in authority over them or him alone. The answer is easy. After all, he is one of them. With him as ruler, they reason, things will go better for them.
So they give him seventy pieces of silver, which he uses to hire a band of thugs. Arriving at his late father’s home, he proceeds to kill all his half brothers except for the youngest, Jotham, who manages to escape, but not before pronouncing a curse on the wicked Abimelech. The slaughter over, Abimelech heads back to Shechem, where he is crowned king and rules over Israel for the next three years.
But he is not universally loved, even in his hometown. Plots are hatched against him, and hired assassins are brought to overthrow him. Tipped off, Abimelech takes his men and lies in wait outside Shechem, preparing to ambush the enemy. A battle ensues, and Abimelech’s men prevail. He eventually captures the city, massacres the inhabitants, and demolishes the town.
Meanwhile the locals who had plotted against him are taking refuge with their families in the fortified city tower. Abimelech and his men arrive with armloads of kindling and set the tower ablaze, burning alive some one thousand people. From there he moves on to Thebez, where again the townspeople are holed up in a tower. Just as Abimelech is starting to torch the door, a woman from above drops a millstone on his head. He is fatally wounded, but has the presence of mind to make one final demand of his youthful aide. He asks him to kill him with his sword so it could never be said that he was killed by a woman. His aide does as he is told, and Abimelech dies.
In the decades that follow there are times of peace when judges arise and rule Israel effectively. However, the vicious cycle continues: the people of Israel fall into idolatry, God allows enemy tribes to attack and oppress them, and, like clockwork, the people cry to God for relief. But God is sick and tired of their broken promises to repent of their infidelities. Finally, after spiritual and moral renewal, the Israelites do get rid of their foreign gods, and God does take their issues seriously—though the cycle surely does not end.
Jephthah: Son of a Prostitute
He is the black sheep of the family, the son of Gilead. His brothers run him out of town because his mother is a prostitute. They do not want him claiming any of their father’s inheritance. So Jephthah travels to the region of Tob, where he hangs around with a tough crowd. There he eludes the plots against him from his brothers. He is a fighter who forges a reputation as a mighty warrior.
Some years later, when the Israelites are struggling to fend off attacks from the Ammonites, the leaders in Gilead send for Jephthah. He is skeptical. Why should he fight their battles when they had run him out of town? On his insistence, they take an oath before God to live under his military rule.
Now as army general, Jephthah sends a message to the Ammonite king, asking why he is attacking Israel. The response is straightforward: You took our land. If you give it back we won’t bother you. Jephthah sends back a lengthy message—a history lesson essentially saying that the land on which the Ammonites are settled is not theirs to begin with. In fact, when the Israelites came out of Egypt, they were forced to detour around Ammonite land to avoid any trouble. Besides, the Israelites have never pushed anyone off the land. God has, but not Israel.
The Ammonites pay him no heed, so Jephthah marshals his troops and prepares for battle. But the enemy is strong, and Jephthah knows he needs God’s help. He calls on God, as had his predecessors, for victory over the enemy. Then he makes a vow to God—a strange vow that will have dire consequences. Should God allow him to return home in triumph, he promises to sacrifice on an altar whatever emerges first from his doorway. What is he thinking! True, a lamb or goat or calf might be in the house and wander out, but typically a family member would most likely enter and exit from the same door. It’s a foolish vow, and he lives to regret it.
Jephthah is victorious. He and his army slaughter the Ammonites. Word of the triumph arrives home before he does. As he nears his home, his daughter—his darling daughter, an only child—does what is most natural. She runs out of the house to greet her beloved father. And not only that; she grabs her tambourine and dances in celebration. She is thrilled to know her father has survived the battle.
Jephthah and his daughter
Jephthah is beside himself. He tears his clothes and cries out in anguish: “Ah, dearest daughter—I’m dirt. I’m despicable. My heart is torn to shreds.”[10] Then he reveals his vow. Amazingly, she doesn’t cut and run. She acquiesces. But only perhaps because he has reneged on his original vow, spinning a more-than-minor revision. His claim to her appears to have been that he vowed virginity, not sacrifice, of the first one coming through the door.
She is willing to fulfill a vow of virginity, though not without great sorrow. With her father’s permission, she goes off to the hill country with her friends for a two-month period of lament. Then she returns to officially fulfill the vow and never marry, perhaps meaning that she will remain behind closed doors. Or, is she indeed sacrificed as a virgin by her father? The text is less than clear.
As her story is passed down through the generations, it takes on significant meaning for young women who are saddened by it. In fact, it soon becomes a tradition for young Israelite women to take a four-day retreat, lamenting the grim circumstances of Jephthah’s unnamed daughter.
Jephthah’s battles, however, are not over. He is the military hero, but not everyone in Israel is happy about his leadership, particularly considering his mother’s shameful status. The Ephraimites show up one day in Jephthah’s hometown of Gilead, accusing him of going off to war without them to fight the Ammonites, their archenemies. They threaten to torch his house. He claims that he had asked for their help but that they had ignored his request. They are not satisfied with his answer and refuse to back down. They say he and all Gileadites are simply renegades and mongrels from Ephraim and Manasseh.
Stung by the insult, Jephthah summons his troops for action. When the civil war is over, he is the victor. Indeed, in one battle alone forty-two divisions from Ephraim are wiped out. After that Jephthah serves as judge over Israel for six years, until his death.
Judges Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon follow after Jephthah, none of them known for military prowess as their predecessors had been. Ibzan and Abdon, however, are prolific fathers. Ibzan sires thirty sons and thirty daughters, and Abdon forty sons. Times are good, but after the death of Abdon the cycle of evil resumes. God’s punishment this time is to allow the Philistines to put a forty-year stranglehold over the people of Israel.
Samson and Delilah
Samson has a remarkable birth story. An angel appears to his long-barren mother, telling her that she is going to bear a son and she is not to drink beer or wine during her pregnancy. He will be a Nazirite, dedicated to abstinence and various other ritual observances. Moreover, this boy will grow up to deliver the Israelites from the tyranny of the Philistines. When the angel leaves, the startled woman tells her husband Manoah about the visitation.
Manoah is anxious and prays to God for operating instructions—how to raise this extraordinary child. The angel—the man of God—appears again to the woman while she is alone in the field. She immediately runs for Manoah, who follows her to the field, where the man of God repeats, for Manoah’s benefit, the instructions he had given to his wife. Manoah then invites the man to dinner, not knowing he is an angel. The angel declines but suggests he sacrifice a goat, which Manoah does, along with a grain offering.
There is nothing recorded about Samson’s actual birth and childhood. But as a young man he travels to Timnah, where he sees a beautiful young woman, a Philistine. He returns home and tells his parents about her and asks them to arrange a marriage. They’re mortified. Why can’t he find a pretty girl among the Israelites? But Samson is used to getting his own way. He doesn’t take no for an answer.
His parents relent and go with him to Timnah to ask for the young woman. As they approach vineyards at the edge of town, he strays away from them—just long enough to tear to shreds an approaching lion. How is this possible? The Spirit of God comes upon him. He then rejoins his folks without saying a word. He finds the young woman and apparently gets her consent, because a few days later they all return to fetch her. This time he leaves his parents again to check on the lion and finds bees making honey in the carcass. He reaches in for the honey and brings some back for his parents to eat, not telling them he had taken it from roadkill.
In no time Samson and his folks are making wedding plans. He arranges his own feast, but locals are fearful of him—his strength and hot temper. So they make sure that plenty of security is on hand—thirty companions to take control if things go awry. Samson throws out a riddle at them with a bet. If they can come up with the answer, they get thirty sets of expensive clothes; if they can’t figure it out, he gets the entire wardrobe. He lays out the riddle:
From the eater came something to eat,
From the strong came something sweet.[11]
They know nothing about his encounter with the lion—and its carcass. For three days they are at their wit’s end. Then they secretly threaten the bride to weasel the answer out of him, or else—or else they will burn down her and her father’s entire household. There’s no way they can afford thirty outfits for Samson, linen undergarments and all. So she begs and pleads and cries for seven days until he finally relents and tells her the riddle.
The men, as if they are contestants on Jeopardy, call out the answer:
What is sweeter than honey?
What is stronger than a lion?[12]
Samson surely suspects his bride of spilling the beans and accuses them of plowing with his heifer. But then the Spirit of God comes upon him again, and he goes to a nearby town, kills thirty Philistine men, takes their clothes, returns, and gives them to the security detail. He leaves the wedding party in a fury. The startled father of the bride, not knowing what else to do, gives her to the best man.
Sometime later Samson shows up at the bride’s house and learns she’s married to another. He goes out into the bush, catches three hundred jackals, ties them together by the tails, attaches a torch onto their tails, and lets them into the Philistine grain fields as well as their orchards and vineyards, destroying the year’s harvest. They get even by setting a torch to his would-be bride and her father. Now it is Samson’s turn. He goes after the guilty by tearing their arms and legs off and slaughtering them as he had the lion. But he’s still in a rage.
The Philistines set out to attack the tribe of Judah. The tribe is upset with Samson because his deeds are ruining their lives. So they tie him up and are in the process of turning him over to the enemy when he breaks loose, grabs a jawbone of an ass and with his Spirit-given strength kills the entire company of Philistine soldiers. With that victory, he settles down as a judge for the next two decades.
But all the while he’s up to his old antics. He goes to Gaza and spots a prostitute. While he is spending the night with her, the townspeople plot to kill him first thing in the morning. He arises at midnight to leave, but not without making his mark. He tears down the locked town gate, posts and all, hauling the wreckage on his shoulders out of town.
As judge, Samson could have had almost any Israelite virgin he desired, but for some reason he is enticed by trashy Philistine women. So again he heads off into Philistine territory, and this time falls in love with Delilah. Again the Philistines plot against him; they go to Delilah behind his back and convince her to sweet-talk him out of the secret of his incredible strength so that they can overpower him. Three times he tells her, but each time she discovers he is toying with her, making her look ridiculous among her own people.
She is tenacious and begs him day after day to reveal his secret. He so desperately desires her love that he finally breaks down and tells her it is his hair. Because he is a Nazirite, he cannot cut his hair or his strength will depart. He falls asleep in her arms, and she promptly cuts his hair. In an instant his strength is gone, and the Philistines pounce on him. They poke out his eyes, shackle his legs, and compel him to grind at the wheel all day long like a yoked team of oxen.
His capture is cause for celebration among the Philistines. They prepare a grand feast and a stage show featuring Samson. They will laugh and scorn and mock this shackled, blind Israelite. They pack the temple while he is paraded before them, not realizing that his hair is growing back. Amid their jeers, he prays to God for his strength to return, vowing to die with the three thousand spectators. He asks his guards to let him lean against the pillars for a short rest. Again he prays, this time pushing against each of the two central support pillars, which crack and crumble as the temple crashes in a cloud of dust, killing everyone.
Delilah cutting Samson’s hair
He dies with the spectators—as presumably does Delilah. His brothers and other kin retrieve his body and bury it in the family tomb.
Micah, Two Levites, and the Benjamites
In many ways Micah is simply an ordinary Israelite of his day, from the hill country of Ephraim—no patriarch or warrior or judge. Actually he is a common thief—worse than that, he steals from his own mother. And no small amount: eleven hundred pieces of silver. He fears what will happen to him because he has overheard his mother utter a curse on whoever stole her money. He returns the money, and she promptly gives a portion of the silver to a sculptor, who melts it down and fashions a little idol for her.
Micah then has a small temple built for the god, adds some other images, and starts a cult, conscripting his own son to serve as priest. Like so many other Israelites, he worships his images and pays little heed to God. Then one day a young Levite from Bethlehem happens by. Micah convinces him to serve as another priest, giving him room and board, clothing, and ten pieces of silver for his yearly salary. Micah assumes that having a real Levite priest in his household will bring him success in life and favor with God.
In the meantime, five warriors from the tribe of Dan wander through the countryside, looking for a suitable place on which the tribe can settle. They stop by Micah’s home and immediately demand to know how he has acquired a Levite priest. The men want the priest to serve as their personal prophet—to let them know if they will have success in their endeavor. The priest gives them a good word, and they leave and travel on to a remote area near the town of Laish, where they discover a group of unsuspecting people living peacefully, without any military aspirations.
The five men return to their home in Zorah and stir up a fighting force of six hundred to go and attack this community. On the way they stop again at Micah’s home, steal his goods and his gods, and take the Levite priest with them. When Micah realizes that his whole cult has collapsed, he and his neighbors head out after the thieves, their courage fading when they realize the strength of the enemy.
When the fighting force arrives at the quiet community of Laish, they slaughter the inhabitants and burn down the buildings. They rebuild the town, rename it Dan, and set up Micah’s gods for worship.
Sometime later a Levite (not Micah’s former priest) living in the backwoods of Ephraim sets out seeking a concubine. He travels to Judah and makes arrangements with a young woman’s father to take her with him. She refuses, argues with him, and returns to her father’s house. The Levite follows her and tries to win her back. Her father welcomes him, feeds him, and presses to delay his departure. But finally, after much eating and drinking, the Levite, his servant, and his reluctant concubine begin their journey back home. On the way the Levite stops off in Gibeah, a town in the tribe of Benjamin. He is refused lodging until a kindly old man invites them to his house. That night evil men in the town come to the house and demand the Levite come outside for sex. The old man offers his own virgin daughter and the Levite’s concubine. In the end the Levite pushes his concubine out the door, where she is gang-raped and left for dead. Indeed, the next morning the Levite finds her dead on the doorstep.
What then does he do? He hefts her onto his donkey and heads home. There he cuts her body into twelve pieces and sends one chunk to each tribe, carried by a messenger with the ominous words: “Has such a thing as this ever happened from the time the Israelites came up from the land of Egypt until now? Think about it! Talk it over. Do something!”[13]
This truly is a heinous crime, and the Israelites are enraged, vowing revenge on the Benjamites. But first they demand that the tribe of Benjamin hand over the guilty men. When the Benjamites refuse, the rest of the Israelite armies descend on Benjamin, though they are hesitant to fight one of their own tribes. As it happens, even with God’s permission the Benjamites initially prevail, not once but twice. At last, however, God promises victory over them. In the end the entire Benjamite army is wiped out, the towns are burned, and their inhabitants slaughtered, but for six hundred men who manage to escape.
So disgusted are the Israelites with the tribe of Benjamin that they vow their daughters will never marry any of the survivors. But that would mean that one of the twelve tribes would disappear altogether. So to rectify the situation, the Israelites send warriors to Jabesh Gilead to kill everyone—except four hundred virgins who live there. They are spared so that they can become wives of the surviving men of Benjamin. Why Jabesh Gilead? Because they had not sent a single soldier to participate in the campaign against Benjamin.
But there are still two hundred Benjamite men without wives, so the Israelite elders encourage them to go to a festival in Shiloh and hide in the vineyards. When they see young girls take the dance floor, they are to race out and grab them as wives for themselves. The tribe fathered by Benjamin, the youngest son of Jacob and Rachel, is spared, but at such a price.
These drawn-out narratives in Israel’s history, beginning with Micah’s theft, are strange stories that almost appear to have no redeeming purpose in the biblical text.
Micah’s initial sorry, idolatrous mess is followed by terrifying episodes: rape, slaughter, more rape and slaughter, often of innocent people. And the two Levites? Anything but role models of priestly behavior.
Concluding Observations
It is difficult to read the book of Judges without cringing. Regular folks seem to be carrying out so much needless carnage. And apart from Deborah, no one stands tall to the very end. Gideon dies an idolater; Abimelech is a ruthless killer; Jephthah is a fool and a liar; Micah is a thief and an idolater. And the Benjamites? More than any other tribe, they deserved to be wiped out, but they are spared for the sake of familial loyalty. Nevertheless, God is ever present and participates by giving and withholding support for the armies of Israel. He punishes severely at times, while on other occasions he does not intervene and almost seems to let the sin be swept under the carpet.
That women play a significant role in the book of Judges does not mitigate the carnage. Indeed, they are sometimes as likely as their male counterparts to carry out conspiracies and bloodthirsty acts of violence.
One can only wonder what Moses would have thought. He left behind an uneventful life of herding sheep on the backside of a mountain for these rebellious and often utterly wicked people. Had he been on a fool’s errand? Or what would Noah have thought? But for the promise sealed in a rainbow, he might have expected God to send the rains—this time without an ark.
Further Reading
Ackerman, Susan. Warrior, Dancer, Seductress, Queen: Women in Judges and Biblical Israel. New York: Doubleday, 1998.
Keck, Chad. Ordinarily Faithful: Life Lessons from the Judges. Bloomington, IN: LifeWay, 2011.
Klein, Lillian R. Deborah to Esther: Sexual Politics in the Hebrew Bible. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2003.
McCann, J. Clinton. Judges: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2011.