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JudgesSurvey of the Old Testament: The ProphetsFall 2005 |
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[Previous: The Cycle of the Judges ]
Following the 6 cycles of the Judges are two stories which further illustrate the terrible moral and civil decline taking place in Israel during this time. These chapters do not take place after Samson, but instead probably take place early in the period of the judges. However, as one commentator puts it, they are added to the appendix as a “ fitting epitaph to a degenerate time [1].”
The first narrative in the appendix tells of an Ephraimite named Micah. Evidently Micah had recovered 1,100 silver pieces which had been lost by his mother. As a sign of his dedication, Micah dedicated the silver to Yahweh, and used it to make an idol, in violation of the second commandment (Exodus 20:4).
One day a Levite priest from Bethlehem visits Micah. Micah retains this Levite as his own personal priest. Micah's corruption might be understandable due ignorance. But the Levite should have known better. Sacrifices to God were to take place only in the tabernacle and the worship of God was not to include graven images of Him.
The travesty of Micah is not that he is worshipping a god other than Yahweh. Instead, he has corrupted the worship of Yahweh by first making an idol which represents God, and then retaining his own priest to offer sacrifices away from the tabernacle. Micah's sin is that he has reduced God to something he can control and thus ensure that Yahweh will cause him to prosper (17:13). To Micah, Yahweh is someone to manipulate and control for his own benefit.
At that time, the tribe of Dan lived in the coastal plain of Israel. However, Dan struggled to defeat the native populations in that location, so they head up to the hill country north of Ephraim. On the way the Danites stay with Micah and his priest, inquiring of the priest if the Lord will give them victory. The Levite says indeed that Yahweh will be with them.
Sure enough, the Danites are successful in taking the hill country. Then they came and stole Micah's idol and asked Micah's personal priest to be the priest for the whole tribe. Micah, of course, is outraged, but he can't do anything about it for the Danites are much stronger.
The narrative ends with the condemnation of the whole incident:
So they set up for themselves Micah's graven image which he had made, all the time that the house of God was at Shiloh. (Judges 18:31)
The second narrative of the appendix begins with the reminder that these events take place “when there is no king in Israel.”
The second narrative tells of a Levite from Bethlehem who was living in the hill country of Ephraim. While not explicitly telling us, this is most likely the same Levite whom Micah retained as his own personal priest. This Levite had taken a young woman as his concubine, but she left him and “played the harlot against him,” and returned to Bethlehem. The Levite went to Bethlehem to win her back.
After several days of trying to leave with his concubine, he finally headed north back to Ephraim with his concubine. On the way, he spent the night in a city of the tribe of Benjamin. While there some Benjamite men attack the house in which he is staying asking the host to deliver the Levite to them so they can sodomize him. The host offers a compromise and suggest that instead they take his own virgin daughter and the man's concubine. The men aren't happy with this, but nonetheless they take the concubine and rape her all night long.
The Levite was, of course, outraged, and he cut her into twelve pieces and sent her body throughout Israel to tell all of the terrible events that these men of Benjamin had done. The whole nation raised up an army and sought to punish the entire tribe of Benjamin. This small tribe, however, was at first able to defend themselves, killing 30,000 men. But finally Israel was successful and they killed 25,000 Benjaminite warriors and burned their cities and slaughtering the women of the tribe.
However, having killed off so many people, there was now concern that the tribe faced extinction. So the rest of the tribes of Israel got together and sought a plan to ensure the survival of Benjamin. None of those in the conference were willing to give their daughters as wives to the surviving Benjaminite men. But there was no one at the conference from Jabesh-gilead, so it was decided to send an army of 12,000 men to Jabesh-gilead and kidnap their virgin daughters. In so doing, they captured 400 virgins and gave them to the surviving men of Benjamin. But this was not enough, so they allowed the men of Benjamin to kidnap women who were dancing in a festival to the Lord in Shiloh. In so doing, the tribe would survive.
The difficult part of this narrative is that there is no one to root for. All the parties involved are corrupt. The Levite was part of a heretical cult in Ephraim, and he cut up his own concubine to enrage the tribes. The Levites host was willing to protect his guest by offering his own daughter to his attackers. Of course, the men of Benjamin's rape was terrible. But the rest of Israel in seeking revenge committed genocide. Then, as if to make up for their genocide, they advocated kidnapping. Israel had fallen so far into moral chaos that everyone in the story was guilty of terrible sins.
Judges is the story of the death of an ideal. After the nation of Israel had been delivered from slavery in Egypt, God established a covenant with them. That covenant was what we would consider today the constitution for Israel, setting down a system of government and laws for the nation. Under this constitution, Israel was to be a theocracy. That is, God himself was to rule the nation as their king.
However, by the end of the time of the judges, direct theocracy had failed. The people rebelled against their King and began worshipping other gods and committing horrible moral outrages. The Lord intervened and repeatedly disciplined and restored His people. But this cycle got worse and worse over time.
A new form of government was required to stop the cycle. The people needed a king they could see. In 1 st Samuel, God will establish the monarchy. This was anticipated by God, for when he established the covenant, provision was made for a king (Deuteronomy 17:14ff). But even then, God would still be the king, and the human truly was to serve only as God's vice regent.
Israel had a unique privilege. God ruled them directly without intermediary. But because of their lack of faith, they had to settle for a lesser form of government; a form of government which in the end would oppress them.
Today, as Christians we have Jesus is our king. We are ruled in our lives by God directly without intermediary. That King directs and guides us daily through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. That same Spirit who provided the direction and power to the judges of Israel is there as our direct connection to our King.
But too often, through our lack of faith, we want to give up our unique religion and become like the religions around us. Because of our lack of faith, we settle for a lessor form of religion where we are ruled by regulations and rituals rather than by God. In the end this sort of religion ends up oppressing us.
May we all come to understand truly what it means to have Jesus as our King.
_____. “Judges.” The Nelson Study Bible. Earl D. Radmacher, ed. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, Electronic Edition STEP File, 1999).
Archer, Gleason L. “Chronology of the Old Testament.” Expositor's Bible Commentary. Frank E. Gaebelein, ed. Grand Rapids MI: Zondervan, 1998.
Baylis, Albert H. From Creation to the Cross . Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. 1996.
Davis, John J. Conquest and Crisis: Studies in Joshua, Judges and Ruth . Winona Lake IN: BMH Books. 1973.
Fee, Gordon D. and Douglas Stuart. How to Read the Bible Book by Book. Grand Rapids MI: Zondervan, 2002.
Wolf, Herbert. “Judges.” Expositor's Bible Commentary . Frank E. Gaebelein, ed. Grand Rapids MI: Zondervan, 1998.
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