Another Bible Commentary: Judges

Jesus is coming to judge the world, and we will rule with Him. In a theocracy, God is King. He gave the Law, so the rulers of his people were Judges. The theme of the history books in the Bible is that people are bad at living according to the Law; they need rescue. The events of this book cover 1380ish to 1060ish BC. It shows how Israel basically became Canaan. It is arranged in order of depravity, not chronologically. Parts of it were happening at the same time in different regions of the Promised Land. For example, Shamgar and Deborah’s judgeships are both identified as after Ehud’s in the timeline. The history recorded in Judges 1:1 through Judges 3:6 showcases the failure of the Israelites to possess the land completely: Aram, Phoenicia, Philistia, and most of Galilee remained unclaimed. Cycles of sin and salvation are featured in Judges 3:7 through Judges 16:31. The height of their depravity in this period is found in Judges 17 through Judges 21 (with details suggesting these events happened relatively soon after the Israelites took the Promised Land).

1:6-7 See Deuteronomy 7:1-2. While this was meant to keep the victim from being able to wield weapons or run fast (and therefore make him unfit to lead armies as a king), keeping him as a pet was not what God intended. 

1:8 They won Jerusalem, except for the Jebusites (Judges 1:21), then it was lost, then David reclaimed it (1 Chronicles 11:4-9).      

1:12 See Joshua 15:13-19.      

1:19 Many jokes have been made about God’s alleged weakness against iron chariots, but Judges 2:2 explains this. They were inconsistent with their obedience, so His help was withdrawn after taking the hill country as in Joshua 7 or Deuteronomy 32:30. God beats chariots in Joshua 17:18 and Judges 4. 

1:26 This man didn’t take the Rahab deal. This is part of the overall narrative in Judges of the Israelites slipping into becoming just like Canaan.

1:27-36 See Joshua 23:12-13 for the meaning of their failure.

2:3 See Numbers 33:55-56.

2:6-9 See Judges 1:1, proving that this is topical rather than chronological.

2:13 Baal was an alleged storm/rain god they worshiped for the agricultural benefits, and his wife Ashtoreth/Asherah/Astarte/Ishtar (the source of the name Easter) was an alleged fertility goddess. Prosperity and sex are popular. Baals and Asherahs are spoken of in the plural because there were many local variants.

2:16 Notice there’s no repentance. God took pity (Exodus 34:6).

2:17-19 The conservative and pious elements (by the standard of the Law of Moses) of the population only periodically slowed the Israelites’ spiral. 

3:6 See Deuteronomy 7:3. 

3:8-10 The first Judge (Joshua 15:17) faces “Cushan, the Doubly-Evil” which is a great villain name if I may say so.

3:12-17 “Eglon” means “calf”. He was fat, which back then meant he was very rich (from oppressing his subjects). Mutually beneficial free exchange among people associating voluntarily as a path to wealth didn’t gain a lot of traction until many centuries later, so in Bible times, getting rich usually involved someone else getting poor or dying. Ehud killed the fatted calf. The City of Palms was the fertile area of the ruined Jericho. Left-handedness was viewed as a defect but facilitated the trickery. This big knife is one of the more normal weapons in this book. The Judges are associated with odd, distinctive, often homemade weaponry. Their situation was similar to 1 Samuel 13:19.

3:19-21 See Deuteronomy 27:24. This incident was a wartime political assassination rather than a murder among Israelites, but this wasn’t an honorable duel (like the later David vs. Goliath). An overall theme of Judges is that the Israelites were slipping. Eglon’s gullibility is mitigated by secret messages from God being an existing concept in the zeitgeist (1 Samuel 9:27).

3:31 Shamgar killed 600 Philistines with an oxgoad. He got one verse in the Bible and a shout-out here. An oxgoad is like a less-effective spear for poking oxen to get them to move (1 Samuel 13:21). It is this prodding that Jesus said Paul was resisting in Acts 26:14. “Anath” is the name of a Canaanite war goddess, so he may have been a foreign convert. The Philistines are of Egyptian origin per Genesis 10:13-14. Archaeologists also show us intermarriage with people from Greece/Turkey/Cyprus/Crete/etc.; basically, they are candidates for the mysterious Sea Peoples of the Late Bronze Age collapse. 

4:4 A traditional-minded reader in the century this commentary is being written would see a woman leader after a convert as a slide further down the slope. However, let us not make the mistake of thinking women are not allowed to lead. God would not break His own rules. He can pick anyone He wants to speak for Him, including Balaam’s donkey, but Deborah did more than deliver messages; she sat in the same judgment seat that passed from Samuel to Saul and then to David. Saying women can’t lead or teach also creates problems with the story of Huldah the prophetess (2 Kings 22 and 2 Chronicles 34), the story about the wise woman who got the rebel beheaded (by convincing all the people in Abel, men included) in 2 Samuel 20, etc. Philip’s daughters prophesied (Acts 21:9), Phoebe was a deaconess, Priscilla helped teach Apollos (and I think he may have written the book of Hebrews), Junia was well regarded among the apostles, etc. The verses (1 Corinthians 14:34-35) about women remaining silent in a church service (despite the same author addressing the same congregation telling them to make sure a woman’s head was covered when praying or prophesying in 1 Corinthians 11) has a context. Even in some traditional congregations today, men sit on one side of the room, and women and children sit on the other. Paul telling them to ask their husbands at home was telling them not to yell across the room during the sermon. Many Bible translations title 1 Corinthians 14 “Order in Worship”, “Intelligibility in Worship”, etc. The other passage frequently quoted about this matter is 1 Timothy 2:8-15, and taking a verse out of context out of that chunk loses the meaning. 1 Timothy 2:2 introduces a theme of peace and quiet. 1 Timothy 2:8 continues with men free of strife. 1 Timothy 2:9-10 features women not going overboard with the new Christian egalitarianism (see Galatians 3:28) by dressing in whorish/ostentatious ways that would have been seen as disrespectful to their husbands. 1 Timothy 2:11-12 is better translated including “wife” learning in quietness and submission; Paul did not permit a “wife” to “admonish” or “lord over” her “husband”, which is consistent with his treatment of Genesis. Wives were invented to help husbands, and that help can take many forms, including work outside the home (Proverbs 31). Wifely submission within marriage is a part of marriage being a depiction of Christ’s relationship with the Church (Ephesians 5), but not every woman has to take guff from every man. A summary for groups that think too much about these issues would be “complementarian within marriage, egalitarian elsewhere”. 

4:21 Women crushing heads are a theme in Judges (See also Judges 9:53). As a nomad, Jael was surely strong and fast at planting tent pegs. This story is reminiscent of Judith in the Apocrypha. This act of deliverance still violated her husband’s treaty as well as the ancient customs of hospitality. But, the prophecy was fulfilled, so it’s time for a musical number. 

5:4 Since Baal was alleged to be a storm god, God chose to bog down the enemy chariots with rain to demonstrate His superiority.

5:14 Ephraimites occupied old Amalekite territory. 

5:15-18 This foreshadows the later infighting among the tribes.

5:19-20 The possibly more familiar “Armageddon” (Revelation 16:16) is a reference to Megiddo; this is a fine reference for an apocalyptic battle given the involvement of the stars. 

5:23 “Meroz” is likely a town that didn’t help out. See Judges 5:15b-17.

5:25 “curdled milk” is yogurt, hopefully. 

5:28 Despite Judges 4:3, celebrating Sisera’s mother’s grief seems to be in poor taste. 

6:1 Remember when all the Midianites except for the virgin girls died in Numbers 31? They’re back. Since they’re Abrahamic (Genesis 25:2) and Abe’s offspring are innumerable, this is another respawn. Matthew 3:9 suggests a mechanism. See Galatians 3:7; they can’t keep us down, either (Judges 5:31).

6:5 Locusts (and/or locust symbolism) are seen again in Joel and Revelation. 

6:11 The next judge is a timid rich boy, continuing the trend of unlikely leaders.

6:12 Who are you if not who God says you are? With no actions or fleshly evidence to support it yet, Gideon is still a “mighty warrior” and believers in Jesus Christ are saints.

6:17 Asking for a sign to confirm the revealed will of God is not routine divination. 

6:24 “altar” This won’t end well. See Judges 8:27.

6:30 This is ironic given Deuteronomy 13:6-10. 

6:31 This is why Christians don’t have to get riled up about blasphemers. God’s tough. 

6:37 I guess the self-burning sacrifice of Judges 6:21-22 wasn’t enough of a convincer. 

6:39 And yet again… 

7:3 like Deuteronomy 20:8.

7:13-14 The Midianites believed more readily than Gideon did, but he still made it into the Faith Hall of Fame in Hebrews. Look at the fear a dream about a dinner roll knocking over a tent engenders compared to how casual modern unbelievers familiar with the text (which contains hundreds of fulfilled prophecies) can be about things like the events of Revelation, the lake of fire, etc.

8:9 Gideon’s getting big for his britches. 

8:16 There is some debate as to what was done, but “Gideon beat them with a switch” suffices. 

8:19 Personal vengeance. The precipitating incident is not fully known to us.

8:20 A tentative boy, like his father. 

8:21 They know that a man with a sword can kill with one stroke, but that the boy’s first kill might take awhile.

8:23 Nevertheless, he proceeds to do kingly stuff.

8:24 You should expect something like Exodus 32 to happen by now. Midianites are not Ishmaelites, but Judges 7:1,12 remind us that this is a Midian-led coalition. 

8:27  Idolatry…I’m shocked; aren’t you?

8:30-31 See Deuteronomy 17:17 plus a “Canaanite” concubine. Israel took Shechem, but were acting like the old owners. Gideon could seem similar to a Midianite king here.

8:33 Baal-Berith was worshiped at Shechem. Remember Abe’s covenant, Joseph’s burial, the idols buried as a commitment to God, the renewal of the covenant, and Joshua’s big speech about how he and his house would serve the LORD? They forgot all of that.    

9:1 Abimelech means “my father is king”, and it is a common name for biblical rulers.      

9:5 “on one stone” is a metaphor for sacrifice. A similar incident is in 2 Kings 10:7.  

9:6 at the scene of Joshua 24:15,26.

9:13 Given God’s fondness for drink offerings, is it any wonder Jesus was called a drunkard (Matthew 11:19, Luke 7:34)?

9:15 The thornbush in this region doesn’t really produce shade. Shade is highly valued in desert cultures. In this parable, the government is depicted as a lowdown pain that is useless for producing anything of value.

9:20 see Judges 9:49    

9:21 Yes, “Beer” means “well”, but this could still be a good sermon example about people escaping to beer and living there for a while (abusing alcohol to hide from their problems).

9:45 Salt is a preservative; scattering it over a ruin is to say you hope it stays that way forever.  

9:53 Headline: “Woman Crushes Head” (Judges 4:21). 

9:54 See Judges 4:9.

There are hints that Judges 10 through Judges 11 probably happened at the same time as Judges 13 through Judges 16. For example, Judges 11:26 places it about three hundred years after the Israelites took the Promised Land.   

10:4 In those days, a donkey was a status symbol like a sports car. 

10:6 They serve 7 false gods and 0 true.

10:7 Jephthah fought the Ammonites and Samson fought the Philistines, perhaps around the same time.

11:1 The next leader is a son of a whore and a mercenary; yet another unlikely candidate. Jephthah leading the assembly and having the Holy Spirit on him disproves the theory of “mamzer” (Deuteronomy 23:2) allegedly meaning born out of wedlock. 

11:7-8 Think about Jephthah’s story and realize that  Israel treated God the same way they treated a son of a whore in Judges 10:13-16. 

11:9 Jephthah’s appearance in the Faith Hall of Fame in Hebrews 11:32 likely has more to do with his attitude that it is the LORD who wins his battles for him than for his more famous promise-keeping. 

11:26 “three hundred years” places this later than some of the other stories in Judges.

11:31 Four-room houses back then had attached barns. If he hadn’t specified a burnt offering, Leviticus 27:1-8 would have worked. Scholars look for similarities to the story of Agamemnon and Iphigenia. 

11:34-39 There was to be no Genesis 22:12-13 divine intervention for this girl for whatever reason (although I suspect they overlooked a ram caught in a thicket, too). Back then, their idea of immortality was memory by blood descendants, so virgin death was true death. Since she was an only child, this meant Jephthah’s end, too. The Faith Hall of Fame in Hebrews says otherwise. God doesn’t lie (Titus 1:2), but Hezekiah didn’t die in Isaiah 38, so even with God mercy is more important than keeping your word. If there are future Jephthahs reading this, don’t sacrifice your daughters.

11:40 “commemorate” They didn’t bother to tell us her name. 

12:1 Remember the profit motive of conflict in the ancient world.

12:3-6 This won’t be the only civil war in Judges. 

12:9 Marriage for the sake of alliances is common in politics.

Judges 13 – If the tribe of Dan had cleared the coastal plain (Judges 1:34), this story (and later history) would have been less wild. Like Solomon, Samson’s life story mirrors Israel’s story.  Samson, for all his rough edges, made it into the Faith Hall of Fame in Hebrews 11:32. Regarding the tension between the Nazirite vow in Numbers 6, Numbers 31:19, and Samson’s lifestyle, only volunteer (usually temporary) Nazirites were obligated to take all of the vows. Lifelong Nazirites from birth given a mission by God like Samson (“no razor”) and John the Baptist (“no alcohol”) had specific instructions. Samson’s mother was told to avoid alcohol when the rule governing Samson’s life was asked in Judges 13:12-14. Since the purpose Samson is sanctified/set apart for is killing, the rules about being next to death would have been inconvenient. There are plenty of Christ parallels with Samson: They were saviors who were foretold by a visiting angel who went on to defeat lions (1 Peter 5:8), got betrayed for silver, got blinded (Christ was blindfolded and beaten), and reached out their arms to sacrifice themselves among the wicked to save God’s people. 

13:11 See Exodus 3:14 and John 18:6 for hints at Judges 13:22.

13:18 His Name is Wonderful (Isaiah 9:6).      

14:2-4 Even Samson wanting to intermarry with them rather than fight is used by God to advance His plan (Romans 8:28). Continuing the parallels between Samson and Jesus, His solution for evil and wayward humanity is marrying the Bride of Christ (Ephesians 5:27).

14:5 “vineyards” If he’d vowed no alcohol or grapes, this could have been dangerous, but he didn’t. Think of 1 Peter 5:8 when lions attack for various reasons throughout the Books of Kings.   

14:9 Even if he’d vowed no death, the prohibitions in Numbers 6 only ever applied to humans (the Talmud Nazir 48a has the discussion on this), but he didn’t. The riddle in verse 14 is the point rather than the ritual uncleanliness. This is just some backstory for the riddle coming in verse 14. 

14:10 does not mention Samson drinking, but even so, he’s still covered by Judges 13:12-14.

14:17 The action hero will be defeated by nagging more than once. 

15:1 “goat” A husband is a provider. Also, there probably wasn’t a shop for candy and flowers nearby. I am also reminded of a certain Leonard McBane’s promise to his beloved that, when he got out of prison, he’d come over there with a weed-eater, a live chicken, and some Cool Whip: “We’ll have a big ol’ time, Margaret!”

15:7 Vengeance belongs to God (Deuteronomy 32:35, Leviticus 19:18), but He guides Samson (Judges 14:4). 

15:15 A donkey jawbone was used as a sickle in the ancient world. Other commentators say it avoids touching corpses, but even being near death would violate Numbers 6, so death avoidance is not part of Samson’s deal.

15:16 “Donkey” and “heap” sound similar in Hebrew, making this an early example of a Schwarzenegger-esque post-slaughter joke (e.g. “Don’t disturb my friend. He’s dead tired.”).

15:18-19 Jesus got thirsty defeating evil, too.  Moses was associated with miracle wilderness water, too.

16:1 The Spirit came onto people for a time for a specific purpose in the Old Testament, and left in the presence of sin, resulting in much begging in the Book of Psalms to keep or regain His presence (Psalm 51). To the consternation of moralists, Samson spent the night with a prostitute without losing his anointing.

16:5 She could have bought 36 slaves for that amount of money, for comparison. 

16:7 Animal sinews, based on the human corpse rule mistake for Nazirites that many people make. 

16:16 Samson didn’t learn from Judges 14:17. 

16:19 “putting him to sleep on her lap” meant sexually.  He had to know by now these are setups, but he couldn’t resist the honey trap.  Also, he’s gotten cocky, as we see in the next verse. 

16:20 Samson had become confident enough to believe in his own efforts based on the prior successes God had granted to him. Don’t forget Him.

16:21 “grinding” could be actual menial labor as in Lamentations 5:13 or a euphemism for sexual activity (Job 31:10) for their entertainment (and/or attempts to breed their own supermen).   

16:22 There was no Numbers 6 reconsecration of the hair, and yet the strength returns after the prayer in verse 28. Grace is for the undeserving. 

16:25 “entertain…performed” See Judges 16:21 note.

16:30 Since Delilah’s setup put him here, indirectly “Woman Crushes Head Yet Again”. 

16:31 The events of 1 Samuel happened not too long after this. 

Judges 17 through Judges 21 are about earlier days. 

17:1 “Ephraim” Spoiler alert: The idolatry that is about to happen is a preview of the idolatry that Ephraim encouraged when the northern kingdom of Israel seceded. Dan will take Ephraim’s idol, which is a preview of Dan becoming a site for the golden calf cult. The tribes of Dan and Ephraim are both missing in Revelation.

17:2-3 The blessing and consecration are an attempt to un-curse the silver. Yes, they’re going to make an idol.  

17:5 A few books ago we read very specific instructions about who was allowed to be an Old Covenant priest. An Ephraimite picking his son for the job looks ahead to the improper religious practices that would occur in the northern kingdom of Israel.

17:6 Not that piety would improve under most of the kings, mind you. This is just a factual statement. No evil king was needed to drag down an unregenerate nation. 

17:7 This young Levite from Bethlehem (of all places) is Jonathan, a descendant of Moses. 

18:1 The fact that “they had not yet” got land suggests an early setting.

18:2 This is a parody of the spying out of Canaan (Numbers 13). 

18:6 No, God gave this land to Ephraim. 

18:7 The Sidonians are Phoenicians. The Danites are scouting their brothers’ land as if it were Canaan.

18:14 “Now you know what to do” Destroy it, right? If only. 

18:24 The silver’s curse is fulfilled. 

18:30 “until the time of the captivity of the land” for idolatry, such as what has been recently featured.

18:31 Even later, Dan became an idolatry site for the Northern Kingdom of Israel (1 Kings 12:29).

19:1-2 Back to Bethlehem. Remember, concubines are slaves and not wives. Therefore, her dalliance was not adultery and did not merit stoning (Leviticus 19:20).

19:3-4 Backing off to “the woman’s father” after saying “father-in-law” and “husband” underlines the master/slave (Judges 19:26-27) gray area of the concubine relationship.

19:8 Judah’s hospitality is shown to contrast Gibeah’s lack thereof. 

19:15 The original audience is already furious at this violation of the hospitality expectation.  

19:20 The following incident is reminiscent of Genesis 19.   

19:24 No wives were offered because that adultery would have been as illegal as the proposed buggery.

19:25 Their evil is basically Amos 2:7 multiplied by Leviticus 18 and Leviticus 20.  

19:29 See 1 Samuel 11:7 for the implication. Still, there was a cultural expectation to bury God’s Image and superstitions about vengeful spirits from the improperly interred. At least Judges 20:5 specifies that she had already died before the dismemberment. 

20:13 Failing to deal with these individuals’ sin might have caused consequences for all of Israel (Leviticus 19:17, Joshua 22:18, 20).  

20:18 is like a mirror of Judges 1:1-12 with Benjamin as Canaan (Leviticus 18:29-30, analogous to Deuteronomy 13). 

20:21 About the losses, sometimes God makes an enemy fight each other (Judges 7:22), and based on the case the author has made throughout Judges, all Israel at that point was basically Canaan. 

20:23 See 2 Samuel 5:19 for an example of a more complete question.

20:27-28 These historical details place it early in the narrative. 

20:38-39 like in Joshua 8. 

21:1-3 After all the other broken promises, this is the vow they decide to keep? 

21:10 Jabesh Gilead had time to be resettled by 1 Samuel 11.

21:11 Again, treating Israelites as foreign nations.

21:12 The virgin captives remind us of Numbers 31.  Specifying “the camp at Shiloh in Canaan” is narrator commentary about the Israelites becoming Canaanites.

21:15 They even blamed God. 

21:19 They need detailed directions because they haven’t been going to the Tabernacle. 

21:23 Their solution to finding wives for rapists and their defenders boils down to more rape.

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