A new generation arises in Israel which does not remember Joshua.
In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.17:6
The commandments are broken; sacrifices are made to strange gods on forbidden altars; the conquered people of the land are not driven out, as the Lord has commanded, saying They shall be as thorns in your sides,2:3 but instead they live side by side with the Israelites and pay tribute to them.
And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers . . . and he sold them into the hands of their enemies. . . .2:14
The Book of Judges is the history of Israel in the Promised Land, as the people fall from grace and are punished by the Lord; as they repent; and as the Judges whom the Lord raises up from among them deliver them each time from oppression.
For twenty years the children of Israel live in cruel servitude to Jabin, king of Canaan—for they have done evil in the sight of the Lord. Their Judge is Deborah, a prophetess, and to her they turn at last for help. She calls upon Barak, a man of valor; and together they raise ten thousand fighting men whom they lead to mount Tabor.
In the valley below them is Sisera, invincible commander of king Jabin’s forces, with nine hundred iron chariots and a great army.
Deborah says to Barak, Up; for this is the day in which the Lord hath delivered Sisera into thine hand.4:14 The Israelites sweep down from mount Tabor. The enemy is routed.
Sisera flees for refuge to the tent of Heber the Kenite, whom he believes to be friendly. Heber’s wife, Jael, draws him into the tent. She gives him milk to drink. She covers him with a mantle.
Then Jael Heber’s wife took a nail of the tent, and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly unto him, and smote the nail into his temples, and fastened it into the ground: for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died.4:21
Israel is victorious. King Jabin is killed and his kingdom subdued.
Then Deborah and Barak sing a song of exultation, and of praise to the Lord:
I will sing praise to the Lord God of Israel.5:3
The inhabitants of the villages ceased, they ceased in Israel, until that I Deborah arose, that I arose a mother in Israel.5:7
Then . . . the Lord made me have dominion over the mighty.5:13
They fought from heaven; the stars in their courses fought against Sisera.5:20
Blessed above women shall Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite be. . . .5:24
At her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay down. . . . where he bowed, there he fell down dead.
The mother of Sisera looked out at a window. . . . Why tarry the wheels of his chariots? . . . Have they not divided the prey; to every man a damsel or two? . . . 5:27–30
So let all thine enemies perish, O Lord. . . .5:31
THE MIGHTY MEN OF VALOR
And the land had rest forty years.5:31
And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. . . .6:1
In the two hundred years following the death of Joshua, these are among the men whom the Lord raises up to be Judges and leaders of Israel:
GIDEON, who overthrows an altar to the god Baal; and who with three hundred picked men attacks a great horde of the enemy—the Midianites. By making a sudden great noise the three hundred, dispersed about the enemy camp, shouting The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon,7:20 throw the Midianites into such confusion that they are utterly routed.
JEPHTHAH, the son of a harlot, who is driven out of his father’s house in Gilead. But when the city is attacked by Ammonites, Jephthah is sent for. He makes a vow to the Lord: If thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands, then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the Lord’s, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.11:30–31 He returns home victorious. It is his young daughter, his only child, who dances forth to meet him.
Jephthah cries, Alas my daughter! thou hast brought me very low.11:35 But the girl knows what must be done: Jephthah’s vow to the Lord is fulfilled.
SAMSON, of the tribe of Dan, who with his own two hands begins Israel’s deliverance when through their disobedience they have fallen into the power of the Philistines. Samson is a Nazarite, dedicated at birth to the Lord: no wine or strong drink must ever pass his lips, no razor must ever touch his hair. The Spirit of the Lord is upon him; the strength of many men is in his hands.
He marries a daughter of the Philistines. But a great enmity arises between him and his wife’s people, in consequence of which they kill both the woman and her father. Samson goes to avenge them.
And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter. . . .15:8
He is captured, but easily breaks his bonds. Taking the first weapon at hand, the jawbone of an ass, he strikes out:
And Samson said, With the jawbone of an ass . . . have I slain a thousand men.15:16
Samson is Judge over Israel for twenty years.
He falls in love with Delilah, whom the Philistines bribe to be their tool. She presses him to tell her wherein lies his strength. At last Samson says, If I be shaven, then my strength will go from me. . . .16:17
While he is asleep, Delilah has his head shaved. Then she says, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. He awakens: And he wist not that the Lord was departed from him.16:20 The Philistines take him, put out his eyes, and bring him into the city of Gaza.
Blind and in fetters, standing between two pillars of the house in which the Philistines have gathered to make sport of him, Samson calls upon the Lord: Strengthen me. I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.16:28
Taking hold of the two pillars, he bows himself with all his might. The house falls, killing all that are in it.
So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life.16:30
In Gibeah, inhabited by the tribe of Benjamin, an atrocity is committed upon an innocent wayfarer. All Israel gathers against the Benjaminites. The cities of Gibeah are destroyed, its inhabitants are slain: all but six hundred men who flee into the wilderness.
The children of Israel repent, now that one tribe has been cut off from them. They send messages of peace to the remaining Benjaminites. There are no women left in Gibeah, however; and wives must be found for these men.
Now each year there is a feast of the Lord at Shiloh, near Bethel, when the maidens come out to dance. The Benjaminites are told to go and hide in the nearby vineyards: If the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance . . . then come ye out of the vineyards, and catch you every man his wife. . . .21:21
And the children of Benjamin did so, and took them wives . . . of them that danced, whom they caught: and they went and returned unto their inheritance, and repaired the cities, and dwelt in them.21:23