| I. |
AUTHOR: Possibly the
Prophet Samuel |
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A. |
The Talmud identifies the
author of Judges and Samuel as the prophet Samuel1 |
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B. |
There are no specific
allusions to Samuel in the book |
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C. |
There is some evidence
which points to a time of writing early in the monarchy, perhaps
shortly after Saul's coronation (e.g. 1051 B.C.) |
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|
1. |
The repeated phrase "in
those days Israel had no king" looks backward from a time when
Israel did have a king |
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|
2. |
The Jebusites are
reported as still living in Jerusalem (1:21); this was not true
following David's conquest of the city in 1004 B.C. (2 Sam
5:6-7) |
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|
3. |
The reference to
Canaanites in Gezer suggests a date before the time the
Egyptians gave that city to Solomon's Egyptian wife as a wedding
present (1 Ki 9:16) |
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|
4. |
The designation
'Bethlehem-Judah" occurs only in Judges 17, 19, Ruth 1, and 1
Samuel 17:12. |
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D. |
The reference in 18:30 to
the continuance of Dan's idolatry "until the day of the
captivity of the land" is probably not a reference to the
deportation of Tiglath-pileser III in 733-32 or the final
deportation under Sargon in 722-21, but to the Philistine
invasion of 1 Samuel 4 which resulted in the capture of the ark
(cf. 18:31 where the house of God is at Shiloh). Although the
historical books contain no reference to the actual destruction
of Shiloh, Jeremiah 7:12, 14; 26:6; Ps. 78:60 note such a
destruction. Also Archaeological evidence shows "that the temple
there was destroyed about 1050 B.C., which must have been
immediately after the events of 1 Samuel 4
2 |
| II. |
If Samuel was the author,
than the audience was either the generation of Saul who wanted a
king to rule over them (1 Sam 8), or perhaps king Saul himself. |
| III. |
CHRONOLOGY: |
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A. |
The Setting for the book
is after the death of Joshua (1:1) |
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B. |
The Israelites are in the
land of promise and are taking possession of the inheritance
allotted to each tribe (1:1-36) |
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C. |
The author knows about a
king in Israel (17:6; 18:1; 19:1; 21:25) |
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D. |
Some place the time of
the conquest early (fifteenth century B.C.) and some date the
conquest late (twelfth century B.C.) depending upon their date
for the Exodus |
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E. |
This writer holds to an
early date for the Exodus (1446 B.C.) in accordance with a
literal interpretation of the biblical numbers in Exodus 12:40
("Now the time that the sons of Israel lived in Egypt was four
hundred and thirty years"), Judges 11:26 ("While Israel lived in
Heshbon and its villages, and in Aroer and its villages, and in
all the cities that are on the banks of the Arnon, three hundred
years, why did you not recover them within that time?") and 1
Kings 6:1 ("Now it came about in the four hundred and eightieth
year after the sons of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in
the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month of
Ziv which is the second month, that he began to build the house
of the Lord") |
| |
|
1. |
A plausible (and
approximate) reconstruction of the Exodus would be as follows:3 |
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|
|
a. |
966 = 4th full year (actually into
the fifth) of Solomon's reign (971-931) when the Temple was
begun |
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|
|
b. |
+44 yrs = start of David's reign
(1010) |
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|
|
c. |
+40 yrs = start of Saul's reign
(1050) |
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|
|
d. |
+40 yrs = the time from Saul to
Jephthah's statement (1050-1090) |
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|
|
e. |
+300 yrs = the time in the land (Jephthah's
statement) (1390) |
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|
|
f. |
+16 yrs = Joshua's leadership (1406) |
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|
|
g. |
+40 yrs = wilderness wondering (1446) |
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|
2. |
This matches 1 Kings 6:1
where 966 + 480 = 1446!+430 yrs = the time that Israel lived in
Egypt before the Exodus (Ex. 12:40) and therefore Jacob moved to
Egypt in 1876 B.C. |
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F. |
The beginning of the
conquest of the land was in 1406 B.C. forty years after the
Exodus (1446) |
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G. |
The Actual conquest
lasted for seven years or until 1399 B.C.:4 |
| |
|
1. |
Caleb stated that he was
forty years old when he went to spy out the land in Joshua 15:7 |
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|
2. |
The wilderness wanderings
lasted 38 years (from that point)5
which brings Caleb's age to 78 at the beginning of the conquest
(40+38=78) |
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|
3. |
Caleb then stated that he
was 85 years old at the end of the conquest (Joshua 14:10). This
is confirmed by Caleb's statement that the Lord provided for
grace to the people for 45 years since Kadesh Barnea (38 years
of wandering plus seven years of Conquest) |
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|
4. |
Therefore, If the
conquest was begun in 1406 B.C. after the wanderings, and it was
completed seven years later, then the book of Joshua could have
been written any time after 1399 B.C. |
| |
H. |
Therefore, Judges lasts
for 300 years from 1390-1090 when Saul began to reign. A Very
Tentative Reconstruction is as Follows: |
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|
1. |
Introduction and
background (1:1--3:6) = 20 years |
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|
2. |
The Accounts of the
Judges (3:7--16:31) = 260 years |
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|
3. |
The Epilogue on the
Judges period = 20 years |
| IV. |
Theology: |
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A. |
YHWH is the covenant God
(2:1 who is delivering his people as He revealed himself in
Exodus (10:11-12; 2:16; 3:9, 10). Every deliverance in the book
of Judges is specifically attributed to YHWH |
| |
B. |
YHWH is the true Judge of
Israel who delivers and whose judgments are right and just
(11:27): |
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|
1. |
Note that Deborah is
introduced as one judging Israel sitting under a tree and
calling Barak to deliver the nation (4:4-7) |
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|
2. |
In the next account of
the call of Gideon the angel of the Lord is sitting under a tree
(6:11- 14) |
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C. |
In Judges obedience is
not a prerequisite to blessing. Judges shows that God's
covenantal blessings are apart from any human merit, which in
turn call for a response of obedience. The judges are weak. God
delivers, not on the basis of human merit or might, but
according to His choice of covenantal faithfulness to Abraham. |
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D. |
The Role of a Judge (tpv): |
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|
1. |
One who delivered the
people |
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|
2. |
One who ruled in Israel
before the time of deliverance (4:4) |
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|
3. |
One who ruled in Israel
after the time of deliverance (8:28; 12:7) |
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|
4. |
He/she had several tasks
(Dt 16:18; 25:1): |
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|
|
a. |
To turn the people back from idolatry
and thus restore the authority of the law |
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|
|
b. |
To vindicate YHWH's righteousness by
proving that He always remained faithful to His covenant with
His vassal |
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|
|
c. |
Since YHWH was the King, He utilized
the judge to effect His rulership over His vassal, Israel. The
judge was invested with YHWH's power and authority The judges
did not function properly. YHWH faithfully delivers his people
through weak judges. |
| V. |
The Bethlehem Trilogy:6
|
| JUDGES 17 - 18 |
JUDGES 19 - 20 |
RUTH 1 - 4 |
| A Levite of Bethlehem
(17:7) |
A Levite of Ephraim who
took as his maiden a concubine from Bethlehem |
A movement from a
Moabite to David in Bethlehem 4:17- 22 |
| Left to seek employment
(17:7, 9) |
Received his concubine
from Bethlehem to she had fled |
A Man left Bethlehem, but which
unlike the other two stories does not ultimately
deface the town, but enhances its name |
| Came to a young man of
Ephraim (Micah) (17:1-5, 8) |
Returned to Ephraim by
way of Gibeah of Benjamin |
Bethlehem became the
subtle setting for the birthplace of King David |
| Served as a private
chaplain n Micah's illicit chapel (17:10-13) |
Set upon by evil men
who brutalized her and left her for dead |
|
| Hired by the tribe of
Dan as a priest and relocated in Laish (N. Galilee) |
Her husband related the
event to all of Israel (cut up) |
|
| Established a cult
center which continually caused God's people to
stumble |
They attacked the tribe
of Benjamin almost annihilating it |
|
| The Levite was Jonathan
the son of Gershom and the grandson of Moses |
Repopulated Benjamin
with women from Shiloh and Jabesh Gilead (18:30) for
the 600 surviving men of Benjamin Jabesh-Gilead was
(probably) the home of Saul's ancestors [thus his
interest in it]7
Reflects badly on Benjamin and by implication Saul--
Saul's ancestors humiliated and
disgraced a Bethlehemite
Bethlehem suffered at the hands
of Benjaminites |
|
|
In Those days there was no king in Israel; everyone
did what was right in His own eyes (Judges 17:6;
18:1; 19:1; 21:25; cf. Ruth 1:1) |
|
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| VI. |
Purposes for Judges: |
| |
A. |
To develop the historical
period from the conquest of the land to the time of Israel's
first king |
| |
B. |
Not simply to present
history as it was, but to present a theological perspective on
the period of the judges (cf. Joshua 24:14-28; Judges 2:6-13) |
| |
C. |
To present YHWH as
faithful to His covenant to Abraham even through the people
break their covenant with Him and never repent of their evil
(cf. Deut 11:26-28; 28:15) |
| |
D. |
To remind the people that
YHWH is faithful to His covenant and that He, not a judge or
king, is the One ultimately responsible for the welfare of
Israel |
| |
E. |
To stress for Saul (?)
the obligation of obedience to YHWH with the understanding that
blessing ultimately does not depend upon one's own personal
might or worthiness but upon YHWH's faithfulness (1 Samuel will
underscore this theme) |
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F. |
If God is raising up
someone in every generation to do battle with evil (Gen 3:15)
then the number of judges may be equal to the number of
generations. This would make the book of Judges a complete list
but with a theological theme. If the book was written for King
Saul, then he is one who is being raised up during a particular
generation to do battle with evil and is thus being warned about
evil battle before him! |