Hello! You may have noticed we're skipping a chapter. Why? Because I'm preaching on the story of Abimelech this Sunday, so I'm going to keep my powder dry for now.
Here are my very quick thoughts on Abimelech: Not a good dude. Also, not a Judge. He is never called a Judge. He does not deliver the people of Israel from any of their enemies. Instead, he kills many Israelites, including his own brothers! His story is a story of comeuppance. It's a warning.
Chapter 10, verse 1-5.
"After Abimelech there arose to save Israel Tola the son of Puah, son of Dodo, a man of Issachar, and he lived at Shamir in the hill country of Ephraim. And he judges Israel twenty-three years. Then he died and was buried at Shamir."
What a sequence of names! Tola. Puah. Dodo.
This Tola arises to deliver Israel. He serves as Judge for over two decades and we know almost nothing about him, other than the fact that his name means "worm."
Oddly enough YHWH is not mentioned in his story. Nor is there a specific enemy of Israel that Tola battles. I've seen it suggested that Tola may been tasked with rebuilding after the chaos and treachery of Abimelech's reign. Who knows? Seems plausible, but the text doesn't say.
What I will say is this: There is a negative correlation in the book of Judges between words used in a character's story and the likability of that character. Tola has a tidy 45 words in his story.
"After him arose Jair the Gileadite, who judges Israel twenty-two years. And he had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys, and they had thirty cities, called Havvoth-jair to this day, which are in the land of Gilead. And Jair died and was buried in Kamon."
Our next Judge is Jair. Twenty-two years he Judged. Again, no mention of YHWH. No mention an enemy. Instead, we get 30 sons riding on thirty donkeys, ruling in 30 cities.
What's all that about?
It would seem to me that the number of sons with their donkey and their cities suggests that this was a time of relative peace and prosperity in the land. The 30 sons rode on donkeys, which suggests Jair and his sons were well esteemed in the land, like royalty. Riding donkeys were much less common than a pack-mule. But again, like Tola, we have little else to make of Jair's story.
Verses 6-17.
"The people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of YHWH and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth, the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites, and the gods of the Philistines. And they forsook YHWH and did not serve him."
The scale of Israel's idolatry, after the time of Gideon, Tola, and Jair seems to have escalated.
Quick note: In verse 6, we get a list of the pagan deities that the Israelites began to serve -- starting, of course, with Baal and Asherah. What follows, though, are less specific mentions of the gods of different groups of people: the Syrians, the Sidonians, the Moabites, the Ammonites, and the Philistines. It would be a mistake to assume that each of these people groups served different sets of gods. In reality, the majority of these groups shared the Canaanite pantheon, with Baal and Asherah being the two most popular deities in that pantheon (fertility gods). Moab and the Ammonites are the exceptions to the list. Who are the Moabites? Well... They are the sons of Moab (whose name means "from my father" -- which was given to Moab by his mother, who was Lot's daughter, and she gave him this name because of the disgusting/disturbing manner by which he was conceived after the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19). Basically, they're the Israelites' first cousin once removed? I think that's right but the nomenclature for cousins/relatives is always confusing to me. The chief deity of the Moabites was named Chemosh. We know very little about Chemosh, but he is referred to as "the detestable god" or "the abomination of Moab" in 1 Kings 11 (the term abomination in the Old Testament denotes a god that required human sacrifice -- likely child sacrifice). He was a warrior god. Chemosh was also worshipped by the Ammonites. The Ammonites are the descendants of Ben-ammi, another of Lot's sons by way of his daughter (again... gross). In that same chapter of 1 Kings, we get the name of an Ammonite deity, Molek. Molek is depicted as having the head of a bull, which you may remember was one of the images used for Baal, which has caused a number of scholars to suggest that Baal and Molek are interchangeable names/titles for the same deity. The first mention of the abomination, Molek, is in the book of Leviticus: "Do not give any of your children to be sacrificed to Molek, for you must not profane the name of your God. I am YHWH." In addition to the head of a bull, images of Molek would often have a human body, with a burning furnace for a stomach (the manner in which sacrifices would have been made). I find all of this information about the deities of the time and their sacrificial practices fascinating, specifically because of the contrast it demonstrates between YHWH and the pagan deities in the land. This kind of information provides greater depth and understanding to a story, like that of Abraham and Isaac in Genesis 22. Abraham is willing to sacrifice his son (as would have been expected from other gods), but the point of the story is that YHWH is NOT like those other gods. He is distinct, unique, and unlike the gods in that time. Not only does He require sole devotion and worship, but He turns away Abraham's knife and provides necessary sacrifice. |
"So the anger of YHWH was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of the Philistines and into the hand of the Ammonites (these will be the chief antagonists in the stories of Jephthah and Samson -- chapters 12-17), and they crushed and oppressed the people of Israel that year. For eighteen years they oppressed all the people of Israel who were beyond the Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead. And the Ammonites crossed the Jordan to fight also against Judah and against Benjamin and against the house of Ephraim, so that Israel was severely distressed."
The Ammonites and the Philistines וַֽיִּרְעֲצ֤וּ or "crushed" the people of Israel. There's a fun little callback to the previous instance of this verb root being used in Judges 9:53, when a woman of Shechem וַתָּ֖רִץ or "crushed" Abimelech's head with a millstone.
Geographically, we are east of the Jordan River and south of the Sea of Galilee, both in Jair's story and the upcoming story of Jephthah. This map should help you visualize where the story is taking place.
So, the Ammonites of the east oppress the people of Gad, Manasseh, Reuben, and cross over into the land of Benjamin and Judah (think Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Bethany), along with Ephraim which is north of Judah.
The cycle associated with the major Judges has begun again.
Verses 10-16.
"And the people of Israel cried out to YHWH, saying, 'We have sinned against you, because we have forsaken our God and have served the Baals (Baals here referring generally to a number of pagan gods).' And YHWH said to the people of Israel, 'Did I not save you from the Egyptians and from the Amorites, from the Ammonites, and from the Philistines? The Sidonians also, and the Amalekites and the Maonites oppressed you, and you cried out to me, and I saved you out of their hand.'"
Interestingly, there is no prophetic voice relaying this message from YHWH (at least explicitly in the text). Is this taking place at the Tabernacle through the High Priest? How is this communication taking place? No idea!
The list of peoples YHWH has saved Israel from echoes stories from earlier in Exodus and Numbers, along with some previous stories in the book of Judges. The only oddity in that list are the Maonites. There are apparently some translations that call these people Midianites, but the word in Hebrew is מָע֔וֹן (mao). There is a tribe called the Meunites, mentioned in the Books of Chronicles that live near Judah. Perhaps these refer to the same group of people?
Verses 13-16.
"'Yet you have forsaken me and served other gods; therefore I will save you no more. Go and cry out to the gods whom you have chosen; let them save you in the time of your distress.' And the people of Israel said to YHWH, 'We have sinned; do to us whatever seems good to you. Only please deliver us this day.' So they put away the foreign gods from among them and served YHWH, and he became impatient over the misery of Israel."
The typical cycle is disrupted in these verse. YHWH does not immediately act to deliver His people. Rather, we get a pretty disturbing response from the God of Israel! If these people will worship other gods, then those other gods will have to deliver them. This is divine derision and ridicule, and it would seem unnaturally cruel if we didn't already know just how often the people of Israel forsake their Covenant relationship with YHWH in favor of these empty gods and their promises. It's a stark reminder that our God is not a cosmic vending machine, whereby you can utter some insincere drivel and force Him into your bidding. He demands the heart. And He is always well within His rights to say "No."
The irony of Israel's response to YHWH is that if YHWH were to act simply on the basis of what is right or best, then they'd have been destroyed long before Judges 10. They must know this because they qualify their submission to YHWH on the basis that it ultimately leads to their deliverance. These people are a real piece of work.
But the people demonstrate a renewed commitment. They put away or "turn aside, abolish" their foreign gods and they "returned" or, really, surrendered themselves to YHWH.
Perhaps the best line in the whole book of Judges is butchered by the ESV translation. Here's what I offer in its place:
יְהוָ֑ה וַתִּקְצַ֥ר נַפְשׁ֖וֹ בַּעֲמַ֥ל יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃
ESV: "...and he became impatient over the misery of Israel."
My personal translation: "YHWH's Spirit could no longer endure Israel's misery."
Verses 17-18.
"Then the Ammonites were called to arms, and they encamped in Gilead. And the people of Israel came together, and they encamped at Mizpah. And the people, the leaders of Gilead, said one to another, 'Who is the man who will begin to fight against the Ammonites? He shall be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.'"
The story narrows in on the people of Gilead, and the stage is set for our next Judge in the story, Jephthah.