Leaving a Legacy: Leadership in Judges
Leaving a Legacy: Leadership in Judges
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The transition from the time of Joshua into the period of the judges indicates a significant leadership change in Israel. God had appointed Moses to lead Israel out of Egypt (Exod. 3). Later, when Moses sinned, God instructed Moses to appoint Joshua as his successor (Num. 27:12–23). When Joshua came to the end of his life, God did not appoint a successor. Instead there was an intended transfer of leadership from Joshua to the “elders and their heads and their judges and their officers” (Josh. 23:2; 24:1), all of whom held positions as “representatives of the people on important ritual and covenant-making occasions.”[1] As Joshua came to the end of his life, he gave two exhortations to this group, with an application to each individual family unit.[2] After giving God’s review of all that he had done for the nation (Josh. 24:2–13), Joshua challenged the people as individual households to choose whom they would now follow: “Choose for yourselves today whom you will serve … but as for me and my house, we will serve [ʿāḇaḏ] the Lord” (Josh. 24:15). Thus, the purpose of this chapter is to examine Israel in the period of the judges, looking at individuals and families, as represented in the judges themselves, as they responded to the leadership of God. The book demonstrates that Israel increasingly failed to follow God’s leadership by failing to pass on the faith within their families. The end result was that, because they did not see an earthly king in Israel, “everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judg. 21:25).
Framing the Book of Judges: Introductions and Epilogues
The book of Judges is unique in its construction. It is a book that is symmetrically arranged, and gives evidence that it was written by one author who carefully placed each of the stories in a specific order to communicate his prophetic message to Israel.[3]There are two separate introductions to the book, each using the death of Joshua as their starting point (Judg. 1:1 and 2:6–8). The first introduction (1:1–2:5) is a focus on the military compromises of the nation, as they failed to drive out the remaining Canaanites. The second introduction (2:6–3:6) is a focus on the religious and moral compromises leading to cycles of idolatry, servitude to a conquering nation and the gracious response from God to raise up judges to free them. Judges 3:3–6 indicates that the conquering nations were for a test for Israel “to find out if they would obey the commandments of the Lord, which he had commanded their fathers through Moses” (Judg. 3:4). But in rejecting their God, Israel lived among the nations left in the land; they intermarried with them, exchanging sons and daughters, with the result that Israel served the gods of those nations. Instead of reflecting the God who had delivered them from Egypt and led them into the Promised Land, they became like the Canaanites God had warned them about. A failure to live and respond to the leadership of God in the family structure opened the door to the “Canaanization” of Israel. Leadership comes out of the common culture, where man becomes like the one he worships.[4]
Just as the book begins with two introductions, it also concludes with two contrasting epilogues. In the two epilogue stories there are no stories of judges and no external enemies. Israel instead becomes its own enemy in the spiraling decline of the nation. In each case, a problem began in an individual Israelite home and then escalated to become a source of moral failure in the nation.
Between the two introductions and the two conclusions the narrator has placed the stories of the six major judges and the supplemental stories of the six minor or secondary judges. In each of the major judge stories, there was an active forsaking of God and a choice to follow other gods of the Canaanites (Judg. 2:11–13). As a result, God “gave them into the hands of plunderers who plundered them; and he sold them into the hands of their enemies around them, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies” (Judg. 2:14). When they were severely distressed “then the Lord raised up judges who delivered them from the hands of those who plundered them” (Judg. 2:16). In spite of the fact that they did not listen to the judges, “the Lord was with the judge and delivered them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for the Lord was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed and afflicted them” (Judg. 2:18). However, “when the judge died . . . they would turn back and act more corruptly than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them and bow down to them; they did not abandon their practices or their stubborn ways” (Judg. 2:19), resulting in a continual downhill spiral throughout the whole book.
The role of the judges is defined by the narrator in Judges 2:16: “Then the Lord raised up judges who delivered them from the hands of those who plundered them.”[5] Block makes three points regarding the role of the judges:
(1) The source of the judges’ authority and power was Yahweh. (2) The purpose of their appointment was not judicial but soteriological. . . . Indeed the designation môšîaʿ, “deliverer, liberator,” is specifically applied to several judges. . . . (3) These individuals were instruments of deliverance from external enemies; their purpose was not the settlement of internal disputes.[6]
That God was to be considered the one real and true leader (and king of the nation; see 1 Sam. 8:7), however, is seen in that the actual title “the Judge” is only applied to one Person in the book: to God. The verb “to judge” (šāpat) is used to describe the activity of the human judges in the book, but the noun-title “the Lord, the Judge” is only used by Jephthah in Judges 11:27, as he describes God’s role over the nations. Israel at this time is a nation of individual families, clans, and tribes headed by fathers, and clan and tribal leaders, under the ultimate rule of God who has given all levels of sub-leadership the goal of subduing the land and removing the Canaanite influence. Life was to be carried out in obedience to the Law of God as taught by the Levites and administered by the priests (Lev. 10:8–11; Deut. 31:9–13).
The descending cycle of sin in the nation of Israel is seen in the descending character of the judges. Younger points out that “the ‘cycles’ themselves in 3.6–16.13 . . . are arranged in such a way as to point to the decline in the character of the judges as illustrative of the chaos of the time. . . . Each judge may be seen as a microcosm of the nation.”[7]God reached into the nation at successive points to provide a deliverer, but the deliverer/judge was also an example of how far Israel had descended in the cycle.[8] The stories move from the first judge, Othniel, as a good example in creating a family by taking a wife who is linked to the faith of the past in her father Caleb, to the last judge, Samson, who completely failed to create a godly marriage, much less a godly legacy, ending his life in suicide. “The failure of the family to pass on the faith from generation to generation, in obedience to Pentateuchal commands, is a partial explanation for the downward cyclical trend of the nation of Israel in the Book of Judges. This theme is part of the larger purpose of alerting Israel to the Canaanization that has taken place in the nation because of disobedience to God.”[9]
The First “Introduction” to Judges: Militaristic Compromise
The theme of the first introduction (1:1–2:5) centers on Israel’s military compromises in taking the land. In answer to an inquiry before God, Judah was given leadership in the fight against the remaining Canaanites (1:1–2). However, Judah failed: “Now the Lord was with Judah, and they took possession of the hill country; but they could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley because they had iron chariots” (1:19). This was a test God gave Israel “to find out if they would obey the commandments of the Lord” (3:4). From that point on, the phrases “[tribal name] did not drive out” or “[tribal name] did not take possession” is applied to seven other tribes (1:21–35). In response, God rebuked the nation (2:1–5). God had demonstrated an unbending commitment to the covenant he had made with the patriarchs, but Israel had demonstrated the opposite in compromising with the idolatry of the Canaanites. As God demonstrates his own character in leadership, he asks his people to imitate that same character in their own levels of leadership. If God is the Judge, then all leadership is to be a reflection of him.
Within the first introduction there are three short stories. The first story is a negative story. Israel began the Canaanization of their nation by imitating a Canaanite ruler rather than imitating the character of God (Judg. 1:5–7). Having caught a Canaanite ruler, they cut off his thumbs and big toes as he had done to his enemies. In a connecting story in the second epilogue, a Levite mutilated his wife (Judg. 19). No one can follow both the culture and God at the same time. Leadership involves looking past the culture we must deal with, looking instead to the character of the One we must follow. Failure to do that can corrupt even spiritual leadership, with shocking results.
The second story is a positive one. Caleb, the spy from Numbers 13, who had already demonstrated faith in God and a willingness to follow him in obedience, advertised for a son-in-law who would share his own desire to obey God by taking the very land promised to them (1:11–15). Othniel responded, demonstrating that same commitment to take the land; and he received Achsah, Caleb’s daughter, as his wife. Achsah, like-minded with her father in wanting to enjoy the land and its goodness, asked for more land than her father initially gave them. This is the same Othniel who becomes the first judge, but this is before the judge stories begin. Leadership in a home—the basic unit of a nation—begins with a good marriage between a man and a woman who are both committed to trusting God, obeying his commands, and committing themselves to God’s program.
The third story is again a negative one. This story mimics the story about Rahab in Joshua, but it ended with a frustrating failure (1:23–26). Spies made an agreement to spare a man in a city, only to have that man go off and start another Canaanite city. The narrator is hinting on the compromise to follow with “Israel’s increasing coresidency with the natives.”[10] Once compromise begins—and this story is situated within the list of compromising tribes—the blessing of God cannot be presumed upon to automatically follow.
The Second “Introduction” to Judges: Religious Compromise
The theme of the second introduction (2:6–3:6) centers on Israel’s religious compromise. When Joshua and the leadership of his day all died, Israel began the downward spiral. We see Israel’s tendency, which is not too uncommon throughout history, to compromise on the spiritual commitment of those who came before them. However, part of this result may lie in a former generation’s inability to faithfully pass the faith on to their children. “All that generation also were gathered to their fathers; and there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord nor yet the work which he had done for Israel” (Judg. 2:10). Block comments here:
This text is a witness to the apparent failure of the community to keep alive its memory of Yahweh’s gracious saving acts. The priests had failed in their instructional duties (Lev. 10:11); and the elaborate system of festivals, memorials, and other customs, designed to pass on the rich spiritual tradition (Deut. 6:20) had either lapsed or been reduced to formality. If the Shemaʿ(Deut. 6:4) was being recited at all, the following injunctions to the community (6:5–6) to instruct the children in the fundamentals of covenant faith were obviously regarded more in the breach than in the observance. When people lose sight of God’s grace, they lose sight of God and the sense of any obligation to him. All that follows in the book is a consequence of Israel’s loss of memory.[11]
One of the roles of leadership is to intentionally model and pass on the faith to the next generation. If the leadership fails to do this, it can be expected that the next generation will fill the void with an allegiance of their own finding.
The downward spiral of sin cycles in the nation began at this point, with Israel playing the part of a prostitute with the gods of the Canaanites. Each successive round of sin and deliverance under a judge brought the nation lower. The failure of the nation was at the very level of the family: They lived among the Canaanites, interchanged sons and daughters in marriage, and served their gods (Judg. 3:4–6). When families abandon their role of following God, there is no other safety net for the children. The children are thus being groomed by example to be godless leaders.
Leadership in the Quadrant 1 Judges: Othniel, Ehud, and Shamgar
Williams presents the twelve judge stories in the form of a circle divided into four quadrants, with three judges in each quadrant.[12] The first quadrant covers Othniel (3:7–11), Ehud (3:12–30), and Shamgar (3:31). These are the most positive stories, each presenting a brave warrior who led Israel against an enemy and so was used by God to deliver the nation. There is a noted absence of women in this quadrant, which accentuates the masculine role seen in the first three judges, but it also prepares the reader for the sudden occurrence of a woman in the judge position in the second quadrant.
The account of Othniel (3:7–11) is a short, paradigmatic presentation of the judge cycle, described in generalities in the second introduction (2:11–19). Israel forgot Yahweh their God and served a set of male and female gods. “Asherah is now known to have been a prominent goddess in Canaanite mythology, the wife of the high god El (ʾil) and mother of seventy gods” who is now a consort “of Baal in this fertility religion.”[13] Othniel, by his marriage into a family of faith, has already demonstrated his leadership in the nation by choosing a good wife and not indulging in the adultery portrayed by the Canaanite gods which attracted Israel into their worship. Othniel, as the first judge, is a stark contrast to Samson, the final judge, who failed to provide any family leadership in Israel and instead demonstrated the very promiscuous behavior of the Canaanite gods. In place of Othniel’s positive leadership, Samson’s failed leadership further promoted Israel’s descent into spiritual chaos.
The story of Ehud is much longer (3:12–30). Ehud is a Benjamite who also stands as a contrast—first to those in Judges 1:21 who did not drive out the Jebusites, and also to the Benjamites of the second epilogue who defended the evil men of Gibeah (20:11–17). Israel again did evil before God, and God strengthened the king of Moab over them (3:12). In response to Israel’s cry for help, God raised up Ehud who demonstrated his courageous leadership by personally killing the king of Moab in his own quarters, and then leading Israel in the ensuing battle against Moab. He knew God’s plan, and he led Israel in acting on it (3:28). In his confident leadership, Ehud is a strong contrast to Gideon, who will continuously questioned God’s plan. He is also a contrast to Samson, in that it is Ehud who deceived the enemy instead of fraternizing with the enemy and becoming deceived himself. Ehud’s leadership is also seen in his responses to idols. The references to Ehud and idols in 3:19 and 3:26, provide us with an important ideological frame to Ehud’s deliverance of Israel. The deliverance itself is not just a matter of the defeat of Moab and the subsequent eighty years of peace for Israel. For Ehud’s decisive action begins when he “turns away from the idols at Gilgal” and his escape is successful when he “passed” the idols and fled to Seirah. It is he whose decisive actions for Israel began with a characteristic “turning away from the idols (šûb min happesîlîm),” as one “turns away from the evil way (šûb midderek harācāh)” (1 Kings 13:33; 2 Kings 17:13) and “returns to Yahweh” (Deut. 30:10).
Proverbs 1:7 and 9:10 say that the fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge and wisdom. Since the first commandment in the Decalogue says, “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exod. 20:3), godly wise leadership must begin with a proper understanding of God. When leaders know the character of God and what God is about in the world, it gives them a perspective out of which to make their own decisions. Tozer wrote, “What comes to our mind when we think about God is the most important thing about us. . . . The idolatrous heart assumes that God is other than he is—in itself a monstrous sin—and substitutes for the true God one made after its own likeness.”[14] Ehud had a right view of God, and God blessed his efforts to deliver Israel.
The account of Shamgar the son of Anath is very brief, being contained in one verse: He “struck down six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad; and he also saved Israel” (3:31). The story is in line with the masculine behavior of the first judges, but it introduces the short accounts of the secondary judges. The narrative pattern the narrator uses in the sin cycles is disrupted, and this change “alerts the reader to the possibility of further disruptions of the pattern by the writer.”[15]Further, the name Shamgar has “four strong consonants: š-m-g-r” rather than the three consonants of Hebrew words,[16] and the additional “ben Anath” might be an indication that his family was originally connected with a Canaanite goddess.[17] In spite of that possibility, Shamgar is presented in a positive way in the text. He came after Ehud and “he also” saved Israel. His victory over the Philistines is preparatory for the coming of Samson, but in contrast to Samson, Shamgar “saved Israel.” Shamgar is evidence that God is not limited to conventional means and methods for saving his people. God will impartially use leaders who demonstrate that they have a commitment to God’s program, regardless of their ethnic background. This is in keeping with 2 Chronicles 16:9, and is a hint of things to come.[18]
Quadrant 1 presents courageous men who are effective military leaders, used of God to accomplish the desired end of saving Israel from those who dominated them. When men act within their leadership roles as assigned by God, God gives success. Their life stories, however, show that their success arose out of their obedience to God.
Leadership in the Quadrant 2 Judges: Barak, Deborah, and Gideon
Quadrant 2, in Williams’ structure, contains the stories of Barak and Deborah, Gideon, and the secondary judge Tola. The movement from Quadrant 1 to Quadrant 2 brings some major changes. Several strong women are presented in contrast to a very hesitant military leader in the Barak-Deborah story, and then a similarly hesitant judge appears who finally succeeds and then fails in a most profound way, first with his family and then as a carryover into the state of the nation in the Gideon story.
Barak and Deborah: Weak Leadership and New Leaders
As Quadrant 2 opens, the narrator appears to resume the sin cycles but then abruptly deviates from the norm.
Instead of following his formulaic pattern for introducing the deliverer, the narrator abruptly breaks into the narrative (4:4) with a circumstantial clause and Deborah’s name is placed in the emphatic position. He clearly wants to capture the reader’s attention to direct it to something unusual. The reader is struck by bewilderment. Instead of being introduced to the man he anticipates will be Yahweh’s next deliverer for Israel, he is introduced to a woman who is already performing as prophetess and judge. It is quite apparent that something out of the ordinary is happening and he feels compelled to ask, “What is going on here?”[19]
Deborah does not function in the story as one of the judges, but rather as an introducer of the judge,[20] and as a representative of a new subtheme in the book.[21] The story presents her as “a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, [and she] was judging Israel at the time” (4:4). She was situated in a place that was not the spiritual center of Israel, but was “under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim,” and the sons of Israel were coming to her for “the judgement” (4:5). In the poetic version of the story, she calls herself “a mother in Israel” (5:7).
The story begins in the normal way telling of Israel’s sin, God selling them into the hands of a Canaanite king, and Israel crying out to God for deliverance (4:1–3). “It appears that when ‘the sons of Israel’ come to Deborah for ‘the judgment’ they are not asking her to solve their legal disputes, but to give them the divine answer to their cries. She functions as a representative of Yahweh.”[22] Israel is asking Deborah to identify for them the next judge who will bring about the deliverance, and in the next verses she does that. Deborah summoned Barak, the next judge, and gave to him the command from Yahweh that he was to go against Sisera, the commander of the Canaanite army. God would draw out the commander and his army, and God would give them into Barak’s hand (Judg. 4:6–7). Barak, however, was hesitant and would not go unless Deborah would go with him. Deborah agreed, but told Barak that because of his hesitancy, he would lose the honor of the battle and that Yahweh would give it to a woman instead (Judg. 4:8–9). When the two armies were assembled, “Deborah said to Barak, ‘Arise! For this is the day in which the Lord has given Sisera into your hands; behold, the Lord has gone out before you.’ So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him” (Judg. 4:14).
When God brought the victory as promised, and Sisera’s army was defeated, Sisera escaped and hid in the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite. Jael appeared to offer hospitality to Sisera in keeping with her husband’s defection from Israel into a peaceful relationship with the Canaanites (4:11, 17). When Sisera fell asleep, however, Jael killed him in her tent (4:18–21). Barak arrived shortly thereafter to find God’s pronouncement true: He had lost the honor of the battle to a woman (4:22).
The story of Barak, Deborah, and Jael demonstrates God’s choices in some areas of human leadership. The first area of Israel’s leadership downfall is seen in the area of weak men lacking faith in God and his promises. Rather than trusting God’s direct word to him through Deborah, Barak hesitated and put his faith in the messenger rather than in the Sender of the message.[23] Numerous items in the story show that men of the time were falling away from God as the focus of their faith and worship. The men are weak; thus, God uses the women who have a heart for his plan for Israel. Deborah is chosen as God’s messenger, in contrast to the priests at the ark. Deborah’s husband played no part in the story, and God called a “mother in Israel” (Judg.5:7) as his messenger. Heber the Kenite, the wife of Jael, had parted with the other Kenites to side with Israel’s enemies. Other men are rebuked in the psalm of Deborah for not participating in the battle (5:16–17, 23), and a comment from Sisera’s mother and her princesses give an indication of the focus of Canaanite men, which will soon be shown to be the growing focus of Israelite men (5:28–30).[24] In contrast to the masculine men of the first quadrant, the men in this story have failed to be the models, protectors, aggressive leaders, and worshippers in Israel. The story is repeated in the only poetic portion of the book, a psalm composed by Deborah in Judges 5. In this psalm, Deborah picked up the teaching function of men in Israel (Deut. 6) and praised God for the victory. When men lapse spiritually, their faith in God is replaced with desires for personal safety, personal honor, and material goods. God then turns to women, and they receive the honor men would have received. Deborah saw herself as a “mother in Israel” (5:7), and Jael is praised as a woman in her tent (5:24). Barak finally led the army but there was no honor for him in the end. He is remembered as a man who cowered.
