Why Study Judges?

[Garland-Green]

Jephthah: Words Matter (Judges 10:1-12:15)


Introduction

I have a good friend and respected pastor who long ago was teaching through the Book of Romans. When he got to chapter 9 – one of the most difficult chapters for some – he decided to skip it. As I come to our text for today, that thought came to mind. How easy it would be for me to simply pass this difficult text by in our study of Judges, as though it wasn’t there. But it is here in our Bibles, and a high view of Scripture compels me to deal with it, difficult or not.

I must confess that I have struggled a great deal with this text. I am more than willing to point out the weaknesses and failures of other men in the Book of Judges, but find it very difficult to think the worst of Jephthah because I like him, except for what I read about his vow and his daughter. As the father of five lovely daughters, I can hardly believe what I am reading. Nevertheless, I have purposed to take the text as it stands and to seek to learn the lessons God has for us here.

While I have undertaken a monumental task in this lesson – covering three chapters in one message – I feel we must look at Jephthah’s life in its entirety rather than divide these chapters into smaller portions of Scripture. And so, by the grace of God, we shall proceed.

What’s With These Minor Judges?

Judges 10:1-5; 12:8-15
1 After Abimelech’s death, Tola son of Puah, grandson of Dodo, from the tribe of Issachar, rose up to deliver Israel. He lived in Shamir in the Ephraimite hill country. 2 He led Israel for twenty-three years, then died and was buried in Shamir. 3 Jair the Gileadite rose up after him; he led Israel for twenty-two years. 4 He had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys and possessed thirty cities. To this day these towns are called Havvoth Jair – they are in the land of Gilead. 5 Jair died and was buried in Kamon (Judges 10:1-5).2

8 After him Ibzan of Bethlehem led Israel. 9 He had thirty sons. He arranged for thirty of his daughters to be married outside his extended family, and he arranged for thirty young women to be brought from outside as wives for his sons. Ibzan led Israel for seven years; 10 then he died and was buried in Bethlehem. 11 After him Elon the Zebulunite led Israel for ten years. 12 Then Elon the Zebulunite died and was buried in Aijalon in the land of Zebulun. 13 After him Abdon son of Hillel the Pirathonite led Israel. 14 He had forty sons and thirty grandsons who rode on seventy donkeys. He led Israel for eight years. 15 Then Abdon son of Hillel the Pirathonite died and was buried in Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, in the hill country of the Amalekites (Judges 12:8-15).

Interspersed among the accounts of the “major judges” are some very brief comments regarding “minor judges.” We must understand “major” and “minor” the way these terms are used with reference to the prophetic books of the Bible. “Major” Prophets are not necessarily prophetic works that are more important than the “Minor” Prophets; they are simply shorter books. So, too, the “minor judges” are those judges about whom we are given very little information. For one reason or another, the author has chosen to focus on a few of the judges, giving much more detail about their lives and their role in God’s deliverance of His people.

At the beginning of our text, we are introduced to Tola and Jair (10:1-5). At the end of our text, we encounter Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon (12:8-15). The reason these men are referred to as “minor judges” is that we are not given any details about the way these men were used to deliver the Israelites. Instead, we are given a few basic facts about them. We are told something about their family. In each instance, we know the tribe of the judge that is mentioned. In the case of Jair and Ibzan, we are told that these judges had 30 sons. Ibzan also had 30 daughters, whom he gave in marriage to those outside his clan.3

In addition to family or genealogical information pertaining to the minor judges, we are also told the length of their rule and the place of their death. Why was it important to know where these folks died? I’m not sure, but perhaps their tombs were to be a memorial, a reminder of the deliverance God had given through these judges.

But why mention these minor judges so briefly without supplying more information? I believe that one of the author’s reasons for including these brief references to minor judges is that he wants us to be well aware of how many judges God raised up. This would serve as an indication of the degree to which sin (and divine discipline) was prevalent in Israel. If there were many judges, then Israel was given over to oppressors many times, and this would be because the Israelites had so frequently given themselves over to heathen gods and practices. The more judges, the greater God’s grace is shown to have been.

There is yet another reason, I believe, for including these minor judges in the Book of Judges. There were many judges who ruled during the period of the judges, and so far as I can tell none of them ruled over all of Israel. In each case, judges were raised up to deliver certain tribes or even smaller groups. When all of the judges are taken into account, most of the tribes are accounted for.

When we come to expressions like “the sons of Israel,” “men of Israel,” or “Israel,” we almost automatically assume that the author is speaking of the nation Israel as a whole, but this is often – perhaps most often – not the case in the Book of Judges. We can see this in Judges 9 where we are told that Abimelech “ruled over Israel for three years” (9:22). Abimelech’s rule was over Shechem and a few cities in the valley near Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal. In verse 55, we are told that when the “Israelites saw that Abimelech was dead they went home.” Once again, this is not all Israel, but the Israelites in that limited geographical area.

Thus, when we come to these five “minor judges” at the beginning of chapter 10 and at the end of chapter 12, we should recognize that their rule was limited to a smaller area than all of Israel. This can be seen by our author’s words regarding Jair in Judges 10:3-5. He had 30 sons who rode 30 donkeys, and they ruled over 30 towns in Gilead, not all of Israel. The realm of each judge was a limited kingdom, rather than a national kingdom.

It seems to me that one of the things we see in the Book of Judges is the disintegration of the unity and solidarity of the Israelite tribes. It began with the tribes acting somewhat independently of one another. Granted, there was some cooperation between the tribes, but united effort was limited to a few of the tribes at most. Eventually, the Israelites would become “rugged individualists,” with each Israelite doing what seemed right in his own eyes.

Politically, it looks to me as though government in Israel has diminished to that of numerous “city states,” not unlike we find practiced by the Canaanites.4 This was not the way it was supposed to work in Israel, but what we find in Judges is that it will take a strong king to unify this nation so that the Israelites in all the tribes stand together against their moral and political enemies. This will happen for a short time under David and Solomon, but soon thereafter Israel becomes a divided kingdom with Israelites fighting amongst themselves.

I believe we see the same kind of individualism today in the West, particularly in the United States. We see individualism in the church as well. Churches act independently of each other, and unfortunately some see themselves as being in competition with other churches (for status, members, and money). And even within a local church, there are many who avoid shepherding groups and or other means of holding them accountable. The only perfect and permanent solution is the coming of the King of Kings, who will unite not only all the tribes of Israel, but also all believers, whether they be Jew or Gentile, rich or poor, slave or free (see Galatians 3:28-29). The church in this age is to foreshadow this full and final unity.

Israel’s “Repentance” and God’s Mercy

Judges 10:6-16
6 The Israelites again did evil in the Lord’s sight. They worshiped the Baals and the Ashtars, as well as the gods of Syria, Sidon, Moab, the Ammonites, and the Philistines. They abandoned the Lord and did not worship him. 7 The Lord was furious with Israel and turned them over to the Philistines and Ammonites. 8 They ruthlessly oppressed the Israelites that eighteenth year – that is, all the Israelites living east of the Jordan in Amorite country in Gilead. 9 The Ammonites crossed the Jordan to fight with Judah, Benjamin, and Ephraim. Israel suffered greatly.

10 The Israelites cried out for help to the Lord: “We have sinned against you. We abandoned our God and worshiped the Baals.” 11 The Lord said to the Israelites, “Did I not deliver you from Egypt, the Amorites, the Ammonites, the Philistines, 12 the Sidonians, Amalek, and Midian when they oppressed you? You cried out for help to me, and I delivered you from their power. 13 But since you abandoned me and worshiped other gods, I will not deliver you again. 14 Go and cry for help to the gods you have chosen! Let them deliver you from trouble!” 15 But the Israelites said to the Lord, “We have sinned. You do to us as you see fit, but deliver us today!” 16 They threw away the foreign gods they owned and worshiped the Lord. Finally the Lord grew tired of seeing Israel suffer so much (Judges 10:6-16).

The first sentence of verse 6 sums it all up: Israel once again did evil in God’s sight. Unfortunately, these are familiar words to the reader.5 Usually the author sums up Israel’s sin in a verse, but in 3:12 it is accomplished by a mere sentence. Likewise, judgment usually comes from one direction and perhaps from only one adversary. Here, we find several things that set this description of Israel’s sin apart from what we have seen earlier.

First, the description of the sins of the Israelites is more extensive than what we have seen earlier in Judges. It is not just one heathen deity that is named;6 it is a whole list of deities, deities of different nations. It is, of course, possible for a person to worship many deities, such as Solomon did at the end,7 but this description seems to refer to Israel as a nation, Israel as a whole (made up of all those little Israelite city states within the nation). The gods listed are those being worshipped by the various tribes throughout Israel at this point in time. The effect is to underscore just how bad things have gotten in Israel, and this explains the severity of Israel’s judgment and God’s reluctance to come rushing to their aid, once again.

Second, we are told that the Israelites are sold or given into the hands of the Philistines and the Ammonites. Now the Philistines are to be found on the western side of Israel, while the Ammonites are on the east, east of the Jordan. Samson will be Israel’s deliverer from the Philistines (chapters 13-16), while Jephthah will be Israel’s deliverer from the Ammonites (chapters 11 and 12). The Ammonites are approaching Israel, and their intentions are far from friendly. What is Israel to do?

For 18 years, the Israelites had suffered at the hands of the Ammonites, and it finally seems to have occurred to them that their Canaanite gods were doing them no good. Likewise, they remembered that their only true Deliverer was God, the God of Israel. And so they cried out to God, confessing that they had sinned against Him, and assuring Him that they had forsaken their worship of the Baals.8 The Lord was not impressed with their “repentance” because He had seen it before, and it didn’t last. He reminded the Israelites of all the nations from which He had delivered them, only to be forgotten and forsaken when their suffering ended. And so God threatens to leave them to their gods in whom they have trusted.

The Israelites know full well that the pagan deities cannot and will not deliver them. In biblical terminology, “Salvation is of the Lord,” from the Lord alone.9 They persist in their appeal for God’s deliverance, and God finally responds, not so much because of their repentance (which was shallow and superficial), but because He could bear their suffering no longer. God’s mercy is the basis for Israel’s salvation.

Jephthah and the Ammonites

JEPHTHAH’S PROMOTION

JUDGES 10:17—11:11

10:17 The Ammonites assembled and camped in Gilead; the Israelites gathered together and camped in Mizpah. 18 The leaders of Gilead said to one another,10 “Who is willing to lead the charge against the Ammonites? He will become the leader of all who live in Gilead!”

11:1 Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a brave warrior. His mother was a prostitute, but Gilead was his father. 2 Gilead’s wife also gave him sons. When his wife’s sons grew up, they made Jephthah leave and said to him, “You are not going to inherit any of our father’s wealth, because you are another woman’s son.” 3 So Jephthah left his half-brothers and lived in the land of Tob. Lawless men11 joined Jephthah’s gang and traveled with him.

4 It was some time after this when the Ammonites fought with Israel. 5 When the Ammonites attacked, the leaders of Gilead asked Jephthah to come back from the land of Tob. 6 They said, “Come, be our commander, so we can fight with the Ammonites.” 7 Jephthah said to the leaders of Gilead, “But you hated me and made me leave my father’s house. Why do you come to me now, when you are in trouble?” 8 The leaders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “That may be true, but now we pledge to you our loyalty. Come with us and fight with the Ammonites. Then you will become the leader of all who live in Gilead.” 9 Jephthah said to the leaders of Gilead, “All right! If you take me back to fight with the Ammonites and the Lord gives them to me, I will be your leader.” 10 The leaders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “The Lord will judge any grievance you have against us, if we do not do as you say.” 11 So Jephthah went with the leaders of Gilead. The people made him their leader and commander. Jephthah repeated the terms of the agreement before the Lord in Mizpah (Judges 10:17—11:11).

At this point, Jephthah enters the story as he is the deliverer that God raised up to rescue the Israelites from the cruel oppression of the Ammonites. He was a brave and powerful warrior, but he, like Abimelech before him, had a less than impeccable pedigree. His father was Gilead, but his mother was a prostitute. Unlike Abimelech, who did away with his brothers, Jephthah was driven off by his (more legitimate) brothers. Over time, a group of rather unsavory men gathered about Jephthah, and it seems as though they engaged in some kind of military endeavors. It seems that it was these military ventures that proved Jephthah to be a “mighty man of valor.”12 They did not want to share any of their inheritance with him. But now that the Ammonites were about to wage war against them, the Israelites were very eager to recruit Jephthah as their commander-in-chief (with the emphasis on the word “commander”).

One cannot fault Jephthah for being skeptical about the Israelites’ invitation to return and to lead the nation in battle. Why should he be interested in delivering those who had driven him off earlier? And could these folks be trusted? Would they “use” him as much and as long as they could, and then cast him aside, or would he be free to direct the Israelites without interference? The leaders of Gilead assured Jephthah that they would make him their leader and that he would be remembered as Israel’s deliverer for a long, long time.

And so Jephthah agreed to lead the Israelites in battle. Jephthah promised to be their leader if the Lord granted him victory over the Ammonites. The leaders of Gilead functionally vowed to stand with and under Jephthah. In turn, Jephthah repeated the terms of his agreement with the Israelites “before the Lord in Mizpah.” This was virtually a covenant between God and Jephthah and the nation of Israel, as can be discerned from the author’s statement that Jephthah repeated the specific commitments of this agreement before the Lord (verse 11).

Jephthah’s Diplomatic Effort

Judges 11:12-28
12 Jephthah sent messengers to the Ammonite king, saying, “Why have you come against me to attack my land?” 13 The Ammonite king said to Jephthah’s messengers, “Because Israel stole my land when they came up from Egypt – from the Arnon River in the south to the Jabbok River in the north, and as far west as the Jordan. Now return it peaceably!”

14 Jephthah sent messengers back to the Ammonite king 15 and said to him, “This is what Jephthah says, ‘Israel did not steal the land of Moab and the land of the Ammonites. 16 When they left Egypt, Israel traveled through the desert as far as the Red Sea and then came to Kadesh. 17 Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, “Please allow us to pass through your land.” But the king of Edom rejected the request. Israel sent the same request to the king of Moab, but he was unwilling to cooperate. So Israel stayed at Kadesh. 18 Then Israel went through the desert and bypassed the land of Edom and the land of Moab. They traveled east of the land of Moab and camped on the other side of the Arnon River; they did not go through Moabite territory (the Arnon was Moab’s border). 19 Israel sent messengers to King Sihon, the Amorite king who ruled in Heshbon, and said to him, “Please allow us to pass through your land to our land.” 20 But Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his territory. He assembled his whole army, camped in Jahaz, and fought with Israel. 21 The Lord God of Israel handed Sihon and his whole army over to Israel and they defeated them. Israel took all the land of the Amorites who lived in that land. 22 They took all the Amorite territory from the Arnon River on the south to the Jabbok River on the north, from the desert in the east to the Jordan in the west. 23 Since the Lord God of Israel has driven out the Amorites before his people Israel, do you think you can just take it from them? 24 You have the right to take what Chemosh your god gives you, but we will take the land of all whom the Lord our God has driven out before us. 25 Are you really better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he dare to quarrel with Israel? Did he dare to fight with them? 26 Israel has been living in Heshbon and its nearby towns, in Aroer and its nearby towns, and in all the cities along the Arnon for three hundred years! Why did you not reclaim them during that time? 27 I have not done you wrong, but you are doing wrong by attacking me. May the Lord, the Judge, judge this day between the Israelites and the Ammonites!’” 28 But the Ammonite king disregarded the message sent by Jephthah (Judges 11:12-28 ).

To his credit (in my opinion), Jephthah sought to avoid a military confrontation by first attempting a diplomatic solution. He sent emissaries to the Ammonite king (note that he is not named), inquiring why he was in the process of attacking Israel. The king’s response was direct and to the point. Roughly paraphrased he said, “I am coming to take back the land that rightfully belongs to the Ammonites because the Israelites stole it from us when they made their way from Egypt to the Promised Land. Give it back to us, and there will be no need to fight with you.”

It is interesting to observe what happens when Jephthah does battle with the Ephraimites at the end of chapter 12. Every time an Ephraimite attempted to say “Shibboleth,” it came out “Sibboleth,” knowing that the outcome was the difference between life and death (12:5-6). When we come to chapter 11, there is a very important distinction which the reader must make; it is noting the difference between the Ammonites and the Amorites.

The Ammonites were “distant cousins” of the Israelites, originating from the son of Lot’s union with his younger daughter (Genesis 19:38 ). The Moabites were descendants of Lot’s union with his older daughter (Genesis 19:36-37). The Edomites were the descendants of Edom (Esau). The Amorites were not relatives of the Israelites. Indeed, the term Amorites was almost synonymous with Canaanites:

12 When the sun went down, Abram fell sound asleep, and great terror overwhelmed him. 13 Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign country. They will be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years. 14 But I will execute judgment on the nation that they will serve. Afterward they will come out with many possessions. 15 But as for you, you will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. 16 In the fourth generation your descendants will return here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its limit” (Genesis 15:12-16, emphasis mine).

When the Israelites escaped from Egypt, God directed them to approach Canaan from the eastern side of the Dead Sea and the Jordan River. This required the Israelites to pass through (or close by)13 the land of the Edomites, the Moabites, and the Ammonites. God would not give the Israelites the land which He had already given to their relatives,14 but the Amorites were another matter altogether. When the Israelites approached the Amorite kings, Sihon and Og, they made the same request they had made of their brothers, the Edomites and the Moabites. Sihon and Og chose to attack the Israelites, rather than to allow them to pass through their land. God gave the Israelites the victory, so that Israel possessed their land. This was the territory running north from the Arnon River to the Jabbok River (a distance of about 50 miles), and eastward from the Jordan River for a distance of about 20 miles.15 The Ammonites’ land was to the east of Israel’s new territory (formerly belonging to the Amorites), for a distance of approximately 20 to 30 miles.16

So, when all is said and done, the king of the Ammonites was wrong. The Israelites did not take possession of Ammonite land; they fought with and defeated the Amorites, taking possession of their land. The land east of the Jordan was then divided among the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half of the tribe of Manasseh.17

God gave the Amorites into the hand of the Israelites, who defeated them and possessed their land.18 But He did not allow the Israelites to possess the territory of the Ammonites:

“However, you did not approach the land of the Ammonites, the Wadi Jabbok, the cities of the hill country, or any place else forbidden by the Lord our God” (Deuteronomy 2:37).

The king of the Ammonites attempted to “re-write history” so that he would be justified in his efforts to seize Israel’s land east of the Jordan. Jephthah knew his history, and he rather neatly put the Ammonite king in his place.

But Jephthah wasn’t finished. He had several other lines of defense which he conveyed to this ambitious king. In addition to his historical argument, Jephthah added his theological argument. Israel is merely dwelling on the land that God (the only true God, the God of Israel) gave them. The Ammonites should likewise be content with what their god, Chemosh, gives them. If Israel’s God is a greater God than the no-god Chemosh, the Ammonites would be well advised to “back off” or become the adversaries of Israel’s God.

Jephthah now raises a third argument, based upon the actions of Balak, king of Moab. Balak was threatened by Israel’s presence nearby (even if they claimed merely to be passing by). Balak may have tried to deal with Israel’s threat by hiring Balaam to curse Israel (something that didn’t work and that is not mentioned here), but the one thing he didn’t do was to gather his army and seek to prevail over the Israelites in battle. If Balak did not find it advisable to attack Israel, then perhaps the king of Ammon should learn from his example.

There is a fourth and final argument, a chronological argument. It wasn’t as though Israel had just recently come into possession of the territory east of the Jordan. Her military victories and possession of the trans-Jordan territory occurred some 300 years ago, and thus for 300 years, the Israelites had possession of this land. The Ammonites (and anyone else who dared to try) had ample time and opportunities to attempt taking possession of the trans-Jordan territory of the Israelites. If there is a “statute of limitations” for certain actions, surely it would apply to Israel’s possession of this land.

Jephthah now concludes his debate with the king of the Ammonites in verse 27:

“I have not done you wrong, but you are doing wrong by attacking me. May the Lord, the Judge, judge this day between the Israelites and the Ammonites!”

This is the kind of diplomacy I like. It is not the “diplomacy” which has as its goal the avoidance of conflict at any cost. It is the straightforward, plain talk that seeks to discern the intentions and motivations of the adversary, that attempts to correct misinformation, and that makes it clear where you stand and what you intend to do. If the Ammonites wish to engage in war, so be it, but it is really nothing more than raw aggression. They are not seeking to correct some long-neglected wrong. And let them be fully aware that any attack will be dealt with on a higher level of authority. If the Ammonites attack, the Israelites will fight, but they will also rest their case with God, who is Judge over all. And let them recall that those nations which rejected Israel’s peaceful negotiations in the past suffered defeat at the hands of the Israelites and their God.19

Jephthah’s Vow and Israel’s War with the Ammonites

Judges 11:29-33
29 The Lord’s spirit empowered Jephthah. He passed through Gilead and Manasseh and went to Mizpah in Gilead. From there he approached the Ammonites. 30 Jephthah made a vow to the Lord, saying, “If you really do hand the Ammonites over to me, 31 then whoever is the first to come through the doors of my house to meet me when I return safely from fighting the Ammonites – he will belong to the Lord and I will offer him up as a burnt sacrifice.” 32 Jephthah approached the Ammonites to fight with them, and the Lord handed them over to him. 33 He defeated them from Aroer all the way to Minnith – twenty cities in all, even as far as Abel Keramim! He wiped them out! The Israelites humiliated the Ammonites (Judges 11:29-33).

The king of the Ammonites was not going to be deterred, and so he completely disregarded Jephthah’s diplomatic efforts. There was going to be war and this king, like those before him, would learn the price of waging war against the Israelites and their God. It is at this point that the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah, energizing him for battle. The puzzling part of our passage is that much more space is devoted to Jephthah’s vow and its consequences than to an account of Israel’s victory over the Ammonites.

How is it that the first thing Jephthah does after the Spirit of the Lord comes upon him is to make a vow, a vow that he will later regret? The first thing we should know is that vows like that of Jephthah were not uncommon in Israel.

1 When the Canaanite king of Arad who lived in the Negev heard that Israel was approaching along the road to Atharim, he fought against Israel and took some of them prisoner. 2 So Israel made a vow to the Lord and said, “If you will indeed deliver this people into our hand, then we will utterly destroy their cities” (Numbers 21:1-2).

She made a vow saying, “O Lord of hosts, if you will look with compassion on the suffering of your female servant, remembering me and not forgetting your servant, and give a male child to your servant, then I will dedicate him to the Lord all the days of his life. His hair will never be cut” (1 Samuel 1:11).

9 But as for me, I promise to offer a sacrifice to you with a public declaration of praise;

I will surely do what I have promised [literally, “vowed”].

Salvation belongs to the Lord!” (Jonah 2:9)

It was rather common in Israel for an individual or a group to make a vow, promising that if God gave deliverance (in some manner) that the individual would go to offer a sacrifice and to worship, and there proclaim the work which God had done.20 The psalms supply numerous examples of praise offered to God publicly because of His deliverance. It is important for us to see that it was not wrong for Jephthah to make a vow to God, promising to offer a sacrifice if God would answer his request. Therefore, the only thing wrong with Jephthah’s vow that I can see is that it was carelessly worded.21 As we shall see in just a few verses (as reflected in the title of this message), “words matter.”

Jephthah’s Daughter

Judges 11:34-40
34 When Jephthah came home to Mizpah, there was his daughter hurrying out to meet him, dancing to the rhythm of tambourines. She was his only child; except for her he had no son or daughter. 35 When he saw her, he ripped his clothes and said, “Oh no! My daughter! You have completely ruined me! You have brought me disaster! I made an oath to the Lord, and I cannot break it.” 36 She said to him, “My father, since you made an oath to the Lord, do to me as you promised. After all, the Lord vindicated you before your enemies, the Ammonites.” 37 She then said to her father, “Please grant me this one wish. For two months allow me to walk through the hills with my friends and mourn my virginity.” 38 He said, “You may go.” He permitted her to leave for two months. She went with her friends and mourned her virginity as she walked through the hills. 39 After two months she returned to her father, and he did to her as he had vowed. She died a virgin. Her tragic death gave rise to a custom in Israel. 40 Every year Israelite women commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite for four days (Judges 11:34-40).

This is where things really get difficult. The Israelites are victorious, and Jephthah returns to his home. The first person to come from his house to greet him is his daughter, his beloved and only child. If anything is clear, it is that he did not intend for her to be his sacrifice. Jephthah tore his clothes as an expression of his distress. Many have wondered just who he thought would come out of the house. Given the fact that houses often were akin to barns, it is not surprising that he would expect an animal to come from within the house. In my travels, I have sat in the “living room” of humble people, in the company of chickens and goats, which roamed the house freely. Jephthah’s house may likewise have housed some animals. But was he wise to assume that it would be an animal that would first come out to meet him? Indeed, how many animals actually “greet” their master at the door, animals that could be legitimately sacrificed? Jephthah’s vow is indeed troubling, and now it would seem that he was obligated to keep his vow.

Was there any acceptable way out of his vow? Jephthah did not think so, and neither did his daughter. Some students of Scripture think that God would not have expected him to fulfill such a foolish vow, but it is clear that God did not intervene to prevent this “sacrifice” as He had done with Abraham and Isaac.22 There are also those who would seek to salvage Jephthah’s reputation in this terrible account by claiming that the “sacrifice” was not that of his daughter’s life, but of her freedom to marry and to bear children.

I must admit to you that I very much dislike what I read in our text about the “sacrifice” of Jephthah’s daughter. I would love to find some “way out” that would let me interpret this account in a way that did not include the death of Jephthah’s daughter. But having read many (most, I suspect) of the explanations of this passage which lead to a different conclusion, I have not been convinced by any of them, even though I am predisposed to believe them. It seems to me that Jephthah did make such a foolish vow and that he eventually kept his vow by putting his daughter to death.

In discussing this text with some friends who have lived in the Middle East, I found that they were not as shocked at what is said in our text as I was. Human life is not valued as much as it should be, and for little cause, or money, one can hire a person to end the life of another. Further, one’s honor is valued so highly that the one making a vow might fulfill it no matter how distasteful that might be. Even in the West, a daughter might be killed for the “honor” of the family. We in the West have a difficult time comprehending how things are done elsewhere in the world. Suffice it to say that we live in a very violent world.

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[Garland-Green]

Having read and agonized over our text, and having heard all of the possible reasons for viewing it differently,23 I still am forced to take the passage literally, and thus conclude that Jephthah literally sacrificed his daughter. I know that many will disagree with me here, and I respect their right to do so. But once I start setting texts aside and seeking an interpretation other than the plain and simple meaning of the text, I am no better than those who set aside clear texts, simply because they don’t like what they say. Remember, my friend, we are in the Book of Judges, a book where a dagger is plunged into the belly of a man, where a tent peg is driven through a man’s head, where a mill stone crushes the skull of a man, and where a man’s concubine is tossed to the perverts of the city to abuse as they see fit, only to be cut into twelve pieces after she has died. Given the context, a father’s sacrifice of his daughter is much less shocking than it would be in our world.

There is one more observation I would like to make before we move on to more pleasant matters. This daughter encouraged Jephthah to keep his vow at her expense. Do we once again have a woman as the true hero? She urged her father to be faithful to God, even if it cost her life to do so.

Jephthah, Israel, and the Ephraimites’ Ego

Judges 12:1-7
1 The Ephraimites assembled and crossed over to Zaphon. They said to Jephthah, “Why did you go and fight with the Ammonites without asking us to go with you? We will burn your house down right over you!” 2 Jephthah said to them, “My people and I were entangled in controversy with the Ammonites. I asked for your help, but you did not deliver me from their power. 3 When I saw that you were not going to help, I risked my life and advanced against the Ammonites, and the Lord handed them over to me. Why have you come up to fight with me today?” 4 Jephthah assembled all the men of Gilead and they fought with Ephraim. The men of Gilead defeated Ephraim, because the Ephraimites insulted them, saying, “You Gileadites are refugees in Ephraim, living within Ephraim’s and Manasseh’s territory.” 5 The Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan River opposite Ephraim. Whenever an Ephraimite fugitive said, “Let me cross over,” the men of Gilead asked him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he said, “No,” 6 then they said to him, “Say ‘Shibboleth!’” If he said, “Sibboleth” (and could not pronounce the word correctly), they grabbed him and executed him right there at the fords of the Jordan. On that day forty-two thousand Ephraimites fell dead. 7 Jephthah led Israel for six years; then he died and was buried in his city in Gilead (Judges 12:1-7).

Sadly, this is not the first time that the ego of the Ephraimites has surfaced in the Book of Judges:

1 The Ephraimites said to him, “Why have you done such a thing to us? You did not summon us when you went to fight the Midianites!” They argued vehemently with him. 2 He said to them, “Now what have I accomplished compared to you? Even Ephraim’s leftover grapes are better quality than Abiezer’s harvest! 3 It was to you that God handed over the Midianite generals, Oreb and Zeeb! What did I accomplish to rival that?” When he said this, they calmed down (Judges 8:1-3).

Now, once again we find the Ephraimites talking big after the battle is won, suffering from wounded pride because they wanted greater glory.

I confess, aside from Jephthah’s vow, I like this guy. Unlike the ego flattery employed by Gideon, Jephthah deals with the Ephraimites as he did with the king of Ammon. He is polite, but he speaks the truth in a forthright manner. There is no “mealy mouthing” going on here. His diplomacy employs plain speech, the meaning of which cannot be missed. And it is also clear that he is unwilling to bend the truth in order to avoid conflict. He speaks the truth and is willing to back it up with military might if need be.

Notice two things about the Ephraimites’ words. First, they were untrue. They accused Jephthah of failing to give them the opportunity to join in the battle against the Ammonites (now that the battle had already been won). Jephthah sets the record straight. He did summon the Ephraimites for the battle. The problem wasn’t his failure to call them to battle; it was the Ephraimites’ failure to answer the call and to assist in the battle. These folks talk big, but they do little. They want to be there when the battle is won and the medals are being passed out, but they don’t want to engage in the battle. When Jephthah realized that they weren’t coming, he went to battle without them, facing the dangers that presented. And there was something else these Ephraimites needed to know. The battle was the Lord’s. Had the Ephraimites engaged in this battle, the glory for victory would not have been theirs to claim. It was God who won the battle, and it was God alone who should receive the glory.

The second thing we should note about the words of the Ephraimites is the violence that is threatened. Those who were not courageous enough to engage the Ammonites in battle were now “mighty in word” when it came to their threats against their Israelite brethren. They actually threatened to burn down Jephthah’s house, no doubt with him and his family (a guess that just leaves his wife) inside. The Ephraimites seem prone to anger.24

Jephthah’s words were not well received by the Ephraimites. Like the Ammonites, the Ephraimites had come armed for battle. And so it was necessary for Jephthah to engage in battle with his fellow-Israelites. There was a deeper rift between the Ephraimites and Jephthah and the Gileadites. We know that Jephthah was a Gileadite.25 The land of Gilead was east of the Jordan and was possessed by Ruben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh. The Ephraimites spoke disparagingly of Jephthah’s people, who were of the tribe of Manasseh. The Ephraimites spoke of Jephthah’s people as renegades, people who fall short of the high standard set by the “blue bloods” of Ephraim and Manasseh (verse 4).

That did it; it was war between the Gileadites and the Ephraimites, and the Gileadites won. What irony we see here. You will remember that it was the Ephraimites who captured the fords of the Jordan in chapter 7.26 This enabled them to capture two of the Midianite kings. Now it is the Gileadites under Jephthah who capture the fords of the Jordan, blocking the Ephraimites from crossing the Jordan and fleeing for their lives.

There was a problem, however. Many people crossed the Jordan River. How would the Gileadites be able to distinguish their Ephraimite enemies from the rest of those seeking to cross the Jordan? They devised a very simple, but effective test. The Ephraimites could not pronounce the “sh” sound. The best they could do was to produce a simple “s” sound. This is true today. My Indian brothers have difficulty producing the “v” sound; it comes out more like a “w” sound. Other races have their own unique pronunciation problems. There are sounds in Spanish that I cannot even begin to approximate.

So, when a person came to one of the fords of the Jordan River, they were asked if they were an Ephraimite. Naturally, an Ephraimite would deny their origins because they knew that they would be killed if they admitted to being one of the enemy. And so those who denied being Ephraimites were given a simple test, “Say ‘Shibboleth.’” A non-Ephraimite could easily do so, but no matter how hard an Ephraimite might try, the best they could do was to say “Sibboleth” (without the “sh” sound). And when they did so, they were executed. In all, 42,000 Ephraimites died in this conflict.

Jephthah’s period of service as a judge in Israel was short – a mere six years. When he died, he was buried in one of the towns of Gilead.

Conclusion

Our text contains many lessons, directly and by way of inference. Let me conclude by suggesting a few areas of application.

First, our text teaches us the importance of history. It is interesting and significant to me that in both instances in our text, when Israel went to war it was due, in part, to a distortion of the facts of history. The king of the Ammonites sought to wage war with Jephthah and Israel because he believed (or at least claimed to believe) that centuries earlier the Israelites had forcibly taken possession of Ammonite territory. Jephthah’s diplomatic efforts were based largely on a corrected view of history. Israel had not taken Ammonite territory; Balak chose not to fight with Israel, and 300 years had passed without a challenge to Israel’s possession of this land. History also warned the king of the Ammonites regarding his rejection of Israel’s reasonable diplomacy. He would be well advised not to reject Jephthah’s words and not to engage the people of God in battle. History should have taught him that this was folly.

So, too, the Ephraimites should have learned to recall history correctly and not attempt to revise it to suit their desires and ambitions. They should have learned a lesson from their confrontation with Gideon years before. Likewise, they should have rightly recalled how things actually happened in the present conflict. Jephthah did summon them and ask for their help, but they did not join in the battle. Now, they wanted to share in the glory that belonged only to God. An accurate understanding of history would have saved the Ephraimites from losing face, and 42,000 men.

We are now living in times when many feel a great freedom to adapt and modify history to suit their own ideologies and practices. Some have been so brazen as to attempt to deny the historicity of the holocaust. Others have twisted the truth regarding the terrorist attack on 9/11. We may not bend and distort history to suit our own ends. It is a correct view of history that sets us straight. No wonder the Bible is filled with history. Let us embrace God’s Word as the basis for our understanding of history, as well as being the source of the only message by which men may experience the forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life.

Second, our text teaches us that words really do matter. The title of this message is “Words Matter.” The words of Scripture which record the history of God’s dealings with Israel matter. The words of Jephthah’s vow mattered. Had he chosen his words more carefully, it would not have cost him his daughter. Words mattered to those Ephraimites who attempted to cross the Jordan River, and who tried to say the word “Shibboleth.”

The Scriptures have much to say about the importance of our words:

Death and life are in the power of the tongue,

and those who love its use will eat its fruit (Proverbs 18:21).

“Let your word be ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no.’ More than this is from the evil one” (Matthew 5:37).

“I tell you that on the day of judgment, people will give an account for every worthless word they speak” (Matthew 12:36).

Our words, like those of Jephthah, can have unintended consequences. I am convinced that Jephthah never intended that his words would cost him his daughter, but that is what happened. I know that my words have many unintended consequences. This past week the House of Representatives narrowly passed a nearly 2,000-page health care reform bill. It is frightening to me to think of all the intentional consequences of such a bill, but can you imagine the immensity of unintentional consequences this monstrous bill will have? No wonder Proverbs contains a warning concerning many words:

When words abound, transgression is inevitable,

but the one who restrains his words is wise (Proverbs 10:19).

Now think about the Bible, with all of its pages and many words. If it were merely a fallible book written by men and containing human error, how would we ever be able to stake our present and eternal well being on such a book? Words do matter, and no words matter more than the words of Scripture:

But he answered, “It is written, ‘Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God’” (Matthew 4:4).

“You study the scriptures thoroughly because you think in them you possess eternal life, and it is these same scriptures that testify about me” (John 5:39).

God’s Word is inspired, inerrant, relevant, and reliable. His words are without error, so that we can trust them (and the God they present) without hesitation:

“Look, today I am about to die. You know with all your heart and being that not even one of all the faithful promises the Lord your God made to you is left unfulfilled; every one was realized – not one promise is unfulfilled! (Joshua 23:14; see also 1 Kings 8:56).

The Lord’s words are absolutely reliable.

They are as untainted as silver purified in a furnace on the ground,

where it is thoroughly refined (Psalm 12:6).

5 Every word of God is purified;

he is like a shield for those who take refuge in him (Proverbs 30:5).

1 After God spoke long ago in various portions and in various ways to our ancestors through the prophets, 2 in these last days he has spoken to us in a son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he created the world. 3 The Son is the radiance of his glory and the representation of his essence, and he sustains all things by his powerful word, and so when he had accomplished cleansing for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high (Hebrews 1:1-3).

1 Therefore we must pay closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. 2 For if the message spoken through angels proved to be so firm that every violation or disobedience received its just penalty, 3 how will we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was first communicated through the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard him, 4 while God confirmed their witness with signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will (Hebrews 2:1-4).

Third, a society which is in decay has a declining respect for women. This observation came to me from my friend, Don Curtis. As we were discussing this text, Don informed me that his son, Aaron, had recently taught the Book of Judges. Don said that Aaron had observed a declining respect for women in Judges. As I think about it, this makes a lot of sense. We begin with a prize winner like Deborah, a woman all could respect. But then we come to Jephthah’s daughter, who is sacrificed because of her father’s foolish vow. But if this is not bad enough, the book will end with a Levite casting his concubine out of doors to satisfy the perverted desires of the townsmen. And then he will heartlessly summon the woman to get up from the threshold where she lies dead, only to cut her into pieces and send them throughout Israel.

In our society, some women feel that they are just now beginning to come into their own. They are enjoying things that women a few years ago would not have imagined obtaining. And yet I cannot avoid the strong sense that as much as it appears that women are gaining greater status in our country, just the opposite is taking place. I fear that women are actually valued less, that they are receiving a declining respect in our world, particularly by men. If so, this is yet another evidence of the decline of our nation.

Fourth, the degree to which we are shocked by how far Jephthah would go to honor his vow is a measure of how lightly we take vows today. Think about that for a moment. We wonder why Jephthah did not find some way to break his vow, and yet even his daughter encouraged him to keep his vow. Our vows today mean very little, because we are nothing like Jephthah in our commitment to keep our vows. The divorce rate in our country (even among Christians) is a reflection of our lack of commitment to keep our promises.

13 You also do this: You cover the altar of the Lord with tears as you weep and groan, because he no longer pays any attention to the offering nor accepts it favorably from you. 14 Yet you ask, “Why?” The Lord is testifying against you on behalf of the wife you married when you were young, to whom you have become unfaithful even though she is your companion and wife by law. 15 No one who has even a small portion of the Spirit in him does this. What did our ancestor do when seeking a child from God? Be attentive, then, to your own spirit, for one should not be disloyal to the wife he took in his youth. 16 “I hate divorce,” says the Lord God of Israel, “and the one who is guilty of violence,” says the Lord who rules over all. “Pay attention to your conscience, and do not be unfaithful” (Malachi 2:13-16).

Fifth, our text cautions us regarding making heroes of men. There is only one True Deliverer, only One who is worthy of our worship and our praise. If we are looking for heroes in the Book of Judges, we are destined for disappointment. The more closely we look at Israel’s judges, the more obvious their flaws become. Put candidly, almost all of Israel’s judges (who are described in any detail) are jerks. They have weaknesses and besetting sins. We should learn from these leaders that all leaders – every one of them – have flaws. If we look long and hard enough, we will see them. Some are so obvious we don’t even have to look hard to see them.

We dare not idolize men, for we will surely be disappointed. But we can be encouraged as we see the kind of instruments God uses to achieve His purposes. He uses homemade swords wielded by left-handed men, tent pegs, ox goads, and mill stones. He uses plain and ordinary people like Jael and the woman with the mill stone. When God uses the simple and even foolish things to achieve His purposes, then it is only He who should receive the glory. Let us be encouraged by the kinds of people God uses to achieve His purposes.

God saves those who are unworthy of salvation, not because of men’s works but solely because of God’s mercy and grace. Are you not amazed to find men like Gideon, Barak, Samson, and Jephthah, and women like Rahab in the “hall of faith” (Hebrews 11)? It is not the greatness of our deeds, but the gracious work of God in the person of Jesus Christ, that saves unworthy sinners. Jesus bore the penalty for our sins on the cross of Calvary. He offers the forgiveness of sins and the promise of eternal life to all who place their trust in Christ Jesus and His work on their behalf. He is the Hero! He is the only Deliverer who can deliver condemned sinners from the penalty of death. Have you acknowledged your sin and placed your trust in Him alone for your salvation? If not, I plead with you to do so, for your eternal well being.

1 Copyright © 2009 by Robert L. Deffinbaugh. This is the edited manuscript of Lesson 12 in the series, The Dark Days of Israel’s Judges, prepared by Robert L. Deffinbaugh on November 1, 2009. Anyone is at liberty to use this lesson for educational purposes only, with or without credit.

2 Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the NET Bible. The NEW ENGLISH TRANSLATION, also known as THE NET BIBLE, is a completely new translation of the Bible, not a revision or an update of a previous English version. It was completed by more than twenty biblical scholars who worked directly from the best currently available Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts. The translation project originally started as an attempt to provide an electronic version of a modern translation for electronic distribution over the Internet and on CD (compact disk). Anyone anywhere in the world with an Internet connection will be able to use and print out the NET Bible without cost for personal study. In addition, anyone who wants to share the Bible with others can print unlimited copies and give them away free to others. It is available on the Internet at: www.netbible.org.

3 The consensus of those commentaries that I have consulted is that these “outside” marriages were outside the clan or tribe, but not outside of Israel. Personally, I’m not so certain that the language limits “outsiders” to merely those outside the clan or tribe. The author felt it worth mentioning.

4 I see this as early as Genesis 14 in the alliances that exist among the Canaanite “kings.” These kings do not rule over large areas or great populations, but over city states.

5 See Judges 2:11; 3:12; 4:1; 10:6; 13:1.

6 As when the Israelites who were ruled by Abimelech served Baal-Berith or El-Berith.

7 See 1 Kings 11:1-6.

8 Baals is plural here because the surrounding nations (and the Canaanites within) served different variations of Baal. For example, we have just seen Baal-Berith, Baal of the Covenant in chapter 9.

9 See Psalm 3:8; Jonah 2:9.

10 Compare this with the Israelites’ question in 1:1. There they inquired of the Lord as to who should lead the attack. Here, they speak to one another about it. Israel’s repentance is not what it should be for they are not asking for God’s guidance, but are seeking to handle this matter among themselves.

11 This expression is also used of those who were the hirelings of Abimelech in Judges 9:4.

12 Only Gideon (6:12) and Jephthah (11:1) are designated as such in Judges.

13 As Jephthah indicates, neither the Edomites nor the Moabites gave the Israelites permission to pass through their land – even though Israel offered to pay for anything they consumed in their country. Rather than engaging their relatives in battle, the Israelites took a less direct route around them to avoid conflict.

14 See Deuteronomy 2:1-23.

15 Dale Ralph Davis has a very helpful footnote on the geography of the lands involved here. See Dale Ralph Davis, Such a Great Salvation: Expositions of the Book of Judges (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1990), p. 143, fn. 6.

16 The map section at the back of many Bibles will show the relationship of Ammon to the land of the Amorites, Moabites, and Edomites.

17 See Deuteronomy 3:12-17.

18 See Deuteronomy 2:24-36.

19 K. Lawson Younger has an interesting observation here. He points out that Jephthah’s whole defense serves as a warning to this Ammonite king. As Jephthah has sent messengers to seek a peaceful solution to this matter, so Moses sent messengers to the Amorite kings. And when these kings refused to be reasonable and chose rather to attack, God gave Israel the victory. See K. Lawson Younger Jr., Judges and Ruth (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2002), p. 256.

20 Making vows was common enough that Absalom’s request to fulfill his vow in 2 Samuel 15:7-8 was not doubted.

21 There are those who think that Jephthah may have purposely worded his vow broadly enough to include human sacrifice. I’m not convinced of this.

22 See Genesis 22:10-14.

23 I have considered the fact that Jephthah’s daughter mourned her virginity and the fact that she could never marry and bear children, but such would be the case if her ability to bear children was terminated when she was sacrificed.

24 See 2 Chronicles 25:10.

25 See Judges 11:1.

26 Verses 24-25.

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[Garland-Green]

Samson's Silver Spoon (Judges 13:1-25)


Introduction

You may very well wonder why I chose the title, “Samson’s Silver Spoon.” It is because I have chosen to make use of the expression, “He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth.” By this we are referring to someone who was born with all the advantages one could hope for. Usually this would include a powerful and influential family and more than adequate financial resources. In other words, someone who is “born with a silver spoon in his mouth” is a person who has all the advantages and is thus more likely to be successful.

Surely Samson would fall into this category of being born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Gideon claimed a disadvantage by virtue of being the youngest child in his family and being born into an insignificant clan (a claim which appears to be false). Abimelech had the disadvantage of 70 brothers who were born of his father’s wives, while he was the son of a concubine. Jephthah had the even greater disadvantage of having a mother who was a prostitute. But when we come to Samson in Judges 13, we find a man who is born into a godly family, whose miraculous birth was announced by a two-fold visit by the Angel of the Lord, and in whom the Spirit of God is at work. With such advantages, one can hardly imagine Samson being a failure.

The purpose of this message is to focus on the author’s rather lengthy introduction of Samson, one that requires all of Judges 13. This introduction is the most lengthy and detailed introduction of any of Israel’s judges. More attention is devoted to Samson than to any other judge in this book. We would do well to discover why the author felt this lengthy introduction was necessary. We should also note that Samson is the last of the judges that will be described in the Book of Judges.2

I would make two suggestions to the reader who desires to get the most out of this text and the three chapters that follow (which are devoted to Samson). First, set aside almost everything you remember about Samson that you have learned from children’s Bible story books or Sunday School. They have “cleaned up” Samson to the point that we would not recognize him if we saw him. Second, read the account as though you are doing so for the first time. Try not to dwell on chapters 14-16 until after you have carefully considered chapter 13. I have purposed to cover the life of Samson in three lessons. This first lesson will concentrate on the author’s introduction to Samson in chapter 13. In the second lesson, I will focus on Samson and his failed love life with the woman at Timnah in chapters 14 and 15. In the third message on Samson, we will be dealing with Samson and Delilah and the consequences of this relationship as described in chapter 16.

The Nazirite Vow

There is really no way to understand the life of Samson without knowing something about the Nazirite vow. The vow and its requirements are set forth in Numbers 6:1-21. Here’s the essence of the teaching of that text:

The Nazirite vow is a voluntary vow of separation unto God, which can be made by either a man or a woman.

The Nazirite vow is normally a temporary vow, one made for that period of time which the individual stipulates at the beginning of the vow.3

The person making the vow must abstain not only from wine, but from everything derived from the grape vine. This would include grape juice, grape skins, grape seeds, and raisins.

The person making the vow must avoid contact with anything dead, even family members.

If any defilement occurs during the period of the vow, the individual must go through a cleansing process and then begin the vow period all over.

The person making the Nazirite vow must also abstain from cutting their hair for the period of time the vow is in effect. Once the stipulated period has ended, sacrifices are offered to God, and the hair is cut off and offered up on the sacrificial fire as well.

Israel’s Spiritual Condition in Samson’s Day

Judges 13:1
The Israelites again did evil in the Lord’s sight, so the Lord handed them over to the Philistines for forty years (Judges 13:1).4

I believe it is safe to say that whatever evil the Israelites are now committing, it is worse than at an earlier time:

19 When a leader died, the next generation would again act more wickedly than the previous one. They would follow after other gods, worshiping them and bowing down to them. They did not give up their practices or their stubborn ways (Judges 2:19, emphasis mine).

Based on this premise, we may assume that Israel’s disobedience is even worse than this earlier description of their sin recorded in chapter 10:

6 The Israelites again did evil in the Lord’s sight. They worshiped the Baals and the Ashtars, as well as the gods of Syria, Sidon, Moab, the Ammonites, and the Philistines. They abandoned the Lord and did not worship him. 7 The Lord was furious with Israel and turned them over to the Philistines and Ammonites (Judges 10:6-8 ).

The period of oppression in chapter 10 was 18 years (verse 8 ). Now, the period of Philistine domination is 40 years. Thus, the author must be referring to another, later, time period.

It may be important for the reader to recognize what is not said in the first verse of chapter 13, though it is found in earlier chapters. The author does not describe this period of domination as horribly cruel and oppressive as, for example, it was in chapter 6,5 or in chapter 10.6 Neither are we told (as we were earlier in Judges) that the Israelites “cried out” to God, either in repentance or in a plea for help.

What I am about to say is inferential (some might even say “speculative”), rather than propositional (a truth based upon a clear statement in the Bible). Nevertheless, it does seem that the author has some reason for not referring to any great anguish or agony on Israel’s part and for not mentioning (as he has in the past) that the Israelites cried out to God for deliverance.

I am inclined to conclude from the author’s silence on these matters that the Israelites were content (or at least complacent) with regard to their domination by the Philistines. Why would this be? Let me suggest some possible reasons.

Considerable time (40 years) has passed, and the Israelites may simply have gotten used to Philistine domination. (In New Testament times, how many Israelites were crying out to God for deliverance when they were subjected to Roman rule?)

Domination by the Philistines would mean that the Israelites would enjoy a measure of stability, as well as protection from the other nations which surrounded them. A number of years ago, there were some who would have said, “Better Red (under communist rule) than dead.” Some Israelites may have been thinking, “Better a Philistine than dead.”

Philistine rule provided the opportunity to worship any number of gods. Religious pluralism may have sounded sweet to some wayward Israelites.

The Philistines, like the other Canaanite peoples, were serious in their pursuit of sensual pleasure. Their (im)morality and their religion actually promoted sensuality. And thus there were undoubtedly some Israelites who endured (if not enjoyed) Philistine domination, simply because it was more fun than fundamentalism (pun intentional).

Sadly, Israel’s apathy with regard to their political and moral bondage is not that difficult for someone today to understand because we see a very similar perspective in our country today. Over the last few decades, our constitutionally-guaranteed freedoms have been eroded away by government intervention, legislation, and high court interpretation. Many people have not protested (loudly enough) because of the benefits they supposed they were gaining from government domination and encroachment. And now we see giant strides being taken to suppress our liberties even further, and all too many Americans are willing to let it happen because of the benefits they believe they are gaining. Let us learn from Israel’s mistakes.

The First Angelic Visitation

Judges 13:2-7
2 There was a man named Manoah from Zorah, from the Danite tribe. His wife was infertile and childless. 3 The Lord’s angelic messenger appeared to the woman and said to her, “You are infertile and childless, but you will conceive and have a son. 4 Now be careful! Do not drink wine or beer, and do not eat any food that will make you ritually unclean. 5 Look, you will conceive and have a son. You must never cut his hair, for the child will be dedicated to God from birth. He will begin to deliver Israel from the power of the Philistines.” 6 The woman went and said to her husband, “A man sent from God came to me! He looked like God’s angelic messenger – he was very awesome. I did not ask him where he came from, and he did not tell me his name. 7 He said to me, ‘Look, you will conceive and have a son. So now, do not drink wine or beer and do not eat any food that will make you ritually unclean. For the child will be dedicated to God from birth till the day he dies’” (Judges 13:2-7).

We are first introduced to Samson’s father, Manoah, who comes from the tribe of Dan. He had a wife, but we are never given her name. To me, she is simply “Mrs. Manoah.” Mrs. Manoah was barren, and so she and her husband had no children. We don’t know if they were elderly, as was the case with some others in the Bible with a similar condition.7

The Angel of the Lord appeared to Mrs. Manoah even though there is no indication that she petitioned the Lord for a child. The Angel spoke to the woman, informing her that although she was barren, she would soon give birth to a son. The Angel then gave her instructions regarding the boy’s prenatal care, as well as his lifestyle after his birth. The woman was not to drink any alcoholic beverages, nor to eat any unclean food. The boy’s hair was never to be cut. If it was not already clear to her, these instructions were an indication that her son would be a Nazirite from birth. He would also begin to deliver Israel from the Philistines.

It is worth noting here that Mrs. Manoah’s conduct and prenatal care were required because her child would be a Nazirite “from birth.” It is not that difficult to conclude that God regarded this woman’s fetus to be a human being, and thus she was instructed to commence the practices of a Nazirite while the child was still in her womb. Life begins in the womb. It is just that simple. The words of the Angel of the Lord make it clear that it is so.8

There is one more thing that we should note from the Angel’s words to Mrs. Manoah. Her son, who was to be a Nazirite for his lifetime, would “begin” to deliver Israel from the Philistines (verse 5). There will be other deliverers who will carry on this task, but it is Samson who will begin the process, which will continue after his death.

Mrs. Manoah went to her husband to tell him what she had just seen and heard. She told Manoah that a “man of God” came to her and that his appearance was like that of an angel. In her words, He was awesome. There was something about him that distinguished him from mere men. Not only was this person awesome, He was also mysterious. She did not ask His name or where He came from, and neither did He tell her. She reasoned that He must be an angel.

She went on to tell her husband what the Angel did say. He told her that she would conceive and bear a son. He also instructed her that she must not drink wine or fermented beverages, and she must not eat any unclean food. This was because her child was to be a Nazirite his entire life – from womb to tomb.

At this point, it is necessary for us to pause for a moment to make a few observations. First, note that Samson’s status as a Nazirite was neither voluntary (on his part), nor was it temporary (as it usually was). Samson’s function as a Nazirite was imposed upon him by God. Second, Mrs. Manoah was required to be a participant in Samson’s practice as a Nazirite. As noted before, this is because Samson was a living human being the entire time he was in her womb, and so the Nazirite restrictions had to apply to her during her pregnancy. Third, the Angel of the Lord is merely recognized as a “run of the mill” (i.e., ordinary) angel at this point in time. It is later that both Manoah and his wife recognize Who they are dealing with. Fourth, even though Numbers 6 is emphatic about a Nazirite not having contact with the dead, nothing is said of that in our text.

Fifth, we should note that while nothing is said regarding contact with the dead, something is said about refraining from foods that are ceremonially unclean.9 Nothing is said about unclean foods in the instructions pertaining to the Nazirite vow in Numbers 6 because all Israelites were to avoid unclean foods. One taking the Nazirite vow was going above and beyond the standards of conduct followed by the average Israelite. Under the Law of Moses, no Israelite was permitted to eat unclean food.10 Now, unclean foods are specifically prohibited in the case of Mrs. Manoah and Samson. Why would it be necessary to forbid them to eat unclean foods? I believe it is because of the apostasy and idolatry of the Israelites. Food and drink were an essential part of heathen worship, and thus in order to worship with the Philistines, one would eat their unclean foods. It would appear that the Israelites were regularly eating unclean foods, and so for a Nazirite to be set apart to God, it was necessary to apply this general prohibition to Samson and his mother specifically.

The Second Angelic Visitation

Judges 13:8-23
8 Manoah prayed to the Lord, “Please, Lord, allow the man sent from God to visit us again, so he can teach us how we should raise the child who will be born.” 9 God answered Manoah’s prayer. God’s angelic messenger visited the woman again while she was sitting in the field. But her husband Manoah was not with her. 10 The woman ran at once and told her husband, “Come quickly, the man who visited me the other day has appeared to me!” 11 So Manoah got up and followed his wife. When he met the man, he said to him, “Are you the man who spoke to my wife?” He said, “Yes.” 12 Manoah said, “Now, when your announcement comes true, how should the child be raised and what should he do?” 13 The Lord’s messenger told Manoah, “Your wife should pay attention to everything I told her. 14 She should not drink anything that the grapevine produces. She must not drink wine or beer, and she must not eat any food that will make her ritually unclean. She should obey everything I commanded her to do.” 15 Manoah said to the Lord’s messenger, “Please stay here awhile, so we can prepare a young goat for you to eat.” 16 The Lord’s messenger said to Manoah, “If I stay, I will not eat your food. But if you want to make a burnt sacrifice to the Lord, you should offer it.” (He said this because Manoah did not know that he was the Lord’s messenger.) 17 Manoah said to the Lord’s messenger, “Tell us your name, so we can honor you when your announcement comes true.” 18 The Lord’s messenger said to him, “You should not ask me my name, because you cannot comprehend it.” 19 Manoah took a young goat and a grain offering and offered them on a rock to the Lord. The Lord’s messenger did an amazing thing as Manoah and his wife watched. 20 As the flame went up from the altar toward the sky, the Lord’s messenger went up in it while Manoah and his wife watched. They fell facedown to the ground.

21 The Lord’s messenger did not appear again to Manoah and his wife. After all this happened Manoah realized that the visitor had been the Lord’s messenger. 22 Manoah said to his wife, “We will certainly die, because we have seen a supernatural being!” 23 But his wife said to him, “If the Lord wanted to kill us, he would not have accepted the burnt offering and the grain offering from us. He would not have shown us all these things, or have spoken to us like this just now” (Judges 13:8-23).

The way I read our text, Manoah and his wife were godly people living in an ungodly world, albeit an ungodly Israelite world. Manoah prayed that God would send the Angelic Messenger another time, so that he might hear from Him how this promised child was to be raised. I’m delighted to see that Manoah did not question God’s ability to give them a son, as did Zacharias.11 He assumed that the promise of a child would be fulfilled, and this is the reason why he wanted further instruction regarding the raising of this special child. Graciously, the Angel appears to Mrs. Manoah a second time while she is out in the field. The woman hurries to find her husband, and then reports that the One who had appeared to her earlier had appeared to her once again.

Following his wife, Manoah came upon their mysterious and majestic visitor. Manoah asked the Angel if he was the One who had spoken to his wife earlier, to which He answered, “I am.” When one sees an “I Am” in the Bible, it does strike a familiar note, doesn’t it?12 And who better to say this than the Angel of the Lord?

Now Manoah has his opportunity for a bit of Question and Answer, and so he sets forth his question.

Manoah said, “Now, when your announcement comes true, how should the child be raised and what should he do?” (Judges 13:12)

The NET Bible seems to paraphrase here, perhaps on the basis of verse 8. Other translations take Manoah’s words in a more strictly literal way:

Manoah said, “Now when your words come to pass, what shall be the boy's mode of life and his vocation?” (NAU)

Then Manoah asked, “When Your words come true, what will the boy's responsibilities and mission be?” (CSB)

And Manoah said, “Now when your words come true, what is to be the child's manner of life, and what is his mission?” (ESV)

Manoah said, “Now let Your words come to pass! What will be the boy’s rule of life, and his work?” (NKJ)

As I see it, the two questions are really intertwined. Manoah begins by asking the Angel what the boy’s life calling and ministry will be, and this also raises the question of how this child should be raised. Let’s face it; if the boy is going to grow up to be a musician, his training will be different than if he is going to be a computer technician. That is why colleges have (or used to have) “majors.” Students “major” in the subject areas which are most applicable to the career for which they are preparing. Manoah wants to know what God has in mind for this boy, as well as some instructions regarding how to prepare him for his calling.

Here’s the interesting thing about the Angel’s answer – He evades giving a direct answer to the question. Indeed, the Angel’s answer is to repeat and reiterate His previous instructions to Manoah’s wife. He adds nothing further to His previous statements about the boy’s calling. I think there is a good reason for the Angel’s evasion. Ideally, Samson would have turned out to be a man like Samuel. After all, Samuel judged Israel in years to come. But Samuel was a godly man, and his “judging” was quite different than that of Samson. The chapters which follow will show us that his life was vastly different from that of Samuel. Why tell Samson’s parents that their son will become a self-centered, flesh-driven man whose judging will be the result of his anger and retaliation? That will be evident to them soon enough and knowing this ahead of time might discourage them from putting forth their best efforts in raising Samson.

Not getting very far with his first question, Manoah takes a different tack with his next two questions. First, he invites the Angel to stay for dinner. Some have accused Manoah of being manipulative here, but I don’t see it that way at all. Abraham invited his three guests for dinner in Genesis 18,13 just as Lot invited the two angels to eat with him in chapter 19.14 This was just good Middle Eastern hospitality. Nevertheless, the Angel declined the offer of a meal, but did encourage the offering of a sacrifice, much as Gideon had done in chapter 6 (resulting in a similarly impressive event):

17 Gideon said to him, “If you really are pleased with me, then give me a sign as proof that it is really you speaking with me. 18 Do not leave this place until I come back with a gift and present it to you.” The Lord said, “I will stay here until you come back.” 19 Gideon went and prepared a young goat, along with unleavened bread made from an ephah of flour. He put the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot. He brought the food to him under the oak tree and presented it to him. 20 God’s messenger said to him, “Put the meat and unleavened bread on this rock, and pour out the broth.” Gideon did as instructed. 21 The Lord’s messenger touched the meat and the unleavened bread with the tip of his staff. Fire flared up from the rock and consumed the meat and unleavened bread. The Lord’s messenger then disappeared. 22 When Gideon realized that it was the Lord’s messenger, he said, “Oh no! Master, Lord! I have seen the Lord’s messenger face to face!” (Judges 6:17-22, emphasis mine)

At this point, Manoah still does not recognize this “angel” as the Angel of the Lord. He is certainly curious about His identity, however, and so he asks the angel for his name, so that they can honor him once the child is born. It sounds like a reasonable request, but the angel is still unwilling to identify Himself, and so he side-steps the question by asking Manoah why he wants to know, adding that His name is beyond comprehension. Wow! That should have gotten Manoah’s attention. What happens when Manoah offers the sacrifice sets aside all of his questions and produces an appropriate sense of awe and fear.

Manoah took a young goat and sacrificed it on a rock.15 As he did so, an amazing thing happened as Manoah and his wife looked on. The Angel of the Lord ascended into heaven in the flames that blazed up from the sacrifice. Were these flames ignited by the Angel, as they were with Gideon’s offering? The author does not say this specifically, although the same Hebrew word is used to depict the flames “going up” from the sacrifice.16

I can imagine Manoah and his wife standing there, gazing up into the sky (as the disciples did when Jesus ascended into the heavens) waiting to see if He would return to earth. When it became obvious that He would not return, Manoah concluded that this had been no ordinary angel; this was none other than the Angel of the Lord. This was God!

Manoah knew that no one could see God and live,17 and so he reasoned that he and his wife were as good as dead, since they had seen God. Mrs. Manoah is the voice of reason here, while Manoah is in a panic. Her reasoning is based upon common sense. God had accepted their sacrifice. In addition to this, although they had seen God, they were still alive. If God had meant to kill them, He would not have accepted their sacrifice, and He would not have allowed them to live this long. Neither would He have told them that they were going to have a child. Dead people don’t bear and raise children.

The Birth and Growth of Samson

Judges 13:24-25
24 Then the woman gave birth to a son and named him Samson; and the child grew up and the Lord blessed him. 25 And the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol (Judges 13:24-25, NASB95).

And so it was that when Manoah’s wife gave birth to a son, she named him Samson. The author wants us to know two things about Samson’s growing years. First, he experienced God’s blessings as he grew up. We don’t really know what all was included in the blessings God showered upon Samson in his youth, but we can say that Samson experienced the blessings of God. I am convinced in my own mind that these blessings included far more than mere brute strength, which would have been a mere sampling of things to come. I believe that God’s blessings would have included both spiritual and material benefits.

Second, we are told that “the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him.” Every other time the Spirit comes upon Samson in the Book of Judges, he becomes a powerful killing machine.18 But here we are not told that the Spirit “came upon” Samson; we are told instead that the Spirit of the Lord began to “stir” him. It is my opinion that the Spirit’s work here may be similar to what Stephen described in the life of Moses:

23 “But when he was about forty years old, it entered his mind to visit his fellow countrymen the Israelites. 24 When he saw one of them being hurt unfairly, Moses came to his defense and avenged the person who was mistreated by striking down the Egyptian. 25 He thought his own people would understand that God was delivering them through him, but they did not understand. 26 The next day Moses saw two men fighting, and tried to make peace between them, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers; why are you hurting one another?’” (Acts 7:23-26)

I believe that God’s Spirit was at work in Samson to give him a heart for the Israelites and to yearn for their deliverance from bondage to the Philistines. I believe God was prompting Samson to love and to worship Him, rather than the Philistine gods. The Spirit may well have been bearing witness to the teaching of his parents. It is also possible that in addition to these things, the Spirit of God actually empowered Samson to engage the Philistines in battle, but for more pious reasons than we shall see in later times.

Conclusion

A good while ago I was speaking at a banquet. I had chosen to speak using Barnabas as an example for all to follow in their ministries. I was nearing the “punch line” of my sermon when one dear sister, sitting at the back of the room, saw where I was going next in my message. At just the right moment she almost involuntarily uttered, “Ohhhhhh. . . .” Obviously, I can’t give you the exact intonation of what she said, but the essence of it was this: “I can see it coming; here it is . . . .” She was absolutely right, and her timing could not have been more perfect.

That’s the way I feel as I read the last verse of chapter 13. If I had not read chapters 14-16, I would have expected great things of Samson – or should I say greater things of Samson. Here is a man whose birth was a miracle, and it was announced by a two-fold appearance of the Angel of the Lord. He was born into a godly home and raised (so far as we can tell) in a way that honored God. During his childhood, he experienced the blessing of God and was “stirred” by the Spirit of the Lord. Who could ask for any better beginning than this? That is why I chose the title, “Samson’s Silver Spoon.” Samson had been blessed with every advantage, and thus we anticipate great things from him in the following chapters.

But our high hopes are about to be dashed on the rocks of reality in chapters 14-16. While God will use Samson to break the Philistines’ grip on Israel, he is not a deliverer that we will be proud of (no matter how much we seek to clean up Samson’s image in our children’s Bible story books). Samson will kill his thousands, but his motivations are primarily anger and revenge, based upon his frustrated efforts to indulge himself with illegitimate pleasures.

There are many lessons to learn from Samson, and one of them is this: Starting well does not assure that one will end well. All too often those who start well finish badly. Think of David, for example. We meet him as a youth, standing bravely before Goliath in the name of the Lord.19 We see his integrity and faith in God when he refuses to take the life of his king, even though Saul is seeking to kill him.20 And yet, later on, this same David will abuse his power by taking another man’s wife and ordering the death of her husband to cover his sin.21 In his final days, David is reluctant to hand the government over to his son Solomon, oblivious to the fact that another son, Adonijah, is in the process of seizing the throne.22 The same thing could be said for Solomon and many others. Starting well is a wonderful thing, but ending well is far better.

Sadly, the cause of Samson’s failure remains as the number one cause of failure in Christian leaders (and others) today. How many leaders have become addicted to power and to fleshly lusts? How many leaders have been disqualified because of their sexual immorality? Wine, women, and song destroy leaders. That is why King Lemuel is warned about the dangers of wine.23 David and Solomon both found women to be their downfall. In the New Testament, Peter will warn that false teachers are dominated by fleshly lusts, and they lure others by the offer of fleshly indulgence.24 What ruined Samson continues to ruin Christians (and many others) today.

In this regard, Samson typifies the nation Israel.25 Israel had a great beginning just as Samson did. At the “birthing” of the nation Israel, God miraculously demonstrated His power over Pharaoh, the Egyptian army, and the no-gods of Egypt. He powerfully delivered Israel from her Egyptian bondage, parting the Red Sea in such a way as to deliver the Israelites and at the same time destroy the Egyptians who were in hot pursuit. He supernaturally provided for His people while they were in the desert. He gave the Israelites His law, making a covenant with them. He put His Spirit in their midst and led them to the Promised Land. He drove the Canaanites out of the Promised Land and gave His people possession of this land. And yet when we look at Israel in the Book of Judges, they were behaving just like Samson. They were seeking their own pleasures and turning their backs on God.26 They were not finishing well. If it were not for a gracious and merciful, covenant-keeping God, Israel would not even exist.

The story of Samson is a beautiful example of how God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility inter-mesh. There are many who feel it necessary to embrace one or the other – God’s sovereignty or human responsibility – but not both. But our text demonstrates both principles at work at the same time. Samson is a man who must (and does) make choices. These choices are almost always sinful and self-serving. And yet God purposed and promised that Samson would begin to deliver Israel from bondage to the Philistines. And that is exactly what God did, through a disobedient and pleasure-seeking Samson.

Do not think that God’s sovereignty removes all freedom of choice from men, or accountability for those choices. God’s sovereignty is so complete that He can give men freedom and yet still be in complete control of His world. We who are parents know (or will soon learn) that it is impossible for us to have complete and total control of our children. When we seek to exercise control, we do so by limiting our children’s freedoms. We confine them to their rooms and take away their car keys, cell phones, and computers. But even then we are not in complete control. God is able to give men the freedom to make choices and yet still be in control, so that we are assured that His purposes will be realized. That is illustrated by God’s use of Samson, even though he is sinfully self-indulgent.

The story of Samson in Judges 13 has much to teach us about parenting. In the first place, it reminds us that God is in control of the womb. Whether God gives children, or withholds them, it is He who opens and closes the womb.27 Whether God gives children or withholds them, it is to achieve His purposes and to bring glory to Himself. Secondly, while it is clear that godly parents are to train up their children in the ways of the Lord, doing so is not a guarantee that every child raised by godly parents will become godly.28 With all of the advantages Samson enjoyed, he chose to seek the satisfaction of his fleshly lusts, and yet his fleshly pursuits did not give him the satisfaction he hoped for.

I would also point out that no one is a perfect parent, nor is anyone a perfect evangelist, teacher, or preacher. I do not know of a group of elders who are more committed to obeying our Lord than the elders of Community Bible Chapel. But having said this, I must also add that whatever we do, we do not do it perfectly. When we attempt to correct, we do not do it perfectly. When we exercise discipline, we may look back and wish we had gone about it differently. And when we parent, we will make mistakes. I do not doubt that Samson’s parents made mistakes, but they appear to have desired to be godly parents. Nevertheless, Samson chooses the path that leads to trouble.

This brings me to the matter of idolizing our leaders. If one looks long enough and carefully enough, they will discover flaws in every leader. Some of us make it easier for others to see our faults, but we all have them. We would do well not to idolize men, recognizing that they all have their weaknesses. We should respect and honor our leaders, but we should never look upon them in such a way that our faith is shaken if their faults become evident. I love the way the Bible portrays men honestly and realistically. We see that Abraham was a liar (at times), Jacob a deceiver (all too often), and Samson was a womanizer. Peter was inclined to put his foot in his mouth. Men have feet of clay; only God is the perfect example.

But look at this from another perspective. Look as those whom we find in the “hall of faith” in Hebrews 11. We find Abraham (who sometimes lied), Noah (who got drunk), Moses (who killed a man, and who disobeyed God by striking the rock), Rahab (who had been a prostitute), Gideon, Barak, Samson, and Jephthah, all of whom had their flaws (to put it mildly). Isn’t it wonderful to know that God saves sinners like these folks, declaring them righteous, not because of their perfection, but because they have placed their trust in the promises of God and in the person and work of Jesus Christ?

Ultimately, that is what our author is doing in Judges – He is pointing us to Christ, and not to fallible men. Christ is the ultimate Deliverer, not Gideon or Barak or Jephthah or Samson. God used fallible men to deliver them from their bondage to political oppressors like the Moabites, the Midianites, the Ammonites, and the Philistines. But it will take a perfect Deliverer to rescue men and women from their bondage to sin. If Judges teaches us not to look to mere men for salvation, it also instructs us to look for the One who is the perfect Deliverer – the God/Man, Jesus Christ, who is the coming Messiah. And so just as Samson’s birth is announced to a childless couple, Messiah’s birth is announced by the son of a childless couple – the parents of John the Baptist. And just as Samson’s birth and role as deliverer is announced by an angel (the Angel of the Lord), so the announcement of the birth of Messiah comes by angels. There are just a few men who are declared to be Nazirites for life. The first of these is Samson. A little later, Samuel is dedicated to God as a life-long Nazirite.29 And then a good while later, John the Baptist is appointed to live his life as a Nazirite.30 One might very well wonder why it was John the Baptist who was the Nazirite, and not Jesus:

18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon!’ 19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at him, a glutton and a drunk, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ But wisdom is vindicated by her deeds” (Matthew 11:18-19).

Being set apart as a Nazirite was a symbolic act. It symbolized one’s dedication to God, of being set apart for His service. But the symbol did not produce the reality. Although he was a Nazirite, one could hardly call Samson holy. And while Samuel and John the Baptist were godly men, they were not perfect men. Jesus did not need the symbolic ritual of becoming a Nazirite because He was perfect. He was set apart for service to God. He was set apart from mere men as the perfect God/Man. It was because He was the perfect God/Man that He could come to redeem His people – Jews and Gentiles alike – whoever places their trust in Him. The imperfections of the judges in the Book of Judges point us to Him who is the perfect Deliverer – Jesus Christ. He alone could die in the sinner’s place, bearing his (or her) punishment, and achieving not only the forgiveness of sins but the eternal deliverance and blessing of those who are His, by faith. Judges should not only teach us how bad the men of that day were, but how bad all men (including us) are today, and thus how badly we need God’s deliverance. That deliverance has been accomplished by the Lord Jesus through His death at Calvary, resurrection, and ascension, for all who receive it.

If Judges 13 got our hopes up (so far as Samson is concerned), chapters 14-16 will bring us down to reality. But the good news is that those who place their hope (and faith) in Jesus find that it is even better than they might have imagined. He will never disappoint us. He will never fail. His deliverance is truly “wonderful,” and it lasts forever. I pray that you have placed your trust in Him.

“Kings will be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. They will bow down before you with their faces to the ground; they will lick the dust at your feet. Then you will know that I am the LORD; those who hope in me will not be disappointed” (Isaiah 49:23, NIV, emphasis mine).

To You they cried out and were delivered;

In You they trusted and were not disappointed (Psalm 22:5, NASB95; emphasis mine).

Just as it is written,

“BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE,

AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED” (Romans 9:33, NASB95, emphasis mine).

There is no disappointment in Jesus!

1 Copyright © 2009 by Robert L. Deffinbaugh. This is the edited manuscript of Lesson 14 in the series, The Dark Days of Israel’s Judges, prepared by Robert L. Deffinbaugh on November 8, 2009. Anyone is at liberty to use this lesson for educational purposes only, with or without credit.

2 In 1 Samuel, we are told that Eli (4:18 ), Samuel (7:6, 15-17), and Samuel’s sons (8:1) judged Israel.

3 I can think of two other instances of what we might call “imposed” Nazirite status. The first would be Samuel, whose mother promised God that if He gave her a son he would be a Nazirite all his life (1 Samuel 1:11). Second, Zechariah, the father-to-be of John the Baptist was told that John would be a Nazirite (Luke 1:13-15).

4 Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the NET Bible. The NEW ENGLISH TRANSLATION, also known as THE NET BIBLE, is a completely new translation of the Bible, not a revision or an update of a previous English version. It was completed by more than twenty biblical scholars who worked directly from the best currently available Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts. The translation project originally started as an attempt to provide an electronic version of a modern translation for electronic distribution over the Internet and on CD (compact disk). Anyone anywhere in the world with an Internet connection will be able to use and print out the NET Bible without cost for personal study. In addition, anyone who wants to share the Bible with others can print unlimited copies and give them away free to others. It is available on the Internet at: www.netbible.org.

5 Verses 1-6.

6 Verses 6-16.

7 Sarah was barren and old (Genesis 18:1-15), as was Elizabeth (Luke 1:5-18 ).

8 My thanks to Gordon Graham and others who reminded me of this fact.

9 See verses 4 and 7.

10 See Leviticus 11:1-8.

11 See Luke 1:18.

12 I am particularly thinking of the “I am’s” of the Book of John.

13 See verses 3-8.

14 Verses 1-3.

15 I’m inclined to favor the more literal rendering “the rock.” It seems that there were such designated places where sacrifices were normally made. Was the “one stone” on which the 70 brothers of Abimelech were slaughtered (Judges 9:5, 18 ) such a place?

16 See Judges 6:21.

17 Exodus 33:20.

18 See Judges 14:6, 19; 15:15ff.

19 See 1 Samuel 17.

20 See 1 Samuel 24, 26.

21 See 2 Samuel 11.

22 See 1 Kings 1.

23 See Proverbs 31:4-6.

24 See 2 Peter.

25 I am grateful to Dave Austin , who reminded me of this after I delivered this message.

26 As Paul summarizes in 1 Corinthians 10:1-13.

27 See Genesis 29:31; 30:1-2, 22; 1 Samuel 1:5-6, 12-20; Psalm 127:3; 139:13; Luke 1:5-25.

28 I am well aware of Proverbs 22:6, but as most students of Scripture recognize, Proverbs speaks of what is generally true, so that there are exceptions. As a general rule, those who work hard are more likely to experience prosperity than those who are sluggards, but not every hard working man is prosperous according to this world’s standards. As one surveys the history of Israel’s kings, it becomes evident that godly kings sometimes have ungodly children and that ungodly kings sometimes have godly offspring.

29 1 Samuel 1:9-11.

30 See Luke 1:11-17.

Related Topics: Character Study

Source  

[Garland-Green]

The Lion, the Wench, and the Wardrobe (Judges 14-15)


Introduction

To be honest, I didn’t expect this message to turn out as it did (but then they seldom do). Several weeks ago a good friend suggested that I needed to identify and emphasize the major themes of the Book of Judges and show how these fit into the overall scheme of Scripture. Little did I know that our text for this lesson would provide the occasion to do just that. I believe that this text and its message provide us with a unique means of viewing not only the message of this book, but also the message of the entire Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. I realize that this sounds a bit grandiose, but bear with me and see if this might not be true.

I will begin this message by retelling the story of chapters 14 and 15 so that we see the flow of the author’s argument and view Samson’s “troubles in Timnah” as one piece. Having done this, I will call your attention to a few important details. Finally, I will seek to show how all these pieces fit together to help us understand not only Samson, but the nation Israel (particularly Judah) at this point in time. And having done this, we shall seek to show how this message serves as a key to understanding the Bible as a whole.

Love at First Sight (Literally)

Judges 14:1-4
1 Samson went down to Timnah, where a Philistine girl caught his eye. 2 When he got home, he told his father and mother, “A Philistine girl in Timnah has caught my eye. Now get her for my wife.” 3 But his father and mother said to him, “Certainly you can find a wife among your relatives or among all our people! You should not have to go and get a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines.” But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, because she is the right one for me.” 4 Now his father and mother did not realize this was the Lord’s doing, because he was looking for an opportunity to stir up trouble with the Philistines (for at that time the Philistines were ruling Israel) (Judges 14:1-4)2

We don’t know why Samson needed to travel to Timnah – a town in the land of the Philistines close to the northern border of Judah – but we do know that he saw a woman there and, in Samson’s mind at least, it was “love at first sight”3 – literally. One gets the impression that there was no conversation between Samson and this woman, just visual contact.4 When he returned home, Samson instructed his parents to secure this woman as his wife. This comes across to the reader as a demand, rather than a request.

Samson’s parents were rightly concerned. They would have had concerns had their son been a normal Israelite, but Samson had been designated a Nazirite even before he was conceived. How could he possibly fulfill his mission in life while married to a Philistine woman? And so Mr. and Mrs. Manoah expressed their concerns. Surely there was some young woman from among their tribe, or at least from some Israelite tribe, that he might find as an acceptable wife. Why would he seek a wife from among the uncircumcised Philistines?

Samson will have none of this. He has declared his intent, and he has given his parents their marching orders, and so he orders his father, “Get this woman for me as my wife!” The reason why he is so insistent is given, and it is completely consistent with the author’s description of the Israelites at this point in time: “Get her for me, because she is the right one for me.” The rendering, “she is the right one for me,” is an unfortunate paraphrase in my opinion. Far better to render as the translator’s note (or the rendering of the ESV) reads, “for she is right in my eyes,” a statement which is virtually repeated in verse 7.5 Samson is definitely a man of his times, as the author describes the spiritual condition of the Israelites in this same way:

In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes (Judges 17:6, NASB95).

In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes (Judges 21:25, NASB95).

Family Trip to Timnah

Judges 14:5-7
5 Samson went down to Timnah. When he approached the vineyards of Timnah, he saw a roaring young lion attacking him. 6 The Lord’s spirit empowered him and he tore the lion in two with his bare hands as easily as one would tear a young goat. But he did not tell his father or mother what he had done. 7 Samson continued on down to Timnah and spoke to the girl. In his opinion, she was just the right one (Judges 14:5-7).

For some reason, Samson’s parents are traveling with him to Timnah, but they don’t seem to be “together” as closely as we might assume. They seem to be separated by some distance and time.6 As he is approaching the vineyards7 of Timnah, a young lion rushes toward Samson, determined to kill him. The Spirit of the Lord likewise rushes upon Samson, empowering him to tear this beast limb from limb. When he rejoined his mother and father, he did not bother to mention this lion attack to them. No wonder, the now-dead lion apparently defiled him.8 If so, he should have immediately returned home and undergone the prescribed purification rites, but Samson was too intent upon reaching Timnah and accelerating the process whereby he could be (physically) united with the woman he was so attracted to. And so we are told that Samson continued on to Timnah with his parents. Once there, he talked with the woman (for the first time?), and he liked her (literally, “she was right in Samson’s eyes”).

Why Samson Called Her “Honey”

Judges 14:8-9
8 Some time later, when he went back to marry her, he turned aside to see the lion’s remains. He saw a swarm of bees in the lion’s carcass, as well as some honey. 9 He scooped it up with his hands and ate it as he walked along. When he returned to his father and mother, he offered them some and they ate it. But he did not tell them he had scooped the honey out of the lion’s carcass (Judges 14:8-9).

Samson and his parents make yet another trip to Timnah sometime later. For whatever reason, Samson went out of his way to view the lion’s carcass. Regardless, this would not have been the sort of thing a Nazirite would do. The carcass was defiling. Nevertheless, Samson comes upon the carcass, only to find that a swarm of bees had possessed it, and thus there was a honeycomb and honey that would have been “off limits” to Samson or his parents. That didn’t stop Samson. He scooped up some of the honey and proceeded back to his parents, eating some of it as he went. When he reached them he gave them some of the honey, not bothering to mention the source of this honey, thereby causing them to unknowingly defile themselves.

Wedding Woes

Judges 14:10-20
10 Then Samson’s father accompanied him to Timnah for the marriage. Samson hosted a party there, for this was customary for bridegrooms to do. 11 When the Philistines saw he had no attendants, they gave him thirty groomsmen who kept him company. 12 Samson said to them, “I will give you a riddle. If you really can solve it during the seven days the party lasts, I will give you thirty linen robes and thirty sets of clothes. 13 But if you cannot solve it, you will give me thirty linen robes and thirty sets of clothes.” They said to him, “Let us hear your riddle.” 14 He said to them,

“Out of the one who eats came something to eat;

Out of the strong one came something sweet.”

They could not solve the riddle for three days. 15 On the fourth day they said to Samson’s bride, “Trick your husband into giving the solution to the riddle. If you refuse, we will burn up you and your father’s family. Did you invite us here to make us poor?” 16 So Samson’s bride cried on his shoulder and said, “You must hate me; you do not love me! You told the young men a riddle, but you have not told me the solution.” He said to her, “Look, I have not even told my father or mother. Do you really expect me to tell you?” 17 She cried on his shoulder until the party was almost over. Finally, on the seventh day, he told her because she had nagged him so much. Then she told the young men the solution to the riddle. 18 On the seventh day, before the sun set, the men of the city said to him,

“What is sweeter than honey?

What is stronger than a lion?”

He said to them,

“If you had not plowed with my heifer,

you would not have solved my riddle!”

19 The Lord’s spirit empowered him. He went down to Ashkelon and murdered thirty men. He took their clothes and gave them to the men who had solved the riddle. He was furious as he went back home. 20 Samson’s bride was then given to his best man (Judges 14:10-20).

In one sense, this was probably a typical Near Eastern wedding ceremony. There appears to be a fairly lengthy process which involves the family (especially the father of the groom, as seen in our text). There could well be negotiations regarding a dowry and other matters. Then there would be some kind of formal engagement, and from that time on, the two would be referred to as husband and wife, but the consummation of the marriage would not occur until the couple’s first sexual union. Some details and the actual ceremonies may have differed somewhat between the Israelites and the Philistines, but there would also be much similarity.

Manoah, Samson’s father, met formally with the bride, perhaps accompanied by her parents, and an agreement was reached. The couple now seems to be engaged, and this was to be followed by the customary “bachelor’s party,” which was held in the bride’s home town of Timnah. This was an apparently festive occasion at which time a good deal of alcohol was consumed. We are not told how Samson dealt with the wine and alcohol issue; my sense is that he had his fair share of it, in spite of the fact that he was a Nazirite.

No doubt Samson was prompted by a number of factors (including too much to drink) when he proposed a contest in the form of a riddle which he created, based upon his recent experience with the lion and the honey. Samson would give them a riddle to solve. If they solved it by the end of the celebration (7 days), he would give each of the 30 men a set of clothes (from under wear to outer wear); if they failed to solve the riddle, each of them was obligated to provide Samson with a set of clothing. His 30 groomsmen (provided for him from among the Philistines) accepted the challenge. And this was the riddle:

“Out of the one who eats came something to eat;

Out of the strong one came something sweet” (Judges 14:14).

This riddle turned out to be more difficult than the Philistine men had expected. No doubt their minds were racing as the clock (sundial?) continued to tick. As time passed and no answer was forthcoming, the men became more than a little concerned. They had no intention of putting out the kind of money their loss would require. And so they decided to take a more devious route: they would threaten to do bodily harm to Samson’s wife and her father (who were primarily responsible for their presence) if she did not get the answer from Samson and give it to them.

Samson’s bride knew these men meant what they said, and so she set about her task of getting Samson to reveal the answer to the riddle. She really turned on the charm, and then was forced to resort to tears until she wore him down and he told her the meaning of the riddle. This must have been some week of “celebration.” Samson’s “hired friends” were no doubt sullen and distant toward him and, worse yet, Samson’s wife continued to cry non-stop until she got her way.

By the time he had been hen-pecked for a week, I suspect that his romantic mood was greatly diminished. But what really set Samson off was having these 30 “friends of the groom” come to him with the answer to the riddle in the final moments of their competition:

“What is sweeter than honey?

What is stronger than a lion?”

There was no question in Samson’s mind as to how the riddle was solved. They had acquired the answer by means of his wife. In a way, you have to feel sorry for Samson’s wife. She was not eager to make her husband angry, but she was terrified by the threats of these groomsmen. If I were Samson, I think I’d find a bit more sensitive way to refer to my wife than as “my heifer.” That must have helped to put her in a romantic mood. And so Samson and his wife have their first fight. Samson stomps off in a huff, determined to pay off his debt in a way that would make the Philistines “pay” for their treachery. The Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon (far enough away that those attending the wedding feast would not easily make the connection), and there he killed 30 Philistines, took their clothing, and returned to present an outfit to each of his groomsmen. He then stalked off to his father’s home (rather than to his wife’s room). One can hardly fault the woman’s father for concluding that this marriage was over before it was consummated. And so he gave his daughter to the best man, thinking that was the last he would see of Samson.

Who Took the “Honey” Out of “Honeymoon”?

or

Samson Out-foxes the Philistines

Judges 15:1-5
1 Sometime later, during the wheat harvest, Samson took a young goat as a gift and went to visit his bride. He said to her father, “I want to have sex with my bride in her bedroom!” But her father would not let him enter. 2 Her father said, “I really thought you absolutely despised her, so I gave her to your best man. Her younger sister is more attractive than she is. Take her instead!” 3 Samson said to them, “This time I am justified in doing the Philistines harm!” 4 Samson went and captured three hundred jackals and got some torches. He tied the jackals in pairs by their tails and then tied a torch to each pair. 5 He lit the torches and set the jackals loose in the Philistines’ standing grain. He burned up the grain heaps and the standing grain, as well as the vineyards and olive groves.

Some time passed. I would think this time period could be measured in weeks, rather than in days. Samson had cooled off, and once again he was in a mood for love. Hopefully his “heifer” was also ready to greet him with open arms, but just in case, he brought along a goat as a gift. I’m not going to try to defend Samson here; he was an insensitive brute. Instead of bringing flowers, he brings a goat. But then he didn’t call his wife “honey,” either; rather he called her his “heifer.” This man has a long way to go in the romance department.

Nevertheless, he has romance on his mind. He is now good and ready to consummate his marriage. He has every intention of going to her room, and it wasn’t to look at her scrapbook of wedding pictures. It must have been quite a surprise to be greeted by her father and told that his “wife” was no longer available, that she had been given as a wife to his best man. The father, a real romantic in his own right, tried to soften the blow. He not only explained that he assumed Samson didn’t want his daughter as his wife, but offered his younger, better looking, daughter as her replacement. How much do we expect this poor woman to endure? She’s threatened by 30 Philistine thugs (“rent a friends”), called a “heifer” by her husband, and then spoken of as less attractive than her younger sister. And her troubles are not over yet.

Samson is in no mood for a wife upgrade. He is angry, and he intends to make the Philistines pay for it. It is just a bit difficult to see the connection between the crops of many Philistine farmers and the offense Samson has taken. Why wouldn’t the father of the bride assume Samson was never coming back? Why doesn’t Samson take out his wrath on his wife’s father or her new husband? Somehow Samson takes out his anger on the Philistine farmers. No mention is made of the Spirit coming upon him mightily. Somehow Samson catches 300 foxes (or jackels), attaches them in pairs by binding their tails together, and then he attaches a burning torch to each pair and releases them.

You can probably visualize what happened as you read about it. The foxes would not have run in a straight line, but would have raced hither and yon as one of the foxes prevailed and then the other. We must remember that this happened during the time of the wheat harvest. The wheat was cut, but was not yet threshed. Shocks of wheat were standing upright in the fields, and there was sufficient stubble left that when it was set aflame the fire spread quickly, not only destroying the wheat crop, but also the vineyards and the olive groves. Samson thus struck a devastating blow to the economy of this whole valley.

The Philistines “Fight Fire with Fire”

Judges 15:6-8
6 The Philistines asked, “Who did this?” They were told, “Samson, the Timnite’s son-in-law, because the Timnite took Samson’s bride and gave her to his best man.” So the Philistines went up and burned her and her father. 7 Samson said to them, “Because you did this, I will get revenge against you before I quit fighting.” 8 He struck them down and defeated them. Then he went down and lived for a time in the cave in the cliff of Etam.

The Philistines were enraged and promptly learned the identity of the culprits – Samson, his wife, and her father. They learned that Samson was taking vengeance on the Philistines because his wife was given by her father to the best man. The Philistines were decisive in handling this matter, burning the woman and her father to death.9 All this did was to escalate matters, for now Samson felt justified to attack and slaughter a large but undesignated number of the Philistines. And having done so, he retreated to a cave in the cliff of Etam.

Betrayed by His Brethren

Judges 15:9-13
9 The Philistines went up and invaded Judah. They arrayed themselves for battle in Lehi. 10 The men of Judah said, “Why are you attacking us?” The Philistines said, “We have come up to take Samson prisoner so we can do to him what he has done to us.” 11 Three thousand men of Judah went down to the cave in the cliff of Etam and said to Samson, “Do you not know that the Philistines rule over us? Why have you done this to us?” He said to them, “I have only done to them what they have done to me.” 12 They said to him, “We have come down to take you prisoner so we can hand you over to the Philistines.” Samson said to them, “Promise me you will not kill me.” 13 They said to him, “We promise! We will only take you prisoner and hand you over to them. We promise not to kill you.” They tied him up with two brand new ropes and led him up from the cliff.

Here is the part that catches us by surprise. The men of Judah find themselves caught in the middle, between their Philistine masters and a trouble-making Samson. The cliff of Etam was in the territory belonging to Judah. When the Philistines came in force to capture Samson, they spread out near Lehi, close to where Samson was hiding. The Philistines were prepared for battle, and it looked as though they might engage the men of Judah. The men of Judah were most eager to avoid any hostilities with the Philistines, and so they employed more diplomatic means to avoid conflict. The men of Judah evidently agreed to locate Samson, arrest him, and hand him over to these Philistines.

The men of Judah must have feared that Samson would resist. Why else would they need to take 3,000 of their own men to secure Samson’s arrest? Finding Samson, they rebuke him for putting the people of Judah at risk. They did not look on Samson’s rule as a judge in Israel with favor. While he had been very successful at killing many Philistines, this was not perceived as a victory for Israel, but rather as an offense against Israel. Thus their rebuke: “Do you not know that the Philistines rule over us? Why have you done this to us?” They did not see Samson doing them any favor and, likewise, Samson did not view it that way either. He was merely getting even with the Philistines for what they had done to him.

Samson and the men of Judah came to an agreement. They promised not to kill Samson if he would surrender to them and allow himself to be bound. They would then deliver Samson to the Philistines so that they could kill him. Samson’s Israelite brethren are overflowing with the milk of human kindness. And so Samson is bound and led from his place of hiding to be handed over to the Philistines not far away.

Samson Slaughters, Followed by a Pun and a Prayer

Judges 15:14-20
14 When he arrived in Lehi, the Philistines shouted as they approached him. But the Lord’s spirit empowered him. The ropes around his arms were like flax dissolving in fire, and they melted away from his hands. 15 He happened to see a solid jawbone of a donkey. He grabbed it and struck down a thousand men. 16 Samson then said,

“With the jawbone of a donkey

I have left them in heaps;

with the jawbone of a donkey

I have struck down a thousand men!”

17 When he finished speaking, he threw the jawbone down and named that place Ramath Lehi. 18 He was very thirsty, so he cried out to the Lord and said, “You have given your servant this great victory. But now must I die of thirst and fall into hands of the Philistines?” 19 So God split open the basin at Lehi and water flowed out from it. When he took a drink, his strength was restored and he revived. For this reason he named the spring En Hakkore. It remains in Lehi to this very day. 20 Samson led Israel for twenty years during the days of Philistine prominence.

When the Philistines saw the men of Judah approaching with Samson in their custody, bound with ropes, they felt this was going to be their moment in the sun of success. Now they would make Samson pay for his deeds, and they would be rid of this menace once and for all. And so they let out a great shout of triumph, charging toward him as they did so. At this critical moment, the Spirit of the Lord came upon Samson. The ropes that bound him fell away, leaving him free to seize a fresh jawbone of a donkey.10 With this unlikely weapon in hand, Samson now took on the Philistine attachment that had been sent to arrest him. A thousand Philistines were killed in this slaughter. It would seem that the 3,000 men of Judah stood passively by, watching in wonder as Samson destroyed these Philistines, yet not lifting a hand to help him. They didn’t want to risk “getting involved.”

Samson appears to be a man who was clever in his use of words. We can see this in his riddle regarding the lion and the honey in chapter 14, and we can see it here, as he creates his own epitaph. He does so by using a word play that is evident in the original Hebrew text, but would not necessarily be evident in an English translation. Moffatt, however, did capture this word play in his translation:

With the jawbone of an a**

I have piled them in a mass.11

This is hardly an example of humility nor is it an expression of worship. It is Samson’s tribute to himself, with no mention of God nor of the Spirit who empowered him. Do you suppose Samson composed this for the men of Judah who looked on with mouths gaping? He then threw the jawbone away, and from this time on, the place was called Ramath Lehi, meaning “hill of the jawbone,”12 or “Jawbone Hill.”13

Imagine the thirst and fatigue Samson must have felt after such an intense exercise. We have here the first recorded prayer of Samson, and I think we would all agree that it is not a model prayer. Nobody is going to be tempted to do with this prayer what some have done with the prayer of Jabez!

“You have given your servant this great victory. But now must I die of thirst and fall into hands of the Philistines?”14 (verse 18 )

At least Samson gives God credit for his victory, but his request for water is hardly that of a humble man making his request of a sovereign God. As grandparents, my wife Jeannette and I try to be careful to listen to how our grandchildren ask for things, and we often require them to repeat their request politely. Samson would have never gotten away with his request for water at our house.

Nevertheless, God graciously granted Samson’s request. He did so by creating a permanent source of water – a spring – which Samson named En Hakkore. The author tells us that it remained there in Lehi to the day of his writing. That would mean that every time an Israelite passed by (or, better yet, paused to drink from it) he would be reminded of what God had done through Samson. The chapter ends with the author’s statement that Samson led (or judged) Israel 20 years. This statement will be repeated again at the end of chapter 16.

Points to Ponder

There are many points of interest in our text, but some seem to be more important than others. Taken together, these observations from our text will help point us to the message of our text. So allow me a couple of moments of your time to call some things to your attention from our text.

First, we should note that we have seen Timnah before in the Bible in the Book of Genesis:

12 Now after a considerable time Shua’s daughter, the wife of Judah, died; and when the time of mourning was ended, Judah went up to his sheepshearers at Timnah, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite. 13 It was told to Tamar, “Behold, your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep.” 14 So she removed her widow’s garments and covered herself with a veil, and wrapped herself, and sat in the gateway of Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah; for she saw that Shelah had grown up, and she had not been given to him as a wife (Genesis 38:12-14).

If Samson had known his Bible history, he would have recognized that the last Israelite to go to Timnah to find a wife didn’t fare so well for having done so. Judah formed an unhealthy friendship with Hirah, and then married a Canaanite woman who bore him three sons for whom Judah sought Canaanite wives. On this occasion Tamar, a Gentile, proved to be more pious than Judah.

Second, Samson took the wrong path willfully, for the wrong path was well marked by the Scriptures (the Pentateuch) and by the teaching of his parents. Samson knew what it meant to be a Nazirite, and yet this did not impact his search for a wife. While the Philistines were not technically Canaanites, his parents wisely warned him against marrying an “uncircumcised Philistine.” And yet Samson disregarded their warnings. While Proverbs was not yet written, Samson will prove to be an excellent example of many of the warnings found in this book. God’s will was clear to Samson; he just didn’t want to follow this path.

Third, I cannot help but read about Samson’s encounter with the lion without thinking about the warnings in the Bible regarding the “lion in the road.” There are two proverbs which speak of a lion in the road:

The sluggard says, “There is a lion outside!

I will be killed in the middle of the streets!” (Proverbs 22:13)

The sluggard says, “There is a lion in the road!

A lion in the streets!” (Proverbs 26:13)

The sluggard worked hard at finding excuses to avoid hard work. One of these was the “lion in the road.” Who would possibly walk out the door if there actually was a lion outside? No one would do so because it would be suicide. While the sluggard only imagined a lion in the road, we read a real life account of one in 1 Kings 13:23-32. Shouldn’t Samson have recognized this rushing lion as a divine warning? And yet Samson simply sees the lion only as a good source for honey and good material for a riddle.

Fourth, Samson seems to speak when he shouldn’t and to be silent when he should speak. The Hebrew word often translated “tell” (nagad) is found 14 times in chapter 14. It is sad to see how Samson “tells” his secrets to those who will use them to bring him harm, while he withholds information from his parents. He did not tell them about being attacked by the lion or about how he killed it. He did not tell his parents that the honey he was offering them (which they ate) came from within the carcass of a dead animal, and thus he was bringing defilement upon them without their knowledge.

Fifth, unlike Israel’s earlier judges, Samson always seems to operate in solo mode. Samson always works alone. He does not ask or inspire others to join with him in battle with the Philistines. Samson always goes it alone. Indeed, Samson is a “loner.” He is not close to his parents, nor does he have any close friends. (At the wedding celebration, he is provided with 30 friends who were probably paid to fulfill their role.) Samson did not enjoy intimacy with parents, friends, or women.

Sixth, while Samson’s parents did not know it, God purposed to used Samson’s foolish choices and actions to further His purposes.

4 Now his father and mother did not realize this was the Lord’s doing, because he was looking for an opportunity to stir up trouble with the Philistines (for at that time the Philistines were ruling Israel). (Judges 14:4)

Think of the anguish Manoah and his wife experienced as they observed Samson’s disdain for his calling as a Nazirite. How many sleepless nights were there for these godly parents when they realized that in spite of their desire to raise Samson to be a godly young man, he had every intention of going his own way? While some might argue that they did not do enough to stop him from marrying a Philistine wife, they did clearly express their displeasure and sought to persuade him to marry an Israelite woman. In spite of their efforts, Samson was intent on going his own foolish way, more interested in satisfying his fleshly desires than in fulfilling his spiritual calling.

Here’s the beautiful thing: Samson’s sin would neither hinder nor thwart God’s purposes. Samson would be a deliverer, or, in the words of the Angel of the Lord, he would “begin” to deliver Israel from the Philistines.15 God’s purposes are vastly greater than anything we can imagine.16 What Samson’s parents could not see at the moment was that God would use Samson as an unwilling instrument, and thus He would accomplish everything that He had purposed.

In times like ours, things certainly look bleak, spiritually speaking. Our nation has forgotten and forsaken its spiritual roots. Christians are no longer respected as they once were, and there are indications that greater persecution is coming for those who trust in Jesus Christ alone for salvation and believe that the Bible is His inspired, inerrant, and authoritative Word. We see Congress out of control, proposing legislation that would have seemed preposterous only a few years ago. Are we as Christians wringing our hands, as though God’s promises and purposes are at risk? Unlike Samson’s parents, we have been told what God is going to do in the future, and we have also been assured that no power on earth can thwart His plans and purposes. The very things over which we may be agonizing17 may be what God is using to accomplish His sovereign will.

Seventh, in spite of his intensive efforts to indulge his flesh, Samson found very little gratification. In the dark reaches of my memory, a song title came to mind: “I Just Can’t Get No Satisfaction.” Think about it. Samson was strongly attracted to a Philistine woman. Much time and effort went into acquiring her as his wife. His wedding party was a disaster. His riddle was solved by men who forced his wife to betray his confidence, and thus he was required to provide 30 outfits to his groomsmen. His wife cried for much of the week of “celebration.” And in the end Samson never consummated this marriage. His wife was given to another (his best man), and then she and her father were burned to death by her own people. For all of his efforts, Samson certainly “got no satisfaction.”

Eighth, rather than support Samson by joining him is his battle with the Philistines, the men of Judah rebuked him for causing trouble, and then handed him over to the Philistines so that they could kill him.

We need to remind ourselves of the way the Book of Judges began:

1 After Joshua died, the Israelites asked the Lord, “Who should lead the invasion against the Canaanites and launch the attack?” 2 The Lord said, “The men of Judah should take the lead. Be sure of this! I am handing the land over to them.” 3 The men of Judah said to their relatives, the men of Simeon, “Invade our allotted land with us and help us attack the Canaanites. Then we will go with you into your allotted land.” So the men of Simeon went with them. . . . 18 The men of Judah captured Gaza, Ashkelon, Ekron, and the territory surrounding each of these cities (Judges 1:1-3, 18 ).

The men of Judah dominate the first two chapters of the Book of Judges as those who led their fellow Israelites into battle with the Canaanites and the Philistines. Here in chapters 13-15 we see a completely reversed situation. The Philistines rule over Israel, and yet not so much as a cry for help is heard from the Israelites. Indeed, the men of Israel have willingly accepted Philistine rule; consequently, they are very upset with Samson for jeopardizing their relationship with their captors. When the Philistines congregate in Judah’s territory, the men of Judah make every effort to appease them in order to avoid hostilities and reprisal. Samson, the “Lone Ranger” in waging war with the Philistines, is viewed as the enemy, not the Philistines. Rather than stand with Samson, they hand him over to the Philistines. How can this be? What has happened to Samson and to the men of Judah?

Ninth, Israel (the men of Judah) and Samson are alike in that they are both looking to the Philistines for what God has promised to provide. For both Samson and the men of Judah, the Philistines are not the enemy; the Philistines are the providers of something that is deemed desirable. Samson does not just want this Philistine woman as his wife; every woman to whom Samson turns is a Philistine: his “wife” in chapter 14; the harlot at Gaza (16:1-3); and finally Delilah (16:4-22). Samson did not look to God to provide him a wife from within his own tribe, or at least from within Israel. He saw Philistine women as superior to Israelite women.

v  

[Garland-Green]

And the men of Judah somehow saw Philistine rule superior to being ruled by a judge whom God raised up. They resisted and rejected Samson’s leadership. They did not join with him when he fought the Philistines. Instead, they took him into custody, bound him, and handed him over to the Philistines to be put to death. Why? Because they saw Philistine rule to be superior to the rule which God would provide. They saw surrender to their enemies as being better than surrendering to God. The men of Judah, like Samson, looked to the Philistines for what only God can provide, and in the process, they both rejected God.

Sharpening the Point of this Passage

All of this prompts me to look for the point – the underlying message – of our text. What is God trying to teach Israel and us by this account of Samson in chapters 14 and 15? What is the point we are supposed to get, to reflect upon, and then to apply?

I am reminded of one of my favorite movies, “What About Bob?” This is not because the title contains my name, but because Bob Wiley is totally consumed with his own needs. At one point in the film, Bob manages to make his way to the lake where Dr. Leo Marvin (his recently acquired psychiatrist) is on vacation with his family. Trying to persuade Dr. Marvin to spend time with him, Bob cries out, “I need! I need! I need!”

I believe that Samson (individually) and the men of Judah (corporately) were in trouble spiritually because they were driven by illegitimate needs, needs which they so intensely pursued that they were willing to sacrifice their relationship with God to meet them.

It may be best to put this matter into a much broader biblical perspective, so let’s begin at the very beginning. When God created Adam and Eve, He made provision for their every need. They were placed in a garden which they were to cultivate. In that garden were trees producing all kinds of fruit. They were permitted to eat freely of every tree of the garden except for one – the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Satan approached Eve, needless as she was, and convinced her that she really did have an important need, a need for which God had apparently made no provision. She was deceived into believing that she needed that forbidden fruit, even at the price of disobeying God. As you know, the consequences of their decision18 to eat the fruit of that forbidden tree were severe – death – and a whole lot more.

From this point on, we see God’s plan for saving men from the consequences of the fall (and from their own personal sins). God promised Eve that He would provide a Deliverer from her own offspring (Genesis 3:15). Moses, Joshua, and the judges foreshadowed (to some degree) the Great Deliverer, the Messiah, Jesus Christ, who would come and save people from their sins.

But there is a very important lesson that God has been teaching men in the meantime: Man has but one great and all-consuming need – God. God worked in Abraham’s life to show him that He was his great need. Abraham did not need to lie (about his wife Sarah), but to trust God. Abraham did not “need” his only (at that time) son, Isaac; he needed God. And so Abraham was willing to sacrifice Isaac if that was God’s command.

Later, God demonstrated His power over Pharaoh, the great nation of Egypt and their gods, and the forces of nature when He delivered the Israelites from bondage in Egypt. For 40 years, God led the Israelites in the wilderness, and the goal was to teach them to trust in Him, rather than in the gods of the heathen:

1 You must keep carefully all these commandments I am giving you today so that you may live, increase in number, and go in and occupy the land that the Lord promised to your ancestors. 2 Remember the whole way by which he has brought you these forty years through the desert so that he might, by humbling you, test you to see if you have it within you to keep his commandments or not. 3 So he humbled you by making you hungry and then feeding you with unfamiliar manna. He did this to teach you that humankind cannot live by bread alone, but also by everything that comes from the Lord’s mouth (Deuteronomy 8:1-3, emphasis mine).

Israel’s “wilderness wanderings” were for a purpose. On the one hand they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years so that the first generation (who doubted and disobeyed God) could die off. But on the other hand, God led His people in the desert to demonstrate to them that they could trust God to meet their every need. Yes, they needed bread, and shoes, and God provided for these needs. But most of all they needed to trust God to provide their every need. What they needed most was the Word of God, by which they were to live.

This passage in Deuteronomy 11 explains why God led His people to the “Promised Land,” rather than giving them possession of Egypt:

8 Now pay attention to all the commandments I am giving you today, so that you may be strong enough to enter and possess the land where you are headed, 9 and that you may enjoy long life in the land the Lord promised to give to your ancestors and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10 For the land where you are headed is not like the land of Egypt from which you came, a land where you planted seed and which you irrigated by hand like a vegetable garden. 11 Instead, the land you are crossing the Jordan to occupy is one of hills and valleys, a land that drinks in water from the rains, 12 a land the Lord your God looks after. He is constantly attentive to it from the beginning to the end of the year (Deuteronomy 11:8-12).19

God told the Israelites that He took them out of Egypt, where farming was done by means of irrigation (from the Nile River), to a land where “dry farming” was practiced. In Egypt, there was little question year by year as to whether or not there would be water for their crops. And so God led His people to a land where farming was dependent upon the rains. No rain – no crops. God did this because He wanted His people to understand that every part of their lives was bound up in their need for Him. It was God to whom they were to look for the rains and for their crops. Ultimately, their only real need was for Him. Trusting in Him was the key to meeting every legitimate need.

The nations around them put their trust in idols – their gods. Idols were (and continue to be) a means whereby men think they can manipulate their no-gods and have their “needs” met. No wonder these idols pertain to sexual virility and reproduction. No wonder they are alleged to give victory in battle or success in one’s endeavors. Idols are the means by which men believe they can manipulate their “gods” and meet their needs, based upon their performance.

God led the Israelites into the Promised Land where giants awaited them, along with great armies and huge, highly fortified cities. God did so because He was sufficient to meet their needs in conquering the land He had promised to give them. He did not quickly or easily drive out the Canaanites because He wanted His people to learn that they could trust in Him to give them the victory over their enemies.

As we read the Book of Joshua, we see how God greatly blessed His people with victory over their enemies when they trusted in Him and obeyed His Word. Judges starts out reasonably well, with Judah leading the way to military victory, trusting God to go before them as they engaged the Canaanites. But all too soon the Israelites began to settle for something less than victory, to settle for dwelling among the Canaanites rather than driving them out of the land. And thus they began to think and to act like the Canaanites among whom they lived. This led to the worship of their gods and to pagan practices that were an abomination to God. Once they embraced Canaanite values and practices, it was not so bad living under Canaanite (or Philistine) domination. When a fellow like Samson came along, he threatened the arrangement the men of Judah had come to accept, even enjoy. They wrongly supposed that Israel’s great need was not God, but peace, safety, and the enjoyment of life’s pleasures. It was now Samson who would have to go, not the Philistines.

In time (after the period of the judges passed), God would give Israel a king. It was easy for Israel to place their faith in these Israelite kings, rather than in God. Their leaders thus became their idols. But it did not take long at all to see that their leaders were mere men, with their own needs and weaknesses. Consequently, David “needed” some rest and relaxation, and then he needed another man’s wife, and finally he needed a man killed to cover up his sin. Solomon, too, had his needs, and as wise as he was, he needed too many wives and worshipped too many gods in his old age.

Speaking of kings, God’s instructions to Israel in the Book of Deuteronomy made it clear that kings were to need Him and to trust in Him only, rather than in wives (and the political alliances they brought), money, horses and chariots. The king did need to constantly read God’s Word:

14 When you come to the land the Lord your God is giving you and take it over and live in it and then say, “I will select a king like all the nations surrounding me,” 15 you must select without fail a king whom the Lord your God chooses. From among your fellow citizens you must appoint a king – you may not designate a foreigner who is not one of your fellow Israelites. 16 Moreover, he must not accumulate horses for himself or allow the people to return to Egypt to do so, for the Lord has said you must never again return that way. 17 Furthermore, he must not marry many wives lest his affections turn aside, and he must not accumulate much silver and gold. 18 When he sits on his royal throne he must make a copy of this law on a scroll given to him by the Levitical priests. 19 It must be with him constantly and he must read it as long as he lives, so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and observe all the words of this law and these statutes and carry them out. 20 Then he will not exalt himself above his fellow citizens or turn from the commandments to the right or left, and he and his descendants will enjoy many years ruling over his kingdom in Israel (Deuteronomy 17:14-20).

Skipping over time, we come to the days when our Lord Jesus presented Himself as the Promised Messiah. The Israelites were at that time governed by Rome. They were looking for a Savior who would deliver them from Rome’s domination. Jesus looked like the solution to their needs. At His triumphal entry, Jesus was welcomed as Israel’s king. But during the course of His final week in Jerusalem, it became evident that His kingdom wasn’t what they expected and hoped for. And so when Jesus was arrested and tried before the Jewish and Roman authorities and refused to forcefully resist, the crowds suddenly changed their opinion of Jesus. Even the disciples fled, perplexed by what they saw and heard. While the crowds had once hoped Jesus would overthrow Rome and establish His rule in Jerusalem, they now cried out, “We have no king but Caesar.” And when it became evident that Jesus was not the revolutionary they wanted, they called for Pilate to release Barabbas and to crucify Jesus. Just as Israel rejected Samson as their deliverer in Judges, choosing instead to submit to the Philistines, so Israel rejected Jesus in New Testament times, choosing instead Barabbas and Caesar.

Samson failed to live up to the standard set for a Nazirite. Likewise, all of Israel’s leaders fell short of the standards God had set for Israel’s leaders, and especially their Great Deliverer, the Messiah. In every case, these leaders in Israel were so flawed by their own desires and needs that they could not adequately deliver or judge Israel. God’s Deliverer must be, and do, far better than they if he was to deliver men from the penalty and power of their sins.

One of the great contrasts between Israel’s leaders and the Messiah is that they all had needs (legitimate or not), needs which they sought to meet independently of God; Jesus was the perfect God/man, free from any and all defects, and free from any need other than to fulfill His mission and thus glorify His Father.

24 “The God who made the world and everything in it, who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by human hands, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives life and breath and everything to everyone” (Acts 17:24-25, emphasis mine).

The false gods of this world are very needy beings (speaking momentarily as if they really exist at all). They “need” someone to fashion them out of wood or metal. They need to be carried about. They “need” people’s offerings to keep them going. But the God of the Bible is the One who has created everything, and who continues to sustain it:

18 To whom can you compare God?

To what image can you liken him?

19 A craftsman casts an idol;

a metalsmith overlays it with gold

and forges silver chains for it.

20 To make a contribution one selects wood that will not rot;

he then seeks a skilled craftsman

to make an idol that will not fall over.

21 Do you not know?

Do you not hear?

Has it not been told to you since the very beginning?

Have you not understood from the time the earth’s foundations were made?

22 He is the one who sits on the earth’s horizon;

its inhabitants are like grasshoppers before him.

He is the one who stretches out the sky like a thin curtain,

and spreads it out like a pitched tent.

23 He is the one who reduces rulers to nothing;

he makes the earth’s leaders insignificant.

24 Indeed, they are barely planted;

yes, they are barely sown;

yes, they barely take root in the earth,

and then he blows on them, causing them to dry up,

and the wind carries them away like straw.

25 “To whom can you compare me? Whom do I resemble?”

says the Holy One.

26 Look up at the sky!

Who created all these heavenly lights?

He is the one who leads out their ranks;

he calls them all by name.

Because of his absolute power and awesome strength,

not one of them is missing (Isaiah 40:18-26).

When Jesus came to this earth, it was not to gain something that He needed, to fulfill some unmet need that made Him less than He should be. It was quite the opposite. The Bible speaks of what our Lord laid aside to come to this earth, not what He needed to gain. He did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as the payment for our sins.20

At His temptation, Satan tried his time-proven tactic of creating some felt need that could only be met by disobeying God. Satan sought to convince our Lord that His interests would best be served by acting independently of the Father. Our Lord’s answers to Satan came from the Book of Deuteronomy. In essence, Jesus responded that He had but one need, the need to trust and obey the Father by keeping His Word. Satan’s offers had no attraction because Jesus was the only person on earth that had no unmet needs.

We do not have a needy God, or a needy Savior. Unfortunately, some represent Him as being in need. They portray God as lonely, and needing our fellowship, or our worship. As Paul made clear in Acts 17:24-25, our Lord does not need anything. We desperately need Him; He does not desperately need us. And being free of need, our Lord is free to act in such a way as to achieve every one of His purposes. How I love to trust, to serve, and yes, to need, a God who has no needs.

But there’s more (as the television commercials say); the God who has no needs has all power. He does not lack anything, including absolute power and absolute control of His creation.

16 for all things in heaven and on earth were created by him – all things, whether visible or invisible, whether thrones or dominions, whether principalities or powers – all things were created through him and for him. 17 He himself is before all things and all things are held together in him. 18 He is the head of the body, the church, as well as the beginning, the firstborn from among the dead, so that he himself may become first in all things.

19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in the Son 20 and through him to reconcile all things to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross – through him, whether things on earth or things in heaven (Colossians 1:16-20).

Now, let’s call to mind how all this fits with our text in Judges 14 and 15. The Lord raised up Samson as a judge who would begin to deliver Israel from the power of the Philistines. He did that, in spite of his flaws and failures – his sins. Samson failed to live up to his calling because he was more intent on fulfilling his felt needs than he was on fulfilling his calling as a Nazirite. Indeed, Samson was willing to sacrifice his calling as a Nazirite in order to fulfill his fleshly needs and desires.

The men of Judah should have stood with Samson when he fought the Philistines. They had become so comfortable dwelling with the Canaanites and Philistines that they did not want to risk losing the peace and safety of being under Philistine control. Somehow their real need, the need to worship God alone and to obey Him, was something they were willing to sacrifice for the momentary benefits of the time. They believed they needed the Philistines and what they provided more than they needed God and all of what He promised to provide.

Samson and the men of Judah sought satisfaction in something other than God, and this always leads to disaster. Israel did need a king, but it would not be a king like Saul, or even David. God’s provision for our needs came in the person of Jesus Christ. He alone can deliver us from the power and the penalty of sin. He alone can meet our true and deepest needs. Trusting in anyone or anything else will never satisfy. Trusting in Him alone brings the forgiveness of sins, the assurance of eternal life, and fullness of joy.

13 “Do so because my people have committed a double wrong:

they have rejected me,

the fountain of life-giving water,

and they have dug cisterns for themselves,

cracked cisterns which cannot even hold water” (Jeremiah 2:13).

28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke on you and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy to bear, and my load is not hard to carry” (Matthew 11:28-30).

37 On the last day of the feast, the greatest day, Jesus stood up and shouted out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me, and 38 let the one who believes in me drink. Just as the scripture says, ‘From within him will flow rivers of living water’” (John 7:37-38 ).

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come so that they may have life, and may have it abundantly” (John 10:10).

1 Copyright © 2009 by Robert L. Deffinbaugh. This is the edited manuscript of Lesson 14 in the series, The Dark Days of Israel’s Judges, prepared by Robert L. Deffinbaugh on November 15, 2009. Anyone is at liberty to use this lesson for educational purposes only, with or without credit.

2 Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the NET Bible. The NEW ENGLISH TRANSLATION, also known as THE NET BIBLE, is a completely new translation of the Bible, not a revision or an update of a previous English version. It was completed by more than twenty biblical scholars who worked directly from the best currently available Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts. The translation project originally started as an attempt to provide an electronic version of a modern translation for electronic distribution over the Internet and on CD (compact disk). Anyone anywhere in the world with an Internet connection will be able to use and print out the NET Bible without cost for personal study. In addition, anyone who wants to share the Bible with others can print unlimited copies and give them away free to others. It is available on the Internet at: www.netbible.org.

3 Actually, we are not told that Samson loved any woman until Delilah (16:4).

4 In verse 1, we are told that Samson “saw” this woman; in verse 7, we are told that he “talked” with her. Even if there were words spoken on their first encounter, the emphasis seems to be on what Samson saw.

5 The ESV renders verse 7: “Then he went down and talked with the woman, and she was right in Samson's eyes.” Once again the translator’s note in the NET Bible indicates the literal words, but chooses to paraphrase them, losing the connection to a main theme in Judges.

6 We see this also in 14:8-9.

7 This seems significant, given the fact that a Nazirite was to have nothing to do with grapes.

8 From Numbers 6:6-12, we know that a Nazirite is not to be defiled by contact with a dead body. It is not altogether clear in this text whether or not a dead animal carcass would be viewed as defiling, but I assume so. Otherwise, why would Samson avoid telling his parents that the honey came from within the carcass of the dead lion?

9 There is a certain irony here for this is exactly what the 30 wedding guests threatened to do the Samson’s wife if she did not learn the answer to the riddle and tell them (Judges 14:15).

10 This being “fresh” and the donkey obviously being dead, Samson would once again be defiled by contact with the dead – not to mention those he would kill.

11 See Dale Ralph Davis, Such a Great Salvation: Expositions of the Book of Judges (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1990), pp. 183-184.

12 Marginal note in the ESV.

13 Note in the NIV.

14 I’m not sure why the translators of the NET Bible paraphrased “the uncircumcised” to read “the Philistines.” Granted, they tell the reader what they have done in a marginal note, but referring to the Philistines as “the uncircumcised” is much more powerful. Earlier (14:3), it was Samson’s parents who challenged his choice of a wife from the “uncircumcised Philistines,” rather than from one of the tribes of Israel.

15 Judges 13:5.

16 1 Corinthians 2:9; Isaiah 64:4.

17 I should hasten to say that Christians should be agonizing about those things which are contrary to God’s Word. The slaughter of innocent lives in the womb, for example, is cause for distress. But let us never forget that “God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28 ).

18 Adam and Eve reached the same decision – to eat of the forbidden fruit – but for different reasons. Eve was deceived, but Adam was not. See 1 Timothy 2:14; 2 Corinthians 11:3. Both were equally wrong.

19 I have cited only a small portion of each of these two chapters in Deuteronomy. I would strongly recommend reading the entire chapters.

20 See Mark 10:45.

Source  

[Garland-Green]

Samson Brings Down the House (Judges 16)


Introduction

The Bible does not read like a fairy tale and most certainly the Book of Judges does not. The way our author tells the story chapter 16 does not end with a “happily ever after” for Samson.1 So lest we hesitate to even begin this message, let me start with the good news:

32 And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets. 33 Through faith they conquered kingdoms, administered justice, gained what was promised, shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, gained strength in weakness, became mighty in battle, put foreign armies to flight (Hebrews 11:32-34, emphasis mine).2

Let’s face it, from what we have read in Judges, we might not expect to see Gideon, Samson, or Jephthah in heaven, but the writer to the Hebrews tells us that they will be there. These men are listed among those who are included in the hall of faith, and faith pleases God.3 I am inclined to read Hebrews 11 in such a way as to conclude that it was Samson who, by faith, “gained strength in weakness.” I am also inclined to read Judges in such a way that Samson does not come to faith until the final moments of his life, which would mean that he came to faith during the events described in our text! Never was Samson weaker than he was as he stood between the two supporting columns of that Philistine “temple of doom” in Gaza. His eyes had been gouged out, and he was undoubtedly shackled in chains. Here is the time when Samson really “gained strength in [his] weakness.”4

I start with this because we can read Judges 16 knowing that Samson came to faith in the end and that in spite of his many flaws, he is one of those chosen to eternal life. Whatever else Samson was and did, he ended up in the hall of faith. And here is where our text should encourage us as well. I’ll speak to this at the end of this message.

A Brief Review

We were introduced to Samson’s parents in chapter 13. There, the Angel of the Lord appeared first to Manoah’s wife, and eventually Manoah was able to speak with the Angel as well. The Angel promised Manoah that although his wife was barren, she would give birth to a very special child. This child was to be a Nazirite from the time of his conception. Samson’s parents appear to be godly people who sincerely desired to raise their son in the fear of the Lord. The Spirit of the Lord began working in Samson’s life sometime in his youth, but the exact nature of the Spirit’s “stirring” (or “control”) is not stated.

While the reader’s hopes are high after such an impressive beginning, our author quickly dispels any illusions about Samson’s piety. When Samson saw a Philistine woman in Timnath, he decided that this was the woman he wanted for his wife. In spite of his parents’ objections, Samson insisted on them getting this woman for him. The whole wedding attempt was a miserable failure when viewed from Samson’s fleshly point of view. The week-long wedding celebration ended on a sour note when the groom’s guests forced his wife to persuade Samson to reveal the answer to his riddle. Samson met his obligation by killing 30 Philistines and giving his guests their clothing. Samson then went home in anger.

When his anger subsided (and his passion revived), he took a young goat and set off to visit his bride (to consummate their union). Samson was shocked and enraged to learn that his wife had been given to his best man. This prompted Samson to set the Philistines’ farmlands ablaze by the use of 300 foxes (or jackals). In retaliation, the Philistines burned Samson’s “wife” and father-in-law to death. Now Samson felt justified to attack an unspecified number of Philistines and kill them.

The Philistines formed a posse to pursue Samson into Israelite territory. The men of Judah did not want to engage the Philistines in battle, and so they agreed to hand Samson over to them. When the men of Judah came upon Samson, they rebuked him for making trouble for them with the Philistines. They agreed not to kill Samson, promising only to bind him up and deliver him over to the Philistines so that they could kill him. When the Philistines came upon Samson, his ropes dissolved. Seizing the fresh jawbone of an a**, he used it to kill 1,000 of the enemy. In his thirst and fatigue, Samson cried out to God, who answered him by creating a spring in the rock from which he (and many others after him) could drink. This is where our text takes up the story with the closing chapter of Samson’s life.

Samson Goes to Gaza
Judges 16:1-3
1 Now Samson went to Gaza and saw a harlot there, and went in to her. 2 When it was told to the Gazites, saying, “Samson has come here,” they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the gate of the city. And they kept silent all night, saying, “Let us wait until the morning light, then we will kill him.” 3 Now Samson lay until midnight, and at midnight he arose and took hold of the doors of the city gate and the two posts and pulled them up along with the bars; then he put them on his shoulders and carried them up to the top of the mountain which is opposite Hebron (Judges 16:1-3).

This time when Samson goes to Gaza, he ventures deep into Philistine territory. Gaza is a very ancient city, situated close to the Mediterranean Sea in the southern part of Philistine territory. Gaza was located on the main trade route to Egypt, so many travelers would pass through this city. The name Gaza means “strong,” and so we would be safe in assuming that the city was well fortified. Gaza’s city gates would have been formidable.

If there were post offices in those days, Samson’s picture (offering a big reward) would have been posted in some prominent place. And yet Samson ventured to Gaza where he saw a prostitute and promptly purchased her services. No more lengthy marriage process when he could “consummate” this relationship quickly and easily, with no long-term commitments. When Samson went into the city, word went out that he was visiting the prostitute. The men of the city set a watch so that they could seize and kill Samson. They assumed that Samson would spend the entire night with the woman, and so they settled in for what they assumed would be a quiet, uneventful night.

Samson did the unexpected. (Did he anticipate what the men of Gaza were up to?) He got up at midnight when the gates were securely locked. Here was a chance to show how great his strength was. He simply removed the gates by uprooting the posts to which they were hinged and then lifted the whole assembly onto his shoulders. He carried the gates out of the city to a hill overlooking Hebron. Some read this as meaning that Samson carried the city gates 40 miles or so to a hill close to and overlooking Hebron. I am among them.5 Others see the distance as being considerably less. Either way, this was a task no one could have done in merely human strength.

One has to assume that the author had his reasons for including this story. I’d like to explore this story, taking note of some important observations, and then suggesting how this story relates to the larger account of Samson and Delilah.

We should first note the moral deterioration of Samson that is reflected in this account. Earlier we saw that Samson was unwilling to seek an Israelite woman for his wife, much to his parents’ distress. But from chapter 14, we can conclude that Samson was willing to acquire a Philistine wife according to Philistine custom. This means that Samson and his parents had to make several trips to Timnah and go through a somewhat time consuming process. It looks to me as though the process took weeks at a minimum, and perhaps months, to complete. Had things worked out as Samson hoped, he would have consummated his marriage at the end of this process – something which did not happen because Samson departed in anger, and the woman’s father assumed that Samson had forsaken any thought of completing the marriage process.

When we come to this short account in chapter 16, we find that Samson has lowered his standards for female companionship considerably. On this occasion, Samson sees a woman to whom he is attracted – a woman he knows is available without all the normal delays – and he goes in to her that very day. Samson seems to have been very much like many today, eager to enjoy the pleasures of sexual intimacy without any commitments or delays. This prepares us for what will happen next with Delilah. Rather than marriage, Samson seems very content to merely live with Delilah. Morally speaking, Samson is on a downhill slope. Sadly, however, his conduct is consistent with the moral decay of our own days.

Second, we should note that no engagement in battle is mentioned and that there isn’t any reference to casualties. In short, the Philistines were not reduced in number as a result of Samson’s one-night stand. As a deliverer (judge), Samson’s role was to begin to deliver Israel from her bondage to the Philistines. Samson’s “sleep over” did not reduce the Philistines’ numbers. Seemingly, it was an unprofitable evening, but let’s not arrive at that judgment too quickly.

Third, there is no mention of the Spirit of the Lord in this account. We have been accustomed to reading that the Spirit of the Lord has come upon Samson and powerful things have been the result. The lion attacking Samson was torn to pieces by Samson (14:6); 30 men were killed by Samson for their clothing (14:19); and, Samson’s ropes dissolved and he killed 1,000 Philistines with the jawbone of an a** (15:14-15). There were also occasions when the Spirit was not mentioned, such as when Samson burned the fields by using 300 foxes (15:4-5), and when he struck down an undesignated number of Philistines in retaliation for the burning of his wife and father-in-law (15:7-8 ). After the incident of the jawbone of the donkey, we are never again told that the Spirit of the Lord came upon Samson, although this would appear to be the case when he “brought down the house” in chapter 16.6

The sense I get (and I could be wrong here) is that initially the Spirit of the Lord came upon Samson only long enough for him to handle the immediate crisis. It seems that eventually the Spirit’s power was constantly with him. Thus, when Samson was trapped inside the city gates of Gaza, he did not have to call upon God for the Spirit’s power because he already had it. As time went on, it would appear that Samson began to take this power for granted. The Spirit’s power seems to be linked to his uncut hair.7 Samson does not immediately realize that his power has left him when his hair is cut off.8

This makes it easier for me to read these first three verses of chapter 16. I would find it difficult to read that Samson spent the night with a prostitute, thereby placing himself in grave danger, only to find that he called to the Lord for help and the Spirit was sent to “bail him out” (so to speak). I believe the power was constantly there for Samson to use (or abuse) against the Philistines, but Samson became arrogant and foolish, knowingly putting himself in harm’s way, presuming on the Spirit’s power to get him out of his troubles. It won’t be long before the Lord will leave him to his own devices, and he will not be able to escape from the troubles he has brought upon himself.

Fourth, in addition to the supernatural power bestowed upon Samson by the Spirit of the Lord, there appear to be other indications of divine deliverance. Granted, it was Samson’s supernatural strength that enabled him to remove the city gates and to carry them away, but there were other indications that God intervened to preserve Samson’s life. What prompted the Philistines to wait until morning to attack? What prompted Samson to get up and leave the city at midnight, rather than spending the entire night with the prostitute? And how could Samson possibly get past the Philistines posted at and around the city’s gates? How could they not hear the noise created by the uprooting of the gates and then of hauling them off? I have seen some of the feeble attempts to explain this on a purely human level, and they just don’t wash. It seems that God must have intervened, perhaps by putting these fellows to sleep, a deep sleep, so that Samson could make his escape with the city gates on his back.

Fifth, I fear that Samson’s power along with divine intervention only caused Samson to feel invincible, so that he became more and more reckless. Think of all the times in chapters 14-15 (and now in 16:1-3) that Samson could have been killed – should have been killed. And yet no one laid a hand on him, no one did him any harm. Because of this, I think Samson actually began to believe that no matter where he went or what he did no Philistine could do him any harm. Thus, rather than return to Israelite territory and hide from the Philistines, Samson boldly remained in the land of the Philistines, in plain sight, almost daring them to try to do him harm. Samson is in for a surprise; his arrogance is about to get him into deep trouble.

Sixth, I believe there is a prophetic element here. The gates of any city must be strong, as they are essential to the safety of that city. If the gates fail to withstand the onslaught of the enemy, the city is certain to fall. Samson not only disabled the gates of Gaza, he removed them. Indeed, he took them far away. Even today, recovering and re-installing the gates of Gaza would be a substantial project requiring some time and effort to accomplish. During the time those gates were missing, the people of Gaza would have felt vulnerable. Is this a hint of the destruction that is coming to Gaza at the hand of Samson? I’m tempted to think so. Never get caught with your gates down.

Seventh, we should take note that the Philistines who laid in wait for Samson had every intention of killing him:

And they kept silent all night, saying, “Let us wait until the morning light, then we will kill him” (Judges 16:2, emphasis mine).

I think this is a very significant statement to consider. At this moment in time, the Philistines had no intention of letting Samson live. What changed their intentions, so that they would put out Samson’s eyes and keep him in shackles so that he would provide the manpower for grinding their grain?

I believe that it was revenge. Revenge seeks to respond in kind – a tit for a tat. For example, when Samson burned the fields of the Philistines they, in turn, burned his wife and father-in-law. (One burning deserves another.) Apparently, Samson killed no one when he made off with the gates of the city, but he certainly did humiliate his would-be captors. He made a mockery of them and of their security. Hauling those gates a great distance away made all of those who pursued Samson look foolish. Death would be too easy for Samson; they wanted more, much more. And so it is that the Philistines decide that Samson will be humiliated day after day and made a public spectacle later on in this chapter. And all of this was by divine design, so that Samson could destroy the greatest number of Philistines of his career. In this way, we can see how the story of Samson and the prostitute dovetails with the story to follow of Samson and Delilah, and of Samson and the temple of doom.

Samson and Delilah
Judges 16:4-22
4 After this Samson fell in love with a woman named Delilah, who lived in the Sorek Valley. 5 The rulers of the Philistines went up to visit her and said to her, “Trick him! Find out what makes him so strong and how we can subdue him and humiliate him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred silver pieces.”

6 So Delilah said to Samson, “Tell me what makes you so strong and how you can be subdued and humiliated.” 7 Samson said to her, “If they tie me up with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, I will become weak and be just like any other man.” 8 So the rulers of the Philistines brought her seven fresh bowstrings which had not been dried and they tied him up with them. 9 They hid in the bedroom and then she said to him, “The Philistines are here, Samson!” He snapped the bowstrings as easily as a thread of yarn snaps when it is put close to fire. The secret of his strength was not discovered.

10 Delilah said to Samson, “Look, you deceived me and told me lies! Now tell me how you can be subdued.” 11 He said to her, “If they tie me tightly with brand new ropes that have never been used, I will become weak and be just like any other man.” 12 So Delilah took new ropes and tied him with them and said to him, “The Philistines are here, Samson!” (The Philistines were hiding in the bedroom.) But he tore the ropes from his arms as if they were a piece of thread.

13 Delilah said to Samson, “Up to now you have deceived me and told me lies. Tell me how you can be subdued.” He said to her, “If you weave the seven braids of my hair into the fabric on the loom and secure it with the pin, I will become weak and be like any other man.” 14 So she made him go to sleep, wove the seven braids of his hair into the fabric on the loom, fastened it with the pin, and said to him, “The Philistines are here, Samson!” He woke up and tore away the pin of the loom and the fabric.

15 She said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when you will not share your secret with me? Three times you have deceived me and have not told me what makes you so strong.” 16 She nagged him every day and pressured him until he was sick to death of it. 17 Finally he told her his secret. He said to her, “My hair has never been cut, for I have been dedicated to God from the time I was conceived. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me; I would become weak, and be just like all other men.” 18 When Delilah saw that he had told her his secret, she sent for the rulers of the Philistines, saying, “Come up here again, for he has told me his secret.” So the rulers of the Philistines went up to visit her, bringing the silver in their hands. 19 She made him go to sleep on her lap and then called a man in to shave off the seven braids of his hair. She made him vulnerable and his strength left him. 20 She said, “The Philistines are here, Samson!” He woke up and thought, “I will do as I did before and shake myself free.” But he did not realize that the Lord had left him. 21 The Philistines captured him and gouged out his eyes. They brought him down to Gaza and bound him in bronze chains. He became a grinder in the prison. 22 His hair began to grow back after it had been shaved off (Judges 16:5-22).

For the first time, Samson falls in love, at least so far as our author informs us. In the case of his Philistine “wife” in chapter 14, we are only told that Samson “saw” her and wanted her, because she looked good in his eyes. In the case of the prostitute in the earlier verses of our text, we are again told that Samson “saw a prostitute” and went in to her. It is only here that we are told Samson “loved”9 a woman, and only here are we given the name of the woman – Delilah.

Nothing is said here about marriage. After his failed attempt at marriage in chapter 14 and his encounter with a prostitute in verses 1-3 of chapter 16, Samson seems to have few moral scruples regarding his relationship with women. Delilah lived in the Sorek Valley, north of Gaza and much closer to the Israelite border. Among other things, it was apparently known for its vineyards – not a great place for a Nazirite to live. But Samson seems to be living with Delilah, and this fact becomes known to the Philistines. Feeling invincible, I doubt that Samson cared whether or not they knew. Indeed, he may have preferred it this way: “Let them come and try to take me.”

The Philistines had learned their lesson. They were not about to engage Samson in battle with his full strength. They knew that his strength came from some unknown source. If they could only determine the source of his power, they could reduce him to normal strength and then overpower him. Apparently Samson’s weakness for women was also known to them. (Did they know about the riddle and how Samson’s wife had persuaded him to tell her his secret?) And so the Philistine lords approached Delilah and offered her a deal that no Philistine girl could reject – 1100 pieces of silver from each of the five Philistine lords.10 They did not threaten her life, as those at Timnah threatened Samson’s wife; they did not need to. Samson was to Delilah what he was to the prostitute – a meal ticket, a loaf of bread.11 And so from this moment on, Delilah was a woman on a mission and that mission was to loosen the lips of Samson so that she could learn the secret of his power.

A Most Important Question

At this point, most readers are really getting into the story. “Don’t tell her!” we almost shout to Samson. But I would like to ask a question I’ve yet to hear: Why not tell her? Why not tell everyone where his power comes from? Allow me to explain.

First of all, Samson is not very good about telling others what should be told. He should have told his parents about the lion that attacked him, which he killed (by the power of the Spirit of the Lord who came upon him). But then they would have known that he had been defiled by contact with a dead animal and that would have required him to return to his home and be ceremonially cleansed. Furthermore, he should have told his parents that the honey he offered them (which they ate) came from the carcass of the dead lion. Knowing that the honey had been in contact with a dead body, they would not have eaten it. Samson’s silence caused his parents to unknowingly become defiled. So, Samson doesn’t always tell others what they need to know.

Secondly, Samson’s silence about the source of his power tends to make Samson look better than he is. He gets the credit for his strength and for the victories God gave him through the Spirit’s power. (I wonder if this wasn’t part of Samson’s appeal with the women he attracted.)

Third, this meant that Samson’s silence failed to give God the glory that He deserved. Samson’s silence is a far cry from that of David – Israel’s godly king – when he confronted another Philistine (Goliath).

26 David asked the men who were standing near him, “What will be done for the man who strikes down this Philistine and frees Israel from this humiliation? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he defies the armies of the living God?” 27 The soldiers told him what had been promised, saying, “This is what will be done for the man who can strike him down.” . . . 28 When David’s oldest brother Eliab heard him speaking to the men, he became angry with David and said, “Why have you come down here? To whom did you entrust those few sheep in the desert? I am familiar with your pride and deceit! You have come down here to watch the battle!” . . . 36 Your servant has struck down both the lion and the bear. This uncircumcised Philistine will be just like one of them. For he has defied the armies of the living God!” 37 David went on to say, “The Lord who delivered me from the lion and the bear will also deliver me from the hand of this Philistine!” Then Saul said to David, “Go! The Lord will be with you.” . . . 45 But David replied to the Philistine, “You are coming against me with sword and spear and javelin. But I am coming against you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel’s armies, whom you have defied! 46 This very day the Lord will deliver you into my hand! I will strike you down and cut off your head. This day I will give the corpses of the Philistine army to the birds of the sky and the wild animals of the land. Then all the land will realize that Israel has a God 47 and all this assembly will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves! For the battle is the Lord’s, and he will deliver you into our hand” (1 Samuel 17:26-28, 36-37, 45-47, emphasis mine).

Why shouldn’t the Philistines know that they are fighting against the Lord when they oppress God’s people? Why shouldn’t they realize that Samson’s strength comes from the God of Israel? Why shouldn’t they be given the opportunity to recognize how weak and powerless their god, Dagon, is; indeed, that he is no god at all? Samson’s silence is not golden, my friend. It is sinful and self-serving.

So, because Samson has chosen to remain silent about His relationship to God and the source of his power, Delilah sets out to loosen his lips. Through her persistent efforts, she evokes four different “confessions” from Samson, all in the name of proving his love for her. I believe it is worthwhile to point out some of the characteristics of this interaction between Samson and Delilah.

1. Delilah’s approach is far from subtle: “Tell me what makes you so strong and how you can be subdued and humiliated.” Let’s face it, she asks Samson to reveal the secret of his power so that he could be rendered powerless. What does he think she will do with this information? After his earlier experience with his wife, his groomsmen, and the riddle, one would think that Samson would have wised up about a woman’s wiles.

2. Samson is not stupid. I don’t even think he is love struck. I believe that Samson is arrogant due to all of his previous escapes from the Philistines. In my opinion, Samson really does think that he is invincible. I am convinced that Samson knows exactly what Delilah is trying to do, and he is absolutely certain that it will never happen. He is toying with her and enjoying every moment of it. He loves to see her beg and plead and try to manipulate him.

3. Samson’s confessions get closer and closer to the real truth, and yet they become more and more ludicrous. Is Delilah really so gullible as to believe that Samson’s strength can be nullified by weaving his hair into the fabric on a loom? Samson must be chuckling to himself the whole time Delilah is doing this. How naive can this woman be?

4. Finally, Delilah wears Samson down, and he tells her the truth about his strength. I think that Samson still believes that he is invincible because he does not intend to let anyone cut his hair.

5. By this time, the reader is pondering a couple of questions. First, “Doesn’t Samson see what she is doing, where she is going with this?” The answer: “Yes, he does, and he thinks he can handle it.” In fact, he’s having a great time toying with Delilah by letting her think she’s getting the upper hand. Second, “How in the world can Samson sleep through his hair being cut?” There are several possible answers to this. He may not have gotten a “Yul Brynner” cut. For those of you who are not old enough to understand this, Yul Brynner’s head was shaved so that he was completely bald. Samson’s hair might not have been shaved off in the sense that we might think of shaving (Gillette didn’t exist in those days). Then, too, Samson’s love-making and wine-drinking might very well have made him oblivious to what was going on.12 Finally, Samson’s sleep may have been divinely enhanced, perhaps like the Philistines who sought to kill him at Gaza.

The sad reality is that Samson did reveal the secret of his power, his hair was cut, and he was now deprived of his supernatural power. He was no stronger than any other man. Sadder yet is the fact that initially Samson didn’t even realize that his power was gone. When he was awakened by Delilah, Samson fully expected to shake off his bonds and have another good laugh. The laugh was now on Samson. They captured him, gouged out his eyes, and bound him with bronze chains. They put him to forced labor, grinding their grain in prison.

But in the midst of this tragic situation, the author supplies the reader with a faint word of hope. Samson’s hair began to grow back.13 Who knows why the Philistines didn’t take note of this, or why they did not keep his head shaved. But for whatever reason, they did not take Samson seriously any longer. It was over for Samson, they thought, and all that was left was ample opportunity for them to humiliate him. Now he would pay for the pain and humiliation he had caused them.

Samson and the Temple of Doom
Judges 16:23-31
23 The rulers of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to celebrate. They said, “Our god has handed Samson, our enemy, over to us.” 24 When the people saw him, they praised their god, saying, “Our god has handed our enemy over to us, the one who ruined our land and killed so many of us!”

v  

[Garland-Green]

25 When they really started celebrating, they said, “Call for Samson so he can entertain us!” So they summoned Samson from the prison and he entertained them. They made him stand between two pillars. 26 Samson said to the young man who held his hand, “Position me so I can touch the pillars that support the temple. Then I can lean on them.” 27 Now the temple was filled with men and women, and all the rulers of the Philistines were there. There were three thousand men and women on the roof watching Samson entertain. 28 Samson called to the Lord, “O Master, Lord, remember me! Strengthen me just one more time, O God, so I can get swift revenge against the Philistines for my two eyes!” 29 Samson took hold of the two middle pillars that supported the temple and he leaned against them, with his right hand on one and his left hand on the other. 30 Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” He pushed hard and the temple collapsed on the rulers and all the people in it. He killed many more people in his death than he had killed during his life. 31 His brothers and all his family went down and brought him back. They buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He had led Israel for twenty years (Judges 16:23-31).

The Philistines were not content with things as they were. They wanted to celebrate their victory over Samson with a heathen worship ceremony, one that included bringing Samson in to further humble and humiliate him. If Samson was not willing to give credit for his power to the God of Israel, these Philistines were eager to give their god, Dagon, credit for Samson’s defeat. In so doing, they were proclaiming Dagon’s superiority to Yahweh, the God of Israel. This is not the first time other nations would praise their god as superior to the One True God, nor will it be the last. But we should not expect Yahweh to remain silent in such circumstances.

I cannot tell for certain whether this great celebration service is being held at Dagon’s temple, or elsewhere, but either way it is a large building – the largest building in Gaza I would expect (the more it could hold, the more that would die when it collapsed). It apparently held several thousand on the lower level and accommodated another 3,000 spectators on the roof. It may be that the crowd which had gathered exceeded the limits of what that building could support. Nevertheless, it seems as though it was filled to capacity. With so many people gathered on the roof, it assured disaster if the building’s two main support columns collapsed.

So the Philistines were assembled at Gaza, giving praise to Dagon their god. There was obviously liquor being consumed because it was only after the crowd had become good and drunk that they began to call for Samson. It was time to bring him out of prison and have some fun with him. We are told that Samson “entertained” the crowd. I doubt that the entertainment consisted merely of having him stand before this jeering crowd. I even doubt that he was forced to stand there while people threw things at him (including insults), or poked and prodded him, enjoying the sight of his sightless eyes and of his flailing arms, seeking to defend himself or to do damage to someone who ventured too close to him. In those days, one was humiliated by stripping off all or part of their clothing.14

Samson’s humiliation was cruel, but fitting. It was Samson’s eyes that got him into so much trouble. Now Samson’s eyes are gouged out. Samson’s strength was prostituted for his own purposes and glory; now his enemies mock him, and he is powerless to do them harm as he had once done. Samson took pride in being invincible; now he is in chains, grinding grain. Samson was inclined to indulge the flesh, enjoying illicit sexual pleasure; now he is being paraded about naked, or only partly clad, much to the delight of a mocking crowd. Samson is finally paying a high price for his sin.

In spite of this (or, perhaps, because of this), it would seem that Samson now sees things more clearly than he has ever seen them before. I have already indicated that I believe this is the point in time when Samson came to trust in the God of Israel. He now prays, calling to “Yahweh Adonai” – “Sovereign Lord” (NET Bible: “O Master, Lord”). He prays that strength may return to him one last time so that he might get his revenge against the Philistines. Is this a model prayer, the kind that others should be encouraged to repeat? I think not. This prayer falls short of the ideal, but taking the words of the writer to the Hebrews seriously, I believe this is the point in time when God acknowledged Samson’s faith.

God answered that prayer. Samson was positioned in such a way as to be able to exert pressure on both main supports. When these two supporting columns gave way, the entire building collapsed. The roof and supporting beams, along with the 3,000 people standing on the roof, came crashing down upon those assembled below. While Samson sacrificed his life in order to destroy the building and its inhabitants, more Philistines were killed through Samson’s death than he killed during his life.

And these were not your “everyday,” “run of the mill” citizens. These were the cream of the crop. These were the top political (and military?) leaders of the nation. It would have been something like a gathering of the joint session of Congress, along with the military leaders of the Pentagon and the members of the Supreme Court. For these leaders to be in one place at one time was a devastating error on the part of the Philistines. For all of these leaders to die in one place and at one time would have thrown the Philistines into confusion and chaos, which would render the nation powerless for years to come. Indeed, this was the most destructive victory of Samson’s career as Israel’s judge.

We might call the last verse of chapter 16 “family reunion.” It is interesting is to learn that Samson had a family beyond his father and mother. This verse informs us that Mrs. Manoah did not remain barren after the birth of Samson. He had brothers and perhaps sisters as well. When they learned of Samson’s death, they went to Gaza to remove his body and bury it in Israelite territory, between Zorah and Eshtaol, in the tomb of his father, Manoah. This means, of course, that Manoah had died some time before his son, Samson. At long last, Samson was restored to his family and to his country. How fitting for a man who is to be found in the hall of faith (Hebrews 11).

Conclusion

When I began my preparations for this message I said to myself, “There is no way to guild this lily; indeed, there isn’t even a lily to guild.” I looked at a couple of the Bible story books we keep for our grandchildren, and they certainly make every effort to guild the lily with the story of Samson, especially the Samson we find in Judges 16. But the biblical account of Samson does not begin, “Once upon a time. . .” and end with “. . . happily ever after.”

There is only one way to understand the story of Samson – from a divine point of view. We dare not attempt to make Samson a hero, a man who serves as a model for Christian men and boys. Samson is a man who illustrates the warnings of Scripture, particularly those we find in the Book of Proverbs. He is a man who lived his life in the pursuit of fleshly pleasures, a man who cared too little about God, about Israel, and about his divinely-given gifts and calling. Samson is a study in how not to live the Christian life.

How much better it would have gone for Samson if he had lived according to the warnings regarding women that we find in Proverbs 5 and 7.15 He should have looked for an Israelite wife that was more like the description we find in Proverbs 31. It would seem that the earlier verses of Proverbs 31 regarding kings would have kept Samson out of much trouble:

1 The words of King Lemuel,

an oracle that his mother taught him:

2 O my son, O son of my womb,

O son of my vows,

3 Do not give your strength to women,

nor your ways to that which ruins kings.

4 It is not for kings, O Lemuel,

it is not for kings to drink wine,

or for rulers to crave strong drink,

5 lest they drink and forget what is decreed,

and remove from all the poor their legal rights.

6 Give strong drink to the one who is perishing,

and wine to those who are bitterly distressed;

7 let them drink and forget their poverty,

and remember their misery no more.

8 Open your mouth on behalf of those unable to speak,

for the legal rights of all the dying.

9 Open your mouth, judge in righteousness,

and plead the cause of the poor and needy (Proverbs 31:1-9).

When we read the early verses of Romans 8, we see the results of having our minds set on the things of the flesh:

1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the life-giving Spirit in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3 For God achieved what the law could not do because it was weakened through the flesh. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and concerning sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 so that the righteous requirement of the law may be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh have their outlook shaped by the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit have their outlook shaped by the things of the Spirit. 6 For the outlook of the flesh is death, but the outlook of the Spirit is life and peace, 7 because the outlook of the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to the law of God, nor is it able to do so. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God (Romans 8:1-8 ).

There are many New Testament texts which call the Christian to live a disciplined life, rather than one that is focused only on the satisfaction of fleshly lusts:

24 Do you not know that all the runners in a stadium compete, but only one receives the prize? So run to win. 25 Each competitor must exercise self-control in everything. They do it to receive a perishable crown, but we an imperishable one. 26 So I do not run uncertainly or box like one who hits only air. 27 Instead I subdue my body and make it my slave, so that after preaching to others I myself will not be disqualified (1 Corinthians 9:24-27).

3 Take your share of suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No one in military service gets entangled in matters of everyday life; otherwise he will not please the one who recruited him (2 Timothy 2:3-4).

20 Now in a wealthy home there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also ones made of wood and of clay, and some are for honorable use, but others for ignoble use. 21 So if someone cleanses himself of such behavior, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart, useful for the Master, prepared for every good work. 22 But keep away from youthful passions, and pursue righteousness, faithfulness, love, and peace, in company with others who call on the Lord from a pure heart (2 Timothy 2:20-22).

13 But evil people and charlatans will go from bad to worse, deceiving others and being deceived themselves. 14 You, however, must continue in the things you have learned and are confident about. You know who taught you 15 and how from infancy you have known the holy writings, which are able to give you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus (2 Timothy 3:13-15).

I suppose that in today’s psychological jargon people would be inclined to say that Samson suffered from a “sexual addiction.” In biblical terms, we would simply say that he was a man who, although he was empowered by the Holy Spirit, chose to live his life in the pursuit of fleshly pleasure in the power of the flesh. How many Christians have fallen short of their calling because they, too, have chosen to indulge the flesh? Are you looking at pornography, choosing to live in this fantasy world of fleshly indulgence, or are you finding contentment within the confines of a godly marriage? Have your forsaken your marriage vows for the pursuit of illicit pleasure outside of marriage? Are you thinking of doing so? Learn from Samson that the way of the transgressor is hard.

Good understanding wins favor,

but the way of the unfaithful is hard (Proverbs 13:15; NIV).

What a tragic picture Samson is. The power and the presence of God departed from him, and he doesn’t even know it.16 I fear that Samson may not only be a picture of the man or woman who turns away from walking with the Lord, but that he may also be a picture of the church that has come to rely on fleshly means and mechanisms, rather than upon God’s Spirit. How easy it is for Christians to follow the fads of those who use secular methods, rather than to rely on the power of God’s Spirit:

1 When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come with superior eloquence or wisdom as I proclaimed the testimony of God. 2 For I decided to be concerned about nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. 3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and with much trembling. 4 My conversation and my preaching were not with persuasive words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith would not be based on human wisdom but on the power of God (1 Corinthians 2:1-5).

For we are not like so many others, hucksters who peddle the word of God for profit, but we are speaking in Christ before God as persons of sincerity, as persons sent from God (2 Corinthians 2:17).

1 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? We don’t need letters of recommendation to you or from you as some other people do, do we? 2 You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone, 3 revealing that you are a letter of Christ, delivered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on stone tablets but on tablets of human hearts. 4 Now we have such confidence in God through Christ. 5 Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as if it were coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, 6 who made us adequate to be servants of a new covenant not based on the letter but on the Spirit, for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life (2 Corinthians 3:1-6).

1 Therefore, since we have this ministry, just as God has shown us mercy, we do not become discouraged. 2 But we have rejected shameful hidden deeds, not behaving with deceptiveness or distorting the word of God, but by open proclamation of the truth we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience before God (2 Corinthians 4:1-2).

We are weak in the power of the flesh. That is why He gave us His Spirit, dwelling within Christians (individually) and dwelling within His church (corporately). We dare not presume to think that the successes which God achieves in and through us by means of His Spirit are somehow our works, for which we can take the credit. And we dare not prostitute the power of God’s Spirit, using it for self-serving purposes. If we do, there may very well come a time when the Spirit has departed from us, and we don’t even know it.

There is a strong word of warning in our text for those who are unbelievers – for those who have never trusted in the saving work of Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins and the gift of eternal life. Those who had gathered at Gath to worship their god and to mock Samson (and his God) felt confident and secure in their false religion. They gave Dagon credit for Samson’s defeat. They were in the midst of jubilant celebration when their day of judgment came. So it will be in the end, when our Lord comes to bring judgment upon all who have rejected Him:

37 “For just like the days of Noah were, so the coming of the Son of Man will be. 38 For in those days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark. 39 And they knew nothing until the flood came and took them all away. It will be the same at the coming of the Son of Man” (Matthew 24:37-39).

2 For you know quite well that the day of the Lord will come in the same way as a thief in the night. 3 Now when they are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction comes on them, like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will surely not escape (1 Thessalonians 5:2-3).

There is a day of judgment coming upon all those who have rejected the salvation God has provided in the person and work of Jesus Christ. It is a day that Christians eagerly await and for which they pray. But it is a day of dreaded and unexpected judgment for those who have rejected God’s only means of salvation. Just as the men and women of Gaza felt safe and secure (now that Samson was weakened, blinded, and in chains), men and women in the last days will be at ease, thinking that they are safe and secure apart from Christ. Their day of judgment will catch them completely off guard, and at that point in time, it will be too late.

The day of salvation is now, my friend. The Bible teaches that every human being is a sinner, in need of a Savior. Because we are sinners, we are not capable of earning our salvation by our efforts to meet God’s standard of righteousness. Only Jesus has done this, and He took our sins on Himself (He became sin for us) and paid the penalty for those sins when He suffered the wrath of God17 on the cross of Calvary. He not only died, He rose from the dead, and then ascended to the right hand of God the Father in heaven, to intercede for all those who have trusted in Him. Salvation is assured for all those who acknowledge their sin and helplessness to save themselves, and who trust in what Jesus has done on their behalf in His death, burial, and resurrection.

19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world may be held accountable to God. 20 For no one is declared righteous before him by the works of the law, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin. 21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God (which is attested by the law and the prophets) has been disclosed – 22 namely, the righteousness of God through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. 24 But they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. 25 God publicly displayed him at his death as the mercy seat accessible through faith. This was to demonstrate his righteousness, because God in his forbearance had passed over the sins previously committed. 26 This was also to demonstrate his righteousness in the present time, so that he would be just and the justifier of the one who lives because of Jesus’ faithfulness (Romans 3:19-26).

1 And although you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you formerly lived according to this world’s present path, according to the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the ruler of the spirit that is now energizing the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom all of us also formerly lived out our lives in the cravings of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath even as the rest… 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, 5 even though we were dead in transgressions, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you are saved! – 6 and he raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 to demonstrate in the coming ages the surpassing wealth of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 it is not from works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand so we may do them (Ephesians 2:1-10).

17 So then, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; what is old has passed away – look, what is new has come! 18 And all these things are from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and who has given us the ministry of reconciliation. 19 In other words, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting people’s trespasses against them, and he has given us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making His plea through us. We plead with you on Christ’s behalf, “Be reconciled to God!” 21 God made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we would become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:17-21).

4 But “when the kindness of God our Savior and his love for mankind appeared, 5 he saved us not by works of righteousness that we have done but on the basis of his mercy, through the washing of the new birth and the renewing of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us in full measure through Jesus Christ our Savior. 7 And so, since we have been justified by his grace, we become heirs with the confident expectation of eternal life” (Titus 3:4-7).

11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 The one who has the Son has this eternal life; the one who does not have the Son of God does not have this eternal life (1 John 5:11-12).

Thank God that our salvation is not dependent upon our works, but only upon the work which the Lord Jesus has accomplished in our place. The story of Samson serves to illustrate this truth in a powerful way. His salvation was most certainly not the result of his works, and so it is that the author of Hebrews places him in the hall of faith. Our salvation does not rest upon our performance, but upon the perfect work of our Lord. To Him be the glory!

Copyright © 2009 by Robert L. Deffinbaugh. This is the edited manuscript of Lesson 15 in the series, The Dark Days of Israel’s Judges, prepared by Robert L. Deffinbaugh on November 22, 2009. Anyone is at liberty to use this lesson for educational purposes only, with or without credit.

1 I say this while wondering how it is that the children’s Bible story books expend every effort to make Samson look better than he is.

2 Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the NET Bible. The NEW ENGLISH TRANSLATION, also known as THE NET BIBLE, is a completely new translation of the Bible, not a revision or an update of a previous English version. It was completed by more than twenty biblical scholars who worked directly from the best currently available Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts. The translation project originally started as an attempt to provide an electronic version of a modern translation for electronic distribution over the Internet and on CD (compact disk). Anyone anywhere in the world with an Internet connection will be able to use and print out the NET Bible without cost for personal study. In addition, anyone who wants to share the Bible with others can print unlimited copies and give them away free to others. It is available on the Internet at: www.netbible.org.

3 See Hebrews 11:6.

4 If Samson was not saved in the final moments of his life, then he must have been saved at some earlier point in time, though his conduct would certainly not incline us to assume that he was a believer.

5 I’m always ill at ease with attempts to make miracles seem more do-able. For example, some give examples of whales swallowing men so that we find it easier to believe that Jonah was indeed swallowed by a great fish. Miracles are miracles – God accomplishing the impossible. I don’t need to be told something is possible in order to believe God did it. Okay, I feel better now, having gotten that off my chest, so let’s get back to our story.

6 Judges 16:28-30.

7 Judges 16:17.

8 Judges 16:20.

9 For those inclined to overwork the distinctions in the various Greek words for “love,” I would point out that the word “love” in verses 4 and 15 are based on the verb agapao in the Greek translation of this Old Testament text.

10 While our text does not tell us there were five Philistine lords, we know this from Joshua 13:3; Judges 3:3; 1 Samuel 6:4, 16, 18.

11 Proverbs 6:26.

12 Remember Lot’s daughters. See Genesis 19:30-38.

13 It would therefore seem that he was imprisoned for some time, long enough for his hair to grow out (though surely not as long as it once was).

14 See 2 Samuel 10:4; Isaiah 20:4; 47:1-4.

15 I realize that Proverbs was not yet written, but I feel confident that his mother had given him similar warnings.

16 16:20.

17 Jesus suffered the wrath of men as well, as was dramatically portrayed in the movie, “The Passion of Jesus the Christ,” but it was our Lord’s suffering the wrath of God in our place that provided salvation.

Source  

[Garland-Green]

The Danites’ Promised Land (Judges 17-18 )


Introduction

We have come to the third and concluding section of the Book of Judges. The first section of the book is a dual or two-part introduction (1:1—2:5; 2:6—3:41). The main section (3:5—16:31) deals with the life and times of some of the judges who ruled during this period of time. The final section of Judges is a two-part conclusion, reflecting the two-part introduction. Our text for this message (17:1—18:31) is the first part of the two-part conclusion. The second part is found in chapters 19-21.

There are some unique features that can and should be noted in chapters 17-21. These would include the following:

No foreign oppressor is identified in the conclusion to the Book of Judges. Earlier in the book, we are told of the oppression of Mesopotamia (3:8ff.), of Moab (3:12ff.), of Jabin the Canaanite king and his commander, Sisera (4:2ff.), of the Midianites and Amalekites (6:2ff.), of the Philistines (10:7ff.), and others. No such foreign oppressor is named in the conclusion. The enemy here is within, not without.
The Israelites are not accused of worshipping any foreign gods in this section of Judges, as had been the case earlier in the book (e.g., 10:6). In general, they are worshipping God in an improper (pagan) way. They employ idols or forbidden images, but they seem to believe that they are worshipping Yahweh when they employ them in worship. This is much like the Israelites worshipping Yahweh by means of the golden calf in Exodus 32.2
No judges are named or described in this closing section of the book. That was subject matter of the main section of the book.
The reader is repeatedly reminded that during this period, there was “no king in Israel,” and that “every man did what was right in his own eyes” (see 17:6; 18:1; 19:1, 21:25). This statement is found only in the conclusion of the Book of Judges and not earlier in the book (although it should be evident to the reader that this statement was true of the Israelites throughout the period of the judges).
In our text (chapters 17 and 18 ), the author withholds certain crucial information until the very end of chapter 18 (verses 30-31).
While there is more than ample opportunity for the author to specifically identify the sins which are committed in our text, he tends to minimize editorial comment, leaving a good part of the burden of interpretation on the reader.
If the author has avoided making editorial comments about what he describes, how is the reader to understand and interpret this text? The first thing the reader must do is pay careful attention to the author’s obvious comments, such as, “in those days there was no king in Israel. . . .” The second thing the reader should do is to be on the lookout for the author’s more subtle indicators of wrong doing.3 Third, the reader should keep in mind the history of the Israelites as recorded in the Pentateuch4 and Joshua. Fourth, the reader should draw heavily from the teaching of the Law as found in Exodus 20ff. and Deuteronomy 5ff. Specifically, the reader should give careful attention to Deuteronomy 12:1-19, 28 and Deuteronomy 27:15. The author of Judges expects his readers to be familiar with the Old Testament, and especially those books which precede Judges.

Have It Your Way, Micah
Judges 17:1-13
1 There was a man named Micah from the Ephraimite hill country. 2 He said to his mother, “You know the eleven hundred pieces of silver which were stolen from you, about which I heard you pronounce a curse? Look here, I have the silver. I stole it, but now I am giving it back to you.” His mother said, “May the Lord reward you, my son!” 3 When he gave back to his mother the eleven hundred pieces of silver, his mother said, “I solemnly dedicate this silver to the Lord. It will be for my son’s benefit. We will use it to make a carved image and a metal image.” 4 When he gave the silver back to his mother, she took two hundred pieces of silver to a silversmith, who made them into a carved image and a metal image. She then put them in Micah’s house. 5 Now this man Micah owned a shrine. He made an ephod and some personal idols and hired one of his sons to serve as a priest. 6 In those days Israel had no king. Each man did what he considered to be right.

7 There was a young man from Bethlehem in Judah. He was a Levite who had been temporarily residing among the tribe of Judah. 8 This man left the town of Bethlehem in Judah to find another place to live. He came to the Ephraimite hill country and made his way to Micah’s house. 9 Micah said to him, “Where do you come from?” He replied, “I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah. I am looking for a new place to live.” 10 Micah said to him, “Stay with me. Become my adviser and priest. I will give you ten pieces of silver per year, plus clothes and food.” 11 So the Levite agreed to stay with the man; the young man was like a son to Micah. 12 Micah paid the Levite; the young man became his priest and lived in Micah’s house. 13 Micah said, “Now I know God will make me rich, because I have this Levite as my priest” (Judges 17:1-13).5

We are introduced to a man named Micah from the hill country of Ephraim. Micah was not the model son, but then neither was his mother a “Proverbs 31 kind of woman.” Micah had stolen 1100 pieces of silver from her,6 and she had pronounced a curse on the thief in his hearing. (One has to wonder if she knew – or at least suspected – that it was her son who was the culprit.) It seems to have been the curse which prompted Micah to confess, and not his conscience. This does not appear to be a biblical curse, but something that came from “the dark side.” How different this mother’s curse was from the “curses” God had the Israelites repeat from Mount Ebal, the first of which went like this:

“‘Cursed is the one who makes a carved or metal image – something abhorrent to the Lord, the work of the craftsman – and sets it up in a secret place.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’” (Deuteronomy 27:15)

The important thing to Micah’s mother was that the curse seemed to work. Micah confessed, and his mother’s problem now was to somehow reverse the curse. She attempts to do so by pronouncing a blessing upon her son, a blessing invoked in the name of Yahweh. When Micah returned the stolen silver, his mother dedicated a portion of it (200 pieces of the silver) to the Lord (Yahweh) so that with it her son could make two idols. Ironically, the two terms she employs to refer to these idols are the same terms contained in the curse of Deuteronomy 27:15, referring to idols that the Israelites must never make. So far, neither Micah nor his mother is looking godly.

Micah’s mother takes the 200 pieces of silver to a silversmith to fashion two forbidden images. When these images were completed, they were placed in the house of Micah. We should not think that these are the first and only idols Micah owned. From verse 5, we learn that Micah had a “house of gods,” which included an ephod and “household gods.” We have already read of Gideon’s idolatrous ephod in Judges 8:27. The “household gods” would be similar to those Rachel stole from Laban’s house.7 These were the sort of personalized idols that were kept in many heathen homes.

So Micah is already an idolater, and also a thief, but thanks to his “confession” and his mother’s blessing, he now has an even more complete collection of gods. With such a collection, Micah will need a priest, and so he dedicates one of his sons to carry out this family function. Here is a truly dysfunctional family. And so our author makes a statement for the first time in Judges that we will see several times in his conclusion to this book:

In those days Israel had no king. Each man did what he considered to be right (Judges 17:6).

It should not take the reader long to discern the meaning of these words. In Deuteronomy 12, God clearly explains the meaning of these words by contrasting them with another statement:

“You are not to do as we are doing here today; everyone is doing whatever seems right in his own eyes” (Deuteronomy 12:8, CSB; emphasis mine).

“Be careful to obey all these things I command you, so that you and your children after you may prosper forever, because you will be doing what is good and right in the sight of the LORD your God” (Deuteronomy 12:28, CSB; emphasis mine).

Doing “what is right in your own eyes” is living according to your own personal standards. Doing what “is right in the sight of the LORD your God” is doing what God has declared to be right in His Word. Clearly, Micah and his mother were not living according to God’s commandments; they were living in accordance with their own corrupt value system. This does not bode well.

Micah now has his own “homemade religion.” He has a shrine containing various pieces of forbidden religious hardware and a son who is set apart to serve as his priest. But there is something less than authentic in having one’s son be the family priest. After all, he is not a Levite.

How fortunate, how providential (to use a more pious sounding term), it must have seemed to Micah when a young, unemployed, Levite happened his way. This young Levite had come from Bethlehem in Judah where he had sojourned for some time. Remember that the Levites did not have an allotted inheritance as did the other tribes. They were to live off of the tithes and support of their fellow Israelites. There were a few cities in Israel that were set apart for the Levites, as well as some surrounding farmland.8 Given the spiritual state of the nation, it is almost certain that this command was being ignored:

Be careful not to overlook the Levites as long as you live in the land (Deuteronomy 12:19).

The Levites suffered from unemployment, and thus they traveled about the nation seeking a roof over their heads and food on their table. The young Levite in our text had not found “a place” in Bethlehem and had made his way to the hill country of Ephraim, where he encountered Micah’s “bed and breakfast.”9 Micah asked the Levite where he had come from and, by inference, what his business was in passing by his house. The young man may not be handing Micah his resume, but he does tell him that he is a Levite and that he is looking for a job and a place to stay. In effect, he tells Micah that he is open to any kind of employment he can find.

This resonates with Micah. Just think of it; he could hire this young man and have a genuine Levite as his priest, rather than one of his sons. This would greatly enhance his religious status. Micah offers him a good salary, a car allowance, excellent health insurance, and a retirement program. Okay, so I’ve paraphrased a bit, but hopefully I’ve made the author’s point more pointed (so far as our day and times are concerned). The young Levite was willing to prostitute his calling to be a private priest for Micah the idolater, with the tools of his trade being those forbidden idols housed in his sacred shrine. Over time, a close bond developed between these two so that the Levite was treated like a son. Things could hardly be better for Micah and for his new priest – or so it seemed. Micah was sure that things were going to be even better for him, because now he had a Levite as his personal priest. Things were about to change, however, and not for the better, so far as Micah assessed success.

The Danites’ Promised Land
Judges 18:1-31
1 In those days Israel had no king. And in those days the Danite tribe was looking for a place to settle, because at that time they did not yet have a place to call their own among the tribes of Israel. 2 The Danites sent out from their whole tribe five representatives, capable men from Zorah and Eshtaol, to spy out the land and explore it. They said to them, “Go, explore the land.” They came to the Ephraimite hill country and spent the night at Micah’s house. 3 As they approached Micah’s house, they recognized the accent of the young Levite. So they stopped there and said to him, “Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? What is your business here?” 4 He told them what Micah had done for him, saying, “He hired me and I became his priest.” 5 They said to him, “Seek a divine oracle for us, so we can know if we will be successful on our mission.” 6 The priest said to them, “Go with confidence. The Lord will be with you on your mission.”

7 So the five men journeyed on and arrived in Laish. They noticed that the people there were living securely, like the Sidonians do, undisturbed and unsuspecting. No conqueror was troubling them in any way. They lived far from the Sidonians and had no dealings with anyone. 8 When the Danites returned to their tribe in Zorah and Eshtaol, their kinsmen asked them, “How did it go?” 9 They said, “Come on, let’s attack them, for we saw their land and it is very good. You seem lethargic, but don’t hesitate to invade and conquer the land. 10 When you invade, you will encounter unsuspecting people. The land is wide! God is handing it over to you – a place that lacks nothing on earth!”

11 So six hundred Danites, fully armed, set out from Zorah and Eshtaol. 12 They went up and camped in Kiriath Jearim in Judah. (To this day that place is called Camp of Dan. It is west of Kiriath Jearim.) 13 From there they traveled through the Ephraimite hill country and arrived at Micah’s house. 14 The five men who had gone to spy out the land of Laish said to their kinsmen, “Do you realize that inside these houses are an ephod, some personal idols, a carved image, and a metal image? Decide now what you want to do.” 15 They stopped there, went inside the young Levite’s house (which belonged to Micah), and asked him how he was doing. 16 Meanwhile the six hundred Danites, fully armed, stood at the entrance to the gate. 17 The five men who had gone to spy out the land broke in and stole the carved image, the ephod, the personal idols, and the metal image, while the priest was standing at the entrance to the gate with the six hundred fully armed men. 18 When these men broke into Micah’s house and stole the carved image, the ephod, the personal idols, and the metal image, the priest said to them, “What are you doing?” 19 They said to him, “Shut up! Put your hand over your mouth and come with us! You can be our adviser and priest. Wouldn’t it be better to be a priest for a whole Israelite tribe than for just one man’s family?” 20 The priest was happy. He took the ephod, the personal idols, and the carved image and joined the group.

21 They turned and went on their way, but they walked behind the children, the cattle, and their possessions. 22 After they had gone a good distance from Micah’s house, Micah’s neighbors gathered together and caught up with the Danites. 23 When they called out to the Danites, the Danites turned around and said to Micah, “Why have you gathered together?” 24 He said, “You stole my gods that I made, as well as this priest, and then went away. What do I have left? How can you have the audacity to say to me, ‘What do you want?’” 25 The Danites said to him, “Don’t say another word to us, or some very angry men will attack you, and you and your family will die.” 26 The Danites went on their way; when Micah realized they were too strong to resist, he turned around and went home.

27 Now the Danites took what Micah had made, as well as his priest, and came to Laish, where the people were undisturbed and unsuspecting. They struck them down with the sword and burned the city. 28 No one came to the rescue because the city was far from Sidon and they had no dealings with anyone. The city was in a valley near Beth Rehob. The Danites rebuilt the city and occupied it. 29 They named it Dan after their ancestor, who was one of Israel’s sons. But the city’s name used to be Laish. 30 The Danites worshiped the carved image. Jonathan, descendant of Gershom, son of Moses, and his descendants served as priests for the tribe of Dan until the time of the exile. 31 They worshiped Micah’s carved image the whole time God’s authorized shrine was in Shiloh (Judges 18:1-31).

There are three vitally important items of information that are crucial to the correct interpretation of this chapter. We should not be surprised to learn that these are conveyed by earlier events, described in earlier texts of Scripture. First of all, we have already been given the reason why the Danites had not fully possessed the inheritance that was allotted to them by Joshua.

In those days Israel had no king. And in those days the Danite tribe was looking for a place to settle, because at that time they did not yet have a place to call their own among the tribes of Israel (Judges 18:1).

I believe that the sense of this verse is best conveyed by the Holman Christian Standard Bible (CSB):

In those days, there was no king in Israel, and the Danite tribe was looking for territory to occupy. Up to that time no territory had been captured by them among the tribes of Israel (Judges 18:1, CSB; emphasis mine).

This is completely consistent with what we read in Joshua and Judges:

40 The seventh lot belonged to the tribe of Dan by its clans. 41 Their assigned land included Zorah, Eshtaol, Ir Shemesh, 42 Shaalabbin, Aijalon, Ithlah, 43 Elon, Timnah, Ekron, 44 Eltekeh, Gibbethon, Baalath, 45 Jehud, Bene Berak, Gath Rimmon,46 the waters of Jarkon, and Rakkon, including the territory in front of Joppa. 47 (The Danites failed to conquer their territory, so they went up and fought with Leshem10 and captured it. They put the sword to it, took possession of it, and lived in it. They renamed it Dan after their ancestor.) 48 This was the land assigned to the tribe of Dan by its clans, including these cities and their towns (Joshua 19:40-48, emphasis mine).

The Amorites forced the people of Dan to live in the hill country. They did not allow them to live in the coastal plain (Judges 1:34).

So here is the situation. The Danites were one of the least successful tribes in all of Israel when it came to taking possession of their allotted inheritance. The Amorites kept them at bay so that they did not possess the lowlands of their inheritance. They were forced to live in the hill country. Thus, they were prevented from farming to the extent they required. It would seem that Samson, a Danite,11 had done his tribe little good in terms of possessing their inheritance.12 He was too busy chasing the Philistine girls and killing Philistine men. We have little choice but to conclude that the Danites’ failure was due to their lack of faith and obedience. What they are looking for when they send out their five spies is someplace that is prosperous and yet poorly defended, so that it might be easily conquered.

The second important piece of background information is the stories of the sending out of the spies to spy out the land of Canaan. The first (12) spies were sent out by Moses, and we know how that came out. Ten spies argued that while the land was fruitful, it could not be conquered because of the giants and the heavily fortified Canaanite cities.13 Only two spies – Joshua and Caleb – believed God would grant them victory over the Canaanites. Later on, two spies were sent out by Joshua, as we read in Joshua 2. I am convinced our author is contrasting the story of the Danite spies with the earlier accounts in Numbers and Joshua. The ten spies in Numbers are fearful because of the strength of the Canaanite soldiers and their cities. The two spies with a positive report do not minimize the strength of the opposition, but take courage from the strength of their God. The five Danite spies are full of confidence, but it is because they perceive their opponents to be weak and vulnerable – easy pickings.

Third, the land the Danites possess in our text was not part of the territory allotted to them by Joshua. The boundaries of the Danites’ inheritance are set forth in Joshua 19:40-48 (see above). When you look on a Bible map, you will see that their territory lay beside the territory of Judah, to the west, extending to the Mediterranean Sea. The territory they will possess in our text is far to the north and east, approximately 30 miles north of the Sea of Galilee. Thus, taking possession of this territory raises all kinds of issues. Were the inhabitants of that place actually Canaanites who should have been exterminated, or were they people who were far enough removed from Canaan that they should have been given the opportunity to peacefully surrender?14 If this is Israelite territory – territory allotted to one of the Israelite tribes – then to which tribe was it allotted, and why have they not taken possession of such a vulnerable (and yet prosperous) place? Furthermore, if this is Israelite territory, then one must assume that the Danites have stolen it from their fellow-Israelites. In the end, what is clear, I believe, is that these Danites were taking the “path of least resistance,” rather than taking possession of the territory allotted to them.

With these things in the back of our minds, let us see how our author develops the story of the Danite spies in chapter 18. Seeking to expand their territory, yet without the need for long-term warfare, the Danites send five men to spy out the land and find them a place to settle. They end up at “Micah’s Bed and Breakfast.” Noting the Levite’s accent, they ask him what he is doing there. The Levite should have asked them the same question. Both would have been good questions. The Levite answers that he is a Levite who has hired out his services to Micah. Hearing this, the Danite spies seek the benefit of his services. While he is at it, would he mind inquiring of God (Elohim, the more generic term for “god” or God) regarding the success of their mission? Are they going to find a favorable place for the Danites to settle?

The author promptly reports the priest’s favorable answer without telling us how he arrived at it. He may have used the “tools” at his disposal – the ephod, for example – to discern some kind of divine guidance. Going through some elaborate ritual may have served to impress his guests, and perhaps. gained him a healthy fee for his services. On the other hand, he may have given a more “off the cuff” blessing. He at least succeeded in giving the five spies the impression that God was with them in their endeavor.15

The spies went on their way, encouraged by the Levite’s blessing. When they arrived at Laish, they assured their brethren that the land was good, that the people did not have any powerful allies, that they seemed to feel so secure that they were not on military alert, and (thanks to the Levite’s words) “God had given this place into their hands” (18:10).

How different this report of these five spies is from the report of ten of the twelve Israelite spies initially sent by Moses to spy out the land of Canaan.16 Both reports were positive regarding the fruitfulness of the land, but the ten spies came back with a very negative report based upon the military strength of the Canaanites. The result is that the Israelites are not willing to risk trying to take the land, even though God had promised to give the Canaanites into their hands. These five Danite spies had a completely positive report. Not only was the land fruitful, but the people of Laish could be easily defeated and destroyed. They seem to rebuke their fellow-Danites for not quickly setting out to seize their new “promised land.”

Six hundred armed men, including the five spies, make their way toward Laish, setting up camp near Kiriath Jearim, and then finding their way to the house of Micah. The five spies informed the larger group that Micah had a “house of gods” containing the various god hardware he had accumulated. They did everything but clearly say that they should steal Micah’s gods and make them their own. The armed men did not fail to get the point, and so they kept the priest (and Micah?) busy at the entrance of the gate while others began to remove Micah’s idols. When the priest saw what was happening, he asked them what they were doing. They encouraged him to remain silent, offering him better employment serving their clan as a priest. In today’s terms, they would have offered him: (a) a bigger congregation; (b) a higher salary; (and c) a better benefit package (better hours, a longer vacation, excellent health insurance, and an attractive retirement program). It didn’t take this young Levite long to discern “divine guidance.” He happily accompanied the Danites, with Micah’s idols safely in his keeping. So much for being like a son to Micah.

The Danites may have expected some resistance. When they left Micah’s house, they placed their children, their livestock, and their valuables in front of them. This way if Micah and his neighbors came in hot pursuit, they would face the Danite warriors first. Micah’s neighbors were not willing to stand idly by, watching as Micah’s “gods” were hauled off. (Was it possible that these gods were used by the community, as Gideon’s father’s idols had been to his neighbors?17) They pursued the Danites, calling after them.

Micah was among those in pursuit of the Danites, and when he was challenged by them to explain his “act of aggression,” he responded,

“You stole my gods that I made, as well as this priest, and then went away. What do I have left? How can you have the audacity to say to me, ‘What do you want?’” (Judges 18:24)

What a confession this is! Micah admits that these are gods of his making. Micah, the man who stole from his mother, now protests when his gods are stolen from him. In addition, Micah complains that since his gods have been taken, he has nothing left. Micah’s gods mean everything to him, and he finds it difficult to think of life without them. These are the gods in which he has put his trust, and yet these same gods can do nothing to protect him, even as he helplessly watches others carry them off. A sober word of warning from the Danites sends Micah and his neighbors home empty-handed.

Micah is a tragic example of the person who has placed their trust in a false religion. During the good times, they feel as though their religion is the cause of their prosperity. And then, suddenly, disaster comes their way which their gods are powerless to prevent. They are left with nothing other than a feeling of emptiness and helplessness. For some, this realization comes without any repentance and faith. But there are others whom God graciously brings to the end of themselves so that they will repent and embrace God’s only means of salvation.

The Danites, along with Micah’s god’s and his Levite-for-hire, continue on to Laish, where they find this place just as the five spies had described it. The people of Laish are peaceable and unsuspecting. In short, they are vulnerable and easily overtaken, which is exactly what the 600 armed Danites did. They killed the people of Laish and burned down the city, after which they rebuilt it and named it Dan, after their tribal head. Then they took Micah’s gods and set them up for worship, much as Micah had done.

Here is the point at which the author discloses something he has been holding back from the reader until just the right moment:

30 The Danites worshiped the carved image. Jonathan, descendant of Gershom, son of Moses, and his descendants served as priests for the tribe of Dan until the time of the exile. 31 They worshiped Micah’s carved image the whole time God’s authorized shrine was in Shiloh (Judges 18:30-31).

Until now the Levite has been known to us only as a young Levite. Now, at the end of this account, we are told his name – Jonathan. Even more significant than this, we are informed that this “Jonathan” is the “son of Gershom, son of Moses.”18 Wow! A not-too-distant heir of Moses is now serving as a priest for hire, and the tools of his trade are idols. His place of ministry is not Shiloh – where the house of God was19 – but Dan, located in Israel’s far north. He ministers not to the nation as a whole, but to one tribe, or rather a portion of one tribe. How quickly Israel has fallen, and how far.

I have just referred to the second revelation our author has withheld until the end of this account: the authorized shrine was in Shiloh, which is located in the hill country of Ephraim. We don’t know the name of the town or city where Micah lived, though we can fairly safely infer that it lay along a well-traveled north/south commercial route.20 My point is this: Both Shiloh and Micah’s “house of gods” were located in the hill country of Ephraim, and my guess is that they were not all that distant from each other. So, Micah has his house of gods, his private priest, and his private religion in the shadow of Shiloh, where the Ark of the Covenant was kept, where the priests should have been serving, and where God was to be worshipped. It wasn’t that the proper place of worship was so distant that Micah and others had to make other arrangements; it was because Micah, Jonathan, and Israel were doing what was right in their own eyes, and thus they were worshipping “their way,” rather than God’s way. If these folks were living today, their number one worship “hymn” would be “I Did It My Way.”

Conclusion

As we conclude, I will pose several questions and suggest some answers from our text.

First, why has the author been so reluctant to plainly and emphatically tell the reader what is wrong as he relates this account? The first thing I would say is that the author has certainly exposed wrong-doing in general terms. That is why he repeats the statement, “In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes.” Now, going back to Deuteronomy 12, we can see just what the author meant by these words:

8 You must not do like we are doing here today, with everyone doing what seems best to him, 9 for you have not yet come to the final stop and inheritance the Lord your God is giving you. 10 When you do go across the Jordan River and settle in the land he is granting you as an inheritance and you find relief from all the enemies who surround you, you will live in safety. 11 Then you must come to the place the Lord your God chooses for his name to reside, bringing everything I am commanding you – your burnt offerings, sacrifices, tithes, the personal offerings you have prepared, and all your choice votive offerings which you devote to him. 12 You shall rejoice in the presence of the Lord your God, along with your sons, daughters, male and female servants, and the Levites in your villages (since they have no allotment or inheritance with you). 13 Make sure you do not offer burnt offerings in any place you wish, 14 for you may do so only in the place the Lord chooses in one of your tribal areas – there you may do everything I am commanding you.

15 On the other hand, you may slaughter and eat meat as you please when the Lord your God blesses you in all your villages. Both the ritually pure and impure may eat it, whether it is a gazelle or an ibex. 16 However, you must not eat blood – pour it out on the ground like water. 17 You will not be allowed to eat in your villages your tithe of grain, new wine, olive oil, the firstborn of your herd and flock, any votive offerings you have vowed, or your freewill and personal offerings. 18 Only in the presence of the Lord your God may you eat these, in the place he chooses. This applies to you, your son, your daughter, your male and female servants, and the Levites in your villages. In that place you will rejoice before the Lord your God in all the output of your labor. 19 Be careful not to overlook the Levites as long as you live in the land.

20 When the Lord your God extends your borders as he said he would do and you say, “I want to eat meat just as I please,” you may do so as you wish. 21 If the place he chooses to locate his name is too far for you, you may slaughter any of your herd and flock he has given you just as I have stipulated; you may eat them in your villages just as you wish. 22 Like you eat the gazelle or ibex, so you may eat these; the ritually impure and pure alike may eat them. 23 However, by no means eat the blood, for the blood is life itself – you must not eat the life with the meat! 24 You must not eat it! You must pour it out on the ground like water. 25 You must not eat it so that it may go well with you and your children after you; you will be doing what is right in the Lord’s sight (Deuteronomy 12:8-25, emphasis mine).

Doing what is right in one’s own eyes is living by one’s own assessment of good and evil, of what is right and what is wrong. Doing what is right in God’s eyes is living in obedience to God’s revealed Word. The Israelites, much like men and women today, were “doing their own thing.” If one reads our text in Judges with God’s law (as revealed in the Pentateuch) in mind, it is obvious what evils are being committed – by Micah, by Jonathan, by the Danites, and (by inference) by virtually all of the Israelites.

The author’s method of teaching is not like that of many teachers today. They supply all the answers, and then expect the audience to write them down and carry them out. When our Lord Jesus taught, people went away scratching their heads. They had a lot of mental homework to do before they got the message. Many – indeed most – never got the message. Jesus was very clear in telling His disciples that He would send His Holy Spirit, and He would not only bring His teaching to mind; He would enable true believers to understand it.21

Our author does not do all his readers’ thinking for them. He gives them the general lay of the land and then expects them to reflect and meditate on what he has written. He expects his readers to be familiar with the rest of the Bible. He expects his readers to grasp biblical truth in some kind of theological structure. He writes in a way that encourages his audience to pray for the illumination of the Holy Spirit, so that they may understand and apply the teaching of God’s Word.

What is clear from the Book of Judges is that the Israelites failed to live in accordance with God’s law. What we need to remember is that the law was not given to save men, but to show man his desperate need of salvation, not through law-keeping, but through the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the sinner’s behalf.

19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world may be held accountable to God. 20 For no one is declared righteous before him by the works of the law, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin. 21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God (which is attested by the law and the prophets) has been disclosed – 22 namely, the righteousness of God through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. 24 But they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. 25 God publicly displayed him at his death as the mercy seat accessible through faith. This was to demonstrate his righteousness, because God in his forbearance had passed over the sins previously committed. 26 This was also to demonstrate his righteousness in the present time, so that he would be just and the justifier of the one who lives because of Jesus’ faithfulness (Romans 3:19-26).

Thank God for the New Covenant which was inaugurated by the shed blood of Jesus. Under the New Covenant, God gives lost men and women – who have hearts of stone – new hearts, hearts of flesh.

v  

[Garland-Green]

2 You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone, 3 revealing that you are a letter of Christ, delivered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on stone tablets but on tablets of human hearts.

4 Now we have such confidence in God through Christ. 5 Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as if it were coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, 6 who made us adequate to be servants of a new covenant not based on the letter but on the Spirit, for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

7 But if the ministry that produced death – carved in letters on stone tablets – came with glory, so that the Israelites could not keep their eyes fixed on the face of Moses because of the glory of his face (a glory which was made ineffective), 8 how much more glorious will the ministry of the Spirit be? 9 For if there was glory in the ministry that produced condemnation, how much more does the ministry that produces righteousness excel in glory! 10 For indeed, what had been glorious now has no glory because of the tremendously greater glory of what replaced it. 11 For if what was made ineffective came with glory, how much more has what remains come in glory! (2 Corinthians 3:2-11)

The only thing the law can do is to reveal God’s righteousness to us, while at the same time revealing to us the magnitude of our sin. When our Lord Jesus took on human flesh at His incarnation, He fulfilled all of the requirements of the law, proving His righteousness, and establishing that He alone is qualified to die in the sinner’s place. That’s exactly what He did. Jesus died on the cross of Calvary, bearing the penalty for our sins. Everyone who acknowledges their sin and who clings to the work of Christ accomplished on their behalf is assured of the forgiveness of their sins and the gift of eternal life.

Perhaps you have been like Micah, trusting in gods of your own making, rather than in the God who made you, and who sent His Son to die in your place. Forsake your false religion, and cling to Jesus.

Second, what can we learn about discerning the will of God from our text? The sense I get when I read this text is that the characters (Micah’s mother, Micah, and the Danites) embraced as God’s will (or God’s work) anything that contributed to or confirmed their fleshly desires. Micah’s mother got her silver back from her sticky-fingered son, and so she praised God (Yahweh) and then commissioned the making of idols with some of the returned silver. Micah viewed the arrival of the young Levite as a providential indication of God’s provision of a private priest. The Danites interpreted their discovery of Micah’s gods and his personal priest as a divinely provided opportunity to confiscate these for their own benefit.

First and foremost, God’s will is revealed in His Word. It is sin to fashion idols. Levites are to serve in the way God appointed and not on the basis of “the best offer.” When the Danites finally figured out that Micah was an idolater (not to mention his Levite for hire), the Scriptures make it clear that the guilty parties should have been put to death and their town destroyed.22

All too often people discern God’s will by what they want. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard someone practicing adultery or immorality seek to justify their sin with the statement, “I know that God wants me to be happy. . . .” Thus, even though the Bible explicitly forbids sexual immorality, some practice it anyway, convinced that God looks on them with favor. God’s Word is the basis for discerning God’s will. When favorable circumstances accompany clear biblical approval, then we can rejoice. But when circumstances are favorable and the Scriptures are not, we must go with what the Scriptures say, not what circumstances permit.

Third, why the emphasis on Israel’s need for a king? We must begin by considering the nature of man. Is man born good, and only later corrupted by his environment, or is man born a sinner? The Scriptures are clear on this matter:

1 And although you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you formerly lived according to this world’s present path, according to the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the ruler of the spirit that is now energizing the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom all of us also formerly lived out our lives in the cravings of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath even as the rest. . . (Ephesians 2:1-3, emphasis mine).

Since man is sinful, then when left to himself he will choose to do wrong when it appears to serve his own interests. Men need external motivation to avoid evil and to promote that which is good. One such external motivation comes from civil government:

1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except by God’s appointment, and the authorities that exist have been instituted by God. 2 So the person who resists such authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will incur judgment 3 (for rulers cause no fear for good conduct but for bad). Do you desire not to fear authority? Do good and you will receive its commendation, 4 for it is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be in fear, for it does not bear the sword in vain. It is God’s servant to administer retribution on the wrongdoer (Romans 13:1-4).

A godly king is a blessing to a people because he will oppose wickedness and promote righteousness.

13 The fear of the Lord is to hate evil;

I hate arrogant pride and the evil way

and perverse utterances.

14 Counsel and sound wisdom belong to me;

I possess understanding and might.

15 Kings reign by means of me,

and potentates decree righteousness (Proverbs 8:13-15).

The king shows favor to a wise servant,

but his wrath falls on one who acts shamefully (Proverbs 14:35).

12 Doing wickedness is an abomination to kings,

because a throne is established in righteousness.

13 The delight of kings is righteous counsel,

and they love the one who speaks uprightly (Proverbs 16:12-13).

A king sitting on the throne to judge

separates out all evil with his eyes (Proverbs 20:8 ).

A wise king separates out the wicked;

he turns the threshing wheel over them (Proverbs 20:26).

Loyal love and truth preserve a king,

and his throne is upheld by loyal love (Proverbs 20:28 ).

The one who loves a pure heart

and whose speech is gracious – the king will be his friend (Proverbs 22:11).

Remove the wicked from before the king,

and his throne will be established in righteousness (Proverbs 25:5).

A king brings stability to a land by justice,

but one who exacts tribute tears it down (Proverbs 29:4).

14 If a king judges the poor in truth,

his throne will be established forever (Proverbs 29:14).

It would not be far from the truth to say that Israel was nearly in a state of anarchy, because everyone was acting as though they were the highest authority. When men “do what is right in their own eyes,” it is because they think that they are the best judge of good and evil. A godly king was to be a man who was a student of God’s Word, and thus he held himself and his kingdom accountable to God’s Word:

18 When he sits on his royal throne he must make a copy of this law on a scroll given to him by the Levitical priests. 19 It must be with him constantly and he must read it as long as he lives, so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and observe all the words of this law and these statutes and carry them out. 20 Then he will not exalt himself above his fellow citizens or turn from the commandments to the right or left, and he and his descendants will enjoy many years ruling over his kingdom in Israel (Deuteronomy 17:18-20).

We know, of course, that even godly kings like David and Solomon failed badly, sometimes using (or abusing) their power to satisfy their own sinful desires. The only king who will be able to establish a godly kingdom will be the King of Kings, our Lord Jesus Christ. The failure of men in Judges demonstrates man’s desperate need for this King. And the ungodly men in Judges provide a dark backdrop against which the excellencies of our King are exhibited.

The last series that I taught was on the Book of Hebrews. There, the author set out to extol the virtues and supremacy of Christ over the best of men. The revelation of our Lord is superior to that which came before.23 He is superior to the angels.24 Our Lord is superior to Moses, that great man of God with feet of clay.25 He is superior to Aaron, Israel’s high priest, and to all the Old Testament priests.26

If Jesus is superior to the best men the Old Testament (or the New) sets before us, then how much better is He when compared to worst of men? Jonathan, the priest for hire, is a tragic failure, regardless of his glorious lineage. The failures of men in the Book of Judges creates a yearning in the reader for the Perfect Man who is to come as God’s King over all creation.

As I read Judges, I am convinced that the same kinds of evil which plagued the Israelites (and all the rest of mankind) in the period of the judges exist today. The Book of Judges prepares the reader for the coming of David, God’s King. What a blessing he was to Israel. Even better, the circumstances of Judges are very similar to those which preceded the first coming of our Great King, Jesus. I believe that we see similar circumstances today and that inclines me to think that the second coming of our King is near. What a day that will be!

Fourth, what is the great evil in our text about which we should be warned? We need to remember that the threat in our text comes from within Israel, not from without. There is no external power (Philistines, Ammonites, etc.) that is oppressing Israel here. And no foreign deity (e.g., Baal) is being worshipped. Yahweh is being worshipped, but in a way that is contrary to God’s Word, in a way that is patterned after pagan religions (thus the idols). The danger in our text is not that of Israel blatantly rejecting God (Yahweh) and turning to pagan gods; it is syncretism – the blending of true worship with that which is false.

Something similar has already happened in Israel:

1 When the people saw that Moses delayed in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said to him, “Get up, make us gods that will go before us. As for this fellow Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him!” 2 So Aaron said to them, “Break off the gold earrings that are on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” 3 So all the people broke off the gold earrings that were on their ears and brought them to Aaron. 4 He accepted the gold from them, fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molten calf. Then they said, “These are your gods,27 O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.” 5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it, and Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow will be a feast to the Lord.” 6 So they got up early on the next day and offered up burnt offerings and brought peace offerings, and the people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play (Exodus 32:1-6, emphasis mine).

I do not believe that the Israelites so quickly forsook God altogether in Moses’ absence. I believe that the Israelites chose to worship the “God who brought them up out of Egypt” in their own way, in a way that was familiar to them because of their idolatrous past. Thus, Yahweh, the God of Israel, the God who delivered Israel from Egyptian bondage, is represented by a golden calf. They are worshipping God like heathen.

I believe we see something similar in the New Testament in the church at Corinth. In chapters 8-10, the Apostle Paul (the author of 1 Corinthians) dealt with the question of whether or not Christians should eat meats offered to idols. It becomes apparent in chapter 10 that some of the saints were participating at two “tables” – the Lord’s Table and the “table of demons.”28 The heathen sacrificial worship of the Corinthian gods would have been characterized by fleshly indulgence and the casting aside of all self-control. After clearly prohibiting participation in these heathen rituals, Paul moves on in chapter 11 to correct misconduct that was taking place around the Lord’s Table. It is my opinion that the Corinthians were worshipping our Lord in the same manner that the Corinthian heathen worshipped their gods. Thus, there was a blending, a syncretism, that was evident in the worship of our Lord in the church at Corinth.

Syncretism occurs today as well. While I do not agree completely with everything the authors set forth in the book, Pagan Christianity,29 they do demonstrate that much of what is seen and done in Protestant (and Catholic) churches has its origin in pagan practices, rather than in the Scriptures. That is why Paul’s description of the meeting of the church in 1 Corinthians 11-14 seems so foreign to Christians today.

I believe we are far too inclined to set aside some of the biblical instructions regarding the way we are to do church, as though they were only applicable to certain people at a certain time and place. That is not the way Paul presents his teaching to the Corinthians at all:

16 I encourage you, then, be imitators of me. 17 For this reason, I have sent Timothy to you, who is my dear and faithful son in the Lord. He will remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church (1 Corinthians 4:16-17, emphasis mine).

Nevertheless, as the Lord has assigned to each one, as God has called each person, so must he live. I give this sort of direction in all the churches (1 Corinthians 7:17, emphasis mine).

If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, so that when you assemble it does not lead to judgment. I will give directions about other matters when I come (1 Corinthians 11:34).

33 for God is not characterized by disorder but by peace. As in all the churches of the saints, 34 the women should be silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak. Rather, let them be in submission, as in fact the law says (1 Corinthians 14:33-34, emphasis mine).

With regard to the collection for the saints, please follow the directions that I gave to the churches of Galatia (1 Corinthians 16:1, emphasis mine).

I believe there are certain principles and instructions in the New Testament which cannot be set aside, no matter what the time or the culture. While there is room for a good deal of freedom in what is taught in the New Testament, there is not as much freedom as some would indicate. Some of those who conducted themselves in an unworthy manner in the church gathering at Corinth were sick, and some died because of their conduct.30 How we go about our worship matters to God. Therefore, we had better not be careless about obeying God’s instructions to the church.

There are other areas where syncretism can and has infected the church. One area of danger is that of psychology. Not all psychology is wrong, but some of it is. The self-esteem movement was baptized into the church (in preaching and in counseling) so that people were given the idea that our main problem is thinking too little of ourselves, when the Bible teaches that our problem stems from thinking too highly of ourselves.31 Christians were told to work harder at loving themselves and taking care of themselves first of all. All of this is to say that we dare not allow psychological theories (or even claims to truth) to take precedence over Scripture.

Another area of danger can be found in church management, church growth, and fund raising. All too often secular systems are embraced on the level of Scriptural truth. The church of Jesus Christ turned the world upside down in the Book of Acts, not because they did things the way unbelievers did, but because they did things God’s way, and God miraculously empowered His people to do the impossible.

Finally, there are many who seek to maintain labels like “conservative,” “Bible-believing,” “orthodox,” “evangelical,” and “Christian” when the substance of their beliefs and practices is otherwise. Movements like the Emergent Church Movement are rapidly setting aside the teaching and practices of the Scriptures for something more politically correct, something more culturally appealing. Let us not become syncretistic about our faith, but let us be uniquely Christian, and uniquely biblical, following Jesus by obeying His Word.

Copyright © 2009 by Robert L. Deffinbaugh. This is the edited manuscript of Lesson 16 in the series, The Dark Days of Israel’s Judges, prepared by Robert L. Deffinbaugh on December 6, 2009. Anyone is at liberty to use this lesson for educational purposes only, with or without credit.

1 Some differ here, seeing the second part of the two-part introduction ending at 3:6, rather than 3:4.

2 Notice especially verse 4.

3 Dale Ralph Davis does an excellent job of pointing out some of the author’s more subtle means of passing judgment on the events he describes. See Dale Ralph Davis, Such a Great Salvation: Expositions of the Book of Judges (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1990), pp. 199-205.

4 Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

5 Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the NET Bible. The NEW ENGLISH TRANSLATION, also known as THE NET BIBLE, is a completely new translation of the Bible, not a revision or an update of a previous English version. It was completed by more than twenty biblical scholars who worked directly from the best currently available Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts. The translation project originally started as an attempt to provide an electronic version of a modern translation for electronic distribution over the Internet and on CD (compact disk). Anyone anywhere in the world with an Internet connection will be able to use and print out the NET Bible without cost for personal study. In addition, anyone who wants to share the Bible with others can print unlimited copies and give them away free to others. It is available on the Internet at: www.netbible.org.

6 It is interesting that the amount stolen (1100 pieces of silver) is the same amount promised Delilah by each of the five Philistine lords if she would extract from Samson the secret of his strength (see Judges 16:5).

7 See Genesis 31:19, where the same word is employed by Moses.

8 See Deuteronomy 14:27-29; 26:10-13; Joshua 14:3-4; 18:7; 21.

9 For whatever reason, Micah’s house seems to be situated in such a way that strangers pass by it, so that not only the young Levite stops to talk with Micah, but also the five Danite spies end up there as well.

10 Another name for Laish.

11 Notice that Samson’s father was a Danite from Zorah (13:2) and that Samson was buried between Zorah and Eshtaol (16:31). This was Samson’s turf.

12 This assumes that the account of Samson in chapters 13-16 actually precedes the account of chapter 18 chronologically, something which is not entirely certain. See K. Lawson Younger Jr., Judges and Ruth (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2002), p. 343.

13 See Numbers 13 and 14.

14 It is an important distinction, as we can see from Deuteronomy 20:10-18. One only needs to read Joshua 9 concerning the residents of Gibeon to see why this is true. In his commentary, Block more than once refers to the people of Laish as Canaanites, but I have not yet found any biblical confirmation of this. See, for example, Daniel I. Block, Judges, Ruth (NAC 6; Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1999), p. 510. Even so, Block (p. 510) finds that the author has written this account in such a way that his readers empathize with the people of Laish.

15 Block rather persuasively argues that the Levite’s “blessing” is deliberately general and vague. I’m inclined to be persuaded by his argument. See Daniel I. Block, Judges, Ruth, p. 498.

16 See Numbers 13.

17 See Judges 6:25-32.

18 Two things need to be said here. First, the NET Bible translates in a way that views Jonathan as a descendant of Moses, rather than as a son. The term more literally means son, which is the way the same term is rendered with respect to Moses. Thus, literally we would read, “Jonathan, son of Gershom, son of Moses.” In genealogies the term may mean descendant when every descendant of a particular line is not named. There is a reason why the distinction is important here. If Jonathan were actually the son of Gershom, then this event would have happened early in the period of the judges, rather than late (as the placement of this account would suggest to western readers, who tend to look at things chronologically). See Younger, p. 343, as mentioned above.

The other thing that should be pointed out (which is evident in the various translations) is that some manuscripts have the Hebrew word Manasseh (see KJV, NKJV, NASB95) rather than Moses (CSB, ESV, NIV, NET Bible). The difference is the Hebrew letter nun (“n”) which is added to “Moses” (Hebrew Mosheh) resulting in “Manasseh.” Block explains: “But it is the reference to Moses that catches the reader off guard. Indeed the rabbinic scribes found the present association of Moses’ name with such abominable idolatrous behavior so objectionable they refused to accept the statement and inserted a superscripted nun between the first two consonants, transforming unpointed mšh, “Moses,” into mnšh, “Manasseh.” Daniel I. Block, Judges, Ruth, p. 512.

19 Judges 18:31.

20 This would explain how Jonathan, the five spies, and eventually the Danite army passed by Micah’s house.

21 See John 14:25-26; 16:12-13; 1 Corinthians 2:6-16.

22 See Deuteronomy 13, especially verses 12-17.

23 See Hebrews 1:1-3; 2:1-4.

24 Hebrews 1:4ff.

25 Hebrews 3.

26 Hebrews 5:1ff.

27 While “gods” (plural) is technically correct, I would prefer the rendering of the CSB: “Israel, this is your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!”

28 See 1 Corinthians 10:14-22, especially verse 21.

29 Frank Viola and George Barna, Pagan Christianity?: Exploring the Roots of Our Church Practices. Tyndale House Publishers, 2008.

30 1 Corinthians 11:30.

31 See Philippians 2:1-11.

Source  

[Garland-Green]

Israel’s Sodom and Gomorrah (Judges 19-21)


Introduction

In our church, one of the men is asked to read the biblical passage that is the Scripture text for the sermon. I’ve done this for years. As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, the text for this lesson is the only biblical text anyone has ever declined to read, due to the violence and sexual perversion it depicts. Actually, three men, as I recall, declined to read it. The brave soul who finally agreed to read the text commented first, “I know we normally read the Scripture text and then pray, but if you don’t mind, I’d like to pray before I read.”

If this text is difficult to read, it is even more difficult to preach. The preacher has to deal with at least two decisions. The first is this: “How explicit should one be in describing the sins that are depicted in this text, especially with children present?” In preaching this sermon, I requested that the public Scripture reading end at verse 21 of chapter 19. I then attempted to deal with the more violent and offensive details of the text by using language that was a little less graphic, assuming that my adult audience would be familiar with the gruesome details. I hoped that the younger listeners might not fully grasp all that took place in the text and thus not become troubled by the particulars of the text. In print I will be more specific, convinced that if this text shocks us, that is precisely what the Spirit of God intended when He inspired it.

Second, in some parts of the world, preaching this passage would probably be against the law (since it condemns homosexuality as sin), and I fear that it will not be long before that will be the case in the United States of America. For the first time in my ministry, I sense the risk that every preacher of God’s Word takes when speaking the truth of the Bible to a world that does not want to hear it (and may soon use governmental power to oppose it).

The Relationship Between Genesis 19 and Judges 19
It is almost impossible for the reader of this text to miss its connection to the story of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19.1 In both texts, the sin of homosexuality and its judgment is a primary theme. In both accounts, the wicked men of the city wish to rape the male guest of an outsider who is sojourning in their city. Likewise, in both accounts the host offers his daughter(s)2 to the men of the city in place of his guest. There is no doubt that the author is informing the reader that Israel has now stooped to the moral level of the Canaanites.3

Another Observation Concerning our Text

This is the final message in our series on the Book of Judges, and it is the second of two conclusions to the Book of Judges. The first conclusion (chapters 17-18.) had to do with Jonathan, the Levite who sold out and became a “personal priest for hire” to Micah, and then to the tribe of Dan. The second conclusion (chapters 19-21) focuses on another Levite, whose testimony results in the destruction of an Israelite town and the near annihilation of the tribe of Benjamin. I believe the author was very deliberate in focusing on two Levites in his two-part conclusion and that he intends for his readers to compare and contrast the two conclusions in order to discern the message that God has for us as the book ends. We will do that at the end of this message.

Abuses of Our Text

Among the many challenges that arise from the text itself, there are also challenges that come from outside the text, from those who would seek to turn the reader’s attention from the author’s message to their own “message.” Some who practice, advocate, or seek to validate a homosexual lifestyle try to convince us that it is not homosexuality that is condemned here, but rather man’s failure to show hospitality. Hospitality is an issue that is addressed in our text (and we will talk about it later), but it is not the central issue; homosexuality is much more emphatically addressed here. Those who wanted to “know” Lot’s two guests were not the “welcome wagon committee” for Sodom and Gomorrah. The same is true of the worthless men of Gibeah, who wanted to “know” the young Levite. The Hebrew word translated “know” has various meanings, but sexual relations is clearly the sense in this context.4 Otherwise, why would Lot offer his two virgin daughters, “who had “never known a man” to be dealt with in whatever way the men of Sodom thought was right.5 In our text, the old man offered his virgin daughter and the Levite’s concubine to the worthless men of Gibeah to be abused in whatever manner they chose:

Here are my virgin daughter and my guest’s concubine. I will send them out and you can abuse them and do to them whatever you like. But don’t do such a disgraceful thing to this man!” (Judges 19:24)

Another possible “abuse”6 of this text comes from some feminists who wish to make the oppression of women the principle focus. Now I would agree that the Book of Judges depicts the abuse of women as an indication of Israel’s fallen condition. I believe that as Israel persists in its downward plummet into Canaanite beliefs and practices, her treatment of women deteriorates as well. Having said this, I do not believe that this is the author’s primary purpose. Furthermore, God’s Word never advocates or justifies such behavior; it condemns the abuse of women. But we will have more to say about this at the end of the lesson.

When Did These Events Happen?

Our Western minds are predisposed to look at things from a chronological perspective. It would be easy to view the events described in the author’s dual conclusion as having occurred in the final days of the judges. It is highly unlikely, however, that this is the case. Indeed, all indications are that these events took place quite early in the days of the judges. At the end of the author’s first conclusion, we are told that the young Levite’s name was Jonathan and that he was the “son of Gershom, son of Moses” (18:30). In our text we read:

27 The Israelites asked the Lord (for the ark of God’s covenant was there in those days; 28 Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, was serving the Lord in those days), “Should we once more march out to fight the Benjaminites our brothers, or should we quit?” The Lord said, “Attack, for tomorrow I will hand them over to you” (Judges 20:27-28, emphasis mine).

The author’s two chronological indicators strongly imply that the events described in his dual conclusion occurred early in the days of the judges, rather than late. Our author has therefore chosen not to arrange his material chronologically,7 but thematically. He goes from “bad” in his dual introduction (chapters 1-2) to “worse” in his dual conclusion (chapters 17-21).

The Structure of our Text

The structure of our author’s final conclusion (chapters 19-21) follows the chapter divisions in our Bibles:

Hospitality (19:1-10) to horror (19:11-30)

Civil War: Israel vs. the Benjamites (20:1-48.)

Brides for the Benjamites (21:1-25)

It is the mistreatment of the Levite’s concubine in chapter 19 that precipitates the civil war described in chapter 20. And the near annihilation of the Benjamites in chapter 20 prompts the Israelites to bend the rules to find brides for the few remaining Benjamites in chapter 21.

From Hospitality to Horror
Judges 19
Once again the author tells a story about a Levite. This fellow lived somewhere in the hill country of Ephraim. He obtained a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah, and she was unfaithful to him8 and then returned to the home of her father. She had been there four months when the Levite decided to go to Bethlehem and sweet talk9 her into returning home with him.

The Levite’s father-in-law (if that is what one would call his concubine’s father) welcomed the Levite (as did his concubine) and smothered him with Middle Eastern hospitality. The Levite was “wined and dined” for three days, which in the minds of many would be the outer limit for entertaining a guest.10 On the fourth day, the Levite got up early to get on his way, but the father-in-law detained him yet again, encouraging him to have something to eat before he departed. This resulted in him staying on another day. On the fifth day, the Levite was determined to leave; nevertheless the father-in-law detained him with hospitality until late in the afternoon. His host urged the Levite to stay yet another night, but he was determined to begin his journey home. Knowing that he would not be able to make it home before dark, the Levite planned on spending the night in one of the Israelite cities along the way. The only question was how far they would get, and thus, where they would spend the night.

It was already late in the day when the small party approached Jebus. (Jebus is also Jerusalem, only at this point in time it is controlled by the Jebusites, rather than by Israel.) The Levite’s servant suggested that they spend the night here, but his master was unwilling to stay the night in a “foreign” city. He was determined to reach an Israelite town, for only there could he be assured of his safety. He was determined to press on until they reached Gibeah or Ramah.

The sun was beginning to set as they reached the Benjamite city of Gibeah. They entered the city gates and seated themselves in the town square. This was a clearly understood signal that they were passing through the city and needed a place to spend the night, but no one invited them in. As darkness set in, an old man from the remote hill country of Ephraim came in from his work in the field. He saw the weary travelers and inquired where they had come from and where they were going. The Levite explained their plight and made it clear that they needed only a roof over their heads because they had supplies for their own needs, and as well, what was needed for their animals.

The old man insisted that they stay with him. He knew all too well, it seems, that spending the night in the city square was not safe, just as Lot was unwilling for his guests to remain in the streets at night in Sodom.11 When they had enjoyed themselves and were about to settle down for the night, the peace and safety the Levite had hoped for was abruptly interrupted:

22 They were having a good time, when suddenly some men of the city, some good-for-nothings, surrounded the house and kept beating on the door. They said to the old man who owned the house, “Send out the man who came to visit you so we can have sex with him.” 23 The man who owned the house went outside and said to them, “No, my brothers! Don’t do this wicked thing! After all, this man is a guest in my house. Don’t do such a disgraceful thing! 24 Here are my virgin daughter and my guest’s concubine. I will send them out and you can abuse them and do to them whatever you like. But don’t do such a disgraceful thing to this man!” (Judges 19:22-24)

Several important observations are necessary at this point in the story. The first observation has to do with what these men demanded – homosexual rape. As stated earlier, this was not the welcoming committee or the Gibeah Chamber of Commerce. This was a group of worthless men – identified by the author as “sons of Belial.” They asked that only one man be sent out to them – the Levite – and their intention was not to “get to know him” in some neighborly way. They wanted to sexually abuse (rape) him. No wonder the old man urged the men not to do such a vile and wicked thing (verse 23). Only the threat of homosexual rape could prompt the old man to offer his virgin daughter and the Levite’s concubine to be sexually abused and thus to satisfy their deviant sexual desires. To ignore or deny this is to miss the author’s point, which is that Israel has now become so Canaanized that some of them are acting like the citizens of Sodom. As I mentioned in my introduction, Judges 19 is meant to be understood against the backdrop of Genesis 19.

The second observation has to do with a significant difference between what happened in Sodom (in Genesis 19) and what happened in Gibeah.12 While the intentions of the men of Sodom are the same as the worthless men in Gibeah,13 the size of the crowd outside the old man’s door does not appear to be as large as the crowd outside Lot’s door in Sodom. In Genesis, we are told that virtually the whole city (the entire adult male population) of Sodom assembled outside Lot’s door, demanding to have sex with his guests:

Before they could lie down to sleep, all the men – both young and old, from every part of the city of Sodom – surrounded the house (Genesis 19:4, emphasis mine).

In our text, the inference seems quite clear that it was not the entire male population of Gibeah that showed up at the door, but rather a smaller gathering of worthless men. No doubt this was a larger group than the old man, the Levite, and his servant could handle, but it was not the entire city.14

When it became obvious that the crowd would not listen to reason, the Levite compelled his concubine to go out to the men, who abused her the rest of the night. Barely alive, they let her go, and she somehow managed to make her way back to the door of the old man’s house, where she lay grasping the threshold with her hands.

In the morning, the Levite’s mind seems to have been on his return home to safety, rather than on the well being of his concubine. As he walked out the door to depart for home, he encountered his concubine, still clinging to the threshold. This Levite who had traveled to Bethlehem to sweet talk his concubine into returning home with him now gruffly orders her to get up and get going. While the text does not exactly tell us that she was already dead, it does inform us that she was not responsive, for she did not speak to him in reply to his command to get up. It is difficult not to conclude that the Levite loaded his concubine on his donkey like a sack of potatoes. If she was still alive, but gravely ill, this was no way to revive her and restore her to health. Therefore I conclude that she had already died during the early morning hours.15

What happens next is even more shocking. Once safely home the Levite cuts the dead body of his concubine into twelve pieces, sending a portion to every Israelite tribe. Nothing like this had ever happened before, or after. King Saul would later cut his oxen into pieces and send them throughout Israel,16 but the mutilation of this woman’s body was something far more disturbing. The Levite had certainly managed to get Israel’s attention.

Israel’s Civil War
Judges 20:1-47
The Levite’s action had exactly the effect he had hoped for. The whole nation was shocked and energized to action. Four hundred thousand armed Israelites assembled in unity before the Lord at Mizpah. I get the impression from the text (especially verse 3) that word of this great evil and of Israel’s gathering for military action was sent to the Benjamites, along with all the other tribes, but having heard what happened, they do not seem to have shown up at Mizpah.

The rest of the Israelite warriors gathered at Mizpah and asked the Levite to explain what had happened at Gibeah, prompting him to take such drastic measures to summon them. The Levite does a great job of making himself look good, while at the same time making the Benjamites look bad. In the author’s account, there is no mention of why the Levite was passing through Gibeah (because he had gone to Bethlehem to retrieve his runaway concubine). And while our author has previously informed us that it was only some of the worthless fellows of Gibeah who gathered at his host’s door, the Levite tells the Israelites who had gathered that it was the leaders of the city17 who rose against him, intending to kill him. And for some reason, he does not emphasize the perversion of homosexuality that the author so clearly described. In so doing, does the Levite seek to avoid the fact that the men of the city were primarily interested in having sex with him, while they disregarded the others who were present?18

Why does the Levite fail to mention that those gathered with evil intentions were offered his concubine and the older man’s virgin daughter, if they would not harm his guest? Why does he fail to inform them that he was the one who thrust his concubine out the door into the hands of these vile men – to be abused by them? All of this looks like a very selective and distorted account, designed to make the Levite look good and the Benjamites of Gibeah (all of them, not just the wicked ones who had surrounded the house) look bad. Note, too, that the Levite cleverly concludes his account by avoiding any recommendation of what should be done, instead leaving this up to his audience. Given his distorted version of the story, it is not surprising that those gathered concluded that the entire city should be annihilated.19

Those gathered resolved that they would see to it that this evil was purged from Israel. Since Gibeah was a Benjamite city, the assembled Israelites called upon the other Benjamites to hand over the wicked men of the city for judgment. The Benjamites concluded that “blood was thicker than water,” and thus they chose to stand with the wicked men of Gibeah, rather than against them. In so doing, they precipitated a civil war. Now, more than at any other time in the days of the judges, the tribes of Israel were acting in unity as they went to battle, but they were doing battle with one of their own tribes, and not with the Canaanites.

It seemed self evident that 400,000 soldiers were far more than what the task required, and so it was decided that only one in ten (chosen by lot) would actually be sent into battle. Thus, 40,000 Israelite warriors were chosen to fight the Benjamites. The Benjamites mustered 26,700 men20 to fight their fellow Israelites in defense of the wicked men of Gibeah.

The Israelites appear to be approaching this battle as they should. They went to Bethel to inquire of God who should lead the attack. Notice the similarity of their request to what we read early in the Book of Judges:

17 The men of Israel (not counting Benjamin) had mustered four hundred thousand sword-wielding soldiers, every one an experienced warrior. 18 The Israelites went up to Bethel and asked God, “Who should lead the charge against the Benjaminites?” The Lord said, “Judah should lead” (Judges 20:17-18, emphasis mine).

1 After Joshua died, the Israelites asked the Lord, “Who should lead the invasion against the Canaanites and launch the attack?” 2 The Lord said, “The men of Judah should take the lead. Be sure of this! I am handing the land over to them” (Judges 1:1-2, emphasis mine).

There is also a significant difference between God’s responses to these two requests. In Judges 20:17-18, God does not assure the Israelites of victory against their Benjamite brethren, as He does when instructing the Israelites that Judah should lead in the attack against the Canaanites. God makes no promises that He does not keep. And so we go on to read that the Benjamites prevailed in the first and second battles, slaughtering 22,000 Israelite soldiers in the first and 18,000 in the second.

After their first defeat, the Israelites went up (presumably to Bethel, though this is not plainly stated) where they wept before the Lord and then inquired as to whether or not they should attempt a second attack. The Lord answered in the affirmative, but once again gave no assurance of victory. And so the Israelites encountered the Benjamites who came out of Gibeah to attack them, and once again the Benjamites prevailed, killing 18,000 Israelites this time.21

All Israel gathered again at Bethel, where they wept before the Lord, where they fasted and offered sacrifices. The author mentions somewhat parenthetically that the Ark of the Covenant was there at Bethel, and that Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, was there serving as Israel’s high priest.22 The Israelites inquire of the Lord once again, asking whether they should continue to fight with the Benjamites or whether they should give it up and go home. God instructs the Israelites to again engage the Benjamites in battle, but this time with the assurance that they will prevail.23

The author provides the reader with a two-fold account of this third battle – a short version in 20:29-36a and a longer, more detailed, account in 20:36b-48. The Israelites’ victory here gets greater prominence than their earlier defeats. The Benjamites’ earlier victories over their Israelite brethren made them arrogant and overconfident, setting the stage for their defeat. While the Israelites appeared to attack in precisely the same manner as before, this time they also set an ambush outside the city of Gibeah. The Israelites assumed their positions, and, as before, it was the Benjamites who initiated the battle by rushing out from within the city. About 30 Israelite soldiers died in the initial attack, leading the Benjamites to assume that they were on their way to yet another victory. The Israelites drew back as though they were retreating, drawing the Benjamite warriors away from the city. Those Israelites hiding in ambush rushed into the city, putting all to death, and then setting the city on fire. By the time the Benjamites realized what had happened, it was too late; all they could do was flee for their lives as the Israelites cut them down from the front and the rear. In all, 25,000 Benjamites were killed that day, and only 600 escaped into the wilderness, to the rock of Rimmon. The Israelites then went about burning the other Benjamite cities.

Brides for Benjamites
Judges 21:1-25
There is a common phenomenon known as “buyer’s remorse.” This usually takes place after a hasty or poorly considered purchase. (Those of us who have bid for an item on E-Bay have sometimes experienced this shortly after entering the winning bid.) Having purchased a particular item we later wish that we had not been so hasty. “Why in the world did I ever decide to buy this?” We wonder. Having zealously waged war on the Benjamites, they had succeeded in nearly wiping them out. What would they do now – what could they do now – to keep the Benjamites from extinction? This was unthinkable for an Israelite.

In the course of waging war with the Benjamites, the Israelites made two vows, the first of which they have come to regret. They had vowed that they would never allow one of their daughters to marry a Benjamite. The second vow had possibilities of being used to their advantage. They had vowed that they would execute anyone who did not appear for battle against the Philistines.

They cleverly devised a plan whereby they would play one vow against the other. They would diligently keep the second vow, which enabled them to circumvent the first. Their second vow was to execute those who failed to join them in their battle against the Benjamites:

The Israelites asked, “Who from all the Israelite tribes has not assembled before the Lord?” They had made a solemn oath that whoever did not assemble before the Lord at Mizpah must certainly be executed (Judges 21:5).

They inquired and found that no one from Jabesh Gilead had assembled for war at Mizpah. In order to “keep their vow,” they assembled 12,000 warriors and attacked Jabesh Gilead, killing every man and woman, sparing only the young virgins. This left 400 virgins who could be given to the surviving men of Benjamin. (Technically, this was not breaking their vow since none of the men of Jabesh Gilead had assembled for battle, and thus none of them had vowed not to give their daughters to the Benjamites.)

The Israelites’ dedication to keep one vow has enabled them to circumvent the other. So far, they have succeeded in providing 400 wives for the remaining 600 Benjamite men. But there still remain 200 Benjamites who are without wives, and thus they cannot bear offspring to perpetuate their tribe. The Israelites conclude that something else must be done to provide wives for the remaining 200 Benjamites. They shrewdly concocted yet another devious plan. The Israelite men had vowed that they would not give any of their daughters to the Benjamites as wives. Nothing had been said about any virgin being taken from among their daughters.

An annual festival was soon to be celebrated by the Israelites at Shiloh. At this celebration, there would be dancing by the virgin daughters of Shiloh. The unwed Benjamites were commanded24 to hide out in the vineyards, and when the Israelite virgins came near to dance, they were to seize one of them for a wife. And so it happened. The Benjamite bachelors did as they were instructed. They each seized an Israelite virgin and “made her his wife.” Two hundred young women were taken, thus providing every Benjamite with a wife. With this accomplished, everyone returned to his home. With this, the book closes with this now familiar statement:

In those days Israel had no king. Each man did what he considered to be right (Judges 21:25).

It is possible that we may read these final verses of chapter 21 with a wink. How clever these Israelites were to provide wives for the Benjamites without technically violating the Law; indeed, while appearing to zealously keep the Law. But such is not the case. I am assuming that these “marriages” would be based upon a text like this one in Deuteronomy 22:

28 “Suppose a man comes across a virgin who is not engaged and overpowers and rapes her and they are discovered. 29 The man who has raped her must pay her father fifty shekels of silver and she must become his wife because he has violated her; he may never divorce her as long as he lives” (Deuteronomy 22:28-29).

In other words, these 200 virgins were seized, raped, and then (“lawfully”) kept as wives – because they had been raped as virgins. Having physically become “one flesh” with these Benjamite men, there was nothing that could be done to reverse what had happened. And so the forced marriages were allowed to stand. The fathers of these virgins were at least consoled by the fact that they had not been a party to this conspiracy before the fact.

Think of how this final episode in Judges began in chapter 19. Some worthless men in the city of Gibeah took the Levite’s concubine and gang raped her, which resulted in her death. Rape and murder (accentuated by the cutting up of this concubine) were the crimes which had so incensed the Israelites. And so they went to war with their Benjamite brethren, coming very close to bringing this tribe to extinction. And now, those who were so offended by the rape of this concubine conspire to bring about the rape of 200 Israelite virgins. The irony and hypocrisy of this can hardly be missed. Surely, the Benjamites and the Israelites were all “doing what was right in their own eyes.” They were certainly not living according to the spirit of the law.

Conclusion

Our text is filled with implications and applications for today. Let me conclude this message (and this series) by suggesting a few of them.

Hospitality or Homosexuality? There are those who would seek to convince us that this text (along with Genesis 19) has nothing to do with homosexuality. They would have us believe that the great sin of Sodom, and of Gibeah, was that of the neglect of hospitality. While I have no doubt that homosexuality is a major focus of the author, I do not believe that we must see one sin (whether it be the lack of hospitality or the practice of homosexuality) here and deny the other. I believe that both sins are evident in our text.

So let me speak first about the lack of hospitality described in our text. Hospitality is commanded and commended in both the Old Testament and in the New. Both Abraham and Lot practiced hospitality toward the strangers who were on their way to Sodom.25 Abraham’s servant used hospitality as a test for the wife he went to secure for Isaac.26 In a broader sense, the Israelites were to show hospitality to foreigners.27 In the New Testament, hospitality is also commanded.28 Gibeah’s failure to show hospitality to the Levite and his traveling companions was an early indication that something was wrong.

Having said this, Gibeah’s lack of hospitality is not the only sin in our text. We are surely intended to read Judges 19 in the light of Genesis 19. The sin of Sodom is now a sin within Israel. Things have gotten that bad. It does not appear to me that the entire population of Gibeah practiced homosexuality, but a portion of their citizens did. And those Benjamites who did not practice this sin somehow were willing to tolerate it, much as our culture does today – embracing it as an alternative lifestyle. The Bible speaks very clearly about homosexuality as sin, and our text is but one passage where it is portrayed in a very negative light. If I have not said it clearly enough, homosexuality is an abomination to God.29

I believe the author has chosen to end this book with a two-part conclusion not only because of his two-part introduction, but so that we can look at these two conclusions side-by-side in order to compare them. In this second conclusion, we find the sins of homosexuality, rape, and murder. Thanks to the dramatic actions of the Levite, the Israelites were shocked and horrified by his report of what had happened. Their response was so zealous that they went back into battle with their Benjamite brethren even after suffering defeat twice at their hands.

Compare the response of the Israelites to sexual perversion and murder in chapters 19 and 20 to Israel’s response to the Danites’ idolatry in chapters 17 and 18. There, they did absolutely nothing, and yet God’s Word gave very clear instructions about what they should have done:

12 “Suppose you should hear in one of your cities, which the Lord your God is giving you as a place to live, that 13 some evil people have departed from among you to entice the inhabitants of their cities, saying, “Let’s go and serve other gods” (whom you have not known before). 14 You must investigate thoroughly and inquire carefully. If it is indeed true that such a disgraceful thing is being done among you, 15 you must by all means slaughter the inhabitants of that city with the sword; annihilate with the sword everyone in it, as well as the livestock. 16 You must gather all of its plunder into the middle of the plaza and burn the city and all its plunder as a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God. It will be an abandoned ruin forever – it must never be rebuilt again. 17 You must not take for yourself anything that has been placed under judgment. Then the Lord will relent from his intense anger, show you compassion, have mercy on you, and multiply you as he promised your ancestors. 18 Thus you must obey the Lord your God, keeping all his commandments that I am giving you today and doing what is right before him” (Deuteronomy 13:12-18.).

These two conclusions (the idolatry of the Danites in chapters 17 and 18, and the immorality of the Benjamites in chapters 19-21) reveal Israel’s inconsistency at best, and her hypocrisy at worst. The murder of a young woman was inexcusable; the blatant practice of idolatry was met with a yawn.

Before we begin to look down our spiritual noses at Israel, let us consider our own failures. Let’s face it, there are certain sins that we evangelical Christians love to hate – homosexuality (at least until lately) being one of these sins, even though other sins receive a great deal more attention in the Bible. Those who name the name of Jesus as Savior and Lord need to be very careful not to be hypocritical about sin. God hates all sin, not just those sins we love to hate (because they don’t happen to tempt us). All sin falls under God’s condemnation and makes men worthy of eternal judgment – not just homosexuality, or adultery, or murder. Let us be careful not to be selective about those sins which we hate. Let us hate all sin, especially our own. We must not be like this Levite, who amplifies the sins of others, but overlooks or minimizes his own sins. Let us be as merciless with our sins as we are with the sins of others.

One of the ways our author exposes the spiritual and moral breakdown of the nation Israel in this period of her “dark ages” is by calling attention to the deterioration of the nation’s attitude and actions toward women. Early on in the book, we are introduced to brave and noble women like Deborah and Jael, women who stood apart from – even above – the men of the day. But then we read of Jephthah’s folly and its consequences for his daughter.30 We see the way in which Samson despises Israelite women and uses (or is used by) Philistine women.31 And finally we come to our text, only to be told that the Levite throws his concubine out to the worthless men of the city, to abuse as they choose, and then to die with her hands on the threshold of the house. Her “grieving” husband dispassionately orders her corpse to get up and resume their journey, and when he finds she is dead, he cuts her body into twelve pieces, which he distributes throughout Israel, to the horror of the nation.

In recent days, Bible-believing Christians have been accused of demeaning women. I will regretfully acknowledge that some men have twisted the Scriptures so as to justify the unbiblical and ungodly treatment of their wives or other women. But let me remind you that our Lord elevated women to a position of honor and dignity that the world had never before witnessed. He did not do so by making women apostles or church leaders, but by giving them very significant places of service in the home and in the church. It is not our culture that is enhancing and enriching women; it should be – and often is – the Christian (individually) and the church (corporately).

I must say a word about violence here, for there is a great deal of hypocrisy in regard to this matter. Today I hear many decrying cruelty to animals and also the abuse of women and children. This is rightly so, for the Bible does not sanctify animal cruelty,32 nor does it justify the abuse of women and children.33 God has a special interest in the helpless and the vulnerable, and He expects His people to be like Him in this regard.

Isn’t it interesting to observe how many bristle at the violence of our text, and especially the cutting up of the corpse of the Levite’s concubine? It was a terrible thing, and I do not wish in any way to minimize the evil that is so graphically depicted in our text. Remember, though, that it was a dead body that the Levite cut up, and yet it galvanized the entire nation into action. In our world, every single day thousands of living human beings – children – are being chopped up in their mother’s womb in the process of abortion. Few dare to call this murder, though it is so in nearly every case. These precious human lives are euphemistically referred to as fetal tissue or the like. And it is all done so that people (men and women) can live an immoral lifestyle and not suffer the consequences. May God have mercy on our nation for legalizing this horrible sin, and on Christians for failing to raise so much as a word of protest against it. May God deal justly with any government that seeks to have its citizens pay for such a holocaust.

Why is it so important to our author that several times in our text (and in our text alone) he points out that Israel had no king, and that everyone did what was right in their own eyes? It is because righteousness never comes from the “bottom up;” it can only come from the “top down.” Throughout Israel’s history, the nation was godly only when they had a godly king. If the Old Testament teaches us anything, it is that man is a sinner and cannot live up to God’s standards of righteousness. By human efforts at law-keeping, man will never achieve righteousness; he will only demonstrate his lack of righteousness (sin), and his need for salvation that comes from outside of himself. Salvation can only come from above, from Him who took on human flesh so that He might die in the sinner’s place:

19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world may be held accountable to God. 20 For no one is declared righteous before him by the works of the law, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin. 21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God (which is attested by the law and the prophets) has been disclosed – 22 namely, the righteousness of God through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:19-23).

God made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we would become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21).

How vastly different is God’s way of salvation from man’s! As I reflected on our text, I had to marvel at how the Israelites sought to “save” the Benjamites from their sins. They sought to save this tribe from extinction by circumventing and twisting God’s law. They sought to perpetuate the Benjamites by counseling them to forcibly seize other men’s daughters and then rape them so that they would become their wives. Man’s efforts at achieving salvation (our own, or that of others) are so pathetic, so disgusting.

God’s salvation came about in a very different way. God took pity on fallen men, sending His Son in human flesh so that He might identify with man, live a sinless life, and then die in the sinner’s place, bearing the punishment for our sins. God’s promised salvation finally and fully came in the person and work of Jesus Christ. It is Christ alone who is righteous. It is Christ alone who has lived a life free from sin. And it is He alone who willingly took the sinner’s place on the cross of Calvary, bearing the guilt and punishment we deserve. Trusting in Him alone is what saves sinners, not self-help programs and human striving after righteousness and God’s approval.

It is not just the Book of Judges that was given to make man look bad; it is the entire Bible. The Bible shows us how ugly our sin is and how desperately lost we are. It shows us that we cannot be saved by our own efforts, but only by the work of our Lord Jesus Christ. Just as the Bible shows us how bad we are, and how much we need to be saved apart from our own efforts, it portrays a beautiful Savior who came to earth to bear the sinner’s guilt and punishment, so that men might be saved and live forever in His presence. Have you trusted in Him? If not, I urge you to do so today.

Copyright © 2009 by Robert L. Deffinbaugh. This is the edited manuscript of Lesson 17 in the series, The Dark Days of Israel’s Judges, prepared by Robert L. Deffinbaugh on December 13, 2009. Anyone is at liberty to use this lesson for educational purposes only, with or without credit.

1 For a more extensive comparison of Genesis 19 and Judges 19, see D. I. Block, Judges, Ruth (NAC 6; Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1999), pp. 532-535.

2 In Genesis 19, Lot offers his two virgin daughters to the men of the city. In Judges 19, the host offers his virgin daughter and his guest’s concubine, but only the concubine is actually handed over to the wicked men who have assembled at his door.

3 Having said this, I believe that it is also necessary for the reader to distinguish an important difference in these two accounts – one on which a correct understanding of this text is based. We will talk more about this later in this message.

4 See also verse 25; Genesis 4:1; 1 Kings 1:4.

5 It is most interesting to note Lot’s exact words here in Genesis 19:8. In offering his two virgin daughters to the men of Sodom, he tells them that they can do to them “what is good in their eyes,” the same statement that is repeatedly made in the final chapters of Judges. What is “good in men’s eyes” is perversion to God (Leviticus 18:22; 20:13; Romans 1:24-27; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; 1 Timothy 1:9).

6 For a more thorough treatment on these two “abuses” of our text, see K. Lawson Younger Jr., Judges and Ruth (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2002), pp. 359-362.

7 “We should note that the events of Judges 19-21 occurred quite early in the judges’ period, for, according to 20:27b-28a, Phinehas, grandson of Aaron, was (high) priest at the time (see also Num. 25:1-15; 31:6; Josh. 22:20-34). Because an event is narrated at the end of a book does not mean it occurred later than the other events in that book; biblical writers sometimes arrange their materials topically rather than chronologically.” Dale Ralph Davis, Such a Great Salvation: Expositions of the Book of Judges (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1990), p. 2ll, fn. 1.

8 The Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, says that she was angry with the Levite, but I see no reason to set aside the Hebrew text here.

9 Literally the text says that he went after her to “speak to her heart.” From what we see of him later in the story, I can only imagine what his “sweet talk” was like.

10 Most of us have heard the old saying, “A guest is like a fish; after three days, he stinks.”

11 See Genesis 19:1-3.

12 There is yet another difference. No one in Sodom was raped, thanks to the action of the angels at Lot’s house – blinding the men of the city. But someone is raped in Gibeah.

13 Pardon me for being so graphic, but in my opinion when we are told that those who had gathered at the old man’s door abused the Levite’s concubine, I believe this means that they raped her in a manner that was consistent with their sexual perversion. Bluntly put, I believe that they sodomized her.

14 My position will surely be disputed by some. A number of translations (NASB 95, CSB, ESV, KJV) can be read as though all the men of Gibeah turned out for this dreadful event. Other translations (NKJV, NET Bible, NIV, NJB, NLT) render the text in a way that refers to a smaller group of men gathered at the door. The Hebrew text has no article before “men” and thus it can (and in my opinion should) be rendered “some men of the city. . . .” It is the Greek translation of the Old Testament – the Septuagint – that includes the article, thus pressing the translator to render “the men of the city.” I would point out that the wording in Genesis 19 emphatically indicates that all the men of Sodom appeared at Lot’s door, while our text inclines us in the opposite direction. One reason why the translators may render our text in a more inclusive (“all the men”) way is that this seems to better conform to the Levite’s account of events in chapter 20 (verses 3-7). I will shortly contend that the Levite’s account is less than truthful.

15 No doubt the Levite was eager to get out of town, for he did not wish to face this same group of worthless men again. But in all of this, it seems clear that the man is looking out only for himself, and no one else.

16 See 1 Samuel 11:1-11.

17 It is difficult for me to understand why a number of translations render the Hebrew term used here in such a way as to refer to the men of Gibeah in general, rather than to the leaders of the city. I believe the text is clear in indicating that the Levite accused the leaders of the city of leading this mob who attacked him.

18 I am a bit perplexed as to why the Levite was singled out by the wicked men of the city when he was not the only one present. Indeed, the Levite’s servant was a young man. Why did they express no interest in him?

19 Given the instruction of Deuteronomy 13 (especially verses 12-18.), it may well be that the entire city of Gibeah should have been destroyed, but not until after careful inquiry was made, and not until the city leaders had been given the opportunity to deal with the wicked men who committed this terrible act.

20 The author informs us that 700 of these warriors were left-handed and highly skilled with a sling.

21 The combined deaths (22,000 from the first attack and 18,000 from the second) now equaled the number of Israelites who went to battle in the first attack (and presumably in the second attack as well).

22 As noted earlier, the mention of Eleazar here as Israel’s high priest at this time, along with the earlier mention of Jonathan the Levite in 18:30, inclines the reader to see these events described in the author’s conclusion as taking place early in the period of the judges, rather than late in this period.

23 One can hardly help but wonder why God allowed the Israelites to suffer defeat twice before giving them the victory over their Benjamite brethren. Truthfully, the author does not tell us why. We should be careful to note that God had not promised victory until the third battle. From other biblical texts, we can also learn that such defeats may be God’s judgment upon Israel (compare 2 Samuel 24 with 1 Chronicles 21).

24 This was not a suggestion, but a command, which makes the Israelites bear the guilt of what is about to take place.

25 See Genesis 18:1-8; 19:1-3.

26 See Genesis 24:10-27.

27 See Exodus 22:21; 23:9; Leviticus 19:34; 23:22.

28 See Romans 12:13; 1 Timothy 5:10; Hebrews 13:2.

29 Leviticus 18:22; 20:13; Romans 1:24-27; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; 1Timothy 1:9-10.

30 See Judges 11:30-40.

31 See Judges 14-16.

32 See Deuteronomy 25:4; Proverbs 12:10.

33 See Ephesians 5:25-30; 1 Thessalonians 2:7-12.

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