Biblical Theology VII: Judges

Theology: The book teaches that a king is necessary in order for Israel to remain faithful and be directed to the covenant God has made with them. The phrases, “In those days there was no king,” and “Every one did that which was right in his own eyes” are repeated toward the end of the book as Israel becomes more depraved (17:6; 18:1; 19:1; 21:25). Without a king, the people will spiral out of control in their own false religion they think is right, as God will give them over to be enslaved by their enemies, lose the inheritance of the land He gave to them, and eventually destroy themselves altogether. Since deliverance from slavery and claim to the land is given to them as a reward for being in covenant with YHWH, they have no claim to it once they have turned away from that covenant in their rebellion toward God. Judges/Deliverers are raised up for individual tribes, but eventually, the book argues, a single king is needed to do the work of the deliverer for the entirety of God’s people who remain faithful to Him either by not turning away from Him in the first place or by repenting. The wicked are left among them as a test to their faithfulness and as a judgment against them.

Judges argues that when God’s people break covenant with Him, they will be given over to judgment. What keeps chaos at bay is God, and what keeps them in good standing with God is their faithfulness to the suzerain covenant He made with them. The book conveys the idea that when His people are in sin, the inheritance of the land begins to be taken away from them, and they reenter the previous slavery from which YHWH had delivered them. In the Deuteronomistic History (DH), this will eventually lead to complete exile of both the northern and southern kingdom. Judges foreshadows this. However, if His people repent and again recommit themselves to the suzerain covenant made with God, He will raise up a deliverer who will destroy the yoke of their enemies and restore the inheritance to them. This is called the Judges Cycle. The steps are as follows: (1) Israel is at peace, (2) They turn away from YHWH, (3) YHWH delivers His people into the hands of their enemies, (4) Israel repents and cries out to YHWH, (5) YHWH hears them and raises up a deliverer/judge, (6) Israel is at peace again in the land. This cycle happens twelve times in the book (Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, Debra, Gideon, Tola, Jair, Jephthah, Ibzan, Elon, Abdon, Samson), perhaps corresponding to the number of tribes. The self destruction of their sin is displayed throughout the book as Israelites end up destroying one another without any need of their enemies to do it.

Ethics: Faithfulness, again, is seen in terms of obeying YHWH. To do what is right in one’s own eyes is to ignore God’s Word in order to do what one thinks is acceptable for himself. It is to throw off YHWH as Lord and to make oneself Lord. Repentance from this betrayal is to recommit oneself to YHWH. The book is also setting up the rest of the Deuteronomistic argument that the inheritance of the land will be both lost and restored by a king who directs Israel to faithfulness to God. The Israelites specifically break the covenant in the book, and in the DH, by adhering to foreign religious systems and having sexual relationships with unbelievers. The depravity eventually equals that of Sodom and Gomorrah.

The judges, however, also represent God in their judgment, as God will destroy those who tempt His people with their wickedness. However, the kind of leaders Israel is given in the book mirror the depravity of the people as it progressively gets worse. The judges themselves, therefore, are a bit off in some way. The judges cycle begins with God raising up a foreigner as their first judge, then a left-handed judge, then a woman; but by the end of the book, the people get worse and worse, and that is when the judges get worse (Gideon consults omens, Jephthah sacrifices his daughter, Samson has sexual relations with unbelievers, which is seen as one of the worst crimes one can commit among God’s people both in the book and throughout the DH).

One of the ethical points the book wishes to make is that, even if Israel is delivered from its unfaithfulness when it repents, there are tragic and destructive consequences that will still result from it, both in terms of their depravity and in terms of their destruction. In other words, God may save His people, but the world cannot be turned back, and the chaos they place within their own lives will decay life and destroy. Only a righteous king who functions as both judge and savior can ultimately put an end to this downward spiral.