1And it was after the death of Joshua, that the children of Israel asked of the Lord, saying, "Who shall go up for us first against the Canaanites, to fight against them?"
2And the Lord said, Judah shall go up; behold I have given the land into his hand.
3And Judah said to Simeon his brother, "Come up with me into my lot, and we will fight against the Canaanites, and I will also go with you into your lot." And Simeon went with him.
4And Judah went up; and the Lord gave the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hands; and they smote them in Bezek, ten thousand men.
5And they found Adoni- bezek in Bezek and fought with him: and they smote the Canaanites and the Perizzites.
6And Adoni-bezek fled, and they pursued him: and they caught him and cut off his thumbs and his great toes.
7And Adoni-bezek said, "Seventy kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered (food) under my table; as I have done, so has God punished me." And they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.
8And the children of Judah fought against Jerusalem and captured it, and smote it with the edge of the sword; and set the city on fire.
9And afterward the children of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites; the inhabitants of the mountains, of the South, and of the lowland.
10And Judah went to the Canaanites that dwelt in Hebron-Now the name of Hebron formerly had been Kirjath-arba-and they smote Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai.
11And from there he went to the inhabitants of Debir-Now the name of Debir formerly had been Kirjath-sepher.
12And Caleb said, "He that shall smite Kirjath-sepher and capture it; to him will I give Achsah my daughter for a wife."
13And Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, captured it; and he gave him Achsah his daughter for a wife.
14And it was when she came to him, that she persuaded him to ask of her father the field, and she leaned off the donkey. And Caleb said to her, "What is (wanting) to you?"
15And she said to him, "Give me a blessing, for you have given me dry land; and you should give me springs of water." And Caleb gave her the upper springs and the lower springs.
16And the children of Keni, the father-in-law of Moses, went up from the city of date palms, with the children of Judah into the wilderness of Judah, which is south of Arad; and he went and dwelt with the people.
17And Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they smote the Canaanites that inhabited Safed; and they destroyed it, and called the name of the city, Chormah.
18And Judah captured Gaza with its territory, and Ashkelon with its territory, and Ekron with its territory.
19And the Lord was with Judah, and they drove out the inhabitants of the mountains; but they could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, for they had iron chariots.
20And they gave Hebron to Caleb, as Moses had spoken; and he drove out from there the three sons of the giant.
21And the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites that inhabited Jerusalem; and the Jebusites dwelt with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem until this day.
22And the house of Joseph, they also went up to Beth-El; and the Lord was with them.
23And the house of Joseph caused to spy Beth-El. Now the name of the city formerly was Luz.
24And the watchers saw a man leave the city. And they said to him, "Show us now the entrance to the city and we will deal kindly with you."
25And he showed them the entrance of the city, and they struck the city with the edge of the sword; but the man and his entire family they let go.
26And the man went to the land of the Hittites, and built a city, and called its name Luz; this is its name until this day.
27And Menasseh did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-Shean and its towns, Taanach and its towns, the inhabitants of Dor and its towns, the inhabitants of Yibleam and its towns, the inhabitants of Megiddo and its towns; and the Canaanites wanted to remain in this land.
28And it was when Israel became strong, that they put the Canaanites to tribute, but they did not drive them out.
29And Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer; and the Canaanites dwelt among them in Gezer.
30Zebulun did not drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, nor the inhabitants of Nahalol; and the Canaanites dwelt among them and became tributary.
31Asher did not drive out the inhabitants of Akko, nor the inhabitants of Zidon, nor of Achlab, nor of Achzib, nor of Chelbah, nor of Aphik, nor of Rechob.
32And the Asherites dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; for they did not drive them out.
33Naphtali did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-Shemesh, nor the inhabitants of Beth-Anath; and he dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land. And the inhabitants of Beth-Shemesh and of Beth-Anath became tributary to them.
34And the Amorites forced the children of Dan to the mountain; for they would not let them come down to the valley.
35And the Amorites wanted to remain on Mount Cheres, in Ayalon, and in Shaalbim; but the hand of the house of Joseph prevailed and they became tributary.
36And the border of the Amorites was from Maaleh-Accrabbim, from the rock upward.
To set the stage for the Book of Judges, we need to capture its primary themes: the vacuum of leadership, the cycle of compromise, and the tension between "doing what is right" versus "doing what is popular."
Judges isn't just a history book; it's a gritty look at what happens when a community loses its moral compass. Here are a few contemporary quotes that bridge that ancient gap:
On the Danger of Compromise
Chapter 1 details Israel’s failure to fully drive out their influences, leading to a "middle ground" that eventually becomes their undoing.
"The standard you walk past is the standard you accept." — David Morrison
"Compromise is a good umbrella, but a poor roof." — James Russell Lowell (Modern context: It works for a moment, but it won't protect you in the storm.)
On Leadership and Vacuum
The book begins with the death of Joshua, leaving a massive hole in guidance.
"When the sun sets, the shadows lengthen." — Modern Proverb
"The greatest threat to any society is not the presence of a few bad people, but the absence of a clear sense of purpose among the many." — Adapted from various leadership ethics
On Human Nature and Autonomy
The recurring theme of Judges is "everyone did what was right in their own eyes."
"Freedom is not the right to do what we want, but the rather the power to do what we ought." — Abraham Lincoln (often cited in modern ethical studies)
"A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both." — Dwight D. Eisenhower
The Book of Shoftim (Judges) opens in the long shadow of Joshua’s death, marking one of the most profound and turbulent transitions in Jewish history. Spanning roughly 350 to 400 years—a period longer than the entire history of the United States—this era serves as the bridge between the initial conquest under Joshua and the eventual establishment of the monarchy under Saul and David. It reveals Israel not as a unified empire, but as a decentralized confederation of tribes functioning without a king, guided only by Torah law and the periodic rise of shoftim (judges) who emerged to meet specific crises.
While the eras of Moses and Joshua were characterized by centralized leadership combining supreme prophecy, scholarship, and military authority, the post-Joshua landscape was deliberately different. God did not command Joshua to appoint a single successor, a move calculated to force the nation into a necessary stage of maturation. As noted in the commentaries and the analysis of the "Parable of the Trees" (Jotham’s later allegory), the absence of a king was not an accident but a divine pedagogy. The refusal of the productive trees—the Olive, Fig, and Vine—to reign in the parable illustrates that true leadership often requires a flattening of individual identity. The era of Judges was designed to allow each of the twelve tribes to fully develop its unique spiritual "color" and character—a federalist incubation period—before submitting to the unifying, yet homogenizing, force of a monarchy.
The opening phrase of the book, Vayehi acharei mot Yehoshua ("And it was after the death of Joshua"), signals an immediate leadership vacuum. Unlike the strategic, top-down military campaigns of the past, the nation is now forced to inquire of God directly via the Urim ve-Tumim regarding who should lead the fight. God designates Judah, the tribe of royalty and responsibility, to take the vanguard. In a demonstration of "horizontal unity," Judah invites the tribe of Simeon to join the campaign. This partnership is significant: Simeon, whose territory was enclaved within Judah, represents raw zealotry and power, while Judah represents directed leadership. By integrating Simeon, Judah channels potential aggression into holy purpose, embodying a leadership model based on brotherhood and inclusion rather than domination.
This joint force achieves a symbolic victory at Bezek, capturing the tyrant Adoni-Bezek. In a moment of "measure-for-measure" justice (middah k'neged middah), the Israelites sever his thumbs and big toes. Adoni-Bezek himself acknowledges the divine retribution, admitting he had inflicted the same mutilation upon seventy kings. This act signals a shift from the arbitrary cruelty of Canaanite warlords to the structured, if severe, justice of God. The defeat of the Perizzites here is also notable; interpreted as late-arriving "squatters" or a divine "construction crew," their presence allowed Israel to inherit a "turn-key" land filled with infrastructure they did not have to build themselves.
However, the era’s spiritual nuances are immediately laid bare. The narrative highlights the Kenites, descendants of Jethro, who leave the "City of Palms" (Jericho) to dwell in the wilderness near Othniel’s Torah center. This choice prioritizes wisdom over comfort, standing as a beacon of spiritual clarity. Yet, simultaneously, the text reveals limitations: Judah succeeds in the mountains but fails to drive out the inhabitants of the valleys because of their "iron chariots." Theologically, this suggests that the people’s faith had dipped below the level required for miraculous intervention; they were now subject to the natural limits of warfare, where infantry cannot easily defeat armor.
As the narrative shifts to the House of Joseph (Ephraim and Manasseh), the leadership model changes. In conquering Bethel (Luz), they rely not on open bravery but on an informant who reveals a hidden entrance—a "technical" victory that lacks the moral grandeur of Judah’s campaign. Furthermore, the informant is merely a collaborator, not a convert like Rahab, foreshadowing a decline in spiritual confidence.
This decline accelerates rapidly. While Judah and Simeon attempt to possess their land, the other tribes—Manasseh, Ephraim, Zebulun, Asher, Naphtali, and Dan—fail to dislodge the Canaanites. Instead, they opt for economic pragmatism, imposing tribute (mas) rather than expulsion. This "containment" strategy proves disastrous, initiating a process of "Canaanization." Living alongside idolaters led to a spiritual lethargy where the Israelites were ensnared by the hedonistic and relativistic values of their neighbors.
Thus, the Book of Judges portrays a nation in a prolonged, painful adolescence. It is a time of "national childhood," where the lack of a king leads to social anarchy and the spiritual chaos of "each man doing what is right in his own eyes." Yet, this structural flaw was the era’s central educational instrument. By withholding the monarchy, God ensured that when Israel finally requested a king, the demand would arise not just from a desire to be like other nations, but from a mature, experiential understanding that without a centralized authority bound by Divine law, society cannot sustain its holiness or its unity.
[Based on various sources]
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