No King in Israel (5)

The phrase “the children of Israel did evil” (in some modern translations, “people”) appears exactly seven times throughout the book of Judges, once in the introductory summary and once at the beginning of each of six of its twelve historical sections. In order, these are: Othniel (oppressing nation: Mesopotamia, period of national servitude: 8 years); Ehud (Moab, 18 years); Deborah (Canaan, 20 years); Gideon (Midian, 7 years); Jephthah (Ammon, 18 years); and Samson (Philistines, 40 years).

So then, six notable periods of extended oppression from six different nations, totaling 111 of the 300-plus years the judges judged Israel.

II. Twelve Judges in Chronological Order

1. Othniel (Judges 3:7-11)

“And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. They forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and the Asheroth. Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia. And the people of Israel served Cushan-rishathaim eight years. But when the people of Israel cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for the people of Israel, who saved them, Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother. The Spirit of the Lord was upon him, and he judged Israel. He went out to war, and the Lord gave Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand. And his hand prevailed over Cushan-rishathaim. So the land had rest forty years. Then Othniel the son of Kenaz died.”

The People of Israel Did Evil

It’s probably no coincidence that these six references to the people of Israel doing what was evil also begin the six longest historical passages in the section devoted to the twelve judges: they were periods that cried out for a man of God with leadership skills. This first one is the shortest of the six. Of the remaining six named judges (the so-called “minor” ones), in only one instance (Shamgar) is a specific oppressor identified, and no periods of oppression are mentioned. No more than three verses are devoted to any of these six judges.

It is typical in the historical passages of scripture both here and elsewhere to pay extended attention to certain events and details while passing over other equally lengthy periods with hardly a mention. Needless to say, this is quite unlike any secular history I’ve ever read in my life, and strongly suggests the writers’ interest was primarily spiritual, not technical or intellectual.

There is also probably significance in some of these familiar numbers (six, seven, forty), but I’m not the guy to start guessing about what those mean. The number forty especially repeats with monotonous regularity.

The Baals and the Asheroth

There are also six references to Baal (singular) in Judges and a further five references to baalim (plural). Most of the former are in the section on Gideon. In the ancient Semitic languages, “Baal” means “lord”, so it’s likely the references to baalim are generic; that is to say the people of Israel served the various lords of the nations and tribes around them, whatever their names may have been. This also serves to trivialize the gods of Canaan, as is entirely appropriate. Each local deity was associated with one or more areas significant to an agrarian people: fertility, weather, agriculture and so on. In no way could any of these match the God of heaven and earth who met Israel at Sinai. Even had these pseudo-deities existed, which they did not, the domains and powers attributed to them by their adherents were comparatively insignificant.

For all that, the appeal of engaging the same religious routines in which their neighbors were engaging mesmerized Israel, possibly because of the carousing and immorality characteristically associated with pagan worship. There is probably a lesson for us in that.

Asherah and Asheroth are anglicizations of a Semitic term that scholars debate. All agree the deity in question was female, but nobody can decide whether she was initially the object of worship of Assyrians or Canaanites, or precisely how her name ought to be formulated. In our Bibles, the terms Asherah and Asheroth most often refers to the trees, groves or poles associated with the worship of this goddess.

Either way, abandoning the living God for such diversions is both insulting and morally blind. It’s no wonder the anger of the Lord was kindled.

Cushan-rishathaim King of Mesopotamia

Almost all the oppressors listed in Judges either shared borders with Israel or were nations left less-than-completely conquered by Joshua within the borders of Canaan: Ammon to Israel’s east, Moab to its southeast, Midian to its south, the Philistines to its west, and the Canaanites within its borders. Mesopotamia was the sole exception, being the region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers that is now primarily Iraq. In its broader sense, the term also took in territory now belonging to Kuwait, Turkey and Syria. In short, Israel’s first major oppressor, Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia, apparently came from a significant distance, several hundred kilometers to the northeast, from the ancestral home of Israel’s father Abraham.

No extra-biblical texts mention the man, which is not surprising given the period in which he apparently ruled and the fact that identifying kings of the nations of any ancient era by the Hebrew names used in scripture is perpetually a difficult exercise. Cushan may suggest Cushite origins and rishathaim means “doubly wicked”, meaning it’s unlikely the name C-r went by when he was at home. Some scholars believe a north Syrian monarch seized power in Egypt around 1200 BC. They speculate he subjugated Israel on his way to and from his conquests, earning the ire of Hebrew writers who may have given him this nickname.

Given the relatively short (eight year) oppression, this hypothesis is among the better I’ve come across. All the other “experts” assume the writer of Judges was lying or misinformed, an option that is both unnecessary and, for the believer in inspiration, impossible. At any rate, in the grand scheme of Judges, the Mesopotamian oppression was among the shortest and least memorable.

Othniel the Son of Kenaz

Othniel was from the tribe of Judah. He was Caleb’s nephew, married to Caleb’s daughter Achsah after winning a contest for her hand with his valor. Caleb gave Achsah a field and springs, which would have become family property and been passed on to Othniel’s children. We know Othniel was present and active in the original conquest of Canaan, capturing Kiriath-sepher, later renamed Debir. That places him very early in the period of the Judges. He also appears in a genealogy in Chronicles and is mentioned in Joshua 15, a brief story repeated in Judges 1. Other than that, we know little about the man personally.

Othniel delivered Israel primarily through leading the people into head-on conflict with the enemy rather than through subterfuge like Ehud or Gideon, or through guerrilla warfare like Samson. We also know none of the details of the deciding battle, or whether the Lord did miracles to aid Othniel or simply strengthened his hand to do the work himself. As God communicated with Israel through the prophets, so he also delivered Israel “many times and in diverse ways”.

Still, here we read that “the Spirit of the Lord was on him”. There is not much higher commendation.

Forty Years

The land had rest forty years after Othniel’s deliverance, the first of three major forty-year periods of rest during the period of the Judges. Barak/Deborah and Gideon also gave Israel rest for forty-year periods. By the time we get to Samson, the decline of the nation is notable in that the period of oppression by the Philistines had increased to forty years, while his period judging Israel was only twenty. God could not get Israel’s attention in the later era of the Judges without really laying on the misery.

In scripture, the number forty is often associated with testing. If God was testing Israel to see if they had learned the necessary lessons from the consequences of abandoning him, they failed three for three.

Othniel the Son of Kenaz Died

The summary section of the introduction to Judges notes that “whenever the judge died”, the people of Israel turned back and were more corrupt than their fathers. Othniel is the first of ten judges whose deaths the writers of Judges specifically note, probably so that the reader does not miss the spiritual significance of these moments.

There may also be a subtle callback to the long list of repetitions of “and he died” in Genesis 5. To me, these have always served as a reminder of man’s fallen condition post-Eden. So too in Judges. Each judge’s death marked the end of an era of reform and the beginning of a new and increasing set of self-inflicted national sorrows.

Only Shamgar and Deborah’s deaths go unmentioned.