Judges: Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching

By J. Clinton McCann and J. Clinton McCann Jr.

Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching is a distinctive resource for those who interpret the Bible in the church. Planned and written specifically for teaching and preaching needs, this critically acclaimed biblical commentary is a major contribution to scholarship and ministry.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press
• Release date: Aug 26, 2011
• ISBN: 9781611641424

Book preview

Judges

INTERPRETATION

A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching

INTERPRETATION

A BIBLE COMMENTARY FOR TEACHING AND PREACHING

James Luther Mays, Editor

Patrick D. Miller Jr., Old Testament Editor

Paul J. Achtemeier, New Testament Editor

J. CLINTON McCANN

Judges

For Lucy Webb Malone,

whose faithful study of and living of the Word

has been and will remain an inspiration

to me and to many.

© 2011 Westminster John Knox Press

2011 paperback edition

Originally published in hardback in the United States

by Westminster John Knox Press in 2002.

Louisville, Kentucky

11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20—10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Westminster John Knox Press, 100 Witherspoon Street, Louisville, Kentucky 40202-1396. Or contact us online at www.wjkbooks.com.

Scripture quotations from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible are copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. and are used by permission.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

McCann, J. Clinton, 1951–

Judges / J. Clinton McCann.—1st ed.

p. cm. — (Interpretation, a Bible commentary for teaching and preaching)

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN-13: 978-0-8042-3107-7 (alk. paper)

ISBN-10: 0-8042-3107-9 (alk. paper)

1. Bible. O.T. Judges—Commentaries. I. Title. II. Series.

BS1305.53 .M33 2002

222'.3207—dc21

2002072450

ISBN: 978-0-664-23598-7 (paper edition)

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992

SERIES PREFACE

This series of commentaries offers an interpretation of the books of the Bible. It is designed to meet the need of students, teachers, ministers, and priests for a contemporary expository commentary. These volumes will not replace the historical critical commentary or homiletical aids to preaching. The purpose of this series is rather to provide a third kind of resource, a commentary that presents the integrated result of historical and theological work with the biblical text.

An interpretation in the full sense of the term involves a text, an interpreter, and someone for whom the interpretation is made. Here, the text is what stands written in the Bible in its full identity as literature from the time of the prophets and apostles, the literature that is read to inform, inspire, and guide the life of faith. The interpreters are scholars who seek to create an interpretation that is both faithful to the text and useful to the church. The series is written for those who teach, preach, and study the Bible in the community of faith.

The commentary generally takes the form of expository essays. It is planned and written in the light of the needs and questions that arise in the use of the Bible as Holy Scripture. The insights and results of contemporary scholarly research are used for the sake of the exposition. The commentators write as exegetes and theologians. The task that they undertake is both to deal with what the texts say and to discern their meaning for faith and life. The exposition is the unified work of one interpreter.

The text on which the comment is based is the Revised Standard Version of the Bible and, since its appearance, the New Revised Standard Version. The general availability of these translations makes the printing of a text in the commentary unnecessary. The commentators have also had other current versions in view as they worked and refer to their readings where it is helpful. The text is divided into sections appropriate to the particular book; comment deals with passages as a whole, rather than proceeding word by word, or verse by verse.

Writers have planned their volumes in light of the requirements set by the exposition of the book assigned to them. Biblical books differ in character, content, and arrangement. They also differ in the way they have been and are used in the liturgy, thought, and devotion of the church. The distinctiveness and use of particular books have been taken into account in decisions about the approach, emphasis, and use of space in the commentaries. The goal has been to allow writers to develop the format that provides for the best presentation of their interpretation.

The result, writers and editors hope, is a commentary that both explains and applies, an interpretation that deals with both the meaning and the significance of biblical texts. Each commentary reflects, of course, the writer’s own approach and perception of the church and world. It could and should not be otherwise. Every interpretation of any kind is individual in that sense; it is one reading of the text. But all who work at the interpretation of the Scripture in the church need the help and stimulation of a colleague’s reading and understanding of the text. If these volumes serve and encourage interpretation in that way, their preparation and publication will realize their purpose.

The Editors

AUTHOR’S PREFACE

Although largely ignored by the contemporary church, the book of Judges and its call to covenant loyalty are of paramount importance, especially in an era when so many things attempt to claim the attention and allegiance of the people of God. That the book of Judges has received so much scholarly attention in recent years is perhaps a good sign that it is on its way to being rediscovered. In any case, it is a pleasure and privilege to have joined the community of interpreters of the book of Judges and to have contributed, by way of this volume, to the ongoing discussion of the book of Judges and its significance for the contemporary church and world.

As always, the writing of a commentary is a communal endeavor, and I have learned from many persons. Some of them are mentioned by name in the commentary and bibliography, but there are many more persons to whom I am grateful. Thanks are due especially to Patrick D. Miller and James L. Mays, the series editors, who extended the invitation to write this volume and whose suggestions and guidance have helped immensely. I appreciate too the support of the community of teachers and learners at Eden Theological Seminary, including the Board of Directors (and their generous sabbatical policy), the administrative staff, my faculty colleagues, and the students, several of whom helped in a special way by participating in a master of divinity course on the book of Judges in the summer of 1998. I also taught adult education courses on the book of Judges at First Presbyterian Church, Kirkwood, Missouri, and Trinity Presbyterian Church, Little Rock, Arkansas; the questions, comments, and suggestions of the participants were very valuable.

Special thanks are due also to the persons who had a more direct hand in the process of the production of this volume. Sarah Fredriksen McCann, Victor H. Matthews, and Barbara and Mike Willock read the initial draft of the manuscript and offered insightful and helpful comments and advice. Victor, who is professor of religious studies at Southwest Missouri State University, was wonderfully generous with his time and his knowledge. Our conversations about the book of Judges were encouraging as well as educational. His sharing of bibliographical resources and written materials was of tremendous assistance to me, and I am very grateful.

Thanks too to Mary Swehla, administrative assistant to the Eden faculty. As always, she faithfully and efficiently word-processed the often barely legible manuscript that I produced with pen and paper.

As always too, my wife, Sarah Fredriksen McCann, and daughters, Jennifer Grace McCann and Sarah Carter McCann, have been constant sources of joy, encouragement, and support, as have the other members of my larger family. To one of them, Lucy Webb Malone, my ninety-one-year old great-aunt, this book is dedicated, in honor of her long and fruitful years of dedication to the study of Scripture and to the living of the Word with faithful simplicity, as a member of Trinity United Methodist Church in Petersburg, Virginia.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

1. Why Study the Book of Judges?

2. The Judges: The Characters, the Period(s), and the Book

a. What Were the Judges?

b. The Period(s) of the Judges

c. The Formation and Shape of the Book of Judges

3. The Book of Judges in the Context of the Canon

a. The Land

b. The Canaanites

c. Violence and Vengeance

d. The Role of Women

e. Humor

4. Theology in the Book of Judges

COMMENTARY

PART ONE : From Joshua to the Judges

Judges 1:1–3:6

PART TWO: The Stories of the Judges

Judges 3:7–16:31

PART THREE: Complete Deterioration and Terror

Judges 17:1–21:25

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Commentaries and Resources for Teaching and Preaching

Literature Cited

Introduction

1. Why Study the Book of Judges?

The book of Judges has a bad reputation. In fact, it seems to be the worst of what many people consider to be several rather bad Old Testament books. Along with the book of Joshua, perhaps, it is the book that people seem to have in mind when they say things like, Let’s not study the Old Testament. It’s so full of violence and war and killing. Or, I just don’t like the Old Testament. God is so wrathful and vengeful. I like the New Testament, where God is love. Or, How could God tell the Israelites to kill the Canaanites and all those other people? Jesus told us to love our enemies, not to kill them. And so on. The reputation of the book of Judges is apparently no better among the framers of the Revised Common Lectionary than it is among persons in the pew. In the three-year lectionary cycle of Old Testament lessons, the book of Judges is represented one time (Judges 4:1–7, Proper 28 [33], Year A).

Given its bad reputation, one might legitimately ask why we should even consider reading and studying the book of Judges. Why should we study it, write about it, teach about it, and preach from it? Don’t we have enough violence nowadays on television and at the movies? Why do we need more of it at church? Isn’t it bad enough that all that horrible stuff is in the Bible to start with? Do we have to make it worse by paying attention to it? Wouldn’t the best policy be to just ignore it? The answer to this last question, in most ecclesiastical circles, seems to be yes. In short, the book of Judges seems to be an embarrassment to most church folk, and perhaps it is best passed over in silence. Hence it is necessary from the outset to make a case for teaching and preaching the book of Judges.

Given the situation just described, it may seem like special pleading to propose that the book of Judges may be the most timely and relevant of all the books in the Old Testament. Before dismissing this proposal as a poorly disguised attempt to justify the effort devoted to the writing of this volume, consider the following list of items:

tension and strife between rival groups (in the Middle East or elsewhere)

disputes over land and territory

uncertainty over the roles of men and women

power-hungry political leaders

child abuse

spouse abuse

senseless and excessive violence

male political leaders who chase women

excessive individualism

moral confusion

social chaos

What time and place is being described by this list? It sounds as if the list could be characterizing the state of the world, especially the situation in the United States of America, in the early twenty-first century. But, in fact, the list is an accurate description of the contents of the book of Judges. The very first verse of the book introduces the strife between the Israelites and the Canaanites; and other groups will later enter the picture—the Midianites (chaps. 6–8), the Ammonites (chap. 11), the Philistines (chaps. 13–16). The disputes are over the control of land, which, in biblical terms, represents access to life. The story of Deborah, Barak, and Jael highlights the leadership of the two females, while Barak’s role is minimal (chaps. 4–5); and several women are major characters throughout the book of Judges (see below, section 3d). While Gideon is generally viewed as a hero, he actually seems to center a great deal of power in himself (see 8:22–28), and his son Abimelech is a tyrant (chap. 9). Jephthah kills his daughter (chap. 11), and later a Levite abuses his wife both while she is alive and after she is killed (chap. 19). Samson has a seemingly uncontrollable desire for Philistine women (chaps. 13–16). His story is characterized by excessive violence, which only gets worse in chaps. 17–21, where, in the absence of a king, all the people are out for themselves (see 17:6; 18:1; 19:1; 21:25). The result is moral confusion and social chaos.

Unfortunately, all these realities sound strikingly familiar. While the world has obviously changed dramatically in the past three thousand years or so, and while human civilization has come a long way, the book of Judges is a timely reminder of how far we have not come. While we are inclined to think about all of the above issues and problems primarily in psychological, sociological, anthropological, or political terms, the book of Judges is an invitation to think also about ourselves and our world in theological terms. From the outset, the book of Judges urges us to confront the challenging claim that nothing will be right with our individual selves, our churches, or our world unless we, the people of God, manifest steadfast loyalty to God alone—in short, unless we are faithful to the covenant between God and ourselves (see commentary on 1:1–2:5; 2:6–3:6).

But if the book of Judges offers a challenge, it is one that lies at the heart of the gospel. The gospel promises life, but the gift must be accepted and embraced. When it is not—that is, when we worship and serve something other than God—the results are destructive and ultimately deadly. The book of Judges documents Israel’s discovery of this truth. The painful lesson that Israel learned can serve to instruct us as well. In short, the book of Judges is a warning, but the warning is grounded in hope; for, as the book of Judges relates, not only did Israel experience the destructive results of its own disloyalty and disobedience, but it also experienced a God who is unfailingly faithful to a faithless people. In a word, Israel experienced a God who is gracious (see below, section 4). These two simultaneous realities—warning and hope, judgment and grace—beg to be studied, taught, and proclaimed, as much in the contemporary church and world as they were in ancient Israel. (On preaching from the book of Judges, see Joseph R. Jeter Jr., Preaching Judges.)

2. The Judges: The Characters, the Period(s), and the Book

2a. What Were the Judges?

It is frequently pointed out that the word judges is a poor name for the book of Judges and an inaccurate description of its major characters. The term judges (Hebrew root šp ) suggests to most people some sort of legal functionary—a black-robed person sitting behind a bench, holding a gavel, and making decisions on points of law. With the apparent exception of Deborah, who held court under the palm tree known by her name (Judg. 4:5), the judges do not seem to have been legal interpreters. (See also, however, 1 Sam. 7:15–17, where Samuel provides another apparent exception, although beyond the confines of the book of Judges.)

Indeed, it can be argued that the primary activity of the judges was leading the Israelites (or at least some of the Israelite tribes) against their oppressive enemies. Early in the book, individual judges are also called deliverer (3:9, 15; Hebrew yš‘); and the verb yš‘ is often used to describe a judge’s work (see 2:16; 3:31; 6:15; 8:22; 10:1; 13:5). Since the work of a judge or deliverer was apparently not completed immediately after a deliverance had been effected (see 2:18–19; 10:2–3), some scholars suggest that the term judge be understood in the broader sense of ruler or governor. The Hebrew root šp can have this broader sense (see 1 Kgs. 3:9, where the two occurrences of