Who is next?
After the death of Joshua, the
Israelites asked the LORD, “Who will be the first to go up and fight for us
against the Canaanites?” The LORD answered, “Judah is to go; I have given the
land into their hands.”
Judges 1:1-2
The book of Judges begins with the passing of a great
leader. Joshua had led the people of Israel into the Promised Land, taking up
the mantle of leadership from Moses, who, in turn, had led Israel out of
slavery in Egypt. Both were men of God, chosen by God to lead the people of
God. But now, Joshua was gone. Who would lead Israel now?
Their first instinct was not to appoint another military
commander. Joshua had taught them well. It was God who had rescued them from
slavery. It was God who had given them
the land. The Israelites turned to God for guidance.
They ask God which tribe should go first and “fight for us”.
The land was inhabited by the Canaanites, and taking the land was an act of war
against the local inhabitants. The Canaanites were stronger, more numerous and
technologically more advanced (They had “iron chariots” in verse 19). Yet in
the previous book of Joshua, we read that the land had be divided up amongst
the twelve tribes to secure and occupy. Now the Israelites wanted to ask God,
“Who’s first”.
God answers “Judah”. In the NIV, verse 2 reads, “Judah is to go, I have given the land into their hands.” Yet in the original, God refers to
each tribe as an individual. In the ESV, it’s “I have given the land into his
(singular) hands”. There is a double-meaning here. The people have come to
God asking for guidance - his will - in the absence of a leader. The ask which
tribe will lead them into battle. God says “Judah”, and by that God is giving
both a short-term and long-term answer. Judah as a tribe would lead the initial
conquest, But out of Judah would one day come the leader who would succeed
Joshua and Moses, and lead the nation as a kingdom.
But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Let’s read on.
Two brothers
Then the
men of Judah said to the Simeonites their brothers, “Come up with us into the
territory allotted to us, to fight against the Canaanites. We in turn will go
with you into yours.” So the Simeonites went with them.
Judges 1:3
It was a move of tactical
brilliance - to invite the smaller tribe of Simeon to join forces with Judah.
After all, Simeon’s territory was actually smack within the area of land
allotted to Judah. Working together would be mutually beneficial.
Also, these two had a history
together. The twelve tribes were descendants of the twelve sons of Jacob. Judah
and Simeon were particularly closely related as they both came from the same
mother, Leah (Genesis 33), It is again worth pointing out that in the original
text, Judah and Simeon interact with one another like two individuals. If you
read the ESV you will see that “Judah said to Simeon his brother, ‘Come
with me’” (verse 3) and “So Simeon went with him”.
And it looks like this
partnership between the two brothers paid off. Their first battle was an
overwhelming success.
When Judah
attacked, the LORD gave the Canaanites and Perizzites into their hands and they
struck down ten thousand men at Bezek.
Judges 1:4
Yet it is in the midst of this
triumphant victory in Bezek that the book of Judges records for us a scene of
extreme cruelty and torture.
The way of the kings
It was
there that they found Adoni-Bezek and fought against him, putting to rout the
Canaanites and Perizzites. Adoni-Bezek fled, but they chased him and caught
him, and cut off his thumbs and big toes.
Judges
1:5-6
Adoni-Bezek was a title for the
King (‘Adon is Hebrew for Lord or King). It wasn’t enough to take the
city. Judah went out of their way to capture the king, even hunting him down as
he attempted to flee the battle. And once they did, they “cut off his thumbs
and big toes”.
Why did they do this? Remarkably,
not only does the book of Judges tell us why, but it does so using the words of
this pagan, Canaanite, enemy king - who even acknowledges God in the process!
Then
Adoni-Bezek said, “Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off have
picked up scraps under my table. Now God has paid me back for what I did to
them.” They brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.
Judges 1:7
The King of Bezek essentially
said, “This is exactly what I would have done.” In his mind, God was simply
paying him back for the cruelty and humiliation he had inflicted on the
captives under his rule. “This is what I deserve,” he seems to be saying.
And yet, there is something very
wrong with this picture. These are the words of a pagan king. These are the
actions of a pagan nation. Yet these have now become the accepted practice of
the people of God.
It was a form of torture,
humiliation and cruelty that Israel could carry out in the name of justice, and
yet do so in such a way that nations around them would look at and say, “That
makes sense. It’s what we would do.”
This was the way of the world. It
wasn’t the will of God.
What then were the Israelites to
do?
Utter destruction
The men of
Judah attacked Jerusalem also and took it. They put the city to the sword and
set it on fire.
Judges 1:8
Then the
men of Judah went with the Simeonites their brothers and attacked the
Canaanites living in Zephath, and they totally destroyed the city. Therefore it
was called Hormah. The men of Judah also took Gaza, Ashkelon and Ekron—each
city with its territory.
Judges
1:17-18
In short, the Israelites were to
attack and annihilate the cities with their inhabitants. The Hebrew term for
this is herem - used in verse 17 to describe how the city of Zephath was
“totally destroyed” - and incorporated into its new name, Hormah.
Where I come from, in Malaysia, the Malay word “haram” means
something that is forbidden - something that would defile a person in the eyes
of God. It has a similar meaning in the Arab language; and there actually is
this same sense of forbiddenness in the use of the word herem here. In
Joshua Chapter 6, the word is used repeatedly when speaking of the herem
or destruction of the city of Jericho:
The city and all that is in it
are to be devoted (herem) to the LORD. Only Rahab the prostitute and all
who are with her in her house shall be spared, because she hid the spies we
sent. But keep away from the devoted things (ha-harem), so that you will
not bring about your own destruction (th-haremu) by taking any of them.
Otherwise you will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction (le-herem)
and bring trouble on it.
Joshua 6:17-18
The reason why they were to
utterly destroy the Canaanite cities was because leaving any traces (They were
to “keep away” from them, and never contemplate “taking any of them”) would
lead to their own destruction. This also meant the Israelites were not to
“profit” from this destruction - by keeping any bits of wealth back for
themselves (See especially the excuse given by King Saul in 1 Samuel 15 where
the word herem recurs).
Over four hundred years earlier,
God told Abraham in a vision how he would use Abraham’s descendants to bring
judgement upon people of Canaan. In a vision recorded in Genesis 15, God
foretells the slavery in Egypt, the exodus and finally, the conquest of the
Promised Land, saying, “In the fourth generation your descendants will come
back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”
(Genesis 15:16) In other words, all this while God had been holding back his
judgement for generations and for centuries.
And forty years earlier, while
the Israelites were still in the desert, God spoke through Moses, warning them
of the dangerous influence posed by the idolatrous practices of the Canaanites.
I will hand
over to you the people who live in the land and you will drive them out before
you. Do not make a covenant with them or with their gods. Do not let them live
in your land, or they will cause you to sin against me, because the worship of
their gods will certainly be a snare to you.
Exodus
23:31-33
Now in all this, it is clear that
God is the one who (1) gives the land to Israel, as part of the fulfilment of
the promise made to Abraham; and (2) uses Israel to carry out his judgement
upon the inhabitants of Canaan. It wasn’t because Israel was better or more
deserving. Indeed, the book of Judges is there to illustrate the very point
that the people of God progressively fell deeper and deeper into sin, idolatry
and rebellion against God.
The kingdom of the Son
At the same time, God does carry
out his judgement upon the sins of the Canaanites. It is a punishment of death
and destruction. We cannot ignore that or excuse the fact that this is plain in
the bible. Death is a consequence of sin and rebellion against a holy God, who
has every right to judge his creation through the punishment of death. Having
said that, physical death is but a shadow of the greater and infinitely more
serious judgement that is spiritual death. It is this spiritual reality that
Jesus clarifies to Pilate at his interrogation before his crucifixion.
My kingdom
is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest
by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place.
John 18:36
The kingdom of God is a spiritual reality inaugurated
through Jesus. It is not of this world, Jesus says. Otherwise his servants
would fight. Otherwise, like the Israelites here in Judges Chapter 1, we would
be fighting a physical war to enlarge territory and destroy any opposing
influences. But we don’t and we shouldn’t. Because the bible tells us that the
Kingdom of God comes through the cross of Jesus Christ.
For he has rescued us from the
dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in
whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Colossians 1:13
On the cross, Jesus takes our judgement upon himself. Our
punishment. Our death. Our complete destruction. In order that we can receive
“redemption, the forgiveness of sins”. By trusting in his death on our behalf,
God brings us “into the kingdom of the Son he loves.”
The next generation
Now back to Judges 1. Embedded in this story of wars and
battles and skirmishes led by Judah, is a story about the family of Caleb, who
was also a member of the tribe of Judah. Remembering that Judges picks up where
Joshua left off, Caleb is the only other surviving member from Joshua’s
generation; the only other Israelite to have lived under the leadership of
Moses, seen the rescue from slavery in Egypt, crossed the Red Sea and
experienced the forty years of wandering in the desert. So what Caleb is doing
here is ensuring that his legacy of faithfulness to God is passed on to the
next generation.
From there they advanced against
the people living in Debir (formerly called Kiriath Sepher). And Caleb said, “I
will give my daughter Acsah in marriage to the man who attacks and captures
Kiriath Sepher.” Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, took it; so
Caleb gave his daughter Acsah to him in marriage.
Judges 1:11-13
Caleb was now eighty-five years (Joshua 14:10) old but this
old man was right up front leading the charge to claim the land that was
promised him by God.
I am still as strong today as
the day Moses sent me out; I’m just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I
was then. Now give me this hill country that the LORD promised me that day.
Joshua 14:11
Yet at the same time, Caleb knows that this is a fight to be
passed on as a legacy and an inheritance to the next generation. So he promises
his daughter in marriage to the man who successfully takes the city of Kiriath
Sepher. It turns out to be his own nephew, Othniel (who later on features as
one of the judges in this book). He wants a son-in-law who knows how to fight
and how to lead in the fight for the land.
But we don’t hear anything from Othniel. Instead it is
Caleb’s daughter who features next in a request she makes to her father through
her husband.
One day when she came to
Othniel, she urged him to ask her father for a field. When she got off her
donkey, Caleb asked her, “What can I do for you?” She replied, “Do me a special
favor. Since you have given me land in the Negev, give me also springs of
water.” Then Caleb gave her the upper and lower springs.
Judges 1:14-15
Why does she ask for “springs of water”? Her father has
given her in marriage to Othniel - about which she has no apparent objection -
but she does have a comment about the land given as her dowry. She calls it
“land in the Negev”, and if you look just a few verses later to verse 16 - we
read that it is a desert (“The Desert of Judah in the Negev”). Meaning: it is a
dry land unsuitable for sustaining life.
Again what we have here is continuity. Acsah is thinking
ahead about what it takes to build a new home and a new life. The land needs
water to grow crops and sustain livestock. So she asks for springs of water.
And her father Caleb, generously bestows upon her both the “upper and lower
springs”. All the water she needs.
The land was not just a prize to be won in a fight. It was a
source of life and blessing. Both Caleb and his daughter display foresight in
planning for the future - ensuring there is a legacy to pass down the
generations to come; securing abundant means for life and growth for themselves
and those they love.
Things start to take a turn for the worse, however, from
verse 19 onwards.
Who can be against us?
The LORD was with the men of
Judah. They took possession of the hill country, but they were unable to drive
the people from the plains, because they had iron chariots. As Moses had
promised, Hebron was given to Caleb, who drove from it the three sons of Anak.
The Benjamites, however, failed to dislodge the Jebusites, who were living in
Jerusalem; to this day the Jebusites live there with the Benjamites.
Judges 1:19-21
Judah’s campaign has seen victory upon victory. Until, that
is they go up against technology. “Iron chariots”, as verse 19 describes them.
What happened? The beginning of the verse clearly states “The LORD was will the
men of Judah”. Does this mean God’s pretty useful in a small-time skirmish
involving swords and bows and arrows. But the moment the enemy gets a hold of
laser-guided missiles and nuclear weapons, we’re done for?
Back in Joshua 17, the Israelites complain to Joshua about
these “iron chariots”. There, the tribe of Joseph demanded more land - simply
because they were bigger. Yet, the area allotted them was too difficult to
obtain. This was long before anyone had even stepped into the territoy or engaged
in a single battle. One of the largest tribes was already demoralised and
concluded that they couldn’t take on the Canaanites. Why? Because of their
“iron chariots”.
The author of Judges knows this, which is why he places
Caleb’s victory right after summarising Judah’s failure. An eighty-five year
old man succeeded where an entire tribe - who had enlisted the help of an
additional tribe - had failed. Caleb fought not because he had the numbers, or
because he had the strength, but because he had God’s promise. This was the
mountain God has promised - it was his inheritance.
The result was compromise. The Benjamites fought to clear
the land but failed. As a consequence, the Jebusites continued to live
permanently in the land with their people. “To this day the Jebusites live
there with the Benjamites”.
Now, what’s so bad about that, you might ask?
Winners and Luz-ers
Now the house of Joseph
attacked Bethel, and the LORD was with them. When they sent men to spy out
Bethel (formerly called Luz), the spies saw a man coming out of the city and
they said to him, “Show us how to get into the city and we will see that you
are treated well.” So he showed them, and they put the city to the sword but
spared the man and his whole family. He then went to the land of the Hittites,
where he built a city and called it Luz, which is its name to this day.
Judges 1:19-21
They sacked Luz and spared just one man and his family. It’s
a victory. The house of Joseph even renamed the city to “Bethel”. Meaning: this
was an important location in the history of Israel. Bethel was where Jacob
received God’s promise of blessing in a dream (Genesis 28) and built an altar
to God (Genesis 35). There, God gave him the promise of this very land the
Israelites were now fighting for. This was a momentous victory for the people
of God.
And the way in which they sent spies and got the cooperation
of the local is reminiscent of their most recent triumph in Jericho. Rahab hid
the spies and she was spared from destruction together with her family (Joshua
6:16).
But that is where the similarity ends.
Unlike Rahab, this man from Luz had no regard for God.
Unlike Rahab, he didn’t remain in Bethel and had no interest in being a part of
the people of God. When his life was spared, he simply left for his own country
“to the land of the Hittites, where he built a city.” What did he name that
city? Luz.
Luz wasn’t destroyed. It changed postal codes, that’s all.
And all it took was one man to rebuild Luz, a city that remained “to this day”
(verse 21).
Failed conquests and forced labour
But Manasseh did not drive out
the people of Beth Shan or Taanach or Dor or Ibleam or Megiddo and their
surrounding settlements, for the Canaanites were determined to live in that
land. When Israel became strong, they pressed the Canaanites into forced labour
but never drove them out completely. Nor did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites
living in Gezer, but the Canaanites continued to live there among them. Neither
did Zebulun drive out the Canaanites living in Kitron or Nahalol, who remained
among them; but they did subject them to forced labour. Nor did Asher drive out
those living in Acco or Sidon or Ahlab or Aczib or Helbah or Aphek or Rehob,
and because of this the people of Asher lived among the Canaanite inhabitants
of the land. Neither did Naphtali drive out those living in Beth Shemesh or
Beth Anath; but the Naphtalites too lived among the Canaanite inhabitants of
the land, and those living in Beth Shemesh and Beth Anath became forced
labourers for them. The Amorites confined the Danites to the hill country, not
allowing them to come down into the plain. And the Amorites were determined
also to hold out in Mount Heres, Aijalon and Shaalbim, but when the power of
the house of Joseph increased, they too were pressed into forced labour. The
boundary of the Amorites was from Scorpion Pass to Sela and beyond.
Judges 1:27-36
We move on from bad to worse. No longer are we presented
with a list of cities won over by the people of God. Instead we have a string
of “would haves” and “should haves” and “might have beens”. Meaning: we don’t
have here a list of attempts that didn’t quite make it, though Well done and
bravo for giving it a go. No, what we have are people who have tried, failed
but then given up trying altogether.
Manasseh fights but fails in five cities (Beth Shan,
Taanach, Dor, Ibleam, Megiddo). The reason? The Canaanites were too strong. And
yet, when we read next that Israel musters up its forces and does grow strong
enough, what do they do? “They pressed the Canaanites to forced labour”. The
same thing happens with Zebulun (verse 30), Naphtali (verse 33) and Joseph
(verse 34): “When the power of the house of Joseph increased, they too were
pressed into forced labour”.
They always had a good reason for letting the Canaanites
stick around. Either it was difficult to dislodge them or it was just more
advantageous to put the Canaanites to work as slaves.
Of the long list, two tribes stand out: Asher and and Dan.
While most of the other tribes had Canaanites living among them, the situation
was the reverse with Asher - “They lived among
the Canaanite inhabitants of the land”. Instead of claiming the
inheritance due their tribe, Asher had given up completely. It was just easier
to find a corner to settle down and not cause any trouble.
Still, it is the tribe of Dan who had it really tough. They
couldn’t move in at all. “The Amorites confined the Danites to the hill
country, not allowing them to come down into the plain” (verse 34). We meet the
tribe again in Chapter 18 where they were “seeking a place of their own where
they might settle”. They still didn’t get an inch. There we see a people who
had become desperate, opportunistic and even idolatrous. They end up attacking
a peaceful, unsuspecting town and made that settlement their home instead.
God’s will and God’s son
The chapter began with Israel enquiring after God’s will but
ended with them doing God’s will their own way. No longer was the conquest an
act of obedience to God’s word. Instead, success or failure depended on
numbers, weaponry and the terrain of the land.
When Joshua died, much of the battle was still left to be
fought and the people of God were left without a leader. Yet for Christians, we
look back to the death of another Joshua - more commonly known as Jesus (though
both share the exact same name) - who through his death secured the victory and
leads us into the kingdom of God.
When you were dead in your
sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with
Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its
regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away,
nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he
made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
Colossians 2:13-15
Christ who descended from the tribe of Judah was the one
chosen to fight for us. He was obedient to his Father’s will unto death - he
was herem; accursed on our behalf - that we might receive forgiveness and full
restoration as citizens in God’s kingdom. But finally as the Colossians 2 makes
clear, he defeats all who oppose him by “triumphing over them by the cross”.
As tempting as it would be to draw an analogy between the
conquest of Canaan and our Christian faith, or even our struggle with sin,
Judges Chapter 1 isn’t really about us. It is about Jesus and his victory
secured through his sacrifice on the cross, won on our behalf through his
obedience to the will of God.
On the cross we see God’s will carried out God’s way through
God’s son: Jesus.
Through the kisses of a
friend's betrayal,
He was lifted on a cruel
cross;
He was punished for the
world's transgressions,
He was suffering to save the
lost
He fights for breath, He
fights for me
Loosing sinners from the
claims of hell;
And with a shout our souls are
free -
Death defeated by Immanuel!
(“From the squalor of a borrowed
stable” by Stuart Townend)
