Gregory T. K. Wong - Commentary on Judges: From The Baker Illustrated Bible Commentary

Gregory T. K. Wong

Introduction

Title

Containing some of the most shocking stories in the Old Testament, involving murders (4:1821; 5:2427; 15:67), fratricide (9:35), human sacrifice (11:3239), gang rape (19:2226), dismemberment (19:29), and even toilet humor (3:2025), the book of Judges records events that took place in Israels Dark Ages, between the initial conquest of the land and the eventual establishment of the monarchy. The book is so named because the period is predominantly ruled by a series of leaders raised up by the Lord, known as judges ( shopetim in Hebrew).

Typically in the Old Testament, the act of judging (from the Hebrew root shpt ) is associated with judicial responsibilities such as justice arbitration and the upholding of an individuals rights (cf. Exod. 18:1326; Deut. 1:16; 19:1718; 25:12; Mic. 4:3; Zech. 8:16). Within the book of Judges, however, except for Deborah (4:4), none of the judges are portrayed as having any judicial responsibilities. Instead, they are primarily military leaders who wage wars to deliver Israel from foreign oppressors. While such a use of judge may seem atypical within the Old Testament, evidence from other ancient Semitic cultures does testify to the use of shpt to designate a local governor. In particular, Akkadian texts from Mari (around 1800 BC) mention a high official known as judge ( shapitum ) whose responsibilities included not only the government of town and country and the administration of justice but also military leadership such as troop deployment and local defense. In this respect, the shapitum seems to show certain parallels to the judges featured in the biblical book.

Date and Authorship

The author of the book remains largely unknown. Although Jewish tradition attributes the book to the prophet Samuel, there is no solid evidence to support the claim. The most that can be said is that the author was an Israelite devoted to the Lord.

Similarly, there is scant evidence from within the text to allow a pinpointing of the date of composition. While the mention of king in 17:6; 18:1; 19:1; 21:25 is often seen as referring to the human kings that will eventually rule Israel, thus placing the composition of the book in the monarchical period, the likelihood that the king may actually be a reference to the Lord (see commentary on 17:6) nullifies its use in dating. The mention of captivity of the land in 18:30 is also of little help, as it is unclear whether it refers to the sixth-century-BC Babylonian captivity or the earlier eighth-century-BC exile of the northern kingdom by Assyria. In fact, the phrase itself is highly unusual because elsewhere it is often a specific place that is spoken of as being exiled, such as Israel, Judah, or Jerusalem (cf. 2 Kings 17:23; 25:21; Jer. 1:3). That is why some scholars suggest that the land (Hebrew haarets ) may be an error for what originally read, the ark (Hebrew haaron ), the phrase thus referring to the capture of the ark by the Philistines in 1 Samuel 4:11. These uncertainties surrounding 18:30 thus limit its usefulness in matters of dating.