In the last few weeks, we set the stage for the Book of Judges. Now, as we move into the first chapter, we are going to see a rapid slide of Israel from a pinnacle of success, accomplishment and harmony with God into an attitude of every man for himself. It takes only about 10-15 years after the death of Joshua before the Israelites begin losing their way.
One small thing we need to keep in mind during this time in Israel's history is that very few copies of the Torah were created especially between the times of Joshua and King Josiah, who ruled from 640-609 B.C. The few copies which were in existence did not find themselves in the hands of ordinary citizens. In fact, it appears that by the time King David was on the throne (about 300-400 years after the death of Joshua), the Torah was all but lost and well on its way to being completely forgotten.
Once the tribes dispersed around the land of Canaan and started taking a firm hold in their allotted territories, the priesthood struggled to exist. The roles of the priests and the Levite tabernacle workers blurred. Only a few of the 48 cities that the Levites were promised within the tribal territories were ever actually handed over. The funding the Israelites were supposed give to the Levites rarely sufficed to maintain the Levites and their families.
The Tabernacle at the time of Judges Chapter one resided in Shiloh. It would steadily go into disrepair over the decades. By King David's time, it was moved to Gibeon. Tents by definition are temporary and wear out rather quickly when compared to stone structures. While we might ask ourselves how much could it possibly cost to maintain a tent, we must remember the elaborate nature of the Tabernacle. It was made of the finest materials and required a number of exceptionally gifted craftsmen to originally make it. All one has to do to get an understanding of this sad progression is to go to Europe and witness the disheveled condition of many grand churches and cathedrals. Once the treasure of many towns, these massive structures are now rotting as a result of a dying Christianity that first lost interest and then lost their faith.
When King David asked God if he could build a Temple to the LORD, it was not that he actually wanted to replace the Wilderness Tabernacle. The ancient Tabernacle had long since been abandoned due to its wearing out and apparently no desire by the Israelites to repair it. Rather, King David wanted to properly built a sanctuary under the Mount Sinai specifications. David built some type of tent to house the Ark of the Covenant. Moreover, King David also took it upon himself to appoint Levites and priests to certain duties. We can also assume that the order of service and careful attention to detail was not kept anymore. Very likely, there were probably but a few among a remnant of priests who even remembered how to properly observe the rituals and procedures set forth by God.
We get some idea of how inconsequential and uninformed the priesthood had become when we look at the story of the Ark of the Covenant being brought from Kiriath-jearim to King David at his request (1 Chronicles 13). The Ark was placed unceremoniously on an ox cart for transport. Then, Uzza touched the Ark and died. When David hears about Uzza's death, he changes his mind about having the Ark near him. David asks a Levite (and NOT a priest) named Obed-edom to keep the Ark in his home, which is a major infraction against storing the Ark of the Covenant. We are told that God greatly blesses Obed-edom and his household as a result of the Ark residing there. So then it was decided not only safe (but also highly advantageous to David) to possess the Ark. He calls for it to be brought to Jerusalem. There, he prepared a tent for it to be housed.
We see from this incident, the priesthood simply took orders. It was barely functioning (if at all). Even the most basic rules such as no one could look upon the Ark of the Covenant (and to touch it meant instant death) had been lost to history.
Thus, we find a phrase repeated a number of times in the Book of Judges: "In those days, there was no king in Israel, and every man did what was right in his own eyes." This all but sums up the entire Book of Judges.
Israel's need for a king
There is an important purpose to the Book of Judges which is almost universally missed. God demonstrates in the Book of Judges Israel's need for a king. Many, including myself not so long ago, have reflexively said that with Samuel's anointing of King Saul, the Lord gave Israel something He did not want to give them, a king. However, an honest reading of the Book of Judges shows us something different.
In reality, the Lord was showing Israel that they could not function without a king. They could not follow God's laws and commands without a king. Joshua was not officially a king, but in many ways that was his role. Joshua was God's definition of king which is directly opposed to man's definition of a king. Joshua was the example of ideal leadership for the nation of Israel, one they failed to follow.
Man's definition of a king is a man of privileged royalty who is served by his subjects, who usually have no choice in the matter. God's definition of a king is a shepherd who is a kind of servant to those who have chosen to follow him by their own free will. Man's kings use human shields consisting of thousands of men who would lay down their lives for the benefit of a king. God's king would lay down his own life for the benefit of the people. The problem with Israel is that they wanted their definition of a king to rule over them. So, the Lord gave them their desire. It was the TYPE of king and not the idea of being lead by a king which would be the issue between God and His people.
VICTORY AND DEFEAT IN THE PROMISED LAND
A. Continuing victory in Israel
1. (Judges 1:1a) After the death of Joshua
Now it came about after the death of Joshua
After the death of Joshua: In this period of the Judges, Israel lost the critical link in its godly leadership. Moses was the great leader used by God to bring the Israelites out of Egypt. Joshua was Moses's assistant and amazing leader God used to bring the Israelites into the land of promise. However, Joshua appointed no leader after him to guide the Israelites. They were in a critical place where they had to trust God more intensely than they ever had to before.
During this period, there was no standing office of national leadership. Israel had no king, no president, no prime minister, etc. They only had God in heaven. Yet, at the necessary and appropriate time, God would bring forth a leader for the nation. For the most part, these leaders would rise up, do his/her job and then return back into obscurity. This required the people Israel to maintain a real, abiding trust in God.
These national deliverers are not elected. They did not come into leadership through royal succession. They were specially gifted by God for their leadership position.
The people of Israel had many great obstacles. They were surrounded by people who lived in the most terrible idolatry and immorality. The Canaanites were a constant temptation to the Israelites to sin. The idolatrous lives of the Canaanites who lived around Israel focused mainly on three things--money, sex and having a relationship with their gods on their own terms.
2. (Judges 1:1b-2) After Joshua's death, Israel seeks the LORD
The sons of Israel inquired of the LORD, saying, "Who shall go up first for us against the Canaanites, to fight against them?" The LORD said, "Judah shall go up; behold, I have given the land into his hand."
The sons of Israel inquired of the LORD: Here the Israelites do the right thing. The do the very thing Joshua would have probably wanted them to do.
Who shall go up first against the Canaanites, to fight them: This was no rhetorical question. During Joshua's day and for a brief period at the beginning of the period of the Judges, asking (or inquiring) of the LORD meant that the Urim and Thummin were used to seek God's will. Of course, this could have only happened when the High Priest was still performing his official role and when the tribal leaders still recognized the High Priest's God-ordained purpose and position.
The LORD said: When Israel sought the LORD, He guided them. This is a consistent pattern throughout the Book of Judges. God never failed to deliver and help His people when they sought Him.
Jesus expresses the same idea in Luke 11:9: "So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you." When we ask God and seek Him with all our heart, we should expect that He will answer us. His response may come in unexpected ways, but we should expect that it should come.
Judah shall go up: The answer the LORD gave through the Urim and Thummin was that Judah would be the tribe to resume battle to finish the conquest of Canaan. (Reminder, at the beginning of Judges, all of Canaan was not conquered. It was the duty of each tribe to drive the Canaanites out of their territories. This caused Joshua much anguish and frustration. Seven of the tribes refused to accept their territories because it meant the hard and dangerous job of battling the Canaanites fell to them.)
This does not mean that the leaders of the tribe of Judah were appointed to take over for Joshua. However, we will see that Judah would play a special and self-sacrificing role among his brother tribes.
3. (Judges 1:3-7) Judah (with the tribe of Simeon) defeats Bezek and their king
Then Judah said to Simeon his brother, "Come up with me into the territory allotted me, that we may fight against the Canaanites; and in turn we go with you into the territory allotted to you." So Simeon went with him. Judah went up, and the LORD gave the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hands, and they defeated ten thousand men at Bezek. They found Adoni-bezek in Bezek and fought against him, and they defeated the Canaanites and the Perizzites. But Adoni-bezek fled; and they pursued him and caught him and cut off his thumbs and big toes. Adoni-bezek said, "Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off used to gather up scraps under my table; as I have done, so God has repaid me." So they brought him to Jerusalem and he died there.
Judah said to Simeon his brother: The first thing Judah did was to go to the tribe of Simeon and ask him to fight alongside them. There was a good logical reason for this--Judah and Simeon were brothers. "Then she [Leah] conceived again and bore a son and said, 'Because the LORD has heard that I am unloved, He has therefore given me this son also.' So she named him Simeon. She conceived again and bore a son and said, 'Now this time my husband will become attached to me, because I have born him three sons.' Therefore he was named Levi. And she conceived again and bore a son and said, 'This time I will praise the LORD.' Therefore she name him Judah. Then she stopped bearing" (Genesis 29:33-35).
Judah and Simeon essentially volunteered to mutually assist one another. Simeon's territory would more or less be carved out of the center of Judah's territory. In a few more generations, the tribe of Judah would largely absorb the tribe of Simeon. By the time King Solomon sat on the throne, Simeon no longer had its own territory.
The LORD gave the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hands: Judah and Simeon wage war against the Canaanites and Perizzites. At this point in history, the term Canaanites referred in a non-specific way to all the various tribes and peoples who lived in the land of Canaan, even if they were not technically from the genealogical lineage of Canaan. The Perizzites are thought to be a non-specific tribe. It refers to a conglomerate of villages that inhabited the hill country.
They found Adoni-bezek in Bezek: This battle was against Adoni-bezek. Adoni-bezek is not a person's name. Rather, it is a title which means "Lord of Bezek". Bezek was probably the family name of a long established dynasty. When authority was passed from one ruler to the next, each successive ruler would have been called Adoni-bezek. The title would be similar to the "King of England". We do not know the actual name of this individual, and the location of Bezek has been lost to history.
But Adoni-bezek fled: As the battle ensued, Judah and Simeon were winning. The Lord of Bezek fled, as was usual for a king. Judah and Simeon found him, caught him and cut off his thumbs and big toes. However, they spared his life. Lord Bezek is rather philosophical about his unpleasant turn of events. He says he treated 70 enemy kings in exactly the same way; God is just returning the favor. Really this is just a statement that was generally understood in the Middle Eastern cultures--an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.
Cut off his thumbs and big toes: Why cut off the thumbs and big toes? By doing so, a man became useless in battle. Without thumbs, he could not hold a sword, he could not shoot a bow, he could not be effective in hand to hand combat and he could not even drive a chariot. Without big toes, he lost his mobility. He would walk with a cane; however, he could not run. Therefore, he could not flee from danger. Even if this captured king eventually escaped, his lack of thumbs and big toes meant his days as a leader were over.
Seventy kings: Seventy is not a number that we are to take literally. Seventy means a great but unspecific number.
God has repaid me: The use of the term "God" is the Hebrew word elohim, which is just a generic term used for any god. Adoni-bezek was merely saying that his god, or some god, was repaying him for his lack of mercy with retribution.
They brought him to Jerusalem and he died there: This simply means Adoni-bezek was taken to Jerusalem and died from natural causes. The Israelites did not execute him.
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