Judges 11

Judges 11

Judges 11:1 Jephthah the Gileadite was a capable warrior, but he was the son of a prostitute, and Gilead was his father.

Judges 11:2 Gilead’s wife bore sons for him, and when they grew up, they drove Jephthah out and said to him, “You will have no inheritance in our father’s family because you are the son of another woman.”

Judges 11:3 So Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob. Then, some hollow men joined Jephthah and went on raids with him.

Judges 11:4 Some time later, the Ammonites fought against Israel.

Judges 11:5 When the Ammonites waged war with Israel, the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob.

Judges 11:6 They said to him, “Come, be our commander, and let’s fight the Ammonites.”

Judges 11:7 Jephthah replied to the elders of Gilead, “Didn’t you hate me and drive me out of my father’s family? So why have you come to me now when you’re in trouble?”

Judges 11:8 They answered Jephthah, “That’s true. But now we are turning to you. Come with us, fight the Ammonites, and you will become a leader of all the inhabitants of Gilead.”

Judges 11:9 So Jephthah said to them, “If you are bringing me back to fight the Ammonites and Yahveh gives them to me, I will be your leader.”

Judges 11:10 The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “Yahveh is our witness if we don’t do as you say.”

Judges 11:11 So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead. The people made him their leader and commander, and Jephthah repeated all his terms in the presence of Yahveh at Mizpah.

Judges 11:12 Jephthah sent agents to the king of the Ammonites, asking, “What do you have against me that you have come to fight me in my land?”

Judges 11:13 The king of the Ammonites said to Jephthah’s agents, “When Israel came from Egypt, they seized my land from the Arnon to the Jabbok and the Jordan. Now restore it peaceably.”

Judges 11:14 Jephthah again sent agents to the king of the Ammonites

Judges 11:15 to tell him, “This is what Jephthah says: Israel did not take away the land of Moab or the land of the Ammonites.

Judges 11:16 But when they came from Egypt, Israel traveled through the wilderness to the Red Sea and came to Kadesh.

Judges 11:17 Israel sent agents to the king of Edom, saying, ‘Please let us travel through your land,’ but the king of Edom would not listen. They also sent agents to the king of Moab, but he refused. So Israel stayed in Kadesh.

Judges 11:18 “Then they traveled through the wilderness and around the lands of Edom and Moab. They came to the east side of the land of Moab and camped on the other side of the Arnon but did not enter into the territory of Moab because the Arnon was the boundary of Moab.

Judges 11:19 “Then Israel sent agents to Sihon king of the Amorites, king of Heshbon. Israel said to him, ‘Please let us travel through your land to our country,’

Judges 11:20 but Sihon would not trust Israel to pass through his territory. Instead, Sihon gathered all his troops, camped at Jahaz, and fought with Israel.

Judges 11:21 Then Yahveh, God of Israel, handed over Sihon and all his troops to Israel, and they struck them down. So Israel took possession of the entire land of the Amorites who lived in that country.

Judges 11:22 They took possession of all the territory of the Amorites from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the wilderness to the Jordan.

Judges 11:23 “Yahveh God of Israel has now driven out the Amorites before his people Israel, and will you now force us out?

Judges 11:24 Isn’t it true that you can have whatever your god Chemosh conquers for you, and we can have whatever Yahveh our God conquers for us?

Judges 11:25 Now are you any better than Balak, son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever contend with Israel or fight against them?

Judges 11:26 While Israel lived three hundred years in Heshbon and Aroer and their surrounding villages, and in all the cities that are on the banks of the Arnon, why didn’t you take them back at that time?

Judges 11:27 I have not failed you, but you are doing me wrong by fighting against me. Let Yahveh, who is the judge, decide today between the Israelites and the Ammonites.”

Judges 11:28 But the king of the Ammonites would not listen to Jephthah’s message that he sent him.

Judges 11:29 The Breath of Yahveh came on Jephthah, who traveled through Gilead and Manasseh and then through Mizpah of Gilead. He crossed over to the Ammonites from Mizpah of Gilead.

Judges 11:30 Jephthah made this vow to Yahveh: “If you, in fact, hand over the Ammonites to me,

Judges 11:31 whoever comes out the doors of my house to greet me when I return safely from the Ammonites will belong to Yahveh, and I will offer that person as a burnt offering.”

Judges 11:32 Jephthah crossed over to the Ammonites to fight against them, and Yahveh handed them over to him.

Judges 11:33 He struck down twenty of their cities with a great slaughter from Aroer all the way to the entrance of Minnith and to Abel-keramim. So, the Ammonites were subdued before the Israelites.

Judges 11:34 When Jephthah went to his home in Mizpah, he noticed his daughter, coming out to meet him with tambourines and dancing! She was his only child; he had no other son or daughter besides her.

Judges 11:35 When he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “No! Not my daughter! You have devastated me! You have brought great misery on me. I have given my word to Yahveh and cannot take it back.”

Judges 11:36 Then she said to him, “My father, you have given your word to Yahveh. Do to me as you have said, because Yahveh has brought vengeance on your enemies, the Ammonites.”

Judges 11:37 She also said to her father, “Let me do this one thing: Let me wander two months through the mountains with my friends and mourn my virginity.”

Judges 11:38 “Go,” he said. And he sent her away for two months. So she left with her friends and mourned her virginity as she wandered through the mountains.

Judges 11:39 At the end of two months, she returned to her father, and he kept the vow he had made about her. And she had never been intimate with a man. Now, it has become a custom in Israel

Judges 11:40 that four days each year, the young women of Israel commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.

Judges 11 quotes:

“A complex hero-judge, Jephthah is portrayed in this chapter as a social bandit who begins his career as an outcast. He is a politically savvy negotiator who makes a case for a just war, and a tragic hero who loses his daughter because of a war-vowed sacrifice to God. Themes of kinship, gender, leadership, and group unity/disunity inform the tales of Jephthah, a collection that is very much at home in the corpus of Judges and that points to foundational and defining issues in Israelite worldview.”

Niditch Susan. Judges : A Commentary. 1st ed. Westminster John Knox Press 2008. p. 130.

Judges 11 links:

The JUDGES shelf in Jeff’s library

Judges 10

Judges 10

Judges 10:1 And, Tola son of Puah son of Dodo stood up after Abimelech and began to rescue Israel. He was from Issachar and stayed in Shamir in the hill country of Ephraim.

Judges 10:2 He judged Israel for twenty-three years and, when he died, was buried in Shamir.

Judges 10:3 After him came Jair the Gileadite, who judged Israel for twenty-two years.

Judges 10:4 He had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys. They had thirty towns in the land of Gilead, which are still called Jair’s Tent Villages today.

Judges 10:5 When Jair died, he was buried in Kamon.

Judges 10:6 Then the Israelites did what was evil again in Yahveh’s eyes. They worshiped the Baals and the Ashtoreths, the gods of Aram, Sidon, and Moab, and the gods of the Ammonites and the Philistines. They abandoned Yahveh and did not worship him.

Judges 10:7 So Yahveh’s nose burned angrily against Israel, and he sold them to the Philistines and the Ammonites.

Judges 10:8 They shattered and crushed the Israelites that year, and for eighteen years they kept doing it to all the Israelites who were on the other side of the Jordan in the land of the Amorites in Gilead.

Judges 10:9 The Ammonites also crossed the Jordan to fight against Judah, Benjamin, and the house of Ephraim. Israel was greatly oppressed,

Judges 10:10, so they cried out to Yahveh, saying, “We have failed you. We have abandoned our God and worshiped the Baals.”

Judges 10:11 Yahveh said to the Israelites, “When the Egyptians, Amorites, Ammonites, Philistines,

Judges 10:12 Sidonians, Amalekites, and Maonites oppressed you, and you cried out to me, did I not rescue you from them?

Judges 10:13 But you have abandoned me and worshiped other gods. So I will not rescue you again.

Judges 10:14 Go and cry out to the gods you have been trying out. Let them rescue you whenever you are oppressed.”

Judges 10:15 But the Israelites said, “We have failed. Deal with us as you see fit; only rescue us today!”

Judges 10:16 So they got rid of the foreign gods among them and worshiped Yahveh, and his throat became impatient with Israel’s trouble.

Judges 10:17 The Ammonites were called together, and they camped in Gilead. So, the Israelites assembled and camped at Mizpah.

Judges 10:18 The rulers of Gilead said to one another, “Which man will begin the fight against the Ammonites? He will be the leader of all the inhabitants of Gilead.”

Judges 10 quotes:

“Judges 10 is an interesting and transitional chapter that begins with brief notices about two judges, Tola and Jair, and ends with a segue to the career of Jephthah. Between the opening and closing is a richly Deuteronomic-style rendition of the conventional pattern of apostasy and rehabilitation within the literary form of the lawsuit. Israel again acts in an evil way by worshiping foreign deities; God’s anger follows with Israel’s oppression as punishment. The people complain to God and repent. Rescue is anticipated in the role of a deliverer.”

Niditch Susan. Judges : A Commentary. 1st ed. Westminster John Knox Press 2008. p. 121.

Judges 10 links:

The JUDGES shelf in Jeff’s library

Judges 9

Judges 9

Judges 9:1 Abimelech, son of Jerubbaal, went to Shechem and spoke to his uncles and all his mother’s clan, and he said this:

Judges 9:2 “Please speak in the hearing of all the landowners of Shechem, ‘Is it better for you that seventy men, all the sons of Jerubbaal, govern over you or that one man govern over you? ‘ Remember that I am your flesh and blood.”

Judges 9:3 His mother’s relatives told all these words about him in the hearing of all the landowners of Shechem, and they were favorable to Abimelech because they said, “He is our brother.”

Judges 9:4 So they gave him seventy pieces of silver from the temple of Baal-berith. Abimelech used it to hire hollow and violent men, and they followed him.

Judges 9:5 He went to his father’s house in Ophrah and killed his seventy brothers, the sons of Jerubbaal, on top of a large stone. But Jotham, the youngest son of Jerubbaal, survived because he had hidden.

Judges 9:6 Then all the landowners of Shechem and Beth-millo gathered together and proceeded to make Abimelech king at the oak of the pillar in Shechem.

Judges 9:7 When they told Jotham, he climbed to the top of Mount Gerizim, raised his voice, and called to them: Listen to me, landowners of Shechem, and may God listen to you:

Judges 9:8 The trees decided to anoint a king over themselves. They said to the olive tree, “Be king over us.”

Judges 9:9 But the olive tree said to them, “Should I stop giving my oil that people use to honor both God and men and rule over the trees?”

Judges 9:10 Then the trees said to the fig tree, “Come and be king over us.”

Judges 9:11 But the fig tree said to them, “Should I stop giving my sweetness and my good fruit, and rule over trees?”

Judges 9:12 Later, the trees said to the grapevine, “Come and be king over us.”

Judges 9:13 But the grapevine said to them, “Should I stop giving my wine that cheers both God and man and cause disturbance over trees?”

Judges 9:14 Finally, all the trees said to the bramble, “Come and be king over us.”

Judges 9:15 The bramble said to the trees, “If you really are anointing me as king over you, come and find refuge in my shade. But if not, may fire come out from the bramble and consume the cedars of Lebanon.”

Judges 9:16 “Now if you have acted faithfully and honestly in making Abimelech king, if you have done well by Jerubbaal and his family, and if you have rewarded him appropriately for what he did –

Judges 9:17 because my father fought for you, risked his throat, and rescued you from Midian,

Judges 9:18 And now you have attacked my father’s family today, killed his seventy sons on top of a large stone, and made Abimelech, the son of his slave woman, king over the landowners of Shechem ‘because he is your brother’ –

Judges 9:19 so if you have acted faithfully and honestly with Jerubbaal and his house this day, rejoice in Abimelech and may he also rejoice in you.

Judges 9:20 But if not, may fire come from Abimelech and consume the landowners of Shechem and Beth-millo, and may fire come from the citizens of Shechem and Beth-millo and consume Abimelech.”

Judges 9:21 Then Jotham fled, escaping to Beer, and lived there because of his brother Abimelech.

Judges 9:22 When Abimelech had ruled over Israel for three years,

Judges 9:23 God sent an evil breath between Abimelech and the citizens of Shechem. They treated Abimelech deceitfully,

Judges 9:24 so that the crime against the seventy sons of Jerubbaal might come to justice and their blood would be avenged on their brother Abimelech, who killed them, and on the landowners of Shechem, who had helped him kill his brothers.

Judges 9:25 The landowners of Shechem rebelled against him by putting men in ambush on the tops of the mountains, and they robbed everyone who passed by them on the road. So this was reported to Abimelech.

Judges 9:26 Gaal, son of Ebed, came with his brothers and crossed into Shechem, and the landowners of Shechem trusted him.

Judges 9:27 So they went out to the countryside and harvested grapes from their vineyards. They trampled the grapes and held a celebration. Then they went to the house of their god, and as they ate and drank, they cursed Abimelech.

Judges 9:28 Gaal, son of Ebed, said, “Who is Abimelech and who is Shechem that we should serve him? Isn’t he the son of Jerubbaal, and isn’t Zebul, his officer? You are to serve the men of Hamor, the father of Shechem. Why should we serve Abimelech?

Judges 9:29 If only these people were in my power, I would remove Abimelech.” So he said to Abimelech, “Gather your army and come out.”

Judges 9:30 When Zebul, the ruler of the city, heard the words of Gaal, son of Ebed, his nose burned angrily.

Judges 9:31 So he secretly sent agents to Abimelech, saying, “Notice! Gaal son of Ebed, with his brothers, have come to Shechem and notice they are turning the city against you.

Judges 9:32 Now tonight, you and the troops with you, come and wait in ambush in the countryside.

Judges 9:33 Then get up early and at sunrise attack the city. Notice when he and the troops who are with him come out against you; do to him whatever you can.”

Judges 9:34 So Abimelech and all the troops with him got up at night and waited in ambush for Shechem in four groups.

Judges 9:35 Gaal, son of Ebed, went out and stood at the entrance of the city gate. Then Abimelech and the troops who were with him got up from their ambush.

Judges 9:36 When Gaal saw the troops, he said to Zebul, “Notice, troops are coming down from the mountaintops!” But Zebul said to him, “The shadows of the mountains look like men to you.”

Judges 9:37 Then Gaal spoke again, “Notice, troops are coming down from the central part of the land, and one unit is coming from the direction of the Diviners’ Oak.”

Judges 9:38 Zebul replied, “What do you have to say now? You said, ‘Who is Abimelech that we should serve him? ‘ Aren’t these the troops you despised? Now go and fight them!”

Judges 9:39 So Gaal went out leading the landowners of Shechem and fought against Abimelech,

Judges 9:40, but Abimelech chased him, and Gaal fled before him. Numerous bodies were strewn as far as the entrance of the city gate.

Judges 9:41 Abimelech stayed in Arumah, and Zebul drove Gaal and his brothers from Shechem.

Judges 9:42 The next day, when the people of Shechem went into the countryside, this was reported to Abimelech.

Judges 9:43 He took the troops, divided them into three companies, and waited in ambush in the countryside. When he looked, he saw the people coming out of the city, so he rose against them and struck them down.

Judges 9:44 Then Abimelech and the units that were with him rushed forward and took their stand at the entrance of the city gate. The other two units rushed against all who were in the countryside and struck them down.

Judges 9:45 So Abimelech fought against the city that entire day, captured it, and killed the people who were in it. Then he tore down the city and sowed it with salt.

Judges 9:46 When all the landowners of the Tower of Shechem heard, they entered the inner chamber of the temple of El-berith.

Judges 9:47 Then it was reported to Abimelech that all the landowners of the Tower of Shechem had gathered.

Judges 9:48 So Abimelech and all the troops who were with him went up to Mount Zalmon. Abimelech took his ax in his hand and cut down a branch from the trees. He picked up the branch, put it on his shoulder, and said to the troops who were with him, “Hurry and do what you have seen me do.”

Judges 9:49 Each of the troops also cut down his branch and followed Abimelech. They put the branches against the inner chamber and set it on fire; about a thousand men and women died, including all the men of the Tower of Shechem.

Judges 9:50 Abimelech went to Thebez, camped against it, and captured it.

Judges 9:51 There was a strong tower inside the city, and all the men, women, and landowners of the city fled there. They locked themselves in and went up to the roof of the tower.

Judges 9:52 When Abimelech came to attack the tower, he approached its entrance to set it on fire.

Judges 9:53 But a woman threw the upper portion of a millstone on Abimelech’s head and fractured his skull.

Judges 9:54 He quickly called his armor-bearer and said to him, “Draw your sword and kill me, or they’ll say about me, ‘A woman killed him.'” So his armor-bearer ran him through, and he died.

Judges 9:55 When the Israelites saw that Abimelech was dead, they all went home.

Judges 9:56 In this way, God brought back Abimelech’s evil– the evil that Abimelech had done to his father when he killed his seventy brothers.

Judges 9:57 God also brought back to the men of Shechem all their evil. So the curse of Jotham, son of Jerubbaal, came upon them.

Judges 9 quotes:

“The career of Gideon’s son Abimelech is an important lesson in political ethics and provides insight into the ways in which Israelites wrestled with critical issues of leadership and polity. It has often been suggested that the book of Judges projects an image of a period of national failure and political chaos, making necessary the establishment of the monarchy. In this commentary I make the case that Judges provides a more complex, ambivalent, and self-critical portrait of the monarchy and of preceding experiments in statehood. The judges belong to the “old days,” before there were kings in Israel, but these early leaders are portrayed as clever, brave, inspired, charismatic, and flawed. They are heroic, engaging figures, and none of them is a king. Gideon, in fact, rejects kingship outright, declaring that Yhwh is the only king (8:23); and the story of Abimelech’s illegal, murderous coup, undertaken to establish himself as a king, is surely a negative portrayal of Judges’ one experiment in Israelite kingship. Jotham’s parable about the trees, delivered in a traditional literary form, the masal, criticizes monarchy in general while condemning this manifestation of kingship in particular. The curse of Jotham predicts and assures the downfall of the would-be king, whose lack of fealty to the house of Gideon is mirrored in his subjects’ capricious lack of loyalty to him. He subdues the rebels only to be killed by a woman—the ignoble and shameful end to a would-be man of powér, in the bardic, epic-like traditions of Judges.”

Niditch Susan. Judges : A Commentary. 1st ed. Westminster John Knox Press 2008. p. 121.

Judges 9 links:

ending it all
Maranatha Daily Devotional – Thursday, July 6, 2023
The curse of Jotham
the other shoe
throat adventure
violent aftermath
where did all the spirits go?

The JUDGES shelf in Jeff’s library

REVERSE REPENTANCE

REVERSE REPENTANCE

Jeremiah 34:14-18 NET.

¹⁴ “Every seven years each of you must free any fellow Hebrews who have sold themselves to you. After they have served you for six years, you shall set them free.” But your ancestors did not obey me or pay any attention to me. ¹⁵ Recently, however, you yourselves showed a change of heart and did what is pleasing to me. You granted your fellow countrymen their freedom and you made a covenant to that effect in my presence in the house that I have claimed for my own. ¹⁶ But then you turned right around and showed that you did not honor me. Each of you took back your male and female slaves whom you had freed as they desired, and you forced them to be your slaves again. ¹⁷ So I, the LORD, say: “You have not really obeyed me and granted freedom to your neighbor and fellow countryman. Therefore, I will grant you freedom, the freedom to die in war, or by starvation or disease. I, the LORD, affirm it! I will make all the kingdoms of the earth horrified at what happens to you. ¹⁸I will punish those people who have violated their covenant with me. I will make them like the calf they cut in two and passed between its pieces. I will do so because they did not keep the terms of the covenant they made in my presence.

Whenever we read the Old Testament, we need to keep in mind that God had a message to his people then, in the context of their place in salvation history. We also need to keep in mind that everything that happened to God’s people then has a special relevance to God’s people now. Some themes recur throughout the Old Testament and apply to us now. One of those themes is the kingdom of God.

Initially, the kingdom was defined by a divine theocratic government, and the arrangement Yahveh made with Israel through the law given to Moses at Mount Sinai, meant to be visible in the Promised Land. However, the Hebrews rebelled against this kingdom. Their rebellion led them to desire a monarchy like other nations, rather than God’s direct rule. They asked for a king to lead them, as neighboring countries did. The elders of Israel approached Samuel, requesting a king because his sons did not follow his ways. Saul was eventually appointed as king in God’s anger, but he was later rejected in wrath.

God raised David, whose reign pleased Yahveh and led to success in defeating Israel’s enemies, symbolizing the ultimate victory over all enemies of Christ. Due to David’s faithfulness, Yahveh promised him an everlasting throne after he expressed a wish to build a house for Yahveh. Prophet Nathan delivered Yahveh’s message: Yahveh chose David from humble beginnings, was with him, and helped him defeat his enemies, making his name great. Yahveh also vowed to establish a lasting dwelling for Israel where they would live securely, free from enemies or wickedness.

This divine promise to David guarantees Israel’s permanent presence in Canaan and a future peaceful reign, unlike their current suffering and persecution. It also speaks of making David a house, meaning a dynasty of kings, not just the temple, with an everlasting throne.[1] The ‘house’ symbolizes a kingdom, as mentioned to Hezekiah.[2]

Another theme that began in the Old Testament and was reflected in the New is that of the temple. All temple details—materials, sizes, patterns—were given to David by the Spirit, as Moses received the tabernacle’s pattern. The design was written by Yahveh, granting wisdom for its creation. During construction, stones were prepared beforehand, and no iron tools were heard, symbolizing the spiritual house of “living stones.[3] The temple of Solomon thus represented a spiritual temple, with the sanctuary as Yahveh’s dwelling.

These scriptural facts demonstrate that the foundation of David’s throne was not physical, but symbolic of discipline and unmet expectations. Concerning Solomon, God stated, “I will be his father, and he shall be my son,” promising mercy and an eternal throne, as Nathan told David (2 Samuel 7:14-17). This shows the kingdom’s growth started with David, not Saul, because David followed God’s directives to defeat Israel’s enemies, unlike Saul.

The kings of Israel were governed by the conditional law covenant from Mount Sinai, leading to fluctuations in their history. All blessings depended on obedience, while disobedience brought curses, making Israel’s royal stability hinge on this covenant. If they had obeyed, they would have stayed in Canaan, and Jerusalem would have remained glorious like in Solomon’s reign, with the kingly line intact. David recognized this, as shown in his prayer in 2 Samuel 7:18-19, where he acknowledged God’s promises and the vital role of obeying His law.

The king ruling Judah in the time reflected in Jeremiah 34 is Zedekiah. The chapter begins with Jeremiah approaching King Zedekiah and promising him that he will not die in battle or be executed. Jeremiah promises this while the city of Jerusalem is surrounded by Babylonian armies and under siege.

God had made known his will through his covenant.

Zedekiah knew this. As king, he knew the covenant God had made with the Hebrews who had escaped Egypt under Moses. Zedekiah knew that the kingdom he had inherited and ruled had broken that covenant drastically and comprehensively. They were not living according to the rules that God had given them. The king knew that God would be fair to them if he allowed the Babylonians to conquer them and destroy them all. He had probably lost a few nights’ sleep wondering when the walls would come down, and the soldiers would go in and kill him and all his family.

But the prophet Jeremiah comes and tells him, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that he was not going to die in battle or be executed. I imagine King Zedekiah responded to that prophecy by thinking he could turn the event to his advantage, making it seem as if he were a true spiritual leader. He was not, but he might have thought that he could fake it. What Zedekiah decided to do was lead his nation in what he called repentance.

The people repented of breaking that covenant.

Well, at least it would look like repentance. It is possible to do the right thing for the wrong reason, and that is what Zedekiah cooked up for the city of Jerusalem to do. Remember, they are under siege. Enemy armies are surrounding the city, making it impossible for anyone or anything to come into the city or out of it. When a city was under siege, it faced the real danger of dying of starvation or disease, or of being weakened to the point where the invading armies could break through the defenses and annihilate it.

But Zedekiah thinks that won’t happen. Because of Jeremiah’s promise that he would not die in battle or be executed, he believes God is going to intervene. Now, Zedekiah begins to think deviously. He imagines that if he puts on his spiritual leader hat and gets the city to do something obedient to the covenant, then when God delivers them from the siege, the people will think it was because of Zedekiah. So he goes into his archives and searches for the stipulations of the covenant. He is looking for something the citizens are supposed to be doing under the Mosaic Law, but are not. There were many things, but he is not concerned with changing everything. All he wants is one thing that he can get the people to do. That’s when he finds this verse in Deuteronomy:

“If your fellow Hebrew — whether male or female — is sold to you and serves you for six years, then in the seventh year you must let that servant go free.”[4]

Now, remember, the inhabitants of Jerusalem are under siege. The wealthy landowners had accumulated lots of slaves over the generations because they had not been keeping this command to free their slaves every seventh year. But now they are stuck in the city. They have a bunch of slaves who cannot go out into the countryside and work their farms because of the blockade. That means that the slaves are now a liability, not an asset. Extra slaves mean extra mouths to feed. So, the “repentance” that Zedekiah leads the city to do is something they are ready and willing to do.

Zedekiah initiated a formal covenant with the people. He made them promise to set their slaves free. The slaughter of a calf sealed the promise. They split the animal in half, and all the landowners had to walk between the two halves. It symbolized a curse upon themselves if they broke the covenant. If they didn’t free their slaves, they were asking to be cut into like the calf.

But then they withdrew their repentance.

The passage does not tell us why the people changed their minds. History explains why they repented and then reversed their repentance. All the slaves that had been held onto and not granted their freedom suddenly found themselves without a home and without a means of support. But at least they now had their freedom. So, why did the slave owners take their slaves back?

The armies that had surrounded Jerusalem and had laid siege to it were eventually recalled. They heard that Egypt was going to come and fight them, so they headed South to battle against the Pharaoh. All of a sudden, Jerusalem was no longer under threat. Then the landowners remembered why they had held on to their slaves instead of obeying God’s Law. The Bible does not tell us how, but they somehow managed to round up all those former slave families and reinslave them.

God withdrew their protection under the covenant.

Now all the important people were happy. The king was delighted because he came off as being spiritual when he was not. The landowners were glad because they had retrieved their workforce. But God was not happy, and neither was the prophet Jeremiah. God said through Jeremiah, “You turned around and showed you did not honor me. Each of you took back your slaves, whom you had freed as they wished, forcing them to become slaves again. The LORD says: “You have not truly obeyed me or given freedom to your neighbor and fellow citizen. As a result, I will give you freedom—freedom to die in war, from starvation, or disease. I, the LORD, declare it! I will make all the kingdoms of the earth horrified by what happens to you. I will punish those who broke their covenant with me, making them like the calf cut in two and passed between its pieces. I will do this because they did not uphold the covenant they made in my presence.

Because the people withdrew their token repentance, God withdrew his hand of protection from them and their land. The Babylonian armies came back, and this time they completed the siege. Jerusalem was destroyed, and multitudes died. But King Zedekiah did not die in the siege, and he was not executed. God was true to his promise. They did capture him, and they killed his sons in front of him, making him watch. Then they gouged his eyes out so that the last thing he saw was the slaughter of his own sons. He was taken prisoner as a blind, useless king with no throne and no people.

Jesus also covenanted with us.

This terrible story in the Old Testament is a reminder to all of us that a covenant with God is not something to be taken lightly. It is serious business. We are not under the Mosaic covenant, but we are under a covenant. Jesus is our King, and he has made a covenant with everyone who puts their faith in him. His blood is the blood of the new covenant.[5]

The New Covenant is not based on the letter but on the Spirit.[6] We agree to let God’s Holy Spirit rule our lives and change our behaviour so that we live Christlike lives. When we repented of our sins, we decided to live according to this promise.

Have we reversed our repentance?

Seeing how horribly God’s wrath was visited on the Israelites who withdrew their promise, we should be careful make good our promise. Jesus did not set us free from our sins for us to turn around and reenslave ourselves. When our Savior returns, it will be to set up a new eternal universe. Nothing impure will be allowed into that new universe. Paul wrote that “no person who is immoral, impure, or greedy (such a person is an idolater) has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God”.[7] When we came to Christ, we made a promise to live in his kingdom today. Let us all learn to be faithful to that promise.

[1] 2 Samuel 7:8-14

[2] 2 Kings 20:1

[3]1 Peter 2:5; Ephesians 2:21

[4] Deuteronomy 15:12.

[5] Matthew 26:28; Mark 14:24; Luke 22:20; 1 Corinthians 11:25

[6] 2 Corinthians 3:6.

[7] Ephesians 5:5.

Judges 8

Judges 8

Judges 8:1 The men of Ephraim asked him, “Why have you done this to us, not calling us when you went to fight against the Midianites?” And they argued violently with him.

Judges 8:2 So he said to them, “What have I done now compared to you? Is not the gleaning of Ephraim better than the grape harvest of Abiezer?

Judges 8:3 God handed over to you Oreb and Zeeb, the two princes of Midian. What was I able to do compared to you?” When he said this, their breath against him relaxed.

Judges 8:4 Gideon and the three hundred men came to the Jordan and crossed it. They were exhausted but still chasing them.

Judges 8:5 He said to the men of Succoth, “Please give some loaves of bread to the troops under my command. They are exhausted because I am chasing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.”

Judges 8:6 But the princes of Succoth asked, “Are Zebah and Zalmunna now in your grasp that we should give bread to your army?”

Judges 8:7 Gideon replied, “Very well, when Yahveh has handed Zebah and Zalmunna over to me, I will tear your flesh with thorns and briers from the wilderness!”

Judges 8:8 He went from there to Penuel and asked the same thing from them. The men of Penuel answered just as the men of Succoth had answered.

Judges 8:9 He also told the men of Penuel, “When I return safely, I will tear down this tower!”

Judges 8:10 Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor, and with them was their army of about fifteen thousand men, who were all those left of the entire army of the Qedemites. Those who had been killed were one hundred twenty thousand armed men.

Judges 8:11 Gideon traveled on the caravan route east of Nobah and Jogbehah and attacked their army while the army felt confident.

Judges 8:12 Zebah and Zalmunna fled, and he chased them. He captured these two kings of Midian and routed the entire army.

Judges 8:13 Gideon, son of Joash, returned from the battle by the Ascent of Heres.

Judges 8:14 He captured a youth from the men of Succoth and interrogated him. The youth wrote down for him the names of the seventy-seven leaders and elders of Succoth.

Judges 8:15 Then he went to the men of Succoth and said, “Here are Zebah and Zalmunna. You taunted me about them, saying, ‘Are Zebah and Zalmunna now in your power that we should give bread to your exhausted men? ‘”

Judges 8:16 So he took the elders of the city, and he took some thorns and briers from the wilderness, and he disciplined the men of Succoth with them.

Judges 8:17 He also tore down the tower of Penuel and killed the men of the city.

Judges 8:18 He asked Zebah and Zalmunna, “What kind of men did you kill at Tabor?” “They were like you,” they said. “Each resembled the son of a king.”

Judges 8:19 So he said, “They were my brothers, the sons of my mother! As Yahveh lives, if you had let them live, I would not kill you.”

Judges 8:20 Then he said to Jether, his firstborn, “Get up and kill them.” The youth did not draw his sword because he was afraid, for he was still a youth.

Judges 8:21 Zebah and Zalmunna said, “Get up and strike us down yourself because a man is judged by his strength.” So Gideon got up, killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and took the crescent ornaments that were on the necks of their camels.

Judges 8:22 Then the Israelites said to Gideon, “Govern over us, you as well as your sons and your grandsons, for you rescued us from the power of Midian.”

Judges 8:23 But Gideon said to them, “I will not govern over you, and my son will not govern over you; Yahveh will govern over you.”

Judges 8:24 Then he said to them, “Let me request of you: Everyone give me an earring from his plunder.” Now, the enemy had gold earrings because they were Ishmaelites.

Judges 8:25 They said, “We agree to give them.” So they spread out a cloak, and everyone threw an earring from his plunder on it.

Judges 8:26 The weight of the gold earrings he requested was 1700 units of gold, in addition to the crescent ornaments and ear pendants, the purple garments on the kings of Midian, and the chains on the necks of their camels.

Judges 8:27 Gideon made an ephod from all this and put it in Ophrah, his hometown. Then, all of Israel prostituted themselves by worshiping it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his household.

Judges 8:28 So Midian was subdued before the Israelites, and they were no longer a threat. The land had peace for forty years during Gideon’s reign.

Judges 8:29 Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon), son of Joash, went back to live at his house.

Judges 8:30 Gideon had seventy sons, his offspring, since he had many wives.

Judges 8:31 His concubine who was in Shechem also bore him a son, and he named him Abimelech.

Judges 8:32 Then Gideon, son of Joash, died at a good old age and was buried in the tomb of his father Joash in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

Judges 8:33 When Gideon died, the Israelites turned and prostituted themselves by worshiping the Baals and made Baal-berith their god.

Judges 8:34 The Israelites did not remember Yahveh their God who had rescued them from the hand of the enemies around them.

Judges 8:35 They did not show covenant loyalty to the house of Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) for all the good he had done for Israel.

Judges 8 quotes:

“he opening of ch. 8 portrays the sort of tensions that arise concerning the distribution of war spoils within decentralized political and military structures. Such disputes are frequent motifs in the bardic-style literary traditions about war. One might draw comparisons, for example, with tales of Achilles and Menelaus. Participants in battle fight with hopes of obtaining a piece of the victory spoils, and the Ephraimites complain that they were not called up sufficiently early in order to partake fully in the conquered goods and the glory. Gideon, able leader that he is, diffuses their anger by use of a proverbial saying.”

Niditch Susan. Judges: A Commentary. 1st ed. Westminster John Knox Press 2008. p. 103.

Judges 8 links:

organized rebellion
the leader whose slip was showing
where did all the spirits go?

The JUDGES shelf in Jeff’s library