The Judges of Israel in the Old Testament

The Judges of Israel

In the time of the Tribal Confederacy, there still was no political unity among the tribes. Therefore, during times of crises, Yahweh raised up "judges" - military heroes and leaders, who led His people Israel against their enemies, and helped keep justice in the land.

"Judges" in biblical context

The biblical book of Judges tells about how twelve judges (military champions or "deliverers" [Judg 2:16]) held leadership over the loosely organized Tribal Confederacy. Besides their military leadership, these judges also functioned as those who handled legal disputes and arbitration among their people. When the legal dispute went beyond a particular tribe, these judges also have an extended authority to other tribes as well. Their authority was generally recognized within the territory of the Tribal Confederacy.

Charism and spiritual power

Judges do not function like kings and their office is nonhereditary. Their office rested upon a special gift of Yahweh's Spirit - known as charisma, or spiritual power. To mention a few of these judges who were gifted by Yahweh with charisma, take into account popular names like Deborah [Judg 4-5], Gideon [Judg 6:34-35], and Samson [Judg 14:6].

Deborah

Deborah was a charismatic leader that figured prominently in the Battle of Megiddo. At Megiddo was a Canaanite fortress that controlled a commercial route that ran from Egypt to Mesopotamia. This control affected Israel's economic life. Thus, at this time Yahweh raised up Deborah, who, together with the commander Barak, gave an order to attack Megiddo. But only half of the tribes in the Twelve-Tribe Confederacy responded to Deborah's summons. Even with just half the tribes, victory was obtained because of Yahweh's help, who caused a rainstorm that flooded the river Kishon, which overflowed its banks, and trapped the Canaanite charioteers in clay. This account of the battle of Megiddo is given in two versions: the Song of Deborah in Judges 5 and the prose version in Judges 4.

Gideon

In Judges 6:35, Gideon, like Deborah, calls on the other Tribes to assist him against the Midianites. The tribes, which are from the north, responded to his call. Those who studied the Scripture related to Gideon say that Yahweh raised up Gideon at that time because of a series of devastating surprise attacks on the people by Midianites in the Arabian desert. These attacks were inflicted on the Israelites, who had to leave their villages and their farming, and take refuge in mountain caves [Judges 6:5]. Thus, Yahweh called Gideon, who was a farmer, to take a military role in Israel. In the bible, Gideon was guided by Yahweh to use methods not according to common military strategies [Judges 7:1-8]. This was what Gideon did: he selects a group of only 300 men and staged a guerilla-type attack on the encamped Midianites. Gideon's band of 300 men surprisingly overpowered the Midianites. The account of Gideon's victory in the bible makes readers aware that the victory indeed belongs to Yahweh.

Samson

Deborah and Gideon were judges from the north. In the south, the judges Yahweh raised for His People were Othniel and Shamgar. But the most popular of these was Samson. Samson is from the tribe of Dan. He is very much a poor man's hero: physically powerful, vengeful, and with a weakness for women. Though he never organized an army in the name of Yahweh, he was able to defeat the Philistines single-handedly. The biblical account of Samson as a judge called by Yahweh, gives a moral lesson, and tells them what will happen to persons whom Yahweh filled with charisma, but disregards His guidance in times of crises and instead pursues personal desires and whims.

Conclusion:

Deborah, Gideon and Samson are "charismatic leaders" - leaders qualified to lead the Twelve-Tribe Confederacy. Their success in battle or extraordinary physical strength encouraged the people to consult them in many matters. These judges in turn applied the Covenant Law from Moses to very specific and particular cases. In time, however, the role of these judges as leaders came to be ineffective as more and more troubles came upon the People. Eventually, as Israel saw their neigbhoring countries prospering due to the organization of their nations with a king as leader, they saw this as a solution and clamored to their elders and leaders that they also wanted a king. This was a critical time for the Tribal Confederacy since all the tribes always conceived of Yahweh as their only King.

Related resources:

• "Understanding the Old Testament", by Bernhard W. Anderson
• "Journey: Volume I - Torah", by Msgr. Marcel Gervais
• The Promised Land: Introductory Article
• The Promised Land: Three Theories of the Canaan Conquest
• Three Turning Points in the Life of Early Israel
• The Twelve-Tribe Confederacy

Significant Turning Points in the History of the People Israel

Three significant events in the life of the People of God

A description of three significant events and turning points in the life of a people. These events help shape Israel's identity and faith in God.

Three Significant Turning Points

The three important events in the life of Israel as a people:

• The Exodus
• David
• The Exile

1st Turning point - The Exodus: around 1250 BC

The Exodus was a liberating event for the life of Israel as a people. After being enslaved for many years, Yahweh raised a prophet in the name of Moses, to lead the people out of oppression in Egypt into the promised land. As the people left Egypt and went through the desert in the direction of Palestine, the Egyptian army went in close pursuit. The people reached the Red Sea, but was caught at an impasse. It was then that Moses implored Yahweh to help the Israelites cross the Red Sea into freedom. For "the Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left." [Exodus 14:21-22]

The people of Israel were able to cross the Red Sea but the Egyptians were destroyed by the receding of the waters. As the people slowly settled after the escape from the Egyptians, the band of tribes were made as one People, through a covenant made with Yahweh, and with Moses as their prophet. The covenant was: that Yahweh would give a new way of life, and a promise, to lead them into Canaan if they would obey His commandments [the 10 commandments or decalogue] and be their God.

2nd Turning point - David: around 1000 BC

As the people arrived in Canaan, the Israelite tribes settled and struggled to keep their new God-given identity and to achieve unity as a nation. This they were able to do through a king, David. David succeeded, through Yahweh's anointing, in making one great nation out of the northern tribes of Judah and the southern tribes.

David was a king loved by his people. As time went on, the kings of the Israelite people became of lesser quality than David. This is why the people look back to the reign of David as a reference point for the hope of another king like him, a "new David". Bethlehem, David's birthplace, and Jerusalem, his city, also became signs of hope in the minds of prophets and the People.

As the reign of David and his son, Solomon, were over, the nation soon split into two kingdoms: Israel in the north and Judah in the south. After 200 years of independent existence, the northern kingdom was conquered and devastated by the Assyrians.

3rd Turning point - Exile: 587-538 BC

The independent existence of the southern kingdom lasted for about 400 years. It too was conquered, but this time by the Babylonians. The Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and deported tens of thousands of people to Babylonia. This was the beginning of the Exile.

The people Israel lived in exile for about 50 years. Although they were in danger of losing their cultural identity to the Babylonians, they did not. The Exile was turned into a kind of "retreat", a time of profound reflection and purification of their faith.

Then God worked a miracle through the person of, Cyrus, the Persian, who led his powerful armies against the Babylonians. He permitted the Israelite people to return to their land and rebuild their temple. This amazing turn of events came to be thought of as a "new exodus" - another journey of the people through the desert and back into the land God had given to His people.

Related resources:

• "Understanding the Old Testament", by Bernhard W. Anderson "Journey: Volume I - Torah", by Msgr. Marcel Gervais
• The Promised Land: Introductory Article
• The Promised Land: Three Theories of the Canaan Conquest

Israel's Organization into a Twelve-Tribe Confederacy

The Twelve-Tribe Confederacy

A striking feature in the early organization of the Israelites is their grouping into twelve tribes: each founded on the ancestors in Jacob's family line.

Jacob and his twelve sons

The twelve-tribe structure of Israel is read back into the ancestors described in the book of Genesis, namely: Jacob (who was renamed "Israel" after a crucial experience [Genesis 32:26-30]) and his twelve sons. The twelve tribes of "Israel" thus obtained their name from the twelve sons of Jacob: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, Benjamin, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher [Genesis 35:23-26]. Each of these twelve sons was a leader of a tribe [Genesis 29:16-30:24; 35:16-20]. It was these twelve tribes which settled into Canaan and gained control of the whole country in a span of many generations. Full control of the land came to them in the time of David, around 1000 B.C.

United through the Covenant

Each of the twelve tribes functioned more or less on its own. Although there was no political unity, no central government, they had the Covenant Law and a shrine (where the Ark of the Covenant was kept) in common. Their unity was religious and not yet political. All of them believe that Yahweh was their King and that He fought their wars for them. Since the Yahweh and the Covenant made with Him was their source of unity, they also felt bound to assist each other, especially when one tribe or other was in trouble. As the tribes got together to help each other to fight the enemies, they eventually were led to the process of political unity - beginning with the tribes that settled in the northern territory of Canaan.

"May God rule"

The twelve-tribe confederacy basically was a theocratic community which had their common religious center at Shechem. Shechem was a great Canaanite city-state where Joshua called all the twelve tribes of "Israel" to a reaffirmation of the sacred covenant they made with Yahweh at Mt. Sinai. The reason for this reaffirmation was after entering Canaan and taking the land, "Israel" was tempted to adopt the religious practices of the Canaanites. Joshua thus led "Israel" to choose to serve Yahweh as their God, be faithful to the Covenant, and, in a manner of speaking, follow seriously the meaning of their name, "Israel": "may God rule".

A time of testing

The years after the entry into Canaan and before the establishment of the kingdom under David were rough years for the twelve tribes of "Israel". The people struggled to survive: ighting enemies and learning to farm from their Canaanite neighbours. It was a hard life for the twelve tribes of "Israel": they continually were tempted to follow the gods of their neighbours and thus incurred Yahweh's punishment in the form of encountering enemies and hostile forces. As the people cried out for God's mercy, God raised up a judge (a leader, a hero) to deliver His people. This pattern of sin, punishment, crying out to God, and the sending of a judge, was to be a ommon pattern in the life of the people until the establishment of the kingdom under David's rule.

Related resources:

• "Understanding the Old Testament", by Bernhard W. Anderson
• "Journey: Volume I - Torah", by Msgr. Marcel Gervais
• The Promised Land: Introductory Article
• The Promised Land: Three Theories of the Canaan Conquest
• Three Turning Points in the Life of Early Israel