Judges Flashcards
How is Eretz Yisrael portrayed differently in Judges than in Joshua?
- Disorganized and un-unified. Tribes never get together as a whole.
- Haven’t conquered the land - still fighting Canaanites and other peoples.
- They sacrifice at various shrines.
Where are the various Judges from and where do they act?
- Ehud - Benjaminite, activities in Moab and Ephraim.
- Deborah - from between Benjamin and Ephraim - central Israel; battle of Mt. Tabor.
- Gideon - from Ophrah, of Manasseh (except Ophrah is in central Israel)
- Yiftach - Gadite or Menasshite, from Gilead across the Jordan, banished eastward to Tob, led battle in Ammon
- AviMelekh - Shechem, also central Israel
- Samson - Zeroakh of Dan, southern central Israel; many stories take place in/near Philistia
Nature of period and leadership in judges
chaotic - Judges are charismatic and heroic, but not unifying - they contain the chaos.
4 - Deborah, Barak, Yael, Sisera
Deborah led the Israelites from Ephraim. The general Barak came to her for assistance from the Canaanite King Yavin of Hazor - she prophesied that because he wouldn’t do it without her help, he wouldn’t get the credit for the victory, but a woman would; Sisera, the general, fled from the battle at Mt. Tabor, where Yael, a Kenite woman, offered him shelter, where she killed him with a tent peg.
6 Gideon and the angel, the altar
Gid’on is visited by an angel and requires numerous divine signs from him to prove he is an angel and that Gid’on is truly a chosen Judge for God. By the angel’s command, Gid’on destroys the high places in Ophrah, but he does it at night out of fear.
7:32 ירובעל
Nickname and other name for Gid’on; his father had refused to hand him over to the townspeople for destroying the Ba’al altar, claiming - let them duke it out with Ba’al if they’re so upset!
9 - Avimelekh
Gideon’s son - murdered his brothers, made civil war. became a Judge and ruled as king in Shechem for a short period. Bad.
9:7-21: משל יותם
The parable of Yotam, Avimelekh’s surviving youngest bro - trees look for a king, but only plant willing to do it is a thornbush, who warned it might turn out terrible.
11 - Yiftach, Yiftach’s daughter
Judge, son of a prostute and from Gilead; led army against Ammonites and made a vow to God that he would sacrifice the first thing to come out of his house - it was his daughter.
Manoah, Manoach’s wife
Danites from Zorah. Barren Ms. Manoah was visited by an angel who told her she would have a son and that he must be raised as a Nazirite; Manoach demands to see him again and he returns, though doesn’t talk to manoah, who doesn’t get he’s an angel.
Michaihu/Micah
Priest in Ephraim who creates a shrine to God - bad thing - hires a Levite priest to help him.
Micha’s priest and the tribe of Dan.
Priest agrees to go with Danites, who also take Micah’s sculptured images.
פלגש בגבעה
Concubine of Givah - nameless Levite’s nameless concubine. Given to the townrapists to save his own life - gang-raped all night and killed. Levite cuts her up and sends her throughout Israel, igniting civil war against Benjamin.
4:22 לך ואראך את האיש אשר אתה מבקש
Yael to Barak, regarding Sisera (his corpse, really)
5:25 מים שאל חלב נתנה
Song of Deborah - in this version, Yael gave Sisera milk even though he asked for water.
