Samson and the Rest

Judges 13-21

Samson is probably the best known Judge and is also the first Nazarite of the Bible. However, he is a terrible Nazarite. He touches a dead animal (14:8-9) and throws party where he drinks wine (14:10). His story deals with the Phillistines, who are quickly becoming the major enemy of Israel.

In this time in history the two major empires of the time are in steep decline and infighting is rampant in the lands between them. Without the stability of the empires the people of the region begin to take the lands for themselves and restore the glory of their culutures. Some scholars believe that in this time various tribes banded together under the name of one deity  Yahweh, and formed an alliance. These various regions all had folk heroes for their tribes and those stories were later combined into one story and edited together by the Deuteronomist to make a single narritive uniting all the tribes of the region together, giving us the book of Judges. The Deuteronomist added the flavor of the cycle of rebellion and returning of Israel to their God.

When we get to chapters 19-21 we see the record of a great battle, within these united tribes, during those days that almost completly wiped out the tribe of Benjamin. Interestingly enough this is also the region where most of the stories of the Judges originated. Because the tribe of Benjamin has transgressed so awfully the other tribes unite to wipe them out. When the fighting winds down it becomes clear that the Benjaminites have almost been completely destroyed. In the heat of things a vow was made before the Lord stating that no fathers shall give thier daughters to a Benjaminite. Realizing that a whole tribe of Yahweh is close to extinction a plan is hatched to preserve the lineage of the surviving Benjaminites. In the region of Shiloh the fathers were removed from the marriage arraingments, since all of Israel had vowed not to give their daughters to this tribe, and the surviving men of the tribe were to sneak to a place where the women gathered and handle the marriage arraingments themselves.

This story of the Levite and his concubine and the events that lead to the destruction of the house of Benjamin is an interesting one in the book of Judges. This story revolves around the transgression and punishment of the people, but in this case not by Yahweh. Nothing in this story seems to have been ordered by an Angel of the Lord or related to the Levite directly by Yahweh. This final story of the Judges shows the fragility of the people of Israel in a land full of hositilities, both physical and spiritual, and gives a sense of chaos in the days before Israel had a king.


The book of Judges ends with the 13 words that echo throughout this tome; 'In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.'