Most of
the first chapter of the Book of Judges is taken up with the success
and failure of the Tribe of Judah to capture and occupy the land that
was allotted to them. Beginning in Judges 1.3 we find a series of
glimpses into Judah's campaign which ending in v20 then gives way to
a summary of the how the other tribes fared in their individual
military actions, Judges 1.21-36. This session we will look at the
accounts of Judah's campaign that is broken into two parts. The
campaign first goes “up” in v4 and then “down” in v9. Judah's
fortunes will rise and fall accordingly.
Verse 4
provides a summary statement of Judah's “upland” campaign.
“Judah went up, and the Lord gave the Canaanites and the Perizzites
into their hands, and they defeated ten thousand men at Bezek.”
Judah's role was to go “up” and God's role was “the Lord gave
the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hands.” Judah's job
was to obey God by beginning the military campaign, which led to God
fulfilling His role which resulted in Judah defeating ten thousand of
the enemy at Bezek. Judah's opening success in Israel's holy war was
credited to God. V5-7 provides us with the capture, dismemberment,
and eventual death of Adoni-Bezek or the king of Bezek.
Adoni-Bezek's
dismemberment is interpreted by himself as punishment from God for
his dismembering seventy kings. As a Canaanite king, it is ironic
that the writer of Judges would use him to proclaim that man is
accountable to God for his actions. It also raises several
questions. Is this an early example of the Canaanization of Israel
with Israel adopting a Canaanite method of punishment? Why did
Israel spare the life of Adoni-Bezek? Why did Israel bring him to
Jerusalem? How did he die; by natural causes or by the Judahites?
Despite our questions, the problem is that Judah disregarded God's
command to leave no survivors (Deu 7.1-2). This provides a glimpse
of things to come and indicates that Judah was not walking in total
obedience with Yahweh.
In verse
8, the narrator tells us of Judah's capture and destruction of the
city of Jerusalem. The capture of Jerusalem is temporary as we will
see in 1.21 and 19.11-12. The territory which included Jerusalem
belongs to the tribe of Benjamin not Judah and Judah made no effort
to settle there. This provides us with an early distinction between
the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, between the tribe which would bring
forth King David and the tribe that brought forth King Saul. Judah
was successful against the Canaanites and Benjamin was not.
Judges
1.9-20 provides us with the description of Judah's “downland or
lowland” campaign. V9 serves as an introduction to the transition
from the upland to the lowland campaign. “Afterward the sons of
Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites living in the hill
country and in the Negev and in the lowland.” This verse tells us
of the three general regions of the campaign; “the hill country,”
meaning the hill country north of Judah and south of Jerusalem; “the
Negev,” the land south of Judah that was mostly desert; and “the
lowlands,” meaning the land to the west of Judah or the coastal
plain. V10-20 describes the battles for these three regions.
V10-15 describes the hill country campaign by telling of the conquest
of two cities; Hebron and Debir.
The
battle of Hebron is described in v10. “So Judah went against the
Canaanites who lived in Hebron (now the name of Hebron formerly was
Kiriath-arba); and they struck Sheshai and Ahiman and Talmai.”
Hebron was a key city in the hill-country of Judah. In Joshua
15.13-14 Caleb is giving credit for taking Hebron but the writer of
Judges, because Caleb was from the tribe of Judah, credits Judah with
the conquest. Sheshai and Ahiman and Talmai were prominent leaders
of the Anakim, a people that Israel considered a great and fearsome
foe (Deu 9.2).
The
second stage of the conquest of the hill country of Judah is depicted
in the battle for the city of Debir and given to us as an anecdote.
Caleb, rather than take Debir directly as he had Hebron, chose to
offer the capture of Debir to another. Caleb had been given the land
around Hebron by Joshua (Josh 14.6-15) and now he offers a challenge
to the men of Judah. “And Caleb said, The one who attacks
Kiriath-sepher and captures it, I will even give him my daughter
Achsah for a wife" (Jdg 1:12). The challenge was accepted by
Caleb's nephew, Othniel. In verse 13 we are told: “Othniel the son
of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, captured it; so he gave him his
daughter Achsah for a wife.” The capture of Debir, by Othniel,
marks a point of transition to a new generation of leadership.
In verses 14-15 we are given a glimpse into Israel society at an early point of the conquest of the “Promised Land.”
Then it
came about when she came to him, that she persuaded him to ask her
father for a field. Then she alighted from her donkey, and Caleb
said to her, What do you want? She said to him, Give me a blessing,
since you have given me the land of the Negev, give me also springs
of water. So Caleb gave her the upper springs and the lower springs.
These
verses record the request of Achsah after her marriage. First,
Achsah approached her new husband, Othniel and persuaded him to ask
her father for a field. Either because Othniel did not act, or at
least did not act fast enough to suit Achsah, she took matters into
her hands. She makes her request directly to Caleb. Caleb asks her
what she wants and she tells him she wants a gift. She explains the
reason for her request is that the land that Caleb had giver her was
as dry as the land in the Negev, in other words the land was very
dry, and though it was fertile land, it lacked water. She was not
asking for more fertile land, but the water necessary to make it
capable of producing food for her family. Caleb granted the request
and gave Achsah two springs.
This is
a strange story to place amid a military narrative. Let us review
several possible reasons the writer might have chosen to place this
anecdote in the middle of Judah's downland campaign. It could be
that the writer was trying to honor Caleb. Caleb was of the
generation that, like Joshua, “knew” Yahweh and His mighty works.
Caleb, as a leader, faithfully fulfilled whatever was asked of him
by his God Yahweh or by his earthly leader, Joshua.
It has
been suggested by some commentators that this passage offers the
reader a view of what might have been. This is one of a handful of
accounts in this book where all the characters involved get favorable
press. Caleb has grown old but his spirit has not been diminished by
time. He was one of the twelve spies that had been sent to spy out
the Promised Land by Moses (Nu 13.6). Together with Joshua, they
silenced the other 10 spies who said that Israel could not take the
land. Caleb knew that through Yahweh's power, the Canaanites would
be delivered into Israelites hands (Nu 13:30; 14:5-10).
Caleb's
faithfulness was rewarded with him being allotted the major allotment
of Hebron within Judah (Josh 15:13). After taking the city of Hebron,
Caleb demonstrates his desire to continue the momentum of the
conquest by offering his daughter to the conqueror of Debir. We
might be offended by Caleb's actions but in his world, he not only
ensured that the military conquest would continue moving forward, but
that his daughter would have a husband capable of protecting her and
the family interests after his death.
Caleb's
concern and love for Ascsah is shown by his generous response to her
request for water. He gives her not one but two springs, helping
ensure the fertility of her land. His sensitivity is reflected in
the way he treats his daughter. Othniel, one of the “new
generation,” is seen to be a bold and brave warrior, who defeats
the Canaanites and wins a wife in the process.
It is
not accidental that today another view of this aside was place here
in the text. It has to do with the portrait of Achsah that one can
craft from these verses that many readers find most intriguing. In a
male dominated society, Achsah displays great resourcefulness in her
recognition that the land that she has been given is of little value
without access to water, and how she approaches her father and
convinces him to give her a gift. With parental respect, she asks
for the blessing, alluding to the common custom of the father's
blessing of a daughter when she is given away in marriage or leaves
home. Achsah explains that without water she will be unable to grow
the garden she needs to feed her family. Daniel Block, who has
written a commentary on Judges that is possibly the best one to
date, says: “Although she remains gracious and respectful, she will
not be simply a passive object of men's deals. Instead she seizes the
opportunity to achieve something neither her father nor husband
contemplated. But she does so without overstepping the bounds of
female propriety.”
The
treatment of Achsah by her husband and father is in marked contrast
to how the Levite's concubine will be treated in chapter 19, and how
the daughters of Shiloh will be treated in chapter 21. This provides
us with a sense of the subtlety of the writer as he uses the behavior
of men toward women as one avenue of demonstrating the Canaanization
of the Israel.
It is
possible this was an introduction to Othniel. It does give some
background on Othniel, who will appear again, as the first Judge and
leader in the Book of Judges. Othniel, like Caleb, knew Yahweh and
the mighty acts He did for Israel. He was a man who would seek and
follow God.
In
another unusual twist, the family that the writer chooses to
highlight, are not Israelites by birth. Caleb was known by the
Israelites as the son of Jephunneh the Kenite. His daughter and his
son-in-law are also Kenites. Block suggests that they are:
Kenizzite
proselytes, who have been so thoroughly integrated into the faith and
culture of the nation that Caleb could represent the tribe of Judah
in reconnaissance missions, and all model the life of Yahwistic
faith in the face of the Canaanite enemy.
V16
provides us with more background about the Kenites. “The
descendants of the Kenite, Moses' father-in-law, went up from the
city of palms with the sons of Judah, to the wilderness of Judah
which is in the south of Arad; and they went and lived with the
people.“ The Kenites were descendants of the father-in-law and the
brother-in-law of Moses. This may be confusing since we have been
told that Moses' father-in-law was a Midianite. Block makes the
likely suggestion that these descendants of the “Kenite“ may be
related to those that Moses asked to accompany into the “promised
Land” in NU 10.29-32. This is one of those questions we may need
to wait for God to explain, because right now, solid answers are not
available.
The city
of palm-trees could refer to Jericho (Deu. 34:3; Josh. 3:13; and II
Chron. 28:15) or it could be a generic term for “a fortified oasis
settlement.” The point the writer is making is that the Kenites,
like their hosts, the Israelites, also compromise Yahweh's command to
destroy the Canaanites. Instead of destroying them, they live with
them. We will see the Kenites reappear in the war of Deborah and
Barak.
Verses
17-20 concludes Judah's portion of the failed conquest. “Then
Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they struck the Canaanites
living in Zephath, and utterly destroyed it. So the name of the city
was called Hormah. And Judah took Gaza with its territory and
Ashkelon with its territory and Ekron with its territory. Now the
Lord was with Judah, and they took possession of the hill country;
but they could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley because
they had iron chariots. Then they gave Hebron to Caleb, as Moses had
promised; and he drove out from there the three sons of Anak. (Jdg
1:17-20).
Verse 17
records the destruction of Hormah as a joint conquest by the alliance
of Simeon and Judah. Hormah was a key city in that portion of
Judah's allotment that was to be settled by Simeon. This also
satisfies the promise Judah made to help Simeon in conquering its
allotment in v3. Hormah was originally known as Zephath, and being
destroyed, it was renamed Hormah, which means “a city destined for
destruction,” or “destruction.”
Verse 18
succinctly tells us of the conquest of the area that would come to be
called the Philistine Plain and the major cities of Gaza, Ashkelon,
and Ekron. Then the inhabitants would have been Canaanites; but with
the Philistine invasion, Israel would soon lose these territories.
Verses
19 and 20 provide us with a summary of events to this point. v19
deals with the hill-country. Here there was initial success because
of Yahweh's divine help: “Now the Lord was with Judah.” Because
Yahweh was with Judah, He drove out the inhabitants of the
hill-country before Judah. But Judah then failed to drive out the
inhabitants of the valley. The reason given was that the Canaanites
had chariots of iron. We are left to conclude that Judah had
sufficient faith to fight the Canaanites where Judah felt it had the
military advantage but that Judah lacked the faith in Yahweh to fight
and succeed when the advantage belonged to the enemy. Joshua's
statement to Ephraim and Manasseh, in Josh 17.16-18, was applicable
to Judah as well.
The sons of Joseph said, The hill country is not enough for us, and all the Canaanites who live in the valley land have chariots of iron, both those who are in Beth-shean and its towns and those who are in the valley of Jezreel. 17 Joshua spoke to the house of Joseph, to Ephraim and Manasseh, saying, You are a numerous people and have great power; you shall not have one lot only, 18 but the hill country shall be yours. For though it is a forest, you shall clear it, and to its farthest borders it shall be yours; for you shall drive out the Canaanites, even though they have chariots of iron and though they are strong. (Josh 17:16-18).
Israel
could defeat it's foes, despite the enemies size or equipment, if
they placed themselves in Yahweh's hands. Judah was successful in the
hill country not because of their fighting prowess but because of
Yahweh's presence with them. What changed when they went to the
lowlands? Did God desert Judah or did Judah lose its faith in God in
the face of a force that had the military advantage over them? Is
Yahweh presence negated by superior force?
Verse 20 concludes with a final remark about Caleb being given the City of Hebron in honor of Moses' promise in Josh 14.9 and Deu 1.36. As we will see in our next session, things go down hill from here. Where was Yahweh?
