The Bible Book

101

See also: Moses and the Burning Bush 66–69 ■ The Fall of Jericho 98–99 ■

The Exodus 74–77 ■ The Fall of Jerusalem 128–31

THE HISTORICAL BOOKS

Gideon’s fleece is covered in dew by

God’s angel in this painting (c. 149 0 s)

from the school of Avignon, France.

This is one of several signs from God

that convinces Gideon He is with him.

and revisions made after the fall

of Jerusalem in 586 bce. The book

covers the troubled period in

Israel’s history between the arrival

of the tribes in Canaan between

the 14th to 13th century bce and the

establishment of the monarchy in

1050 bce. Judges depicts the

Israelites as living in fractious

tribes; it is a messier but almost

certainly more accurate picture

than the preceding Book of Joshua.

The book proposes to follow

the fortunes of 12 judge-deliverers,

perhaps to match the 12 tribes.

In fact, four of these receive only

minimal mention. Along with

Gideon, the major stories are those

of Deborah and her general Barak,

Jephthah, and Samson.

The people suffer

Gideon gets the fullest treatment,

his story starting, in a familiar way,

with Israel’s disobedience: “Again

the Israelites did evil in the eyes

of the Lord, and for seven years

He gave them into the hands of the

Midianites” (Judges 6:1). The effect

of the Midianites and their allies

the Amalekites is compared to a

swarm of locusts in its devastation

(Judges 6:5). The land is ravaged

and the Israelites are forced to

seek refuge in caves and valleys.

From a historical perspective, this

sounds like a description of the

sufferings of settled farmers at

the hands of herder overlords who

exact brutal harvest-time tributes.

The desperate Israelites finally

remember God and cry out to Him,

but His initial response is to send

an anonymous prophet to remind

them of His record of saving them

and rebuke their ingratitude (6:7–8).

Following this, God (or His

angel) appears to a young man,

Gideon, who is secretly threshing

wheat inside a winepress, hoping

to escape the attention of

marauding Midianites. The

exchange that follows has parallels

with the calling of Moses at the

burning bush. The angel greets

Gideon, perhaps ironically, as a

“mighty warrior” (6:12) and tells

him that God is with him. However,

Gideon’s response is bitter, and

he says God appears to have

abandoned the Israelites. The angel

replies: “Go in the strength you

have and save Israel out of Midian’s

hand. Am I not sending you?” (6:14).

An alarmed Gideon, like Moses

before him, protests his weakness

and insignificance. The angel

simply reasserts that Gideon is

the one who is going to strike

down the Midianites. ❯❯

Deborah

As well as being the only

female judge, Deborah is the

only one shown exercising a

judicial role. She lives in the

hills of Ephraim by a landmark

palm tree, where people come

to have their disputes settled.

The wife of a man called

Lappidoth, she is described

as a charismatic prophet.

In her time, Israel suffers

under the Canaanite king of

Hazor and his general Sisera.

When God tells Deborah to

call up the army of the general

Barak, she rides with it into

battle. A sudden rainstorm

helps Barak’s army defeat the

Canaanites, but Deborah

warns that honor of the

victory will go to a woman.

This becomes true, when

Sisera is killed by a woman

called Jael with just a tent

peg. Judges tells the story

of this victory twice, first in

prose, then in poetry, in the

Song of Deborah. This is

believed to be one of the

oldest Bible fragments, if not

the oldest: a victory song

composed possibly as early

as the 12th century bce.

US_100-103_Gideon.indd 101 26/09/17 2:13 pm