Judges (2008)

A Commentary

Susan Niditch

• Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN: 9780664238315
• eBook ISBN: 9781611644937
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Commentary

Susan Niditch's commentary on the book of Judges pays careful attention to the literary and narrative techniques of the text and yields fresh readings of the book's difficult passages: stories of violence, ethnic conflict, and gender issues. Niditch aptly and richly conveys the theological impact and enduring significance of these stories.

The Old Testament Library provides fresh and authoritative treatments of important aspects of Old Testament study through commentaries and general surveys. The contributors are scholars of international standing.

COMMENTARY

Judges 1:1–36
Introduction by Means of Explicit Ambivalence

1:1	And it was after the death of Joshua,^a and the descendants of Israel asked of^b Yhwh, saying, “Who will go up for us against^c the Canaanites, at the beginning, to wage war against them?”
2	And Yhwh said, “Judah will go up. Behold, I have given the land into his hand.”^d
3	And Judah said to his brother Simeon, “Go up with me into my allotment,^e and let us wage war against the Canaanites, and I will come, also I, with you into your allotment.” And Simeon went up with him.
4	And up went Judah, and Yhwh gave the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand. They struck down in Bezek ten thousand men.
5	And they encountered Adoni-bezek in Bezek, and they waged war against him, and they struck down the Canaanites and the Perizzites.
6	And Adoni-bezek fled;^f they followed after him; they seized him; they cut off the large digits of his hands and feet.
7	And Adoni-bezek said, “Seventy kings, the large digits of their hands and feet cut off, used to glean under my table. As I did, so God has repaid me.” And they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.
8	And the descendants of Judah waged war against Jerusalem, they captured it; they struck it down by the mouth of the sword; and the city, they sent up in fire.^g
9	And thereafter the descendants of Judah went down to wage war against the Canaanites dwelling in the hill country, the south, and the lowlands.
10	And Judah went against the Canaanites who dwelled in Hebron (and the name of Hebron formerly was Kiriath-arba^h) and they struck down Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai.^i
11	And they went^j from there against the dwellers of Debir (and the name of Debir formerly was Kiriath-sepher^k).
12	And Caleb said, “He who strikes down Kiriath-sepher and captures it, I will give to him Achsah, my daughter, as wife.”
13	And capture it did Othniel, son of Kenaz, the brother of Caleb (the one younger than he),^l and he gave to him Achsah, his daughter, as a wife.
14	And it was when she came that she urged him^m to ask from her father for a piece of^n open country. And she pounded down^o from upon the donkey, and Caleb said to her, “What is with you!?”
15	She said to him, “Give to me a blessing; for the Negeb (Southland) you have given me, but give to me ponds^p of water.” And Caleb gave to her^q the upper ponds and the lower ponds.^r
16	And the descendants of Keni,^s father-in-law of Moses, went up from the City of Palms with the descendants of Judah into the wilderness of Judah that is in the south toward Arad; they went and dwelled^t with the people.
17	And Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they struck down the Canaanites who dwelled in Zephath, and they devoted it to destruction^u and called the name of the city Hormah (Devoted-to-Destruction).
18	And Judah captured^v Gaza and its border region and Ashkelon and its border region and Ekron and its border region.^w
19	And Yhwh was with Judah, and he took possession of the hill country, for he could not dispossess the dwellers of the valley because chariotry of iron was theirs.^x
20	And they gave Hebron to Caleb as Moses had spoken, and he dispossessed from there the three sons of Anak,
21	and the Jebusites dwelling in Jerusalem, the descendants of Benjamin did not dispossess. And the Jebusites dwell with the descendants of Benjamin in Jerusalem until this day.
22	And the house of Joseph went up, they too, against Bethel, and Yhwh^y was with them.
23	And the house of Joseph went espying^z in Bethel, and the name of the town formerly was Luz.
24	And the guards saw a man going forth from the town,^aa and they said to him, “Let us see, I pray you,^bb the entryway of the town, and we will make with you a mercy pact.”
25	And he let them see the entryway of the town, and they struck down the town by the mouth of the sword, but the man and all his family they sent free.
26	And the man went to the land of the Hittites, and he built a town and called its name Luz. That is its name until this day.
27	And Manasseh did not dispossess Beth-shean^cc and its suburbs, nor Taanach and its suburbs, nor the dwellers of Dor and its suburbs,^dd nor the dwellers of Ibleam and its suburbs, nor the dwellers of Megiddo and its suburbs, and the Canaanites persisted to dwell in this land.
28	And when Israel grew strong, they set the Canaanites at forced labor, but dispossess they did not dispossess them.
29	And Ephraim did not dispossess the Canaanites who dwell in Gezer, and the Canaanites dwelled in his midst in Gezer.^ee
30	Zebulun did not dispossess the dwellers of Kitron^ff nor the dwellers of Nahalol, and the Canaanites dwelled in his midst, and they became forced labor.
31	Asher did not dispossess the dwellers of Acco, nor the dwellers of Sidon, nor Ahlab, nor Achzib, nor Helbah, nor Aphik, nor Rehob.^gg
32	And the Asherites dwelled in the midst of the Canaanites, dwellers of the land, for they did not dispossess them.
33	Naphtali did not dispossess the dwellers of Beth-shemesh, nor the dwellers of Beth-anath, and they dwelled in the midst of the Canaanites, dwellers of the land, and the dwellers of Beth-shemesh and Beth-anath became to them forced labor.
34	And the Amorites pressed the descendants of Dan to the hill country, for they did not allow them to go down into the valley.
35	And the Amorites persisted to live in Har-heres,^hh in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim, and the hand of the house of Joseph grew heavy, and they became forced labor.
36	And the border of the Amorites was from Akrabbim (Scorpion-rise), from Sela (Rock) and upward.^ii

a. This phrase is found also in Josh 1:1 concerning the death of Moses. The beginning of the book of Judges thus parallels that of the book of Joshua, and the life story o...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Abbreviations
• Bibliography
• Introduction
• Commentary
• Appendix A Literal Translation of Judges
• Index