Questions about Judges

[shernren]

I get a very funny view of God reading Judges ... need help interpreting things.

1. Judges 1:19 - seems to imply that God could not withstand "iron chariots"?? If God was with Judah why were they so weak?

2. Judges 10. God sounds so weak ... "couldn't bear their misery any more" ... hmm?

3. Judges 19-21. That's probably on my top ten of incomprehensible Bible passages. Firstly, what on earth is this doing in the Bible? What am I supposed to learn, other than "It's bad to gang-rape-murder somebody's concubine"? =P ... here are the detailed "I-don't-know"s:

a) Why a concubine? Where was the man's wife?
b) Why wouldn't the Benjamites hand over the sick fools? (Other than: "See! They were just asking to be slaughtered.")
c) Why would God sanction a "trib-o-cide"? Wouldn't it have been sufficient to perform whatever cruel punishments were necessary on the rapists themselves?
d) Why two days of defeats? This is not analogous to the battle of Ai, since they had clearly asked the Lord about whether to go or not.
e) There's a discrepancy in the number of Benjamites killed and in the overall total number of Benjamites. How come?
f) What's this "festival of the Lord in Shiloh"? Was it being attended by non-Israelites, and therefore show that some Canaanites actually did worship the Lord? Or if it was a festival for Israelites, wouldn't they have heard the plot in the discussion and told their daughters not to go?
g) How does this affect the rest of the Bible?

Hope you all could help. Thanks.

 

[Dad Ernie]

Greetings Shernren,

You may want to download a FREE Bible with all sorts of commentaries at:

www.esword.com

I'm sure it will explain some of your questions.

Blessings,

Dad Ernie

 

[PaladinValer]

1. It has nothing to do with God, but with the Israelites themselves. They didn't have the sophisticated weaponry needed, which meant direct military confrontation would have been disasterous.
2. You've missed the point. God was angery that the Israelites turned away from the Torah and began to once again practice polytheism. As a result, according to Hebrew belief, they began to suffer defeat by Gentile military forces. Thus, they pleaded for God to forgive them and returned to worshipping only Him. According to Hebrew belief, God was moved by their repentence, that He couldn't allow, according to Hebrew belief, them to suffer any more defeat.
3. The point is this: strangers are to be greeted with hospitality. Hospitality was one of the most important virtues, if not the most important, among Middle Eastern cultures during ancient times. Disrespect towards a stranger was arguably the worst offense you could do.

a. Concubines were considered of less value than wives. Why give your wife away, who was more valuable a possession, when you could give away a concubine?

The rest, read my "2" above, although I'm highly generalizing, as you aren't giving precise points in Scripture where to look at. However, read below also:

e: The descrepency is due to the fact that Hebrew linguistical style was colored with hyperbole. The two different numbers may, if taken literally, contradict, but with knowledge of Hebrew linguistics, one sees that the point is that many lives were lost.
f: Gentiles could participate in Jewish festivals if they were circumcized/made pure.
g: The point of all this is theological belief: Respect and treat strangers with dignity and honor, don't practice polytheism, etc. Point "1" is actually sound battle tactics too.