© David Staume 2007

Judges records Israel's first civil war. These stories were probably gathered together in the sixth century BCE by several compilers. Because the events took place in the same historical period, they were put into a single book, regardless of differences in style and authenticity.

1. Judah takes over from Joshua. The Israelites fight the remaining Canaanites, and kill ten thousand men at Bezel. The Canaanite leader, Adoni-Bezel, flees but is caught and his thumbs and big toes are cut off. Judah's men attack Jerusalem, which they 'put it to the sword', that is – they kill everyone – then set the city on fire. The Israelites destroy another six cities. More carnage and torture justified by the 'promised land'. Whatever happened to the fifth commandment 'thou shalt not kill'?

2. Joshua dies at the age of one hundred and ten. A new generation of Israelites arise who do not know God and 'what he has done for them', and they turn to other gods. This angers God who gives them into the hands of raiders who plunder them. God raises up 'judges' (leaders) who save the Israelites from the hands of their enemies, but when the judges die the people return to their 'wicked ways'. More rewriting of history to suit the religious story. God is written into battle stories according to their outcome. When won, God is with them before the event, and when lost, God is against them before the event. This is similar to the false logic in Deuteronomy when a prophet is said to speak for God only after the prophesy comes true.

3-4. Details of different tribes enslaving the Israelites, leaders arising who are filled with 'the spirit of the Lord', and going to war. Details of violent deaths, swords through stomachs, and tent pegs hammered into heads. The text seems to state that being filled with 'the spirit of the Lord' is the same as an incitement to war.

5-8. A woman leader, Deborah, sings a song of praise to God and death to Israel's enemies. Warfare across the land. An angel appears to Gideon. The angel says that Gideon is a 'mighty warrior' and encourages him to go to war. Gideon builds an altar to commemorate this called 'The Lord is Peace'. Gideon sends messages to various tribes and calls them to arms. Gideon defeats the Midianites and decapitates their leaders. Gideon rules Israel for forty years. When he dies the Israelites return to worshipping other gods. The Gideon International website says that Gideon was a man who was willing to do exactly what God wanted him to do, regardless of his own judgment. Calling an altar 'The Lord is Peace' to commemorate an incitement to murder is perverse.

9-12. Gideon's son, Abimelek, murders his seventy brothers, then governs Israel for three years. He attacks the city of Shechem and kills its inhabitants. He then attacks the city of Thebez. The people flee to a tower roof. Abimelek is killed as he approaches the tower to set it on fire – and all the people on it. This event is said to be God repaying him for murdering his brothers. After Abimelek, come the leaders Tola, Jair, Jephthah (who killed forty two thousand Ephraimites), then Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon. Jephthah makes a vow to God to sacrifice 'whatever comes through the door of his house' to greet him after defeating the Ammonites. This turns out to be his only daughter. Because he can't break a vow to God he sacrifices his own daughter at the altar. Astonishing. The Bible is replete with the criminally insane.

13-15. An angel appears and prophesizes the birth of a boy whose hair must never be cut. Samson is born. Samson burns the Philistine's grain stores, vineyards, and olive groves. The Philistine's kill Samson's wife and father in return. Samson kills a thousand Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey.

16. Samson falls in love with Delilah. The Philistines bribe her to find out the source of his strength. She nags him until he discloses that his strength will fail if his head is shaved. Delilah organizes for someone to shave Samson's head while he is asleep on her lap. The Philistine's capture Samson, gouge out his eyes, shackle him, and imprison him. One day he is taken from prison to entertain the Philistines in a large temple. As his hair has re-grown he pushes the pillars of the temple over, killing himself, and three thousand Philistines, in the name of God. Samson's suicide so that he could kill thousands of his enemies is an example for suicide bombers everywhere. The story is most likely an adaptation of a story written by Herodotus about the Egyptian god Re-Herakhte.

17-18. The Danites (a tribe of Israel) attack and kill 'a peaceful and unsuspecting people', and burn down their city.

19-21. A man's mistress is raped by men from Gibeah and she dies. The man cuts her up into twelve pieces and sends one piece to each of the twelve tribes ofIsrael. A war amongst the tribes of Israel ensues. Sixty-five thousand die before reconciliation. These chapters of Judges contains a story (omitted here to avoid duplication) that parallels the story of Lot and the (mythical) cities of Sodom and Gomorrah almost exactly, and indicates its status as myth.

The Old Testament promotes what is probably the most dangerous of all concepts – the concept of a 'just war'.

Back to Joshua. Forward to Ruth.