Bible in the World – Judges

For many Christian interpreters of Judges from ancient to modern times, this single brief New Testament assessment of judges such as Gideon, Barak, Samson, and Jephthah was given priority as the definitive lens through which to read the stories of Judges. In the view of Hebrews 11, these judges are all uniformly positive heroes of faith and role models.  

However, a close reading and more objective assessment of the Book of Judges and the character of the judges themselves within their Old Testament context alone (apart from Hebrews 11) would likely yield a different verdict. As our analysis elsewhere in this entry on Judges suggests, the later judges (especially Gideon, Jephthah, and Samson) increasingly exhibit dysfunctions in leadership, moral flaws, repeated failures to build unity, and religious deterioration in their relationship with God. The rise of temporary judges in response to repeated enemy attacks proved unsustainable. The era of the judges ended with worsening religious decay and social disintegration, culminating in a bloody civil war with the Israelite tribes fighting one another (Judges 17-21).

Ehud (Judges 3:1-29)

In the 16th and 17th centuries during and after the Protestant Reformation, the continent of Europe was deeply embroiled in violent conflicts involving the relationship of church and state and issues of God and politics. As a result, interest grew in the Book of Judges during this time. The stories of Judges were all about war, fighting enemies, killing kings, and God raising up new leaders to resist tyranny. The German Reformer Martin Luther wrote a treatise to guide “some princes and their subjects” in this tumultuous time–On War Against the Turks (1529). Luther argued that a key individual who acts wisely in leadership at the right time can be an essential catalyst for change. Luther used the judge Ehud as his case in point. Ehud single-handedly tricked the wicked King Eglon of Moab and his guards, allowing Ehud to kill the king with his sword, escape undetected, and then return with an Israelite army that defeated the oppressive Moabites. Luther affirmed the “good that God did through Ehud” as well as through other individual judges such as Gideon, DeborahAn Israelite prophetess and influential judge. More, and Samson. Sometimes the brave act of only one person can make an enormous difference.

A prominent commentary on Judges (1561) in this period in the context of the English Reformation was written by an Oxford professor PeterPeter (also known as Cephas, Simon Peter) was the disciple who denied Jesus during his trial but later became a leader in proclaiming Jesus. More MartyrTo be a martyr originally meant to be a witness in the legal sense – that is, to bear witness in legal proceedings. In the context of Christianity martyrdom indicates a person, like Stephen in the book of Acts, who was killed for maintaining his… More Vermigli in which he highlighted God raising up Ehud to directly confront and overthrow a tyrannical and evil king. The British poet and political activist John Milton used Vermigli’s commentary as support when he argued that Ehud’s action offered a biblical warrant for citizens in certain circumstances of oppression to overthrow an evil king (Tenure of Kings and Magistrates, 1649). He wrote the document in the context of the trial and execution of the British King Charles I. In light of Ehud’s example, Milton observed that “among the Jews this custom of tyrant-killing was not unusual” and thus provided a biblical precedent for dethroning a cruel and despotic ruler who had ignored the constitution and repeatedly defied the British Parliament.

Opponents to Milton who supported the British monarch argued that, unlike the British King Charles I, King Eglon of Moab in the biblical story of Judges 3 had been a foreign invader who had imposed his rule on the Israelite tribes. In contrast, King Charles I was a home-grown British ruler, not a foreigner. Thus, the pro-royalists argued that the biblical example of the Israelite liberator Ehud overthrowing the foreign King Ehud did not apply to their British context. Moreover, the royalists argued the biblical Ehud had a direct command and dispensation from God that allowed him to kill the Moabite king. In contrast, they maintained, Milton and other anti-royalists had received no such explicit divine word or approval to kill the British King Charles I. In the end, however, King Charles I was convicted of high treason and put to death in 1649.

Ehud and Deborah as Exemplars for Medieval Christian Military Crusades to Retake the HolyHoly is a term that originally meant set apart for the worship or service of God. While the term may refer to people, objects, time, or places, holiness in Judaism and Christianity primarily denotes the realm of the divine More Land (Judges 3-4)

The illustrated Morgan Picture Bible from 13^th century France pairs the biblical story of the judge Ehud (Judges 3) with the judge Deborah (Judge 4-5) through two small paintings side by side. In the first panel, the judge Ehud is portrayed as killing King Eglon on his throne.  In the second small painting, the judge Deborah is on horseback with the Israelite soldiers and stretches out her hand, directing her military leader Barak and his army (dressed in crusader military clothing) in their battle with the enemy Canaanites. The medieval Morgan Picture Bible was created for King Louis IX of France and was given to him as a gift after he returned from his first Crusade to Jerusalem and the Holy Land. In the end, King Louis IX’s first Crusade was unsuccessful. He and his army returned home to France, having failed to gain control of the Holy Land from the Muslims. 

Shortly before King Louis IX of France embarked with his soldiers on his second Crusade to return Jerusalem and the Holy Land to Christian rulership, he was given an ornate illustrated copy of the book of Psalms– the Saint Louis PsalterThe psalter is a volume containing the book of Psalms (see  Psalm). In the early Middle Ages psalters were popular and contained – in addition to the psalms – calendars, litanies of saints, and other devotional texts. More. The Psalter included among its illustrations an artist’s portrayal of the female judge Deborah leading the Israelite army in fighting their enemy. One would presume the illustration of Deborah as judge and military leader was meant to inspire the king and his army in his quest to return Jerusalem to Christian control. Unfortunately, the king’s quest ended tragically. King Louis IX became severely ill and eventually died during the arduous journey on horseback from France to the Holy Land. 

Deborah and Barak (Judges 4:1-10; 5:1)

The biblical portrait of Deborah as a wife and strong female judge, prophet, and war-leader alongside the male military general Barak has often upset traditional cultural assumptions and expectations about the roles of women throughout the centuries of biblical interpretation.  Deborah was assertive and outspoken, spoke the word of God as a prophet, arbitrated disputes, and played an authoritative and public role among her people. Many have found in Deborah justification and support for women’s aspirations to public political and religious leadership since the biblical period until now. For example, Origen (third century CE) contends that the story of Deborah “furnishes no small consolation to the sex of women and challenges them not to despair” (Origen, Sermons on Judges). Johannes Brenz, a 16th century German Lutheran pastor, echoed Origen’s perspective on Deborah: “Then because God chose a woman as a prophet, a Judge of his people, and a liberator, the female sex is commended which had been unfortunately told that they were to blame for every sort of affliction on account of EveThe name of the first woman, wife of Adam. More, whose blame men also participate in… On this account, so God might declare that this sex is not less graced than the male sex, he chose a woman as prophet, Judge, and liberator of his people” (Johannes Benz, The Book of Judges, 1576).

An early example of a prominent woman’s voice praising the strength, wisdomWisdom encompasses the qualities of experience, knowledge, and good judgment.  The Old Testament book of Proverbs, which sometimes invokes a Woman as the personification of Wisdom, is a collection of aphorisms and moral teachings. Along with other biblical passages, it teaches, “The fear of the… More, and authority of the biblical Deborah as public leader is the influential French writer Christine de Pizan (1364-1429). De Pizan used the biblical story of Deborah as an analogous model to extol the military leadership of the young Joan of Arc (1412-1431). Joan of Arc had valiantly led multiple battles against English invaders. She was eventually captured, declared a heretic, and burned at the stake by the English religious authorities only later to be exonerated and canonized as a patron saint of France. De Pizan’s best known work, The Book of the City of the Ladies (1405), lists 100 remarkable women throughout history. Among them is Deborah who had “a remarkable gift from God” as “a woman prophet during the time when the judges ruled over Israel. The people of God were delivered from servitude to the king of Canaan, who had held them as slaves for twenty years, by this Deborah and by her intelligence.” Elsewhere in the book, Deborah is also listed among a group of biblical women who exemplify “the endless benefits which have accrued to the world through women.”

Other Christians opposed to women’s participation in public leadership in religion and society downplayed the example of Deborah as judge and leader in Judges 4-5. They preferred what, in their view, were more authoritative New Testament counter-texts that enjoined women to remain silent and not exercise authority over men (e.g., 1 TimothyThe companion on Paul’s later journeys for whom two pastoral epistles are named. More 2:11-15; 1 Corinthians 14:34-36). For example, a medieval collection of Roman Catholic canonA canon is a general law or principle by which something is judged. The body of literature in the Old and New Testaments is accepted by most Christians as being canonical (that is, authentic and authoritative) for them. More law and commentary compiled by Gratian of Bologna (12^th century–Concordia Discordantium Canonum Decretum) concluded that women could not be witnesses or plaintiffs in court cases in which priests were accused of wrongdoing. Gratian acknowledged that the Old Testament did portray Deborah as a judge. He argued, however, that the New Testament restrictions on women’s authority represented, in his opinion, a superior “perfection of graceGrace is the unmerited gift of God’s love and acceptance. In Martin Luther’s favorite expression from the Apostle Paul, we are saved by grace through faith, which means that God showers grace upon us even though we do not deserve it. More” in Christ. Other commentators tried to explain away Deborah’s leadership as a one-time act of divine authorization not intended to be duplicated again for other women (Martin Bucer, Commentary on Judges, 1554). 

JaelWoman who killed Sisera in the days of Deborah. More and Sisera (Judges 4:17-24; 5:24-27)

The 17^th century painter, Salomon de Bray, offered a striking portrait of the three principal human characters in Judges 4-5: the female judge Deborah, the male Israelite general Barak, and the Kenite woman Jael who eventually is the one who kills the enemy’s military leader, Sisera. In the biblical story, Deborah foresaw that the Canaanite Sisera would be defeated, but that the glory and honor for this victory would not go to Barak “for the LORD will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman” (Judges 4:9). Given Deborah’s prominence in the first scenes of the chapter, the reader assumes that the honored woman will be Deborah. In a surprising twist, however, the glory goes to Jael, a non-Israelite woman who kills Sisera, the Canaanite general, with a hammer and tent peg while he slept in her tent. Sisera had fled the battlefield, abandoned his soldiers, and selfishly tried to save himself by hiding in Jael’s tent. 

This painting does not depict the gruesome act of Jael killing the sleeping Sisera as many artists have done over the centuries. Rather, de Bray’s portrait suggests the relative positioning of the three characters in terms of the greater and lesser “glory” they gained for defeating the Canaanites. In the dark rear of the painting, the male general Barak dons a black helmet and looks straight ahead with a blank “deer in the headlights” stare. His is a look of frozen indecision, set in the shadows behind the two women who are ahead of him.

The more elderly Deborah, set in partial darkness, looks piously up toward the heavens with hands folded in prayer, seeking a word from the LORD. The non-Israelite Jael is out front and pictured in full light. Her eyes look straight back at the viewer of the painting with glowering intensity, a hammer in one hand, a tent peg in the other, and a touch of bright red embroidery (suggestive of the blood of the Canaanite general Sisera whom she assassinated) woven into her low-cut peasant dress. De Bray’s painting accurately reflects the biblical story’s praise of Jael as the one most honored for defeating the Canaanite general.

Many artists over the centuries have depicted Jael’s murder of the Canaanite general Sisera in more vivid and graphic paintings. These works often depict Jael poised with a raised hammer in her right hand and a sharp tent peg held in her left hand and placed on the templeThe Jerusalem temple, unlike the tabernacle, was a permanent structure, although (like the tabernacle) it was a place of worship and religious activity. On one occasion Jesus felt such activity was unacceptable and, as reported in all four Gospels, drove from the temple those engaged… More of Sisera’s head. Artemisia Gentilesche’s portrayal of Jael and Sisera is one example of a more gruesome visual representation.

Blowing trumpets, smashing jars, lighting torches: Gideon and God against all odds (Judges 7:1-23)

ThomasOne of the twelve disciples of Jesus who is remembered for doubting then believing in the resurrection. More Müntzer, a German preacher and theologian of the early 16th century Reformation, was opposed to the authority of both Roman Catholic and Lutheran clergy and the many rulers or princes of central Germany. Müntzer believed that the end of the world was near, and that it was the task of true believers to aid God in ushering in a new era of history. Müntzer organized an armed militia and led the German Peasant’s War in 1525. He signed his letters supporting the peasant uprising with the words, “Thomas Müntzer with the sword of Gideon.”

Carrie Ellis Beck (1855-1934) authored over 1400 American hymns, one of which was “The Sword of the Lord and Gideon.”  The first verse begins, “Gideon, with three hundred soldiers / Once a mighty host withstood… Armed with trumpets, lamps and pitchers / Went, obeying God’s command.” The final verse reimagines Gideon’s militarism as peaceful Christian discipleship centered on trusting the power of the Word of God rather than cruel acts of violence: “Go ye forth to bloodless battle / In the army of the Lord; …Break thy darkened earthly vessels; / Flash the light of sacred Word; / Flash the light of holy living; / Let the voice of God be heard.”

Jephthah’s vowA vow is a promise or an oath. God promised to be Israel’s God, while in return the people vowed to be obedient to God’s commandments. In the book of 1 Samuel Hannah, the mother of Samuel, vowed to dedicate the life of her son… More (Judges 11:29-33)

The Christian interpreter Nicholas of Lyra (1270-1349) was troubled by what he and others saw as Jephthah’s foolish and unnecessary vow regarding his promise to God if God gave him victory against his enemy. Jephthah’s promise to God in the biblical story seems to require of Jephthah two things: to dedicate his own daughter to God (“shall be the LORD’s”—Judges 11:31) and to offer her up as a sacrificeSacrifice is commonly understood as the practice of offering or giving up something as a sign of worship, commitment, or obedience. In the Old Testament grain, wine, or animals are used as sacrifice. In some New Testament writings Jesus’ death on the cross as the… More because she was the first to come out of Jephthah’s house when he returned victorious from battle (Judges 11:30-31). Nicholas adopted a Jewish exegetical tradition (first proposed by an earlier medieval rabbinic commentator David Kimchi) in which the Hebrew word for “and” could be translated as also “or.” Thus, Jephthah’s vow could be understood as a vow either to dedicate her life to God as a virgin for her lifetime or kill her as a sacrifice to God. Nicholas noted that nowhere in Judges 11 does it say that Jephthah actually “sacrificed” his daughter, only that Jephthah “did with her according to the vow that he had made” (11:39). Part of the reason for Nicholas’ conviction that Jephthah did not do the unthinkable deed of killing his own daughter is Jephthah’s inclusion in Hebrews 11 as an exemplary hero of faith.  

Jephthah’s daughter (Judges 11:34-40)

Peter Abelard was a 12^th century philosopher and theologian in Paris, France, who was hired to tutor a well-educated and well-known woman named Heloise. Abelard and Heloise became lovers and had a child together. Instead of getting married, the two of them took monastic vows of celibacy and poverty and joined separate monastic communities. They lamented and struggled with the complex sacrifices caused by their disastrous affair. Reflecting on Judges 11, Abelard wrote a long four-part poem titled The Lament of the Virgins of Israel over the Daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite. The poem condemns the biblical Jephthah for the rash and horrendous vow that led to his daughter’s sacrifice. On the other hand, the poem praises Jephthah’s daughter for her courage, strength, and dignity as well as expanding beyond the biblical portrait to acknowledge her doubts and sense of loss. Abelard’s poem is addressed to Heloise and alludes to her sacrifice for Abelard as well as to significant misfortunes in Abelard’s own life, some of which were brought on by Heloise’s father. The last stanza of the poem alludes to “an Israelite custom that for four days every year the daughters of Israel would go out to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite” (Judges 11:40) with these words: “Tell it, maidens of Israel, remembering that peerless one, the renowned girl of our people—you are greatly ennobled through her” [John L. Thompson, Writing the Wrongs: Women of the Old Testament among Biblical Commentators from Philo through the Reformation (Oxford 2001), 145-149].

A more expansive reinterpretation of the biblical character of Jephthah’s daughter is found in a grand oratorio version titled Jephtha (1752) by the British musician George Frideric Handel and the librettist Thomas Morell who wrote the words. The oratorio makes three important reinterpretations. First of all, Jephthah’s daughter is given a name, Isis. The name is an allusion to another daughter, Iphigenia, in an ancient Greek play by Euripides in which a daughter is sacrificed by her father in order to win a military victory against the Greek city of Troy. 

Secondly, Jephthah’s daughter, Isis, accepts her father’s vow and her impending death as in the biblical narrative. In the oratorio version, however, Jephthah and his daughter also express great comfort in the hope of resurrection and eternal life, an added New Testament theme not present in the Old Testament account. Jephthah sings a prayer to God’s angels, “Waft her, Angels, through the Skies… / Glorious there, like you to rise, / There, like you, for ever reign.” Jephthah’s daughter then says good-bye to her earthly life: “Farewell, thy busy World, where reign / Short Hours of Joy, and Years of Pain. / Brighter scenes I seek above, / In the Realms of Peace and Love.” 

Thirdly, as Isis, the daughter of Jephthah, prepares for her death, an angel intervenes, stops the deathly sacrifice, and offers instead that Jephthah’s daughter devote herself to serving God and to remain a virgin for her entire lifetime. The scene is reminiscent of the story of Abraham’s near sacrifice of his son IsaacSon born to Abraham and Sarah in fulfillment of God’s promise. More and the angel’s abrupt intervention preventing his death in Genesis 22. It also reflects the exegetical tradition of the Jewish interpreter David Kimchi and its Christian appropriation by Nicholas of Lyra regarding Judges 11 (discussed above under “Jephthah’s Vow”) in which the vow is interpreted as either death by sacrifice or a life of virginity and service dedicated to God. In the oratorio, the angel (angels were understood themselves to be virgins) sings to Jephthah’s daughter: “Happy, Iphis, shalt thou live; / While to thee the Virgin Choir / Tune their Harps of golden wire, / And their yearly Tribute give.” [Deborah Rook, Handel’s Israelite Oratorio Libretti: Sacred Drama and Biblical Exegesis (Oxford 2012), 207-226]

Feminist biblical scholar Phyllis Trible in her book, Texts of Terror: Literary-Feminist Readings of Biblical Narratives (Fortress, 1984), p. 109: