Summary #13

Weekly Summary
Joshua 12 - Judges 7

Having conquered the southern and northern kings of Canaan, the Israelites divide up the the land between the tribes, with some on the east side of the Jordan, some on the west, and the Levites getting certain towns throughout the land. Judah and Manasseh end up not being able to drive out certain Canaanites from their land, making them slaves instead.

After the land is allotted, Ephraim and Manasseh plead for more land because they have a large population, and they are given additional hill country. After the first five tribes receive their allotment, Joshua sends out three men from each remaining tribe to portion out the rest of the land, and then they draw lots to see who gets which territory.

People start settling in to the newly divided territory, and Joshua sends home the men from the tribes that had been given territory on the east side of the Jordan. They gather their plunder and head back to their tribe, ut when they cross the Jordan, they erect a huge altar, which can be seen from the other side. The people of the West are indignant, thinking that this altar signifies a break from the rest of the people, and especially from the rest of the people, and especially from the worship of the one true God. They send a delegation, headed up up by Phinehas, the son of Eleazar the priest, famous for his zealous and immediate killing of the Israelite defiling the meeting at Peor. The Eastern tribes, knowing full well what Phinehas is capable of, hasten to assure the delegation they they set up the altar as a witness, to remind the Eastern tribes that they serve the same God as the Western tribes, and both the delegation and the rest of Israel is satisfied that this is true.

Peace settles on the land, and Joshua gathers the people to remind them of all that God has done for them. He reminds them that that not one promise from God was untrue, and just as true are all of the things God told them would happen if they served other gods. The people renew their promise to follow only God, despite Joshua's warning that God is a jealous and holy God, and will not abide apostasy. After setting up a monument as a witness to the renewal of their covenant, Joshua dies at 110 and is buried on his land.

Yet another peaceful ending.... sort of. The book of Joshua ends with the people settled into the land that God promised them, but not the way they were supposed to have settled in. Instead of driving the Canaanites out completely, we see that the tribes have pockets of them living in the midst of them, often as slaves, but they are not gone, as God commanded.

Nearly all of the next battles are God-directed and the Israelites are victorious as Judah and Simeon take on Canaanites and the Perizzites, and many more after that. Only Jerusalem remains unconquered, while the rest of the area falls to the Israelites. God leads them on in taking over the land.

Except that what follows next is a long list of the people that the tribes DIDN'T drive out. God calls this to their attention and reminds them that they are breaking the covenant that he created with them. The people repent, and cry out -- for a while. Then as the elders die off, the next generation does not know the Lord, or remember what he has done for them. Then they do "what was evil in the sight of the Lord" (Remember that phrase; it's going to become quite familiar to you in the next weeks, I promise) and serve the Baals.

When God sees the people serving other gods, his anger is kindled against them and they start falling to the "plunderers", and are oppressed by the people around them. Remember the cycle in the wilderness, where the people would grumble, God would be angry with them and punish them, they would repent, and then start the whole process over again by grumbling? We've got a new cycle forming up. The people follow other gods, they get oppressed by other nations, they cry out to God, he saves them, and they repent... until they start following other gods again. Anyway, it starts here. The people call out in their distress, and God sends judges to save them.

Years into this cycle, we find Othniel, the first of the judges named in the story. He was Caleb's nephew, and he freed them from the oppression of a Mesopotamian king, and they had forty years of peace.

Ehud is the next one. He's a left-handed man who uses this unusual feature to hide a sword on his right thigh, where apparently the people protecting King Eglon (who was currently oppressing the Israelites) didn't think to look. So he gets King Eglon alone, under the pretense of paying tribute, and instead of paying tribute, he sinks his sword all the way into the king, burying even the hilt of the sword in his belly. Not a story for the weak of stomach. Anyway, without their king, the people of Moab cannot withstand the attack of the Israelites, and God frees the Israelites again, giving them peace for 80 years. Shamgar is the next judge, who led the Israelites against the Philistines.

And then comes the first female judge, Deborah, a prophetess. The Israelites have rebelled, and are under the oppression of Jabin, king of Canaan. Deborah summons Barak, the leader of the army and says that God will deliver Sisera, the commander of Jabin's armies, to him. He is a bit doubtful -- in fact, he says, he won't go unless Deborah goes, too. She does, but tells him that because of his hesitation, a woman will defeat Sisera instead of him. They go to battle, and as the battle progresses, Sisera runs to what he thinks is a sympathetic place to get a little rest. Jael is a sort of relative, and she invites him into her tent for a rest, giving him milk, a blanket, and the promise of vigilance. Instead, as soon as he is asleep, she drives a tent peg through his temple. Another sort of squeamish scene here in Judges. And the Isrealites are freed of oppression by God again.

Right on schedule, the people of Israel do "what was evil in the sight of the Lord" and they are again subject to the Midianites. They cry out to the Lord, and he sends an angel to Gideon, who is threshing wheat in a winepress, hiding from the Midianites. Not a brave move, and Gideon doesn't seem to be a very brave guy overall. He demands a sign, which the angel gives him by having fire consume the unleavened bread and meat. Convinced, Gideon follows the angel's instructions to destroy the altar of Baal and the Asherah beside it. But, because he is not very brave, he does it in the middle of the night. When the townspeople see the destruction, they are angry and are about to take down Gideon, but Gideon's father convinces them that Baal should be fighting his own battles, and they should leave Gideon to be revenged by Baal, if he was able.

So our reluctant judge sounds the trumpet and summons a great army to go up against the Midianites. He asks for another sign, laying out fleece and asking that it be wet and the ground dry. Sure enough, that's what happens. Just to be very, very sure, he then reverses the plan, asking that the fleece be dry, and the ground around it wet. Also not a problem for God, so, out of excuses, Gideon starts out. How will it turn out? Check back next week and we'll see if our new judge gets any braver....