By Roger Ryan
During this new contribution to the Readings sequence of commentaries, Roger Ryan bargains a problem to the trendy disdain for the heroes of the publication of Judges. As opposed to the present consensus majoring at the intended flaws within the characters of the judges, and denigrating them as individuals in Israel's ethical and non secular decline, he paints a good portrait of every of the book's judge-deliverers. the foremost point in the entire tales of the judges is that every of them wins independence for oppressed Israelites opposed to nice odds-an aspect that are meant to predispose readers to a beneficial assessment of the heroes. Ehud slaughters an enemy king whilst the single weapon he has is a selfmade dagger. Barak resolutely fees downhill opposed to enemy chariots bolstered with iron. Jael slaughters an enemy commander by way of improvising with a hammer and a tent peg. Gideon defeats hordes of nomadic invaders with a small token military. The lone hero Samson slaughters the Philistine foe in nice numbers. The ebook of Judges provides during this analyzing a dismal story-world during which its characters take heroic hazards as they unravel conflicts via violent skill. Their tales are jubilantly instructed and readers are anticipated to be neither squeamish nor censorious.
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Additional resources for Judges (Readings, a New Biblical Commentary)
Sample text
It is sometimes claimed that Sisera is a sexual opportunist who enters Jael’s tent for the purpose of rape. I do not think so! The storyteller-poet’s theme is the humiliation of the ‘mighty’, and the act which Deborah exuberantly celebrates in Jael’s tent is neither sex nor a combination of sex and violence, but just brutal violence. In an abrupt change of scene Deborah humiliates Israel’s oppressor further. Sisera’s slaughter is followed by a hilarious humiliation of his mother in a second domestic scene at another location.
The curse carries force when it is ordered by Yahweh’s messenger and the word ‘curse’ appears three times in Hebrew, twice in the imperative to express emphasis. We are not told what the Merozites did—or failed to do—to merit such disapproval; we are left to assume that they may have assisted Sisera in his twenty-year oppression of Israel or they may have been passive onlookers as he attempted to escape. It is possible that they behaved as shamefully as the inhabitants of Penuel and Succoth, who deny Gideon support when he requested food while pursuing Israel’s enemies fleeing the land (cf.
Ehud is characterized positively as being both courageous and able. To plan an assassination, enter occupied territory alone without back-up and to commit what I read as a ‘perfect murder’, followed by an exit strategy and then to muster Israel’s militia, is a clever act of bravado. When the deed is done, he calls out to Israel’s militia, informing them that Yahweh has given their enemies into their hands. If characters are to be judged by how well they bring matters to a conclusion, Ehud triumphs in a climax of energy, flair and panache.