28. § 2. Introductory Remarks

§ 2. Introductory Remarks The leading points of view for the history of this period are given by the author of the book of Judges himself, in Joshua 1:1 to Joshua 3:6. In many respects it bears a similarity to the forty years of the march through the wilderness. It also is to be regarded as a time of temptation. God’s palpable grace, as it had been experienced by the nation under Joshua, was in some measure withdrawn. The nation was left more to its own development, that it might gain a more perfect knowledge of itself. For the godlessness which was rather suppressed than rooted out soon asserted itself in its peculiar form; Nature freed herself from the burdensome restraint which had been laid upon her, and threw off the elements which were foreign to her. As a matter of course, the godlessness was accompanied by idolatry, the expression of it peculiar to the age. Yet, even in the time of its deepest degradation, the nation still retained so much piety that it did not openly revolt against the Lord, but sought to combine the heathen vanity with its own worship. The choice of Israel was shown just as much, perhaps even more than in the deliverances, by the fact that punishment invariably followed sin. If this had ceased to be the case, Israel would soon no longer have been Israel. By punishment sin was always recognised as such; and when only the beginnings of repentance were visible, God’s mercy removed the punishment. The nation scarcely got beyond the beginnings during this period. The rapidity with which they always sink back into their old sins, shows that they had not yet made very much advance, that this period could only have been preparation for another, that there must be a reformation, built on more solid grounds than the former ones. Towards the end of the period there stepped forth the man whom God had prepared for this purpose—Samuel, the counterpart of Moses. From his ministry we first learn to understand the character of this period. It was intended to prepare the ground for the reception of the seed which he was to scatter. Before he could succeed, like a second Moses, in bringing the law nearer to the heart of the people, they must become thoroughly acquainted with the carnal wickedness of their heart by long and painful experience, as had been the case under the first Moses. For centuries they must sigh under the oppression of sin and its consequences, that they might joyfully welcome the deliverance, and willingly submit to the regulations which secured to the new reformation a firm duration. But the fact that Israel passed through all these heavy trials without fundamental injury, that after every grievous fall they still rose up again, that Samuel found in them a point of contact for his vigorous reformation,—all this shows that the efficacy of Moses had not been in vain, that it had penetrated to the innermost soul of the nation, and there implanted truths which were indestructible. Divine seed is like oil, which, however much it may be shaken together with water, still comes to the surface again. And for individuals who find themselves involved in severe struggles with their corrupt nature, it is very consolatory to see this truth confirmed in so grand a way in the history of this time. But there is justice in the remark of Ewald: “This long period is one of many new experiences, but not of new truths fully recognised and accomplished; its greatness consists in the spiritual possessions which it has already won.” To maintain these against all temptations, this was the task. Progress belonged to a later time. In this period the standpoint of the ἐκλογή was purely conservative. That which here asserted itself as progress went for nothing.

It is generally supposed that the author of the book of Judges represents the fact that the Israelites, in opposition to the command of Moses, failed to exterminate the Canaanites, but allowed them to dwell among them, and intermarried with them, as one of the main causes of the corruption among the Israelites. But on closer examination we find that throughout the whole introduction no blame is attached to the Israelites on this account; the non-expulsion of the Canaanites is not made a reproach to the Israelites, but is attributed to divine, not human causality. That the author attributes the incomplete conquest of the land under Joshua to innocent incapacity, we see clearly from Judges 1:19, “And he drave out the inhabitants of the mountain, but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron;” which does not, however, exclude the probability that individual idleness and want of faith had something to do with it. Nor can the non-expulsion of the Canaanites be made a direct reproach against the Israelites after Joshua’s death. According to Judges 2:21, they wanted the requisite power, because the Lord had withdrawn His promises of victory as a punishment for their apostasy. Most probably the Israelites were never deficient in the desire to expel the Canaanites utterly. Their own interest was too much involved in it. The point of view from which the author regarded the incomplete victory over the Canaanites under Joshua may be better seen from Judges 2:22 ff., Judges 3:1. Judges 2:21 shows plainly that the expeditions recorded in Judges 1 belong to Joshua’s time, and that afterwards nothing more of any importance was done against the Canaanites: “I also will not henceforth drive out any from before them of the nations which Joshua left when he died.”) According to these passages, a considerable remnant of the Canaanites was left for the trial and eventually the punishment of the Israelites,—a theory which agrees excellently with the character of the period of the judges. Sin in man can only be completely rooted out by making him pass through temptation, by giving him outwardly the opportunity for its development. Without struggle, no victory. In contact with the world, the people of God must prove themselves to be such; gradually and through many a severe fall they must become ripe for their vocation. It was from this point of view that the choice of a land for Israel had been made. It has been justly remarked, that if the intention had been to spare Israel the struggle, to give them a quiet retired life, calm development, and peaceful relations, a less suitable land than this could scarcely have been chosen,—a land bordering on the sea, much disturbed, influenced in many ways from without, adapted for intercourse with other countries. Intercourse with the Canaanites also gave the Israelites abundant opportunity for strife. That they stood the temptation badly was to be expected beforehand, since human nature is so constituted, that the inner alienation of a people from the world is slow to follow their outer withdrawal from it. The sensuous religion of the Canaanites found a powerful ally in the heart of the Israelites; it exactly answered to the demands of their nature. The easy unrestrained life was far more congenial to them than that enjoined by Moses, circumscribed by the strict requirements of the law, and demanding continual self-sacrifice; comp. Joshua 24:19. The splendour and the luxury which prevailed in the centres of Canaanitish commerce had the effect of making them ashamed of their poor mode of life. The inspiration which had arisen under Joshua disappeared more and more in proportion as the objects which had called it forth were withdrawn. Israel became secularized. The consciousness and the inner wall of partition which separated them from the Canaanites disappeared. Now was realized in them the eternal law by which he who is called and chosen by God, when he surrenders himself to the world, is punished by the world. The instruments of temptation were transformed into instruments of punishment. God had already bound the rods before the evil had been perpetrated. The Canaanites became to Israel in reality what, in accordance with the threats of Moses and Joshua, they were to become to them in event of their apostasy—snares and nets, pricks in their sides and thorns in their eyes. The servants of divine justice were established not only on all the borders of their land, but also within it. But just as that which was already attained by Israel intellectually and spiritually at last got the upper hand in spite of all perilous fluctuation, so likewise the external. Under Joshua they had conquered the high places of the land, and these the Canaanites never were able to reconquer. From these heights, in the course of centuries, they finally succeeded in conquering the valleys also, which the Canaanites had retained for a long time. However much appearances might be against it, yet in the end it became manifest that the land was really conquered under Joshua. The leadings of divine providence were shown not only in this preparation of means for temptation and punishment, but also in the fact that the original constitution of the Canaanites continued throughout the whole period, which made it impossible for them to offer permanent resistance to their enemies in the usual way. Each tribe was well organized in itself, but an external firm bond of union was wanting which should keep the twelve tribes together. This was especially the case after the mere personal authority of Moses and Joshua had ceased, the latter of whom named no successor. As long as they remained faithful to the Lord, and as often as they returned to Him, this was not felt to be a misfortune. We see this plainly in the history of Joshua to the time of the assembling of the whole nation shortly before his death, and of the war against the Benjamites in the beginning of the period of the judges, in which “the congregation was gathered together as one man.” If their faith were strong, the invisible Ruler rendered them infinitely more help than they could have had from a visible head; but if their faith were lost, if the living God became transformed into a mere abstraction, all the disadvantages of this form of government became apparent. The twelve tribes fell asunder, the externally weak bonds by which they were united were loosened, self-interest asserted itself, and the nation became an easy prey to the enemy. If they then humbled themselves before God, in His wisdom He gave them help which was only temporary. The bond of union formed by individual judges was in every case dissolved on their death. First in connection with a vigorous reformation, and firmly-established regulations for the security of its permanance, was a standing earthly representation of the divine supremacy given to the nation in kingship. “It was better,” says Ewald, “that human kingship generally should not come while the men were still wanting who could have established it in the right way.” The long series of heathen attacks to which we see Israel exposed during this period, is only rightly understood when we find its main cause in the heathen aversion towards Israel as the nation of the Lord, which, beginning at the time of their elevation to this dignity, runs through the whole history. That assumption of being the only chosen, that self-isolation, which seemed to the heathen consciousness to be an odium generis humani, was at all times an incentive to bitter hatred for those nations with which Israel came into contact. Almost all the wars which Israel had to undertake were religious wars. Where would it be possible to find an example of such ineradicable hatred between two nations, continuing for centuries with unabated violence? Amalek attacks Israel already in the march through the wilderness, because they declared themselves to be the people of God, Exodus 17:16. The history of the time of the judges first appears in its true light when we regard it as not purely external, but as having a lively reference to our own hearts, and to the relations of the present, when it forms a mirror in which we see the image of man in his depravity, and of God in His righteousness and mercy. This history then forms a rich source of edification to us. We shall now first notice the separate events of this period in succession, and then conclude with remarks on the civil constitution and the religious history.